Sara

[color=#b0000b]It's a neat optical illusion, but it doesn't have a thing to do with whether you're right-brained or left-brained.[/color]

I hate the internet.

[quote name='Lethargy'][SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkGreen]Milla Jovovich[/COLOR] [/B][/SIZE][SIZE=1] [IMG]http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff159/johnathanvicks/Leeloo.png[/IMG] [COLOR=DarkGreen] As if there's any need to explain why she was chosen to play "the perfect being" in [U]The Fifth Element[/U].[/COLOR] [/SIZE][/QUOTE][color=#b0000b]I have such a crush on Leeloo. =] I don't recall everyone I posted in the last thread (props to Shinmaru for the link), but here are some more. [b][center]Neil Gaiman[/b] [img]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=26398&stc=1&d=1190946945[/img][/center] Tall, dark, handsome, and he writes the [i]best[/i] fantasy horror mystery humor wonderful stories the English language has ever seen. [center][b]Gene Wilder[/b] [img]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=26399&stc=1&d=1190947303[/img][/center] He's as old as my [i]grandfather[/i], but that doesn't stop me from crushing on him hardcore in his old movies. [/color]

[color=#b0000b]I don't really know what goes into this kind of graphic, so I can't say a lot on that end. It looks pretty nice, I guess. You do have an awful lot of black space, though. I think it would make your image a lot stronger if you cropped it close on either side of the light diagonal and made it a vertical image rather than a horizontal one.[/color]

[color=#b0000b]Azure nailed it.[/color]

[color=#b0000b]I feel like there is a difference between a motivational poster parody and a picture with a caption.[/color]

[color=#db2007]What are the chances of allowing more than one image in signatures? Basically, I'd like the ability to show off a few of my (70x70) Flickr thumbnails and have them link to the photos they represent. I realise there's potential for abuse (and probably no way to enforce it via software) but if someone penned a rule along the lines of "all images must fit within a 500x100 area," almost everyone would comply. (And the people who wouldn't are the people who don't read the other rules, anyway.) This has been brought up before, but as long as we're talking about signature sizes again, it's worth a rehash. I have no idea how many people would want to take advantage of the option, or the impact it owuld have on load times.[/color]

[quote name='Japan_86'][COLOR="DarkRed"][B][I][U]Boeing Dreamliner Hanger:[/U][/I][/B] The first photo was taken when my family and I were driving around the Boeing company. This is the hanger where they hold the new Dreamliner that was just finished.[/COLOR][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]The colors in that one are very good. I love that blue shade.[/color]

[color=#db2007]I was thinking about making a new thread for this, but this forum is slow enough without spreading the participation even thinner. If there's interest in the project (that is, if anyone else decides to try it), I might make a thread later. But a couple weeks ago I joined the [url=http://www.flickr.com/groups/365days/]365 Days project[/url] on Flickr—the idea is to take a self portrait every day. [b]I really do encourage everyone to try it[/b]; I've learned a lot about what my camera can and can't do in the last month! But these are some of my favorite photos so far: [center] [/center] P.S. There's also a [url=http://www.flickr.com/groups/whysobluepandabear/]once a week[/url] version if you can't keep up with daily photography...[/color]

[quote name='Konata']I like anything, except tomatoes.[/QUOTE][color=#db2007]It's okay, I like tomatoes enough for both of us. My dad used to eat them with sugar, which I could never bring myself to try... They're pretty ace with salt, though.[/color]

[center][url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/cerasaragirl/823494220/][img]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1267/823494220_ead174aa0c_m.jpg[/img][/url][/center]

[quote name='Dagger'] the Honey Crisp variety[/QUOTE][color=#db2007]As far as I'm concerened, Honey Crisp apples are proof of a loving and benevolent God. Even though they were engineered by horticulturists, haha?there must have been some divine intervention going on there. Red Delicious taste like month-old, stale carboard in comparison. (Not that Red Delicious need a lot of helping tasting like cardboard...) I'll sometimes buy a kiwi for a snack. I just rub off most of the fuzz and eat it with the skin, which a lot of people think is weird. But the skin is so tangy! Mmm. It totally makes the fruit. (If you get a really ripe kiwi, you can take a little bite, and just [i]suck[/i] all the insides out, like a spider or something.) I also love raspberries, with a deep, abiding passion. And wild strawberries are pretty much the best thing you could hope to come across during a walk in the park. Ten kinds of delicious, they are.[/color]

[quote name='Nerdsy'][color=deeppink]Of course, you'll never find me camping at a lake on a Friday the 13.[/color][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]But just think of the stories you could tell! [i]Twenty years ago, at this very lake...[/i][/color]

