mad4u689

I'm very atheist and also Jewish. :D

I'd put it in the bank account, to be some more money to help me live on after I graduate college, or to live on now while I still need food and things. woo! I'm sure I spend on lots of things regularly, so it would just go toward that. A t-shirt here or there, the HP 7 book, going to the movie theater, out to dinner with friends, etc. It adds up fast! $300 doesn't go all that far :(

Really interesting :D Thanks for posting :D Our minds work the same way, really, on a smaller (or grander?) scale - that is, neurons in our brain act in different ways and are fairly simple on their own, but when they act together, you get consciousness and all that good stuff :D Pretty sweet :D

There is actually a fantastic book called "The Case For Impeachment" explaining all the reasons why illegal things Bush has done warrant impeachment (and are more serious than Bill Clinton's - where people were as angry over his infidelity as his lying under oath, which shouldn't have been the issue). I've heard the author lecture, and I'd recommend it.

To be fair, there was a relationship I entered into at 16 that I consider to have been love; therefore, I clearly do think love is possible at a young age. I don't think it's a question of the number that is your age, but rather what it signifies. To really be in love is to see both the beauty and the flaws in someone, and to connect on a higher level than is possible with other people; this isn't possible for people without at least some emotional maturity. At a young age, the brain really literally is not as well-developed, and the emotional maturity that constitutes "being in love" is less likely to be possible.

Yeah - this has been precisely the reasoning for dictatorship and monarchy in times past - going back to Hobbes at least. However, the unfortunate complications of such concentrated power have, I hope, been shown over time to be well not worth it.

I think it is against his rights if he really just wanted to wear female clothes. That is, if he likes to crossdress, this is entirely against his rights. If he was doing it to make fun of anyone, however, as a joke, then I think it would be very understandable to make him change as it could be considered harassment. I doubt this was the case though, and hope it wasn't :)

Yeah, I agree with you there. :D I don't know much about Huntington or really any political theorists, as it's kind of far from the subjects I'm studying - but it does seem to me that neatly dividing things into "civilizations" is arbitrary in today's intensely globalized society, where divisions are more and more fading away. A "clash of civilizations" is just a new way to otherize a group, in a way, though I'm sure that wasn't Huntington's intention. Anyway. I agree with you very much that the USA needs to (a) create hard and fast laws that provide basic human rights and the democracy/freedom it claims to embody and (B) follow those laws, including international law already set in place. I also find it hard to understand how we are criticizing Iraq and other "uncivilized" (in quotes because of the haunting historical ring that should have) nations for practices that we are ourselves guilty of - if we aren't ourselves being decent role models. So yeah. Basically, I agree with you, hohto :D Well said, and thanks for bringing this particular case to my attention.

This isn't an act of international terrorism because the definition of terrorism the US has so conveniently devised restricts terrorist activity to activity of subnational groups. This, of course, means the the United States, a nation in its own right, can't commit terrorist acts by definition. This is, of course, a ridiculous loophole - but then, the line between terrorist activity and war is and has always been quite a fine one. (If you try to suggest that terrorist activity is that which intentionally targets civilians, I would remind you of the Dresden firebombing or Hiroshima and Nagasaki.) What is terrorism that the US has "waged war" on? Turns out, it's not terrorism (do you see us going after the IRA in Ireland) as much as a war on a certain culture (Arab Islam - or civilization, if you take Huntington's thesis to be true) that we find threatening.

Favourites: Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Bill Clinton (wooo intellectuals with honor :D) Least favourites: Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, George W. Bush (booo presidents who forge ahead and do silly things like create wars or kill Native Americans on a whim or on faulty ideology) I don't know whether Andrew Jackson or TR would be my actual least favourite. I can't stand either of them in the slightest. I guess TR was probably more intelligent, but my god *shudder*. They both has this testosterone macho thing going on, and just followed their impulses to do some really stupid things that went against the Constitution.

Umm o.O Okay, first you argue that those people whose gender identity is different from their biological sex are mentally disturbed, and now vegetarians are mentally disturbed? I think you should take a psychology class or something. Or probably more importantly for you, a crash course in social justice.

I don't think improving the lives of some of your citizens at the expense of grossly abusing the human rights of other citizens is the mark of a good leader. So I think Hitler was pretty terrible, you know, committing genocide against entire ethnic groups and all. That said, my same argument applies today in dealing with terrorism: I don't think it's okay to improve the safety of some people by abusing human rights and torturing "suspected terrorists" who have never been charged with anything in Guantanamo.

Woo vegetarianism :D I don't feel as strongly tied to a lot of the ethical reasons that I used to believe in (but I still do to some extent not like killing a being that may have had some level of consciousness), but nowadays I just find the idea of eating meat completely unappealing and unappetizing on a gut level. So if I wanted to stop being vegetarian, I doubt I could go back now :P Vegetarian food is just so good :D I'm really into legumes (black bean soup and peanut butter sandwiches, mm) and seitan for protein. :D

I reread the sixth book this past week, and I spent most of yesterday afternoon catching up on theories and interviews with Rowling about the 7th book. I feel a little guilty for getting so excited about something that is clearly not "great literature," but I'm so completely excitingly anticipating this next book :x Also, in terms of theories, I'm of the "Reg Black is RAB and Mundungus Fletcher now has the horcrux locket and is among the things he stole from the Black house, Harry's scar is a horcrux that Voldemort accidentally created, Hagrid and Neville are probably going to die, and Snape is good" camp. I just have to decide which midnight release party to go to!

