passiflora

Fun fact: did you know that false reports can get YOU a warning instead of the person you reported? If you report someone for something that they didn't do, or report people repeatedly for things that are not actual offenses, you can get punished instead.

On that note, I think there have also been people who have been warned for sending neomails warning about rules or threatening/telling people you're reporting them. I'm fairly sure that ninja_peaches could report that user for harassment, although I'm not sure if I would personally do it. Easy enough just to move on - I doubt TNT would take any action for skipping a turn in KQ, especially if it's only the first time it's happened. :)

I've never been in a wreck, but I hit a deer a few years ago and I still think about it a lot... She just ran out of the woods and into the side of my truck...

The only accident I've been in is where my mom was driving and "we" hit a deer... although it was more like the deer hit us, lol. It ran into the side of the vehicle as we were stopping and damaged the passenger door of our van. If my mom hadn't slowed down there wouldn't even have been a collision at all.

People need to punished for driving drunk. Punished a lot. I know so many who do and even joke about it. It's not a joke.

This. I know so many people who joke about it, and they never learn their lesson until they end up doing major damage to themselves or someone else, or get a DUI. Even then, DUIs aren't always deterrents - it's so sad. :( I'm so glad OP is okay!

Happy extra-belated holidays to everyone, I hope you all had some well-deserved time off. I spent a lot of time with family and didn't have much internet access so I haven't been around much until now. All the best in 2013! ^_^

or at least add the categories you can search for! to this day i have no idea what World Challenge means lol

World challenges are competitions against other players to earn map pieces. I'm guessing that category would just sort out any map pieces you had. :)

I definitely agree with better categorization, though. I'm sure there are wearables in my SDB that I don't know exist because they're all split up into more obscure categories ("Clothes" doesn't turn up all of them).

Not a huge fan of horror movies, more because of the characters and plots they tend to contain rather than the scare factor.

Another one is some psychological thrillers. I don't mind watching them, but I think there are many movies that would have had so much more potential had they not thrown Multiple Personality Disorder into the mix. It's overused and I don't think it's a satisfying "twist."

4) I like Johnny Cash (this is coming from someone that doesn't like almost ANY country!)

Johnny Cash is all pleasure, no guilty. :D

I guess my biggest guilty pleasure is Neopets. And baking. Other than that, maybe Dexter (although I don't feel particularly guilty about that one, either. :P ).

I can only think of one off-hand. I tend to go through phases where I listen to nothing but one artist or CD. Right now, it's Fun, with Some Nights being the one I always put on repeat.

Seconded. :D I don't know why I love "Some Nights" so much, but I still can't hear enough of it right now.

I'm sure it'll pass though; I tend to wear songs out for myself pretty quickly. I don't think there's anything I could listen to forever!

Woke up early to watch world jr hockey and heading over to my boyfriend's later to do some social drinking with friends. I don't really want to go out, though - it's so expensive to get into bars on New Year's and I'd way rather just hang out with a few friends in a quieter place. :)

I've never taken antidepressants, but I think people can have the same reservations when starting any new medication. You could try to think of it as reassuring to know that they've identified the side effects - that means it's been well-studied. Anything advertised as some sort of miracle cure with no side effects actually seems much more sinister to me.

Remember that side effects are usually uncommon and you can always let your doctor know if you do experience any. It sounds like your new doctor is super awesome. :) I hope it continues to go well with that doctor, and good luck with your medications! Being scared is totally understandable, but you can do it!

I have mixed feelings about the maraquan like everyone else - I usually love maraquan pets, but this one just doesn't seem to be up to the same standard.

Also mixed feelings on the clothes; I remember when we saw a preview a while ago I really liked them, but seeing them on the pets now I'm not so sure. It might just be the colours of the pets they have them on, I don't know. :P

I don't mean to be cynical, but after it ends, would it really matter who you spent it with? :P I'm not too particular about who I spend my last days with, but I'm spending today with my family and boyfriend, which is just fine by me. ^_^

Hmm... yeah, it'd definitely be difficult to take a picture of all 52 if you make them unique. I think TNT is vague on purpose though; it forces people to be more "creative" :P

Like everyone else has said, such is the internet. :( It's easy to say harsh things when you can hide behind a monitor. I've been on other forums with very lax rules and people outright bullied others all the time, and it's frustrating.

I don't think anyone should be afraid to voice their opinion, it's also important to remember that no one has to agree with it. I love debates, even just for the sake of playing devil's advocate. I try to be polite, but some people are really sensitive - they'll take any form of disagreement as a personal attack, even if it was no such thing.

I definitely don't agree with ranting/swearing/attacking though, yikes. :ohno:

I'm a giant LOTR fan. I'm so excited to the Hobbit I can barely contain myself.

