Roxie Faye

[quote name='Queen Asuka][color=hotpink][size=1][spoiler] When Harry and Dumbledore got back to Hogwards, Dumbledore told Harry to get Snape. And then he said, "Severus, please." or something like that, because he knew that Snape wasn't going to want to kill him. MAYBE it was all a plan from the beginning because Dumbledore told Malfoy that he wasn't the one that was going to kill him. He already knew what Malfoy was up to, and I'm sure that therefore he knew what Snape was up to.[/spoiler] I'm sorry if this is hard to follow, I'm just LARGELY theorizing. We wont know the truth until Miss JKR herself sends the last book our way, but it's always fun to think about. ^_^[/color'][/size][/quote] [color=#9933ff]Thank you for your comments on my post. ^^; And I LOVED your theory. After it happened, that quote was what I was thinking about. I'm still convinced - I do trust in the HBP! You know, I think I'm too easily persuaded. I really honestly, did like the book. But then I saw Lunox's reply, and I thought I was just being foolish. And now, after seeing that I'm not the only one who liked it, I can't get myself to really like the book the way I did, because now all I see are the bad parts, and it's harder for me to find the things I like about it. I never really have a problem with books I read - I'm really bad at picking up at stuff I don't like. These were my only complaints with the book, initially: [spoiler]The one thing which killed me, was that Harry didn't even get to find another Horcrux. Do you realize how MASSIVE this next book has to be, for him to find [i]three[/i] of them, [b][i]plus[/i][/b] kill Voldy? He could have a least had a head start, and found another one before the one with the fake Horcrux. Sheesh! I also just felt that the whole thing read more like "SS/PS, CoS, and PoA" rather than the more detailed "GoF and OotP" It was like her editor decided everything was too long, and just tore out half her manuscript. I mean, at one point we're going from winter to May - She didn't even bother to include the usual class chapter (she description of classes on the first day) or easter. EASTER! *was really upset about easter* And, of course, I thought the Tonks/Lupin thing was out of nowhere. It makes sense NOW, but memeh. Could have been more developed.[/spoiler] For those of you who have a problem with the teen romance: [spoiler]I loved it. I've been waiting SIX BOOKS for this to happen, and I'll be damned if I don't like it. Harry and Ginny has never been my choice - more of a Ginny/Draco shipper myself, but it's nice to know he's not gay, and has a girlfriend. The Ron Hermione thing was great - I've been waiting a REALLY long time for that, too - since GoF![/spoiler] And I will tell you now, everything else about it, I either loved, liked, or didn't hate. [spoiler]Quick thought that popped into my head - I'm pleased to see that Harry inherited 12 Grimmauld Place, including Kreacher. Having him tail Malfoy was brilliant! ^_^[/spoiler] OotP I didn't like because of the death, and because Harry was acting like a whiny brat (it was okay before they got to school, and then he wouldn't shut up). He hardly yells in HBP, which I liked, and the death was expected. I had actually heard rumors of who it was going to be (that person among them), so when I read it in HBP, I wasn't as upset as [spoiler]someone being killed in their prime of life! *wails over Sirius' dead body. I LOVE YOU!!!! ...Okay. Emotional outburst is over now. :X [/spoiler] So... yeah. There you have it. ^^ [/color]

[color=#9933ff]It's morning and I'm too busy trying to put on make-up to write a proper reply but I wanted to get SOMETHING in. I did at least, read Shinmaru's post, which in effect meant I read Lunox's post too. [spoiler]Yes, the whole thing was pretty annoying, but I will say that I prefer this book over OotP, because well, we were all sort of expecting Dumblerdore's death a whole hell of a lot more than we were experting the death of someone cut down in his prime... And also, Harry only yelled once in HBP (for a very good reason, might I add), which was incredibly relieving. It seemed to me like Rowling wanted to say a lot more than she did, but that her editors took out anything of importance at all in this book. Anything. Either that or all this fame has made her a totally incompetent writer. I mean, I understand why Harry was telling Dumbledore EVERYTHING (because last time he told nothing, Sirius died), but she didn't even EXPLAIN that in HBP. >___> I'll probably edit this later, but the one thing I wanted to say is that I still have faith in Severus. I really do. I hate him, and I think he's a bastard, but I have absolute faith in him, like Dumbledore did, until the end. I know, I'm retarded, but I really do have faith.[/spoiler] THAT'S RIGHT EVERYONE. I TRUST THE HBP. SO THERE!!!!!!![/color]

