Heaven's Cloud

[color=indigo]I am not sure if it is still there but Asian Food on York (or Reierstown, I haven't lived in Maryland for some time and my memory sucks) probably has what you are looking for. [/color] [quote name='timotheus']Hello, first post here. I am moving to Baltimore, MD in several months. One thing that I'm worried about is, here in Sacramento, CA I am close to several Asian markets, where I can buy all my favorite Japanese foods and RAMEN of diverse flavors. Can anyone who knows Baltimore tell me of any good Asian Markets, or at least a world market kind of place? Many thanks! If I can't get my Sapporo Miso Soup flavored ramen I might cry.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='The Black Order'][FONT="Century Gothic"]What I'm doing for Valentines Day is [B]NOTHING[/B]!!! I don't like doing anything special because to mean, I think that it's just plain gay. No offense to the people who love this day. I just don't like all the mushy-mushy **** that people do every year. I prefer to just kick back relax and probably chill here at the OB. Now that is what I call a day to love.[/FONT][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]How is a day gay? I mean, really, do St. Valentine and JC get together on the fourteenth of February and make sweet man on man love? While my newly single self doesn?t have to worry about the holiday, I still enjoy it. It is romantic and cheesy and horribly pathetic at the same time. Oh, and the cards are incredible. I could spend hours in the Hallmark store laughing at some of the corny, sappy messages that those cards contain.[/color]

[quote name='DeathKnight'][color=crimson] Barack Obama is inexperienced. Barack Obama has ties to legal law firm lobbyists. He also has offered only a few concrete plans inside of his broader overall message of change and hope. Sometimes listening to him reminds me of some of Dewey's speeches I have studied that were all hot air and catch phrases, lol. He is not the messiah. He is simply the better choice of candidates I see. [/color][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I agree with you. Obama has his faults and I don't agree with quite a bit of what he says. Still, I also find him the to be the best choice out of all the viable candidates. One thing I could care less about is the "inexperience" factor. I think an overabundance of political experience in America just corrupts, that is why our house and senate always do the lamest things. Also, does Hillary have that much more experience then he does? If you don't count her time served as First Lady (which she should be glad I don't, her health care plan was a joke and she spent four years trying to cover up and explain her shady property dealings) Hillary only has served senate a short time more than Barack. [/color]

[quote name='Myself][color=indigo] Also, SunfallE states “[posts'] arguing with the staff will be removed”. Staff members make some pretty dumb comments sometimes and those dumb comments deserved to be argued with (I know, I used to be on the staff).[/color][/quote] [color=indigo]Hmmm, maybe I should have excluded this from my original post because it really distracts from my intended issue. To clarify again, I have no problem with SunfallE. I used this thread as an example because it was the most recent occurrence of a moderator warning members for straying off topic just a little. I have noticed similar instances occurring at least a half dozen times in other threads and other forum areas (on a side note, this is the first instance when SunfallE was the moderator doing the warning). Maybe it is just my perception, if no one else has noticed that this is an issue then I’ll quit my whining. I am not much of a complainer though (I don’t actually remember having a complaint with any facet of the OB ever) so I figure that if this is bothering me it has to bother other members as well. Oh, and SunfallE, I do appreciate how receptive you are. I am glad you didn’t take my post as a personal attack; then again, I figured you wouldn’t, that is why I chose your post as an example. James, I posted here because I thought that other members could weigh in. I am not criticizing a moderator for a single issue, but rather a trying to point out a fault that I have been noticing with moderation in general. If I was to PM you or Desk and you replied “I am not noticing this trend” regardless of your intentions I would interpret your response as dismissive. Afterall, this isn’t an issue that directly affects you. However, if other members say “hey Charlie, quit being such a cry baby” I’ll understand that it is just my perception of the issue and I can apologize for being a whiny little…well you know. [/color]

