Kori

I feel the same way. My mind races when I'm walking around or doing other movements, but it kinda dies when I'm sitting. Whenever I want to think, I pace back and forth in my room and listen to my iPod. (I also find it easier to think when there is some kind of noise). I don't know what to tell you except maybe bring a voice recorder with you and while your walking or doing other things, you can record your thoughts.

Just straight up tell her to fuck off. Annoying people need to be told they are annoying. Why suffer through it? Being the 'nice' guy isn't always the right move. lol.

When Harry Met Sally.

I don't think it's really a fair assessment to assume that people who get stressed out are not independent. There are things in everyone's lives that they cannot control, and that can be truly stressful. I personally just don't get how sometimes people can just let it go and not be stressed about it at times. I realize that some things are going to be out of my control, but I cannot help but be extremely stressed and bothered (at least some of those things, some others don't upset me as much). On second thought...the more independent I get, the less stress I have. Also, lots of people feel physical stress when they strain themselves. For example, sitting at a desk staring at a computer screen can put stress on your neck and back and eyes. *looks away from computer momentarily, lol* Also, as other people said, doing multiple things at once can cause physical stress. I don't know though if we're talking solely about mental stress or physical (though I think they go hand in hand nearly 100% of the time). Well, the problem I have right now is not really something that 'occurs'. It's constant.

Great point! I feel the same way a majority of the time. If I'm doing something physical, it helps get rid of the energy I have, which allows me to think more calmly about what is bothering me. (Rather than just sitting there going, "AHHH, I'm stressed!!!" *fidget fidget*) I should try to do this more often though, because I often just fall into that panicked, overenergized state. Things that stress me out the most are often things I don't really have control over. Like, if I feel really intense anger or sadness and it's from a problem that I can't do anything to fix, all I can do is feel super stressed on top of the already intense emotions. People always tell me, "Oh, don't worry about it, it's not even in your control!" But that really doesn't change how I'm feeling. Anyone have any better suggestions?

Thing is, it's so easy to send that letter that it's not really necessary to reply to this thread. I just sent one and it took a whole 45 seconds. Perhaps everyone is way too weeded to reply?

Classic, indeed. Well, I didn't know he was a Catholic. All I know is that he is obnoxious. I don't watch his program.

I have been having truly bizarre dreams lately. Usually, I go for a period of a couple months without remembering any dreams, and then I go for about a month having tons of insane dreams. Lately, I've been trying to write them down. The following is probably the most bizarre dream I've ever had, and it was only part of a series of weird ones: Me and a friend of mine were walking around at night through downtown Houston (except downtown Houston actually looked like downtown Kansas City for some reason). Anyhow, my sister who lives in Arizona showed up and we were all wandering around in the dark between these buildings. Then, my friend suggests we go into this brick building, so we do. When we get inside, the building turns out to be Epperson House, which is the architecture/urban planning house at a university I used to go to. Epperson in real life is really small, but this one was really spacious. Anyhow, when we get in there, frickin' BILL O'REILLY is standing there. So, my friend takes out this big round cracker, which is supposed to blow up when you throw it at something, and he tosses it like a ninja star at Bill O'Reilly. O'Reilly catches it in his mouth, and it doesn't explode. It's a dud! So, my friend turns to me, says "shit" and pulls out a laser gun. Meanwhile, Bill is just standing there frozen with this horrified look on his face and this cracker in his mouth. So, my friend shoots the gun at O'Reilly and blows him up! WTF. That's just the first part of a weird dream...but it's the weirdest part. I can see why I'd dream about crackers and laser guns, but the Bill O'Reilly thing just totally confuses me.

^D.O. said 'fuck'. I'm offended. But seriously, text speak is definitely not a lower class thing. Maybe true in the UK, but most people who went to my high school seemed to be middle or upper middle class and they were the ones who used it most. I'm sure lower class people use it as well. I don't think it's always completely unprofessional to put a smiley face or something at the end of an email, but I think if you are just starting a job it's best to be cautious about that. You have to kind of gauge your environment first and see whether that would be appropriate. I mean, my workplace is pretty laid back, so if I sent an email to someone I don't think it'd be a big deal if I tacked a smiley onto the end or whatever. However, there are some people here that would not find that appropriate. You just have to learn who they are. It's kind of like dress code. The company technically has a dress code, so when I first started I would wear slacks and nice shirt and shoes, but as time went on I realized that it's much more casual than that, really, so I wear jeans and tennis shoes mostly now.

^LMAO Bennigan's is absolutely disgusting. Good riddance.

I agree with eriatarka about it being a choice between "this" or "that". However, I still prefer the first two verses over the third.

^Exactly, Kelz. Also, I thought it was, "I can do anything with no RESISTANCE." Did you take those lyrics from a website or did they come straight out of the CD booklet?

Yeah, it's a really great song, but I wish I had a version of it without that third verse where it gets all depressing. I was wondering if someone here would ever make a thread about it.

