This is by far the best flash movie I have ever seen in my entire existence. Great theme, great lines, great song.

Click me!

This is the Sig I wanted to make for myself, but it's over 1MB so I won't use it. Still, I had to at least show it!

It's an animated gif.

I activated the Calendar to show upcomming birthdays of members. Let me know if you have issues with it.

"The current government has brought the country to the edge of economic depression! A vote for our Party is a vote for a step forward!"

I baked this e-cake for you! I hope your birthday is a happy and wonderful one! 

Can you see it now?

Click

CHEATER! 

We often here the expression “soul mate” which refers to the one person on the planet who is our perfect match. As we grow older and seek a life partner, we often search for our soul mate. But how do we recognize them amongst the billion of people out there? Well, Hollywood would have you believe that you would recognize your soul mate the very first time you looked into their eyes. I mean, just look at the movies they come up with. The film “The Family Stone” for example, tells the story of a man who brings his girlfriend over to his parents for Christmas. He’s planning on proposing to her during the holidays but they turn out to be so incompatible that he instead falls in love with her sister and tries to marry her after spending… oh… like two hours with her. I’m sorry, but if that story represent what a true soul mate is, then there’s a lot of idiots out there.

I came to the conclusion long ago that there were no such things as soul mates. Actually, le me correct myself: I believe there are plenty of soul mates for us out there, not just one. The concept of the one person in the world who’s just right is yet another fabrication made by desperate people. The reason why I believe that this soul mate does not exist is primarily related to some simple observations of what goes on around me. For example, I know a lot of people who dated, then got married, and now claim to be soul mates. I know A LOT! And a significant portion of these couples both come from the same town. So, if it is in fact true that there is only one person for you out there on the entire planet, then why is it that so many people find their life partners in their own backyards? Some would argue that its pure coincidence and others would claim that they are not soul mates at all. But how would they know?

You see, when it comes to the topic of love, I don’t claim to be an expert and I only have my personal experiences and observations of others to support my claims, but overall I think we humans tend to fall in love all the time. Our capacity to love one another makes us worthy of an existence. Think about how many times you’ve fallen in love in your life. Every time, the experience was different and unique. Every time, there was something positive about it. Some times, it didn’t last. It happens. It is a fact that when you decide to share your life with someone else, it’s not all bells and whistles all the time. There are sacrifices and compromises to be made in order for the partnership to succeed. Sometimes, we reach a point where those sacrifices are no longer worth the benefits of the union so we quit and we start the process all over again, hoping to find someone who’s more compatible, hoping to find our soul mate.

If what I have described is a reality for you, and you are indeed searching for your soul mate, then let me give you some advice: If you think there is one single person out there who is just right for you, and you are just right for them, you are wrong. Stop looking for something that does not exists! Some people have wasted their lives searching for their true love, missing some very good opportunities along the way. They say that love makes you blind. You’ve all heard that before right? I disagree, I think it’s the need to be loved that makes us blind, and not love itself. I believe that the need to be loved is what drives us as human beings. In order to be loved, then we have no choice but to love others. So we love other human beings in hopes that they will return our love.

Sometimes, the love is not returned and that can be a painful experience. I have seen some people who were so afraid of being hurt by love that they stopped loving and hid from it like cowards. Some took up a hobby like golf or traveling; others hid behind their desks and became workaholics. But deep down, the need to be loved remains, and if that need isn’t fulfilled, then we grow to be miserable pathetic bitty old bags.

For some people, something very interesting happens when they run away from love for too long. They become bitter at the world. While it is true that we have the capacity to love, we are equally capable of hatred, which is the complete opposite of love. Love and hate, in the end, tend to be related. If a person ignores their need to be loved for to long, then that need is hidden so deep inside that it sometimes never resurfaces. Often, it is overshadowed by another substitute need, the need to hate. Because love has burned us so many times, because it has cause us so much grief, and because we fear the day that love will burn us once more, we just ignore it and replace it with something else. Maybe I can illustrate this with an example. Take a parent for example. A parent who wishes to have a child will love the child and nurture it until it becomes adult. What happens when the love is no longer returned by the child? What happens when the family unit becomes destabilized and non functional? What happens when the child does something that is unacceptable by the parents? What happens when the child “betrays” family values? What happens to the boy who tells his Christian parents he’s gay? Well… only two things can happen: love or hatred.

