Manic Webb

[quote name='AzureWolf']I will stop arguing here.[/quote] Good. Because I'm running out of energy, and I'm getting tired of reading your attempts at sounding logical. [quote]and then ignore the third sentence where I say "Even if not everyone, how would you know who I'm acquainted with here anyway?"[/quote] Why acknowledge that sentence when you already said this?: [quote]Secondly, my acquaintances would not be online persons.[/quote] Moving right along... [quote]That's some of the poorest logic I've ever heard. Ok, so you graciously assume that I know there are more than 3 religions worldwide (wow, I thought we were restricted to the US at first). Unfortunately, I'm only acquainted with the 3 largest monotheistic ones, and that's what was addressed the first circle around. So regardless of the world's religious make-up, you had no idea the make-up of my acquaintances.[/quote] This was my fault. I thought you'd be aware of one of the world's largest religious groups. A group, mind you, that is larger than Judaism. [quote]Why you would go from the US to OB after thinking of my acquaintances is beyond reason. XD[/quote] You didn't tell me you were unacquainted with OB members until later. You've been engaging in discussions on this board since 2003, and it wouldn't have been at all difficult to acquaint yourself with other members through your discussions. However, I'm willing to admit I was wrong in my assumption. You've made it clear you don't acquaint yourself with people online. However, you didn't bring this up until after I replied with reference to OB. [quote]Fifth largest? Really, again, giving you the benefit of the doubt (what, the third time now?), fifth largest sure as hell does not fall into "most." Most people are not Bhuddist, not even in the US if we follow your "around here" logic.[/quote] Why give me the benefit of the doubt? Look it up for yourself. Most people are not Jewish, either. In fact, it falls in as the 12th largest worldwide. But if you want to go by the US' religious population, then Buddhism still falls in as the 5th. In fact, according to the 2000 census, the number of Buddhists and Muslims in the US is nearly even. The difference is within hundredths of a percent. But don't take my word for it. [quote]If I was as anal about your initial reply as you are about my single sentence, then I would have made ridiculously long and boring responses about how Bhuddism isn't the only religion that Darwinism works with and why you decided to omit those out and how illogical that is.[/quote] Ah, but that would mean you [i]do[/i] know of more than 3 religions. And you made it clear that you're only acquainted with Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. And as we all know, thinking that either of those religions work with Darwinism would be an "ill-conceived notion." And if you had presented more religions that work with Darwinism, I would have probably agreed with you and thanked you for pointing them out. [quote]So, at first, it was about the entire US, and then it's about clarifying on what I was saying,[/quote] Right. I was trying to clarify and add on to what you said, because I thought you were including the whole US. [quote]and then it's about OBers... I hope it's clear why your replies are accumulating to less and less logically sound statements.[/quote] I told you why I included the OB members. Your emphasis on the words "around here" seemed as if you were trying to say my interpretation of "around here" as the US was wrong. So, because you hadn't yet told me your acquaintances weren't on OB, I thought you were referring to OB members. Pay attention. [quote]What? That doesn't even make sense.[/quote] You said... [quote name='You']But yes, it's my fault for having faith in certain members to easily pick up on things such that I would not have to flesh statements out to ridiculous lengths to get a simple point across.[/quote] My misunderstanding of your first post is rooted in me thinking that "around here" referred to a place you said earlier. It became clear that "around here" only referred to people you knew, and after you explained that, you said that fleshing it out was a ridiculous length. I disgreed. [quote]It's really kind of funny how that works: you thought I was referring to the US, and then when I mention acquaintances, you don't stick to the real world and jump onto the internet. Yes, your logic is certainly sound.[/quote] You hadn't said yet that you don't acquaint yourself with people online. My jump onto the internet was a guess, yes, but it wasn't illogical. Your acquaintances could have easily been in both the real world and on the internet. [quote]And secondly, you've contradicted yourself again: So, you did know I was referring to people I know, and yet you continued to make a comment... And third, you yourself did not go to ridiculous lengths to list every religion Darwism works with (unless you somehow do believe Bhuddism is the only one).[/quote] No, you're acting under the assumption that I knew [i]from the start[/i] that you have no online acquaintances. You didn't say that until after you first mentioned your acquaintances. And my point wasn't contradictory to anything. I was saying that I expected you to be aware of the world's 5th largest religion. You originally said you didn't think it was necessary to list religions that your acquaintances didn't belong to. You didn't say you were completely excluding them the frist time. If I had known that from the beginning, I wouldn't have replied with my original remark about Buddhism in the first place. And how was I to know you were only including 3 religions when you said something as [i]direct and specific[/i] as "most around here"? And why would I go to a [i]ridiculous[/i] length to list every religion Darwinism works with? If you can name any other religions, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Why do you think only naming one religion (instead of many) goes against my point? I just felt like naming one at the time. Believe me, there are others. [quote name='You][quote=Me']Is interpreting "most around here" as "people in the US" really that ridiculous if it's the same sentence where you said "the US population"?[/quote] To put it bluntly, yes, Manic, yes it is.[/quote] Now I'm beginning to understand your logic. If I were to say "55% of the population in my hometown listen to heavy metal, and most around here have the weird idea that Britney Spears plays rock music," it would be completely ridiculous to assume that "most around here" referred to people in my hometown. How could I ever fight such sound logic? Pardon my sarcasm. [quote]hoping that, after one post-exchange's time, I'll forget about previously addressed points so you could repeat them once more.[/quote] Well maybe if your previously addressed points made any sense... Now if that's over, I can finally move on to a different topic... As I said earlier, those first two days in the Judeo-Christian texts could have taken place over any period of time. It's my belief that God (or something) specifically forged the universe as we know it to follow a series of rules we currently know as science. When people think of magic and divine power, they instantly think of something defying all scientific reason. I say that doesn't have to be. A lot of events depicted in some religions can be explained scientifically, and I think there's a reason for that. If there really was an Adam and Eve, and the Divine knows what will happen, then the Divine knew they were eventually going to sin. So maybe everything was made for mankind to slowly unravel the truth behind. Or maybe everything in nature was made to keep itself in order, like a well-oiled machine, and divine intervention is just pulling a clog out of the gears. So who's to say the powers that be didn't just start out with a primordial soup that, in turn, eventually got us to the forms of life we are today? Every religious text today was written by a mortal man, not carved out of a mountain by a burning bush. So I don't know why so many anti-evolutionists are so dead-set on proving it wrong. Heck, for all we know, Adam and Eve were just a template living in Eden, and evolution was going on the whole time outside of the garden. --EDIT-- AzureWolf is just upset that I found an exception to what he said, so he tried to change the definition of his original post to compensate. Misinterpretation, indeed.

