Space Cadet

Typical... So allegedly, human political prisoners are systematically being killed and used as organ farms, but the international community doesn't actually get upset until they make a bear wear a tutu...

I grew up going to church camp every summer. It was fun! We played games, made crafts, ate waaaay too much junkfood from the snack bar, hung around with friends we didn't get to see that often during school... sometimes we would go swimming or hiking. The only real difference from a secular camp was that we had meetings every day- and before you get the heebie jeebies, I remember more about singing and playing the biggest craziest games of Simon says ever than anything. And the churchy stuff wasn't just empty preaching- it really helped me out when I was going through some rough times, and I know the other kids got alot out of it as well... which is kind of the reason that religon still exists at all. Because most people need spiritual stuff to get them through life, and that's no different if you're 7 or 70. I'm just worried that something like this will try to portray Christians as a bunch of brainwashed morons. Which totally is NOT true.

:stunned: I'm scared. It doesn't nessesarily look like they're going to be openly bashing, but has anyone ever done something like this without it turning into skewed propaganda one way or the other?

I had to do that for awhile when I worked in a call centre a few years ago. I worked the 3:00pm to 11:30 shift, if I remember right. I'm a nightowl to begin with, so it sounded like a good idea on paper... It was MISERABLE. The worst part was that I never got to see my family. I was asleep when they went off to work, they were still gone when I had to leave, they were going to bed when I got home, and my friends had jobs with slightly more normal hours, so I never saw them either. I really missed family dinner. I just plain missed Mom's cooking too. Besides coworkers who were as busy as I was, and the usually upset people I got to talk to on the phone, the main human contact I had was with some New Zelanders I would talk to online after I got home from work, because they were the only people I knew awake at that hour. Talk about a one-way ticket to loserville...it was a lonely experience. And yes, it is unnatural, because with the exception of people like watchmen or sailors, flipped schedules traditionally haven't really been all that common. This didn't change much until less than a hundred years ago when electric light sources became standard. The human body uses the blue wavelengths found in natural sunlight to regulate the circadian rythms, which tell you things like when to be sleepy or awake, when to eat, or what part of the month it is. Cut down on the amount of natural sunlight you're exposed to, and things go a little haywire. Depression and low energy aren't uncommon. The combination of sitting for 8 hours a day and appetites being thrown out of wack can also wreak havoc on the waistline. I couldn't believe how many of the people I worked with were really fat. The skinny ones either smoked or didn't last long. I was in the latter group. Sunlamps helped keep me somewhat sane, but I started getting really seriously sick constantly because my immune system was shot after about 3 months. I started working days first chance I could, but I was already somewhat depressed and quite ill, and the job stress didn't let things get much better. Yeah, there is something sort of romantic to the nightlife, but trust me, unless you're a born partier, it wears off after about 2 weeks.

Here's a random bit of trivia for you... Did you know that HBO is banned in Canada for being too American? Our cultural watchdogs are so paranoid about our country not having an identity that they're constantly imposing random anti-American stuff like this on us to try to keep the American media from brainwashing us. It's actually the sort of stuff being talked about in this thread that fuels this mindset. The only way to watch HBO is to illegally steal US satellite tv (because it's also illegal for the willing to pay for it) or else wait for a Canadian channel to pick up one of the shows. Trivial in the extreme? Definatly. If the last hundred years of threats and nightmares about the US taking over take place, will it matter? Probably not. Does the average Canadian actually want to have the option to watch HBO? Probably yes. If Maclean's magazine's whining is anything to go by, definatly yes. But if history has anything to say on the matter, empires have a nasty habit of jumping over the boulders only to trip on a tiny patch of gravel. If there are actually people plotting this, I get the impression it hasn't occured to them that this sort of institutionalized anti-americanism is as deep rooted as it is. Because for the last 50 or 100 years or so, (possibly even as far back as the war of 1812), this sort of thing has been threatened as an excuse to forcefully develop some sort of Canadian culture.

On multiple listens, yeah, there really are some good growers on it. But still... not one song as obviously amazing as "All These Things I've done".

The second time I ever heard of Coldplay, it was in an interview with either Dom or Elijah Wood where they were talking about how Parachutes was one of the Hobbits' favorite things to listen to on the Lord of the Rings set. I always thought it was cool anyway, especially since those two are such massive music fans. :cool:

I don't think it's THAT bad, but it is a bit dull. "Why do I keep counting" really jumped out at me... the rest... er... needs a couple more listens to see if any others get better... but I'm not sure if I have the energy to try without going into a coma. I hate sophmore slumps. They make me sad.

