The Etiology of the Pyramids and Sunburns on White People	Jul 24, 10:29am
by: quirky_one
topic: Life
A long time ago in a galaxy very, very near here there was the Earth. Of course Earth is in our galaxy but it was named Dirt World at the time so it is kind of different. At the time (the time being the somewhat less than definitive "long time ago") humans had just finished evolving from dinosaurs and were really tired. While they lay down to take a nap, aliens came and started poking around the Earth (still at this time named "Dirt World"). They were employees of an intergalactic real estate firm looking to buy up planets that had been foreclosed on. They apparently liked what they saw because they bought it despite the price being significantly higher than they expected. Needless to say, the newly evolved humans were quite shocked to awaken to aliens moving all their stuff around. The aliens were equally surprised to find that the humans had not gotten the eviction notice. Of course Earth had gotten the notice but at the time everyone had been dinosaurs and nobody could read. The aliens, already upset at the Earth's steep price, held a meeting to decide what to about the humans. After digging up some violent dinosaur footage meant strictly for home viewing, it was deemed convenient to label them as "savages" and have them placed into reeducation camps were they would be forced to watch reruns of pro-alien films like E.T. and My Favorite Martian. The aliens couldn't have expected better results. Stephen Spielberg was nominated for best director and violent xenophobic uprisings dropped by 90%. Unfortunately the good times came to an end when a bootleg copy of Alien III fell into the human's hands. Public opinion polls showed a marked decrease in the alien approval rating. People began questioning the laser force field prisons and soon angry youths were throwing rocks and calling the aliens hurtful names. Meanwhile, intellectuals huddled in coffee shops and wrote petition letters to the ISCS (redundantly named "The Intergalactic Space Congress of Space" in true bureaucratic style). The letters didn't seem to have any effect and the authors got old and died. Tensions continued to get worse and soon human forces under the command of Dan Quail's distant ancestor, Steve Quail, drove the aliens from the Earth (now no longer named Dirt World but actually named Earth). In response, the hard line intergalactic government under pressure from real-estate special interest groups launched an invasion fleet to Earth. The original name of the operation was dropped by the administration in fear that "Operation Earth Smash" gave the mission an overtly aggressive feel. The newly named "Operation Earth Hug" deployed on Stardate <*<>* (which admittedly means very little to anyone who doesn't run on Northern Quadrant Sector 5112A Standard Time). Congress however only approved a single landing zone just west of the Nile River. Having found this information by looking at the ISCS's user friendly website, the human decided to build up defenses in the area. After reviewing several promising designs, a brilliant defense was selected. The pyramid provided a perfect anti-landing device and humans began building them all over the useless alien landing strip now called Egypt. When the aliens arrived and tried to land, the pyramids kept poking the bottom of their spaceships. It was very frustrating. They sent an appeal to the Intergalactic Space Congress of Space for a new landing zone but by the time the Bylotar Opposition Party exhausted its filibuster, their attempt at landing in central Mexico had been thwarted as well. On Stardate <*<<* Grommela Purgonotte, the first female Fishmander to become President, came to power. It had generally been forgotten that a Starfleet had continually circled Earth (still often referred to as "Dirt World" in a derogatory sense) for over a thousand years. The gas prices at the time induced severe budget cuts and the fleet was recalled. After several days of drunken street celebrations, mankind received its many political prisoners who had been held on Pluto for around eighty generations. The result however was a gangly race with a pale, snow-like complexion. The new arrivals found that rather than returning to a glorious homecoming, they were made fun of by their peers. As if that was not enough, the sun that had provided their ancestors with sustenance now burnt their skin and turned it unattractive shades of red. They appealed to a now much more sympathetic ISCS which granted them compensation for their unjust treatment and minimal exposure to sunlight as part of "alternative interrogating techniques". The ghostly white humans received an oddly timed outpouring of alien sympathy because the now two thousand year old "laser force field prison notes" that had only recently been leaked to the press. The result was that whites in return for their suffering were given three eternal gifts: sunscreen, really big shade hats, and Europe. Of course the Palestinians who were given a small arid region along the Mediterranean in return for the Continent were not pleased but they were given strong assurances that their new home would remain theirs forever.
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The Relationship Between Mysticism & Nihilism	Jun 26, 11:24pm
by: NeonBoy
topic: Philosophy
Mysticism and nihilism; two philosophical areas which, in the minds of most people, could not be more different. I, however, say otherwise. It is my belief that the two are virtually inseparable. The essence of mysticism is denial- the denial of the ego, denial of reality. Nihilism is also defined by denial- in the sense in which I use it, denial of purpose. Probably the most obvious spiritual analogues to nihilist thought are Gnosticism, Hermeticism, and Buddhism, all of which postulate the idea of an illusory existence; the first, imposed by a malign (or at very least, incompetent) cosmic entity (either macro- or micro-cosmic, depending on your interpretation, although it is certainly the latter in my view), the second through a fuckup in the cosmic machinery, and the third through psychological weakness of the individual. The word nihilism is derived from the Latin word for 'nothing', and mysticism by nature revels in the experience of non-existence (or at very least, non-existence on the level of individual conciousness)- the Gnostic pleroma, the Buddhist void. While spiritual thinkers almost always posit that life has purpose, mystical thought typically denies the reality of the world we perceive; it seems obvious to me that there can be no purpose to an illusory existence. In this light, mysticism and nihilism validate, and, in fact, depend on one another.
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An argument against humanism	Jun 25, 4:24pm
by: pineme
topic: Philosophy
We are tiny little blobs of organized dust orbiting a dull and boring ball of hydrogen, and yet you have the audacity to think there is a universal methodology concerning what is right and wrong? Humans are small, tiny, ridiculously absurd creatures who generally don't know shit about their environments. Why would we presume it's possible that an idea of morality is suddenly some universal entity? That there is a true right and wrong? We're machines. we eat and shit and process chemicals to crawl around on a peck of dust. Given that, what is right and wrong? There is no pattern to human behaviour. There is no underlying method to the madness of human movement except physics and force and particles. They are the gods of all of us. And all of it together, the touch of a loved one, the drum of war, the scraping of two galaxies together, a flood, a colony of ants, a hurricane, a lie, a song, a storm on Jupiter, murder, passion, rape, affection, are equally indistinguishable.
