Cornflakes

@Cornflakes: Addressing the issue of parents never saying no: There are other reasons for that. My mom spoils the hell out of us because she grew up very poorly - rape, abuse, foster homes, the whole nine. As she puts it, "I want to give you all the life that I never had. Enjoy your childhood while you're still a kid." While commendable, at least in theory, it boils down to bad parenting in practice, and sadly, this is what many parents want to do. My theory is that this trend started with the baby boomers who grew up with nothing. Once the economy got better and they had kids, they figured that they should give their kids everything in the world to compensate for their own missed childhoods. This mentality was passed down through generations because it's a very romantic ideal to grant your children their lazy care-free days of youth, but when you look back on it, it only leads to infantilization, which I'd be happy to discuss in another topic.

 

Awwww, I can see that. I'm sorry your mom had a hard life. :( I kinda do the same thing because I had it rough too. Probably not as rough as your mom had it but my ex-dad (I don't call him "dad" anymore) made our lives an utterly joyless, meager, horrible existence. While I tell my kid "no" all the time, he still gets a lot more "yes"es than I ever got. And naturally, my son is now lazy, has a horrible attitude, and won't lift a finger to do anything for himself. It sucks that the balance between raising a good kid and raising a spoiled kid is so difficult to achieve. But anyway, yeah...I agree with you 100%.

 

The thing is, that's probably what actually happened. Minus the evil laugh and the world domination part. The toys were offered so that it would attract kids to eat there. It's an intentional marketing effort. But the aim isn't to make kids fat, the aim is to make a profit. And, well, they're a business, so they're all about profit. So I'm confused, how is this illegal? o_O

 

I know right! It cracks me up that some people in this world start boycotting a company because of some asinine reason. People start companies to make money, yes? It's like "Boooo McDonald's for trying to profit off of kids' meals. Boooo Microsoft for trying to make as much money as they can by simplifying computer utilization for the average non-tech person." It's ludicrous. Sure, anti-trust laws are a good idea, don't get me wrong...but every time a company starts making some serious cash, there's always some jealous hater around to start squawking.

Whew! I only have 437 items in my closet.

 

"Only" 437, eh... :P

I usually carry just what I need to put on my pets, and then I throw the rest in the SDB. It is mind-boggling to me that people would have upwards of 650 wearables! I feel poor.

Today I watched "The House Bunny." It's totally not a film that I would advocate or even admit to liking, but...I kinda love it. :*

 

To up my cool factor, the other night I watched "Valentino," circa 1977(?) Great film. Fell asleep though. I can't wait to see the end.

 

And my husband and I are getting ready to go see "Eclipse" at the theater. I mean, uh, he doesn't like the Twilight movies. I have to drag him to them. Yeah, that's it. Hehe

Bullstein.

 

(one of the 'swear words' that Moronie uses in Johnny Dangerously.)

Eat some Twinkies. Anyone who eats Twinkies becomes happy and non-combative. :D

It's so weird, when I click the link posted I get nothing, but from there if I click on "Jubjub Power Bounce" at the top, it takes me right to the free token. It's the exact same link. Anyway, if anyone is still having trouble, try that. /shrugs/ :S

 

Well, after all that confusion, I finally got to play. I landed on the gold. I won a Sparkling Treasure Chest. It's a boring wearable that I wish I would have rejected and tried for something else. haha

I also did not see the free token to claim at the nc mall link posted above. :crying:

You'll probably enjoy it around here if you stay around...providing your brains don't get eaten first...

 

Eh, I'm not hungry today. *allows the n00b to scamper off*

I already sold it for a cool 6 million to a friend. I've never had this much NP, I'm flabbergasted!

Thank you Lawyerbot! :P

 

6 million.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but I completely hate you. :laughingsmiley:

32

 

The crucifixion of the Christ is said to have happened in the year 32 A.D.

TDN has a guide to making 100K daily. Good luck!

I've been playing Test Your Strength for a few days and I'm starting to think that it's impossible to get a rating past 20.

 

I'm sorry, but I loled and spit out my coke. Playing for a few days?! HAHAHAHA. That game is nearly impossible to win. There have been people playing for YEARS that rarely get above 'Weakling.'

 

If you're playing it and expecting to hit the jackpot soon, LOL! It'll be awhile! :P

EDIT: I found the solution. All I had to do was make a post asking for help, and it magically starts working, after an hour of not working. :laughingsmiley:

 

Aaaahahaha! That always happens to me when I take the car to the mechanic.

