John

[b]In the nick of time![/b] Name: Harry Age: 19 Sex: Male Appearance: About 6' 3" and 170 lb. Rather shaggy blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin. Very athletic build. Wears a black Blindside t-shirt (black writing) and camo pants. Round, yellow sunglasses. Gray skate shoes. Background: Harry moved to Ottawa when he was twelve, coming from Georgia. He takes after his father, who is a policeman (his mother died in childbirth). He has been training since he was very young to become one, also. Plans to enter the Police Academy when he gets out of college. Despite his physical strength, he is still very much a geek. Very gregarious, though, and gets along with most anybody. Generally liked by people. Harry takes most things with a grain of salt, and as a result doesn't fear much. One thing that does scare him, though, is big dogs. Something that started when he was very young, and that he has never quite let go of. He is interested in heights and climbing, something that also used to scare him. How this overcoming came about is not yet known, even to him. Before he woke up in the estate, he was planning on going on a walk through the nearby hills. Equipment: A bottle of water and a coil of string that he carries around to entertain himself with when things get slow. Miscellaneous: Though not any brighter than other people, he usually does better than most because he applies himself as much as he can. He also needs to have people around him, and doesn't do very well alone (at least in unfamiliar places).

If you attach a bell to a rope as a toy for your cat, and you end up having more fun with it than she does. ^_^

"At a party in Las Vegas, President Bush 'gets down' like only a Republican can do."

My family has had many pets over a course of years, but never too many at one time. Dogs. Yes, I'll start with dogs. I believe I've only had two dogs in my whole life, Biscuit and C.C. (our current dog). We adopted C.C. six or seven years ago from the pound, and there's really not much to say about her. I have no idea where Biscuit came from (outer space, maybe), and I was very young when he was around. The only memory I have of him is getting on his back and trying to ride him, falling off, and seeing a shaggy, white blur that was his underbelly flash across my face as I was lying face-up on the ground. The real stories come from our cats. At the same time that we had Biscuit, my older siblings all received kittens: a black one named Haywire for Joe, an orange striped one named Tiger for Jen, and a white one named Snowball for Joanna. Back in those days, we would boil crawfish on a consistent basis, so we had huge mesh sacks that the 20-50 pounds of live crawfish (I can't give a very good estimate) came in. Every Sunday, Joe would put Haywire in an empty sack and swing him in circles while singing "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells", thus his name. Tiger was a fairly normal cat, but mean. Snowball was also normal, but the story of her death is noteworthy (backed over by the Suburban). When we eventually moved to where we live now, a cat started living in our conveniently cluttered garage. We started feeding her,and named her Menu (French for cat. We're an original bunch). Menu eventually ran away, but a few years later we saw a kitten in our yard. It ony stayed for one day, but a few months ago another cat that looked exactly like the kitten we had seen started also to stay in our garage. I'm not certain, but I would swear it's the same cat. Nobody else in the family really wanted a cat, but I had been wanting one for a long time; so I took her in and named her Tito. Tito's about the stupidest cat you've ever seen, but she's a master escape artist. She's still here today.

[quote name='Darius_Stomu']Then preform a ritual Sepukka. I'd rather die with honor than with a disease.[/quote]I'm only guessing that you mean Seppeku, and if that's the case then you wouldn't die with any honor by doing something idiotic that you read about on the internet and decided it looked cool. Now, if that's not the case, and "Sepukka" is a highly honorable way to die, then please forgive me. Your intelligence is so obviously superior. I don't know what I would do with my last three days. Probably eat as many strange and exotic foods as I could, just to try them (hey, my family owns a restaraunt. Mine is a life of food). Beyond that, I'd have to be in the situation to decide.

The story wasn't written very well, but it seemed pretty accurate to me. All the classrooms in my school are carpeted, so we give the janitors quite a hard time trying to clean up the brains. ^_^ I myself don't get algebra a bit. Most subjects, even if they're hard for me, I can make good grades in if I try, but algebra just doesn't compute in my brain. Of course, the algebra that I'm taking is higher than my grade level (it was either that, or something lower than my grade level. I couldn't win). Oh well, I suppose I must endure. And Soal, you probably could've avoided the bickering by stating that you like algebra in the same post as the story.

Oh, I don't think I'm represented very well by any specific character, but I'd have to say I'm a bit like a cat. I say that given that I really have no permanent personality. I can be very quiet and observant one second, and running rampant the next. I tend to make people laugh, but I don't really do anything funny unless for my own whimsey. I stick to myself often, usually contemplating about something that I'll forget in an hour. Sorry for not giving anything specific, but I just can't think of any one person that relates to me.

