Baron Samedi

[size=1]Jako sighed lustily as he stretched his legs. God, first class air travel is the [i]only[/i] way to go. As the pleasantly neutral voice on his headphones told him to 'Please Buckle Your Seat Belt' and thanked him for his patronage, he folded up the magazine he'd been reading, and set his chair back up straight. Within a few minutes an easy touchdown was achieved, and Jako was strolling down the walkway to the Lounge. As a VIP passenger, on Airforce credits, Jako got everything laid on. His luggage was waiting for him at the terminal entrance, as was a car. Nice car, but not too swish. Aah well. Last car trip for a fair while, he imagined. The car crested one of the many gently rolling hills along the coast, and they turned westwards to New Silicon Valley. And, God, was it beautiful. Dazzling reflections of metal and glass seared the eye, and like a spider at the centre of a web, it nestled amid the black roads that snaked towards it. Yet, still, it was a halfhour trip away. Good only for one last glance at the Vidscreens and 'Laughing with Alexandra', before the 1400 meeting at Hangar 13. Jako transferred from the Air Force car to one of the military base transports. He was the only one on the twenty seater bus. Jako brushed fine dust from his navy nylon jacket and dark jeans, before dragging his two S00tCase 405's off the transport. Staring up at the Hangar, Jako wondered exactly what he was in for... [Post finished ^_^][/size]

[size=1]At my age the question is a far cry from the kind of feelings that an older person would have, but I'd say no. I wouldn't choose what sex my child would be...and as a parent, how could you fail in anyway to love your child? If I was older, and had the actual option to, I don't know what I'd do, but I'd feel uncomfortable about choosing, I think.[/size]

[SIZE=1]Walking around to the other side of the bar, Jules sat down in a leather recliner, and perched his feet on the edge of the antique coffee table. "What have I been up to? I don't know where to start. So much has happened, yet it also seems like so little. The time flew, to tell you the truth, and I have missed you and our...excursions, though less and less as I settled further into normal life. A few months after you left, I went into the Canadian wilderness looking for The Plausible Mark of Faith, the place where I was trained. I knew exactly where it was, and as I got closer I could feel the pull of it. But you know what? It wasn't there. Only an old ruin was there. But I knew that it was the right place. Very...creepy. Then again, I have gotten used to that. You sem to have a knack for picking up the stranger side of life Sam. After that I kind of wandered a bit...before deciding to take up a hobby. I didn't really need a job, as the trust fund covered me nicely enough, as you can tell. So, I got into extreme sports...you know, aerial snow-boarding, freefalling, cliff jumping, stupid stuff with souped up bikes. And then, only a few months ago I realised that I was wasting my life for an adrenaline rush. So, I came back here... decided to study for a Chemistry Ph.D Nothing else too remarkable. As I said, the time flew." "You [i]have[/i] been busy, haven't you." "Well, yes and no. I was actually even thinking of studying religion instead of Chem... but I thought Chemistry might be a bit more applicable. Then again, considering your line of work, religion might have been a better choice. Though not having one would have been both an aid and a difficulty. Do you think in that case religion would clear or cloud the mind more? Or, rather, the lack of a religion?" Sam shifted on the bar stool, and scratched his head, grimacing. "I don't really know. It'd depend on the person and the reasons behind the research." "Yeah...yeah. Anyway, are you going to tell me a bit more about why [i]you're[/i] here?" Jules asked as he got up from the recliner, and headed back over to the bar. "All in good time, Jules. And speaking of time...we have less than two hours to be at the hospital! Pack, quickly." "Hospital...?" Jules queried, as he took Sam's empty glass and placed it in the dishwasher. "You're always too bogged down with details Jules. Come on, get cracking. I'll tell you more on the way..."[/SIZE]

[size=1]So, the problem at hand is underage drinking. Well deary me. Thats what I.Ds are for. And thats why people should be provided with holographically stamped and bar-coded I.D's. It makes sense, and forgery of those would be impossible. Also, restaurants can have a no-service policy if the person at hand is inebriated, or rather, full to the gills. So, this difficulty is [or shouldn't be] anything major. Or even a difficulty.[/size]

