Mnemolth

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Cera [/i] [B][size=1]I'm still getting a blank page....Ah, well.[/size] [/B][/QUOTE] Er...what browser are you using? It should work on almost all recent browsers. Blank page? odd. You should get something, even if the Javascript doesn't work. Hmm....you just dun wanna take the test cos you're afraid of me, aren't ya? :D Oh well, I think I did ok, Wrist Cutter, Lady Asyphxia, Ravenstorture all got themselves on the first go..:) [EDIT]Just in case people are wondering. All the questions are weighted, and all the alternatives are also weighted, and the weighting is different for each person and for each alternative and for each question. Its really a rather large mess. :) [/EDIT]

If nothing is normal, then in this post-modern age, there is no truth, everything is relative and a matter of perspective. I don't buy that. [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Cera [/i] [B][size=1]Normal is average. As for being called weird or insane...I don't think I have a single friend who doesn't call [i]himself[/i] that.[/size] [/B][/QUOTE] Hmm....maybe you should get out more often? *ducks and runs away* :D

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl [/i] [B][color=deeppink]Recently I have been spending time around numerous people who have very strong racial views. One of them grew up just outside of Detroit and doesn't have much love for African Americans. The other grew up outside of Minniapolis and feels the same as the one who lived near Detroit. Now, both of these people are Caucasian males, one is 19 and the other is 20. That information may be relevant or irrelevant, depending on how you view these following opinions... Both of these males feel that stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. Most children have been taught to see everyone as an equal, regardless of race or gender. But why? Isn't there a reason that every race and gender has stereotypes? Why should those particular stereotypes be taboo topics of conversation? Why shouldn't we be able to poke fun at generalizations if they really DO sum up a certain race? Stereotypes evolved from somewhere, most likely from the gender itself. So my question is, since stereotypes DO exist, is it good or bad to indulge in those stereotypes for a laugh? Should we see everyone as equal even if they've brought a bad name upon themselves or their race? I'm starting to lean toward these guys' views and feel a lot less guilty laughing at racial jokes; is that a bad thing? Or is it simply normal? You be the judge.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE] Let me just start by saying that I don't know you, and I don't know how serious you are about what you just said. Perhaps its an interesting philosophical discussion or it may be an actual dilemma you are facing and to which you are giving a serious consideration. I'm going to assume the later because if its the former, then my post will do no harm except make me look like some jackass, which I'm sure I am anyway. :) Stereotypes have a basis in truth is like saying myths have a basis in fact. It?s a selective truth. In other words, a lie by omission. We take out the bits and pieces we want, usually negative, and then we laugh at them, or we discriminate. We judge people all the time. On the way they look, the way they speak or write, on a whole host of characteristics. We do so because its human nature. We need to categorise and make sense of the world around us. We don?t have the time or energy to speak extensively to everyone we interact with. We need to make judgements quickly. So, to an extent, stereotypes are useful. But they can only go so far. Beyond which they become a hinderance. They stop us from thinking as we should, from relating to people on their own terms, from empathy, from caring. Then it becomes dangerous. And its not hard to go from one point to the other in a relatively short space of time. And you are right. Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. They are there to reinforce the dominance of the majority group. They are not there to serve as axioms of truth. There are many stereotypes of minority groups. But how many do you know of that mocks the majority groups. You might actually disagree with me but if you counted the stereotypes of White people, you would find that they are no where near as many as say, Black people, nor are so many of them as demeaning and negative. But minority groups have stereotypes about majority groups too! Yes, they do. However, being a minority group, by definition, means that they do not have the power to shove their stereotypical views down your throat. On the other hand, they are subjected to your stereotypes everyday. On talkback radio, on TV chat shows, in advertisements, in film, magazines, and so on. This is why your nation has a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. They are not there to defend the majority from the minority but to protect the minority against overwhelming majority rule. The majority, by definition, can defend itself. The Blacks may be laughing at your 20 year old friend, but whose got a job and getting paid, whose less likely to end up in jail, whose going to college and whose less likely to be the victim of a violent crime? So who wins? Who has the power? Certainly not them. Why do we teach children that everyone is equal? Well besides the fact that its mostly true, it is also done