dusqi

He didn't specify islam and the quote he was responding to didn't either. Ze was ranting about Islam on previous posts though, so I think we know what it refers to. However, I think ze meant to say that "their differing views and beliefs are correlated with a potential risk to other human life". Clearly being Muslim doesn't lead to a risk to human life, it's just that at the moment terrorists attacking America seem to be more likely to be Muslim. But there is harm done. It feels like you're being picked out as someone who is 'evil'. I imagine that you have no intention of blowing yourself up, so you'd probably feel quite victimised if someone kept seriously suspecting you of considering it.

Firstly, China has more money than it knows what to do with (over a trillion dollars of foreign currency reserves), so it's plunging lots of it into space research. It doesn't mean that it's imminently about to declare war, or even that it just wants leverage over the short term. I consider it more as "this might come in handy some day". Secondly, the US only last October/November rejected attempts to set up a treaty banning space weaponry, so it really can't complain.

Good work! =D> Sounds like a ridiculous rule to me, how were they going to decide what is "front to back adult conduct" anyway? Why is it worse than front to front adult conduct? or side to side? what about holding hands? ...high fives? I hope that the organising senior doesn't suffer any ill-effects, there's nothing wrong with organising a boycott of anything - the fact that the whole school went along with him is what is so powerful - they wouldn't have punished him if no one went along with it. So, they have to punish everyone for going along with him, or no one.

My ideal is to become rich and become a philanthropist. One plan is to set up more prizes for outstanding advances in science. In the long term, I think that education is necessary, so that we can identify and understand our own greedy, vengeful, stereotyping human nature and then work on overcoming it. How we will do that? I don't know.

Age - 21 Name - Until you meet me in real life, you aren't allowed to call me by my name. So there's no reason to know. Country - UK Sports played/followed - None really. Football (soccer) when it's international. Music Taste - Soft rock, jazz, trance, pop, classical music with an emotional content Some favourite bands - poets of the fall, dave brubeck quartet, jakatta, tori amos, ludovico einaudi Instruments played - piano Belief Inclination - atheist Hobbies/Other Interests - learning to ski, website design, amnesty international Ideal Travel Location - australia, antarctica, california, a desert, canada, greece Future Aspirations/Career Aspirations - rich enough and retired early, to devote time to family, living life, and making the world better.

These are my tips: - Get in a sleep routine. Always sleep at a certain time and wake up at a certain time. - Try to only use your bed for sleeping, not for watching TV in or playing computer games in (I'll allow some fun with the gf though... :P ). - If you do wake up half way through the night, just tell yourself that this isn't the time to wake up, and you've got another x hours to either sleep or just lay there being bored, so you might as well just get on with sleeping. Don't give in and get up and do something. - Possibly read for half an hour before going to bed to tire your eyes out, and take your mind off what you did that day. Don't watch TV or a DVD, because this is a mindless activity that won't tire you out (your brain is less active while watching TV than it is while you're asleep.) - Try not to have random naps during the day, unless you have a routine and always nap for half an hour after lunch or something. - One strategy that has recently been discovered is to say the word 'now' at random intervals, i.e. "now... now...... now... now... now..now.......now". The human brain isn't very good at being random, and needs to concentrate to do it properly. This will interrupt any thought patterns that you have.

The world, and everything in it. I tend to look at the simple things and realise how intricately complicated they are, and then I marvel at the wonderful processes that brought them about, making something so amazing out of just a few cosmic rules.

I got 90 out of 200, which is quite bad I imagine since I come here practically every day

People make a bigger deal about animal testing than it is worth - compared to the condition of animals that are being raised to be slaughtered.

You put them in jail because they are unable to function in society properly. You give them time, help, and the teaching to make them understand what they did wrong, and change so that they are able to function. Maybe some won't understand or change, but at least you're attempting to be constructive. You don't put someone in jail for revenge, or for punishment. These are decadent and morally childish ideas.

