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New Comment Notifications by Email	October 2, 2009, 10:10PM
by: eon
A new feature has been added which will make it a little easier to keep track of your DS account without having to log in: Comment notifications by email. Here's the skinny on how it works: If you have logged out or have been idle for more than 15 minutes and receive a new comment on DS, an email will be sent to your registered email address letting you know about it. You will only receive emails about individual comments sent directly to you. This means you won't be pestered about things like broadcast messages, group invites, etc.. As a measure against potential abuse (or just too much email), no more than one email will be sent to you per 30 minute period. Extra emails will just be dropped (they won't queue up or anything like that). Each email you receive will give you an updated list of all members who have sent you unread comments. This behavior is enabled by default. However, if you do not wish to receive email notices, it is easy to disable. Just go to your Control Panel and then scroll down the page to the 'Email Notices' section. Change the setting to 'Off' and you won't be sent any more notices. I hope you find this useful and . . . Enjoy.
topic: Site News
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Flotsam! Revived?	September 27, 2009, 12:28PM
by: baroque
What really is the meaning of life? There are many encompassing theories about life. Even though the dictionary has a list of what every use of the word “life” entails, people still like to take it upon themselves to dictate to others what they view life as. Just recently, I read a post on one of my previous articles that told someone that life wasn't a balance sheet. My question is...why not? Life is what people make of it. For some people, life is all about being aware. For others, life is about being happy. Even reproduction is seen as the meaning of life by certain people. Depending on each person's individual view, a solipsist views life completely different than an altruist views life. Is life really too complicated to pin a universal definition to?
topic: Philosophy
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Love?	September 13, 2009, 7:47PM
by: baroque
Love has often been universally misunderstood. A pivotal reason for this is the vague definition that most people attach to the word. Many people even create their own definition in order to suit a specific situation as well as a specific emotion that's felt. In fact, hasty generalizations don't even apply to how people view love. Philosophers and psychologists alike have been attempting to understand and portray love to its barest foundations, as well as artists, musicians, poets, and even authors. As a result, many theories, pictures, songs, poems, and stories have emerged from the chaos that is love. Many of these avenues of expression depict viewpoints that many people agree with. Adversely, many perverse love expressions are ridiculed. With a broad spectrum of personal views, love is potentially the most confused concept in the English language. There is a vast plethora of theories involving love. According to psychologist Zick Rubin, love is made of three elements: attachment, caring, and intimacy. Rubin defines attachment as the need to be cared for and to be with the other person, caring is valuing the other person's happiness and needs as much as your own, and intimacy is sharing private thoughts, feelings, and desires with the other person. Using this basis of thought, Rubin developed a question set for “liking” and “loving” that was administered to 198 undergraduate students in order to single out 13 specific questions in each category for a test. These questions were used to define the complexity of love in people who take the test. Psychologist Elaine Hatfield's theory, love is made of two types: compassionate love and passionate love. Compassionate love is comprised of mutual respect, trust, and affection. Passionate love deals with the physical aspect involving intense feelings and sexual attraction. Building off the compassionate/passionate love idea is the Triangular Theory of Love. Psychologist Robert Sternberg suggested that there are three components to love: intimacy, passion, and commitment. However, unlike Rubin and Hatfield, Sternberg twisted his theory up by stating that each of his components could be mixed together. To illustrate, intimacy and commitment formed a compassionate love, while passion and intimacy formed passionate love. Sternberg also believed that all three components could be combined at once to form consummate love. This final form of love is not only the strongest, but also the rarest. To conclude, the final type of a love descriptor is from a book titled “The Colors of Love” by John Lee. In the book, Lee hypothesized that love is akin to the primary and secondary colors. Instead of colors though, there are styles of love: Eros, Ludos, and Storge. Eros is loving an ideal person, Ludos is love as a game, and Storge is love is a friendship. Of course, each of those, when combined with another, forms a secondary style of love. Mania (Eros + Ludos) is an obsessive love, Pragma (Ludos + Storge) is a realistic and practical love, while Agape (Eros + Storge) is a selfless love. Many other prevalent theories describe love; some theories are practical while others aren't. Despite the psychological viewpoint on love, is it possible that every moment of love you've ever experienced is based on a combination of two chemicals in your brain? Scientists have been studying prairie voles, one of only 3% of species that appear to be monogamous. The uniqueness of the prairie vole, apart from their monogamy, is that they have a very closely related genetic make up as the montane vole, over 99%. The montane vole, however, is not monogamous. During sex, the prairie vole releases two chemicals called vasopressin and oxytocin. The montane vole doesn't release these two chemicals. In fact, the montane vole, even when injected with vasopressin and oxytocin, still show signs of one-night-stand sex proving that there are no receptors in a montane vole's brain. The question still remains whether or not a human brain works the same as a vole's brain. The interaction between vasopressin and oxytocin in a human's brain is still not fully understood. Dopamine is excreted to excite a person when they think about someone they love followed by serotonin to calm people down in order to trust. Once trust has begun, the oxytocin kicks in and takes effect. The oxytocin creates a feeling of connection to the person you're with. Finally, vasopressin is released. Vasopressin has the effect of tying the emotions you have to memories. By combining these chemicals in different quantities, among other chemicals in the body such as, but not limited to, phenyl ethylamine, and norepinephrine, different behavioral patterns come into focus. Although there are apparent fall outs and anomalies to each of these descriptions, the true basis for love has not yet been fully understood. Regardless of the facts, there will always be romantics out there who will be steadfast in their beliefs about love, even if scientists pin it down to a particular chemical reaction. People will still marvel at the portrayals of love displayed by artists, musicians, poets, and even authors. Expressions of love will forever hold a place in the hearts of many individuals.