[color=#9933ff]I've been staying away from spoilers as much as I can. I'm soooo excited for tomorrow though. On the news at around 7:00, they were showing people handing out the books at a bookstore in England - I was like... "I am SO jealous!" ;_; My sister ordered two copies; one from amazon and one from borders, because she didn't know which one would come in first. She's picking up the borders one, so when the amazon thing comes in the mail tomorrow, it's MINE. WAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA. I LOVE POTTER. *huggles that kid with the glasses.* The one thing I'm afraid of, though, is seeing who will die. We've all heard rumors/ suspicions, I'm sure, and I'm just... afraid. I mean, I got pissed off at Rowling after OotP for like... a month. I don't know if I can take it this time! *wails* Like DDG, though, I'm curious about [spoiler]learning about Snape's mysterious/tragic past. I'm not exactly a Snape fangirl, but I think he's an incredibly interesting character with a lot of depth. I tried to write a fanfic about that, but it just wasn't working, mainly because it was in first person, and was just hard to write. Eheh. *_*; Some people also speculate that he's going to be the DADA teacher but I don't think so. He's supposed to be "working" for Moldywarts, so I don't know how well that would go over with the Dark Lord. ^_~ [/spoiler] Eheh. ^^; I HEART POTTER!!!!! FOREVERSS!!![/color]

[color=#9933ff]I second that ammendment to the rules. Honest to god, I thought that that was clearly stated in the rules. I even remember reading that at one point, but now it's not there anymore. Survey says: clearly stating that introduction threads are not okay should be added to the rules, as it's quite a necessity.[/color]

[quote name='Generic NPC #3']Roxie: I think you're misunderstanding some things I meant here. The idea that anyone can practice "true" alchemy quite simply relies on the ideas of magic in the first place. The idea that someone in here knows the "secrets" that he will only tell you through PM obviously relies on something of questionable descent in the first place. The idea of "things we can't see" relates to magic or religion or mysticism in some way as well. How can it not? I might as well say that about magic itself or random goddesses.[/quote] [color=#9933ff]*smacks forehead with hand* You know? This is entirely my fault. I antagonized someone else about this, and then it comes back right at me - I have only myself to blame. ~_~ *smacks self again* "Alchemy is an early protoscientific practice combining elements of chemistry, physics, astrology, art, semiotics, metallurgy, medicine, mysticism, and religion" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/alchemy). There. =D Also, I know I'm not going to change anything you believe in by pointing this out, as you are someone who refuses to believe in anything you can't see (I wonder what would happen if you were blind...), but I'm just going to say it anyway. JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE SOMETHING DOESN'T MEAN IT'S THERE. Like I said, you can't see the wind, but who says it's not there? You can't see much of the rest of the planets in the solar system, even with a telescope - maybe it's just something your eyes are tricking you with, and all those NASA photos are fake, too! =D But, like I said, it's unlikely I'm going to change your opinion on this because you don't believe in anything you can't see. [quote name='Generic NPC #3']Obviously the Philosopher's Stone is a myth and I heavily implied that. The idea that anyone would even consider its existance at this point in time is ludicrous. The truth remains, however, that this was something Alchemists were heavily concerned with. So were the ideas of eternal life, universal cures and "playing god" in general. If modern "alchemists" don't believe in such things, why even call themselves alchemists? There's the term "archemy" for a reason.[/quote] Alchemy's "goals" are gold, panacea, and eternal life, but that's not just it. Many alchemists state that the real goal is not something practical or directly usable, but is basically the study of everything as a form of meditation, like a method to discover himself; which is where the philosophical part of Alchemy comes in. [/color]

