rainkius

I agree with your stance, they should remain legal. In my opinion, (this may sound cold, but i dont mean it that way) an embryo or fetus doesn't have rights until it is viable outside of the womb. With all of our advances in technology, i think the earliest is around 20 weeks. I don't think partial birth abortions are ethical, however. I think if you're going to be having sex, you should be responsible enough to realize you are pregnant with 9 weeks, and be able to take Mifepristone, which terminates the embryo (it's not a fetus until after 9 weeks, or so i was told). Personally, i'm not sure i could ever have an abortion. I had a slight "scare" first semester last year, and I was faced with almost having to make that decision. I felt like i had no choice but to get one if i was indeed pregnant, but i didn't feel good about it. So, it's hard. I wish no one had to go through it.

[QUOTE=ThatOneOddDude] Ratchet and Clank: A very good game that helped get me into PS2 a few months ago. Unfortuanetally, on the last planet with 15 hours of play time my file was erased.[/QUOTE] I totally feel your pain. This is the only R&C game i managed to 100% complete, as in, everything i could possibly get i got (all skill points, weapons, golden bolts). The second one has taken me over 80 hours, and i still have 1 skill point (the glitchy one - wrench ninja 2 on Joba) and like 5 platinum bolts (from the racing things, where you have to get through all 50 rings. It's just not possible for me lol). [QUOTE=ThatOneOddDude] Sly Cooper and the Thevius Raccoonus: If it werent for this game, I wouldnt care about video games. About 4 months ago, I beat this game, the first hame I had beaten in a long time. It involed a lot of dying and frustration, but I was so determined that I pulled through. I felt such a rush that I was determined to get back into video games.[/QUOTE] Totally! i wouldn't have EVER bought the PS2 if it weren't for this game. I suggest you try the second one, it's better than the first. And being able to actually steal things, like out of ppl's pockets, is just SO fun. :D [QUOTE=ThatOneOddDude] Jak and Daxter: I bought this after I realized that I loved Ratchet and Clank. This game is okay, but it just lacks... something. I still like it though.[/QUOTE] Yeah, it's ok. But Jak 2 is very, very fun. I have a platformers addiction... can you tell? :laugh: I wish they had more really awesome platformers... I just never really got into the Crash ones, and i own all the Sly, Ratchet and Clank, and Jak ones. I'm running out of games to play, and i hate that. How else am i going to waste the time i should be spending studying? :p

I got the Sands of Time for Christmas last year, and I have played it all the way through five times. Seriously, I LOVE that game. The biggest turn-off, however, was the INTENSE linearity... basically, once you leave a certain area, you can NEVER go back, cuz a door that can't be opened from that side will shut behind you or something. I got Warrior Within this Christmas and i'm already really far. The attitude they're trying to show the prince as having is kinda overplayed. (Don't worry - this isn't a spoiler, i knew all of this before i ever opened the game from reading the back of the box and such) He just apparently can't really eat or sleep, since he's almost constantly running from the Dahaka, who wants to kill him for unleashing the sands of time. So the prince is significantly LESS attractive in this game (SUCH a shame *tear*) cuz he's all red-eyed and chronically exhausted lol. There appear to be a lot less enemies, instead of attacking you in a huge swarm like before, there will only be a few but they'll be more skilled. The combos are really cool too. And dual swords are everything i hoped they would be lol. I was never a big fan of gore, but somehow it's just so satisfying when as you slice a baddie in half, it goes into slow motion, and he screams and blood fountains everywhere. The darker tone of this game is very well done. So how many other ppl are in love with this game too? And the first one? I can't be the only one. lol

[U][B]PS2[/B] [/U] (this is my only recent console - shame on me, i know) -Sly Cooper 1 and 2: I went out and bought a PS2 for myself last november after playing Sly 1 over at someone's house a few times. Sly 2 is REALLY good too. -Ratchet and Clank 1,2, & 3: OK, so i have a platformer addiction, and this is one of the best. But the multiplayer function in 3 is stupid and useless. this didn't need to be an online game.. c'mon. -Jak and Daxter, Jak 2: Another really good platformer. Was supposed to get Jak 3 for christmas but got Spiderman 2 instead and i dont.. really know why.... -GTA 3: b/c it's a federal law that you have to own SOMETHING GTA. -Max Payne: borrowed this from a now exbf. I never play it. Dual analog control is beyond me. How sad. -Crazy taxi: Bc i played this on dreamcast and liked it. -Spyro 3: technically a PS1 game, but still really really awesome. I got the first PS2 one, enter the dragonfly, but thats TERRIBLE. the load times between worlds (and you warp ALL the time) is always at least 30 seconds, which is beyond ridiculous. -Prince of Persia The Sands of Time: I love this game so much, i've played it all the way thru 5 times, and i wrote a walkthrough. -P of P Warrior Within: Haven't finished this one yet (just got it on Christmas) but i'm like 75% done and it's really good too. Much more aimed towards guys though... super increase in violence and female exposure lol. And the prince is much less hot. *tear* -DDRmax2: C'mon... you gotta admit it's fun. :D -Sonic Mega Collection: EVERY sonic game from the genesis and game gear. I nearly cried when someone gave me this for christmas. - Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2: I didn't want these games, they aren't my style, but someone gave them to me anyway, even though i told him i didn't want them and would never play them. Hmm... surprised neither of you guys had PS2 stuff listed. I don't own any other consoles... but i've played on them of course. Game Cube i would consider getting if i liked the Zelda games.. but i'm not into them enough to spend the money.

