ADISC - Off-topic

The American Red Cross Is Homophobic

Me :p — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:24:48 GMT

The Red Cross was at my school today, taking blood. I can't donate any because of some medication that I take, and the sheer fear of needles beneath my skin, but a friend and I were looking at the survey you have to fill out before you can donate any blood.

The thing that struck us was a checkbox that said "I am a man, and have engaged in sexual intercourse with another man." Aparently they won't take your blood if you check this box...

They obviously think everyone that has gay sex had AIDS... I can't see how they would be so stereotypical... Even protected sex qualifies. (one of my friends asked...)

Of course they test your blood for impurities now before it's used.... Do they? If not they should....

What do you think of this?

A Dilemma I Am Facing

diaperedteenager — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:52:17 GMT

Okay, well I was talking to my friend today and he says that he "commandeered" his sisters facebook account and went on it. Reading her messages and well, he found a chat log of his sister and one of my good female friends boyfriend flirting with her. That and he over heard his sister gossiping to her friends that this guy flirted with her, kissed her, etc.

Now, he has not actually presented me with physical evidence of this happening and hearsay is no valid evidence, so as of now I must disregard this as just hodge podge.

So, my question is this... if he does provide me with solid evidence of cheating, should I tell my friend about this?

As of now, I feel that I should take an isolationist stand point, be as America was when WWI broke out, not to entangle myself in "European Affairs", in this case European Affairs being the relationship scene. So I am taking a stance as of know, even if i do get evidence as just paying no attention to this.

Am I doing the right thing? What would any of you do in this situation? As someone who cares about my friend, should I tell her? Or should I let her have as much happiness as she can and let her find out about this herself?

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Traditions

MaryBush — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:00:43 GMT

What's your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions?

Thanksgiving Tradition

MaryBush — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:52:03 GMT

What's your Thanksgiving Day tradition?

How do you pronounce my username?

Arlikra — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:35:38 GMT

By that I mean... how do you personally say it in your head when you read it? Since it's not really a word... I'm just interested.

Favorite fruit juice

Shu — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:49:58 GMT

What's yours?

Mine's pomegranate. I rarely get to have it, since it's so expensive, but it's a wonderful treat :D

Wikipedia and Referencing

Mingus — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:04:10 GMT

Based on the paper another user posted about incontinence, and the questions that came up there, I thought I'd start a thread on wikipedia and referencing. This is really dorky, but bear with me.

How do you guys feel about using wikipedia for serious research? An article in Nature about a year ago showed that Wikipedia is as accurate on the natural sciences as the Encyclopedia Brittanica (in some ways more so). On the other hand, anyone who wants to can edit it, regardless of what they actually know or what information they cite. While it's ultimately self-policing, any particular iteration might have inaccurate information. I'm inclined to think it's a good place for an overview. Sometimes it cites very useful peer-reviewed articles and research, though--it can point you in a good direction.

Second, what referencing system do you like? I used APA and MLA in school, and use Oxford or Chicago footnotes at uni. Do you prefer footnotes, endnotes, parenthetical? Do you use endnote? Dork out--enjoy!

I like Chicago best, as I think it provides the most information (Oxford doesn't include publisher, and while I haven't needed the publisher yet there are circumstances where it might be useful). I hate endnotes--they're a big fuck you to people using a text, although they make producing a book typographically simpler. I like to have references at the bottom of a page, where you can refer to it quickly. I hate author/date parenthetical systems. They aren't so dreadful for an article with a handful of sources, but for a book or for a great many sources, it's very tedious to keep track and refer back to the bibliography. That said, I like parenthetical referencing for referring to one text over and over. It's particularly useful for political theory, when you're examining one or two texts very carefully--you can just cite chapter and section each time. And if there are multiple translations or editions, the Chapter/Section reference is sometimes more useful than a page reference. Obviously page and chapter/section references ought to be used together.

What do you guys think?

...and in *B/DL story News...

Izzy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:27:26 GMT

It looks like our good friend at the website with the crazy story collecting has finally jumped off the deep end.

Check out Deeker - the website has been shut down and it now just has a nice, angry rant about somebody sending him an email.

I haven't posted awhile, but I figured somebody out to inform the community of our victory against creepers!

Need assistance finding some songs i want >_<.