[color=indigo]I have a complaint. Well it isn’t so much a complaint as it is an observation of a trend that kind of bugs me. Since returning I have noticed that when a thread strays off topic, even a little, moderators seem to be quick to pull out the “I’m warning you people” card. Now, I understand that all the mods want to avoid having threads sidetracked or overwhelmed by moronic dribble. That being typed, I think that some you mods are being a bit too, uhm, proactive. To provide an example I am going to throw SunfallE’s post in the “Evolution” thread under the bus (nothing personal, this example is just the freshest and I also think that you’ll take far less personal offense than some other mods might). [/color] [quote name='SunfallE'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]I've removed a post for nitpicking/arguing instead of what the thread is for... you know... [I]debating[/I]. And from now on, further posts doing the same or arguing with staff will be removed, as Rachmaninoff already said, lets chill and lay off the other nonsense already. Most of you are fine and I appreciate that, so lets keep it that way. Thanks. [/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Often times in a debate, discussion, or conversation it takes a little bit of nitpicking or arguing for one party to understand the other party. For example, earlier in this thread indifference accused Nerdsy of nitpicking a point she made in the thread. I, like Nerdsy, didn’t understand indifference’s point, so it was only through Nerdsy’s nitpicking that I was able to gain a little clarity. Also, SunfallE states “[posts] arguing with the staff will be removed”. Staff members make some pretty dumb comments sometimes and those dumb comments deserved to be argued with (I know, I used to be on the staff). I think Nerdsy thought (as did I) that indifference had made a dumb and faulty comment trying to prove her point, however, it was only by making nitpicky responses that Nerdsy was able to gain clarification and discover that indifference’s response was not in fact dumb, but actually poignant. If this was the only instance of this trend occurring I wouldn’t have brought it up. But I have noticed similar circumstances occurring and it bugs me enough that I thought I would whine about it a little.[/color]

[color=indigo]I am jumping on the Lost bandwagon a bit late. I picked up the first two seasons on the cheap this summer and just devoured them. Then I picked up the third season when it came out on DVD and tore through it as well. Anyway, this was the first stand alone episode of the series that I have watched. It sucked. Not the episode, but the fact that I can only watch one new episode at a time. The show is far too suspenseful for that crap. [spoiler]Anyway, I think that the Oceanic six are Kate, Hurley, Locke (it has to have been his funeral), Jack, Sawyer, and…who the hell knows. The flash forwards are disconcerting as hell though, it makes the show even more suspenseful than ever.[/spoiler][/color]

[quote name='Aceburner']Yes, yes... Yes, very good. Thank you for that. It clears up a lot. Doesn't really go against my point, But I definitely learned something. [/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Uhm, well it actually contradicts your point entirely. See this is what you wrote?[/color] [quote] Pretty fancy language-talkin', huh? Well, here's a paraphrase: Things break down over time. Rock erodes, plants wilt, and organisms die. evolution speaks of things advancing over time, which is contradictory.[/quote] [color=indigo]You see, I have read similar arguments presenting cases for thermodynamics disproving evolution, mostly on creationwiki, which like all wikepedia articles presents obvious research flaws. However, plenty of scientists and mathematicians like Doc Sengbusch have used delta S equations to disprove those disproving remarks. Again, I am not saying that evolution is the answer just that people shouldn?t attempt to shoot down a theory with faulty or incomplete data, just like people should be skeptical of any theory that includes faulty or incomplete data.[/color]