Every person has the potential of reaching that danger zone where love turns to hatred. I don’t want to call it the point of no return because it we still are capable of love even if we’ve crossed that point. We can come back from the dark side! Just like Dart Vader did. It’s true! That film, that scene actually illustrates what I’m trying to convey quite well.

What I am most proud of in our history as humans is the fact that this capacity to love is what allows us to evolve. Sure, its other things too like creativity, memory and language, but love is never mentioned and I think we need to give it some credit. Looking back at our history, I also note that the moments I am least proud of our civilization are the ones where we are driven by hatred. In a sense, it seems to me like there is a cycle between loving and hating and I ask myself if one must be able to hate in order to be able to love, or vice versa. In the end, I think that what makes love so valuable is our ability to hate. If there was no hatred in this world at all, then what good would love do?

So, although it seems like I’ve gone off topic from the soul mate discussions, I actually wanted to make the point that we don’t need to look far to find one of our soul mates. We are all capable of loving one another. Drop this nonsense about trying to find the one and only perfect person for you because there is no such thing. Put the checklist away because finding love isn’t like doing groceries. You can find love in practically anyone as long as you both let each other be loved by one another. Yes, it is more difficult with some vs others, but not impossible. We all have something to offer.

The final question I wish to pose is related to exclusivity. If we were given this wonderful ability to love each other, why should we love just one person? Why should we have just one life partner? Well, I think you’ll find different opinions on the subject, but I think my position is that there are reasons why we tend to pick one person and stick with it, and fundamentally, most of them are the wrong reasons. They relate to our competitive nature and our ability to hate. If I am to share my love amongst ten others, then will all ten be happy? Or will they compete for attention? Will they try to sabotage each other? Will I have favorites? While it is true that I have the capacity to love more than one person, would I be able to love them all equally? Well, I haven’t been trough the experience so I can’t answer. It’s not an experience that personally appeals to me so I guess I’ll never know. What I do know however is that the one reason I find acceptable to justify exclusivity in love is directly related to our need of love, not our capacity to give love. I think it’s a fair statement for the majority of the people that one of the most important quest in our existence is our search for love, specifically to be loved. When we find a person who can fulfill that need, then our selfish nature dictates that we don’t want to share. We just want to be loved. It’s a bit primitive really. It’s like having a bunch of starving individuals in a room and throwing a cheeseburger in the crowed. The person that grabs it, I assure you, will not want to share it. They need it, they crave it, and they’ll do what ever they can to keep it. So fine, if that’s how we are, then that’s how we are. Let us love each other exclusively but please, don’t waste your time traveling the world to find love. I assure you that you don’t need to go very far to find someone who can love you for who you are. And you’ll love them back.

It seems you got off on the wrong foot. Yet I sense that the force is strong in you... well.. present anyway. I'd love it if you could hang around, but the more you post, the more you're making it difficult for me to not pay attention to you. And that's mostly because you're now at the stage where you are frustrated and impulsive. Perhaps I can explain how you got there, and offer some very simple tips on what you need to do to avoid ending up in a thread like this one, which by the way I recommend you read as it is hilarious.

