dusqi

May I suggest http://psychcentral.com/, which is run by someone who is qualified. There is an active community who would also be able to give you good information. As suggested on the site, you could call someone to speak to them, which would allow you to chat to someone anonymously without worrying about your parents being contacted. A phone call also means that you are completely in control of the conversation, in that you can end it at any time. The people at the other end of the phone are also trained to listen to you, so they won't be prying into topics that you don't initiate first. It is a form of self-help, because they won't be telling you what to do, they help you to guide yourself.

I hope Huckabee wins. It'd be a comedy 4 years in the UK if he did :D

*business Best of luck with it :) Entrepreneurship should be encouraged. Do it well and you'll get far more from it than from a minimum wage job.

What? Did any of what i said get into your thick skull. Dreams are what your subconscious thinks and if you deny that your subconscious doesn't have an effect on your actions in real life than you are a fool end of. Freudian ideas of the "subconscious" are extremely out of date with contemporary psychological thinking, as is the idea of interpreting dreams. Freud and Jung are mostly interesting historical figures in psychology. Basically no one ever quotes anything they said except perhaps to say "this is what they thought in the 1900s, pretty funny isn't it?" Agreed!!

I have contacts for important social occasions, and glasses for when I want people to think I am intelligent. They're like all clothes, they can make a difference to how other people perceive you, but they shouldn't change how you perceive yourself.

Tell your Dad that given the cost of each stock market transaction, it would be more prudent to put it in a savings account in the bank.

I know that this is just a game, but just in case - since I'm a psychological researcher, I thought I'd point out that in real psychology experiments, you always have the choice to opt out at any time :) Saying this, I would choose A. I think that I could ride it out for 20 years. It's not going to be much worse than being in prison, and I'm quite introverted so although the lack of human contact would be difficult, with books I'd be OK.

Hey Daaaaaaaaaaan, happy new year to you too! I watched the roundup of Film 2007 with Jonathan Ross yesterday and thought of you. I aim to watch some non-hollywood movies :o)

mm.. it's a Samsung, 3.5 years old now.. I was never very good with phones.

Resolutions need to set a specific goal otherwise they're pointless. Don't say "do better in school", instead say "complete my math homework by the day it is set, don't cheat in tests any more, aim for a B". I also recommend only setting really small and specific goals. I had much success giving up pizza and fizzy drinks in successive Lents. It's only a tiny thing, so it is achievable. Others might laugh at it when Lent started, but by the end of it they will have broken their self-promises and I was the only one who got anything out of it. Can promise yourself a reward too. "Get a B in math and I'll buy myself... x". Probably worth writing it down too, so that you have a real commitment made on paper.

Nup. Scientists compared concert pianists with not-so-good pianists (still performing, but not international). The only difference between them was how long they spent practicing over their lives.

the media are working on turning men into "worthless unless you're a sex symbol" too. So I don't think it's anything to do with not treating the sexes equally. Also, it's not as if "the media" has some kind of big evil plan, it just produces what people buy. My answer is to look down on people who buy and read tabloid newspapers or "glossy magazines" :D I am interested if you think that cursing degrades your own beauty as a human being?

In the UK, there are a lot of lies put about by the conservative media concerning what you can and can't do. If you feel threatened, then you can use appropriate force to defend yourself. This means that you can hit someone first, you can hit someone in the back, you can use lethal force, etc.etc. as long as it seems appropriate to you to defend yourself. Juries are pretty open-minded in deciding what is "appropriate to you", and they will take into account your emotional state at the time. What you can't do (like that farmer that got charged for killing a burglar) is to shoot someone in the back when they're running away from your property. That's not in self-defence. There was also a case where a guy disabled a robber, and then decided to set him on fire. Obviously that's also not self-defence.

All it needs is one person to put an unusually wrong answer without realising it, then everyone else copies it, and the teacher wonders why a group of people who happen to sit close together all get the same unusual wrong answer.

Wow this is an old thread. I'm now doing an M.Sc. in Psych, still at Notts uni.

I give 1% of my approximate yearly income to charity. Never to anyone on the street or to TV fund-raisers or whatever. I sit down once a year and make a decision based on facts, rather than the latest fad or the clever emotional marketing of a TV campaign. I think that this is a good habit to get into. Everyone can afford 1% of their income, and the amount you give grows as you grow older (and hopefully richer). Also, if you donate money 'officially' rather than just giving to some guy on the street, in the UK the government will even add 23% to it (Gift Aid, which recognises that you've already paid income tax).