Arty — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:40:13 GMT

Okay heres whats up the latest album by my favorite band Drist came out little over three weeks ago and i cant seem to find it anywhere in the UK or online, So i was wondering if any of you guys have it and if so could i possible have a couple of songs of it?. I'm mainly after the track called "Demonstrate the pain". Anyway any help finding the album online would be great too. ^_^

Thanks for you time.

Arty ^_^

The English Language

Taiance — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:53:04 GMT

Hello, later today my teacher gave us this sheet of paper on the English language, it was a interesting read so i thought i would post some of it up here.

There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; niether apple nor pine in pine apple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. Boxing rings are square and guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

Ship by truck and send by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? houses can burn down, but can they also burn up(ill get to this later)? dont you fill in a form by filling it out? and a alarm goes off by going on.

(this one really got to me) Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "Quick", by all english rhyming laws, shouldn't it?

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is UP

It is easy to understand UP, meaning towards the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does the topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election, and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times, the little word has real special meanings. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, we look the word UP int he dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions(betcha didn't know that). If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP

When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but i'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so......Time to shut UP

Oh...one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning and the lasting thing you do at night? U-P

Well, thats what my teacher showed us, hope you will read it and not TLDR. I may post another thing that is on this page, but now i must go polish the polish furniture. ;)

A Self Renaissance?

diaperedteenager — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:50:43 GMT

Has anyone else ever experienced this? Within the last 3 weeks or so I have had like a self renaissance. I have been writing just about every single day, I have had a spark of interest in drawing, painting, etc. And I have been craving music i'm like "give me classic, modern, electronica. Give me The Fray, The Foo Fighters, or Mozart, I don't care I want music".

It is a strange feeling to be going through this, but I like it. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Does anyone have a possible explanation for this, b/c i'm stumped.

How Many of Us Are Autistic (Or Have Some Other Learning Disorder)?

Nicky — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:57:08 GMT

Just for my own curiosity.

It seems like there is an unusually large amount of people here with some sort of Autism on this website. Please note that the results are NOT public, so others will not see your answer.

Thanks to all in advance.

Do think my art work, Ok?

babykalie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:33:57 GMT

I was thinking about drawing AB-Dl pictures but, I dont want to waist my time if people think I cant draw so, can you give me critique. I would really appriecate it.

when zombies attaack by ~hottie55555 on deviantART

Headless zombie by ~hottie55555 on deviantART

untittled by ~hottie55555 on deviantART

Does anyone know about Kamen Rider?

gaarafan4 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:45:12 GMT

If so, can you please explain it to me.

I kinda get the "simpler" ones like Kiva, but the ones with the "card" system of transformations just confuse me...

I hate Hurricane Ida!

tk7432 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:15:54 GMT

I live in the DMV area of the Midatlantic Region of the United States. Hurricane Ida has tormented pretty much all of the east coast of the United States over the past week giving us 3 straight days of endless rain. Fortunately I do not live in an area prone to flooding (Prayin for those who have sustained damage from the storm) but I am pissed from the storm. My Jordans got dirty cause some jackass at my school decided to pull the fire alarm one minute before the class where we received them (got my 25th straight Honor Roll with one C in BC Calculus), and my postseason coaching debut in my work's football team got postponed twice. Plus the gloomy and despair skyline and endless stories of those who have had much much worse than myself only makes me madder about the storm. What are your thoughts or stories about Hurricane Ida and why the Hurricane pisses you off. The New England Area must be feeling this just about now.

A Little Help

diaperedteenager — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:14:41 GMT

Well I just came back from a visit with my psychologist and well I am a little concerned. I seem to be having trouble opening up to her. Like she'll ask me something and i'll just barely say anything about it, when in reality I have a lot behind that subject. Did anyone else have this problem? IS it just normal to feel this way around a person you just met?

This is irritating me, since the insurance company will only cover so many visits per year. So, IDK...maybe I am just not made to be able to talk out my problems, maybe I'm not meant to be a happy person.

Also, when I go in there I am just like calm and content, even if 2 hours before I was extremely sad and I like don't talk about anything. Aside from depression, what do you all think is wrong with me? Please answer this if you can, it would help me out a lot.