[quote=Generic NPC #3]The very idea of all of this requires a freaking [b]magic[/b] item in the first place. How anyone here would have or even know the location of a mythical thing like the Philisopher's Stone is beyond me. Like I said, have fun with it all you want, but don't pretend you can actually do anything alchemists have been trying to do for countless centuries. Modern alchemy is far different from what I've described above. If you want to buy into that stuff then whatever (the goals and requirements are thought of things within yourself in that case). I'm just speaking against the whole magical idea given by some in here lol.[/quote] [color=#9933ff]When you said magic item, I laughed. It just reminded me of talismans, because I was talking with someone about them yesterday. *grins* The Philosopher's stone, though, is purely a myth. The only person even rumored to find it was Nicolas Flamel, although the evidence against him is stacked pretty high. Mmm.... I don't actually think that any alchemist thinks they can live forever; I do believe that everyone realizes that's quite rediculous. In chemistry, biology, and biochemistry/ bichemical engineering, we haven't even figured out how everything our body works. We decoded all of the letters in DNA are, but we don't even know what half the stuff is, and I don't think anyone is crazy enough to think that alchemy can change that. You have to know what you're doing. :/ As for lead into gold? *laughs* We've already done that. And it's stupid to try and make mass amounts of gold anyway; the value would depreciate. Who was preaching magic? Am I missing something? The only people even [b]using[/b] the word "magic" are the ones condemning it; I have yet to see [i]one[/i] person who was truly interested in alchemy that clearly said "OH YES, TURNING LEAD INTO GOLD IS 100% POSSIBLE, AND SO IS LIVING FOREVER!" I think you're misreading things - not one person has said that. Lord Dante: I grin at your post. Some people care. It's obvious that you do not, and that's fine with me. *shrugs and laughs* ^_^ One last thing because I thought it was amusing: Here's something comical my friend suggested (other than particle accelerators and nuclear fission): "Why don't we take radioactive Uranium, wait until it gets to it's half life, and stop it at gold, before it reaches carbon. There - we've done alchemy and made gold!" He was kidding of course, but I found it funny. (The joke is, that, radioactive Uranium looses protons like crazy when it reaches it's half-life, and eventually turns into carbon. If we could keep 79 there, we'd have gold. What - no one thinks that's amusing? Ah, well, you had to be there. ~_~) P.S.: kenshi112: Thank you. ^^; I don't think anyone here is a dumbass; they are simply non-believers, and/or skeptics. Oh yes, because everything we can't see [i]must[/i] be false. Everything out of the ordinary [i]must[/i] be false. The wind is false because we can't see it, and so is haley's comet, because that's out of the ordinary!!! *rolls eyes* [/color]

[QUOTE=GTK]Agreed.... I always thought Alchemy was what sort of started the way for science and chemisty? [url]http://www.levity.com/alchemy/home.html[/url] There's a random website on Alchemy for you~ A bit random, but slightly related..... Did anyone else notice that one of the so called books about Alchemy Edward looked more like something on Dungeons and Dragons? (seriously XD; (I can't remember what episode, but pause it and check it out!)[/QUOTE] [color=#9933ff]Alchemy is the predecessor (comes before) chemistry. Infact, when we were studying the concept of the atom in Chemistry class, I wrote this in my chemistry notes (yes, I saved them from this year. HA!): "Alchemist ---> Chemist" On October 29! (I even dated it. ^_~) The wikipedia article is here: [url]http://www.en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Alchemy[/url] (yes, I knew that off the top of my head - how sad. ;_; ) Oh yeah, and that Dungeons and Dragons book you're talking about? Try this page: [url]http://www.fullmetalalchemist.info/misc.html[/url] ^^ That page also has the letter Ed got with his title of "fullmetal" - just now that the writing is Ripley's twelve gates; I knew it was on the transmutation circle to create humans the most popular one in the series), but I didn't realize it was on the letter until now. I was actually on the FM-A.com forum when someone began discussing alchemy and that they're a real alchemist. I PMed them and they told me that their sister was Wiccan and that there was another school of magick (there are many) called Alchemy, and you can study it and everything. According to them, things on FMA are alchemy - albeit extremely advanced alchemy that would take any sane person decades to learn. Wrist cutter - Um.... no? The people I know, IRL and online who are interested in Alchemy were interested LONG BEFORE watching Hagaren. Alchemy is [b]not[/b] just about turning lead in to gold. It's chemistry, physics, mathematics, and philosophy, as well as history, of course. Why the hell are you so bitter about alchemy, anyway? What has it ever done to you and if someone wants to learn about it, what are you accomplishing by yelling at them? I don't get why people are so obsessed with making gold. Here's a good point for everyone: If we ALL knew how to make lead in to gold, the VALUE of the gold would depreciate significantly and wouldn't even [i]matter[/i]. I just don't get it. And BTW, we [i]have[/i] made gold in the past, in two ways: with particle accelerators and nuclear fission. So there! Ha! (Any gold gained dissintegrated in about five seconds, and the money it would cost to do that again negates any value the gold might have. ^_~) Alchemy is not the worst thing in the world. Did you even know that Boyle, Dalton, Rutherford, and Seaborg were frickin' alchemists? Dalton discovered the one of the parts of the atom (which one it is is escaping me at the moment; I'm too lazy to get my chemistry notes), Rutherford played off Dalton's discoveries (Gold foil, alpha particples, anyone?), and Seaborg worked with particle accelerators and was able to transmute lead into gold. And [b]THAT[/b], the particle accelerator, is considered science. Boyle was an alchemist and his gas laws for chemistry came [i]out[/i] of Alchemy for chrissakes because he thought that tempurature and pressure might have made a difference. I'd venture to guess that people who study today realize that a lot of the philosophies and information in the times of the Greeks and such are no longer extremely valid today. I would also say that Alchemy is alive and well, still. I mean, we've made lead out of gold, and isn't cloning part of keeping yourself alive forever? Or how about artificial hearts with metals and mechanics - that isn't prolonging life for a long time? So, chemistry really [i]is[/i] the new alchemy. *laughs* There's one last thing I'd like to point out: in the past, we've gotten tons of members who are Wiccan, and nobody seems to mind them, nobody EVER QUESTIONS WHETHER WICCAN SPELLS WORK OR NOT so why is it so hard to think that perhaps there [b]are[/b] alchemists out there, when there is actually even [i]more[/i] science behind alchemy than there is for a goddamn spell? We talk about different religions and what religion you are; people say they're wiccan, nobody fights about it. And yet, alchemists get looked at like lunatics. Very suave.[/color]