I love the movies - I remember when they came out and people were saying it had some of the greatest visual effects at the time. I think movie effects have certainly improved since then, but it certainly set the stage for the future. :)

I can see how people think they're boring, though. The books are about the world itself as much as the storyline. One could almost become a historian on Middle Earth. :P I read the books in grade 5 and while I enjoyed them, actually quit about 3 chapters from the end of The Return of The King because I had had enough, LOL. I hope to read them again soon, grade 5 was a long time ago.

In all seriousness though - There is no one size fits all for beauty. All people are attracted to different things. Someone you may consider unattractive could be someone elses model beauty.

This is exactly what I was going to say. :) I think it's impossible to deny that appearance does play a role, but everyone has different tastes. For example, I can think of many celebrities that people drool over who I don't find attractive at all. :P

I highly doubt tablets will replace laptops. Laptops might keep getting smaller and more tablet-sized, but touch-screens will never replace the sheer convenience of keyboards. Touch screens are just far too finicky.

Definitely agree here - the keyboard thing is a major player. You can get keyboards for tablets, but then they're pretty much just like a laptop anyway lol

I don't pay much attention to these types of trends though, so I can't say I'll know who will be the industry leader in a few years or how much tablets will cost or whatever.

I don't think tablets will go away anytime soon. They used to strike me as more of a "complement" to computers, but as we can run more and more programs on them, maybe people will start using laptops less. Can't see it happening for a really long time, though - as long as everything is marketed like an interconnected system (e.g. iPhone/iPad/Mac & iCloud), companies will be able to make more money by selling more devices rather than making one device obsolete. It wouldn't really work to their advantage. :P

I don't have any type of e-reader and have never purchased a digital book. Call me old fashioned - but I just love printed ones. I know there's benefits to electronic books, and I would use them for school if I needed to, but I don't think paper books will disappear any time soon!

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that point. I don't think you can hold the religion itself responsible for the piety (can't think of a more accurate word...religiousness?) , or lack thereof, of its followers. They may represent the faith in day to day situations, in small ways, but not in general. Lots of christians have sex before marriage, does that mean that christianity condones it? Are they really representing their religion? or themselves as individuals? I choose to view religion as the idea, not the people because if I viewed it as the people, it wouldn't have a definition at all. Everyone has different levels of spirituality and faith and have different degrees of adhering to the laws set by that faith. There are more religious people and less religious people, they aren't all clones.

I can agree with you that some of the ideas in some religions are good, but if the debate is on whether religion has done more bad than good, I think it really comes down to it's followers. If interpretation results in conflict and things can so easily be taken out of context, is it really that good? It's one thing to blatantly disregard what a religion teaches, but it's another altogether when the message is unclear in the first place. Even the most pious people have trouble agreeing on many things.

In your example of sex before marriage, I think you could interpret it in a number of ways:

1. The bible doesn't actually condemn it (it's a long shot, but I've heard people try and argue it)
   
2. The fear of God isn't compelling enough to moderate a person's actions (voiding our previous argument)
   
3. They lack faith (fair enough - but it doesn't mean that it's wrong)
   
4. Despite strong faith, people see nothing logically wrong with having [safe] intimate relationships outside of marriage, because they don't see it as inherently harmful (the bible isn't necessarily a good moral guide)
   

Also, the reason I think fear is effective in religion is the divine, inevitable aspect of it, and the fact that the person believes in it in their hearts. I highly doubt that "worldly" fear would work in the same way, you can trick people, but you can't trick God.

Good point, though I still think it'd be interesting to see how much devine retribution actually influences people in their day-to-day lives (i.e. if it actually has a measurable effect, or if other forces are at work)!

Wow, congrats! I don't think I've ever gotten more than 2800 NP from that plushie, I had no idea he gave out such awesome prizes.

I also had no idea that springabees existed. It's so adorable! ^_^

Has anyone else noticed that all the clothes they are coming out with have a rather "old english" appear. Maybe it's just me being silly. :P

I think the clothes are cute though and would look great on a grey orgin. Do they have those yet? If not they totally should.

Haha I don't know if I've noticed it with other clothes, but I definitely can see what you're getting at! You're right that they'd look great on a grey ogrin. :O

I like the wig, but I think the whole outfit looks like it matches together really well. :)

Today's animation was hilarious. :D I don't think I've paid attention to them in past years...

Yeah, I kind of like how the snowflake thing is forcing us to pay attention to the animations. They're super cute and some are really funny.

Today was the first day that I didn't get a holiday snowball. :( Not that I've used them, the just spice up my inventory I guess and make me happy. :laughingsmiley:

I think we're having two different discussions here. I'm talking about religion, the theory behind it, the idea, not religious people or how well people adhere to religion.

I know that this isn't in response to me, but I would like to point out that a religion is only as good as its adherents. Theory is nice, but without followers the religion wouldn't even exist - they represent their faith, even if they do it "wrong."

Please keep in mind that I'm referring to people with "bad instincts." Obviously, if you are a good person, you wouldn't want to murder someone. If a person who would want to murder someone thought of the eternal, inevitable punishment awaiting them in the afterlife, I think it would be more effective at preventing the murder, as opposed to a non-believer who's only fear would be of the justice system, which isn't perfect, isn't inevitable.