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To wax a little more philosophically…	Jun 18, 2:17pm
by: Jareth
topic: Philosophy
What does it mean, if presently known to be 20+ years incarnate; and confirmed to be only mortal.. when one feels with conviction, certainty, and no doubt that there is more to reality with however no idea what? That there is more to us, but have no objective proof? That that one has been on or around this world for ghastly amounts of time, but aside from stray and confused feelings and memories that a good deal of psychologists would call “false” or otherwise discredit, has no recollection? Perhaps it is the wishful thinking of a weak mind ill equipped to handle the rigors of daily life? Possibly the imaginative construct of a borderline delusional with a tentative grasp on “rational” existence? Or is it a wistful recollection hindered by a lack of supporting similarity in the present experience? Could holding to this, despite copious amounts of subjective evidence be considered faith? Would logic then not dictate that, if one can not hold to blind faith, or even faith of any form (being defined as an unsubstantiated belief) that this too, must be eschewed? Religion could just as easily be described as magic of several forms. Reality, what Is real? What kills us? Surely that, above all else, must be real? Perhaps death, as a state is more real than life? Consider maybe that reality is merely is merely a massive illusion, as so many others have theorized. Where then would we, as observants to the illusion be? Within it, surrounded and immersed? Or is it in us? Are we being fed the illusion directly to our minds? Again, an old idear, but no less valid. Answering this question would require us to have some idea of the true nature of our existence. However THAT requires a confidence in the nature of reality. To exist a thing must have at least 3 dimensions: Mass, Energy, Motion. For these to manifest in truth there must be a supporting framework, or structural mechanism. A reality. This is what traditional temporal mechanics leads me to believe. The nature of that reality dictates the parameters of the possibilities available to exist in. Reality can be conjectured upon by extrapolation from analysis of existence. It is what science is half-assedly doing. The truth of that can only be seen when the effort is made to see both what is and is not, if you just go in to prove a point you will miss nearly everything. So; to discern if this, our existence and thus our reality, is “real” of illusion, it would seem necessary to have multiple points of view. Assuming that what we exist in is real and not a willful illusion, that then leaves the proverbial doors wide open as to the possibilities in regards the previous questions. Even from our limited point of view on this existence, a wide number of modes of existing seem mathematically possible when considering the subsequent extrapolation of the theoretical nature of reality. Reality, as far as any scientific endeavor has been able to determine, has an ordered electromagnetic basis. Meaning the base creative elements herein are a seemingly structured chaos of electromagnetic energy. Electromagnetism by its very nature allows for numerous modes of energetic existence. Which is basically reality in general as we now know it, since matter is only modulated energy. The “Ordered Chaos” comes into play when you analyse the base constituents of sub-atomic particles. Quarks, muons, buons, and the even smaller items of whose names elude me. The effects and existence of these are generally known and repeatable (order) though not even close to being fully understood or explainable (chaos), else less would be called theory still. I digress. It should be fairly obvious if anyone cares to research, that while we know and understand a great deal about nature and our existence; reality is another beast entirely. Just when man tries to delude himself into thinking he knows more than a smidgen, another monkey with a wrench is seen. I propose that given the apparent foundation in our theorized reality, it could be possible and more than probable that sequential repetitive existence of a consciousness is a “real” thing. No less than the idea of static, or disposable consciousness. More likely than either, I’d say. One thing I’ve noticed as a key element, regardless of where it is seen it is the same, is the reality of balance. Harmony. I have yet to be aware of an instance wherein balance is not had through some means or another. Where would the balance be if consciousness were continually brought in, but never returned? (To die, and have your spirit remain in the dirt with the body?) What would the point be of that output of energy? What about the concept of when the body dies, the spirit simply ceases to be? Balance? Perhaps. This is a little more plausible than the previous, if the energy of that spirit were somehow recycled back into the stew of reality as raw. Then it could be more believable. However there would be a tragic loss of life knowledge and experience. This would also preclude another constant I am aware of: Adaptation, or Evolution if you will. Evolution doesn’t necessarily mean, say, frogs growing into apes into men. Merely, the alteration of an organism into something more. Take for instance human society. Reckon that to skin. Individually man, like those cells is a discreet and fully functional being. Combined with more they can take any of multiple forms, and survive vastly larger adversities. Colonies, cities, counties, states, nations, army’s, gangs, bands, teams. I should hope you know what skin can make. The evolution herein lie within the ability of these organisms to alter to either accommodate or surmount whatever they encounter. Back to my main point. It would seem to me an idea both reeking of balance and making more sense as to why live at all.. the classic reincarnation theory. Live, experience, grow, return, change all around you, do it again. Simply put, I see any variant of that as falling well in line with all observed “laws” of nature. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed… Yes, this implies a creator, gestalt, superbeing. I can not logically and without ignorance conclude against such a being. Nor can I remove some form of evolution of that creation. Given that, and the idea that memory depends on both storage of information AND experience as a point of reference; I don’t find it too hard to believe that my own recollections of times past are more than just works of imagination. Especially when most of those memories and dreams would surface in a time of relative contentment and more than occasional happiness. Most especially when many of these only came up during or after the meeting of certain other people… other souls I’d known before. And most especially when, after encountering types of “dreams” that me and a few others have had which we’ve come to term “warfare”; which more often than not would leave us waking with various physical ailments from soreness or severe pain to various swelling, cuts, bruising in shapes, patterns, and locations that it would be hard if not impossible to self inflict. For at these times they would have HAD to be self inflicted were they mundane in source. The reasons for these experiences are beyond the scope of this writing, but the reminder to me is clear: no matter how ensconced I may get in this here/now… it’s not the only time, place, or me.
