what i find most appalling is that the people who make decisions for us take such the easy-way-out of things like this.

this is where true conservatism should swoop in. this is not a political thing; this is a way-of-life thing. it is not good for a failing economy to promote right before reason.

one MAJOR way everyone everywhere could cut costs is to turn off the lights when the doors close. how many places do you pass by every single day that is closed but every single light is on both in and outside the building? entire cities stay lit throughout the night to display their little signs to advertise, but how much money is it wasting to keep that neon sign lit 24/7? and you know what, it wouldn't cost anyone a DIME to save that much energy, as opposed to forcing everyone into energy-saving appliances that don't teach YOU THE CONSUMER to be energy-saving yourself.

i have a great example. i am currently working in my radio station and every single light is on in the building.. it's sunday morning. i bet more than half the sales department computers are still on. the bathroom lights are on. vending machines are humming. the coffee room across the building from everthing is in full operation... all for me, the tv operator, the security guard, and my news anchor. there are a whole FOUR PEOPLE in the building, but everything is on as if it were another business day. i know for an absolute fact that we are not the only building wasting this much energy. and though we could easily be saving a few hundred bucks (maybe even thousands.. i'm not sure what their electric bills are like at a tv/radio station...) per month on electricity they are raising the prices of our coffee in order to compensate for this economy. i'm not complaining that the prices of coffee are going up by fifty-cents, i'm complaining that THE MONEY IS THERE AND NOBODY IS DOING ANYTHING TO KEEP IT IN THE POCKETS OF THOSE WHO EARNED IT. i know california is a huge commercial state, imagine all the lights that could be turned out at night and then imagine the money that could be saved without having to cut school curriculums that are obviously failing as-is anyway.

poor planning makes for pathetic politics. where are the TRUE conservatives?

i know plenty of white people who voted for obama because he was black. what kind of paradox does that create and what does it say about racism? i definitely believe racism is lessening, at least the racism that drives people to commit hate crimes. though it still exists and will continue to exist, i believe the actions people take based on their own racial sympathies will deteriorate, especially as the older people die off (i know that sounds horrible, but you know it's true.) as long as genuine racism continues to breed, it will never go away. like some said above, it's really key to educate yourself about these issues and not base your opinion off of these silly, time-and-money-wasting studies.

on a side note, this study showed me nothing about racism as much as it showed me how well people live and let live by not reacting to others' intoleraances. way to not do anything, research scientists!

but not ALL men are taller than ALL women. but you covered that with saying "there are obvious exceptions."

this study just reaffirms that society raises your kids more than you do. boys are encouraged to be competetive even before they're born when they're given baby athletic gear and tonka toys. they are socialized to get used to settings outside of the house while girls are socialized to be domestic. just look at childrens' toys. "boy" toys are cars, trucks, GI Joes, electronics, gizmos and gadgets. "girl" toys are dolls, paints, and an EZ-Bake oven. when these same boys and girls grow up, these same behaviors are more strongly encouraged in many more influential settings and by more influential people (peers, teachers, the media). it's no DUH boys enjoy more competitive gaming than girls, because it has been driven into their brains to do so.

i'm a female, and i'm a huge gamer. i hate sports, i hate competition, and i REALLY hate socially constructed expectations of people based on their sex organs. but i love sawing dudes in half with my chainsaw rifle on gears2, and it has nothing to do with my gender.

so basically, this study is bunk and i'm glad the rest of you think the same. happy new year everyone!

but that one was awesome! we're only sick of the song from the first mario game because everyone and their grandmother has done something with it. i think the consensus will be that the mario2 song is a-ok.

i live on less than $1000 a month. i have netflix, and the internet. i have a warm bed to sleep in, and food to eat. i am surviving and happy to be where i am. when i read stories like this i just want to throw up all over the place. what a shallow country we live in... why do we always hear about these rich people who have to cut down on their luxuries as if it's an epidemic? as if we have to bail THEM out? as if they are entitled to the empty possessions they charged to their mastercard? as if we're supposed to feel sorry for their mistakes? what about those of us who have no credit cards and are living paycheck to paycheck? what about those of us who are building our lives with honest principles and look passed all this hub-bub about "i can't borrow any more money! i can't buy a new car! i can't get a second mortgage on my huge house i couldn't afford in the first place!" but i can't get started... i'll just take up the rest of the page with my ranting about the hypocracy of the economy. grr.....