[color=indigo]I don’t really have an opinion one way or another on how humanity came to be but I find it strange when people elude that there is as much scientific evidence in creationism as there is in evolution. The theory of evolution gathers its evidence from a wide spectrum of theories that include everything from Mendelian inheritance, sexual and asexual reproduction, population genetics, natural selection, shoot even that funky law Aceburner referenced, thermodynamics, comes into play. All of these theories are then used in correlation to hypothesize and support various scientific theories on evolution, in other words science is using science to prove science. On the other hand, many creation oriented thinkers and scientists argue just the fallacies (sometimes poignantly sometimes not) of various scientific theory in order to justify their beliefs. In other words, instead of trying to prove creationism they tend to disprove evolution in order to justify their philosophy. Personally I doubt that any group has gotten it right. Except maybe the Mormons.[/color] [quote name='Aceburner'] Example? Sure. [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_law_of_thermodynamics"]Wikipedia on the 2nd law of Thermodynamics[/URL] Pretty fancy language-talkin', huh? Well, here's a paraphrase: Things break down over time. Rock erodes, plants wilt, and organisms die. evolution speaks of things advancing over time, which is contradictory. [/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Aceburner, you have the wiki part of the 2nd law of thermodynamics down but I think you are interpreting the information in a misleading manner. Since I am not intelligent enough to clearly describe the role of thermodynamics in reproduction and evolution (micro mind you) I’ll simply quote University biology professor Peter v. Sengbusch: [/color] [quote] The second law of thermodynamics expresses the phenomenon that the universe tends towards maximum disorder, or, in other words: the direction of all spontaneous processes is such as to increase the entropy of a system plus its surroundings ( delta S is positive). It introduces the quantity S, the entropy to describe the state of a system. The entropy is a measure for a system's degree of disorder. It increases with increasing disorder.For a system at equilibrium is the entropy of the system plus its surroundings maximal and delta S is zero. The fact that the entropy of a system may decrease during partial processes is not inconsistent with this law. It is normal as long as the entropy of the surroundings increase in at least the same amount. This slightly abstract law is maybe best explained with the example of the phenomenon life with all its aspects like growth, reproduction and evolution. Everybody knows that cells, cell assemblies and organisms are complex structures with processes much more complex than those taking place in the inanimate nature. Every organism represents an open system, i.e. it has continuously to take up energy from its surroundings to keep up its degree of order and the integrity of its structures. All its processes are irreversible. Organisms are thus always in a state of flow (a steady state), never at a stable equilibrium. Moreover is it generally known that most of this energy is made available by photosynthesis, which again is dependent on sun energy. The energy transformation (matter to energy) taking place at the sun's surface causes a large positive delta S. A small part of it is invested into the generation and perseverance of structures at the earth and the delta S of the sun is diminished only by this insignificant portion, but the overall entropy of sun plus organisms on earth still increases.[/quote]

[COLOR=INDIGO]I am more honest with my acronyms so I use ssayaah, or slightly smirking at your attempt at humor, frequently.[/color]

[COLOR=INDIGO][b]3:10 to Yuma[/b] – One of the best western movies I have ever scene. Bale and Crowe both shine but the real treat is the under current of suspense that keeps building as the movie progresses. [b]Shoot Em Up[/b] – This was a lame movie, but I think its lameness was intentional. The movie is more or less a satirical take on the modern day action flick, but it isn’t spoofy. Actually, I thought it was fun to watch once. Once. [b]Chinatown[/b] – Film Noir at its best. This is a classic, the plot is interesting, and Jack Nicholson is incredible. If you haven’t seen this movie yet you should go rent it.[/color]

[color=indigo]Sorry, you'll have to skip me. I just got a super work load dumped on my shoulders. I'll get in a little later in the year.[/color]

[quote name='Korey'][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"] I can see why some people are hesitant to work at Wal-Mart as well. The part-timers there get less than 40 hours and are constantly competing with several other people to earn a decent wage. They work a VERY inflexible schedule, which doesn't allow for family emergencies or deviations in the schedule due to school or other circumstances. You work when you're supposed to work, or you will be replaced. This is just one horror story I've heard from a co-worker of mine who used to work at Wal-Mart. [/FONT][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I think this is a store by store problem that can arise anywhere. I work with a lady that used to manage our nearby Wal-Mart and, while she loathes the place, she always said that schedules were flexible, they loved hiring students, and the only scheduling problems that occured were when people that worked "back-up" shifts did not answer their phone. It seems like the manager of your friend's Wal-Mart store was probably just a jerk when it came to scheduling issues. I do agree with your points about customer service. [/color]