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LOLWUT	Jun 10, 6:09pm
by: Klarth
topic: Essays
Hello, kids! Today we discuss morals and ethics. As you may or may not know, George W. Bush has several spurious claims being presented before him as grounds of impeachment. Whether or not you agree with the reasoning for it, surely you ask yourself why. Now, I'm a person who believes that the end justifies the means. But more than that, the motive. Many of the Nazi soldiers of WWII joined the party for one reason and one reason only-to reclaim their fatherland's lost glory. They did it because they honestly believed themselves to be right. Having spent nearly two hours debating this subject with a historian, I have come to the conclusion thatit does us no good to question 'why'. 'Why did the people of Germany support Hitler? They must be evil.' Well, no. See, Hitler joined the Nazi party, and he said something along thelines of 'wow, our economy is fucked. Our military is nonexistant. That isn't cool.' And people listened. When you start off trying to help the people, they'll listen. And once you have their trust, they will follow you to the gates of hell. So when Hitler began saying things like 'The Jews are the cause of our problems', the people of Germany listlessly agreed. They couldn't afford to disagree. Hitler had pulled Germany out of a financial depression more crushing then had been seen anywhere in the western world, and he gave them jobs, and he gave them hope. No fucking wonder they supported him. Smoke break. I'll bet a lot of you are flipping out at this point, calling me a moron, or an asshole, or some neo-Nazi fuck. Good. It means you've been reading, and I can get to the point of this article. Morals and ethics are not for any one man to measure. When that happens, shitstorms ensue. Let's use DS as an example here. If you were to take a gander to the navigation bar on the top left of the screen and click 'Forums', you would find DS' messageboards. And if you were so inclined, you might click on 'The Lounge'. The Lounge. My haven. My home. A cesspool of rape, AIDS, bad jokes, useless threads, and a whole lot of camwhores. Gotta love it. So I've noticed something funny. Much of my questionable humour has to do with rape jokes and other such tasteless commentary. For some reason, lots of people seem to love it. Then, one day, a new member comes into the Lounge and declares that my rape jokes aren't funny. Less than an hour later, I caught her making such a tasteless post as 'I wish I had a baby in a jar'. See, I find that rather disturbing. But shit, I make dirty rape jokes, so who the fuck am I to say anything? Just recently, I made some further tasteless jabs at another member about her pregnancy. To which she became rather irked. I felt it would be redundant to remind her that she had no problem with me or anyone else in the Lounge when derogatory comments towards women and minorities (plus Rape, AIDS and cocks) were being tossed about. So is it a question of situational etiquette? Fuck no. There is no etiquette on the internet. Is it a question of personal preference? Maybe. But after nearly two years on this site, I think I can safely say that if any of it really bothered me, I'd probably stay out of the Forums. Or quit the site altogether. So it's a matter of morals? Ethics? What is right or correct? Since when is this not protected by Freedom of Speech? Would you ike to know how long the KKK have been active in America? Centuries. And they still are, and they're still spreading their hatespeech and they're still burning crosses and they are STILL getting away with it- -Due to freedom of speech. So when I see that certain members of DS have been barred from certain areas of the site due to their crude posts, well, I say that's fucking bullshit. Shouldn't it bother you? It fucking bothers me. It bothers me enough that mymomsaid you're moving with your auntie and uncle to bel-air. I whistled for a cab and when it cam near, the license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything, I could say this cab was rare but I thought 'nah, forget it-yo, holmes, to bel-air!' I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 and I yelled to the cabbie 'yo holmes, smell ye later!' Looked at my kingdom, I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the prince of bel-air. ~fin
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Americans Are Overmedicated	May 17, 12:17am
by: my_little_pony
topic: Essays
Americans today are overmedicated because doctors are giving medications to their patients that they may not really need. “More and more, patients' reported satisfaction with a doctor's visit is linked to whether or not they are given a prescription. Many see medication as the simple and obvious answer to any health problem, which can result in physicians feeling pressured to prescribe medications, even when they are not appropriate” (Greider). The reason doctors are doing this is because the patient won’t feel satisfied after a doctors visit unless they get a prescription. Because of this, antibiotics have been abused so much that the flesh eating superbug MRSA has adapted and made most antibiotics useless against it, causing MRSA to spread like wildfire. Also, many people are on psychiatric drugs that may have been treated with other less severe methods which they have not tried as treatment because of the easiness of a pill. With all of the medications that people are taking, the side effects from those medications warrant the use for more medications specifically made for the side effects of those previous medications. When have all these unneeded medications become so vital to American society? MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is resistant to almost all antibiotics, and it’s treatments are becoming more and more scarce as time goes on. MRSA, once only a fear of and nuisance to hospitals and nursing homes, is breaking out of it’s normal habitat and leaching schools, daycares, and prisons. “Experts blame the emergence of these souped-up bugs in part on our habit of treating so many infections with powerful antibiotics; the microbes battle back by mutating to become resistant to the drugs” (Park). This outbreak of MRSA could have been prevented, or at least severely delayed by Americans taking antibiotics only in appropriate situations and only as prescribed. Part of the problem is that patients prescribed antibiotics are only taking the medicine until they feel better and not finishing the whole treatment, which gives bacteria a chance to mutate and in a sense, “conquer” that antibiotic and render it useless to that bacteria. If more people understood this then perhaps they would not be so antibiotic-happy at the doctors office and maybe another superbug may not have a chance to surface. Unlike other physicians, some psychiatrists must seek out patients by persuading them that they need treatment. Drug companies are happy to assist them in this pursuit, as it boosts their sales in the long run. With that in mind, we can now see how psychiatrists and drug companies work together to promote the connection between brain defects and mental disorders. Modern drugs are then offered as the solution for supposed chemical imbalances in the brain. “However, there is substantial evidence that mental disorders are not caused by problems in the brain and that patients are being over prescribed psychiatric drugs when alternative treatments such as psychotherapy would be more effective” (Leavitt). An example of overmedication with psychiatric drugs is the amount of children improperly diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and the serious medications that these children are put on. Millions of children are being diagnosed with ADHD and put on medication that has been proven to have dangerous short and long term effects. Medical professionals have long acknowledged there is no objective criteria for determining whether a child has ADHD. Furthermore, the