topic: Various
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Poetry and Short Story Contests	September 11, 2009, 5:19PM
by: Sgath
Short Story Contest by Klarth Calling all writers! Do you toil endless hours crafting works of prose? Do you want to share your work with others in a constructive environment that fosters healthy discussion? Well, look no further, the Literature Forum is proud to welcome you into its ranks! And what's more, you have a chance to win a full year's supply of Andromeda premium Membership. Andromeda, you say? What's that? If you don't know, then I'd bet you'd like to, and if you do, I'd bet you want more. So check out our Short Story Contest, which is accepting entries until September 30th. As usual, all the relevant information can be found here. Good luck, and good reading! New Poetry Contest! After the success of the first contest and the amount of contestants that took part, I've decided to start another! Prizes include 30 days andromeda time for the winner and 10 days for the runner up. If you didn't get a chance to take part last time, or you didn't win, well now is your chance! Drop by the Poetry Forum and check it out. Recent Poetry Contest Winners 1st Place - Ozymandias We burn like paper cranes in the stale furnace of ennui head on fire with the kudzu cancer blues we enter in droves into the belly of the sea for lack of a better death to pursue call me sick call me unprepared call me a prophet in need of repair call me the architect lost in his plans call me a fool honey, call me the lamb just call me what I am we lock ourselves away in space-age melanoma boxes in mute scorn of the star that gifted us with vision and wealth we cry for release just like a monsoon in a matchbox then stagger to the grave for a handshake and a toast to our health take me to heaven man, take me to hell take me to the mountain where the angels fell take me to tomorrow so I won't be so blue take me away honey, take me in you we grovel before wise men and we grow drunk on their words though they ain't said nothing that the coyote ain't done we're marked for death before we've even begun smote by the moon and burning in the heat of the sun 2nd Place - Illmortal's "If I were you" If I were you Then I would gladly loan to me a dollar or two So I could eat And maybe get just one good night of sleep But I'm not And I'm stranded like a castaway in this town And you seem so unwilling to help a fellow when he's down If I were you That's what I'd do If I were you I wouldn't be out on these streets the whole night through Yeah I'd have a job And a pretty wife that I could come home to But I don't And I have twenty cents left to my name And you're the only one left here that I have to blame If I were you That's what I'd do Sir it's not my way to take from you the things I haven't earned I wish I could go back and heed the lessons I have learned But I can't So you'll gladly put your money in this sack Yes sir this thing is loaded And I have the hammer back If I were you That's what I'd do 3rd Place - Satchell's "Exercise in Beauty" There exists in this world a serene beauty that arrives without leaving. Awoken just as you are, spread as far as your eye lashes may reach. A singing in the woodwork- A chime in the wind- A flicker in the tongue- The magic of this world, twisted and fractured, curled and laced between the seams of life. Steam filtered between the gaps, between truth and fable. Back-light and full of luster, the clouds whispered, "Gunpowder muskrat." "Excuse me?" He said.