Really, Azure, I think it's nice how you can so easily omit parts of my post that answer your questions. [quote name='AzureWolf']And again, even if I was referring to OB, how could I be acquainted with everyone? Even if not everyone, how would you know who I'm acquainted with here anyway?[/quote] [quote name='Manic Webb']I didn't expect you to know every member's religion. I said there were signs of Buddhist OB members if you read some of the older threads on religion. You don't even have to browse back and read every post. There's a search bar to the left, if you don't believe me. There are over 13,000 members here. I think it's fair to guess at least one out there follows a religion other than Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.[/quote] So to answer your question (again), I didn't expect you to be acquainted with anyone. I expected you to know there were more than 3 religions world-wide, and that a fraction of 13,000 random people from around the world have to subscribe to one of the others. So even if you haven't read the old threads (which, by the way, you don't have to be acquainted with anyone to read), I would've thought logic would take over. Silly me. Let the record show that whether or not you acquaint yourself with any other OB members was completely irrelevent to my original point. I never once mentioned your "acquaintances" because you shouldn't have to be acquainted with someone of the world's 5th largest religion to know it exists. Did you have to know Buddhism's stance on creation? No, that's what I said it for. I was pointing out that there are exceptions to the idea that religions cannot coincide with Darwinism. [quote name='AzureWolf']*sigh* You know, even if you had the benefit of the doubt, the generalizer "most" is there, so I'm sorry for not putting that in bold for you as well.[/quote] I'm well aware that you used the word "most" in your sentence. But you know what? I'm not combating that. In case you didn't notice, I was trying to clarify and add on to what you said by saying there are exceptions. [quote name='AzureWolf']But yes, it's my fault for having faith in certain members to easily pick up on things such that I would not have to flesh statements out to ridiculous lengths to get a simple point across.[/quote] I'm sorry if I thought the phrase "around here" was unspecific, and having to say you don't acquaint yourself with people online is a ridiculous length. [quote name='AzureWolf']The mentioning of acquaintances should have sealed the deal.[/quote] Let's take a look back to the first time you mentioned these acquaintances to me... [quote]I did not think it was necessary to list every single religion that my acquaintances did not emcompass.[/quote] Why not? It's not like you said "around here" only consisted of your acquaintances the first time. What's that? Another ridiculous length? Maybe. But only if you consider writing "my acquaintances" or "people I've met" ridiculous compared to saying "most around here." Really, if you were only referring to people you knew, that's all you had to say from the beginning. And really, I'm sorry if a little specificity is too much to ask for. [quote] I will make sure to write everything, and flawlessly as possible such that other (ridiculous) meanings cannot be (ridiculously) reasoned from my posts.[/quote] Is interpreting "most around here" as "people in the US" really that ridiculous if it's the same sentence where you said "the US population"? Wow. Color me "taken aback." Also, it's never occurred to me, in my few years on this planet, that the difference between writing "most around here" and "people I've met" is ridiculous. Although, to be honest, that's all you had to write if you didn't want me to open-endedly add anything to your post. I mean, heaven forbid.

[quote name='AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]Forgive me, as this one is my fault. I told you to pay attention to the second emboldened words and so the first emboldened words were clearly ignored. So, I have to quote myself yet a second time. "Around here" is a very broad term, and any logical person would see that as a reference to an actual region rather than a definitive internet site. If I was referring to OB and not where I live, then I would have simply stated "here at OB" (notice the lack of the generalizer "around") Secondly, my acquaintances would not be online persons. "Around" is just not a logically sound term to use when referring to any website.[/color][/size'][/font][/quote] Hmm. Gee, why ever would I think you were refering to OtakuBoards when you said that? Let's look back... [quote name='AzureWolf']Only 55% of the US population believes in Darwinism, and most around here have an ill-concieved notion that Darwinism can somehow coincide with their religious beliefs.[/quote] When I read this, I automatically thought you were refering to the United States, a physical place. The location was one of the first things you said. I live in the US (you can tell by my profile), so my "around here" is probably the same as your "around here." So here was my reply... [quote name='Manic Webb']It can if you're Buddhist. It's a religion with no exclusive belief in either divine creation or evolution. Actually, I think it leaves a door open for either one. I'm not Buddhist, but I just thought I could put that out there.[/quote] Unless I'm mistaken, there are Buddhists in the US. So if there are Buddhists "around here" whose religion does allow them to believe in evolution, then their notions are [i]not[/i] ill-conceived. That was my entire point. I was trying to say there are exceptions to what you said. So when you bolded "around here" in your next response, I assumed you were attempting to correct my statement. I mean, if "around here" doesn't refer to the US like in the beginning of your first sentence, then you must have meant a more specific "here," right? There was no reason for me to think you were refering specifically to New Jersey or your home town, so I could only guess you meant "around here" to be OtakuBoards. I figured that didn't make my point any less valid (as there are Buddhists on OB), so I went with it. Frankly, I thought the use of the word "around" was more of your fault or lingual habit than mine, but I felt no reason to bring it up. So if you bolded "around here," there must have been a good reason. Were you refering to somewhere [i]other[/i] than the US when you said that? And if so, don't you think it would've been a good idea to say so? [quote name='AzureWolf']Even if I gave you that amount of freedom, how the hell would I have any idea every OBers' religion?[/quote] I didn't expect you to know [i]every[/i] member's religion. I said there were signs of Buddhist OB members if you [i]read some of the older threads on religion[/i]. You don't even have to browse back and read every post. There's a search bar to the left, if you don't believe me. There are over 13,000 members here. I think it's fair to guess at least one out there follows a religion other than Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. [quote]Congratulations, you aren't Buddhist. Thank you for emphasizing that. Unfortunately, I see little relevance to making note of that.[/QUOTE] When I said I wasn't Buddhist (and repeated it later), it was only to show that I understood the "their" in your original reply. If I am indeed one of "they," then what I said about Buddhism wouldn't apply to me. I didn't want to lead anyone to believe I was (as it might cause confusion), so I said I wasn't. Twice, because you put more emphasis on it when you quoted yourself.