[color=indigo]My only problem with Wal-Mart (as well as chain stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, Dick’s, ect.) is how they manipulate local governments to help finance their building endeavors. These large chains often petition local governments for “incremental tax financing”, threatening to open in a nearby township if the local government doesn’t comply. “Incremental tax financing” is a fancy way of stating that the company will charge sales tax and use a percentage of it to cover their building expenses. For example, if your state has a 6% sales tax Wal-Mart might keep half of that money to cover building expenses. Rent or ownership of a retail space is not cheap for smaller companies, actually it is typically their largest expense after inventory. These large retail stores have the distinct advantage of not really paying for their buildings and therefore instantly have a competitive advantage over small companies. This practice is precariously close to violating anti-trust laws and really should be abolished. That being written, I really have no problem with Wal-Mart when it comes to an employee/human rights ethical discussion. They consistently pay their part time employees more than other similar retailers pay their part time employees, they hire a huge amount of disabled and senior citizens, and offer a comprehensive health care package to full-time employees (offering health care to part-time employees is not the norm in the vast majority of companies). [/color]

[color=indigo]I am the last person that should be handing out advice concerning one’s love life, still…. Don’t beat yourself up over it. It is just as much her fault as it was yours, after all, if she cared for you that much why didn’t she initiate a relationship beforehand? Also, it seems that she is just coming off of a long relationship and is probably afraid of rushing into another one. Give her time, be around, and make sure she knows how you feel about her maybe something will come of it. [/color]

[color=indigo]"Nope Charlie doesn't lie here, his ashes were secretly ground into thousands of cans of coffee just so he could tell everyone in heaven that he "was good to the last drop". And yes, he is aware of how immature that makes him seem."[/color]

[quote name='James'][font=franklin gothic medium]I'd like to go after Ozy. :catgirl:[/font][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I'd like to go after James, however, it will probably take me a solid week to finish anything. If that is too long at this stage in the thread I can always return when activity has died down a bit.[/color]

[quote name='Felix Freeman'][SIZE=1][CENTER][B]Now:[/B] Merge On The Freeway [Dissapear Here] [B]Artist:[/B] Bloc Party [B]Album:[/B] A Weekend In The City[/CENTER] it's kinda weird how this song paints a picture of Los Angeles, albeit it's a very strange picture painted with the colours of excessive drug use, partying, and sex. All of which is things you'd find in a perfect version of LA, obviously everyone knows [or [B][U][I] should[/B][/U][/I]] know that the city is nothing like that, but here's the weird part: everyone is beginning to model themselves after that distorted picture of LA, and not only do the lyrics convey that well, the instruments also help bring this picture to life with the vast use of distortion effects, and the repetion of the verse and chorus riff to symbolise people slowly adapting themselves into the picture.[/SIZE][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]At first I was kind of disappointed with [b]A Weekend in the City[/b]. [b]Silent Alarm[/b], Bloc Party?s previous album, was just so good that I guess my expectations were unreasonable. After having this in rotation for a few weeks I really grew found of the album. Many of the songs are wonderfully somber, and even the more upbeat tunes have a sort of melancholy appeal. I do agree that ?Merge on the Freeway? does paint an interesting picture of LA, but I think it is an astutely accurate one. Anyway, this week I have been listening to [b]Song to Fly[/b] by Yoko Kanno. Like many I became fascinated with Kanno?s work (along with the Seatbelts) after watching Cowboy Bebop. Her stuff is such and odd mixture of musical styles that it her album is really a hodgepodge of choral, pop, and jazz tunes. If you have an eclectic taste in music than I would definitely recommend this album. [/color]

[quote name='lea']Friend A is suspicious of friend B's boyfriend. He's incredibly nice and goes [I]way[/I] out of his way to be sweet to her. I guess friend A sees friend B's boyfriend as giving to a fault, and since he doesn't seem to have issues or anything, it makes friend A very suspicious of his niceness, like he might have an ulterior motive or something. Thinking about that scenario had me wonder if the general populace would normally become suspicious of a person who was "too nice".[/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Ah, well if that is the scenario, I wouldn't be surprised if Friend A isn't just jealous of the relationship between Friend B and her boyfriend. It is typical for a friend to become jealous in this scenario and then attempt to mask that jealousy with suspicion and even outright contempt towards the new party. There is a psychological term for this behavior but it escapes me. Doesn't mean that really nice people don't give me the willies. Not as much as midgets and clowns but still...[/color]