 

Maybe try Firefox? You Chrome users are always having problems! :)

Doey460

Feedback: Adorable. I love it!

 

Sanococoa

Feedback: Also cute, but your text is breaking out of your div. There are simple fixes, but the one I recommend is placing another div inside the main div and making its width smaller than the main div. If you need coding help, just give me a shout. :)

 

Aeiire

Feedback: I like it but I think you can break up the pink monotony by simply changing the gradient background of the main div and making it one solid color. Pink div on pink background is indeed pink overkill. :P

 

Just for the record, I hate rating someone's work and I refuse to have mine rated, because I simply don't care if people like my stuff or not, hehe :)

But I'm doing this for you in the spirit of helping, not to be critical.

How you gonna come on here saying "Hey y'all, I probably won't stay around." haha :P

 

Anyway, I thought you were going to be our new games master.

Maybe it just comes on more for me. I have to tolerate it at least 5 times daily. x_x

29

 

The number of Knuts in one Sickle. (Harry Potter)

neogitus

 

 

Haha, I was doing the Faerie Crossword, thanks to the kind people at tdn :)

 

By the way, I find it hilarious and adorable that most everyone's clipboard had something Neo-related on it!

Of course they get kids to eat their stuff with toys, that's what they are for! However, I don't think they mean to get the children fat, that is a little bit too much in my opinion.

 

I agree...the reason why I wanted to hear y'all's opinions on this in the first place is because that special interest group was basically trying to convince the nation that McDonald's is evil and intentionally deceptive. It's like the higher-ups at McD's are all sitting around this 30-foot table in some high rise somewhere, scheming world domination through making people obese. "Let's put as much unhealthy stuff in our food as we can. But how will we market it to children? We have to get our hooks in them while they are young, that's the ticket!" ..."Well why don't we include a toy. Kids LOVE toys." Then they share an evil laugh. "Muhahaha! The world is ours!"

 

Unhealthy food is nice because of the added fat and sugar content. I don't think we should get it rid of it completely. I mean I like it but I only have it once in a while.

 

Another excellent point. Fast food didn't make people obese. People made people obese. There is no exercising or hard work anymore. Most things are done by computers and robots nowadays. Even farming, that old labor-intensive occupation, is now done entirely by machinery. The farmer just points the harvester in the right direction and GPS does the rest. He doesn't even have to steer the thing.

 

And, I love fast food. On days that I want to splurge, McDonald's fries make me sublimely happy. Fats and sugars are bad for you but oh-so-tasty. But I don't eat fast food everyday. I think it's just common sense that you don't want to do that.

 

 

Fat children are fat because their parents control what they eat and cater to their every wish (like bringing them to McDonald's). We need to teach parents to be more assertive.

 

Absolutely - parents are buying the food and not cooking for their children anymore. It's a travesty. Not only do the kids need nutritious foods, they also need the structure of sitting at the family table every night and talking about their day. Parenting and the family unit are in a shambles these days.

 

 

Too many parents give in to this because it's easier to get their kids to shut up by giving them a Happy Meal than actually disciplining them and saying NO and following through with it. That's a common scenario in life, and I bet McDonald's counts on that fact of life bringing them revenue, in a way. But is it their fault that parents are lazy and unwilling to properly discipline their child and teach them the values of self-control and eating healthy? That's a big fat no (pun not intended, ahah).

 

I have a ten-year-old, and I can assure you that he becomes a whiny, sassy little monster when he wants something. But I have this great word: NO. I'm not afraid to say no to my kid, no matter how much he pesters. I think parents in general want to spoil their kids because it seems to be in vogue. Spankings have become taboo, parents work too much to feed their children healthy, home-cooked meals, and society has taught us that not giving your child everything s/he wants is equal to child abuse. :sad02:

 

But just don't let them hit Africa.

 

I think any food everywhere should find its way to Africa. They're starving over there. Let's start with all the food used in eating contests. I say we cancel those ridiculous eating contests and just send the food to Ethiopia. :)

OH MAN GUYS!

I got 8 out of 8 right! I'm so excited, I never guess anything correctly!

:D :D

EDIT: I just saw how much the Yooyou Dispenser is going for on the trading post and auction and ALMOST FAINTED. 9 million! Should I trade now or wait? Do you think it's rarity will only rise or fall?

