Scruffy5389

Don't expect America to go around banning guns anytime soon. I mean, c'mon, we're the country that allowed our vice president to accidentally shoot his hunting partner in the face with virtually no penalties :roll: I wonder if the president has ever gone hunting with Mr. Cheney... :lol:

Don't fight the guy if you don't think you can beat him alone. Probably don't fight him even if you think you can beat him. My advice is just be a smart aleck when he torments you. If he trys some stupid insult on you, say "Oh that's clever/original." If he keeps up, something like "How long did it take you to come up with that one?" If it goes on day after day, comment on that. "Wow you're in a groove!" Don't take what I'm writing and say it verbatim, be spontaneous about it. If he's physically abusing you (by which I mean flicking your ear or throwing stuff at you), don't let it get to you, but stay in smart-aleck mode and ask conversationally if he has to work and think of ways to be annoying, or if it just comes naturally to him. Someone else suggested something like this when they said "use logic" on him. That's the right idea, but really emphasize the humor and sarcasm. Don't show that he's actually annoying you, be witty on him. If people are around, that makes it a very bad move on his part to keep harrassing you. If he outright challenges you to a fight in front of other people (or asks if you want to fight him or some such thing), avoid the question, act all concerned, and ask if that's how he relates to people socially. "How sad that you can't communicate and make friends like normal people...(sarcastic sigh)" This works very well for me, but then again, I'm also well over six feet, so even though I'm pretty skinny and probably couldn't handle myself in a fight, people don't seriously bully me too much. EDIT: ^Ragen, I'm guessing that someone who benches 280 is probably talking about pounds. Probably. I don't know too many people who can bench 280 kg, since that's equal to about 616 pounds. :wink:

Aw man, I was going to post Victor Wooten. I know of him only because I've listened to some Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and he's pretty much amazing. Thanks for the vids :) Off topic: I went and looked at the rest of the site after watching that second video. They've got some pretty insane clips of eminem freestyle rap battling back before the SSLP came out. :shock: Take a looksee, the guy is incredible...

Harmonica 8) Seriously, you can carry a harmonica in your pocket, its pretty easy to pick up the basics, and you can teach yourself (just get yourself a how-to book for harmonica). Only downside is that you can't sing while playing it. What everyone has been saying about the piano is true, too. Knowing how to noodle around on piano is really helpful for learning all other music.

Has anyone tried the link yet? The way he's typing - like a car salesman - makes it sound kind of scammish to me. :?

looks good to me except that rivers go around hills, between them, keeping to the low ground. They don't just climb right over them.

If I were going to die tomorrow... I'd commit suicide today. ...something's wrong there... :?

There you go. It wasn't resized, you just didn't crop it, and you posted it as a thumbnail instead of the full size pic.

the point behind art is to CREATE something that expresses you...those simple little red dots, that "express" a person now aday SUCK no matter how much feelings mumbo jumbo they throw into the description..... I think when you say "simple little red dots" you're talking about modern art? In which case I agree with you. I guess we're looking for different styles of expression in a signature :(

I'm with you, How2PK. I almost made a spam post in off-topic just to comment on your new sig. I like it :D To everyone else: of course it wasn't hard to make. But what is the point of a signature image in the first place? It's not necessarily to showcase fine artistic technique. It's supposed to be expressive and unique. On these forums, your sig and avatar is like your face, and I have a lot more respect for a simple, distinctive image like this one than half the abstract or overly labored and stylized stuff I see. Maybe the abstract fancy-pants sigs display great technical skill, but something like this shows actual life. There's actually a mind back there thinking about aesthetics and personal meaning. It's the anti-cliche. Some of you artistes need to go back and remember what the point of art is in the first place.

So much for American open-mindedness and unity. Can't we all just get along without jumping all over everyone else's morals? We spend so much time fighting each other over so little...