because there is an overwhelmingly tendency for the majority to dominate. Its human nature. And we try to instill in our children a sense of equality in the hopes that it would temper prejudices, which if left unchecked, are likely to overrun us. It is a mistake to think that any stereotypes sum up a group of people. And this is the crucial fallacy in your argument. You assume that stereotypes are true. So why can?t we use them? Well because most of the time, they are not true, as James has pointed out. And in the few instances where there is some valid factual basis for the stereotype, the way in which it is used, the manner in which it is portrayed so exaggerates the truth that it is twisted and mangled beyond any recognition of its original form. Take African Americans. Apparently they have a greater chance of developing ?better fast muscles? in their calves, or something. This gives them greater capacity to sprint, and to jump. So many basketballers and speed sprinters are Black. But to use this fact to generalize that all Blacks are good at athletics is patently untrue and unfair. To resent them and to think they don?t need to work hard to do well because of this supposed advantage is to call them a ?cheat?, to play the blame game, to say its not [i]my[/i] I?m not good enough, to blame others for my own situation. In the early 90s, a couple of academics from Harvard did a study of results from intelligence testing. They published a book called The Bell Curve. One of the findings was that Blacks, on average, scored less than most other groups. It was a fact seized on by some to promote a new kind of eugenics, a hierarchy of racial superiority. To them it didn?t matter that Blacks had a lower level of income, or that they might live in areas with a high lead count in the air. Why didn?t matter to them. They had already made up their minds, they were just looking for facts to support their prejudices. I would hazard a guess that, as much as they would like to deny it, the same is true of both of your friends. People have an uncanny ability to mold the facts to their view of the world, rather than let the facts determine how they should see the world. ?A little knowledge is a dangerous thing? As you are probably aware, but I will reiterate because I?m a pedantic old fart, the emphasis is not on ?knowledge? but on ?little?. Knowing a small part of the story gives us false confidence in thinking we know [I]all[/I] of the story. If we learn 10% and we fill in the 90% with our own preconceptions and prejudices, we are the more convinced that we are right. The facts that we [i]do[/i] know blinds us to the facts we don?t know. This is the danger. And it is most prevalent in institutions like universities. Because for many of us, these are the places we begin to really learn about life. This is often the first time many of us would be living on our own, the first time we are introduced to so many different kinds of peoples and creeds, so many different ideas and sensibilities. It is a time of learning but not just from books. It is at this time that we are likely to have a serious relationship, have to deal with various kinds of people on a daily basis (in dorms for example). It is a time of discovery and wonder and excitement. But one ought to be careful. University can change a person. For many people, between the late teens and the early 20s is when we become the type of person we will be for the rest of our lives. So make sure it?s the kind of person you can live with. Finally, I would say this about stereotypes and discrimination. It is not the neo-nazi skinhead that I fear. I can see them coming from a mile away. And so can everyone else. They wear their bigotry as a badge of honor. No, rather, its the respected businessman, the priest, the cleric, these are the people that holds the greatest dangers to me. They do not shout their prejudices from the top of their lungs, but rather they are likely to speak them calmly, in soft spoken voices, veiled in a fog of fallacious logic. Here?s an example from engineering to ponder upon. In the first half of the twentieth century, a bridge was commissioned and built to let people have access to a beach (this is somewhere in New York). A bridge is a bridge right? Nothing discriminatory about that. Trouble was the bridge had support structures that hung low, which meant that cars but not buses could go through. Now, being early in the century, only the well off had cars. In that particular area, the average person caught a bus. Since buses couldn?t get through, it meant the beach was locked out for them. It was still a public beach, but if you were poor it much harder for you to get there. But the support beams keep the bridge up and safe. There are no hidden agendas, why are you always looking for hidden agendas that just aren?t there? Well, actually it is true that the way it was designed, to remove those support structures would have made the bridge unsafe. But the point is, the bridge [i]need not[/i] have been designed like that. It could have been designed another way, with the support beams higher. The architect admitted as much decades later. Cheerio! :D

Oops. My sincerest apologies!!! *drops shoulders and hangs head* I did add myself in, but I forgot one line of code, so it never got to me. Gomen. Gomen. :bawl: I'm still hard to get though. Probably cos I'm some sort of freak? ;) PS: This probably explains why so many got Anna. Hmm....