 

*faints* Surely the price will deflate. If it were me, I would SDB it for a few days and watch the prices. Then when they stabilize, sell sell sell. :D

Yahoo! news item regarding new McDonald's lawsuit

 

Please read the article, then vote in the poll.

 

The plaintiffs allege that McDonald's intentionally deceives kids into eating unhealthy burgers and fries by packaging their Happy Meals with fun toys.

 

There are a lot of issues here to debate: Is fast food really that unhealthy? Will taking the toys out of Happy Meals actually encourage kids to eat healthier meals? etc.

 

But we'll start off simply: Has McDonald's willfully used deception to get kids to eat their food? Discuss. :)

24.

 

The day after my birthday on the 23rd. :P

Good call, Cornflakes. :yes: One's taste in arts (music, movies, books etc) can give you a pretty good picture of a person.

 

Why thank you...I asked someone irl for their top 10 and they got all mad. "I don't even listen to music. I don't have favorite songs." ...WHAAA?! A life without music?? That was very telling by itself...anyway, the prospective friend turned out to be a total coward and general dishonorable character. Is it because of his dislike of music? Well maybe not, but I beg to differ. :)

 

EDIT: Oh and I have to give Lady Gaga an honourable mention here, in agreeance with everyone else. She is so fantastic, and I have a ton of respect for her and what she does. She jumped two steps ahead of everyone else, and now they're scrambling to catch up and copy her (Christina Aguilera anyone?) I love that she wrote songs for everyone else and then decided it was time to do her own stuff. And I love that she can play quite a few instruments. She isn't just a pop starlet that knows how to get attention. She is an artEEST! And she makes some dang catchy songs and makes bold statements (anyone see her cover for Q magazine?)

 

Okay, I like Gaga. I really didn't at first. I was like "What has this chick been smoking?!" And then there was that "Just Dance" song. Urrrrrrg, it's her worst song by far. IMHO, anyway.

 

But then "Bad Romance" came out, and I liked how she sang the song. It was totally different than everyone else on pop radio. Her voice hearkens back to the old days of music, a la Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, et al.

Then...I watched the video. WOW, what a fantastic video. I looooove the sterile hospital coffins, the white leather suits, and especially the outfit with the "lobster shoes" and the guy with the golden jaw. Brilliance. I watched the video every day and listened to the song multiple times per day. I became a hopeless Gaga addict.

Then that "Alejandro" song came out. I like it. My husband hates it. My son does too. They complain that it's repetitive and boring. I happen to think it's catchy and fun. That's really what pop music is: Musical confection, like cotton candy. Cotton candy tastes awesome and it's totally fun to eat but it offers no nutritional value. ;)

 

Yep - Christina Aguilera has always chased the famous ones and emulated them to the fullest of her ability. (Remember "Dirrty," came out months after "I'm a Slave 4 U"? Youtube those videos and I'm sure you'll see the not-so-subtle similarities!) Xtina's only distinguishing characteristic is her voice. Of course, she is an amazing singer, but her lack of personal individualism will always be her Achilles heel. I hope one day she gets her own thing going on. She's a very talented singer and she should be successful just being herself.

I mean, Katy Perry is a terrible, generic, boring singer with a too-commercial voice, but at least she is uniquely Katy Perry! (Despite the fact that being Katy Perry may not be a good thing...but I digress.) :P

 

Back to Gaga. I agree - she is an artist. An "ar-teest," even. Unfortunately, she is not a musical artist. She is a performance artist. Her voice is also generic and unoriginal (except of course in "Bad Romance"). The absolute only thing that sets her apart is how she dresses. Without her outlandish wardrobe, she would be just another poptart wannabe from Manhattan. Don't believe me? Just ask Stefani Germanotta. ;)

Hi there, and welcome!

 

If my computer broke, there is no way in green Earth that I would be able to hiatus myself from Neo for a whole entire YEAR. Haha, you must have terrific willpower! b)

Wooow.

 

"You got 6 of 8 picks correct in Round One. The following items have been added to your Inventory"

 

:O 6 out of 8! That's pretty good, considering that I chose staff based solely on if their pics looked like winners or not! LOL!

 

I received:

The Unlucky Blumaroo

Fancy Cheese Platter

Perfectly Flat Rock Shield

Naalala

Mystical White Cloak

 

*dancing around the forum* Most triumphant!