>> ^seltar:

Good thing that didn't come off as narcissistic at all!>> ^Fletch:
First of all, who turned off the email notification?!?! I haven't receive anything for a couple days, at least.
@pumkinandstorm
PaS, PaS, PaS... I'm your friend. The w/e-way-the-wind-blows Pill-Popper, the Cliquies, and the Badgers running to your "defense" are not. They care not for you nearly as much as they care that you represent 10% of every future star point. You have been beguiled and bamboozled by those whose thin skins betray the indignance-laced Kool-aid they have been drinking for years. They are your Roman Catholic Church. I am your Martin Luther. They are your Tom Cruise. I am your Tory Christman. They are your SLA. I am your windowless black van. They are your enablers, co-dependents. I am your friend. They want your upvotes and the kind of affirmation and vindication they can only receive by collective membership into their twisted groupthink. I want nothing.
Another prolific poster here once left due to the shenanigans of a recently-returned and reformed (?) exile. VS didn't miss a beat. Other people filled in and the same stuff she would have sifted got sifted by others. That's why it was somewhat comical to me when she returned to posting and threatened to stop if the exile was allowed to return. Exile is back, thankfully, and she is still posting, predictably. If you measure your value here by votes and badges, it is a lie. You've been caught up. They are participation ribbons. Everyone gets something eventually, and they don't mean jack shit to those who just want to see the two-headed calf and Journey concert.
Whatever your story... and I mean whatever your story, I stand by what I said. You could be nose-up in an iron lung pecking out smiley faces with a chopstick in your teeth, and I would still maintain that there are infinitely more interesting, meaningful, and rewarding (in RL) pursuits to dedicate hours and hours every day of your life to.
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Cool. I was worried that it might.

>> ^Fletch:
First of all, who turned off the email notification?!?! I haven't receive anything for a couple days, at least.
@pumkinandstorm
PaS, PaS, PaS... I'm your friend. The w/e-way-the-wind-blows Pill-Popper, the Cliquies, and the Badgers running to your "defense" are not. They care not for you nearly as much as they care that you represent 10% of every future star point. You have been beguiled and bamboozled by those whose thin skins betray the indignance-laced Kool-aid they have been drinking for years. They are your Roman Catholic Church. I am your Martin Luther. They are your Tom Cruise. I am your Tory Christman. They are your SLA. I am your windowless black van. They are your enablers, co-dependents. I am your friend. They want your upvotes and the kind of affirmation and vindication they can only receive by collective membership into their twisted groupthink. I want nothing.
Another prolific poster here once left due to the shenanigans of a recently-returned and reformed (?) exile. VS didn't miss a beat. Other people filled in and the same stuff she would have sifted got sifted by others. That's why it was somewhat comical to me when she returned to posting and threatened to stop if the exile was allowed to return. Exile is back, thankfully, and she is still posting, predictably. If you measure your value here by votes and badges, it is a lie. You've been caught up. They are participation ribbons. Everyone gets something eventually, and they don't mean jack shit to those who just want to see the two-headed calf and Journey concert.
Whatever your story... and I mean whatever your story, I stand by what I said. You could be nose-up in an iron lung pecking out smiley faces with a chopstick in your teeth, and I would still maintain that there are infinitely more interesting, meaningful, and rewarding (in RL) pursuits to dedicate hours and hours every day of your life to.
[edit: formatting broke again]


I don't think it would have mattered who the comment was from or who it was to...I believe it would have led to the same reaction. I for one come here to have fun, and never like to see things get personal because I think it hurts the site and I guess the people who left the replies feel the same way. I really appreciate that they wanted to make sure I wouldn't feel bullied by anyone here. I hope we can put this whole discussion to rest now. I have videos to watch. P.S. I said hours which is actually only 2 or 3...I didn't say I spent all DAY watching videos. Sheesh. I could think of WORSE things to be taking an interest in.

First of all, who turned off the email notification?!?! I haven't receive anything for a couple days, at least.

@pumkinandstorm

PaS, PaS, PaS... I'm your friend. The w/e-way-the-wind-blows Pill-Popper, the Cliquies, and the Badgers running to your "defense" are not. They care not for you nearly as much as they care that you represent 10% of every future star point. You have been beguiled and bamboozled by those whose thin skins betray the indignance-laced Kool-aid they have been drinking for years. They are your Roman Catholic Church. I am your Martin Luther. They are your Tom Cruise. I am your Tory Christman. They are your SLA. I am your windowless black van. They are your enablers, co-dependents. I am your friend. They want your upvotes and the kind of affirmation and vindication they can only receive by collective membership into their twisted groupthink. I want nothing.