[QUOTE=AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]I'm going to quote myself, the same exact quote you took, but I'm going to embolden two parts (emphasis on the second bolded words): At first, I did not think it was necessary to list every single religion that my acquaintances did not emcompass. However, if it really is necessary to create some kind of generalization that you can try to find a real exception to, here goes: [i]The three major monotheistic religions (i.e., JudeoChristian Islamic) cannot be made complementary to Darwinism, ever.[/i] Hope that clarifies things.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE] If you look back at some of the older religion threads, you'd find that there [i]are[/i] Buddhists here on OtakuBoards. I wasn't speaking for myself, but I was saying that there's a chance a Buddhist could very well reply here and give an entirely scientific opinion with no religious contradictory. Did it happen? No. Could it? Yes. Now I'm going to quote [i]myself[/i]: [quote name='myself]I'm not Buddhist, but [b']I just thought I could put that out there.[/b][/quote] I understand what you meant the first time, but you made a statement that generalized the members of OB (with a religion, of course) to be wrong in assuming their religion can coincide with Darwinism. I clarified.

[quote name='RabidInuFanboy']Not to get in an argument about the Christian religion, but I just want to point out that God created two races of man. Adam and Eve, who were literally children of God, and the Nephilim, who were a race of humans meant to subdue the earth. That's why we have the scripture "The sons of God slept with the daughters of man"[/quote] Actually, as I understand it, the Nephilim were a sect of angels who willing descended to Earth to teach humanity. They gave in to temptation while on Earth, and slept with the mortal women (which, I believe, was more than one at the time). Thus, they became fallen angels. The sons of God in your quote are the angels/nephilim, and the daughters of man are the women they slept with.

Me and the Power Rangers have a sort of on-again/off-again relationship. I watched it regularly when it was Mighty Morphin' and Zeo, but I only saw a few sparce episodes of Turbo. When it came to Space, I think the only full episode I watched was the last one-- because that was supposed to be the end of the series. Since then, I've only seen bits and pieces of the proceeding shows. That is, until last year. I became a big fan of Ninja Storm. I can't really describe it, but it felt like that was the season that reminded me of why I watched the original Power Rangers. They weren't cops or an elite task force. They were 3 sub-par fighters who were chosen to save the world simply because they arrived too late for the bad guys to capture. They had quite a few zords, but they didn't have 10,000 unnecessary ones (Wild Force, I'm looking at you). Also, they got rid of the ethno-gender formula they were using since day-1. It was always one Black, one Asian, one Latino who might pass for Caucasian, two Caucasians, and 2 of either group were always girls-- both pink and yellow. Ninja Storm gave us 2 Caucasians, one Latino who passed for Caucasian, a Pacific Islander, an Asian, and an Asian/Latino/Pacific Islander blend (depending on what some Filipinos prefer to call themselves). Also, the blue ranger was the girl. I tried to get into Dino Thunder. I saw the first 2 episodes, and it felt like Mighty Morphin' all over again, which was abreath of fresh air for an old fogy like me. Sadly, my work schedule got in the way, and I missed most of the series. I have a friend holding some downloaded/burned copies for me, though.

When the animated series [i]Rugrats[/i] reached its 10 year anniversary, the creators celebrated by coming up with a what-if episode, featuring our favorite babies 10 years older. It was a hit. So they created [i]All Grown Up[/i], a spinoff about the babies from [i]Rugrats[/i], 9 years later. It features all of the same actors (with the exception of Chuckie's Christine Cavanaugh, who was replaced by Nancy Cartwright), so we get to hear them mature their voices a little. We also get to see the characters in a grade school/junior high setting. It's nothing groundbreaking, but we finally get our questions answered about how the rugrats mature as they get older. Phil pretty much stays the same, but Lil demands more space. Chuckie's anxiety gets shifted to social situations, rather than ants in the sandbox. Tommy gave up his playground adventuring for filmmaking. Susie is an aspiring singer. Angelica is bending over backward to join the "in" crowd. Kimi went from an extention of Chuckie to an extention of Susie. And Dil... well, they gave him a personality. So what does everyone think of Klasky/Csupo's latest venture in animated teen comedy?