I agree. I would need to double check the actual numbers but I agree too much money is spent on people sentenced to death. This could be corrected. There are many ways to accomplish this without increasing the risk an innocent person would slip through the cracks. You said: Reality and statistics say this: "The swift and certain application of the death penalty throughout the early years of the century brought murder into a steady decline. The peak in homicides occurred in the 1930s--generally associated with Prohibition. Executions also peaked across the country in 1935 at 200 (roughly four per state). After that point, the murder rate dropped steadily. As homicides fell, the number of executions followed them down. By the early 1960s, capital punishment was applied only in a few well-publicized cases. Still, the concept of "going to the chair" was fixed clearly in everyone's mind. By 1963, the murder rate was triumphantly low. Then a fatal miscalculation occurred. Convinced that the problem of felony murder had been solved forever and that it was now "barbaric" to continue executions, liberals mounted a campaign to abolish capital punishment. By 1966 there was a de facto moratorium in nearly all states, and in 1971 the Supreme Court overturned all existing death-penalty laws. But at zero executions, the predictable happened. Beginning in 1966, the rate of murder skyrocketed, soaring by 1980 to more than double the 1963 rate. Moreover, this was not just a broad, general rise in murder. "Crimes of passion" stayed virtually the same. Almost the entire increase was the result of an explosion of felony murder. http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-death051601.shtml As to my point about the death penalty saving innocent people's lives here are some statistics. "As Prof. Paul G. Cassell pointed out in his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in 1993: "Of the roughly 52,000 state prison inmates serving time for murder in 1984, an estimated 810 had previously been convicted of murder and had killed 821 persons following those convictions. Executing each of these inmates following their initial murder conviction would have saved 821 innocent lives." So say they imprison Saddam in Iraq. Then in 10 years all troops are gone from Iraq and the new Iraqi government is toppled. Saddam gets released and takes power back. How many people is he going to kill? I watched a show profiling Saddam tonight and he was averaging 100,000 murders a year of his own population when he was in office. Now imagine how many he would kill if he had actually been overthrown and regained power? It would be a bloodbath. All of this is now prevented because he and his sons are dead. It isn't about some kind of macho blood lust. It is about paying the penalty for the crime committed, preventing future violence, and protecting what would have been future victims. Some random bullets, because I've had many death penalty debates in the past and I consider the debate to be over. 1) arguments against the death penalty, including cited research (for the UN, not just some reporter's article) showing that the death penalty does not deter crime any more than other punishments. And also some stats on innocent people who have been released after being put on death row. http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-facts-eng 2) "Of the roughly 52,000 state prison inmates serving time for murder in 1984, an estimated 810 had previously been convicted of murder and had killed 821 persons following those convictions. Executing each of these inmates following their initial murder conviction would have saved 821 innocent lives." But then there would have been 52,000 dead people. That doesn't bother you, because you think that once a murder has occurred then that person is irredemable. After all, if 810 were there because they killed again, that means that there are potentially 51,190 that previously got out of prison and didn't kill again. 3) Saddam won't get out if the American government does what it says and stabilises the country. 4) "some people view capital punishment as justice" - yes, justice in the sense of "an eye for an eye". That's called revenge, which is what I said. 5) "too much money is spent on people sentenced to death" less money spent = more innocent people dead by mistake. 6) When you look at the countries that have the death penalty, they're all ones that you don't want to be associated with when it comes to human rights. "In 2005, 94 per cent of all known executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the USA." 7) Oh, and for those that don't think it is blood lust in America and wanting to see people dead, I encourage them to look into the case of Kenny Richey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Richey - who has spent over 18 years on death row in Ohio, and keeps getting batted between various courts, because America knows that he's innocent but doesn't want to admit that they screwed up and locked someone up for 18 years with pathetic evidence. Even freaking Pope Jean Paul II has called for him to be released.

But that isn't what the person said. He said its not fair to have taxes go to support a mass murderer's life. There is a difference in principle, not just in cost. But it's OK to have more taxes go to support a mass murderer's death? So, basically your "principle" is just revenge and blood lust.

The death penalty costs more to carry out than it does to keep a prisoner in jail for the rest of his life, because there are more stringent judicial processes to make sure that an innocent person isn't being killed. The death penalty does not discourage murders. Why? 1) because many murders are committed when people are beyond reason, such as murdering a cheating spouse. 2) because many murderers are psychopaths, who think they can beat the police and that it is a game. 3) because many murders are committed by people with mental problems who also do not stand to reason. A better question is, why were they let out if they had a possibility of murdering again? That's something to ask the parole board. No, we should all agree that the world is a better place when men like Saddam aren't able to kill anyone. There is no need to kill him ourselves to show everyone that killing is bad.