[quote name='Premonition'][COLOR="navy"]And obviously statements like that make this OBer angry. That's coming off as being rude. Now if you disagree with me that's fine, but you shouldn't insult me at the same time. [/COLOR][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]Well, sweeping non sequitur statements about your "not being able to stand" members of a large religion?while in the same breath thanking God that you're a member of a [i]slightly different branch[/i] of the religion?do sound pretty ridiculous. Retri wasn't attacking, or even directly insulting you. He was pointing out that what you were saying didn't make a lot of sense. Not in the [i]kindest[/i] way, but he certainly wasn't being uncivil.[/color]

[quote name='Lunox'][color=dimgray] That was part of what I was trying to say in my post. While pregnancy as punishment [i]sounds[/i] ridiculous, it's the underlying moral. [/color][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]Yeah, sorry. I was trying to clarify my original statement, not disagree with you. [quote=Premonition]you all knoq about yin and yang right? But did you knoe that the dark side is represented by women, and the light side by men. And just so you know, I don't give a damn. Good and light, dark and evil, I consider both the same.[/quote]Congratulations. You have appropriated an "exotic" spiritual concept, misconstrued it for your own ease-of-comprehension, and thrown it to the wayside. Honestly, Prem, you baffle me. Most of the time you simply agree with whatever other people are saying. When you [i]do[/i]strike out on your own, you make vague, confusing, or simply [i]antagonising[/i] posts and then get defensive and deride people for disagreeing with you. [/color]

[quote name='Lunox'][color=dimgray] I have a hard time believing that that mindset exists anywhere other than very small and conservative towns. Pretty much the same concept as Sara's point, but it's probably the argument most supported by people because they don't want to come off as radical, uber-conservative Christians. [/color][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]I wish I could believe the same thing. My city isn't actually that small (it's close to a hundred thousand people), but the mindset didn't necessarily exist across the city so much as it did in the demographic of people who taught at and attended the parochial schools I attended. My high school, including faculty and staff, was probably a bit less than 250 people strong. But that's two hundred fifty people who live in their own, überChristian bubble, spending eight or more hours a day interacting with other überconservative people who support and reinforce their beliefs?and who have other families, friends, and church members who believe largely the same things. I'd say there are probably similar pockets of people almost anywhere you could go. And while I don't think that I've ever heard anyone say "pregnancy is punishment" in so many words (because pregnancy is actually a wonderful, blessed, miraculous gift from God), I can't count the number of times I've heard "Well, it's her fault, and those are the consequences," and probably more damning things as well. If you actually approached almost anyone and said, "So, you consider pregnancy a just punishment for having sex?" they'd immediately shy away from the word [i]punishment[/i]... but how they consciously word their belief doesn't change what it comes down to at the end of the day.[/color]

[quote name='Retribution'][size=1]Something I?d like to say in general. I don?t understand people who are pro-life except in cases of rape or incest. It seems to me that if you believe abortion is tantamount to murdering an infant, it should make no difference what the circumstances surround the conditions for pregnancy.[/size][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]Growing up in a small, highly conservative Christian community (where almost [i]everyone[/i] favors the above), I can tell you what I've noticed about this. You're right. If it were really about murdering an infant, circumstances surrounding the pregnancy wouldn't make a difference. It comes down to this, really: In the minds of many (perhaps subconsiously, perhaps not), carrying, giving birth, and caring for the infant once it is born [b]are considered punishment[/b]. They are [i]consequences.[/i] Because women [i]aren't supposed to have sex[/i] for anything but procreational purposes. If they have sex outside the bounds of marriage, without intent to procreate, they are sluts. They are whores, they are easy, they are selfish, they are lustful, and they are [i]sinful[/i]. If, at this time, they conceive accidently, well... [i]good[/i]. That's what sex is for. That's why women are [i]supposed[/i] to have sex! It's what they deserve. Because regarding women, sex is a sin, [i][b]and if women have sex they deserve the punishment that goes with it[/b][/i]. It's the same reason the pill and Plan B are derided?because they largely remove the threat of unwanted pregancy, which "frees" women to have "consequence-free" sex. [i]Which is not okay.[/i] With pregnancy in cases of rape and incest, people typically concede that, [i]well, I guess it's [b]not[/b] the woman's fault. Mostly.[/i] So, since it's not their [i]fault[/i] that they became pregnant, they shouldn't necessariy be punished for it. Thus, abortion is okay.[/color]

[color=#db2007]Pro-choice!=Pro-abortion.[/color]