[size=1]Capitalism is King. People can vote with their feet [or wallets]. If they feel that having an older clientele will improve the mood of their business, then by all means, they should do it. If or when it fails, and they find themselves losing money, then they have the option of abolishing this particular rule. I think it is a pretty extreme move, especially as age is not a sound guarantee of conduct. However, it isn't like restaurants can have an interview with everyone who wishes to 'apply' to have dinner at their establishment, is it? I guess it is fair enough for them to choose this path. If I was old enough to go there, it wouldn't affect my... patronage of these places. Mood is an important part of a restaurant...and they obviously want a more up-market establishment, rather than a family restaurant.[/size]

[size=1]When it comes down to the line, I'd be hard pressed to take a bullet for anybody...as for dying for somebody. There is only one person who I would consider dying for, and that is my mum. Even then, who knows.[/size]

[size=1]Count me in as interested... [b]Name:[/b] Jako [pronouced 'Yakko'] van der Westheisen. [b]Sex:[/b] Male. [b]Age:[/b]: Late thirties. [b]Specialty:[/b] Earth Liaison Officer [b]Bio:[/b] A South African born in Burmingham, England, Jako always enjoyed interacting with people. Whether it was in the classroom, at the mall, or on the sports-field...he was always friendly. As he grew older, and encountered more the coldness of age, he withdrew, but still had the capability to blossom. He studied at University for a degree in human psychology, and participated in the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. He was charged with complicity to thwart the Geneva Convention, and given a 45 year jail term. He was in the exercise yard 17 months into his term... when three thugs attacked him. He almost died in the 22 seconds it took the guards to change over. The three men were all friends of one of the victims of the SPE, and were determined to inflict an iddentical level of brutality on Jako. He recuperated in solitary confinement for four and a half months after the incident. Shortly after that, he was given an offer by a surprise visitor, Airforce Colonel Hambrecht. Hambrecht worked for the USICA and required Jako [or more specifically, his world class psychology skills] to guard against the paranoid outbreaks incurrent among the first Black Horizon mission. He was also to be the Liaison Officer with the Airforce [and, unnofficially, USICA]. Jako accepted, gratefully. Anything to be out of prison. And really, he had no choice but to behave did he? Commandeering a spaceship was the last thing on his mind. [b]Appearance:[/b] Dark hair, brown and kind of matted, and short. Slight widows peak forming already. He has a customarily pale face, with average features, and stark blue eyes. He is mildly strong and has fast reaction times. He has crows feet spreading from the corners of his eyes, but they are the lighter variety: more laughter than stress. His sense of humour is quick, and he has trouble maintaining a straight face when he is lying or joking. Sadly the past two years have left him with very little to laugh about. The guarantee of freedom when [if] he returns has inspired him though...inspired him to begin anew, even at his late age. He never shaves quite cleanly, and always has traces of brown stubble. Dresses for comfort rather than practicality. Though, he argues, if you're comfortable, you may as well be practical. * The Stanford Prison Experiment was an experiment into the brutality of humans...12 ordinary people were selected, six of them as guards and six as prisoners. With increasing doses of aggressive hormone mixes into the guards food, it soon turned messy. Eventually, through a successful breakout, news of this was brought to the world. ** Jako has the english translation to Jacob, or Jake. _____________ Corey, I have only now noticed the signups closed thing...please take a look at my signup anyway, would you? [/size]

