AzurePhoenix

have a bottle of ammonia? Drink that. Hmmm, tastes like architeuthis!

They have the arm, and they've had it for nearly a year, if it wasn't an authentic Giant, they would easily have figured that out.

You wouldn't wanna eat any of that, unless you have a thing for ammonia. I haven't been able to find much on it. Do you know what they caught it on? And I'm more concerned about having hooked for so many hours. The trauma from that alone might be worse than losing an arm.

Yesss! They've finally got it recorded! The Leopard of the Deep, the Ghost of the Abyss! Architeuthis! I'm shaking.... So pretty.... now we just need to record.... a lot of other stuff, not the least of which the Antarctic Colossal Squid.

Eragon's premise was good, and the writing was almost half decent, but many of the author's descriptions and ideas were painfully cliche, and obviously taken from other sources. Then there was that scene where he goes ou of the way to right something like "oh how wonderful the world of reading is! I have had my eyes opened to whole worlds! Joy is me!" I almost vomited every last internal organ I had.

I wouldn't blame him if he just up and left

It's called Spore, and I want it, so very badly .

They've only known, but now is the first time they've been able to get her on it as far as I understand it.

also you have to factor in distribution of weight. While the lizard has long toes and broad feet with web-flaps, the cheetah's weight is concentrated on small paws.

Except that it's not just small stuff to some people. Just like the Aztecs thought human sacrifice was as normal as breakfast. You know what I mean? Ideals are as diverse as the people who hold them. Someone might have strong feeling against it because to them it's a stupid, demeaning waste of time, or that it focuses entirely on ideals they don't stand for. Those can be very major deals to someone.

i don't think anyone is asking to make everyone stop, or would even wish it if tehy had that choice. They/we just don't want to be forced to do so ourselves against our own values

That's fine as an entertainment device, but it wouldn't hold any scientific value other than something along the lines of "looky what I can engineer!"

Respect your nation how you see fit, respect it in whatever way feels true to you. But you don't have to blindly pledge respect for such things as a droning, uninspiring series of words if that kinda stuff doesn't mean anything to you. But if the pledge does it for you, so be it. The point is, think for yourself no matter what others expect of you. And for Liberty's sake, nobody should try to guilt others into demeaning their own beliefs to protect themselves from petty offense.

A number of species have been found in the antarctic, such as Cryolophosaurus. BUT they all died and were buried when the climate was still pretty mild; they were in no way frozen, and the fossils were typical, nothing but mineralized bone.

I don't care anymore. Restrict it in rationally necessary ways, implement strict laws for abuse, and make it legal. At least it reduces some profits for dealers that way. ROFL. That was great in a wierdly way.

Still searching for it, my usual new-bookstores didn't have it in stock, so I'm waiting for it to show up at my used-bookstore.

Any combination of parascience, sci-fiction, adventure, fantasy, adventure, mystery-suspense-horror, and good ol' Star Wars

No, but it is more appealing to actually decide to go look at something to find understanding, rather than depending blindly on a wad of papers that's gone thorugh centuries of editing. I could take a bunch of children, hide them away from the influence of the world, and force-feed them the doctrine of the FSM, and there's a good chance they'd end up as brain-washed as you. And I could one up your book and let my precious little cultists pledge their undying faith to nothing more than a sauce-smeared napkin. And you know what? They'd have just as much credence as you do. Maybe more, due to to the fact that we can prove spaghetti exists in one form or another. Been through this. Seen it. Tested it. Influenced it. Observed a whole lot of it. Evolution is more real and observable than gravity (of which we can only see the resulting affects, IOW, "falling") what we don't know for certain are the exact processes that drive it. Only the Sith deal in absolutes , and we all know what eventually happened to them. Flexibility is the key to growth. Bend a little, overcome your prejucide for things that are different from you. Believe what you want, and accept other for what they percieve to be a truth. If you want respect, offer respect, if not, shut your gob-hole and enjoy wasting your brain power waiting for something that might not be coming.