[quote name='Dan L']...the closest I could find was "Deus Ex Machina", which roughly means "an unexpected solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem, either in fiction or history", or "God from the machine".[/quote]The phrase deus ex machina even goes beyond that. According to my brother, in Greek plays the hero was often a god, and all Greek gods can, apparently, fly (why not?). So the crew would string up a system of pulleys to suspend the actor of the god in the air, thus making a "god from the machine". It can also be thought of as "hero from the machine", so I suppose the creators of Deus Ex saw that JC Denton, the main character, was a deus ex machina (for non-DX fans, the machines are nanomachines implanted in his body). Cool, eh? My name? Well, not too much to it. I had an incredibly stupid previous name that I thought of many moons ago that I will not state here (you may not say anything about it, but by gum you'd [i]think [/i]it! I know you would!) that I thought of because I was too lazy to think of anything good. I recently had it changed to something equally stupid, but funnier; because every time I come to OB I see: "Welcome, [b]Who?[/b]." I'm always tempted to tell James that his site keeps forgetting my name. I need to get a life.

[quote name='Arkad][size=1][font=Arial][color=slategray]I dont really think thats necessary. You need some time just to look at it and figure it out. If there were to be a simple look the site would seem boring and unintresting. Its not that hard to operate the code in Theotaku. This isnt a criticism, I am just not for a simple look and I am sure there are others to agree with me.[/color][/font'].[/size][/quote] There's a fine line between interesting and eye surgery. [QUOTE=Boba Fett][color=#008000]I'd like to see increased help with user problems. I've been trying, without success, to get help with an issue regarding my ?Edit Content? page. I simply can?t change it without getting an error message. I?ve e-mailed Adam twice and posted on the ?MyO help thread?, but have never received a response. So, for V2, I?d love to see increased user help for the less tech savvy crowd around here?[/color][color=black][/QUOTE]That's very true. Sorry, Adam. I know that you have to tend to Velegant, but it seems you've been disregarding your email from your anime sites lately.[/color] [quote name='Baron Samedi][size=1][color=#8b0000]The Literature Section here is for Fanfics Nikorasu ^_^. If you write up one though that you'd like people to see, you could put it on OB and link to it through your mO Introduction if you so felt. Anyway, mO is not for fanfics as a general rule I believe. If you have any to post, whack them up in the Literature Section of OB ^_^.[/color'][/size][/quote]True, but by the same token there's an Art Section on OB, and a fanart site also. I think there was a fanfic site on theOtaku at some point many moons ago, but Adam took it off...

[quote name='Zidargh']I certainly don't want to grow long, white hair and be driving around in a Delorian screaming 'Great Scott!' 24/7.[/quote]Well, I don't know. The Delorian part wouldn't be bad at all... I'd also have to say that I wouldn't want to change anything I did, but not because of screwing up time so much as that I'm responsible for anything I do. If I couild change whatever I wanted whenever I wanted I would become lazy and irresponsible. If I **** up, I know I deserve whatever comes. If someone screws me over, I'll learn to forgive them. But just to toy with the idea, if I could travel back in time without changing the present, I might change the time I ate a raw oyster. I'm usually very open to new foods, but, well, if Jell-O could grow mold, it would be an oyster.

Recently, my family's restaraunt has been going down the drain, and without some extreme divine intervention, we're not going to make it through the summer. Coincidentally, my dad just recently got a good job offer in Kansas, and the guy who offered it didn't even know that we were getting ready to shut down the restaraunt. If we do move, it will be early this summer, and I'll be starting high school that year. My older brother will stay down here for college, and the only one who might possibly have a problem adapting and making friends is my older sister, because she'll be leaving in the middle of her high school years. But it just happens that she's the one in our family who can make friends and adapt far easier than anyone else. So it all fits together with amazing perfection. But that's not really what this post is about. I'm fourteen and have moved three times in my life, and I want to know how many of you have ever moved, and did you have any problems or interesting stories relating to the move?

[QUOTE=Amity]One time, a girl who I thought was my friend, used me so bad, it really hurt. I was like, 14 or 13, and she had come over to stay the night. Well, this was on Halloween, and I was exhausted from going around with my next door neighbor's son. She had stayed home with my brother. I got back home and bam! I go into his room and catch them making out. Mum was so mad. So what did I do? I packed her stuff, and tossed it in front of her, called her dad, and told him to come pick her up because of what she did. I have never forgiven my brother for all the horrid things he has ever done to me. Just because they were so bad...[/QUOTE][B]Ouch.[/B] I think I physically felt the awkwardness there. I've never really had anyone set me up, as far as I can remember, and that's probably because I'm very cynical about people in general and therefore don't have many good friends; so the friends I do have I know wouldn't set me up. There's only one backstabber in my class, but ironically, he's one of the most popular people. My life is the physical incarnation of the phrase "I'm surrounded by idiots".