[quote name='AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]and most around here have an ill-concieved notion that Darwinism can somehow coincide with their religious beliefs.[/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] It can if you're Buddhist. It's a religion with no exclusive belief in either divine creation or evolution. Actually, I think it leaves a door open for either one. I'm not Buddhist, but I just thought I could put that out there. [quote name='Altron']Anyway, I'm a Christian, but I take Genesis as a symbolic story.[/quote] Agreed. I can buy that God created everything, but I don't take the part about doing it all in a week literally. We determined the length of a full day through 2 things: the Earth making a full revolution, and the time the Sun and moon are in the sky. The Sun and moon weren't created until the 4th day. The Earth itself wasn't created until the 3rd. So how exactly were light and heaven made in 2 days if there was no way to tell it was 2 days? That would mean God was working on a 24 hour clock, right? But there would be no need to keep track of time if time had just begun. It would've been a lot simpler to say light and the heavens were made on the same day. Personally, a metaphor is just a lot easier for me to understand. And if humanity started with only 2 people, that would mean all people on Earth are distantly descended from (well...) 2 people. This part about Genesis was written when everyone you knew was in the cradle of civilization, and people pretty much looked alike racially. No one was traveling far East enough to pass the Himalaya mountains, and no one was passing through the desert to reach Africa. I get that the story of the tower of Babel can account for the many languages spoken, but it doesn't explain why people around the world look so drastically different. But you know what does? Darwin's theory on adaptation. This is why, despite being Christian, I don't like to take too many things in the Bible too literally. Some stuff is just too difficult to explain unless it's meant to be symbolic.

