warri0r45

Are you positive they were bipolar? Either they weren't or they were just good at hiding how they really felt. As for the highs and lows, obviously everyone has them, but they're just far more severe in bipolar people.

This raises the question, who defines what a "valid reason" is for getting an abortion? As is the case with any moral issue, it ultimately comes down to the individual. One woman's reasons for getting an abortion might not justify the act to a pro-life advocate, but that doesn't mean that the reasons aren't decent ones.

Bipolar people go through episodes of highs and lows. Couldn't it just be that you're missing the episodes?

Yeah, a psychological evaluation on a Runescape forum is not such a good idea. Agreed. All this self-diagnosis is getting annoying. Just see a professional and if you are actually bipolar, then make a topic about it.

Life isn't pointless if there's no reward afterward. Trust me, it's not disappointing for people who accept that nothing happens when we die, or that we simply don't know what happens when we die (which, really, we don't). Just existing to see the beauty and mystery of nature should be reward enough. A chance to enjoy your life with friends and family should be reward enough. If this is it, then that's all the more reason to enjoy the immensely improbable opportunity while it lasts. What is the purpose of living for eternity with Jesus Christ in Heaven? Whats the point of that? Because youll enjoy it? Because thats what you want to do? Surely you can understand that for the non-religious, the purpose of life is to enjoy it and all the good company and good times to be had, for those very same reasons that you want to spend eternity with Jesus.

I wonder how many strong pro-life advocates adopt unwanted children.

1) Nothing. 2) I would like there to be something not unlike Nirvana in Buddhism - we all have an epiphany and understand everything about the universe. I'd like to know the detailed workings of everything, especially of life itself. I'd also like there to be eternal life, but with one caveat - the ability to end it at any time. I certainly don't think I could cope with an eternity of existence.

Try some Beastie Boys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS0Ew3qKql8

Seinfeld is my favourite sitcom ever.

Anyone know where I can get a good aluminium pole?

Healing by Festering by Perimeter. Nice blasts.

Of course there's a consensus. Just about every major scientific body will agree that we're contributing to global warming. Any suggestion that there's some sort of conspiracy covering up dissent is just a massive cop-out.

I'm a little too old for presents, but this year I wish I wasn't. I want a PS3 and Modern Warfare 2. That game looks incredible. Anyway, Christmas is one of those holidays that has a certain "feel" to it for me, probably generated by years of nostalgia as a kid. I like it, and hopefully I'll see some good Christmas lights around the place. That's always nice. I'm hoping for some good food too; this time of year always seems to deliver on that front.

Just like the study, I think your comment highlights an error of judgment. We often hear of kids behaving badly in the media or by word of mouth, but how often do we hear about kids doing good things? Never, because it doesn't make good news or gossip. This doesn't mean that all kids are bad, it's just a selection bias that skews the perception of young people. And if your basis for that comment is a sample of people you know/in your school or something similar, often things like that are affected by a sort of memory bias - you're more likely to remeber the worst examples and this skews your perception. Personally I wouldn't trust anyone's anecdotal evidence in this case. If people really want to prove that kids are getting worse, they'll need to do controlled studies.

Just because they say they would do something in a particular situation, it doesn't necessarily mean they will. Think about peer pressure, for example. It's a huge fallacy to assume that this study shows that kids are getting better at anything.

I like Deftones and Paramore (you're right - Careful is an awesome song). Most of the others I'll have to check out.

He, the paper was done by Professor Richard Lindzen, Dianna Cotter just did the news article. Even if in the longer span, it increased, the last few years had it decreased, doesn't that mean it's peaked and is dropping? Considering that a lot of the warming in the latter half of last century is only attributable to anthropogenic factors, and assuming we don't change the way we do things, it will get warmer. http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/ccr/publications/meehl_additivity.pdf See figure 2. You can break down any regression into bits and pick out increases or decreases. But did any of the decreases over the past century of warming signal the beginning of a downward trend? No, and given that we're party to blame (and assuming we don't do anything about it), that probably wont change any time soon.

Coffee. Iced coffee only, and it's a major vice of mine. I don't like hot drinks. @1230abcz: Coffee lovers certainly don't just put up with the taste of coffee because of caffeine addiction. It might be a little wierd at first, but after a while it tastes great.

Who the hell does that? :lol: Anyway, suicide is a problem often associated with people who have a mental illness, so to curb suicide we need to get serious about mental illness.

Im not American so I don't celebrate it. I suppose any opportunity to appreciate what we often take for granted can't be a bad thing.

No they wouldn't, because then America would lose it's vaunted 'holier than thou' status. I find it laughable all the people advocating that we should do exactly unto them as they did to us. It just propogates a useless cycle of violence that in the end nobody gains anything from. I agree with this. If America wants to take the moral high-ground, they have to do things by the book.

A lot of behavior seems to go above that, though. Not that your idea doesn't make perfect sense, just it seems to get a bit more... Extreme... Like any trait, multiple factors can contribute to it. I see your point, though. I mean, it's not like someone's genes will compel them to join the KKK.

I'm not so sure. I have no proof whatsoever, but it seems to me that an inbuilt suspicion of people not in your tribe could be a natural trait. It would certainly go a long way to explain war and racism.

Agreed, that's pretty disturbing. Hopefully they can start being a bit more rigorous when saying a person is vegetative or not.

No, we don't do it because we'd die if we did and we aren't able to hunt and eat an animal with our lack of sharp teeth, nails, and slow speed. The point is that even if we didn't give that fish a quick death or a long death it certainly would've been eaten alive by a shark, dolphin, or a pelican. What difference does it make if it dies a quick or a long death? It was going to be eaten anyways. As MisterGreen said, it causes unneeded suffering. It's the principle of the matter as well - we don't have to act like other animals and ignore the suffering of what we eat because it would suffer regardless. We have to capacity to act empathetically, so why must we ignore that capability just because nature is cruel? Besides, much of the food we eat is farmed and wouldn't be killed by wild animals anyway, but that's really beside the point.