[QUOTE=Onoki]What I've noticed lately with some of the artists that have alot of art thats it takes up space on their site! How about a Archives for their artwork list even select the size of how big you want the list to be and to view more artwork just click on archives... I would call it Artwork Archives![/QUOTE]Ooh. That's a good idea. What if instead of a link to an archive, though, there was a drop-down bar. That way people with slow internet connections, such as me, wouldn't have to wait for a new page to load up.

Actually, I didn't know if this was the place to post it because I hadn't seen any other questions here, just art submissions. The only tools I have are Printshop and Paint. Printshop will let me touch-up images and save them as something other than a bitmap, but it won't let me save changes to the size. Paint just makes everything incredibly pixelly (see what it did to my banner?). Of course, I don't think the new version of Paint is that bad about that. I'm on a better computer now, so methinks I will try my avatar there... Thanks, Kinetic. EDIT: It worked! Yay. Thanks, Kinetic. I suppose it's a bit hard to see what you did to help, but apparently you did something; because now I have an avatar, and before you replied, I didn't. Thankee. ^_^

One thing that is a real hassle for me is having to put in the same large block of html every time I post. If you're going to put in editors for things as simple as color and italics, there's certainly room for a section such as "Post Properties", where you could insert some html that would automatically appear every time you made a new post. Also, I've noticed that some people have made extra sections in the manner of the "Introduction" and "Otaku Life" sections. Why not make extra sections an optional feature? You may want to limit the number of sections, though, to avoid another 40 pages (was it 40?) of CNN reports. ~_^

A few more... Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, for I can assure you that mine are far greater. -Albert Einstein As much as I'd like it to, that one really doesn't help me any. Stupidity is like nuclear power. It can be used for good or evil, and you don't want to get any on you. -Dilbert Actually, Wally said the last part. It was all in reference to the Boss. Duct tape is like the force: it has a light side, a dark side, and it binds the universe. -Anonymous Words to live by.

Pretty much any song the Chipmunks ever did should work. You can never go wrong with 3-foot-tall helium addicts.

I don't know if this question should go here, or in another forum, but I can't seem to get this picutre resized and uploaded correctly to use as an avatar with any of the tools on my computer. Can anyone tell me where I can get it resized online, perhaps? If I did put this in the wrong forum, please let the wrath of James and Syk be mild. :nervous:

[quote name='Shinken][b]"Jesus Freaks"[/b]: No, I in no way discriminate against Christians, being one myself. I use this term to describe those who decide to jam their religion down everyone's throat, berate you for disagreeing, and fervently attack anything that they view as 'sinful'. Take the Westboro Baptist Church for example. They attempt to justify their anti-gay hate crimes as 'picketing' and 'religious expression', going so far as to send to the UN a request for all member nations to 'illegalize homosexuality and impose the death penalty!!!!!!' (Again, I KID YOU NOT). (My definition of Jesus-Freakism does not apply only to theists, it also applies to atheists who berate you for [size=1]believing[/size'] in a religion. Like Danakar, my deleted 'friend' from NationStates.)[/quote]Thumbs up to everything you said. Sin isn't something that we should accept as Christians, but it's not something you execute people over. That's the exact opposite of our purpose on Earth. People like that give Christians a terribly bad name. [size=2][QUOTE=DeathBug][/size][font=Comic Sans MS][color=#4b0082][size=1]I don't really catagorize the types of people I find offensive; I think most of us agree on what's annoying. However, the one thing that infuriates me no end: those who do not take responsibility for their actions. You know them; nothing is ever their own fault. The fat who sue McDonalds. The neglectful parents who don't know why their children misbehave. The lazy who are being 'kept down'. God forbid anyone admit that it might be [i]their own fault[/i] that they're in a bad situation. The greatest problems today are caused by a lack of responsibility.I see it, and it drives me nuts.[/size][font=Tahoma][size=2][color=black][/QUOTE][b]Yeesh.[/b] Welcome to America the Ignorant.[/color][/size][/font][/color][/font] [size=2][/size] [size=2][/size] [size=2][b]People who think they're smarter than me because they make better grades than I do. [/b][i]Grades do not measure intelligence.[/i] I wish all these preppy imbeciles would get this through their heads. All you prove by getting good grades is that you have the ability and the strange desire to memorize facts for a short period of time.[/size] [size=2][/size] [size=2][b]Country music.[/b] I apologize deeply, Boba, but I just cannot stand it.[/size] [size=2][/size] [size=2][b]Gangsta rap.[/b] The beat is almost identical in every song, preps listen to it constantly, and the lyrics consist of at least one of these subjects every time:[/size] [size=2]1. Gettin high[/size] [size=2]2. Bustin up dat boy dat be frontin me[/size] [size=2]3. Smackin dat sweet ***[/size] [size=2]4. I AM BETTA DAN YOO!!! I AM [b]DA [/b]GANG-STA!!! YOO CANNOT DEFEAT ME!!![/size] [size=2][/size] :flaming: [size=2][color=#ff0000][b]macintosh:flaming:[/b][color=black] Please do not make me go into this, or I will spaz and do things that I will regret later. But if you want to get a small taste of how much I hate it, you notice that I didn't capitalize it? It doesn't deserve a capital letter.[/color][/color][/size] [size=2][/size] [size=2][b]Preps.[/b] Generally speaking, that is. There are nice ones out there, but they come few and far between. The rest are the jocks that make fun of you until they get out of college and realize that they should've spent less time on football, because now they're bagging up groceries for that nerdy kid who liked those gay Japanese cartoons that he knew back in highschool. Is that [i]his [/i]Mercedes out there?[/size]