symptoms of ADHD have many possible causes, from sleep apnea to lead poisoning. Parents of children diagnosed with ADHD should really know about the disorder before letting doctors dope their children up on Ritalin (a stimulant that is close to cocaine in its composition and is most doctors’ drug of choice for treating ADHD) or something similar. With all of the medications that people are taking, more medications are being developed to combat the side effects of the previous ones. Dr. John D. Griffith, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, states: "I would like to point out that every drug, however innocuous, has some degree of toxicity. A drug, therefore, is a type of poison and its poisonous qualities must be carefully weighed against its therapeutic usefulness.” Unrecognized drug side effects are particularly of concern in the elderly, who tend to take more drugs for their ailments but metabolize them differently than the younger people tested and usually represented in drug-company studies (Greider). Wayne K. Anderson, Ph.D., dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Buffalo, tells the story of: An eighty-year-old man who had osteoarthritis and was given a drug that made him nauseated. His doctor prescribed an anti-nauseate, which, after several months, produced a tremor. The man went to another doctor, who diagnosed Parkinson's disease and prescribed drugs to treat it, which increased the patient's nausea, resulting in an increase of anti-nausea drugs. Finally, a pharmacist had a conversation with the man's wife and recommended he be admitted to the hospital, where the drugs were carefully withdrawn. “He was discharged with a single prescription—Tylenol, for the osteoarthritis. Over the course of a year this man had become bedridden and now he was able to get back into life” (Greider). This happens all over in American nursing homes. If a resident has an itch, gas, is constipated, or has even the mildest headache some form of unnecessary medication is likely given. Why else would anyone want to go to the doctor unless it was to get medicine for their ailment? “It has been suggested that the impulse to use drugs is universal, a trait that distinguishes human beings from other animals. And isn't there something inherently appealing about taking medicine? You swallow it—you get better. Getting a medicine defines and validates one's suffering, while offering the promise of a solution” (Greider) Medicines certainly do have their advantages! Without modern medicine there would be a lot more lethal infections, people in pain, and untreated psychiatric patients. Many people prescribed certain medications do in fact need them and would suffer considerably without them. Where do we draw the line between which medication is needed and which medication is not? Doctors advise using a bit of common sense. Always ask your doctor what the medicines that he is giving you or your child are for and what side effects there will be. If he is prescribing you antibiotics ask, “If I didn’t take this antibiotic, would my body be able to fight this infection itself?” If your body can fight the infection itself, do all of us a favor and let it, because the more antibiotics are used the less effective they will become in the future when bacteria mutate even further and render antibiotics useless. Always examine possible reasons for symptoms of psychiatric disorders and don’t automatically run to a drug to solve all your problems. We are humans, we are tough, and Zoloft hasn’t been around for the first couple thousand years of our existence, why do we think that we require it now? Works Cited Katharine Greider. "Americans Are Overmedicated." At Issue: Are Americans Overmedicated?. Ed. Amanda Hiber. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Umpqua Community College. 28 Feb. 2008 . Fred Leavitt. "Americans Are Overmedicated with Psychiatric Drugs." At Issue: Are Americans Overmedicated?. Ed. Amanda Hiber. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Umpqua Community College. 28 Feb. 2008 . Park, Alice. "Staph on the March.(BEST INVENTIONS OF 2007)(Life: Sport - Living - History - Health - Environment - Life After Work; Health)." Time. 170. 20 (Nov 12, 2007): 123. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Umpqua Community College. 28 Feb. 2008 . Bruce Wiseman. "Children Are Overmedicated with ADHD Drugs." At Issue: Are Americans Overmedicated?. Ed. Amanda Hiber. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Umpqua Community College. 28 Feb. 2008 .
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Animal Experimentation is Completely Justified and Necessary Because it is Essential for Medical Progress	Apr 28, 9:05pm
by: my_little_pony
topic: Essays
Could you imagine what your life would be like if you were confined to an iron lung for the rest of your life with your only view being the ceiling because animal rights activists made it impossible to use animals to find the cure for polio? Animal experimentation is completely justified and necessary because it is essential for medical progress. Without the use of animals in scientific research we would not have as many preventative drugs for AIDS patients, nor as many vaccines for terrible illnesses, and also we would not have discovered the Rh factor, a very important issue when it comes to women and pregnancy. Regulations brought in to protect animals' welfare are hindering vital research, research that could possibly find the final cure for AIDS and different cancers. We need animals to test drugs to make sure that they are safe for humans before administering them to our children, parents, and ourselves. There are no substitutes for animals, other than humans, that work as well and produce such conclusive results as they do. AIDS research would be impossible without animal experimentation. In one case the bone marrow of a baboon (baboons are immune to the AIDS virus) was implanted into a human with AIDS in an experimental treatment, after which the baboon was killed painlessly with a lethal injection. Many animal rights activists disagree with what was done, but would have it been right to save the baboons life in favor of denying treatment to someone with AIDS? Animal transplants have enormous possibilities for people with leukemia and lymphoma who go without treatment in a lot of cases because of a lack of donors. Many researchers believe that through animal testing a cure for AIDS will be found, and one states that restrictive animal rights laws get in the way of progress. According to Joseph E. Murray, the 1990 Nobel Laureate in medicine, “Whenever a cure for AIDS is found, it will be through animal research.” Finding a cure for AIDS warrants the sacrifice of animal lives. In 1908, researchers Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper conducted an experiment on monkeys and by doing so changed the way animal experimentation was done. They removed part of the spinal cord of a boy who had died of polio and ground it up, filtered it and injected it directly into the spines of two monkeys. One monkey became paralyzed and both monkeys died. The spinal cords showed the same kind of damage as those of humans with polio. In a very simple way, Landsteiner and Popper had demonstrated that monkeys could be used to model human diseases. Other scientists caught on and in 1911, monkeys were found to be susceptible to measles, in 1914, mumps, and in 1928, yellow fever (Derbyshire). With his discoveries of how monkeys could be used as models of humans, Landsteiner discovered the different kinds of blood types in humans in 1930 and won the Nobel Prize. Landsteiner was particular about the kind of animals that he used and would onlyuse rhesus macaque monkeys, which was important because in 1940, he discovered a blood factor shared by the macaques and humans: the Rh factor. Short for rhesus, Rh factor refers to a cluster of highly reactive proteins on the surface of red blood cells. Most people have these proteins