no surprise here.. it's proven that self-medication or hollistic healing is a lot more beneficial than anyone leads on, especially the pharm companies and the FDA. if they started telling everyone that you can practically heal any minor (even major) ailment by yourself, they would lose TON AND TONS of money because people would stop buying medicines and drugs. i always try to stick it to the man (i know.. so cliche..) and hollistic healing is definitely a good way to do so. echinacea and vitamin-c are the best recommendations, lots of water, OJ, and sleep. let your body heal as it shall.
@ sid morrison- yes, i agree whole-heartedly. politicians are economically AND socially illiterate. i made a realization in my 'history of sociological thought' class that it has never been required (and mostly avoided) by politicians to actually UNDERSTAND the society they represent. they are never required to understand the movement of society and none of them have actually gone out into society and asked people what they want. they do, however, go out and stand on their soap box and spew what knowledge they've been able to collect thus far and we're given the choice to pay attention or turn the other cheek -- and that's all the choice we have! south park made the best metaphore of this situation, when we're forced to choose between a turd sandwich and giant douche. the most credible theorists say that sociologists should never be politicians (which actually botches my own theory) but that they should be advisors of the politicians, which i guess makes sense. but i then realized that it's not so much a suggestion to make sociologists the second-hand man, it's a suggestion to educate society ABOUT society, and therefore be able to apply the proper rules to that society. politicians apply universal rules to individual cases, which then effects the individuals who originally had nothing to do with any of it. but they still lie under the umbrella of that society, therefore must abide by the rules set for the people who can't function without them.
which brings me to argue against some of the comments put on here-- i know it's just semantics, but it's the mentality of it and not just the vocabulary. and i understand that there are people from other countries, but they are excused because they're allowed to do this.. people are saying 'americans are stupid because blah blah.. THEY do this and THEY do that' and they're forgetting that they, too, are american. that's the "individual" i'm referring to above, where politicians are forced to make rules for EVERYONE because INDIVIDUALS are incapable of seeing that issues within society are the issues OF THAT SOCIETY and not just the select few who can't think for themselves. it's funny, because that's the first step in drug/alcohol rehab (no i've never been a participant))- admitting you have a problem. part of the language of admitting it is OWNING the problem by saying "my name is blah, and i am an alcoholic." they can then take steps in identifying how they got to the point they did, and take more steps in the direction of fixing their mistakes. if people blamed others for their own addiction, they would never get clean. seem relevant?
let's say it together so we can move on- so we can stop blaming whoever for why our prices are high- so we can move on and take the proper steps in trying to fix our problems- I AM AMERICA, AND I HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM. now. treating this issue as if countries were people, should america go to england for help? their government seems to be doing well for them, i bet they can do the same for us! but wait, no- because they are different! they have other systems that work for THEM that won't necessarily work for us. ok, how about south africa? no, wait.. indonesia? no.. australia? no. we need to help ourselves and the first step in doing so is working as a country and not just a bunch of disenfranchised individuals. this went way off topic.. sorry guys. i'm just trying to emphasize how important it is to stop blaming OPEC, stop blaming rising food costs, stop blaming other people for our problem. yes, OUR PROBLEM. steve carrell said it best in 40-year-old virgin: stop telling me how i feel and just tell me what i should do!
hmmm.. let me see.. there are TWO cups there, and there just happens to be TWO hands attached to your arms, so you could REALLY just carry them, but if it's too complicated to wrap your obese fingers around your mocha-latte frappacinno with syrup, i think you may have bigger problems than carrying your coffee. of course, using a tray is way too practical because it can be used again and again. but knowing you share the same mentality as the other folks who need a carrying case for their coffee, you'll use it and lose it as quickly as that entire bag of donut-holes you ate this morning. and don't worry about the land-fills because hey- out of sight; out of mind, right? you'll NEVER be effected by the waste of human beings because you're special and need a carrying case for you coffee.
what i don't understand is how this stuff can be passed as common knowledge, yet, the theory of evolution can be thrown out like a dirty bandage. we continue to research distinct similarities between humans and all other walks of life, are SUCCESSFUL, and are even able to say that chimps have 97% of the same genes as we do. HOW IS THIS NOT PROOF OF EVOLUTION? i'm sorry guys.. i don't want anyone to spit on me for bringing up this crap, but i'm just boggled by things like this. i guess divine faith is just not something i am capable of grasping.
recession or not (the argument is semantical), we're in a severe economic decline and everyone is feeling its effects. you don't need a rich guy or a fox news anchor or f-ing stephen hawking to tell you that. end of story.