Market Research

diaperedteenager — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:31:03 GMT

Ok, bear with me here, just getting a little info from some iphone/touch/blackberry users here:

Okay, my newest idea is to build a site, essentially a data base where people can upload their own (free) iphone, itouch, and blackberry applications to. The goal is to be the largest place on the net that has free apps.

Do any of you think there is a demand for this?
Is it possible to compete with the Apple App store?
Is it smart to do that, or would people continue taking the time to search free apps on itunes?
Is there incentive for a developer to make an app for free?

This is the first bit of market research for this project. Your thoughts?

The Lost symbol

Target — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:02:47 GMT

Hallo Guys,

Recently I've read last Dan Brown's book, "the last symbol", finding it really interesting.

I wonder if anybody else here read it since I would like to know better some things, for example where the line between truth and fiction is.
For example, the Masonry in America and It's role and if the story behind Washington monuments described in the book is true.

I'd like to talk about this ^^

Significant Others

Nonabean — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:49:40 GMT

I know there's another thread, dicussing whether you're significant other is involved.

But for me, I am a significant other, and I was just wondering if there was anyone else on here, learning about and supporting their partners....

Nona <3 x

This is making me want to punch my mother repeatedly.

Grapejuice — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:08:16 GMT

Just this morning, my mom told me she was sick and tired with my bedwetting and that it has tonight. As if I'm not already sick with it.
This is what she has told me;
She is going to remove my plastic sheet and quilt cover (oh because that'll help... not...) and I'm to stop taking Desmopressin at night (the very thing thats helping a lot recently ffs)
And shes told me if I wet even one more night she'll take away my computer, or something similar.
I'm getting extremely angry about this whole situation.

Remembrance Day and Veterans Day

PrisonerOfSociety — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:00:47 GMT

Tomorrow or today, depending on your time, for all the Commonwealth nations, America and other countries, it will be Remembrance Day, also called Poppy Day, Armistice Day and Veterans Day.

In Canada, like most other countries, we have a moment of silence and it seems as if the whole country goes silent, even the birds and the wind seem to go silent sometimes.

It's a day which we are always reminding people to never forget, to always wear a poppy and to thank the veterans who died and the ones who risked their lives to make sure that our country and other countries would be safe from people who would have surely brought the whole world to it's knees eventually.

I'm, as some of you know, a military fanatic and may end up in the military, so being the way I am, I always participate during this event at home, school and at work. I drop everything and I stand for the moment of silence to remember the people who died for me and my country. But unlike most people, I also remember the guys on the other side, "the bad guys", because they should be remembered too. I suppose I do this because I'm also Italian and my grandfather (my mom's dad), great grandfather (my dad's grandfather) and many other family members and friends fought on the axis side during The Great World War Two for Italy in Africa and other theaters.

Although I have allot of good war stories to tell (PM me if you want to read about more of them in a book I'm making), I thought this one would be fitting for the topic at hand. My grandmother (my dad's mom) told me this WWII story when I was watching a great movie called, A Bridge Too Far or The Longest Day (can't remember) at her house.

My grandmother said, "ah yes, I remember those helmets, the British, I remember seeing a bunch of solders on a hill with these kind of helmets, they had a flag and were going past our village in 1943." (probably winter of late 1943 after Christmas). My great aunt (my dad's aunt) was there too that day, but she said she had no memory of this. I asked my grandmother, "when did this happen?" She said it was a couple of days after the Germans had blown up her village's bridge that went across the valley there when the Germans started retreating. I said to her "did you see what the flag looked like?" She said she didn't know what it looked like because it was too hard to see, she just remembered the "Tommy" helmets. I talked to her about this when I was 12 I think. I knew allot about the war then, but I didn't know about everything that happened.

Some years latter, I had more knowledge about the war and also Canada's role in it, I found out about a major city called Ortona that was not too far away from my family's village. The Battle of Ortona was a huge battle the Canadians fought against the German Fallschirmj�gers in. So I had a feeling that maybe Canadian soldiers were the ones she had seen, that got me excited. Strangely, as luck would have it, my cousin knew how much I loved history and passed on some information that confirmed my suspicions. He told me his friend visited a village that was next to ours in Italy and up in the mountains on a hill near our village, Canadian soldiers had been killed there during some fighting and they had graves that were up there.