Being an old-time fan of the original [i]Captain Planet and the Planeteers[/i] cartoon, I've always had my own ideas on how the Planeteers should've handled everything. Finally, I just broke down and decided to write a fan fiction. What you are about to read (should you choose not to press the Back button) is a more serious, somewhat darker, and completely unheard-of retelling of the [i]Planeteer[/i] mythos-- [b]without[/b] Captain Planet or his green mullet. Here's hoping Ted Turner doesn't sue me. [center][b][size=4]New Planeteers[/size][/b][/center] [size=3][b]Chapter 1 - The Chosen[/b][/size] [size=1] He was out of practice. He was good. He was a natural. However, it doesn't hurt to brush up on one's skills. He was having trouble focusing lately, so he figured he needed to find a few new targets. He needed easy targets; the same he originally trained with. The Werribee Open Range Zoo. It wasn't too far from his home in Melbourne, and he needed to shoot a few animals. His mind made up, Warner grabbed his camera and walked out the door. Warner shared a tour through the range with a small group of American tourists. He adjusted to the bumps of the truck as he began to shoot photo after photo. "Excuse me," a woman asked, "are you a photographer?" "Well, I take photos," Warner answered humbly. "I'm not a professional, though." "Oh. Can I see some of your work?" She motioned at his digital camera. Warner scrolled to some of his older photos, and held the camera closer to the woman. "Oh, these are good. My husband, Bobby, is a magazine photographer. We're on vacation to visit some of his relatives, but he insisted on seeing the Werribee Zoo." The woman turned around and tapped a man holding a camera on the shoulder. "Bobby, come see some of this boy's work." The man turned around and looked at Warner's camera. "Say, you're pretty good." "Thank you." "How old are ya, kid?" he asked. "I'm nineteen. I've been into photography since I was twelve. My grandfather caught me playing with his camera, and he sort of encouraged me." "You're a natural, kid. Here." Bobby handed Warner a business card. "Name's Bob Miller. If you ever find yourself in the States, give me a call. I might be able to get you a job at Geo Monthly." "Um, wow." Warner was taken by surprised, and a little flattered. "Thanks. I mean, I'm not sure what chance I have of leaving the country anytime soon, but I'll hang on to this." Warner laughed a little, realizing he hadn't introduced himself yet. "I'm Warner Blake, by the way." They shook hands. "And-- does anyone else smell smoke?" "Everybody off the truck," the driver said. They did as he said, as a cloud of smoke bursted from the engine. The truck hopped a little. "Right. Didn't see that coming. If you're all willing to walk out a few meters, I can get someone to come out here and pick us up shortly." However, no one had noticed that a spare tire had shaken loose from the side of the truck. When the tire fell and began to roll down-hill into the watering hole, Warner noticed it was about to trample a duck. He ran after the wheel, stopping it by tripping over it and knocking it down. Warner himself fell into the muddy soil. The driver ran to him and helped him up. "You alright?" "Yeah, just a little bemuddled... if that's a word. Is the duck alright?" "Yeah, he's fine. Thank you. I think the park owes you one." The driver, who is also a guide, peered down at the duck and noticed a small hand ring had fallen onto its feathered back. "Hey, kid. You drop this ring?" Warner took a brief look at the ring, taking it from the driver's hand. "No, I don't eat Cracker Jacks," he replied. He looked to the other tourists, holding the ring up. "Anybody drop this?" Everyone shook their heads. Warner put it in his pocket. "I'll drop it off at the Lost and Found when we get back." A young woman grabbed her luggage as she angrily stormed out of her fiance's Madrid home. Just before reaching her car, a he comes walking out the door. "Beatriz," he shouted. "Beatriz, come back!" She stopped, turned around, and looked him in the eye. "No, Ramon," She said coldly. "I know what you've been doing, and I can't live with that." "But I can get help--!" "Well when that happens, call me." "You can't leave me! You've got nowhere to go!" There was a moment of silence between them. Finally, Beatriz responded. "I can improvise." She loaded her baggage into her small car, and drove away. She knew she had nowhere else to go, but she had decided that staying put wouldn't help her. She wasn't even driving anywhere in particular. Eventually, she came to a pier. She exited her car, and began to walk around to think about where she could go from here. She looked toward the water, seeing a young mother and her daughter in her direction. "Carla," the mother warned, "don't stand so close to the edge." Carla didn't listen, however. Losing her balance, the little girl fell into the water. "Carla! Help! Somebody, my baby can't swim!" Hearing this, Beatriz looked up to see a little girl splashing violently. Beatriz pulled her shoes off, knowing they would slow her down, and dived in after her. After a brief struggle, young Carla realized Beatriz was trying to help her, and calmed down. Beatriz lifted Carla to the edge of the pier, where her mother grabbed her and helped her up. Beatriz climbed back onto the pier, gasping for air. "Is she okay?" Beatriz asked. "Yes," Carla's mother replied, "she's fine. Thank you...?" "Beatriz." "Thank you, Beatriz. I'm Eva. You just saved my little Carlita." "Well," Beatriz said with a smile, "at least something's going right for me today." Noticing a small vine of seaweed on her left hand, Beatriz removed it, finding a ring wrapped in it. "Does this ring belong to either of you?" They shook their heads. In an apartment in a city just outside of Vancouver, brothers Whistler and Kesler were engaged in an intense video game. They had been battling one another for hours, and their scores were nearly even. In a game of martial arts and combat, Kesler was ahead of Whistler by one match. If Whistler wanted to tie the score, he was going to need a new strategy. "Kes..." "What?" "I know this might be a bad time to tell you, but I heard mom and dad registered to get a divorce after you moved in with me last month." "Nice try, Wiz," Kesler began, never taking his eyes off of the screen, "but I'm not losing this match." "You didn't lose your pet turtle when you were five. I ran it over with my bike, and buried the body in the back yard." When Whistler said this, Kesler not only remained silent, but lost his concentration. He lost the match. With Whistler's victory, and the score tied, Whistler called his own bluff. "Just kidding, man. I don't know what happened to your turtle." "That's not funny, Wiz." "Yes it is." "Why did I move in with you, anyway?" "Because it was either me," Whistler replied, "or you stay at home with mom and dad." "There was also homelessness. Don't forget the streets," Kesler added jokingly. "You wouldn't have survived a day out there," Whistler said as he began to stand up and walk out the sliding patio/balcony door. "I'm gonna go get some air." "Alright. I'll rest my thumbs and get a snack." Kesler walked to the refrigerator, taking out several sandwich amenities. He turned around to grab the bread, but noticed there was very little left. "Hey Wiz! We're outta bread. There's only one slice left, and it's--" he scoffed a little "--an end-piece?! Whistler?" Whistler was standing out on the balcony, pouring a single blue pill out of a small white bottle. He placed the pill in his mouth, letting it slowly dissolve on his tongue. He took a deep breath through his nose, as a rush of energy flowed through him. Just as the pill finished dissolving, Kesler walked out, telling him he's going to the store. On his way back home, Kesler looked up at his apartment from the street, and saw Whistler talking to a man he's never seen before. Thinking nothing of it, he continued to walk toward the building. However, he noticed one of his shoes