OK, first off I sincerely believe you came here with the best of intentions, which is the only reason why you are still around. But you are obviously inexperienced with forum netiquette. Yet it's so simple. I'll get into this in a minute. What happened is that because you failed at the basic netiquette concepts, some of our members reacted negatively to some of your actions. You in turn, took it personally and were offended. I understand. After all, you're wondering what the big deal is right? I mean, it's only normal since you have no concepts of netiquette and all. However, everyone else around you is familiar with those concepts. There is a certain expectation from our regulars that people who show up here will exhibit a certain code of conduct or attitude, which you have not well represented thus far. The bottom line is that even if some of our members have reacted strongly and negatively towards you, it is because you've brought it upon yourself through your ignorance. I am not saying this in a negative way; I'm simply stating a fact.

What you need to do is quite simple and obvious. Stop doing the wrong things, and start doing the right things. Now, I know you said you would stop raising dead threads, but as your new friend, I feel obligated to give you a little more information on the subject.

1. What is a dead thread? Can you answer me this? Because it has occurred to me that no one told you what is considered a dead thread. The guideline is that anything that has been inactive for 2 weeks or more is considered a dead thread.

2. If a thread is categories as dead, does it mean no one will ever post in it again? No. There are legitimate reasons why a dead thread can be revived. The guideline here is that if you have something NEW and PERTINENT to contribute, then it's ok to raise a dead thread. If you’re going to reply with a simple "lol" or repeat something that has already been said before, even if it's formulated differently, then you are raising a dead thread for no reason, and people will react negatively. EXPECT THIS to happen in every single instance, especially when you are a repeating offender. This is not a forum rule, this is netiquette. It is such common knowledge amongst forum users that no one bothered to put it in as a rule. IS there a law against shoving a watermelon up your ass? No. Does it mean it's wise to do so? No. but how many people do you know that have performed this fantabulous feat? It's the same idea with the dead threads. There are no rules per say, but common sense is expected.

Obviously, proper English is expected. I'm not saying it's the end of the world if you make a typo or spell a word wrong. I do it all the time. This is partly due the fact that English is not my first language, and partly due to the fact that I have to waste my valuable time writing up long posts like these because some people who show up here are ignorant. So why do I bother? Because I think ignorance can be overcome. Because I have faith that you will be able to understand that you have made errors, accept this fact, understand why people reacted the way they did, and you will move on as the rest of us should. If, following a lack of control of your emotions, you decide that WE have treated YOU unfairly and feel like it's time to throw a tantrum, then you will be escorted out the door and you will prove that I was wrong about you. So if you want to prove me wrong, then go ahead and freak out. Post in capital letters to indicate to me that you are screaming. And then, I will terminate you're existence here, but I will have lost the battle. You will have proven that you are indeed an immature whiny little bitch who does not take ownership of his own actions, and the consequences of them. So it's your call. Only you can decide if you will stay or not. And if you do decide to stay, then I would like to suggest you review this page as it covers important points regarding netiquette. Thank you very much for your cooperation and understanding. I have confidence that you won't turn out to be a dickweed.

Your new friend,
TheJudge

P.S. You will note that I have just applied rule #10 of THE CORE RULES OF NETIQUETTE. *pats self on the back*

P.P.S. I think it wouldn't hurt if everyone took the time to read up on THE CORE RULES OF NETIQUETTE.

Today, I visited a strange place. It was a place where the laws of physics are different then where I come from. A place where creatures have the most irrational behaviors I have ever seen, but rationalize everything they do! From what I can make of this strange world, it seems like chaos is a way of life. But I’m not one of them so maybe I just don’t understand. I’m just an observer after all.
What I noticed was the formation of a coallition of individuals I will refer too as factions. After factions were created, they begain claiming ownership of a portion of the planet. Some of these claims were contradictory; two factions insisted they were the true owners of a particular region or zone. This in turns lead to increased aggressiveness between factions. Eventually, factions claimed every piece of land in their name until there was none left to claim.

Above and beyond the fight for land, factions are consistently in competition with each other over all sorts of things! They try to be better than everyone at something specific. They want to be the first to do actions that have never been done before. They exploit their own strengths and align their efforts to the causes they are competing on, while taking advantage of their competitor’s weaknesses. They even send spies to gather information or sabotage competitor’s efforts. They send thieves to steal things that do not belong to them. Sometimes, factions who are working toward similar goals form alliances, but those never last. Eventually, one party feels like the other is benefiting more from the collaboration so they end it. Indeed, inhabitants of this world are by far the most self serving creatures I have ever observed.