and are called Rh positive. A minority, however, lacks the proteins and is called Rh negative. If an Rh-negative woman becomes pregnant with an Rh-positive child, her immune system will develop an immune defense that will attack any future pregnancy with an Rh-positive child. Her immune system will rip into the fetus' alien red blood cells, jamming them together and exploding them. (Derbyshire) What an important discovery! Good thing that Landsteiner's discovery led to the development of a vaccine that blocked this terrible immune response. It is puzzling that some people would even think of saving a few monkeys rather than having this vaccine. Without animal testing many areas of research would come to a halt and many cures for things would go undiscovered. Thomas Starzl, the pioneer of the kidney transplant, was recently asked why he used dogs in his work. He explained that his first series of kidney transplant operations left the majority of his subjects dead. He figured out what enabled the minority to survive and began a second series of operations; the majority of these subjects lived. A third group of subjects received liver transplants and only one or two of them died. In his fourth group all subjects survived. Starzl remarked that it’s important to realize that his first three groups of subjects were dogs, while the fourth group of subjects were human babies. It is sad to say that some people would favor discontinuing this line of research rather than use dogs to refine the process. If animal rights activists had their way the world would by a very different place, a place which there would be very little pleasure living in. Animal activists oppose all animal-based medical research. If we had listened to their arguments 50 years ago, children still would be contracting polio (the vaccine was developed in monkeys). Diabetics would not have insulin, a benefit of research on dogs. We would also be without antibiotics for pneumonia, chemotherapy for cancer, surgery for heart diseases, organ transplants and joint replacement.(Murray) Animal rights activists believe that animals have just as many rights to life as humans do and should be treated as such. Organizations like PETA were formed to protect animal rights. People who support animal rights believe that animals are not ours to use for food, clothing, entertainment, experimentation, or any other purpose. PETA is right on a lot of their values. Animals should not be used for entertainment, nor should they be used for experiments concerning cosmetics. Do we really need another hairspray? The answer is “No!” But, do we really need a cure for AIDS? The answer is “Yes!” Many animal rights activists argue that a healthy lifestyle can prevent many diseases and ailments which would warrant the need for treatment, treatment which could have been discovered using animal testing. Some animal rights activists believe that medical research altogether could be stopped if people lived healthy lives and did not require treatment for diseases and ailments. This would be nice if it were true, but sadly it is not. My aunt and uncle, Wister and Tom Hart, are people who live very healthy lifestyles. They eat well, exercise, rest well, and are generally happy people. Both have had cancer and survived. If not for chemotherapy (perfected through animal research) they would not have made it. Who would be to blame for their deaths then? Medical research needs to use animals for testing in order to progress. It is not a necessary evil; it is just necessary. Just like animals, humans have the right to further their species and protect it so that it may flourish and not become extinct. When cancer, disease, and ailments arise, it is our right as human beings to find the cure for these things, however possible, without hurting other humans, because surviving is what we are genetically programmed to do. We live in a modern world today free of many of the diseases that plagued our past. Many of us have forgotten or simply not known what a different world it was before all the cures that came of animal testing. Because of this, animal rights activists simply do not see what is needed to live in such a privileged society such as we do, where issues of our survival are rarely worried about in our daily lives. They are sentimentalists, “Save the animals!” they cry out, but when it comes down to it, what they are saying means that they are more concerned about another species than their own, even if they don’t understand that that‘s what they‘re implying. If your child had cancer, would you refuse to use chemotherapy on them because the methods used to perfect it were tested on animals? Would you deny them medicine for pain for the same reason? I think not. Works Cited Derbyshire, Stuart. "Animal Experimentation Is Justified." Current Controversies: The Rights of Animals. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Umpqua Community College. 29 Jan. 2008 http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve& tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010062239&source=gale&srcprod=OV RC&userGroupName=umpquacc&version=1.0. Murray, Joseph E. "Animal Experimentation Benefits AIDS Research." At Issue: Animal Experimentation. Ed. David M. Haugen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Umpqua Community College. 29 Jan. 2008 http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010002205&source=gale&srcprod=OR C&userGroupName=umpquacc&version=1.0.
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Dust to dust has a whole new meaning.	Apr 2, 2:35pm
by: Klarth
topic: Philosophy
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It's a poetic term which boils down to 'return from whence you came'. In the book of Genesis, those are the words of God/Yahweh/Jehovah/Whomever to Adam in the explanation that he was made from the dust of the Earth, and when he died, to the dust his body would return. So it occurred to me that this could very well tie into the idea that the first conscious memory is the last conscious memory. I haven't spoken to any dead dude or dudettes lately, so bear with me. When you hear people talking about near death experiecnes, they generally speak of a light. Many believe it's the light of heaven, of the Pearly Gates, guarded by Jesus' best friend and confidant, St. Peter the Apostle. As an agnostic, I believe it is the light of truth that washes over you just before the complete decimation of your being. Different strokes. They say that your first memory is between ages 2 and 4. But what if Birth is your first memory, subconsciously wedged in there as 'I am conscious, I am here, I have begun and it is here that I'll end'. Think about it. You're wrenched from the calming truth of the womb, the wamth and moistness that has been all you knew for a matter of nine months and ejected into the harsh world. Someone snips the cord, and you're aware, awake from that hazy, dreaming state from within, and all around is the sudden glare of light. Unless you were born in pitch darkness, there is a perceptible change in your surroundings, and whether or not your eyes are opened or closed, there's this blinding glare that assaults from beyond, the indelible and irrevocable truth of life. You get used to it. You move on, you get older. You forget. Because in a way, that's what we do as people. We take things for granted. We take the very truth of life for granted, to be blessed with some semblance of a cognitive mind. And that's the truth, because we fear death. We fear death because of the idea that afterwards, there is no consciousness, no us. And rightly so. The light is there at birth, there when you die, from dust you came, to dust you'll return. Don't take it literally, but the bible is full of the samesuch metaphors, and when you start discerning them you can figure out the meaning of life. No master plan. No destiny or fate. Just you, here, now, living, writing history as it comes. Anyhow...That's just my idea on the subject. Dwell on it.