had become untied, and stopped next to a tree to tie it. Just then, a ring fell from the tree and bounced off of his head. Kesler picked it up, looking at it curiously. Not giving it another thought, Kesler looked up to see his brother fighting the strange man. Still holding his loaf of bread and the ring, he ran inside the building, up two flights of stairs, and into his second story apartment. The man was holding a gun up to Whistler. "What did you think, Whistler?" the man asked. "You think you were buy from me on credit?" "Get away from him!" Kesler shouted, as he lunged at the attacker. As Kesler and the man fell to the floor, the gun fired a single shot, hitting Whistler in the abdomen. With the attacker knocked out from the fall, Kesler crawled over to Whistler, who wasn't responding to his calls. Not far from Mumbai, a young man named Sanjay raced to Zev's, a nearby restaurant. As he rushed through the back entrance, he pulled a piece of cloth from his pocket to wipe the sweat from his brow. When he approached the wall chart used to sign in, the manager, using his own pen, crossed out Sanjay's name. "Ah-- wha??" Sanjay looked up to see his manager's eyes glaring back at him. "Ramu, listen. I'm sorry I'm late, but there was this thing with my neighbor, and--" "Save it, Sanjay," Ramu interrupted. "I told you that if you show up late one more time, I was going to fire you." "But it really wasn't my fault this time. I--" "No. I've already given you a second chance. In fact, this was your fifth. Get to work, and I'll include today's work on your final pay." "But--" "--Ah!" "But I jus?" "--Ah!" "If you would let--" "--Ah!" "Can I at lea--" "--Ah!" "Will you stop doing that?" "No. Ah! I'm not going to hear any of your excuses, so just know that I have a whole bag of 'Ah!' with your name on it." Sanjay walked to the sink to wash his hands. After drying them, he wrapped a short, black apron around his waist. Grabbing a pen and pad, he walked into the dining area to take the orders of the customers. The continued normally, although Sanjay was especially kind toward the customers. It's not that he was doing it to get his job back; he just wanted the extra tips. At some point, Sanjay made his way back into the kitchen for a break. "Hey, Dev." Sanjay walked toward Dev, the cook. "What's going on?" "Really busy day," he replied while turning on a large rice cooker. "No wonder Ramu wanted you to still work today. We were gonna need the extra help." "Well I'm leaving early. It's my last day, anyway." "I don't blame you," Dev said. He reached to a shelf above the stove to grab the sugar, but accidentally knocked a bottle of cooking oil onto the stove. The oil spilled everywhere, causing a small fire to break out. "Ah! Fire!" He jumped back, watching the flame consume whatever food was unfortunate enough to feed budding inferno. "Stand back!" Sanjay ran to the door, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and put out the fire. "You okay?" "I'll be fine," Dev replied. Just then, Ramu entered the room. "What's all this commotion?" He looked around, seeing signs of a fire, and Sanjay holding the extinguisher. "Was there a fire?" "Yes," Dev answered. "I was talking to Sanjay when?" "Out!" Ramu shouted at Sanjay. "You're nothing but trouble! I want you out of my restaurant!" "It's your brother-in-law's restaurant," Sanjay added. "You think I care? Out!" Ramu looked at the stove, and saw a small ring sitting amongst the foam. He picked it up and threw it at Sanjay. "And take your cheesy costume jewelry with you." Sanjay caught the ring, and took a look at it. "Where did this come from? A Cracker Jack box?" Midori always greeted her customers with a smile, whether she knew them personally or not. In this case, however, she knew her personally. It was Kumiko. She approached the register of Lucky Yen Café, where Midori worked. There were tears in her eyes. "Kumi-Kumi," Midori asked with great concern, "what's wrong?" "It's Ohagi," she said. Her voice was breaking. "He's breaking up with me!" "Aww. It's his loss! I told you that guy was a rice ball... and I don't mean that by name only. Why would he leave a girl like you?" Midori looked on, as the Kumiko was too upset to speak. "Listen, Kumi, I don't think I can talk to you right now. Can I stop by your place when my shift is over?" "Yes," Kumiko replied. "I'll talk to you later. Goodbye." "Bye, Kumi." As Kumiko walked away, Midori's co-worker, Hiro, walked to the front of the café to talk to her. "Who was that?" he asked. "That was my cousin, Kumiko Matsuo. It looks like her boyfriend of three years just broke up with her." "Wow. That sounds tough." "I can only imagine." "You know, Matsuo," Hiro began to say, "if you need to get off an hour early to see to your cousin, I can cover for you." "Thanks, Hiro. You've always been a good friend." "Right. Friend." A bus stopped in front of a boarding house in a Tokyo suburb. Midori exited this bus, walking through the front yard toward the door. She nearly tripped on something sticking out of a mound of dirt. She looked down to see it was only a ring. "Don't they put these in boxes of Munchee-Munchee Candy?" she asked herself. She held onto the ring, intending to give it to the little girl who lives with her mother a room in the room next to Kumiko's. Midori knocked on the door a few times, to find the landlord waiting on the other side. He greeted Midori, and led her to Kumiko's room. Midori knocked on Kumiko's door. "Kumiko? Kumi, it's Midori. Are you awake?" Midori opened the door, expecting to see Kumiko asleep on the floor. Instead, she found Kumiko dead. Midori let out a loud scream, disturbing everyone in the house. When the police arrived, they found Kumiko's body stretched out on the floor; mouth foaming, and a couple of blue pills in her hand. The police explained it as a drug-related death. Midori approached one of the officers, inquiring the drug. "It's a new drug called Bliss," the policeman said. "It's a man-made chemical that's being sold on the streets in these blue capsules. Craziest thing-- I hear there are deaths by this stuff all over the world." "Do you know where she could've gotten it from?" Midori asked. "Considering this neighborhood, I wouldn't be surprised if her dealer was a guy named Rigger. We've been looking for him for about a few weeks. We know the area he deals in, and that he's a foreigner. If it makes you feel any better, Ms. Matsuo, we're very close to finding the guy who did this to your cousin." "A foreigner named Rigger?" Midori wanted to make sure her information was correct. "Yes. Possibly American. I'd advise you to keep away from him, miss." "Thank you, officer." Moving to a new country is a lot to ask of anyone. Nevertheless, it had been a week since Warner encountered an American photographer named Bob Miller, and his options were open to anything. After all, it was a job, and there could've been a chance it paid higher than Russell Family Portraits. Problem was, he lost the business card. "Where on Earth did I put that card?" Warner began to look through his laundry, believing he never took the business card out of his pocket that day. He eventually found the pants, but more than the business card waited inside. The funny looking ring was also inside. "Heh. Forgot to give this back." He took a good look at the ring, and noticed a familiar symbol on top. "It must be a kid's ring. Look at this lop-sided heart--" A bright light shined from the ring, engulfing Warner. He tried to fight its influence, but he soon found himself in a motionless trance. Different images then began to pass through his mind: his neighbors, nearby animals; but four visions stood out above the rest. One was of a beautiful Spanish girl, standing in the ocean; the next was a Canadian boy, falling from a great height; the next was a young man from India, his surrounding ablaze; the final was that of a Japanese woman, standing alone on a mountain top. Warner had no idea what these visions meant, but he knew he had to find out.[/size]