[size=1]My gravest apologies Annie for the long wait...I will have this post written up shortly. By Tuesday at the latest, is my aim. ________ Jules helped Sammuel place his luggage into the back tray of the Navy Ford F-250 that Jules drove. Reversing the car out of the bay, Jules took off, swinging wide around the roundabout, and taking the turn-off for the big smoke, lazy and immense in the smoggy distance. "So Father, any clues on what brings you here? Is there anything you need arranged?" "No, Jules...nothing needs to be arranged. But something is happening...something is on the move. I think. Have you ever heard of the Stigmata?" "Isn't that what Jesus' wounds were called? Like, the holes in his hands and legs?" "Yes. Well, someone has them... do you know what this means?" "Uuh, no..." "In that case, you'll find out soon enough. I'll also need to make some calls when we get to your apartment." "Sure thing." The rest of the trip proceeded in silence, with Jules occasionally glancing over at the grim-faced Priest. Jules had been through enough stressful situations with Sammuel that he knew the extent of the churning thoughts below the stone-mask. Or, if not the extent of the thoughts...the worry that radiated from them... The Priest was out of the car almost as soon as Jules keyed off the ignition, heading for the bank of elevators in the underground car-park. Jules flicked him his secuirty card for the elevators, and asked Sammuel to hold it for him and the luggage. The Priest's terse reply was more worry for Jules. "Don't bother bringing my stuff upstairs...you'll need to pack your own stuff too. We might be gone for awhile." Jules joined Sammuel in the mahogany lift, as the silently smooth engine hauled the two silent men to the floor 3rd from the top, where Jule's studio apartment lay waiting for them... and a message too. ______________ Done, eventually ^_^ [/size]

[size=1]OB has been a killer with me and procrastination. I put things off so much, even though I know getting them over and done with is more beneficial. I view it as "Hey, I've got free time now, and if I don't use it, I won't get it". Silly, but hey. So is procrastination.[/size]

[size=1]To be honest, I never even knew that Europe had any sort of rep as being some kind of 'landmass of perversion'. But, I just recieved a picture which illustrates completely the topic at hand. [center][img]http://img28.exs.cx/img28/2154/ethel.jpg[/img][/center][/size]

[size=1]Actually, Azurewolf, he said no such thing. He said that Zudo was 'offending' other workers, even though Zudo claims that he left his religion at home, as such. So, I think your point is kind of invalid ~_^[/size]

[size=1]Your approach is fine. You're just not having the best results. Why? Maybe they don't have an interest in you. Maybe if you...become more of a good acquaintance rather than a really good friend. Friendships are hard to lose, but acquaintances can only grow. Basically, anyway, lol.[/size]

[size=1]The helmet and the footprints in the sand are the best and most realistic part of it I feel. Those parts look really good, and would give you 10/10 from my point inventory. However, I think the hills should be darker green, and not so solid in colour, more patchy if you will. Mountains would be easier. I don't like the boat so much...it looks a bit off for some reason, nothing that I can discern though. A nice effort, but the helmet gets the most points.[/size]

[size=1]Why do you have minions but Piro has supporters? I think that makes [i]you[/i] evil. Even though you make cool animations... Aah well. That was a masterpiece of exotic proportions, spanning a vast variety of background. I am nominating it for German Foreign Film of the Year at the Sundance festival. For sure. Shizzle. Zy-zigga. Uum. Spank-wa... *shrugs*, Hey I tried.[/size]

[size=1][quote name='wrist cutter']Are you saying people aren't prejudiced against Christianity or Judaism? It's that way for all religions.[/quote] Yes, but especially from our side of the fence, Islam gets a bashing. It is more like the three religions I named are...buzzword religions. They all have negative connotations. If you say 'Hey dude, I'm Christian, gimme five', no-one cares [except that you're odd]. But if you go around saying 'I'm Islamic', 'I think Satan is cool', 'I have Wiccan powers', etc. then there is a difference in attitude. I wasn't saying 'Hey Islam, Wicca and Satanism are all given a bad rap, but nothing else is'. You see what I mean?[/size]

[size=1]The point is that we're all hypothesising. We don't know what would happen. I personally don't think that walking around topless would ever take off. It has too much ingrained opposition and prejudice involved. We don't know what would happen to sex drives/etc. if that happened. As for why Europeans are a bit more open to this...it is probably more their style of living and culture. It'd be a lot more relaxed than some places just due to their culture and upbringing. I obviously can not label any particlar case, but obviously thats why they are more open to it.[/size]