*I removed the quote cuz they editted it out of others* :laugh: That's so terrible i can't help but laugh. I don't whether to think you're just some dork trying to piss everyone off, or if you're actually being honest when a lot of ppl who think exactly like you won't. Yeah...wow. I can't even continue thinking about it. Oh, and if you throw up all the time: a) you smell like it. no one likes the smell of vomit. or at least they shouldn't. b) you destroy the lining of your esophagus. very bad and painful. c) you ruin your teeth. bad teeth = horrible smile. and nice smiles are so important. I have all male friends, and they always say stuff like this (not the stuff coconuts said, but the thing about curves being good, and anorexia being gross, etc), and yet, who do they end up going out with? Oh that's right.. the painfully thin girl. One friend who has tried desperately to convince me i'm not fat (i'm just in the range of upper normal weight) and is extremely against any and all vices (smoking, drinking, drugs) got with a girl earlier this year... and guess what she was? The bisexual (this ties into some other theory i have about girls pretending to be bi to pick up guys - i dont actually have anything against bisexuals) pothead girl who weighs about 90 lbs, wears a size 00. yeah...ok. Having all male friends has made me even more convinced i'll never find i'm a guy i'm attracted to who will be attracted to me. This is despite the fact that when i talk to them about being rejected by someone, they give me that bs about how "he's missing out on dating a really great girl" and "the problem isn't you, bc you're beautiful and sexy" and it's all HIS fault for not realizing it. :rolleyes: I find it hard to believe it's so painfully obvious to the rest of the world except my current crush. Liars, all of them. :grumble: I think most guys want the girl who wears a size 5. So really staunchly the "normal" weight. Nothing over that will really be accepted, but under that is fine. This is, of course, simply based on the experiences i have had.... perhaps one day they'll change, and i'll actually meet someone who likes me, hips and all. Or i'll eventually succumb to inner pressure and develop some sort of eating disorder. Who knows. :nope:

Siren - I applaud your posts. I thought you had a lot of excellent points, and although the tone was a little harsh, who cares? You didn't say anything untrue. Adahn, your post where you said the things like "is this upheaval of morals necessary" etc deserved to be torn to shreds like siren did. You can't say something like that and then claim you don't REALLY have an opinion on it, despite how much passion you had in saying some of the most narrowminded things i've ever come across. I hope you are open to change, because those things make me sad. The gay marriage issue is a horrible sign of intolerance and regression in this country. After the election, Prop. 2 (which was poorly written, but meant to ban gay marriage and make it so employers don't have to give ANY unmarried couples benefits, straight included) was passed in my state. I actually cried, i was so upset. (i dont cry about things often.) Such regression makes me, for lack of a better word (and i apologize for how melodramatic it sounds), heartsick. And migrating back toward the original issue... Attraction can't be nailed down to something specific. Before, i was always attracted to guys who were close to 6 ft, a little on the hefty side, sorta jockish (but not the typical jock, i suppose - my last 2 bfs both played football but they weren't complete ********, that's what i mean. Sorry to rely on a stereotype there but.. yeah.). I never liked really skinny guys, or guys that were my height. Now my tastes are going all over the place. The guy i like currently is like 6'1" and has almost a dangerously low body fat % lol. Sometimes there's chemistry and sometimes there isn't. Sometimes i meet ppl i think i SHOULD like but i don't. I can't figure it out. I don't think anyone really can.