[color=#9933ff]I do hope you're right in that Al Queda is loosing a lot of their members; they should. I agree with James as well - I don't think the color system is really that effective. When the whole nation goes on Orange alert or something, people freak out. They buy rations, gallons of water, and sheets of plastic and duct tape. (Every single time I see that, I laugh. A word to the wise: [b]plastic won't save you from a bio/chemical terrorist attack.[/b]) It's rediculous! I think the color alerts are [i]alright[/i] for police checking bags and being on alert and such, but I've always sort of thought they were dumb to begin with. There's been lots of reports done by newsstations and such that say Airport security don't really have a lot of training at all to be searching bags properly. And there are tons of people on the subways - how much can you check bags? :/ Edit: Fallen - yeah, I worry about those muslim people too; It's definitely not fair for them. I remember after 9/11, a school friend whose brother in law died, her sister would flip out at any muslim she saw - and that's not right. It's not fair and it's not right to make general assumptions.[/color]

[quote name='doukeshi03][SIZE=1']Well, in leu of the tradgedy that occured in the busy hours of this morning on London's public transport system I think that we should focus on something a little bit more uplifting while we try to sort things out.[/size][/quote] [color=#9933ff]Good idea, doukeshi. ^_^ I was so relieved to hear that France didn't get it; I was hoping it was either London or Madrid. Which is ironic in itsself because I live extremely close to NYC. In my opinion, we were incredibly stupid, and we had a half-*** baked plan. We didn't [i]deserve[/i] to get it, so I'm glad we didn't. ^^ No matter how much I try to tell myself that I like France, inevitably, they end up doing something to annoy the heck out of me (Not even Chirac himself, just... France). And then people say "OMG UR A LOSER, WHY ARE U SO MEAN N WHY DO U HATE FRANCE!!!" I just can't win! ;_; But no, I don't like them as a whole (I've met extremely nice individuals), so even though they may have had a well organized plan, I'm glad they didn't get it. *grins* I already really reeeeeeally want to go to Beijing, and now the 2012 olympics in London give me a reason to go there. Eeeee! Is London a good place to hold it? Well, it must be decent, because that's the place everyone picked. *laughs* I've always seen London as a city with tons and tons of buildings, and people, and not to mention some really great tourist spots, i.e. old places like the Tower of London and Windsor Castle, etc, etc. So I could never see where a top of the line incredibly modern stadium would fit in with all that. However, I do realize that there are probably extremely modern sections of London, very urban and upcoming; and I'm sure the stadiums will be done very nicely. ^_^' I heart London! And now I have a reason to go!!! =P [/color]

[color=#9933ff]A lot of you are saying that Al Queda did not inspire fear; but rather, anger and resolve, and when I read that, well, I smiled. It just goes to show that nobody is afraid of them, and we'll keep fighting them. I completely agree with Evil Jedi in that they weren't even targeting the government or the army or whatever, but innocent civilians [i]going to work[/i]. That's was always got me about the 9/11 attacks - there are thousands of people around the world upset with America, but none of them are so morally corrupt as to purposely attack innocent people [i]going to their job[/i]. They're such low lifes. And if this says anything about Al Queda, I'm more afraid of the media than them. I'm currently afraid to turn on my TV because of the 24 hours news and such; They keep throwing the same images and the same numbers at you again and again like an interrogator until you loose all your senses and start to break down. That's what made me go insane after 9/11 - I was angry at the terrorists, never frightened - but the news is evil, and it made me want to break down and not be strong, which is [u]part of[/u] the terrorist strategy. Media = bad. They fan out the flames too much sometimes. [/color]