[size=1]Oh, I'm all for athletes doing whatever they have to do to pump themselves up for the big day. Winning is everything, after all. To be truthful, drugged athletes deserve to be thrown out. And you can not really argue otherwise.[/size]

[size=1]Yeah! If things keep heading how they are, eventually [i]nobody will wear clothes![/i]!! Right? *rolls eyes* I don't think that it will ever be truly acceptable to just walk around in the nude. And even if a law was passed allowing women to, how many do you think would? How many could stand up to the stares, the gossip, the nastiness of it all. Besides, especially if a woman has heavier breasts, isn't it better to wear a bra because it puts more weight on the shoulders? Sure, there may be a select few who would opt for walking around without a top...but as a general rule, that isn't going to happen, and it just is indecent. Breasts have come to be a sex symbol, in a way, despite the fact that [Oh my God!] they actually serve a purpose. Coupled with the fact that men have been the 'dominant side' for so long, that kind of freedom for women is far-fetched. Besides, how would you like to be out with your girlfriend, and having every slobbering guy drooling over her? hey? How comfortable would you feel walking around without anything on, hey? Exactly.[/size] [quote=wrist cutter]I don't care if they just had a baby and are a woman, I'll kick any publically breastfeeding harlot in the throat. No one wants to see me piss in public, and breastfeeding is just another excretion out of another orifice. Not only does she have the audacity to leave the house where she belongs, but now she's parading about without a shirt like a streetwalker. You can't get any more rude or indecent than that. [/quote] [SIZE=1] *claps*[/SIZE]

[size=1]If that reference was to me, then I was not in any way stating that Islam, Satanism and Wicca are in any way intertwined, [i]except in the fact that people have a prejudice against them[/i]. That is the similarity I was referring to when grouping them.[/size]

[size=1]*tick* Discrimination *tick* prejudice *tick* narrow-mindedness *tick* court action *tick* unfair As a curiosity question, what religion are you? I would really only expect this kind of foolish reaction with...Satanism, Wiccan or Islam. Maybe Haitian. Or maybe they'd be too scared to if you were Haitian. :p. Anyway, that is wrong. If you left your religion at home then there wouldn't and shouldn't be a problem. I'd have a little chat with that 'friend'.[/size]

[size=1]Point to prove- not everyone has online pictures. Would you accept non-real avatars?[/size]

[size=1]Perhaps inappriopriate was the wrong word. Or too strong a word. What I meant was, taken at face value and as they are, often wrist cutter's comments are very... sharp. Not always, but often. The thing is, it is also plainly obvious, just by how controversial they are, that he is being sarcastic. The 'un-gay' comment is a perfect one. If you took it at face value, it would be shocking. But, obviously he isn't being serious. He is being sarcastic, and poking fun. Put simply, you could say that his comments are 'stunningly inappropriate', and they make for excellent reading.[/size]