What effect does that have on feeling happiness or pain? Or affection, even love similar to or possibly even equal to love as we know it? These things are not intellectual, they are a basic part of the mind, they are primal, and shared by many species. You left out the part where I said the exact same thing.... If you want to make me out to be a monster just because I have feelings for something beyond my own species, fine, but don't do so by twisting my words. Violent criminals. And I think all criminals who maliciously commit cruel crimes of severe violence (not necessarily murder) should be on death-row anyway. In my scenarios, only those with irrefutable, damning evidence could be placed on death row. It wouldn't be perfect, but it's the best I can do. The perception of such things (human testing) are biased towards being squeamish. Just more bureaucracy. The Holocaust was one of the most despicable atrocities ever against fellow man, but these test-sunjects wouldn't be crimes committed against innocent victims of prejudice, these would be vicious killers, rapists and abusers. We put down innocent dogs for less. At least this way men doomed to die anyway die serving a greater purpose.

You think a silly jumble of words indicates respect? I respect any man or woman who died to protect their ideals, from any nation. But I know I respect them, I do thank them, but I will not recite a silly pledge that doesn't even acknowledge their existence. Nor will I recite a pledge stating what I do not fully believe. The pledge metions none of these things, none of these people. More than anything else it addresses the doctrine of the government itself, and perhaps that alone. I agree entirely. I wouldn't care if schools had a five minute period in which kids could pledge, perform ritual yoga, pray to Allah or whatever, but making others participate in a ritual they don't believe in is plain wrong. Again, celebrate whatever you want, I'll put up whatever easter decorations I want, they can play whatever christmas music they want. My issue is with being forced to actively recognize such things yourself.

Wow, you really know how to make yourself look like a trolling idiot, don't you? Unless you actually are some kind of a moron, which I doubt, you full well understand the difference between an unneccessary tradition and all of that other stuff. Forcing someone to pledge their allegiance is making them state a belief that they may not have. Should someone who has no love for this country, or any other for that matter, be forced to feign respect for it? Doesn't that just demean the pledge for those who mean what they say? *And I say that if you don't want to deal with school, homework, work, etc, that's fine, but you should damn well be ready to face up to the consequences of oyur stupidity. Mindlessly repeating a forced-mantra in no way enriches my life, adds to my knowledge, or gives me the experience needed to function.*

Personally, I don't like tuxes. But black is a must, unless the bride is decked out in a matching gray and white snow-camoflauge gown.

The point isn't what you are able to know, it's what you can feel. And there are many species that can be deemed sentient. On a population wide scale, a retarded individual unable to function is of less practical value than a trained search and rescue dog. But on a closer, personal level, that person should still be cherished, because he is a sentient, feeling being, whether he is as sapient as we or not. The same applies to the higher non-human animals. I'm not saying the life of one parrot is neccessarily just on par with that of a single human's (not saying it isn't either), but it's still worthy of love, rights and protection. --- I do support animal testing in the case of finding ways to combat disease, as long as non-sentient species are the ones being tested on. If a higher species is necessary for success, test on violent criminals rather than innocent chimps, who are actually a step beyond sentience, into full sapience. Plus, then the testing is actually done on the species it's meant for. Also, more research should be put into finding ways to fight diseases that threaten animals alone.

In regards to my nation hunting is fine, under the proper circumstances, such as when a population has to be controlled to maintain natural balance (such as most places where predator species have been eliminated or severely reduced, or when it can be shown that legally obtained meat will be consumed), and it must be carefully regulated. Species deemed sentient could not be killed except under special circumstances such as self-defense. I might even offer rewards for bringing in non-native destructive invasive species that threaten indiginous species. Guns are fine if properly controlled and distributed. This would include annual mandatory inspections of the weapons, a registry of their distinct feature, and an annual weekend-long refresher course. Also, no unneccessarily destructive could be sold or owned, and gun owners would be tracer-chipped. Any citizen who would disagree with such rational yet leniant control of such things can argue all they want as long as they follow the rules.

I think that if we polled such thoughts, very few or no serious, respectable members of the forums would share your opinions about Mokele. If you disagree, go ahead and make a poll. Personally I don't think you're overzealous at all. Just needlessly hostile based on some petty vendetta. He's only lost his temper with people who deserved to be told down, and he never goes quite as far as the situation would allow him to. Trollers deserve to be put in their place, if not booted entirely. A sharp word or too from someone who actually knows what he's talking about should be encouraged, not condemned. This arrogance you refer to is nonextistant. He is inarguably knowledgable, and has a right to be confidant. And when he does overlook something, misstate something, or is presented with something new to him, he will readily admit to it. Mokele is the epitome of a good SFN member.