Now, not all Germans were "ruthless evil monsters" during WWI and WWII, the same thing goes for the Japanese and other nations that were on the axis side, I just want to make that clear. But, some of the guys who had occupied that village since the beginning of the war there were quite horrible and did some very bad things to both sides of my family that I won't even get into on here because I can go on and on about the amount of damage they caused us. They had threatened my family members with death before on more than one occasion and nearly killed my great aunt once. (Going a bit off topic, they actually killed my grandmother's (my mom's mom) sister's whole family in another village. The Germans there shot the whole family (12 of them, if I'm not mistaken.) by firing squad, all the children and both parents died except for one little girl (my grandmothers niece and my second cousin) who miraculously survived. Apparently they were "conspiring with the British" because they crossed into a "no entry zone" by mistake. My grandmother said she heard they made a movie in Italy about her niece. I'm not sure if it exists though.)

Knowing this information now and being a Canadian myself, I have always felt like I owed them even more for what they had done. They obviously scarred the Germans out of that area because of the fighting and possibly saved my family members from death. The Germans were more than capable of holding that village and many civilians could have been killed easily in the fighting. Every Remembrance Day, I always make sure I show the veterans and soldiers all the respect and thanks I possibly can.

I have even taken a school day off to go and see the ceremonies personally and watched the veterans march. Old and young veterans were there, as they came out of the military base, everyone there followed the parade marching down to the monument. It was a beautiful thing to see, men who had fought in different wars were all marching together as one group with the public following them. It was so hard for me and others to hold back tears when they started to play the Last Post and Amazing Grace. I took pictures of that day, I filed them away though, so right now I can't find them but when I do I'll see if I can share them with you.

I wish I could do that more often but it's not always possible, I do my best though. I will never forget going to that event and I will try to do it regularly.

I'm just going to watch the ceremonies at my house on TV and participate in the moment of silence this time around. I'll go on with my day as usual but I will be thinking of the men who fought and died on both sides of the wars.

Here are my questions for you, have any of you guys been to an event like Remembrance Day or Veterans Day first hand?

If so, what was it like and how did you feel when you were there?

Even if you haven't been to such an event, how do you feel about events like Remembrance Day or Veterans Day?

What are you doing this time around for this type occasion, how are you remembering the veterans?

I would also like to give a big thank you to all the veterans and military men and women of all nations, this world of ours would be in a big mess if people like you hadn't stepped up to the plate and risked your lives in order to preserve freedom and security for all! We must all do our absolute best to respect these men and women, they do and have done so much for us!

It is our duty to remember and thank them all as much as it was and is their duty to serve and protect us! I will never forget the contributions and sacrifices you guys have made for us all! :thumbsup:

Edit: Well, I watched the ceremonies today, it was such an emotional event for me as always. I was thinking about all the people in my family who had fought in past wars and battles like Vietnam, WWII and the Seige of Malta in 1565. When I looked at the veteran's faces, they had that "I went through hell and back" kind of look. I can't hide the fact that I started to feel a throbbing in my throat and I had to shed some tears.

Then I started thinking about my grandfathers, family members and friends who had fought on the axis side for the Italians against the allied forces during WWII. I want to say I'm sorry... I'm sorry that in a different time during our history, our countries, family members and friends had to fight and kill each other in such a horrible war. Naturally, that's how wars go, someone has to be on the other side, but I still feel sorry that had to happen.

I hope such unfortunate events never happen again.

Lest We Forget!

Here's some nice Remembrance Day/Veterans Day videos I found today:

YouTube - In Flanders Fields - Lest We Forget

YouTube - Ypres / Tyne Cot / Menin Gate - The Last Post Ceremony

YouTube - veterans day tribute

YouTube - Remembrance Day Soldier Cries (Soldier_Song)

YouTube - Remembrance Day Ottawa 2007 War Memorial

Edmund Fitzgerald

Chillhouse — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:11:49 GMT

She went down today. Biggest disaster on Lake Superior.

YouTube - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

SS Edmund Fitzgerald - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a big thing where I come from. I was disappointed today when I found out none of my new college buddies knew anything about it.