i like that it was a regular thing to give your kids a laxative. maybe they should eat more fresh vegetables?

i remember when i was little i was a slight hypochondriac (sp?) and always thought i was going to throw up. i would spend hours in the bathroom just making myself miserable for no good reason, so one time my parents decided to feed me ipicac (sp?) so i would get it over with. my dad came home with the stuff and i remember he wrestled me to the ground and held my nose shut so he could force it down my throat. 15 minutes later, i got it over with and my night was better. i know their intentions were good NOW, but man that scarred me! it's hilarious (and terrible at the same time) that they would commercialize child abuse:

"so i slapped her and said she was a bad girl"

good parenting, mommy.

NicoNico-- isn't it a shame that some of the world's best herbs are made illegal because people want to turn them into addictive substances?

this is just like the DUI license plates. i'm wondering how many other criminals are color coded?

not only do i find this to be an invasion of privacy, but also just another way to keep those who have paid their dues from re-entering society. believe it or not, SOME people who come out of jail just want to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. but it is laws like this that keeps people from living a normal life again, which often causes repeat offenses because of one phrase: "what's the point?" what's the point in trying to live a normal life when the government isn't going to let you forget your crime anyway? the penal system is completely f-cked up on so many levels, and this is just one of them.

so, dreaming in color after the 60s had NOTHING to do with the introduction of LSD and other hallucinogens?

and what about the people between 25-55? they were not even included in this study... do their dreams look like unfinished color-by-number pictures?

i always thought EVERYONE dreamt in b/w, but because we know what color things "should" be we perceive color in our dreams. the same for our memories. everyones' memories are black and white, but because we know "timmy was wearing a red shirt that day" we "see" a red shirt in the memory. i think that seems more likely than that of the TV transition from b/w to color.....

this was not mentioned, but perhaps farting a lot may be a SIGN of hypertension because your body does not hold in the hydrogen sulfide long enough for optimum use(?). so it would make sense that overweight people and/or people with high blood pressure fart a lot. the scientists working on this should look into remedies that will naturally create the gas but at the same time hold it in so your blood may absorb it, so basically it will make you NOT fart. then again, it may make you bloated or constipated. interesting!

good article, christophe! there is an author who is banned from the US for openly writing about the positive effects of LSD in the '70s (he lives in canada). like the article you shared, this guy wrote about the therapeutic qualities of LSD and how it helped his and other peoples' cases of addiction. he of course was not encouraging people to take the drug, but opened the door of possibile remedies opposing pharmaceuticals (sp?). it's a wonder to me that the FDA and pharm companies have not taken hold of herbal remedies because they have so many more benefits than they want us to know. they could be making SOOO much money! totally not advocating the monopolization of herbal remedies, just baffled that they haven't tried it yet.

oh man.. how funny would it be if you could record messages or images on it? just think.. you set it up to "play" when someone walks in, of course completely not expecting anything to happen. they sit down on the toilet and the mirror starts talking to them, or illustrates their very private bathroom activities... what a great practical joke it would make.

i may be the only one who noticed this, but those kids can't be any older than 17! that's definitely a high school percussion section most likely performing for their parents, teachers and peers (ah yes, i remember my days performing with mallet percussion in front of my own peers.. very nerve wracking indeed). they likely either wrote the music from memory or with the help of their band director because i'm not sure how many instruments have sheet music for the mario theme song. i have to say it was very well done! and yes, even with how "cliche" it has become to perform this song, it's amazing how universal it is. EVERYONE knows the first 7 notes. don't worry ted and oliver... as soon as kids stop playing video games this fad will go away. lucky for you, that will never happen. even if it does, everything is cyclical and it will only come back when the next generation re-discovers the radness of 8 bit video games.

from a producer's standpoint, this is absolutely amazing. that had to take a lot of time. i like that you can tell it took at least a couple days just to record the underlying tracks because of the different shirt colors (christophe-- i don't think he did it on purpose.. but i'm willing to be wrong if he did). the fact that he isn't a terribly good singer almost doesn't register as a flaw of this production because it was done so well. great job, dude! and i would like to see you do some other songs as well.

so THAT'S what a square full of pandas looks like. i can finally mark it off my list!