I recommend Catch 22. It's fairly recent, very funny, and is respected so has literary criticism.

America created this mess and took responsibility for it. If they pull out now, they will be cowards. Iraq needs more security. But mostly, it needs more money to rebuild, so that it can be a stable country by itself. I should remind you that the American people supported the war at the outset, not just the government, so don't just blame Bush.

I'm 21. Someone needs to collect all the ages up and work out the mean, median, and mode.

I use cotton buds far too often.. Tell us what the doctor says

Hey man, long time no speak (I imagine that that would be my fault for not being in RS... *zip*) .. thanks :P

Prozac can be prescribed for 8 year olds nowadays ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5054774.stm ) so there is no age where depression is too early. Note: I'm not saying that drugs are needed, I'm just saying that depression can occur even in the very young, and this prescription age law is professional recognition of the fact.

Mmm.. I go to university.. so.. mostly we're past the "omgz, what if people think i am a nerd, my whole life will be ruined forever and I'll die a virgin" stage of the patheticness that is highschool :D . In fact.. these kinds of shirts are a good talking point, rather than other boring 'American Eagle' or whatever brands you low self-esteemed children buy, where you pay a premium to advertise someone else's company and then just look like everyone else :P Anyway, I am a geek, so want to let other geeks know so that they can find me easily in a crowd :D ;) Of course.. I don't play RS any more.. but still.. tip.it rocks :D

A similar 'click to donate' site is care2. I don't know whether it's a "for-profit" company though: http://www.care2.com/click2donate/

You guys need to see people with some real phobias - that will put your own into context. A real arachnophobic, is someone who sees a spider in the corner of a room, and won't go back in there at all for weeks, in case it has a spider in it. A real phobia should interrupt your life considerably. You guys are probably mostly just a bit worried :)

$54k straight out of uni? I wouldn't base my life around that figure if I were you... Even if $54k is a realistic figure, are you sure that the real problem isn't just getting a job in the first place? That might be the figure, but only for the 2% of people that get through the interview process and end up with a job. Whatever you do, make sure you add a 10% contingency onto everything, because everyone underestimates costs.

I took economics in 'highschool', and my teacher was good and encouraged us to bring in an economics-related article from the newspaper every class, then we'd spend 5-10 minutes discussing it. That kind of 'relating school to the real world' should be encouraged. However, it is difficult to test in exams, so it tends to be forgotten. This is the fault of the exam system. As to whether life skills should be taught in schools? I think so, perhaps. Especially the money-related stuff like the types of mortgages available, how to run a savings and a current account at the bank, what a direct debit is, how credit cards work. These are all lessons that parents aren't teaching, in many cases because they don't know themselves. Perhaps they could be run as after-school events, where students don't have to attend them all. I think that the biggest problem is that if your parent doesn't know, it's difficult to find out yourself. So at least if it was an extra-curricular, you'd have the opportunity to learn, even if you didn't take it. Then it wouldn't interfere with the school day either.

Some of you may have read the announcement about the Tip.it Shop on Cafepress. I went ahead and ordered myself a "Classic Tip.It Design Ringer T". Sadly, Cafepress doesn't accept Paypal, only credit cards, so watch out for that. I recommend that anyone that uses Cafepress searches Google first for any discount codes, since there are plenty to be found. There is in fact a whole website devoted to Cafepress discount codes - I used a $5 off when spending $20 or more code. I ordered on the 17th of December, and it was shipped on the 21st, which was pretty quick considering it was the Christmas period. It came today (4th January), so that was rather good also as I live in the UK and Cafepress is based in the US. I had a nasty surprise though, as I was charged an extra ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã8.29 (about $16) on a total spend of $46.98 (I got another item) for import taxes and a handling fee from the post office, and I also had to go to the Post Office to pay the fee and pick the package up as they wouldn't deliver it. The t-shirt is good quality though, and the design is printed nicely. Here is a pic of the front and back :D Conclusion: The t-shirts are printed nicely and are good quality. The design looks great. But if you're not from America - even though the dollar is weak and so it might seem cheap, beware of the hefty shipping fee and hidden import duty!