Anyway, it's a good song. I wasn't around when it happened, but my dad told me stories.

school mornings..

r4di0sensitive — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:28:27 GMT

this is a typical school morning for me, i got to sleep at 11-11:30 pm and set my alarm to 5:15 am so i can turn my hair straightener on and at 5:30 pm to get up and straighten my hair, get dressed, cereal, and other morning routines. but this is were problems arise

i wake up energized at 5:15 and i plug my straightener and i go back to sleep for 15 more minutes, but i wake back up and feel thrashed, so i bump my alarm to 6:00, so i lay back down and close my eyes. and it seems like as fast as a snap, i open my eyes and it is 2 mins to 6, i always find myself shouting wtf! and so i get up, and half ass my hair, get ready and leave.

(this morning i was so tired i stepped on my guitar and almost sliced my foot open on the strings)

and one time on my mile walk to school, i discovered i sleep walked half the walk, i woke back up in the middle of the crosswalk thinking " were am i"

anyone else have these kind of problems?

Veterans?

BabyJohn — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:43:15 GMT

I was wondering how many members of this forum are Vetrans. I served 4 years in the Marine Corps and am celebrating our 234th birthday today.
John

20th Anniversary of 09.11. (the Fall of the Berlin Wall)

Peachy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:36:09 GMT

Most of you younger people won't remember that day because they weren't born, and even my memories aren't all that clear because I was really too young to care.

Still, today marks the 20th annversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, or more precisely: The patrolled border in between the two German countries, including the Berlin Wall.

As you should know from either history class or own experience, the world - especially Europe - was divided between communism and capitalism, or East and West, after WWII. Germany was hit particularly hard, as it was divided into two separate countries (German Democratic Republic [GDR] in the east and Federal Republic of Germany [FRG] in the west), and since August 13, 1961 separated by a wall, that was tightly patrolled by border guards from the east who wouldn't hesitate to shoot anyone trying to get near the border. It was extremely difficult for people from the East to be allowed to see the West. Lots of beaurocracy involved, they needed a reason, they could only go alone so the government could be sure they'd return to the East if their family members would remain in the East (I know, because I had relatives in the East back then).

The 'West' and the 'East' engaged in the Cold War (armed to their teeth, spies, attempts at deceiving each other, competition in sports and in the run into space), and while both blocks were relatively equal in terms of economic success and standard of living for the respective population in the 50s and 60s, the situation worsened in the communist countries in the 70s and 80s. It became more and more apparent that communism as practiced in those countries does not work. People got increasingly unhappy with the situation, but due to the Iron Curtain couldn't just leave. And any political opposition was impossible due to secret services keeping a close eye on any such people.

However, while the Soviet Union tried to rework their system (look up "glasnost" and "Perestroika" on Google), the political leaders in Eastern Germany tried to suppress any kind of political opposition by force. In early 1989, the leaders still tried to strike down any demonstrations against the government, but on Oct 9th, 1989 more than 70,000 people held a demonstration in Dresden shouting the famous slogan "We are the People" ("Wir sind das Volk"), and the police force eventually decided to leave them alone. From that day onward, it was absolutely clear that the communist government would be gone soon...but no one knew how soon!

People kept demonstrating in the weeks thereafter, increasing the pressure on the government to change something. So on November 9th, 1989 the communist government of the GDR (east) decided to relieve some of the pressure by allowing people to go visiting the West without any of the usual restrictions. On the evening of that day, G�nter Schabowski (who had become Secretary of Information of the Communist Party just 5 days earlier) held a press conference and read out a declaration from the communist government: "Private trips abroad can, from now on, be applied for without any kind of requirements (relatives in the west or any other reason for traveling)". One of the journalists asked "When does that go into effect?", to which Schabowski had no answer, so he stuttered, hesitated, shuffled his papers and said "As far as I know, immediately".

The rest was history, as they say. People flocked to the border crossings to be allowed to visit the west, and the border patrol people had no choice but to simply open the gates and let people through. Obviously, that was not what the communist government had in mind. They wanted to relieve pressure and work towards a controlled change. Guess it didn't work!
It took almost another 11 months until the two German states were reunited (Oct 3rd, 1990)...or more precisely: The GDR formally ceased to exist and the terroritory it once comprised joined the Federal Republic.

And that's how a poorly prepared speech changed history.

So...after this history lesson: What's your opinion? Do you have any memories of this day (if you're old enough)? Any opinion on the issue at hand?

Peachy