"Orpheus" It's a guy's name from greek mythology. He was a great poet and singer who played for Hades to get his wife back from the underworld. Google him for the full story. There's a lot of references to him already in music and literature and stuff, but I don't think there's a band out there called Orpheus.

Of course killing yourself is never justified. Of course people should treasure their lives. Of course people should not dismiss their lives as unnecessary. That's why suicide is so tragic. I can't explain it any other way. I'm not asking you to respect, admire, or condone suicide. I'm asking you simply to understand that someone who commits suicide is someone who feels so absolutely hurt, alone, and depressed, they decide that their very own life, something we as human beings treasure above (nearly) all else, is not worth it, and they throw it away permanently. This is an emotion so powerful it trumps reason, hope, and survival instinct. I don't care if suicide is right or wrong or selfish or any of that other claptrap. Can't you pity and have sympathy for a human being whose own confusion and pain and inability to find help drives them to such a terrible, unjustifiable dismissal of their own life?

^First person I thought of when I read the topic title. Axl's voice is easily imitatable, but no one else has the same amount of control while singing in that style as he does.

Get help. You may say it takes a strong person to commit suicide, perhaps that is partly true, but it takes an even stronger person to stand up, admit their problem, and get help. No one is saying we should admire a person who commits a suicide. Of course they failed somehow. That's why we should feel for them. They just weren't strong enough to go on. Isn't that tragic? Let's say someone you loved committed suicide. Would you be mad at them? Probably. But would you look down on them, lose all respect for them, and say they were weak and undeserving of pity? Of course not. You would feel profound sorrow that they could not find help and could not improve their situation and instead just gave up. Forget whether they did the right thing or not, forget how they made you personally feel, the bottom line is that one precious person is gone before they could realize that there is hope and there are things worth living for. ^That's directed at everybody who couldn't find sympathy for a suicide, not necessarily just Nadril. To Nadril, I haven't been paying close attention, so I don't know what your specific position is. I'm just responding in general, so don't feel insulted if it seems like I'm putting words in your mouth.

Whether this story is true or not... How on Earth can anyone not have pity for someone who commits suicide? Obviously suicide is the wrong choice. Obviously it hurts other people and doesn't fix anything. Obviously it's always better to appreciate what you have and try to improve your lot... But come on. Selfish? Cowardly? Before they commit suicide, don't you have pity for someone who feels so alone and dejected that they decide they have absolutely no hope whatsoever? And then doesn't that pity increase when it turns out that that person is actually incapable of even trying to improve, and instead deliberately ends whatever hope they may have had, simply to get away from the temporary pain? Don't you feel bad for someone who is so upset and so confused and so alone that they think (mistakenly) that they can't and won't ever be happy, and destroy any chance they have at being happy? Sure, it's a huge mistake, but... it's tragic. Have pity for someone who is so unhappy they throw away all potential for happiness in the future. I know what everyone's saying... this kid didn't have it that bad. But that's what's so tragic... he believed he had it bad, and he didn't know how to make it better. He had a good life, but because of his own irrational depression and his own unfortunate inability to work to get better, he threw away everything he had, with no hope of getting it back. Maybe it's cowardly, but more importantly... it's tragic that he wasn't able to improve and now will never be able to. Give the guy a break. There's no need to disrespect him simply because he wasn't in control of his life. He didn't know how to take control, and now he never will. Have some sympathy. Sorry I don't have the time to clean ^that up and remove the redundancies and repetitive statements. I hope my point is clear, even if my organization is not.

Real fake? :lol:

I kind of like the party hat... but I guess if no one else does, it should go :( Anyway, yeah, the swamp as a background would be pretty cool. Any chance of an appearance by Donkey or Puss in Boots?

You should keep a journal. At the end of each day, write down stuff about how you're feeling. If you're confused about something like this, it always feels good to siddown and lay it all out in writing. If you still need to share with the world, that's fine, you might get answers. I just thought I'd mention...I keep a journal and it sounds to me like you might like to try it. As for the girl... if you're not talkin to her, if you can't communicate with her, you need to either try and start communicating, or if that doesn't work out then find another girl. Just my two cents.