Well, its great that so many people took the test. It took me longer to do than I thought so I'm glad my efforts have paid off. :D [i]Please take a little time to read the following to understand how the quiz works and why and how I want to expand it[/i]. To answer a few questions: This is my first quiz, but it is by far the most complicated quiz of its kind I've taken (ie amateur ones done by people on anime forums I've visited). It uses rudimentary elements of discrete mathematics game theory and the result is a rather complex probabilities table. It is [i]not[/i] random. But its kewl some of you happen to think so. ;) [b][GEEK MODE ON (you may ignore until mode is off)][/b] If you give me a few hours I would most likely be able to convert it to PHP scripting language which would make it a little less hackable, but as it is it is [i]extremely[/i] simple to cheat, but then again, I trust all of you to play fair so...;) I wrote the code myself, 312 lines (though some were empty lines, so its more like ~280 ). Of course this excludes the results pages. The algorithm is pretty basic and uses a template that you can find on many places about the Net. It has been modified to make things a little more interesting. When I first decided to do the quiz, I looked at some quiz making sites. I wanted an easy experience. And [url]http://www.selectsmart.com[/url] was actually the first one I looked at. But it was very limiting in its scope, giving only 3 choices and 3 different weightings per choice. On top of that it showed result possibilities. I kinda wanted to hide that so that people can redo the quiz and explore a little. [url]http://quizilla.com[/url] was a lot more creative, but lacked a weightings regime, so I decided to code my own script. I figure it'd take half an hour, an hour tops. The coding was straightforward. Took me about 20 mins, excluding the results pages. But the probabilities/weightings table was a nightmare. It took me 15 minutes to come up with the questions and answers but AN HOUR to sort out all the weightings for each possibility. [b][GEEK MODE OFF][/b] As I said before, there are eleven members on the quiz, including myself. And there is also a special 'does not compute'. No this is not an error page, it is more a page to weed out people whose answers are, according to me, inconsistent. Members: Cera James AnimeLover Wrist Cutter Ravenstorture The Harlequin Mist Sere Lady Asyphxia Mnemolth and Special Identity Crisis page. Seems like the most popular are Cera, Anna and James. But people have gotten everyone else on the list, except, unless I'm mistaken, me and Mist? I'm surprised cos Mist should not be too hard to get. Mnemolth, on the other hand.....well we all know he's a bastard..;) I'll give kudos to whoever can get me first, WITHOUT cheating!!! :) Finally, someone mentioned Shyguy's quiz, so I went and had a look at it. I got Forte. :) Dunno who he/she is. Its a very nice quiz. He has more questions in basic yes/no format and has [i]much[/i] more members. I think his would be more accurate. But they are different types of quizes. His is more factual, mine (surprise, surprise) deals more with character. I think its fair to say getting character right is [i]really[/i] hard to do, especially if you don't know anyone! *lol* [b]IMPORTANT BIT[/b] (had to put this in here cos this post is a little long and people have a tendency to skim). Since many people have taken the test, I would like to do a second version. If people are interested that is. In particular, I would like to come up with 10 additional questions, and yes, I'm now asking for suggestions. Please note the following guidelines for suggestions: - they cannot be [i]purely[/i] factual (ie, do you like Star Wars) - they have to do with character (the easiest way to do this is to give a situation and then give differing responses as alternative answers) - they need to be relatively short and precise (try not to go over one line and try not to be [i]too[/i] vague, tho a little ambiguity is encouraged). - please bear in mind that the questions should be relevant to everyone (tho not absolutely essential since I can script it to ignore, it does provide balance on the probabilities table) - Hmm....if there is interest, and I do make the quiz, and I prefer some questions over others, please don't be offended. Although I will try to be fair, I reserve the right to pick and choose as I see fit. - and don't forget to include answers with the questions!!! :p There should be [i]at least[/i] 4 or 5 with each question. And finally, last but not least, once I've got the questions sorted out, I would post them here, and ask everyone interested to participate, to PM me their personal [i]honest[/i] answers (confidentiality assured, unless James or Shift goes around sniffing at PMs ;)). I would encourage participants [i]not[/i] to reveal their answers to others until OB Quiz v2 is made and people have all had a little fun with it. That's all folks. Thanks again for your feedback on the quiz. And yes, I know, I'm a drag, my posts are too long, I'm too pedantic..bleh...:D