[color=#9933ff]I turned on the TV about fifteen minutes ago (It was like.... 7:45 PM EST) and that's the first thing I saw on the news. I actually have to go in to work today, so there's not much I can type at the moment; I barely got to skim the replies here. My first thought was that someone was angry over an IOC bid, but as I looked at Sage's post about Blair's comments from the G8 summit, it's looking more likely that [i]that[/i] was more of their intention. Or rather, to at least draw some attention away from it. I'll probably post later as [strike]I[/strike] everyone knows more details, later. Damn, I can already feel the panick rising in my throat.[/color]

[color=#9933ff]Well, I can't wait to see luf and Ranger Jameson. ^^ From what you're shown, luf looks like it's going to be really good. The one thing I noticed is that Roe has no neck... ¬_¬; And, I know the title is only tentative, but why "luf" and not "luff"? Just curious. By the way, I showed Ranger Jameson to a friend who has and tons of flash URLs in his bookmarks, and he loved it. He was laughing a lot. I showed it to him one time and you were on AIM, but he didn't want to IM you or anything, because he said, "Well, what would I say? - 'Oh um... yeah. I like ur flash, dude.' " So I'm telling you for him. ^^ (P.S.: I think I really am a freak - he said the "chuckle chuckle" thing was very funny. I'm messed up. :( )[/color]

[quote name='Retribution][SIZE=1']As for the 'everything is just confirmation now' arguement you brought up, that's completely blind. We may never know everything, and who's to say that these 'confirmations' don't bring up even more questions and theories about the universe? The universe is vast, and we know comparitively nothing about it, I'd venture to say. So whatever we can find out is helping out humanity develop new technology, advance our lives farther, making living for future generations easier.[/SIZE][/quote] [color=#9933ff]Retri - we know a lot about the universe. Trust me. I've studied Astronomy extensively this past year to know that we know a [b]lot[/b]. What we have are theories; tons and tons of theories. Einstein's theories; Hubble's theories & calculations; etc. What is needed now is facts, figures, and data for confirmation. [b]You're right[/b] - if we find a discrepancy we will have to change our theories, but we've theoriezed enough times - I think we're pretty close. [QUOTE=Retribution][SIZE=1]I must say it doesn't bother me much what happens with this experiment, but it [I]does in fact[/I] matter on a larger scale, whether we care or not. As for the 'everything is just confirmation now' arguement you brought up, that's completely blind. We may never know everything, and who's to say that these 'confirmations' don't bring up even more questions and theories about the universe? The universe is vast, and we know comparitively nothing about it, I'd venture to say. So whatever we can find out is helping out humanity develop new technology, advance our lives farther, making living for future generations easier.[/SIZE][/QUOTE][QUOTE=James][color=#332E1D][font=franklin gothic medium]That's "all" it's doing? Whether it interests you or not, supporting theories through evidence and research is incredibly important. Many of the benefits may not be immediately apparent to you, but a great deal of this research trickles down into our everyday lives. As a matter of fact, some related research also directly benefits third world countries. This is particularly true in areas like energy production. I see a lot of people dismissing things like this so easily, but I don't think they are thinking further down the line. I don't think they are recognizing how interconnected many of these things really are.[/color][/font][/QUOTE] This is where [b]I agree with you[/b], Retri - that I don't care what happens with this experiment, but experiments and research in general [i]do[/i] matter. I don't believe I've ever said that they don't matter; I said I didn't care what happened with [i]this[/i] comet experiment. I perfectly well understand the importance of researching things and having evidence for theories; it is practically the foundation of modern science. Let me reiterate my position one more time; it has not changed, but before, [i]perhaps[/i] because of unclear writing, it's obvious you didn't see its intention so I'll reword the best I can and hope that it is enough. I understand that research and knowledge is important for the advancement of science and [b]technology[/b], but I do not particularly care in this [b][i]one incident[/i][/b] whether we find out what the Solar System is made of; it is not something that interests me particularly. We all choose what holds our interest and what we are interested in. You choose to be interested in what this comet has to say about what elements the solar system was made of; I do not. I did say [b]Let the NASA scientists go back up their facts[/b] but this very particular incident does not intrigue me.[/color]