topic: Current Events
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Looking out for each other	September 4, 2009, 6:39PM
by: Necrofagia
This is something I have never quite understood, by all means correct me if I am in fact wrong. In the world people are sectioned off into little groups as it were, you get the popular one who steryotypicaly are the "jocks", you get the smart ones who get called the geeks and you get the "freaks" who are counted as unpopular, this is generalised maybe it is not quite like this however from experience and observation I can say that this is the general idea. Now in the "freak" it is basically made of people whom tend (not always) listen to rock music from Emo, Industrial, Metal ect, the dress sense also stands out of the crowd. So it would seem Alternatives are the minority of the population, so with this being the case why do we attack verbally others from out group? When it is our group as a whole to which gets alot of abuse due to the lack of understaning and willing to understand that a large amount of the population have. Instead of sticking up and defending each other we simply stand watching, waiting for it to be our turn of recieving the abuse, does that strike anyone else as odd? By standing and watching each other get "bullied" as it were we are as bad as the narrow minded causing it. How is that right?
topic: Life
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More Better Email.	July 3, 2009, 4:41PM
by: eon
Email service for Andromeda members has been migrated to a new platform and a couple of new email features are now available: 1. POP3 email access. It is now possible to check your @darkstarlings.com email account from any POP3 client, such as Outlook Express or Thunderbird. This also means that you can add your DS email account to another mail service such as GMail or Live so you can automatically check your DS email when you log into those services. To view your POP3 setup info, go to Control Panel -> Email. 2. New email notifications. You will now receive a notice when new email arrives in your DS email account. The notice will appear in the same place where you see notices for new comments, new picture comments, new blog comments, etc. The old email platform, located here will remain until July 20th. Sometime on or after that date, the old email service will be removed, so if you have any old important emails there, please make copies as soon as possible. If you don't have a DS email account but would like one, you'll need to sign up for Andromeda access, which includes an email account along with lots of other perks. Click here to find out more. Enjoy.
topic: Site News
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The enemy of us all.	June 14, 2009, 11:35PM
by: 666JonathanVonLangkabel666
The horrors of war are often not over once the fighting has stopped. The terrible ordeal has already been recorded and imprinted into the minds of those who had to live through such terrors and those who had to endure other aspects of the war.Psychological damage and trauma as well as physical trauma are a common aspect of the atrocities of war but what of when the wars and battles are over and the soldiers have gone home? What of the people who are native inhabitants of the war torn lands that are now left to be tilled and lived upon again, not by massive armies and war machines but by the houses of villagers and peaceful farmers.The lands left in barren black ravages a calling card of the destructive forces that stationed themselves into the grounds and defeated the life and lively hood of all in oppostion. Not only are their home lands in a state of disaray and temporary defeat but they're also littered with the remains of war engines left by their creators, abanoned but not defective. I'm speaking of landmines, an anti-personal device that I'm sure most of you are familar with due to service in your own countries military or through media forms and video games.But in case there are some who are not familar with the design of a land mine it is a small explosive device often encased within wood,metal, or plastic and is detonated by the pressure of a foot step or a passing vehicle.Landmines are partial submered into the soil of a land only exsposing the trigger that is set off by your foot step or similar means and are often never recovered by the military force that employs their use.Leaving them still active and still effective for years to come and landmines unlike soldiers or other manned war machines are indiscrminate as to whom they maim or kill.To a landmine a childs footstep is just as effective for death enducing results as that of a soldiers. Landmines are an epidemic, a cancer eating away at innocent people in lands across the globe. They're a horror of war that lives on long after screams and gun fire have left the battle field.They're a very simple and effective killing design that can be as cheap as $3 a single mine to manufacture, making them a popular weapon in the arsenal of almost all military forces. However their indiscriminate manner of killing makes them as much a threat to their own creators as to that of the opposing force and as such they're rarely recovered and dismantled by those who choose to use them. Making them a threat to peaceful communities and villages everywhere.Landmines are affecting 82 countries world wide and more are sure to follow if more isnt done to stop the use of these indiscriminate weapons of war that kill and maim innocent civilians long after wars are over. Landmines can last potenitally effective for decades, many landmines laid in WWII are still effective and still cause civilian casualties to a war effort that has been over for 64 years. In the course of one years time from 2002 to 2003 landmine casualties were reported in 65 of the 82 landmine devestated countries, 41 of these countries were not actively at war and had civilians, innocent children, women, and men who were casualties of a war that was long over.In fact it's estimated that 30-40% of all landmine victims are children under the age of 15, mines are responsible for killing and