i don't know- this may be really, really awesome and it may be really, really bad. knowing how our economy deals with new things, this boy will likely be exploited and his discovery will be taken for granted. it will be overused, and the original utility will be lost.
otherwise, i think this would be a great breakthrough because plastics are evil and the floating island between california and hawaii proves it.
like other people on here, i also set my cruise at 65mph on the highway and feel like a safety hazard because everyone else furiously passes me, like getting to their destination 5 minutes earlier is going to make life more convenient. i also started hypermiling (www.hypermiling.com) and have been able to squeeze out an additional 8mpg in doing so. if i don't have to drive anywhere else besides work and school, i can survive on $30 per week on gas. instead of paying attention to gas prices, i decide to spend X amount of dollars and drive conservatively to make it last as long as possible. i've been doing this for quite some time and i almost don't even feel the gas-price crunch. the problem isn't that people are unwilling to pay more for gas, it's that they're unwilling to change their over-all behavior, and this is not just on the road. an idiot isn't just an idiot in the driver's seat.. they're an idiot anyway. people speed because they're impatient, and anyone who has great patience will tell you it takes a lot of self-discipline. self-discipline takes time and effort and today's society does not cater to such patience. people get pissed off if their big mac isn't ready in under 3 minutes, can we really expect them to have patience anywhere else in life? realistically, no. if natural selection still applied today (some places it does, but not really in the developed countries effected by this whole mess), these people would be the first to go because they'll attack the bear before they wait for it to cross the trap. we live in times of instant gratification and i don't see that changing anytime soon.
i have an amazing idea for a new vehicle, and i think it would work, but i'm not a mechanic or engineer and don't know the exact intricacies of my project. it uses segway technology and solar power... intriguing, no? i've emailed a couple people familiar with this technology telling them my idea (of course not disclosing all of my plans for fear of having it stolen), but no responses yet. anyone in here know about segways?
also-- my dad is really looking into engines that run off of water. you have to build the engine yourself, but the parts only cost around $3500 and i'm sure there is an instruction book. he said that if he gets it to work well, he's going to do the same in our (mine and my siblings) cars as well. of course, i'm trying to think of ways to illeviate the need for ANY resources capable of depletion, so i would probably collect and purify rain water instead of pumping out of a hose or whatever.
but i don't think we need to think of ways to lower gas prices because it's just not happening. we have already reached peak oil, and our supply IS running out no matter what OPEC tells us. and even if it's not running out now, it will run out in the next couple centuries. that is our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. i don't want them to live through this sh*t, why not use what awesome technologies we KNOW are useful and change the face of society?
i'm with you, ted. ALL religions have some weird traditions... and among weird traditions are even weirder people taking those practices out of context and making new traditions "in the name of the lord" or whoever. this is why i'm against all religions-- none of them can be correct when so many of their devotees don't even follow their own doctrines. it's hypocritical and against the idea of religion in the first place.
@pol x: yes, but you don't live IN saudi arabia around the few women who practice these extreme views, and you will most likely never see them-- even in what you call the 'islamibad' of england. not only are these views so uncommonly practiced, they're not likely practiced in other countries that don't share them at all. just because you haven't seen anyone who fits this description among the other social muslims in england doesn't really allow you to cast it off as tosh, or nonsense. it's just like saying "i'm not a homophobe- i have gay friends."