Another prolific poster here once left due to the shenanigans of a recently-returned and reformed (?) exile. VS didn't miss a beat. Other people filled in and the same stuff she would have sifted got sifted by others. That's why it was somewhat comical to me when she returned to posting and threatened to stop if the exile was allowed to return. Exile is back, thankfully, and she is still posting, predictably. If you measure your value here by votes and badges, it is a lie. You've been caught up. They are participation ribbons. Everyone gets something eventually, and they don't mean jack shit to those who just want to see the two-headed calf and Journey concert.

Whatever your story... and I mean whatever your story, I stand by what I said. You could be nose-up in an iron lung pecking out smiley faces with a chopstick in your teeth, and I would still maintain that there are infinitely more interesting, meaningful, and rewarding (in RL) pursuits to dedicate hours and hours every day of your life to.

[edit: formatting broke again]

Your welcome Kitty.

In reply to this comment by Issykitty:
Thank you!

In reply to this comment by ctrlaltbleach:
*promote Hey guys just a reminder October 10th now known as Radiohead day here on the sift is coming up this Sunday. So if you want to participate get your pp's ready.

Yep-from go. The aftermarket pipes fr their "innovative" bottom of the frame, iron lung of a muffler on the Blast is something it should have rolled off the line with-as far as a sport bike a tiny chick could ride with ease of maneuverability???..They got that down-Their profiles are great-most small chicks who want to ride a Harley are doing so at a disadvantage.

All good and bad can be said for a lotta bikes-I dig Buell caus ethere are so few-

Dream Bike???

How about a 79' Triumph Bonneyville

15 Step
Just
There There
All I Need
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The Gloaming
Optimistic
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Idioteque
Fake Plastic Trees
Bodysnatchers
Videotape
Paranoid Android
Reckoner
Everything In Its Right Place
My Iron Lung
How To Disappear Completely

Thanky Issy!!!

=]

In reply to this comment by Issykitty:
*PROMOTE

Drattus, I don't think it's a false premise at all (and it wasn't my argument, by the way, it was a doctor on the President's council who proposed it). Both the Jewish prisoners and the embryos are sentenced to death. They would not die "naturally." But even if they were going to die naturally (terminally ill patients for instance) it would still be unthinkable to justify killing them prematurely in the name of science research.

The issue of what to do with left over embryos actually came up during the President's council discussions (see the links I posted above). The council briefly discussed whether it was ethical or not to destroy unused embryos but ultimately came to no conclusion since it was out of their hands: the embryos are in the care of private fertilization clinics which are currently not doing research on them. The council decided therefore it was beyond the scope of its jurisdiction since it was only focused on the ethical concerns of stem cell research.

"Living breathing person" is the term you used to describe humanity and the definition of humanity is precisely what's causing the problem here. Of course you know that an an unborn child is not breathing--it doesn't use its lungs for the first time until after birth. We can't possibly use breathing as a measure of humanity because there are those out there on artificial ventilation (iron lungs and such) that can't breath for themselves. They are in no way less human because of it, nor is a person who stops breathing temporarily due to drowning or choking.

To respond to your comment about applying the argument across the spectrum, I think it actually already is. The furor over the Terry Schiavo incident shows that there is still a very real debate about what constitutes life or death. The recent waking up of a woman who had been brain dead for 17 hours (http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=65389) further shows the need for debate about defining where life begins and ends. It seems we can't even use brain activity as a test for where humanity begins or ends.

I haven't really expressed my personal views here yet, so I'll do so now. I'm a bit of a pragmatist and somewhat in agreement with chilaxe. If our country doesn't do the research others with perhaps less than good intentions will and that could be very bad. Ethically, though, I don't think you can get around the fact that we are killing humans. The only difference between an embryo and a fully adult human is time (given all the time in the world, a clump of cancer cells will never develop into a human and thus I think we can dismiss the comparison that often gets made between embryos and cancer). But I think for now embryonic stem cell research is a necessary evil. Maybe someday adult stem cell research will become more viable, but right now embryonic research has better potential. I like to debate about issues like this because I would love for someone to be able to convince me that from an ethical standpoint stem cell research is okay. Haven't found anyone to make a convincing argument yet, though.