[reply] [131 comments]

Continuation of previous, if anyone be interested.	Mar 20, 5:23am
by: NEVETS
topic: Philosophy
Our self-image grew even bleaker with the work of Charles Darwin. His theory of evolution- tweaked slightly now by the neo-Darwinists-is of a life that is random, predatory, puposeless and solitary. Be the best or don't survive. Althouhgh many may disagree, you are no more than an evolutionary accident. The vast checkerboard biological heritage of your ancestors is stripped down to one central facet: survival. Eat or be eaten. The essence of your humanity is a genetic terrorist, efficiently disposing of any weaker links. Life is not about sharing and interdependance. Life is about winning, getting there first. And if you do manage to survive, you are on your own at the top of the evolutionary tree. These paradigms- the world as machine, man as survival machine- have led to a technological mastery of the universe, but little real knowledge of any central importance to us. On a spiritual and metaphysical level, they have led to the most desperate and brutal sense of isolation. They also have got us no closer to understanding the most fundamental mysteries of our own being: how we think, how life begins, why we get ill, how a single cell turns into a fully formed person, and even what happens to human consciousness when we die. We remain reluctant apostles of these views of the world as mechanized and sperate, even if this isn't part of our ordinary experience. Many of us seek refuge from what we see as the harsh and nihilistic fact of our existence in religion, which may offer some succour in its ideals of unity, community and purpose, but through a view of the world that contradicts the view espoused by science. Anyone seeking a spiritual life has had to wrestle with these opposing world views and fruitlessly try to reconcile the two. This world of the separate should have been laid waste once and for all by the discovery of quantum physics in the early part of the twentieth century. As the pioneers of quantum physics peered into he very heart of matter, they were astounded by what they saw. The tiniest bits of matter weren't even matter, as we know it, not even a set something, but sometimes one thing, sometimes something quite different. And even stranger, they were often many possible things all at the same time. But most significantly, these subatomic particles had no meaning in isolation, but only in relationship with everything else. At its most elemental, matter couldn't be chopped up into self-contained little units, but was completely indivisible. You could only understand the universe as a dynamic web of interconnection. Things once in contact remained always in contact through all space and all time. Indeed, time and space themselves appeared to be arbitrary constructs, no longer applicable at this level of the world. Time and space as we know them did not, in fact, exist. All that appeared, as far as the eye could see was one long landscape of the here and now. The pioneers of quantum physics-Erwin Schrodinger, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli- had some inkling of the metaphysical territory they had tresspassed into. If electrons were connected everywhere at once, this implied something profound about the nature of the world at large. They turned to classic philosophical texts in their attempt to grasp the deeper truth about the strange subatomic world they were observing. Pauli examined psychoanalysis and archetypes and the Qabbalah; Bohr, the Tao and Chinese philosophy; Schrodinger, Hindu philosophy; and Heisenberg, the platonic theory of ancient Greece. Nevertheless, a coherent theory of the spiritual implications of quantum physics remained beyond their grasp. Niels Bohr hung a sign of his door saying 'Philosophers keep out. Work in progress' There was other, quite practical, unfinished business with quantum theory. Bohr and his colleagues only got so far in their experiments and understanding. The experiments they'd cunducted demonstrating these quantum effects had occurred in the laboratory, with non-living subatomic particles. From there, scientists in their wake naturally assumed that this strange quantum world only existed in the world of dead matter. Anything alive still operated according to the laws of Newton and Decarted, a view that has informed all of modern medicine and biology. Even biochemistry depends upon Newonian force and collision to work. And what of us? Suddenly, we had grown central to every physical process, but no one had fully acknowledged this. The quantum pioneers had discovered that our involvement with matter was crucial. Subatomic particles existed in all possible staes until disturbed by us- by observing or measuring- at which point, they'd settle down, at long last, into something real. Our observation-our human conciousness- was utterly central to this process of subatomic flux actually becoming some set thing, but we weren't in any of the mathematics of Heisenberg or Schrodinger. They realized that we were somehow key, but they didn't know how to include us. As far as science was concerned, we were still on the outside looking in. >>Okay I'll stop for a while now.
[reply] [32 comments]

The Coming Revolution	Mar 17, 11:21am
by: NEVETS
topic: Philosophy
We are poised on the brink of a revolution- a revolution as daring and profound as Einstein's discovery of relativity. At the very frontier of science new ideas are emerging that challenge everything wwe believe about how our world works and how we define ourselves. Discoveries are being made that prove what religion has always espoused: that human beings are far more extroadinary that an assemblage of flesh and bones. At its most fundamental, this new science answers questions that have perplexed scientists for hundreds of years. At its most profound, this is a science of the miraculous. For a number of decades respected scientists in a variety of disciplines all over the world have been carrying out well designed experiments whose results fly in the face of current biology and physics. Together, these studies offer us copious information about the central organizing force governing our bodies and the rest of the cosmos. What they have discovered is nothing less than astonishing. At our most elemental, we are not a chemical reation, but an energetic charge. Human beings and all living things are a coalescence of energy in a field of energy connected to every other thing in the world. This pulsating energy field is the central engine of our being and our consciousness, the alpha and the omega of our existence. There is no 'me' and 'not-me' duality to our bodies in relation to the universe, but one underlying energy field. This field is responsible for our mind's highest functions, the information source guiding the growth of our bodies. It is our brain, our heart, our memory- indeed, a blueprint of the world for all time. The field is the force, rather than germs or genes, that finally determines whether we are healthy or ill, the force which must be tapped in order to heal. We are attached and engaged, indivisible from our world, and our only fundamental truth is our relationship whith it. 'The field,' as Einstein once succinetly put it, 'is the only reality.' Up until the present, biology and physics have been handmaidens of views espoused by Isaac Newton, the father of modern physics. Everything we believe about our world and our place whithin it takes its lead from ideas that were formulated in the seventeenth century, but still form the backbone of modern science- theories that present all the elements of the universe as isolated from each other, divisible and wholly self-contained. These, at their essence, created a world view of separateness. Newton described a material world in which individual particles of matter followed certain laws of motion through space and time- the universe as machine. Before Newton formulated his laws of motion, French philosopher René Descartes had come up with that was then a revolutionary notion, that we- represented by our minds- were seperate from this lifeless inert matter of our bodies, which were just another type of well-oiled machine. The world was composed of a load of little discrete objects, which behaved predictably. The most seperate of these was the human being. We sat outside this universe, looking in. Even our bodies were somehow separate and other from the real us, the conscious minds doing the observing. The Newtonian world might have been law-abiding, but ultimately it was a lonely, desolate place. The world carried on, one vast gearbox, whether we were present or not. With a few deft moves, Newton and Descartes had plucked God and life from the world of matter, and us and our consciousness form the center of our world. They ripped the heart and soul out ofthe universe, leaving in its wake a lifeless collection of interlocking parts. Most important of all, as Danah Zohar observed in 'The Quantum Self', Newton's vision tore us out from the fabric of the universe. >>>That's my input for the year, I'm outie.