Hi folks! :) Due to extreme boredom and a little procrastination, I decided to have a little fun at the expensive of some OtakuBoards members. What else is new? ;) Please click [url=http://falkor.anu.edu.au/~ely/obquiz/obquiz.php]HERE[/url] to take part in the fun!! :D :D :D Please note that I have used some avatars and banners of some of the members for creative purposes. Also it is VERY important to bear in mind that this is meant to be for fun. So don't take it so seriously! Having said that, you never know, there may be some truth to some of it. Only the members themselves will really know. ;) If you are one of the members in the quiz, and you are very, VERY offended by it, and there is NO WAY I can calm you down, then feel free to PM me with your vehement denounciation, and I will reluctantly withdraw you from the quiz. No offense was intended. I'm a little busy now, but I might consider expanding the quiz to incorporate more members, and later, perhaps even more questions. But for now, if you are interested to become one of the examples in the quiz, feel free to PM me with answers to ALL the quiz questions AND rank the choices you DID NOT pick from highest (the most like you) to the lowest (the LEAST like you). Any further comments, suggestions, insults and lawsuits can be directed here. :) Have fun everyone!!! PS: There are eleven members in the quiz. And yes, that includes yours truly! ;) [EDIT]Oh I forgot, but it goes without saying this whole thing is 'unofficial' and not sanctioned by the powers that be, so any crap should come directly to me[/EDIT]

Er...okay. I think one of us is missing something. If there is a statement that "There is an exception to every generalisation", then that in itself is a generalisation. If its true then there is an exception to the rule itself, which means there IS out there a generalisation without exception, which would render the statement false. So the statement has to be necessarily false. :D

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Deus_Ex_Machina [/i] [B]Arikel... Everything I say to you is a lie... There.. it happened.. [/B][/QUOTE] Yes, that was phrased a little badly. But of course you see the point. Here is the same idea, posed in a different way. "There is an exception to every generalisation". Is this statement true?

Good effort everyone! :D Here's something for those who are really interested in Haiku. [url]http://www.millikin.edu/haiku/aha/harr.html#response[/url]

[b]Cera:[/b] I would put 'nice' somewhere below 'respect'. The over use of the word is unfortunate and perhaps a sign of laziness, but there is not, at least to me, the level of importance associated with it as with a word like 'respect' or 'love'. As for being wary of posting in my threads.... *glances at his Mindless Banter thread in the Fanfiction/Poetry forum* ...now I wonder why....;) [b]James:[/b] Do you respect the person? Or is it something else you respect?