[color=#9933ff]I, too, would like to speak up and say that I don't give a damn if we crash into that thing or not, or what we learn from it. The money doesn't even bother me. According to The one campaign (I'm sure you've all heard of "make poverty history" - the One campaign is the American equivalent-ish), that's not even one percent of our budget. (And I'm not going to even launch in on a rant about Africa because that's not what this thread is about.) We spend trillions of dollars every year - the gov't collects taxes, distributes money to gov't programs, invests it, trades it, throws it away on rediculous things; $333 million is like a sliver of pie. NASA gets very little of the government's money. We already have theories on how the solar system was born, and what comets are made of; all this is doing is backing it up with some facts. Astronomy has grown as much as possible in the theories department - everything is confirmation from here on out. Let the NASA scientists go back up their facts, but it's not all that important to me. BTW, one quick thing I noticed on page 1: Baron was listing a bunch of discoveries, etc. Penicillin was not researched - I'm sure you all know that it was quite an accidental discovery. ^_~ [/color]

[color=#9933ff]*huggles him to death and glomps James indefinitely* YAY! I luffs teh Jamesy. ^__^ That's all I was asking for, really. *dances like a ninny* ^______^ Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! *does a pierouette and hops away like a child because she's just that strange*[/color]

[color=#9933ff]Boo - really? *checks* You're absolutely right. I do clearly remember changing the file name of that banner, so I always assumed it was to fit the character limit. Hmm... I swear to God that VB code counted. merferfle. *goes temporarily mad and then recovers* :/ Baron - You obviously don't know me at all because that's incredibly absurd. I've never exceeded 1000 characters in a signature. Ever. Not once. The longest I remember having a signature was probably around 760. And I either cut something out or made all of it a size one so it wouldn't take up space. (I remember doing that with my "sirius black fan club" too - making it size one. I was also still unhappy that it looked quite bulky). Everything up to the end of this sentence is 846 characters, which, if you were going to put it in a signature, is long enough, don't you think? There is a big difference between 500 characters and 1000 characters (or 750, whatever), Baron. It's unfair to compare the two; it's rather like comparing KB (or to be more fair, even a MB) to GB in terms of space, and you know it. I honestly don't understand what you all have against raising the character limit. If I recall correctly, back in the depths of Otakuboards when the limit was first introduced, it was to reduce the overall length, i.e., in pixels, that a signature takes up. As an example, if you take screenshots of Baron's signature and my signature, his is longer because he has a banner in it, but he stays within the character limit for the sheer fact that he's got an image. I know this next sentence is overly dramatic but it's the only comparison I could think of: it's almost like you're punishing me because I want to put words in, instead of an image. And to me, that's incredibly unfair. Edit: And Kamuro, I'm not wasting James' time, either. No, I don't own a VB, but it's safe to say that all you have to do is browse through the Admin panel to find the options for signatures, delete "5" and type in "6". As of today, I understand he's been busy with myOtaku and big structural changes with Otakuboards. Changing the character limit isn't even close to making a dozen new skins or a hack, and I'm not asking for either of those, jeeze. :/[/color]

[color=#9933ff]If VB code isn't counted, the signature thing still isn't working right because along with not being able to fit everything in, that's also the problem. To get everything I wanted in at 498 characters I abbreviated half my words, took out all the "enter" characters and then had to finally delete all the formatting... and it still didn't even work, so I went back to what's in there now, which, as I've said, is 538 characters. *laughs* [/color]

[color=#9933ff]Well I just wasted 30 minutes trying to condense my signature in every way possible while still being readable and having it fit under the 500 character limit, and I still didn't get everything to fit in. (I just wanted to add one freaking line to it) This isn't the first time I've had problems with the limit, either. A couple times before I've spent around 20 minutes trying to condense a signature to fit into this character length. (Case in point: I specifically remember fiddling around with the AHB advertisement to fit in the description and the banner. I think I ended up condensing the actual file name to be within the 500 character limit.). To be honest, I don't really remember signatures being out of control, even when there was no character limit (well, there was a 300 character limit a while back but at least on my machine it never worked). I'm not asking for something crazy like 1000 characters (that's approx. twice my current length), but perhaps something around 600-750 characters to allow for just a little extra. I'd also like to point out that ultimately, whether you make the character limit 200 or 1000, there will always be someone to go around making their signatures the longest things in existence by putting every word on a different line. Generally we have good members with common sense, so I don't see the harm in loosening the character length a little bit. I'm sure to some of you, especially moderators and admins, it seems a little ludacris to be getting worked up by a character length on a message board, but it is important to me, and besides, on the flip side of the coin, isn't imposing a 500 character restriction for signatures getting worked up over them, too? ^_^ P.S.: Oh, and by the way, just to let you know, the restriction doesn't even work right. According to TWO outside sources that I used, I'm at 538 characters as of this moment. At one point when I finally fit in everything I wanted to, I was at 498 and it kept telling me that I was 500 characters. Evil I say, evil! >< [/color]