Strangely, I noticed that cells are formed within each faction. These cells essentially operate and have the same motives as factions in the sense that they are made up of competing individuals who work together to influence the world they are part of. In this case, they exist to influence or control the faction they are part of, and sometimes other factions as well. And like collaboration between factions, collaboration between cells does not last very long. Individuals forming the cells change constantly until there is an ultimate collapse of the cell.


Strangely enough, the same phenomenon occurs with factions. Over time, they collapse. This occurs over a much longer period then the collapse of cells, but they collapse. Then reform as a different faction.

I also noted that this behavior is driven completely by individuals. Individuals have more influence in this world when they are in larger numbers, or when they have superior skills, knowledge and assets.

Individuals who live on this planet are very creative, and their creativity keeps them in total chaos. During my study of this world, I witnessed the creation of many tools. The one most relevant to my studies was a tool called “currency” which is globally spread across all factions, with slight variations, but the general concepts remains the same. You see, because of their self serving nature, creatures of this world insist on being rewarded for anything they do. Currency enables a measurable way of securing rewards. The tools of currency consist of paper and metal modified to reflect the faction of origin, are interchangeable between most factions. The entire economy of this world is based on the same principles and factors that lead to the creation of factions. This is partly related to individualism, and partly related to the eternal quest of being better than everyone else.


Originally, leaders of factions where the most favored to benefit from the outputs of the faction. Little did these creatures know that they would in fact give away this control with the introduction of currency. You see, in this world were currency is interchangeable between factions, and where most individuals seek to acquire the instruments of currency, currency itself became more powerful than any faction member or leader, and all factions became dependent of currency. Since most people knew they could not likely become leaders of factions, they instead turned to the accumulation of wealth. Individuals who amassed a certain amount of wealth, and who used it adequately became more powerful than any faction leaders. Because currency was a widespread tool, it was more feasible to acquire wealth than faction leadership. It was also more practical. Those with wealth had the power to influence individuals who were interested in acquire some of that wealth. In turn, these individuals formed cells and cells influenced factions.


At this stage in the evolution of the civilization, things really got chaotic. With wealth came control of individuals, but also of skills and knowledge, which are fueling the creative process of these creatures. What happened next was certainly to be expected, yet everyone was shocked when it did. Wealthy individuals formed cells, trained and equipped its members and, like animals, returned to aggression. Factions completely lost control, and remain to this day in denial of this loss.


What happens next? Faction leaders turn to control mechanisms which in turn impact faction members negatively, resulting in the apparition of additional cells composed of individuals driven by similar motives.


It’s a strange place in deed. It’s a place where everyone knows that the planet orbits around the sun, where the planet rotates on an axis. Yet individuals who live there run in complete circles without even realizing it. The only constancy in this chaos is the continual increase in knowledge and skills which result in increased creativity and technology.


So if by nature, individuals of this strange place are greedy, selfish, self serving individuals who spend their lives equipping themselves with tools to manipulate other individuals, how can they be satisfied? What will it take for them to say “There! I’ve done it!” and move away from running around in circles?


I don’t know what the answer is. My observation of these creatures is incomplete and I am left with a simple question with no answer. What I do know however is that these individuals better figure out the solution fast. If they keep fueling their creativity, skills, knowledge and technology, but remain in a state of chaos, then they will ultimately self destruct. And perhaps this is unavoidable in the end. I’m not sure. All I know is that these humans are the strangest creatures I have ever encountered in my travels.

Russ and I discussed it this weekend. He said "Great idea! Someone should give you a medal!"

I don't know if this has been circulated much, but it's certainly neat!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=49IDp76kjPw