mutilating eight to ten thousand children every year. Landmines are so adept at killing they even begin to actively kill the enviroment they're placed in causing soil degradation,pollution of water with heavy metals, and effecting entire animal species through changing their habitat and altering their food chain.As of now only five countries formerly infected with landmines have been declared safe and mine free. A small victory when portrayed against the number of countries that are still suffering casualties and injuries to innocent men,women, and children against landmines, but yet it is a victory and a triumph none the less. Landmines, though they may not be the most powerful or devestating weapon of war when compared to nuclear weapons they are one of the only weapons of war that is actively killing innocent victims in over 80 countries uncaring of their age, political party, or allegiances.While the outlook is pretty grim with the death toll still steadily building in these countries their future is the only thing we have the capablility of changing.Only we can prevent the further devastation caused by these horrific mines by means of raising the awareness of their role in causing casualties in the form of innocent children,women, and men. And only we can help aid the process of finding and eliminating abandoned and forgotten minefields that often lie hidden and unknown in areas frequented by those who live in mine affected countries. Thanks to the international mine ban treaty many mines have already been destroyed. The treaty which was started in 1997 has been signed and ratified by 156 differnt countries and of those 156 countries 82 have completely destroyed their stockpile of landmines with the other 74 countries are in the process of destroying their stockpile of landmines.Only 39 countries have yet to sign it and destroy their stockpiles of landmines. Interestingly China,Russia, and The United States who happen to have the three largest landmine stockpiles in the world have yet to sign the mine ban treaty and help to rid the world of a weapon of war that isnt just a weapon against enemy soldiers but a weapon of murder against innocent civilians, mostly children. If you'd like to do more to help erradicate this world of abandoned mine fields that are still actively mutliating and killing innocent people everyday around the world I reccomend you look into this orginzation that has already done so much to help clear the path to a safer world. http://www.landmines.org
topic: Current Events
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The 'Mock-Sociopath'. V.1	May 31, 2009, 11:48PM
by: Zach_Macabre
When one mentions a serial killer one is often met with a smile and a "Oh, he's my favorite!". Rather than back in the Mid-1900's you would be met with a sullen scowl, and a grave voice. It is possible (or plausible rather) that this is due to a mixture of the desensitizing of the modern human being via technology and society, and having so much information at your fingertips. You hear your friends talking about Ted Bundy, and you decide he's worth looking into, and like so many other you could become obsessed. This obsession with serial killers has created an entire sub-culture of 'Mock-Sociopaths'. Or people who desire to be a sociopath, and a killer but lack the real metal for it. The 'Mock-Sociopath' is created from a need to rebel against social boundaries, and a desire to stand out. If you take a moment to think, who are the most foreign to the normal human being? A sociopath. One who is devoid of guilt, and seldom experiences an emotion beyond their desire for something, most often the suffering of another human. So this wave of rebellious souls seeks out that most foreign and tries to relate, so that they may distance themselves from their peers, parents, etc. They ultimately come across the serial killers/sociopaths and tell themselves that in order to assume their own identity they must become like these people, and so they attempt to do so. They probably spend a bit of time browsing rotten.com, or some other corpse site, and they most likely start shoplifting in order to bolster their confidence in their adopted sociopathic identity. The facade of a sociopathic identity is everything to the 'mock-sociopath' and they will do almost anything to protect it. However, when it comes down to it, the 'Mock-Sociopath ' is his own worst enemy, because most of the doubts about his identity come from him. The 'mock sociopath' has become so attatched to his identity that at this point, its all they think they have left. So when internal doubts start to arise, they will try their best to quell them. The best way to do this? Try to prove their doubts wrong, of course. Following back to their idols, they will most likely try to kill someone. More later, -Macabre
topic: Essays
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The Direction of Technology: Progress or Social Decadence?	May 27, 2009, 7:34PM
by: Sgath
I have heard the argument before that science is dangerous, including all sorts of fear based and paranoid theories. One of the less irrational suggests that science may begin to expand so quickly that humans beings lose the very basis of their natures and society collapses or undergoes unwanted and rapid change(such as artificial intelligence, eugenics, total virtual addiction, etc). Is the slowing of scientific progress a viable option concerning the risk associated with more information, or will that information serve to mature our species and grant more wisdom of the universe around us? Sometimes I think the advance of science has very little to do with the wisdom of the public at large. The majority of humanity accepts as false many of the core foundations of scientific progress in the modern age such as quantum physics, evolution, and cosmology. Yet society continues to rely more and more on the very concepts which the majority of people ignorantly reject. With advances in weaponry and information exchange, does rapid technological change serve humanity as a whole when considering the history of and future possibility of destruction?
