dusqi

Since people aren't brought up with atheism, I don't agree. To get to atheism, most people have to go against their upbringing. That requires questioning and seeking of answers. Atheists would say that creating a divine force behind the universe that magically explains everything is also very silly, and is just settling on a simple fairytale answer because people are just tired of seeking the truth. "There was always this divine force, it was never created, it just existed forever. It can't be detected, but it listens to and cares about our prayers and rituals. Despite millions of years of human history and billions of years of animal history, it only told us about itself 2,000 years ago."

What does Bush have to do with it? While the rest of the world's countries were looking at ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which would have involved using less fossil fuels, he was busy thwarting it every chance he got and by doing so convincing Americans that anyone who promoted public transport, energy efficiency or energy alternatives was a hippie. This isn't a new, surprising, or sudden problem (Where is gas headed? 3.50 a gallon? [september 2005]. Unfortunately the forums don't go further back). Americans will complain about the high prices, and then it will drop by 15% or so and they'll shut up about it for a while until it goes up by a lot again. Nothing will get done in the mean time because there is no political will for it and given that Europeans manage with $9 per gallon, the price still isn't high enough in America to actually change peoples' behaviour significantly. Maybe after the election.

so many things i could say, but i am tired. I guess i will limit it to why are you talking? this a serious discussion that is not based on one nation especially since its a world wide product and "issue" My point is that Europe has survived on higher 'gas' prices than America has now for the last 10 years. So your economy (or that of the world) isn't going to collapse overnight because of it. Although people in the UK do complain about high prices, from my experience it has been predominantly Americans that have been predicting an apocalypse because of it. What will happen in the future? Travel will cost more for the next decade, and other items that need oil - but for the most part people will just suck it up. Eventually because of the high price someone will come up with an alternative. I think that since Europe has been slowly artificially raising the price of 'gas' in the last decade, that Europe will be better positioned to deal with this. I hope that the eventual solutions come from outside America, and that America ends up paying a high price for its myopia (Toyota is a good example of this). (Yes, this was a "you should have seen it coming when you elected an oil tycoon for a President, twice" post) Edit: Concerning what the solution is, I think that predicting future technology is a foolish endeavour, other than to say that it is probably something that none of us would ever have predicted. Edit2: It amuses me when people blame speculators for the high price of oil, as if speculators are collectively carrying out some kind of clever scheme to screw everyone over. If a speculator comes along and pays $150 for a barrel of oil in 1 year, and then it goes down to $70, he loses a load of money, so they don't just do it for fun. Speculation is just what people predict the price will be. It is amoral.

Americans are whiny. 'Gas' is $9 per gallon in the UK. Get over yourselves.

Not everything can be simplified down to the reading age of a 7 year old (the average reading age).

Highschool ended almost 5 years ago for me now. I do wonder from time to time what is happening to the "weird" people in my school. I hope that they end up doing really well in life. Facebook is a good tool to get a little bit of information about them.

is that AUD or USD?

Got any skills? Web programming for example? I also know someone who paints models and sells them on ebay. Think outside the box. Otherwise wash cars, lawn mowing, yard work, babysitting, deliver newspapers - although more difficult if you don't live in a neighbourhood. Have you asked your parents if they have any suggestions to make some money? They might know someone who wants help with something even if they don't want it themselves.

I use IRC, GTalk and MSN. IRC is good for multi-chats and for chats that are quiet much of the time but don't become awkward because of it. GTalk is nice and simple and I use it for phone calls with my parents. MSN I use for chats with the less techy friend groups I have. I don't really have a preference, they're just good for different situations.

22 :thumbup:

MPM is getting married! Wow! =D>

Graduating was fine.. getting PhD funding was brilliant.. as was getting an award for my undergraduate project.. my Facebook application going well was nice.. getting my house was fine.. Oh yes, and we had a protest against Guantanamo Bay, that was interesting and made good pictures.. [hide=Graduation and Guantanamo Bay Protest Pics] [/hide]

Survey sites are all rubbish. They usually have high limits on minimum payments that take at least 6 months to achieve. Just go and wash your neighbour's car - 5 bucks there, job done.