[quote name='Premonition'][COLOR="Navy"]I myself would rather have a study hall then learn about religious impact because I only appreciate my Christan roots.[/COLOR][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]*winces* I myself would rather have a study hall than a world history class, because as an American I only appreciate events which have directly affected me. And by "directly effected" I mean "resulted in a national holiday." The point isn't that you [i]enjoy[/i] it. The point is that you learn something.[/color]

[quote name='Nerdsy'][color=deeppink]I've never had a problem with the DMV. I'm always in and out in 15 minutes, except for (ironically) the time it was closed and I had to deal with this automated thing in the lobby. I don't know why everyone's always complaining.[/color][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]Yeah, but as far as I can tell, your town consists of ten people... =p Generally, people dislike going to the DMV for a few reasons. [list][*]It's something they're required, by law, to do. It's not voluntary, and it's not something they're looking forward to. It's a chore. [*]If you have to go there, it usually involves your paying money. [*]It also frequently involves having your picture taken by the least flattering cameras known to mankind. [*]In many cases, it involves a reasonable wait?between fifteen and forty-five minutes?standing in line or in uncomfortable chairs. [*]For many parents, the only opportunity to do anything is [i]with their small child or children[/i] who invariably hate waiting. [*]For everyone else, their day has just been gifted with a long wait in the same room as some very unhappy (read: whining, fighting, and screaming) children.[/list] Those are a lot of reasons to dislike going there. Add to those: [list][*]Even if you're in a good mood (and unaffected by all of the above points), the twenty-to-eighty other people there are probably not. [*]The DMV employees, who have to deal forty hours a week with people who are upset by all of the above are almost universally hated [i]and pretty sick of the whole situation[/i]. At best, they'll be terse. At worst, they'll be condescending or outrightly rude.[/list]I don't think it's any big surprise that people dread the experience, haha.[/color]

[color=#db2007]Bring a book. My local DMV doesn't have people stand in line—they've got a "take a number" system, where you pull a number at the door, and go sit down. There are lighted screens which change to tell you which (apparently random) numbers are being served at which desks. When your number turns up, you walk up to the appropriate desk and do whatever needs to be done. It's not bad unless you end up next to a crying child.[/color]

[quote name='Premonition'][COLOR="Navy"]I completely agree, a famous man once said if you believe you do not exist, you do not. [/COLOR][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]If you're trying to reference René Descartes, that's not what he said, [i]at all[/i]. Based on my own experiences, I think Intelligent Design ought to be taught in schools. [b]Not in the sense of [i]this is true[/i] but in the sense of [i]some people believe this, so let's make you a well-informed individual[/i]. [/b] I feel the same way about the world's major religions?I think very few people would suffer from learning [i]about[/i] the history and tenets of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Baha'i... or, to come right down to it, a philosophical discussion about agnosticism or atheism. I was raised Lutheran, and I spent most of my life (age eight to age eighteen) attending Lutheran schools. The result of this? I was [i]never[/i] taught about evolution (save a brief discussion in the sixth grade?I knew that Darwin went to the Galopagos and that he had something to do with finch beaks) or the Big Bang Theory. We literally skipped those chapters in our textbooks. If something didn't make sense in (senior year) Physics class, a completely valid response to "Why does this happen?" was "Because God said so." I'm not kidding. This is really the way I grew up. And believe you me, this is [i]not[/i] the way to produce well-informed individuals. Just because you don't believe something is true (or even if you think something is [i]total bullcrap[/i]), if it's a widely-held belief, I think you oughta teach your kids about it, just so they aren't completely clueless on the subject.[/color]

[color=#db2007]Which account are you talking about? Not this one, since you just registered. I thought you meant myOtaku, but your site hasn't been updated for months. I did just send a private message to you through myOtaku, and from my end, everything went smoothly. Unless you just aren't [i]receiving[/i] the messages that people are sending you? Perhaps your friends are actually spelling things incorrectly. Or are you talking about another site/account altogether?[/color]

[color=#db2007][url=http://www.1-18-08.com/]1-18-08.com[/url]. Not that it gives anything useful, haha, but it's there, and they're probably going to pull some "give you clues over a period of months!" thing. My friend hypothesised immediately that it was Godzilla. (People running in the streets, and a brief mention of Japan?) I'd totally dig Lovecraft, though.[/color]

[quote name='Nerdsy'][color=deeppink]Seriously, I have to drive for twenty minutes just to get to a McDonald's.[/color][/QUOTE][color=#db2007]Why would you want to go to McDonald's?[/color]