i worked at (paramount's) kings island for a couple summers drawing caricatures and they were strict too. they weren't as bad as disney, actually, i remember a couple of co-workers saying they had taken a gig with disney for a weekend or something and said it was awful. the dress code was just ridiculous and in-park conduct was like wearing a chastidy belt at a brothel.. i worked at KI before cedar fair (the people who also own six-flags, king's dominion, and cedar point.. they're now the largest amusement park company in the world) bought the park, but the last summer i worked there cedar fair was slowly taking the reigns. the first week they were there, it was very obvious something was different. we would be at our stands battling the radiating heat of the black-top and see two large men wearing suits and sunglasses just walking.. and looking... we later found out that if we saw these men, we had to act as if we cared. that meant no gum, no personal commodities out in the open, no drinks out in the open, our uniforms had to be perfect, no jewelry (except for matching, single posts), no facial hair, no exposed tattoos, a hat if your hair didn't meet traditional standards, you had to be standing and smiling, and they liked it if you recognized them in a crowd. it was like being in elementary school.. "you need to spit your gum out, please." oh and the awesome thing about these new rules-- they would never tell you if you broke any of them. they would tell your supervisor instead, and sometimes people got fired during their lunch break for something they did 5 hours prior, not even knowing what rule they broke. when coming into the park, you had to go through metal detectors, get any bag you carried with you inspected, and scan your employee ID with security. this was standard procedure before, but when the "suits" came, the entire procedure became ridiculous. instead of meeting two guards (one to check your bag the other to scan your ID), you met two guards at the security post and two suits beyond the post telling kids what was wrong with their uniform. they would send people home for the craziest stuff.. they actually told kids to leave and come back after they got their hair cut! i don't think anyone ever came back.. there were actually three security posts and two of them were used to actually get in to the park. beyond those posts were about 5 different little pathways that lead you to various locations around the park. they were convenient if you worked in the water park or kiddy land because you wouldn't have to come in the front and walk another 15 minutes to the back. when the suits came, we were only allowed to come in at the 3rd security post and enter at the front of the park. ONE ENTRANCE FOR ALL EMPLOYEES. it was awful. and not only did the over-all security suck, working at an amusement park sucks in general. it's where all the blytes (sp?) on society like to flock and it left me terribly depressed. anyway...
which brings me to argue against some of the comments put on here-- i know it's just semantics, but it's the mentality of it and not just the vocabulary. and i understand that there are people from other countries, but they are excused because they're allowed to do this.. people are saying 'americans are stupid because blah blah.. THEY do this and THEY do that' and they're forgetting that they, too, are american. that's the "individual" i'm referring to above, where politicians are forced to make rules for EVERYONE because INDIVIDUALS are incapable of seeing that issues within society are the issues OF THAT SOCIETY and not just the select few who can't think for themselves. it's funny, because that's the first step in drug/alcohol rehab (no i've never been a participant))- admitting you have a problem. part of the language of admitting it is OWNING the problem by saying "my name is blah, and i am an alcoholic." they can then take steps in identifying how they got to the point they did, and take more steps in the direction of fixing their mistakes. if people blamed others for their own addiction, they would never get clean. seem relevant?
let's say it together so we can move on- so we can stop blaming whoever for why our prices are high- so we can move on and take the proper steps in trying to fix our problems- I AM AMERICA, AND I HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM. now. treating this issue as if countries were people, should america go to england for help? their government seems to be doing well for them, i bet they can do the same for us! but wait, no- because they are different! they have other systems that work for THEM that won't necessarily work for us. ok, how about south africa? no, wait.. indonesia? no.. australia? no. we need to help ourselves and the first step in doing so is working as a country and not just a bunch of disenfranchised individuals. this went way off topic.. sorry guys. i'm just trying to emphasize how important it is to stop blaming OPEC, stop blaming rising food costs, stop blaming other people for our problem. yes, OUR PROBLEM. steve carrell said it best in 40-year-old virgin: stop telling me how i feel and just tell me what i should do!
http://www.blunun.com/dubya/bush-econ.jpg
otherwise, i think this would be a great breakthrough because plastics are evil and the floating island between california and hawaii proves it.
i have an amazing idea for a new vehicle, and i think it would work, but i'm not a mechanic or engineer and don't know the exact intricacies of my project. it uses segway technology and solar power... intriguing, no? i've emailed a couple people familiar with this technology telling them my idea (of course not disclosing all of my plans for fear of having it stolen), but no responses yet. anyone in here know about segways?
also-- my dad is really looking into engines that run off of water. you have to build the engine yourself, but the parts only cost around $3500 and i'm sure there is an instruction book. he said that if he gets it to work well, he's going to do the same in our (mine and my siblings) cars as well. of course, i'm trying to think of ways to illeviate the need for ANY resources capable of depletion, so i would probably collect and purify rain water instead of pumping out of a hose or whatever.
but i don't think we need to think of ways to lower gas prices because it's just not happening. we have already reached peak oil, and our supply IS running out no matter what OPEC tells us. and even if it's not running out now, it will run out in the next couple centuries. that is our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. i don't want them to live through this sh*t, why not use what awesome technologies we KNOW are useful and change the face of society?
@pol x: yes, but you don't live IN saudi arabia around the few women who practice these extreme views, and you will most likely never see them-- even in what you call the 'islamibad' of england. not only are these views so uncommonly practiced, they're not likely practiced in other countries that don't share them at all. just because you haven't seen anyone who fits this description among the other social muslims in england doesn't really allow you to cast it off as tosh, or nonsense. it's just like saying "i'm not a homophobe- i have gay friends."