[quote name='QuikSilver04']Actually...they're not bringing any more Digimon seasons to America, sadly. I found that out a year ago. It sucks that outta the 7 we only get 4 >.>;. I may be 15, but I still enjoy th show.[/quote] [color=#9933ff]Outta the 7? Don't you mean out of the 5? Where are these otehr two seasons that I'm missing. Did I accidentally skip over something in the last two pages?[/color]

[color=#9933ff]Thank you for the tips. I'm taking a sewing class at my school in the fall, so when I do, I'll probably be more proficient to make something on my own. ^_^ (unfortunately I can't afford to buy something from places like Baby, the stars shine bright, or putumayo. *_*)[/color]

[color=#9933ff]You know, I think I'm the loser with the most problems that just keeps coming back to this thread. lol. I can't remember where, exactly (actually, knowing me, I probably got it somewhere on the first page that I can't seem to find anymore, but I found [url=http://www.avast.com/]this[/url] website with anti-virus software a while ago, and I just didn't get a chance to ask about it. Have any of you heard of it and/or is it any good, or should I continue using the online Panda scan software stuff. Aside from that question, I'll ask this for *someone* who is quite busy and doesn't have time to ask anybody about it (actually, I hope they don't mind me asking. I'll probably get squashed by them if I give them a solution. *_*), but what do you do when you suspect your computer's been hijacked? I mean, everytime they start up Windows XP and it's all done loading, they press Ctrl+Alt+Del and a whole list of processes shows up, most of which they don't even know what they do. Even worse, some of them, when you close them, open again and again. Usually it's not a problem for them, but it's rather annoying, and ends up acting up when everyone else in their family uses that computer without asking (they just surf the web, go on fanfiction.net, etc. I don't think they're d/ling anything).[/color]

[color=#9933ff]*grins* Godel & Tony's posts on page one reminded me of the greatest joke I've ever heard, insulting americans (Well, you ask them in separate questions but the joke goes like this: people who speak many, 3, and 2 languages are multi, tri, and bi-lingual. What do you call someone who speaks one language? American). And I was also surprised to learn how mandatory other languages are in other countries like Canada and Australia. In my opinion, I wish they'd do the same in American schools, but I suppose that's a whole different thread entirely. In some respects, I agree that languages close to your native tongue are easier to pick up (i.e.: for an English speaker, German is probably easier to pick up than Chinese). Of course, my friend says that Japanese is so much easier to learn than German, because you can use romaji when you start, and just phonetically read the words; in German, because they use an alphabet similar to English, you have to know how all the letters sound when you pronounce them which is harder. I nearly fell over when I learned that wieß kreuz is supposed to be "vais kryoits." From what I've heard (i'm not an expert so don't bash my head in), Uralic (including Finnish) languages are the most difficult to learn. Other than that, to me, it seems all languages have their problems; Romatic languages have similar sentence structure, and sometimes words, as English. And eastern languages have fairly simple syntax but crazy written language and sometimes very hard to master tones (Chinese is tonal, so is Thai. Japanese is...not, for some reason). To answer the original question, as you get older, it becomes more and more difficult to learn something new. When you're a child, your brain is developing, accepting new information, retaining it, etc., so new languages are easier to pick up on. When you're older, it's harder to learn new things, especially a language, because your brain is mostly developed. In my school district, that's why they're offering Spanish and French in third grade - it's easier to learn earlier. I was reading something about languages, online, the other day, and it was quite interesting; All languages/ language families might have the same origin. Obviously all romance languages have their origins in Latin, but many proto-language families in Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas have similar words for one and two (tik and pal). [url=http://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/language/index.html]This[/url] is the complete article that I read in about an hour. It's quite interesting.[/color]