I used to read a lot just before I went to bed, and for the most part it settled my mind so I could fall asleep. If I was really interested, it did keep me up. But if I was really interested, that was a good thing. Unless I really needed some sleep, in which case it was just a matter of forcing myself to shut the book. Honestly, if you're just reading to bore yourself, you're basically just concentrating on something you don't like until you tire yourself out. Sounds like a waste to me :? Best advice I can give you is to work your mind and body more during the day. If you really tire yourself out, you'll fall asleep no problem. Of course, that means work. But it feels good when it's over :wink:

Amazing :shock: ...now for the constructive part: It seems to me that if the church and ground are being lit by the sky, they would be much darker compared to the sky. Maybe that's something you plan to do with more shading....I dunno. Just thought I'd throw it out there :wink: Also, I think you need a horizon line. Even if the church is on the top of a hill, you need a horizon point to plan you're scene around, allowing for foreshortening to make the scene look real. That will straighten out your path, too. Right now the scene is sort of a realistic church scene set sort of randomly, drifting aimlessly through psychedelic space. Let me say again though that I think it's awesome work :D

Someday! But "Feeling Way Too Damn Good" is also a great song, as well as Photograph. I'm not a huge fan, I kinda think that their music gets tired pretty quick, but I like those songs. :wink:

Oh man... Robin Hood. That was definitely a favorite. Also, The Sound of Music and The Land Before Time Actually, I still like all those movies. Lion King too. Old Disney stuff rules 8)

See I don't think you can actually protect a 'truth' by making it immune from questioning. And what is the "truth" of the Holocaust? No one person's account would ever be expansive enough to accurately reflect it so we have a mishmash of accounts - verbal and written, a handful of theories and a large amount of speculation. I don't think that any good can come of protecting something that isn't able to be verified to any level of accuracy as a "truth". I think that things like the Holocaust, and here in Australia the so-called "Stolen Generation" should be open to questioning without those doing the questioning being howled down as racists or antisemites. It's only through critical analysis of all the competing ideas, theories, accounts and recollections that we will ever be able to whittle away the myth and arrive at a cohesive "truth". At the same time, Scruffy is referring to outright denial whereas you are only talking about questioning. The way you put it is like questioning what exactly happened to get the whole truth - denying it happened is something completely different. Yeah, and let me clarify: I don't think this guy deserved this sentence at all. If he was writing books about it, he was clearly doing academic thinking, supporting his ideas.... the kind of thinking and opinion that must always be protected from censorship. But I think the laws themselves have some degree of validity. They should only be applied in very narrow circumstances... Some neo-nazi group that is simply spreading bigoted anti-semitic propaganda and inciting violence needs some sort of check on it besides normal laws protecting from violence. Wow, I'm arguing in favor of censorship :shock: What I really mean is, I approve of a law against anti-semitism. But since that's nearly impossible, I think these censorship laws are the next best thing. Applied to the right cases, I think they are perfectly valid laws. This guy Irving is not a good application of the law. Something like that.

Actually, I'm really split on this issue. First off, I support the laws against holocaust denial (although this is the first Ive heard of them :shock: ). It is a violation of freedom of speech, I guess, but since there is no present-day issue being discussed, I think it's a pretty harmless violation. It's simply protecting the truth. And I think it is necessary to protect the truth of the holocaust. Gah... I don't know if these laws actually are effective in that manner, though. I'd say it certainly is a good way of ending pointless anti-semitic propaganda. I guess this guy Irving doesn't deserve to be sentenced in this manner, though. The way I see it, the law should suppress pointless bigotry. From reading this article, Irving seems to be an intellectual type who was merely conducting research and writing his opinion. The fact that he has since backed off of his opinions makes his sentence even less deserved. He should have just received a fine or something when his work was published.