Yep. Just happened like 2 weeks ago actually. I really thought he liked me, so i took a chance and tried to communicate that i liked him subtly, then he acted a bit weird, so i came right out and asked him how he felt, and he just said he didn't like me. So..yeah... it sucks, but the sting eventually goes away. Just how long it takes is the variable. With Jake, i have to see him 4 times a week, b/c we are homework partners. And he's really damn nice. Too nice. In my opinion, no one should be that nice unless they have intentions, lol. And i don't just mean sexual intentions... he's not my friend either, so i fail to see the reason he's SO nice. We could continue to have a perfectly amiable academic relationship if he toned down the niceness a little. I dunno. I still kinda like him, but i think i'm getting over it. Anyway, i'm sorry you were rejected. I sympathize, and hope you find someone else relatively soon who reciprocates your feelings. :D

[quote name='wrist cutter']Animals aren't intelligent or self-aware. At least chickens anyways. I mean, there are some "smart" monkeys and whatnot, but the vast majority of animals don't even realize they exist.[/quote] I'm sorry, but i don't see how you have ANY real basis for that. How do you know they don't realize they exist? If they didn't realize they existed, wouldn't they just... sit there and do nothing? Don't give me bs about instinct being everything. I guess we've hit the fundamental question in this issue: do chickens (and other "stupid" animals) experience pain in a way we can understand? To me, experiencing pain is a concept everyone can understand... i mean, individual people experience pain differently so isn't this similar? Being cruel to a chicken is like pulling the wings off a butterfly - senseless and a waste of energy. Now, i make no claims about insects having pain receptors - to me, it would make more sense biologically if they didn't (what with being so small and probably stepped on all the time, and designed almost purely to be fodder for something larger). But i guess you could compare the lack of intelligence... (to me, a chicken is smarter than a butterfly and being cruel to a chicken is way worse, but that's just me...) I have a question: why do people want to do this sort of a thing in the first place? i can't understand WANTING to cause something pain just because i could.. :confused:

[quote name='James][color=#707875]Like I've said in previous threads, you can't simply look at someone who you find attractive and say to yourself "As of this second, I will [i]not[/i'] find them attractive". It just doesn't work that way.[/color][/quote] Oh my god, it would be fantastic if this were possible though... My life would be much less stressful because i wouldn't be pining over two guys i can't have. I'm sure everyone could say something similar has happened to them at some point in their life.

I don't think those things happen in that order, necessarily. I'm friendly to people way before i fully trust them. Trust takes a long time to build, and someone can be your friend before that, bc trust isn't black and white - there are varying degrees. Like you might trust someone enough to tell them you have a crush on someone and know they won't tell anyone, but you might not trust them enough to tell them you have, say, an eating disorder. And there can definitely be attraction there without either trust or amiability. Sex can be separated. That's why people get into relationships like that... that or they just want to have a S.O. regardless of who it is.

[QUOTE] I suppose you think DOOM is to blame too? [/QUOTE] Of course not. It was just an interesting fact i read somewhere. :rolleyes: And i was joking about losing faith in humanity over chicken cruelty. I lost it long ago over more important things. :p And i still think your logic is flawed over how much or little a chicken feels... but there's really no way to prove that either way, so whatever. If i were a company, i would at least attempt to limit the waste of energy bc it's inefficient and most of these companies are all about the bottom line, so i'm surprised they haven't done anything yet. I bet the best way to end this is to mention to the execs just how much production would increase if ppl stopped messing around with the chickens and just killed them... Oh, and the cruelty that's accidental, like the chicken being shackled incorrectly so it doesn't get its head cut before going to the scalding tank - that's just unfortunate. There's not a whole lot you can do to stop that. That i can see saying "just live with it" to.

The OP of cowboy bebop was what got me into anime. I was on spring break with my friend, and we were back in our room one night and i was watching adult swim bc i didnt feel like sleeping... i saw the intro to bebop and fell in love instantly. I then started watching it on a regular basis and now i like almost every anime i see. (i say almost bc i still abhor db and lupin the 3rd... *ducks in case ppl throw things*) Unfortunately i'm pretty much unaware of any anime that's not on [as], so i'm basically a total n00b. I really like neon genesis' opening too... that song just gets stuck in your head.

Wow... I'm amazed at how everyone is reacting to this. Like a few other ppl here, i don't understand how everyone can be so apathetic toward this. This sort of thing makes me lose faith in people as a whole lol. A few things: 1) I eat meat. 2) I had a psychotic roommate last year who was involved in PETA.. i know the stares of death i got for eating meat in front of her (eventually i started doing it on purpose, but that's beside the point) and so i've been exposed to the weird radicalism PETA seems to have migrated toward. 3) It's a fact that serial killers and the like started by being cruel to animals, and eventually worked their way to humans. So saying that hurting an innocent animal doesnt compare to hurting a child is way off actually... 4) Of course animals FEEL. they have pain receptors exactly like we do. seriously, that's just completely stupid to say something like that. No, they don't think "bashing me against a wall for no reason is a violation of my rights" but the pain of being bashed against a wall and having bones broken registers... i'd imagine they think something along the lines of "oh holy **** this hurts" but that's just a guess. ;) I agree that this violence is completely unnecessary and a waste of energy. There's no reason to torture an animal before you kill it. Just kill it and get it over with. I also don't think the torture is all that common.. i think its more just some messed up individuals. But slaughterhouses are still pretty awful, although for other reasons.