 

If you're a good person, the presence or absence of divine retribution shouldn't be a problem, because you wouldn't want to commit sins naturally. For those who would want to commit sins, it helps to have a strong motivator.

If someone's instincts were that poor, they'd probably meet the criteria for psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder, or similar illnesses - most other people are able to feel empathy and remorse (presumably two useful emotions when it comes to morality, a.k.a. "good instincts"). Either way, I'm not sure if supernatural punishment is still a great deterrent, because the former group probably wouldn't care, and the latter might just end up asking God for forgiveness and then everything's well and good again. Even "good people" sin, many religions teach that it's pretty much inevitable.

I'd really be curious to know how many people literally refrain from killing others (or committing other serious unlawful sins) only because of fear of punishment. Regardless, I know Christians tend to emphasize acting out of love over acting out of fear (I'm not sure about other religions, though). How many people follow that teaching? Not sure.

I agree that those who do good for good's sake, as opposed to in fear of punishment, are ideal, better. But we don't live in an ideal world, and if fear of punishment prevents sins, rather than having those sins committed in fear's absence, I think it works.

If it prevents crime, I can't really complain. I think I'm just reluctant to agree because - and this is a bit of a slippery slope - if we start to value fear of punishment as a motivator, isn't that good argument for reinstating the death penalty, or making other 'worldly' punishments more severe/radical or even inhumane?

I know that's not what you're advocating, but I'd just rather see us emphasize doing good because it's morally right (which we can determine without spiritual guidance), and getting sociopaths the help they need, rather than relying on fear.

It's hard to choose! I wanted to go with something that was essentially otherwise unattainable to me (i.e. garlic jubjub), but all my pets have other plans, and I didn't want to create a new one just for this contest. Finally I just chose one of my pets, haha. :P

I also don't deny some people have done some good things in the name of Faith. But many have done good things without faith; and who is more remarkable? The people who do good because they think it'll give them heaven and they'll avoid the torture of hell, or the people who do good without a God, and anticipate no reward/punishment for doing so?

@passiflora I honestly don't think it would matter the presence or lack of religion a bad person is raised in, what matters is how they were raised. Terrorism and murder and rape are all sins, in all religions, does that mean that when a "religious person" does them in the name of religion, the religion actually supports the sin "under those circumstances". It doesn't, it just means that the way that person was raised, they've been taught that that is okay. I dunno if I explained it well, but it all goes down to proper parents instilling the correct morals in their child.

 

Personally, I think the morals taught by religion are correct, and they're the most effective. If you don't think that God is watching you, what's to stop you from committing crimes? The law? What's a more powerful motivator, punishment from mortals or punishment from an all-knowing all-powerful God? I think it's more effective (when the rules are followed correctly, which they usually aren't) at reducing crime than encouraging people to rely on their own judgement. Not everyone has the same basic instincts when it comes to right and wrong, that's why criminals exist.

Both of you may find it interesting that less religious people are more motivated by compassion than religious people, who may instead be more motivated by "doctrine, communal identity, or reputational concerns." Is one motivator stronger than the other? Is someone's motivation important if the outcome is the same? (I won't post my own answers to those questions, just food for thought. :P )

Zooba: I definitely agree that it's more about how someone is raised - just providing an example where I think religion does play a part. Regardless, if presence/lack of religion matters less than proper parenting, then is religion really that important for morality?

I don't think punishment in any form (mortal or by God) is a very good motivator at all. I would find it much more troubling to know all that's keeping someone from going on a crime spree is the belief in a deity, rather than reasoning out for themselves what is harmful and what isn't. I follow the law not because I'm afraid of going to jail, but because being a good person feels good and it benefits everyone. It doesn't take religion to know that if everyone just started breaking rules (or for example, if it wasn't against the law to kill each other), we wouldn't function well as a society for very long.

Fundamentally, I don't like thinking about my 'religion', Christianity', as a 'religion' at all - it should be about having a relationship with God. It's when people start forgetting what God wants, and making it what they want, with all the traditions and rules and regulations, that the problems begin.

The personal relationship thing is a nice thought, but Christians are quite specifically called to spread the gospel, and it's still a religion in every sense of the word.

Can we truly know what God wants? Every different denomination claims to have a monopoly on this knowledge, and feel that they're right in what they do. You're right that it's usually twisted to make it what they want and that it becomes problematic, and it's easy enough to dismiss them as "not true Christians." But if religion is still capable of producing that type of belief/behaviour, even if that's not how it's supposed to be, is it really a force of good?

Everyone's pets are looking fantastic! I dressed my pets up for winter, but only used what I already had in my closet.

My lab pet is causing a ruckus!

Ooh... I love that jacket, and it goes great on that pet! :O I think I'm a sucker for blue/brown colour combinations, haha.