Actually, that's not true. Traditional rights (i.e. habeus corpus) have been ruled not to apply in these cases. While torture is technically illegal, there is strong evidence that it is still happening in places like Guantanamo. I recommend the film "Guantanamo" for an accessible account of what it's like. It may seem overdone and dramatic, but the night after I watched the film, I attended a lecture by the guy who was the Muslim chaplain (he was an American citizen with many army servers in the family) at Guantanamo and then later suspected of being a terrorist himself and imprisoned (and eventually released - he was never officially charged with anything). Anyway, he had firsthand knowledge of what it was like there, and he said that the film Guantanamo actually underplayed what it was really like. Umm. I don't live in Iraq, but I criticized Saddam Hussein's government, and I'd guess you probably did, too. No offense, but that's a pretty silly argument. P.S. I am American, though, and I know about our "freedoms" (some of which are pretty sweet, and some of which are total constructed perceived freedoms that don't actually exist, or only exist for the privileged), and I'm still criticizing our government.

Okay - I actually know people who are transgendered, and you guys have some gross misconceptions going around. Someone who is transgendered isn't choosing this or going against nature. They tend to have always just felt wrong in their body; they don't identify as the gender they've been raised to believe they should. I'm a female, and I've always just felt right in my female body, and I've never questioned it. Until I met someone who was transgendered, I didn't understand how other people could, either. I admit that it did seem unnatural at first. But now I realize how mistaken I was; just because I'm lucky enough that my gender expression coincides with my biological sex doesn't mean everybody is. If someone identifies as such, who does it harm? Of course someone should be honest about their original biological sex with a significant other, but that should be a given - you should be honest about everything with a significant other. I highly recommend the documentary series "Transgeneration" to see some real life students who are transgendered followed around and what their actual experiences are like.

I'm studying in the US, which is a little different than in Europe; however, university has been superior to high school in pretty much every way for me. Professors have been extremely accessible, friendly, and brilliant (my school has pretty small classes, so it's hard to say how accessible they are at other schools from my perspective). They're all extremely knowledgeable and working on cutting-edge research of their own, but still willing to take the time out and help you learn your stuff. It's pretty sweet, actually. My classes have been pretty challenging, but if you put some effort in, you can get a lot out of them and end up with a reasonable grade. It's not impossible - just the right amount of challenging. Socially, living in an environment with your peers (if you're living on campus) is just a wonderful experience. Good luck :D

See, now that's sexist. I'll probably elaborate later in the day.

I'm not sure what kind of demented reality you live in where taking your friend's girlfriend's virginity is more OK ("oops" ?! That's pretty serious) than playing Pokemon at 17 (which there is nothing wrong with; it's not a terrible game :P)

I'd dispute that. There are evolutionary privaleges to a mental attraction to the opposite sex and a fascination of breasts of both sexes can be explained. Nice large, round female breasts ultimately means lots of healthy babies due to lots of healthy milk which is a sign of biological fitness of the mother. Sculpted male breasts means good muscle tone and mass which adds to biological fitness and ability of the father to pass on genes. Just my perspective. Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant to say the reality is that what makes female breasts and not male breasts "inherently sexual" is actually just a social construction.

This sounds like it could be a classic case of anxiety. My really close friend suffered from this for a while; she was unable to do things like cross streets because it would just make her so nervous about dying. She recently went on medication for it after seeing a psychiatrist, and has gotten much better lately :D

No, female breasts and male breasts are most certainly not the same thing. But what makes one inherently sexual (and thus unacceptable for other people to see) and the other not? Both can be stimulated during sexual activity in an enjoyable way, so that's not it. Both can be found attractive to look at, so that's not it. Female breasts and male breasts are not the same thing, but them being different doesn't mean we should have different standards about what is considered okay for public exposure. The reality is that what makes female breasts "inherently sexual" is actually just a social construction. People think of female breasts as sexual because we've grown up in a society where their sexualness is emphasized. Your gut reaction might be "that's not true..." but I genuinely believe you have that gut reaction in you as a result of cultural forces you've grown up being exposed to. I think that both female and male breasts can be appreciated in both a sexual and a nonsexual way. And are you speaking from experience? I highly doubt it, because if you were, you'd be saying something else.

Well, I have no desire to kill anybody, though I don't expect to go to either heaven or hell, either way. I might save it for a good time when I personally wanted to die, and write myself in, to give myself an easy death at the time of my own choosing.

Two nights ago my parents went to a play in Manhattan, and apparently Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton were a couple of rows ahead of them. Oh man, how I wish I'd been there :( My mom said that Bill is even better looking in person O:) :D

One of my favourite bands. Quality.