See, I made the huge mistake of going back, reading all of Otaku Hollow, and coming here to read Cafe all in one day. Now I may never stop laughing.

Welcome to OtakuBoards... 1) Because of the loose way Japanese translates to roman lettering, all of those spellings are correct. 2) All threads concerning anime belong in the Anime Lounge. 3) We do not allow double-posting here at OtakuBoards. Please read our rules of conduct, and have fun.

After seeing [i]Bedazzled[/i], the [i]Wishmaster[/i] series, Jafar as a genie in [i]Aladdin: Return of Jafar[/i], Jeanie's sister Jeanie on [i]I Dream of Jeanie[/i], and that episode of [i]Charmed[/i] with French Stewart, I'd be very specific about my wishes. The first thing I'd wish for is that I had legally won the California state lottery a week ago, and a large sum of the money was already in my possession. The second thing I'd wish for would be a form of transportation (legally bought and registered in my name) that would allow me to get home. I'd save the final wish as either a way to save my life in an emergency, or to save the life of someone close to me.

Clerks: Uncensored What can I say? It was only $9.99. It's really a shame ABC cancelled this show after 2 episodes. But then again, it was ABC. The Critic I loved this show when it was on the air, and I was upset that FOX cancelled it for being less like The Simpsons. I saw this 2-season (complete series) box set, and just had to get it... you know, after it dropped in price by about $5. Chappelle's Show I was watching the second season's first run on Comedy Central, and I had no idea they were going to eventually air reruns of the first season. Regardless, I'm glad I got it. It's one of the funniest shows I watched in 2004. One thing I've noticed about FOX, despite their habit of cancelling good TV shows, is that they put shows on DVD faster than anyone else. They've put so much stuff on DVD over the past couple of years, I can't keep track. I'm waiting for Jay Mohr's show, Action!, to come out.

There are so many web comics out there, I had to set a limit for myself on what to read. There's essentially a web comics for everything. It's amazing how large this internet community has gotten. Here's a list of comics I currently read... [url=http://www.applegeeks.com/]Apple Geeks[/url] The story of a crazed Mac user. I found this comic when someone showed me their parody of the X-Men Legends videogame. It's usually pretty funny, but always insane. [url=http://www.bobandgeorge.com/]Bob and George[/url] The grand-daddy of all sprite comics. Over the years, this comic has proven to be a complex blend of corny humor and clever storylines. [url=http://www.elgoonishshive.com/]El Goonish Shive[/url] When I first found this comic a couple of months ago, my initial reaction was "what the hell?" But after starting from the beginning and slowly reading my way through, I saw this comic evolve from a slap-stick walking satire to everything, to a serious story with a few choice moments of humor. [url=http://www.megatokyo.com/]Megatokyo[/url] The story of two guys stranded in Japan. While I enjoy the continuing story and unique characters, this comic really hasn't been the same since Largo stopped writing it. I miss the semi-regular topical videogame humor. [url=http://www.penny-arcade.com/]Penny Arcade[/url] It's like a newspaper comic strip, if your newspaper were entirely about videogames. It took me [i]forever[/i] to catch up from the very first comic, when I started reading in September '04. [url=http://www.sorethumbsonline.com/]Sore Thumbs[/url] Did you hear the one about the Democrat and Republican who opened a game store together? This comic is politically biased, but still funny, considering how over-exagerrated it gets. [url=http://www.nuklearpower.com/]8-bit Theatre[/url] This comic defined the personalities of the original Final Fantasy characters. Never before has a murderous, immoral Black Mage been so funny.

I'm 20. I joined OB a couple of days after my 18th birthday. I originally joined because my friend, Rico Tranzriq, used to be a mod here. Some of the older members might remember him. He hasn't posted in a full year, I believe. I used to be really into anime. I guess I stopped watching other anime when I started concentrating on buying the whole [i]Excel Saga[/i] series; it took a year to do, by the way. Then I started working fulltime (in addition to school), and had less time to watch/buy anime. I'd lost my stride in these boards, for a while. I was visiting less, and pretty much limiting myself to usual inspections of the Music, Movies & TV forum. I'm getting my momentum back, though.

Many parents lead their children into believing in Santa Claus, but very few parents are actually good at keeping the ruse up. I always found my mom's gifts "from Santa" sitting in the hall closet. On top of that, we didn't have a chimney. I asked my mom how Santa got into the house, and she told me he knocked and she let him in. I think I got completely over Santa Claus by the time I was 5 or 6, but I continued to play along for the sake of my mom. It's funny to see my 6 year old half-sister humor my step-mom. My step-mom tries so hard to keep "Santa's" gifts a secret. She even sneaks the gifts under the tree after she sends her to bed. When Christmas morning came along, my sister asked why we didn't fill in the "from" line on the to/from cards, while we were wrapping gifts the night before. My step-mom tried to play it off, like Santa delivered the gifts. My sister looked at her like she was crazy. Funny stuff. So the way I see it, a lot of kids usually catch on pretty quickly, and it doesn't seem to bother them. It's like how kids never [i]really[/i] believe in the Easter Bunny, but they play along when their parents hide the boiled eggs in the backyard.

It's official. The big wigs at Nintendo are freebasing coke. I can understand if they're ditching the A and B buttons. As long as I can figure out which of their new buttons can jump, and which attacks, I'll be happy. But the D-pad? Don't they realize there are people out there like me who cannot use the analog stick in a menu to save their lives? I also suppose Nintendo is giving up on supporting any fighting games. If, for some reason, they do get some fighting games on their next console, I'm sure as hell not playing them. I've never been able to walk, backup or jump properly using an analog or joystick in a fighting game. I [i]need[/i] the D-pad. And heaven forbid Nintendo should release an anthology of old games.

You forgot Kochanski and Holly. In my years of watching public broadcast television, this is probably the first British show I've ever grown to love. It takes so many sci-fi cliches, twists them around, and turns it into one hell of a comedy. I like that there's no definable heroic leader. You've got a slob, a coward, a narcesistic cat, and a senile computer. Then later, the droid and only woman, both struggling to keep their sanity. Pretty much everybody lacked common sense. Remember that time machine they used to go back in time to wreck the JFK assassination, yet it never occured to them they could use it to stop their ship from getting stolen? Everybody just sat around and made personal attacks toward one another. Then some strange crap would happen (like the white hole episode), and they'd have to bumble their way out of it. The series was pure camp, and I loved it. It was smeggin' sweet.

Actually, Santa does exist. He retired from the delivery business in 1914, during the first World War. The air traffic and risk of being shot down became too great. He retired, moved to Florida (now living under the alias of Nicolas Steinberg), and released the elves with a severance package to die for. The flying reindeer are privately owned by select members of the social elite, such as Bill Gates and Oprah.