[quote name='Premonition'][COLOR="1234"]I'm not genre specific, I hardly know about genres anyways, I just hate when epople get them wrong. I.e, metalcore. [/COLOR][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]That sentence might be the most nonsensical thing ever written. How can you write "I'm not genre specific, I hardy know about genres" and then follow it with "I just hate when people get them wrong"? Do you hate yourself as well? Besides, I think you are becoming a bit genre picky. Metalcore might be a fusion of metal styles and a little hardcore punk but it is still plenty close enough to metal to be called metal. Music is becoming overly sub-genred, and artists, afraid of getting bunched together with the herd, keep coming up with sub-genres within sub-genres. Honestly,I think these genres keep popping up because a lot of musicians are insecure. Though I would probably feel the same way about anyone that felt the need to snub me because I confused a metalcore band with a metal one.[/color]

[quote name='Aceburner']We're talking legit ninja, right? Like stealth attacks and black costumes, as opposed to hyperactive people who run around in bright orange jumpsuits while yelling really loudly and using bargain bin Hadokens? 'Cuz if that's the case, I might be in on this.[/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I actually think I would rather be a part of the second school of ninja thinking. People would be a lot more surprised if they were taken out by a jackass.[/color]

[color=indigo]On the right? That makes me like the Jesus of the Otaku Boards! I think I would be a horrible Jesus, I would keep all the loaves and fishes for me, run away from lepers, and pretty much instantly renounce my beliefs when the powers that be threaten me with crucifixion. On the plus side, I?d use the water to wine trick all the time. [/color]

[quote name='James'][font=franklin gothic medium] In general I find that a lot of people who speak really venomously about political issues are the people who understand them the least - the truth, as they say, usually sits somewhere in the middle. [/font][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I agree, the middle tends to be where rational people roam. I am not Bush?s fan by any means but he has done a few good things in office. His work and aid and funding for PEPFAR (President?s emergency plan for AIDS relief) has been incredible and he really went far in making a statement being one of the first world leaders to be outspoken about the genocide in Darfur. Now, I am not saying that he hasn?t done far more than his fair share of dumb things but people do tend to forget about the good. Also, I think good or bad, the President often ends up to be the scapegoat for the House and the Senates? blunders. If America really wanted to shake stuff up this year all of us citizens could simply vote out every congressional incumbent. That would really change the face of American politics.[/color]

[quote name='lea']Would you ever be suspicious of a person who seemed a bit [I]too[/I] nice? If so, give reasons as to why.[/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Like you? Are you a sneaky Canadian spy? Huh, huh? Anyways, I am not usually suspicious of really nice people but they do annoy me for no logical reason. I really hate nice, non-judgmental people?the least a nice person could do is have a ?holier than thou? personality.[/color]

[quote name='Inculta_Bellum'] In case you already didn't know, Barrak O' Bamma and Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus last week. I haven't seen figures yet, but it looks like Hillary Rodham Clinton is pulling ahead from her 3rd place loss from Iowa. Regardless as to how well he does in the primaries, the Democrats are probably going to stick with Clinton as a safe bet instead of O' Bamma. Huckabee will probably get the Republican nomination. [/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I don’t really know how true that statement is. While Hillary definitely has the more famous name I think many Democrats are hoping for the Obamanator to pull out an upset. The problem with Hillary is that there are a lot of Democrats and “on the fence” Republicans that will not vote for her regardless of who she is running against. I am still on the fence. The idea of another Republican president, especially a Huckabee or a Romney, kind of scares me. There is also something intangible about Hillary that bothers me. So I guess I’ll be one of those undecideds that each side vies so hard for…who knows, maybe the libertarians have a few interesting candidates that are worth looking at.[/color] Edit: And Sandy, Barack is not Muslim, he is some type of protestant. Not that it really matters one way or another.

[color=indigo]I think the issue has been made way to complicated. Before you argue morals or ethics you have to be able to answer one simple question: why is an act that is perfectly legal between two consenting adults unable to be bought or sold if both parties are consenting adults? [/color]