[size=1][quote=James]And then there are genetic mutations and so on. [/quote] I agree with that...completely. But the thing is, isn't it a thousand, or a billion times more likely for a bat to develop specialised eyes? Or take to sleeping in the open? Or, even become a non-nocturnal creature? What kind of impossible odds, what kind of chances are there of a genetic mutation occurring, which suddenly gives them sonar? 6.23x10^23? To 1? Those kind of odds? Genetic mutations are a perfectly acceptable idea, but there are some things which don't make sense...and I am just trying to say, that, while I don't know a lot about it, I think that attempting to use a purely scientific base for it all is difficult. Well, the scientific research is acceptable, but if they try to keep it in our physical realm there could be some problems. Maybe it is something else, like....alien interference or something. Some people even think that we're all an experiment of some kind, created by aliens. Though admittedly far-fetched, you could keep the evolutional debate within the 'four walls' of our world by using that... or you could take it one step further and claim that something else was at hand i.e. a god/whatever etc. Science is a good thing, I agree completely with that. For some reason I feel like you're missing my angle... but then again, I could be wrong. Maybe they know how stuff like the bat came about. But, excepting whether or not they know it, and I am reasonably sure they don't, isn't it highly likely that there is some kind of.... bleh, I don't know the word for it, at hand? Isn't the likelihood of some of the specialties of some creatures incredibly low? I'm arguing that. Not against science, nor am I a proponent of religion...I'm arguing that there may be a third route. If you check back on past evolutionary threads, you can see that I've been one of those who have advocated and spoken of the effective meshing of both science and religion. Science and religion can both be compatible, if both sides accept that they're not necessarily 100% correct on all terms. As you said, the Church has accepted evolution. Does that not illustrate that point? [quote=Dan L]I'M A CHRISTIAN. I DON'T LIKE CHANGE. THEREFORE I DON'T LIKE EVOLUTION!!!!!! [/quote] Hey! I said no flaming! :p As for the whole fossil argument, that they don't always fossilise...well I am with you all the way on that one. I used to be a really, really big dinosaur fan, for about 3 years. I had so much information on them...it was crazy, lol. And the odds of fossilisation are pretty low, whilst the odds of good, clean fossilisation are even lower. [quote name='Dan L']Personally I'm all for micro evolution, unsure about macro evolution, but completely opposed to the idea that evolution brought about life, rather than just keeping it going.[/quote] I [i]used[/i] to disagree with that, in particular the last part. But now I have...come to realise how unlikely it is that it could happen. Well, not now, but a few months ago I began seriously thinking on it. All the information you presented on the DNA and protein just backs it up. One thing I think about Creation is that religious people refuse to look at the science aspect, and science people refuse to look at the religious aspect. This is stereotypical, I know ~_^, but maybe some parts of the bible are not true. And maybe some aspects of Atheistic Creation are unlikely or impossible, which, coherently leads to the meshing of the two factors. Right? Or wrong? As I have said before, in other threads, who is to say that 'God' didn't start it all, and at stages help it along. I believe that someone once said something about God's time. Who knows how long God's day is? What if 'God' had powers...so, he created cells, and in a split second [a.k.a a few millenia] guided them into part of what we now know? There are certainly lots of issues surrounding both sides, and you can't directly mesh both of them, but a middle road certainly does seem to be a highly plausible route.[/size]

[size=1]This isn't particularly memorable, but CHW's post made me think of it... The number of times people have tried to lynch wrist cutter for his stunningly inappropriate wit and sarcasm. I don't know why people get so uppity...I mean, the man is a genius, and anyone can appreciate that. He pulls it off with flair and subtelty, but when they cotton on, they still go berko at him. Ladies and Gents, give him a break. Or better yet, keep harassing him. He probably loves it![/size]

[size=1]Sciros: In reply to your comments about how...blase you feel about the camel legs. Well, there are two kinds of traits in genetics. One is red hair for example, it is a genetic trait. It is passed on via chromosomes. The other, a scar, is purely a physical trait. It cannot be passed on. It is not in your DNA. So, should calloused knees be a DNA type of thing? No. They should not be. I am not arguing against evolution, nor God, I am merely putting forth an alternative theory. The fact of the matter is, I think that it is entirely plausible that there is some... kind of force, or something out tere. It does not have to be a kind of sentient being. Or whatever you'd like to call it. It could be a reservoir of chi, which can channel energy for particular things, it could be anything. I just wanted to see how people responded to this kind of idea. My point is that there are some factors that evolution alone cannot explain. Like the camels and the bats. On the flipside, obviously everything was not just created. Did a 'God'' begin the evolution process? Is there some kind of natural energy that aids us? Is there some sort of grand plan? That's what I am asking. I agree with evolution...to an extent. I think that there could be a God. I just want to see what other people think. And my whole point, Gelgoog, was that a physical trait cannot, or should not, be passable to other generations. And some forms of evolution have no sense...unless there is a controlling force. Considering the slowness of evolution, a bat's, now useful appendages, would have been useless for many generations. Unless there is something else at work, designing and planning. As such ~_^.[/size]