Thanks for the spoiler. Daymn.

I recently stopped drinking any kind of soda at all (maybe 3 weeks ago or so?) and I feel great. I had stopped drinking it before and then started up again. For me personally I think it helps me to lose weight (even if it's just a little at a time) by cutting out tons of useless calories. The only reason I drank it before was because without it I would get a terrible headache. Plus, it was just habit to crack open a soda at certain times of the day. I find that replacing it with water or something else really isn't all that bad, since it was just habit drinking soda anyhow. Also, drinking a lot of soda makes me feel sort of draggy...no energy. *shrug* If you wanna keep drinking it, then whatever, but if you actually believe that soda is that terribly bad for you then I would say that, yes, it is irrational to keep drinking it. Once you give it up, it's really not so bad at all.

Where in the article does it say whether the kid even tried to defend himself? It seems that most of you are assuming he tried, when it's possible that he tried and failed. Adults are often a bit bigger and stronger than Jr. High kids.

Good one! Now you just need to draw pictures with it!

Something relating to this that I've always wondered about is this: It seems to me that Objectivist ethics would allow someone to torture an animal or kill it simply because an animal is considered property. I cringe at the thought of animal rights laws, but I also cringe at the thought of the kind of guy you see on the news that set his dog on fire.

If you got an answer that you weren't expecting, then you were obviously expecting something. ("I figured people would be telling me it is immoral and altruistic.") I wasn't trying to come off hostile and I don't think there's anything at all wrong with being curious about other perspectives, but your assumption that the people of this Board would tell you that it was "immoral and altruistic" caught my attention and made me curious. There's no reason to assume that I would find it "hard to believe" that you would be interested in other perspectives. It was a simple question. I obviously don't know you and don't have the time or the interest to look through your posting history to see whether you care about other peoples' image of you. Anyhow, I got my answer and it seems legitimate to me. Like I said, the statement of yours that I quoted is what prompted my question. My next question is: Why did you expect such an answer? What reasons do you think people here would give for calling such an act as giving to the homeless "immoral and altruistic"? Now I'm curious about why you think that people give to the homeless out of awkwardness? Why should they feel awkward (unless they do, in fact, feel guilty)? EDIT: BTW, I think that your posting avatar is hilarious. I love that commercial.

I'm curious why you even asked the question if you already assumed you knew what the answer would be. Did you want to be told that it was immoral? Not trying to be a smartass, but you seem to express that you feel fine and moral with giving the man your 24 cents, so why ask then?

The validity of spanking as a disciplinary method has been something I've kinda gone back and forth on for quite some time. I was spanked as a kid, and I think that I've turned out fairly well. I never got into too much trouble really; never did anything extreme like set a building on fire. However, I did do some things that apparently warranted a spanking. I used to think that I had turned out the way I am as a result of that punishment, and that it was successful. Upon further thought, though, I realize that the punishment didn't make me avoid doing things that were "wrong" (for whatever reason), but instead made me better at hiding the "wrong" things I did so as not to get spanked. I've always done whatever I thought was in my best judgment, but whenever I thought my parents would disagree, I did it anyway but worked hard at hiding it. Turns out, fear of a spanking didn't really have anything to do with the decisions I made, but it was always in the back of my mind making me work hard to conceal my wrongdoings (again, not that I've ever done anything crazy like steal a car or something). I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have never been spanked and, instead, reasoned with the way Sophia does with her boy. In my mind, it would have been much more effective. Like I think has been said before, oftentimes kids don't even know that what they're doing is wrong and when you punish them for it and don't explain why they just get confused. How many 4 year olds are gonna think, "I know coloring on the wall is bad, but I'm gonna do it anyway! Muahahahahaha!" For me it was more like, "I'm gonna color on the wall." *scribbles* Also, no 4 year old is going to think, "I would like to color on the wall, but my parents worked hard to pay for this house and coloring on the walls is disrespectful and difficult to clean off...and it violates property rights. Maybe it'd be best to color on this piece of paper." :-/ <--And they're probably not going to get that kind of lesson from a spanking either.

I think the Kantian might say that it was one's duty to accept and care for the dog whether they wanted to or not. Strictly out of duty. Like Zip said, if you value the dog you will care for it.

Sounds like a fuckin' rip, dude. You should definitely use a different name, and a different plot.

Dagny and Francisco also race toward each other every Summer, right? I don't know how well I'm remembering that, but I recall them doing it. EDIT: Also, doesn't she describe Rearden's car? Isn't it a luxury car of some kind?

^Okay, so...let's say you like to read, write, and play guitar. Are there really never times when you don't really feel like doing any of those things? That's happened to me before, and the result was boredom, until I figured out something else I wanted to do at that particular time. Shit, even if I liked to play guitar (which I do), I wouldn't want to do it 24/7. (And if I did, I have a feeling I'd get some awful pains in my hands).