topic: Technology
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Is it bad or just illegal?	April 18, 2009, 5:22PM
by: Shadow_of_a_Storm
I come from a very law-abiding family. Early on I was taught things like "Don't steal. Don't do drugs. Don't fight with others. Don't drink until you're 21." and what have you. All these things are illegal, but, when it comes down to it, how bad are they really? We shall examine a bunch of situations. I suppose we'll start with stealing. Sometimes stealing something is necessary in order to get ahead in life. There's the question everyone asks "Is it wrong to steal a loaf of bread to feed your starving family?" I suppose you could look at it one of two ways. On the one hand, everyone deserves to live and in order to live you must eat, but just because you have no money to pay for food does not mean you can't have it period. But then you have to take into consideration the people who make a living by growing the wheat to make the bread, the bakers, the cost of the materials needed to produce these things and make the packaging as well. So in a way it boils down to the law of circulation. These people spend money in some way to produce the bread, and they make money by selling it. If someone takes it without paying for it, it breaks the circle. Sure, one loaf might not be so bad, but if someone stole a truckload of bread to feed their very large starving family (yes there's a Simpson's reference here) that would create a bigger problem. Drugs. Some are approved, some are not. I take drugs. Not marijuana or heroin or cocaine, but I rely on prescription drugs to relive my anxiety. I have a friend who is "living the high life" and tells me that the medication I take is basically the same thing as speed, only I got it with a prescription. He says one of these days I should smoke with him. Well, the thing that scares me about that is not the fact that maybe it would do more damage then the medication I already am on, but because its ILLEGAL! A drug like marijuana can make you act in crazy ways if you take too much of it, yet so can alcohol (and that's LEGAL). I suppose some drugs are illegal because it may make you act out in ways that can hurt others while under the influence, but the argument here is that it you take the proper precautions you're okay. So many people (including my own parents) have said "you're only in trouble if you get caught", and the reason why my parents have told me not to do it is because it may aggravate my anxiety and make it worse. They used to smoke pot back in their day, and I'm sure if people made sure to take the proper precautions, they'd be all for legalizing it. Fighting. Again, sometimes it's necessary for survival. If someone was trying to hurt me, am I supposed to just stand there while they kick my ass? I don't think so, I would try to defend myself. Same thing if I caught someone trying to hurt someone I love. But, fighting is illegal, and sooner or later the police will usually be called to the scene. This is a situation where sometimes even the cops have to become violent in order to break it up, so I can honestly say it's just part of being human. People often dream about worldwide peace, and to "love our enemies". That is dumb. If I hate you enough I will make sure you pay for what you did to me. If I have to make a few sacrifices, such as spending some time in jail, I'd do it if I felt strongly enough about it. Here's a big one for a lot of people: Gay marriage. Whether you're for it or against it, it's probably something that's been put on your plate for you to think about. I was raised in a very liberal family, but due to the fact that so many people are against the idea of being gay it made me afraid, and for a while I took the conservative side. But, as much as I felt that being gay was...strange, I thought about the fact that it certainly isn't hurting me if two people of the same gender fall in love, so I voted to legalize gay marriage in the state of California. But, I've always brought this argument up as well: Incest. It's very much illegal and for the reason of protection against sexual violation. But, suppose that there was, say, a brother and sister who loved each other in a way that was beyond the love shared between two siblings? What if they were so deeply in love with each other that they looked past the issue of having the same parents and the same genetics. If you think about it, there are children who are born with genetic disorders who were NOT conceived through incest. The issue here is love. How bad is it if a brother and sister decided to get married? If both parties give their consent that makes it okay right? Or does it? This is a big one. And on this note, let's bring up the issue of, say, a 19-year-old guy and a 17-year-old girl falling in love and having sex? Who's to say that EVERYONE UNDER 18 is too young to make mature decisions? There are plenty of people younger than 18 who have what it takes to get by in this world, and plenty over 18 who still need a lot of help. It all depends on the individual. Ages are numbers that merely keep track of how long we've been alive. The same goes for underage drinking. A lot of people don't give a fuck about how old they are when they drink. An immature 20-year-old is not going to suddenly get his act together the second he turns 21. It all depends on how mature you are, regardless of how long you've been alive. Okay, I've brought up a lot of issues here, and I would more than appreciate any opinions or arguments you may have.
topic: Philosophy
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