[reply] [44 comments]

A Bunch of Updates	Jun 29, 11:19pm
by: eon
I've completed work on an assortment of little updates to the site which I will detail here: 1. Polls: You now have the ability to post polls both in the site forums and in groups. To post a poll inside of a group or forum topic, click the 'New Post' link and then click the 'Post a Poll' link. As some have suggested, this may change the social dynamics a bit. I'm going to see how this goes and I may consider adding in some controls to help keep things from getting too crazy (if indeed they do.) 2. Easier group invites: You can now invite someone to your group by clicking a link directly from their profile. To find the link, scroll down to the section of their profile where you normally find links to see what groups they are a member of, add them as a friend, etc.. I have also upped the maximum group invitations to 30 per day. 3. Blog comment notifications: You will now receive a notification when someone posts a new comment to your blog (in the same place as the 'New Comments' notification). When you click the link, you will have a display of your blog entries where only the entries with new comments will show up. You will also find some new links to toggle between different ways of viewing your blog entries. 4. Only display pics with new comments: Similar to the new viewing options for blogs, when you click your 'New Pic Comments' notification, you will now see a page which only shows your pics which have new comments. You'll have links to toggle between these views. This should come in super handy for you Andromeda people who have like 80 pictures and have to go hunting for which ones have new comments every time you get a notice. 5. There is also something new in the forums which you may or may not find. If you do find it, I hope you like it. As always, be on the lookout for any bugs which have been introduced. I've tested everything pretty well, but a few always sneak in somehow. And: Enjoy...
[reply] [17 comments]

A Few Updates	May 18, 10:40pm
by: eon
A few small updates have been added: 1. In the forums, you will now be able to see a list of the last 10 people to view any thread. To find the list, just go to any thread and scroll to the bottom, where you will find a table with the spiffy new info. 2. In groups, a feature has been added allowing you to block specific people from your group. Previously, to block people from your group, you had to set the group up to require an application and then not accept anyone who you didn't want to allow in. This works fine as long as you want to require applications/invites. If you wanted to run an open group, however, there previously was no way to keep the troublemakers out. This will also come in handy for blocking people who pester you by repeatedly applying to your group despite repeated rejections. Look at the 'manage members' section of your group control panel to find the new feature. 3. Andromeda members will now be able to see a list of the last 20 people to view any picture in their pic gallery. To see the list, just view any picture and look for a table with this info. If there have been any viewers, the table will appear above the picture comments. Keep in mind, since the featue has just been added, the lists haven't had much time to accumulate views, so it's likely you won't find much right away. I may add the same feature for Starling members (with a reduced number of people saved on the list). Currently, I am testing to see whether or not this is practical and what limitations I'll need to set. Find out more about Andromeda Thank you. And, Enjoy...
[reply] [26 comments]

New Feature: Site Themes	Feb 20, 6:23pm
by: eon
Check out your Control Panel under 'Edit Profile' for a new option: Site Themes. It's pretty straight forward. Pick a color you like and all of the site backgrounds, links, borders, etc., will be changed to suit your taste. This is good if you'd like a break from the site layout we've had for the past... oh... 3 years or so. Currently available: Original, Green, Blue, Orange, Pink and Grey. You might find some sections of the site that are not covered by the themes. IE, you might select the 'Green' theme and at some point find a page somewhere on the site that has not been changed to green (it would still have the original look). If you find such pages, let me know. There are quite a few I've had to link up and I've covered most of them but I'm sure I've missed a few. Thanks and... Enjoy.
[reply] [68 comments]

Site Poll: Tools or Rules?	Jan 13, 3:40pm
by: eon
The poll I'm going to link here addresses an issue that has come up many times in the history of this site, starting with the introduction of our forums and then continuing with the addition of Groups. Although this poll asks a question about the way groups and forums are used, the answer could have an impact site wide. So I'd like everyone to please take a few minutes and help out in settling this long time, hotly debated issue. The poll pretty much explains everything, so please carefully read the background section of the poll and give it some thought before voting: Take the poll: Tools or Rules? Again, I think this is something that could effect everyone, so I would encourage you all to vote! Thank you for making your voice heard.
[reply] [25 comments]

CSS Changes Affecting Groups	Nov 18, 12:21am
by: eon
In working on new features for the site, I'm having to update the CSS a bit. Some of these changes will affect those of you who have done customized group layouts. I'm going to keep an ongoing log of my changes in the following forum thread: CSS Changes Affecting Groups In the end, I hope this will make the CSS a bit more flexible and also a bit more organized. I'm not for sure how long I'll be making changes which will affect groups, but the above thread will be the place to go if something changes in your layout and you want to get a quick idea of what to do about it. Thank you for your patience . . .