The word "depression" is overused. Everyone has up and down times, you're probably just feeling low. It could be for any number of reasons. Hormones. The quiet, dark, cold period after the excitement of Christmas and new year. You're worried about something in school like a class/teacher/friend/enemy/report/test. One thing that fuels more "depression" is people simply having the wrong expectations. People aren't happy all the time. Life goes up and down. A couple of people I know have got over long depressive periods in their lives (years long, not a couple of weeks). What they said was that they expected some kind of fanfare where their life would suddenly change and they'd be happy all the time, but it doesn't work that way.

Seems like you've made your mind up and know the issues involved with your decision. Your boyfriend probably has influenced your decision, but so what? It matters to you, and anyone should be able to understand that. I also know plenty of people who actually went to another country to come to my university because they wanted to get away from their home, so that's understandable too. I wish you the best of luck keeping the peace. Parents can find it hard seeing their kids go off to university, and harder knowing that you are not dependent upon them any more for decision making. But you know that you have to leave them some day. I personally tend to think that almost any place where thousands of university-age people congregate and live is going to be an awesome place. But if you've already convinced yourself that ASU is where you want to be, then stick to it.

Start by not procrastinating on tip.it.

:x Guity. I'm usually quite proud of myself when I manage to make it just in time to miss the adverts. Although I would prefer to be seated just before the film starts, preferably while the "this movie was made by universal studios/whoever" ads are on.

They can argue "Ignorance is Bliss" Although i agree with you totally, don't you feel your being a tiny bit elitist? :XD: A 'tiny bit'? There's internet forumer ego stamped all over that post. In my opinion, elitism is when someone disparages other groups for something that they can't help. For example, rich people looking down on the "lower classes". I'm not being elitist, because I think that anyone can be intelligent enough if they want to be (barring mental disorders). It's just having some self-belief and some motivation. Rarely is there a time when anyone revels in being ugly, but many people seem to revel in stupidity. Edit: I should add my reasoning why I think that ignorance is not bliss. You only get one life, so why go through it without understanding as much of it as you can? Stupidity is like a grey fog. Why go through life blind?

Forget the laws and what you're able to do at 16/18/21. Getting beyond 18-20 is good because you have control of your life, and the intelligence to lead yourself. It's "scary", but if you go about it with the right mind then it's amazing. You're also wise enough to be able to contribute something worthwhile back to the world. I think that looking back to childhood is overrated. Kids think they have a tough life, and in the end that's the same as actually having one.

Mostly stupidity. People who are fine with being stupid are the worst. To them I say: Don't you ever feel like you're living in a fog where nothing makes sense?? Stop spewing out the trash that someone or some company told you without questioning anything. Get a grip on your life, stop following your emotions everywhere. Stop watching trash TV programs about other peoples' lives without living one yourself. Haven't you ever wanted to achieve anything? To better yourself? You're dragging the world down.

Aw, that's sad. But you should know that girls asking guys out is really hot, so well done for that.

I went to a talk about emotional vs. cognitive attitude changing recently. Interestingly there is research showing that some people are more receptive to emotional pleas ("this car is blazingly fast, and bright red, and and you'll look like a hero when you drive it"), some are more receptive to cognitive pleas ("this car has a V8 engine and goes 0-60mph in 5.4 seconds"). Some people are actually not very responsive to either, and it is theorised that they respond best to social pressure ("everyone else has this car, why don't you?"). I myself am more cognitive. (brain).

The LGBT association had a protest at university last year about homosexual men not being able to donate blood in the UK. So, at least some of them are outraged.

Who cares what this group thinks? There are only a few hundred people in it, and yet I've seen news articles and even TV coverage about their nasty opinions many times. I wish it was this easy to get media coverage when someone has kind and generous opinions and acts upon them.

Take past papers as if they were practice exams, so that the 'real thing' doesn't feel so unusual to you.