I live in Northern Calfornia, in the San Francisco bay area. This general area is usually refered to as the East Bay. I originally grew up in da hood in Oakland, but moved in with my grandparents in Union City when I was 12. Actually, we're not that small of a town. Our square mileage is extremely limited, but we're densely packed. I think we're up to 70,000 people, but the town's still small enough to walk out of in less than an hour. We have probably the most negligible weather patterns here. The mid-day temperature never gets higher than 85 in the summer, and no lower than 60 in the winter. I could wear shorts tomorrow, and just be [i]kinda[/i] cold. It's creepy, because the next town over gets much hotter in the summer. We're a pretty diverse town, ethnically. How diverse? We have an Island Pacific supermarket, and the parking lot is always packed. I think we were also one of the first towns in the area to get a Krispy Kreme donut place. There was a time the line was actually (I'm not kidding) so long there were people standing outside, and trying not to stand in the drive-thru.

I'm going with Stevie Wonder. He was practically [i]born[/i] with a harmonica in his hand. He was a star by the time he was a teenager. Nearly every R&B/Neo-Soul singer and musician today tries to mimic his style. Every song he's ever released was a hit. Entire concerts have been dedicated to him. Hell, the man had some of the best fashion sense throughout the 70s and 80s. And you know what? He blind! I know, I know. I could say most of the same stuff about Ray Charles. But believe you me, he ranks right [i]up there[/i].

[QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f]But those are obviously unislamic acts. Those men probably even commit adultery all the time and think they can get away with it. They don't even follow islam properly. Honour killings occured even before Islam was presented. Think about this statement: "Muslims do honour killings when their women are raped." People who do honour killings are not muslim. That goes against what Islam teaches. Therefore, the statement that "muslims do honour killings" is false.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] While such acts are (obviously) not a part of Islamic dogma, the men committing these acts [i]were[/i] Muslim. That's not to say [i]all[/i] Muslims perform honor killings, but it's apparent that honor killings have been performed by Muslims. Just because someone performs an act that goes against their religion's teachings, that doesn't mean they don't associate themselves with that religion. The Spanish Inquisition was performed by Christians, but I'll betcha by golly wow no one's gonna say they weren't Christian and/or Catholic. [quote name='James']The point is, though, both sides are at fault.[/quote] [i]Thank you![/i] I've been following this thread for a while, and I just have to say that anyone who places the blame on Israeli/Palestinian conflicts strictly on one side obviously hasn't been paying attention. Both sides are behaving foolishly, and all in the name of a holy ground they're practically desecrating with violence. The land must not mean [i]that[/i] much to them, I guess.

[b]Short Answer[/b] I'm a pseudo-Christian with unconventional beliefs. [b]Long Answer[/b] I tend to consider myself a Christian, but only because I believe Jesus had [i]some[/i] kind of major connection to "God." However, I also adhere to the Hindu belief that one ultimate power can manifest itself on Earth in any form, thus taking on the forms of many Gods in many religions; which is why you rarely here of Hindus getting into large religious debates. Their religon is structured to be accepting of other religions. I wouldn't consider myself Hindu, however, as I [i]do[/i] believe in a Hell and I love the taste of beef. Overall, I don't think God is one all-mighty being watching from Heaven. I believe God [i]is[/i] everything. If God were an all-powerful being, why would It create Angels to do all of Its work? That's why I think God is the essence of creation, and that there are Angels (which can be interpretted as multiple Gods in polytheistic religions) that do all of the saving, condemning, and other divine works. Is God all-powerful? I think so. Is God one entity? I doubt it. I think God is a power. And frankly, I think most organized religions are right to an extent, but wrong in other areas, due to massive misinterpretations of the same message. Why else would every major (and minor) religion tell humanity to behave the exact same way? So why do I consider myself Christian, specifically? Because I believe you can get into Heaven as long as you have faith in [i]something[/i] good, and [i]Christianity[/i] appeals to me. Some Christians, on the other hand...? --EDIT-- [SKY KEEPER], no offense, but your family doesn't sound very enlightened.

What bothers me is that [spoiler]the Ancients apparently left the Milky Way several million years ago, but came back roughly 10,000 years ago. If the Wraith are native to the Pegasus galaxy, that would mean the Ancients were at war with them for [i]millions[/i] of years before they turned back, sank their city, and set up camp again on Earth (where they started the myth of the lost city of Atlantis, and eventually ascended).[/spoiler] In the first episode, [spoiler]the Ancient hologram Dr. Beckett found said that they thought the galaxy was completely lifeless, until they found the enemy that wiped the floor with them. So what were the Wraith feeding off of before the Ancients deposited humans across the galaxy? Animals? But when the Atlantis Expedition team captured a Wraith (nicknamed "Steve"), they said he rejected every animal they threw at him. So if the Wraith don't feed off of animals, and they hibernate every 500 years, could they have really existed in the Pegasus galaxy before the Ancients arrived?[/spoiler]

I didn't watch the SpikeTV VGAs this year, but I remember quite a few things about last year's show. For one thing, I don't remember them naming nominees. A presenter would come out, make their typical "award show presenter" jokes, and then name a winner. They didn't count off the nominees, show their clips, or anything. They just told you who won. It's almost as if there weren't any real nominees for them to name-- just a video game endorsement. Also, SpikeTV's VGAs pick very [i]very[/i] recent titles. I remember seeing games win that had only come out [i]weeks[/i] before the show aired. I've yet to see any other award show (movies, music, ect.) that would give an award to a property that's been available to the public for less than a month. The VGAs did that. And don't even get me started on the musical guests. G-Phoria, on the other hand, was hosted and arranged by a network of [strike]geeks[/strike] [strike]techies[/strike] gamers. Nothing on that show felt like a buy-off. I watched G-Phoria thinking "my favorite game lost, but the other game was good, too" rather than "why the hell did that game win?" Also, with G-Phoria, you know the celebrity guests actually played videogames. G4TechTV has the advantage of airing a TV series called [i]Players[/i], where we watch celebrities play and talk about their favorite videogames.