[reply] [9 comments]

Happy Halloween... and stuff.	Oct 31, 11:36am
by: eon
I believe the recent server troubles have finally been resolved, as we've held steady for a few days now. *knocks on wood* As a side effect of all the work I did in tracking down the glitch, some helpful refinements were made in the code and in the way the server is set up. Ultimately, this has resulted in slightly smoother operation of the site. So smooth, it's scaaaaaary! Eh hem. So I hope you guys have a great Halloween. Have fun, keep it safe and watch out for the zombies and rabid chipmunks which are almost certain to be on the prowl tonight . . . Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!!
[reply] [21 comments]

Outages	Oct 14, 10:21pm
by: eon
The site was intermittently accessible and extremely slow for much of the day, today. This was due to a network failure at our webhost that has been addressed. They've informed me that we should no longer be affected by the issue. However, this issue was not related to the series of outages we've had over the past few days, which have run anywhere from a few hours to many hours in length. These outages are due to a problem actually somewhere on our server that I am still tracking. Basically, something is hanging the server up at random times, seemingly every 24 hours or so. I'm addressing this by setting up log files to monitor different things that might be related. After each crash, I'm going back through log files, looking for the cause and potentially setting up new logs to track other potential causes. Unfortunately, since the crashes happen without warning and at any given time, there's always the chance one will happen while I'm away. In which case, the server will be down for X amount of hours. Bear with me, I'm trying to check more frequently to reduce downtimes (though I do have to sleep occasionally!) and hopefully I will be able to track down the source of the failure soon. I'm also looking into some automated process to monitor the server and automatically reboot when it crashes. Additionally, I will be running some maintenance soon, sometime in the next few days. This will tie things up for hopefully no more than 2-3 hours. Thank you for your patience.
[reply] [14 comments]

Down In The Mill...	Aug 10, 2:22am
by: eon
In keeping with the times I've been advised to increase the maximum allowed pictures to upload. I was told that many of you who toil in the mills are losing fingers, toes, noses and other such appendages and felt that the job required better compensation. And so here you have it: The wealthy and privileged Andromeda may now upload 100 pictures total. The less wealthy and priviliaged (but better looking in the face) Starlings may now upload 25 pictures total. I know, updates have been a little thin. As always, I never have as much time for R&D as I'd like, what with the realities of life keeping me busy aside from here. Yes, there are things in the works. Of course, everything I do is black-ops, so that's all I'll say (as ever). Just letting you know I haven't outsourced my development to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Yet. I know, our numbers have thinned, too. Does this worry you? Please, don't let it. Mostly, it's my fault for not keeping pace with development. Other sites continue to add improvements while I continue to juggle my time. But let's remember what this place was founded for to begin with: This was supposed to be a haven for us. Something a little more sane and real than popularity contests and the typical three-ring-commercialized-circus-side-show that describes most of the internet. I think that we've accomplished that if nothing else and as long as you guys want to hang around and haunt this place, I will too. If you get lonely, invite some friends. I know, I've done only a slight more than fuck-all to ever promote this place, but I wouldn't go so far as to discourage you from doing so if more people would make you smile. I've never held contests or anything of the sort to drive promotion. To me, it seems insincere. As it stands, in the nearly three years we've been here, no one has ever invited someone else to join DarkStarlings because they were getting something out of it. Period. And I think that's an awesome claim to make. But maybe I should be more realistic. There's nothing sincere about advertisement anyway and I should decide whether or not this place should be advertised in earnest. So, I definitely haven't ruled it out. I'll think about it, okay? Anyhoo, thanks again to everyone who makes this place what it is. Thanks to everyone who keeps this place alive. And truly, over the past months, that's been every one of you--and not so much me. *tips imaginary hat*
[reply] [38 comments]

Update Roundup	Jun 9, 10:56pm
by: eon
I've done a number of little updates which I'll list here. 1. Group Applications. Now when your group is set to require applications from new members, there will be a comment box where applicants can let you know why they want to join. Go to the 'Manage Member' page for your group and look at the top of the menu. Here, you can provide instructions that will be shown to all of your applicants so they'll know what you're looking for on their application. For instance, if your group was about books, you could ask them to list their favorite authors. 2. The group applicants who are waiting for your approval will be listed along with the first 250 characters of their application to make everything easier to browse. Each applicant will link to a special page where you can review their entire application, see their picture, link back to their profile, approve or deny the application, etc.. 3. Staff Threads in Groups. You now have the option of creating topics in your groups which will only be visible to Moderators and higher. This will make it easier for group leaders to conference in private, just check the 'Staff Only?' box when you create your new topic. A special symbol (yellow star) will appear next to staff threads on your forum lists. 4. Comment Private Profiles. Andromeda members who have set their profile to private may allow blocked visitors to leave a comment. To enable this feature go to: Control Panel -> Experience -> Profile Privacy Message Box Thanks, guys...
[reply] [9 comments]

T-Shirt Update	May 10, 9:30pm
by: eon
Well, I ordered one of the t-shirts that I announced in the last news update and it seems to be a fine product. My only minor gripe would be that it's 100% cotton and shrinks quite a bit in the wash. So if you order any, consider buying a size or two larger than usual. Other than that, they look good. Soon I'll be adding another design, that being a plain DS "D star" logo on the front center and the familiar "(D)arkstarlings.com" logo on back. A bit plain, but still a basic, almost obligatory design that a lot of people are understandably interested in. I mean, we're talking about prints of the logo. Also I plan on doing some kind of contest for a t-shirt design in the near future with andromeda time (and maybe other stuff) as prizes. I have no specifics on that at present, but it's a definite at some point in the future. So if you have any creative inclinations, any time whiled away in photoshop or elsewhere won't hurt you one bit. Order t-shirts in confidence: Our First T-Shirt Design Discount: As a promotion, I've marked the price down by a couple of dollars for the next week, so be sure and snag yours at the promo price while you still can. The $2 mark down is already figured into the prices displayed and applies to all shirt sizes and styles. Expires 5/18/07, 11:59 PM Central Time. As always, thank you kindly and your fine support is greatly, greatly appreciated.
[reply] [17 comments]