It *IS* hard... ok, songs not so much, but albums... :uhoh2: I don't actually own 50 albums, and some of the ones I do own are actually stashed in a box somewhere never to see the light of day- not exactly going to end up on a favorite list. Then for instance, I would rate Feist's Let it Die very highly. BUT, come to think of it, I don't own the album, and although it's near the top of my to buy list, I've never actually listened to the album all of the way through. I don't know if there's some song on it or some bad track arrangement or something like that that would be a dealbreaker for me. Yet, I like the songs I have heard off of it to know that I would probably like it more than most others. In fact I would probably make it a wild card. What do I do for this and many others like it? Or how about Broken Social Scene? I've never heard any of their albums, just many individual songs. But they're one of my favorite bands, and one of the best live acts I've ever seen. Should I throw one of their albums onto the list blindly assuming that if and when I get around to listening to it all the way through it's going to be a favorite? Where on earth would I rate it if I did? And then there's the whole it's supposed to be their worst album, but it's the only one of their's I've heard and I love it guilt thing. The supposedly better album is going to be left off of the list because I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, and that bugs me. Oi... I'm so selfconcious about these things. :uhoh: Advice anyone? :huh: Anyway, it will be done before the deadline... I just need time...

Yeah, I have the same problem... looks like it might be some sort of a glitch with the server or something? It keeps giving this "too many connections" error message. Weird.

:dance: Yay! Apple, Moses, Ava, and Nico... quite the clan there...

Yeah, there's David, Reubens, and Fisi still left from around when I started following really closely because of Villeneuve. But that's really not many. Only Reubens raced with the likes of Mansell and Senna. Of course eras change... it's just funny to realise how much it's changed in 10 years. Goodness... just think how different it'll be in 10 more!

These things happen in Canada too... there was a particularly famous nasty one in Montreal: "The shooting raised chilling memories of Dec. 6, 1989, when 25-year-old Marc Lepine gunned down 14 women at Montreal's École Polytechnique before fatally shooting himself." And there was the one in Alberta right after Columbine. I don't think that there is anywhere totally immune from the possibility of something like this. It still makes me sick to my stomoch, though.

:sick: Not another one. :cry:

Gunman confirmed dead after Montreal rampage Last Updated Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:27:55 EDT A gunman who opened fire in a downtown Montreal college Wednesday afternoon is dead "after police intervention," police confirmed at a news conference. Earlier reports had said as many as three shooters walked into Dawson College at 12:41 p.m. ET and began firing at students. Sources told local media outlets that two gunmen were dead. "I cannot confirm there is another suspect at this time," a police spokesman told reporters at about 4:30 p.m. ET. At least 11 people were injured in the shooting rampage that terrorized students and staff at the college, a CEGEP serving about 10,000 students. In a late-afternoon news conference, Montreal General Hospital officials said 11 people had been admitted, eight of them in critical condition. It's not known if injured people were also sent to other hospitals. http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/13/shots-dawson.html

:dance: http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/1/1157924012 It may be faint hope... but at long last, it is hope...

I learned that distance can occasionaly make normally difficult people surprisingly pleasant.

^not odd at all... not if you really cared. Funny... now that he's leaving... and with Villeneuve gone... it's the end of an era, really- he's the last of the old guard, I guess you could say. Never thought I'd see a day when Heidfield was one of the veterans. Well it looks like he's certainly going out in style. Better now than in a couple of years when his body can't handle it anymore. Yeah, I'm happy to see some room at the top for some new blood FINALLY. But kinda unexpectedly sad too. They said that with Villeneuve gone, Alonso will be the only former champion still racing next year. Compare that to afew years ago when 4 champions all hit the "welcome to Quebec" wall. Weird, eh?

Dude! :stunned: You're 16? Wow...thought you were way older than that...

I was listening to the BBC when the ceremony was happening (couldn't watch it- I live in the wrong country :cry: ) and radio 2 intervied all of the nominees afterwards... Thom said that there was a group of record executive types at the back who wouldn't shut up... they were being really rude and talking through people's performances, especially that jazz pianist's and that the look was meant for them.

Heh... not to wade into the mess or anything... but here's another one... http://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/article.jsp?content=20060904_132517_132517

Actually the Arctic Monkeys won. I think the award he held was the one given out for being nominated. The grin was great. I got a laugh out of glare he gave the people still talking at the start of the vid... if I was one of them I think I would have been scared out of my wits- that look could've burnt a hole through a wall.

Uh... THEY WON!!!!! :D :juggle: :juggle: :juggle: