formerly33

I hate to state the obvious ... but we need ChiTown.

Perk now needs to get four outs. He's a superman, thanks to our friend David Rackley.

STRIKE THREE [sHOULDA BEEN] CALLED.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8206l8Ezx1r3mawk.gif

Stick a fork in DanSan ..... he is done.

Hey guys, I make my entrance slightly differently than my lil bro. Instead of asking, "What's up?" I save you the trouble of answering. I'm all caught up! And I have an idea for my next game thread. That's my warning to you not to read it if you can't stand me. That said, when I started HBD's GTOP, my first thought was that if any of my posts made it, it wouldn't be the one. That just shows how well I know my audience.

This discussion reminds me of "Madame Bo-peep, of the Ranches" by O. Henry. "The centipede, driven by destiny, showed himself on the floor of the gallery, and then, the screeches of the two women giving him his cue, he scuttled with all his yellow legs through the open door into the furthermost west room....Arming themselves with domestic utensils selected with regard to their length, Octavia and Mrs. Maclntyre, with much clutching of skirts and skirmishing for the position of rear guard in the attacking force, followed. Once outside, the centipede seemed to have disappeared, and his prospective murderers began a thorough but cautious search for their victim....Between them they slew the centipede."

My older brother is the only one in my family who refuses to kill the centipedes. He says that they're "sweet" and he feels sorry for them, but I'm pretty sure that in reality he's deathly afraid of them. Once I was playing in the dark and something crawled up my leg. I shook it off and screamed, and my mom came in to see what was the matter. We turned on the light and found a gigantic centipede hiding under the bed. We smashed it with my sister's guitar case; needless to say, she wasn't amused. And then there was the time when I drew one on the wall. It was a great work of art, but it was offensive to older members of the family and had to be removed. I won't even begin to describe the disgrace I was in for the next few days.

Ah, so impossibly easy to say ... yet so impossible to execute. I could think about this for years and I don't know if I'd come up with an even halfway decent solution. And if I did ... could it be carried out? That would take another lifetime to find out. But instead of my pointless banter on here, I'll take a break now and try to figure that one out in my head.

While I see your point, the thought that enters my head whenever I see/hear people talking about this is that driver's licenses don't stop bad drivers. Or drivers without licenses for that matter. And reproduction licenses, while obviously started with a good intent, could snowball into extreme Hitler-ism. Oh, what a radical she is, you say. Well, maybe ... but you have to consider beyond the next five years. How about the next five generations? And this reminds me of the Charleston thread. I think that part of the problem with kids being ... what should I say, mentally disturbed? these days is because of the idiotic video games that they play. They are subtly taught that killing is okay through those games, and I can only imagine the desensitization going on is pretty high. My 13 year old brother, for instance, is addicted to video games. He also has a problem with violence. Let him have the former and the latter would almost certainly come into play ... first in the games, later leaking into real-life scenarios. I don't even want to imagine what he would end up like if he played the games that some kids play. So what I'm saying here is that if there was ANY way to stop the marketing for those games, we might see a huge improvement in young adults' behavior. But what is the likelihood of that happening?

One last thing: most cases of abortion I know of, the mother wanted the baby but was pushed into the decision by jerk boyfriends and controlling parents. Women's rights indeed!

I have to agree with you there. And I'm not against welfare, really. What I'm against is the fact that I know of multiple able-bodied young men who are on welfare for no better reason than that they are deadbeats. They are leaching a system that was intended to help the needy, and in doing so, they are selfishly creating another problem.

I should have clarified that this is not the only centipede in my household. In fact, we have quite the breeding facility set up now. It all started about ten years ago when a little one wandered into our home and we took pity, rescued it, and transported it to a more suitable environment out of doors. It went and told all it's centipede friends ... "When lost, go to always33's family and they'll find you a good home." Eventually we had so many callers that we were forced to extend our hospitality and let them lodge for the night. That of course produced little centipedes who insisted that they should be allowed to continue life in their place of birth and raise little centipedes of their own, and the trend continues to this day. Besides centipedes, our house provides room and board for carpenter ants and spiders. I was forced to put my foot down when it came to creatures with wings, however, so our walls are adorned with elegantly pressed mosquitos and flies. The moths and parakeets we capture and mercifully release outside.

I want to make one thing clear: if people are for abortion, that's their thing. There's no way I'm ever going to be able to convince you or anyone else into believing what I believe, so I won't even try. But I don't understand how or why you persist in arguing that fetuses are not alive. The only logical explanation I can come up with is that, deep down, you believe that abortion is wrong, and you're only trying to justify it with an illogical excuse. If fetuses are not alive, can you tell me ... are kangaroo joeys alive once they are born, or is it not until they are developed enough to finally peek out from the pouch that they are truly alive? Here is an image of a newborn joey sucking on its mother's teat shortly after birth: Is that alive? And if so, how can this beautiful baby not be? http://wfiles.brothersoft.com/u/u_s/unborn-baby_91063-480x360.jpg And an older joey that I'm sure most would agree is a living being, even though it's still in its mother's pouch, therefore nixing any argument that a day old joey is not alive because it's in its mother's pouch: So go ahead and have your views on abortion. That's your deal. But to insist and even try to convince me that fetuses are not alive? I can't even begin to understand that side of the argument.

But my pet beats them all.

Right ... all life forms are like that. It's strange ... you know, "the survival of the fittest." But zombies? Naaat.

Nah, those ants aren't zombies, and neither is the fungus. I think it's more a case of physical breakdown than mental breakdown of the insects; otherwise they wouldn't lock onto the leaves when they fall. But you have me thinking ... if zombies are real ... they most certainly are viruses. Or at least viruses are zombies. I've always admired viruses; they know how to inflict pain without suffering themselves. Now I'm extending this admiration to all zombies, whatever else they may be. I'm in awe.

This deserves a thread of its own. Now ... is it possible for human procreation as we know it to produce a zombie?

Write-in for the best game thread of the year: The #ASGWorthy Game Thread Balloting (Hosken Bombo Disco)

Well, I'll admit you're right on that at least. But mind you, saying that doesn't mean that I think it's a good thing.

Brock, if we can tweak our definitions of life to suit our arguments, then I could say that I am a zombie. But then, maybe I am. And knowing me, maybe you wouldn't be surprised. Now, based off the knowledge that I am a zombie, would you get away with killing me? Well, at any rate, you probably wouldn't get the death sentence because anyone who killed somebody and then argued in court that it was a zombie, not a person, could easily plead permanent insanity. And they could also say that they didn't kill me. I was already dead. Or wait, I was never living. I'm a unique case.

I am not anti vaccinations. In fact, I don't have any idea where we would be today without them. (Well, not here, at any rate. In a baby's grave or never born because our parents/grandparents/great-grandparents were in babies' graves.) I've spent literal hours arguing with my parents about this, and luckily I have to some extent gotten them to change their minds. (Not that I think I'm going to change your mind about anything ... but I'm not your daughter. That would be a little harder to do - and that's an understatement.) But their beliefs on vaccinations, however warped, do not stem from the fact that they are Christian. In case you are wondering, I don't think that God hates "fags," as Westboro Baptists say. If God hated homosexuals, he would hate me because of the sin in my life. I don't think that I'm this awesome, righteous person who's above homosexuals. I have a very close friend who is homosexual, and I don't think of him any differently than I think of you or my brother or anyone else ... I mean, you and my brother both get on my nerves more than him, but that's probably because I get into political discussions with you and everyone knows that brothers are born for adversity. I know of many creationists who believe that dinosaurs once roamed the earth. In fact, I have read many extensive articles trying to prove in a Christian light that they have. But my belief is that you can't scientifically prove anything; otherwise I'd be able to prove to you that my beliefs were right and you'd conform yours. Or vice versa. Really, the ability to scientifically prove things would take away the meaning of the word belief. NAMBLA deserves plenty of thought. Just not the kind they want. The same applies to Packers fans ... though to tell you the truth, one of my best friends is a Packers fan. We love to make each other mad. That's why we're best friends. And finally ... I'm no basketball fan, but I'd have to say that the last example deserves the same attention as the previous two. Unless Michael Jordan grows better with age like fine wine and we just don't know it. Etc. etc.? Well, that leaves a lot to the imagination, and I'm pretty sure imagination is thought ... correct me if I'm wrong.

I have a question. If the universe started out as nothing, how did the dust start? And that dust that slowly built up and built up and created an earth and life, etc. etc. How did that happen? There are answers. I've read a lot about it, answers that have been provided by both creationists and uniformitarians. But the faith it takes to believe in the answers by the latter group! A lot of people question Christians' beliefs and laugh at their foolish faith. I just want to say ... it takes a lot more faith to believe the "scientist" point of view. But if that's what makes you happy ... so be it. And sorry for digressing ... this has nothing to do with the 2016 elections.

Those could argue that anyone who thinks the earth is 4.54 billion years isn't even worth spending a thought on (unfortunately the numbers are growing and growing). But it wouldn't be true. Everyone, no matter their belief, is worth spending plenty of thought on. Not everyone agrees, but everyone has their arguments and I hope they back it with what they consider to be valid points. And everyone has the right to disagree. It's not a case of whether somebody is worth spending a thought on ... sorry.

1. All life forms contain deoxyribonucleic acid, which is called DNA. 2. All life forms have a method by which they extract energy from the surroundings and convert it into energy that sustains them. 3. All life forms can sense changes in their surroundings and respond to those changes. 4. All life forms reproduce. I'm sorry, but even liberal scientist will have to admit that fetuses fit into that category. Dave's "real" scientists (the 99.9%) know that. They just deny it because they want to tweak science to fit their ideas ... like politicians. So could I say that the 99.9% of scientists mentioned above are just the liberal politicians of the world?