[quote name='Winter']...the estimated...what...36 billion people on the planet by that time?[/quote]36 billion? That's quite an estimate. In oe of my classes a long time ago we did an experiment to see when the population would reach 7 billion, and that's going to be about another 10 years, if we were correct. Still, it wouldn't be much of a massacre. Now, 300? That's getting pretty dangerous. Honestly, I don't think there's a good reason for us to even have found out any of this stuff. Science is something meant to further our knowledge of the universe, but in too many countries (America included, if not at the top of the list) it's too high a priority. Now, if anyone could find a way to apply knowing how a star explodes (or implodes) to make life on Earth better, I absolutely will not think that NASA needs a 60% budget cut. But until then, it's nothing more than trivia.

[quote name='Panda']Growing up in the 80's (which is the time many of you were born!) leaves me with very dated slang words. I still find myself saying "totally" totally too much. LOL Of course, I am with my friends who are the same age and have the same old slang words. You will all see when you are my age you will be using the slang words you grew up with!![/quote]I wish I was born in the 80's. [quote name='Godelsensei][font=Courier New][color=#808080]Becoming a laughing stalk through using words that belong in Shakespearian English and early children's books?? That's a sad assumption to possess. Truly.[font=Tahoma'][color=black][/quote][/color][/font][/color][/font][color=black]Shakespeare can be quite funny.[/color] [color=black]"She is spherical, like a globe. You could find countries on her." Lol.[/color] [font=Courier New][color=#808080][/color][/font] [font=Courier New][color=#808080][/color][/font] One of my most frequent phrases is "mmm...sampum." Very much an inside joke. Hoo-ha! - Used in virtually any good situation. Coach Z rocks. Check it out, yo. - Hey, look at this. What's up with that? - Yes, you all know it. I just say it more than you. excellent - I find myself saying it more and more... Anything else I say is completely random, but never gets used enough to be one of my phrases.

Chinese proverbs: Man with one chopstick go hungry. Man who lives in glass house should change in basement.

I've never done anything on April Fool's Day, nor have I had anything done to me. I'm a party pooper. But what with my birthday being last Monday (:D ), and tomorrow being the dreaded Day of Discord, I expect the latter part of that record to be broken in some way. I still remember a few years ago when Adam said he was going to put up a Captain Planet shrine on TheOtaku. Who knows what he'll do this year? Be afraid...be very afraid...

"No, no Francis, you tosser! Push him [i]sideways[/i]! Don't you know [i]anything[/i] about the dominoe effect?

o_o It honestly boggles my mind, how they could think like that. Just hearing all this has made me lose any hope of the possibility of PETA or any other radical group even hearing any other opinion, much less considering its plausibility (ironic). And that billboard just plain set me off. Not only did it not bother to even make an attempt at getting the correct definition of a word [i]and[/i] insult my religious beliefs, the entire thing was completely hypocritical. I just went to their site to see just how concerned they were about religion and getting people saved, and my suspicions proved true. Here's a few quotes I found: "CBS Rejects PETA's Superbowl [B]Racy[/B] 'Sausage' Ad" "the three most popular elements in winning television spots are sex, humor, and animals." (referring to the commercial) "Help us crown the [B]'Sexiest Vegetarian Alive'![/B]" "Play Col. Sanders? 'Head Up the Butt' Game" (resorting to open ridicule? Or, as they say, "Taking a lighthearted approach to a serious matter"?) About the rejected commercial and the "sex, humor, and animals" - notice that they didn't take time to actually make a worthwhile commercial with their own ideas. They were so busy pointing fingers that they never put any effort into it. They just said "Ah, screw it. Let's just put some breasts and stale jokes in there and be done with it." Besides, they had their classic failsafe of calling prejudice in case it didn't air. So it seems that they take anything they see, warp it to fit their demented beliefs, and contradict it immediately after.