[color=#9933ff]I'm really pleased to see that most of you have completely rational minds, and weigh things and an individial anime, case-by-case basis, rather than put a complete blanket over all subs or dubs. There are a bunch of sub-snobs at my school who drive me completely up the wall; one of them won't even watch Adult swim because according to him, they butcher EVERYTHING. (WTF is what I was thinking). The worst part about them is that they download everything illegally (they're really big into Naruto, they brag about seeing most of the episodes, and yet they download illegally). After they do that, they walk around like sub-snobs and otaku-elitists, which drives me up a wall. I realize that this is a complete n00b-ish tangent, but I really had to say that because they DRRRRRRRRIVE ME INSAAAAAAAANE. V______V To be honest, I'm like Lix - I usually watch mostly dubs because I don't really have a lot of money to go out and buy DVDs to see the subs (I refuse to illegally download!!!), but I absolutely have nothing against subs. I think some people also wrongly get angry at voice actors when they SHOULD be getting upset at companies instead. I recently joined the forums at FM-A.com (that's abbreviated, BTW), and as a newbie, chastised some of the other members for the ridiculousness of what they were saying. They were basically saying they hated Vic Mignogna because he works for funimation. Isn't that rather absurd? Voice actors are just trying to make a living; they don't translate and don't know whether what they're saying is butchered or not or whatever, they're just paid to [i]say[/i] it. By the way, most get paid half of what any other cartoon voice actor would because they dub things over, they're not the original voice actors. (And as a side note, I would rather listen to Vic play Edward than Paku Romi. ~_~) There are some animes where I would rather watch a sub (Yu-Gi-Oh comes to mind) because the English voices are just insane, as well as the stories being chopped up into pieces and glued back in the wrong way. So yeah. I've basically said everything that everyone else has said - it depends![/color]

[color=#9933ff]I'm ecstatic that you made this thread. Two days ago I totally, completely and utterly fell in love with Gothic Lolita. The best info on it that I've read is from my psuedo-bible, wikipedia. Check out this article: [url]http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Lolita[/url] It even has Mana right on there in a picatoor. (I was browsing through some stuff when I discovered that Moi-meme-Moitie is so expensive. I almost died when I saw how expensive a simple knee length puffy skirt was. *_*) How do you wear Gothic Lolita. Well, actually, that's a stupid way to word my question. Do most of you make your clothes or do you buy them/order them, and from where? I'll probably end up having to make my own but since I've never done anything Gothic Lolita, I'm sort of afraid to go to a fabric store and look for a pattern. Personally, I love Gothic Lolita just because it draws off the Victorian clothes. I just find that they (victorian clothes) are just so unbelievably pretty. If there are ever a fashion statement that I wanted to make, I always wanted it to be with Victorian dress, becuase they're really pretty. But... where do you buy and wear crazy Victorian stuff, you know? That's why I really like Gothic Loli - it's not extreme victorian or anything, it's that & modern, too. ^_^[/color]

[color=#9933ff]I haven't read this thread before, and now that it's 2005, I wonder when that Digimon CG will be coming out. I'm really excited now because I looove Digimon. I don't care what anyone says, I love it to death! I have something else to say about Digimon, though. Because I have absolutely no life right now, I did a google search for "cosplay" just for the hell of it. I got a wikipedia entry, and I read it. At the bottom, it said "See also: Gothic Lolita." Since I had no idea what it was (actually, I had alwasy assumed it was an anime series unto it's own), I clicked on the link and got another wiki entry. Under the Gothic Lolita Wikipedia entry ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Lolita[/url]) is this picture: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Music_manasan.jpg[/url] *groans loudly* If that isn't Alice McCoy right there, you have no eyes!!! Well, actually, it's Mana, the crossdressing former leader of the band Malice Mizer. [url=http://myladydragon.brinkster.net/~alicemccoy/]This[/url] is the only shrine to Alice McCoy that I know of. Go to Alice > Gallery and you'll see the similarities. They are so scary it's not funny. And I should know because I tried to cosplay Alice last halloween (and failed miserably). I don't know if Mana cosplayed Alice or if Alice was based off Mana The other thing I would like to point out (since I would do cosplay lab searches for alice and come up with "Malice Mizer) is that "Alice" is in the word "Malice" in the band's name. *grin* The last question I'd like to ask is, did everyone know about this and I'm the last one to find out? Please say no, or else I'll look like an idiot. I'm always the last one to know!!! *whines*[/color]