The UK system isn't perfect. I've worked with people in the NHS and it is a horrible place to work in, full of unwritten rules and power struggles between individuals and departments, which mean that change is almost impossible and everything is inefficient. However, as a 'user' - I couldn't imagine having to worry about health insurance. I find it ridiculous that the US expects normal people (with no medical knowledge) to understand and make good decisions about it. If someone is hurt, then just get them treatment! It might be more inefficient to have health in the public sector, but I can live with that, safe in the knowledge that people aren't being denied treatment because they can't afford it.

Concerning university cheating, lecturers know more than you realise. I happened to be chatting to my tutor when another lecturer came in and talked with him about a paper she'd just had handed in that she thought was suspicious. There are so many ways to tell if someone has been cheating. They can compare your current essay to a previous one to see if the language and writing style is similar, they can use plagiarism detection software (or just Google) to look for phrases that you've used that are similar to other papers or books, not to mention that they will probably recognise any paper that you steal from even if the software misses it.

I don't know much about other cultures, having never properly experienced a continental lifestyle. However, I know that as a British university student, I am so bored with the "let's go out drinking" night. Drinking should be something that you do while you're doing something else, not the sole reason for going out. British pubs in town centres specifically remove distractions so that people do more drinking. Why are there never any coffee places open in the evenings? Surely they would do well.

I wondered if there are any techy people here that can give me some advice (but in plain english please :) ). I plan to buy a pretty decent TV in the sales around christmas, but I haven't been keeping up with the latest tv stuff regarding HD, lcd vs. plasma, hd-dvd vs. blu-ray, etc.etc. I live in the UK, and plan to get a TV with Freeview built in. I don't plan to get Sky or cable TV, so it's just the freeview stuff. I have DVDs at the moment so will connect a normal DVD player up, but eventually I'd want a hd-dvd player of some kind. The TV will be about 40 inches. - I went in some stores and noted that plasma screens are really reflecting, and given that the TV will be in a room with a big window, I thought that LCD would be better. Is that fair enough? - What kind of response time for an LCD should I be aiming for so that I won't notice it (I don't watch really fast sports particularly, so I don't need top-of-the-range)? My brother bought a cheap 32 inch LCD recently and to be honest the picture is kinda slow and poor, I don't want that. - Does Freeview come with HD channels? I vaguely heard about BBC HD. Given that Freeview keeps changing, will having a built-in freeview player in the tv actually be useful, or will i just need to buy a new one in a year or two? - Do I need 1080p, what about 1080i or the other whatever-they-ares? - Some people have told me that their DVD player 'scales up' their normal DVDs and they get them in better quality. Is this actually true? What do you need for that? - I read stuff about HDMI connections and things. Are they necessary/good for HD hardware like a PS3 to work to its full potential? - any 'things to watch out for' when buying? Thanks!

Family time, friends from back home to hang out with, paper to make alterations to, couple of essays to write, exam to revise/learn for, fair amount of programming to do, tv to buy, lots of books to read.

But, it's like when the government does the same thing. It says "only the government will have access", but then they send your data through the post on a couple of unencrypted CDs. But yea, beyond that, I just don't trust parents, and really don't think that they should have that much control and power over their kids.

You know what I hate about this debate? Usually most people say "no way, I'd never want to have a chip inside of me, it's an invasion of my right of privacy, etc.etc." But when you ask them about putting chips into their kids, then they're fine with that. I really worry that because kids are "owned" by parents, that parents will think that they are allowed to do whatever they want to them "for their safety".

Actually I am surprised that more Christians aren't boycotting this... (massive spoilers follow if you haven't read all of the His Dark Materials books) [hide] The first movie/book starts off quite tame, but in the third one 'God' is portrayed as a weak puppet that gets killed without the main characters even realising that it is God... Not to mention that it is the various divine creatures' fault that everyone that dies gets stuck in limbo, and their spirit isn't allowed to return to the Earth (not heaven or hell). Then, of course, there's the wonderful love story between Lyra and Will (that has a big hint about underage sex, I might add), which is juxtaposed with the self-righteous priest who wants to kill them in their moment of highest love with a sniper rifle. And of course, the two good angels that help Lyra and Will are homosexual.... Witches are portrayed as good.... There's that wonderful chapter called "Marzipan" where the nun realises that there is no God and says, "The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all".. then she stops being a nun and follows science instead and likes worldly pleasures (as opposed to hating yourself for being human)... the list goes on. (I loved the third book) Edit: I forgot the stuff about evolution from the animals that use the tree nuts as wheels. [/hide]

IGoddessI, can you tell me what your counselling qualification is? I'm interested to know about it :)