Respect is not a courtesy. It has too much reverence. It cannot be a polite manner if it is something that has to be earned. Common regard and tolerance is not respect. How is it possible for you to respect someone who you think is stupid? Or racist? Or any other negative you might like to add. You can respect his [i]right[/i] to express his opinions, but I find it hard to believe that you would actually respect the [i]person[/i]. Unless of course if they have other positive attributes that outweigh their flaws on the whole. But this is not always the case. Do not mistake respect for common regard, civility and tolerance. It is not any of these things. We respect life because we have a reverence for it. So the taking of life is deeply troubling for us. But that is not to say we respect every living thing, human or otherwise. We may respect our religion or we may respect our system of laws but that is not the same thing as saying we respect the person. We may have a deep abiding respect for our community, and this respect may influence our behaviour to others, including courtesy, civility and tolerance. However, it does not follow that we then [i]personally[/i] respect [i]each[/i] individual member of our community. So what's the big deal anyway? Its just a word. Well, as I've mentioned before, words are very powerful things. And a word like respect is at the top of the list.

Not that anyone is suggesting this, but if someone is thinking about having a built-in spellchecker automatically run on each post and correct spelling errors, I'd say think again. That is an extremely dangerous idea. The reasons are obvious. And if not, then you can probably ask CWB. :D (sorry, bad inside j/k) Tell him I sent you! *lol*

My fav moderator is Break. :) Cos he has a dancing banana. No! No, I didn't mean [i]that[/i] kind of banana you pervert! :D

Cookies!! They can be quite yummy! :) Though I'm not sure how tasty OtakuBoards' cookies are.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Shyguy [/i] [B][color=darkblue][size=1] [b]Mnemolth[/b] You like to stalk Cera, and I am [i]still[/i] trying to decipher your rpg sign-up. -Shy[/color][/size] [/B][/QUOTE] I can't believe I missed this! :) What was so hard to understand about my ill-fated RPG? Its so simple it even looks complicated! :D

Now that some of you have voiced your opinion on what you think of 'respect', I guess it is safe for me to say how I feel about the subject matter. [b]AJ2 and Deus[/b]: I use my initial post because, as I said in my explanatory note, I didn't want to say something that explicitly made no sense. You can't say people who 'respects everyone' actually 'respects no one'. Well, you can, but then you'd just sound like some smart *** kid, playing with words. Cos what you mean by the first instance of 'respect' is obviously not what you mean in the second. You can't both respect and not respect at the same time, its a logical fallacy. [b]On respect[/b]: I agree mostly with what CWB said. But I would go further than he did. I raised this topic not just as a matter of having some debate on logic and definitions. I also wanted a discussion on respect itself, what it means to people, who they respect and why? Of course I have my own views on the matter. First, I think words are important, more important than many people would understand. They are immensely powerful. So when we use words like 'respect' we need to have an idea of what we mean. Because it is the misunderstanding of meanings that can get us into a lot of grief. We should also know that the meaning of words can change. 'Gay' was not always associated with homosexuality. Nevertheless, we should be careful. Because I, for one, would not like to cheapen a word like 'respect'. Second, I think people who demand respect often do not deserve it, especially those screaming at the top of their lungs for the prideful 'r-e-s-p-e-c-t' kinda respect. It is often said that respect is earned. And that is true enough. What many people don't realise, though, is that it is foolish to expect others to respect you when you don't respect yourself. Not only will external acceptance not come, but even if it arrived, you wouldn't notice it because you have nothing inside with which to recognise it. It is the same with love. People go about their daily lives in silent hope of being rescued by their knight in shining armour or finding courage and purpose in the arms of their damsel in distress. Why should anyone love you when you don't love yourself? And yet...people secretly (or otherwise) believe in it [i]all[/i] the time. It is folly. It is a fever from which few will awaken. Thirdly, some people have a tendency to believe that they 'respect' others, so others should afford them 'respect'. Well, if you give me monopoly money, am I suppose to change it and give you real money? If your respect is worthless then you've given me nothing. At the end of the day, I would say this. Everyone is different, so I'm not going to say how many people you should or should not respect. That is dependent on your circumstance and your personality. But if you find yourself respecting no one, or respecting everyone, then something is seriously wrong and maybe its time you took another look at your life. That's the end of the lecture. Make sure you read chapters 2 & 3 of the textbook for next week. Class dismissed. :D

Explanatory note: Those who respect everyone, in fact, respect no one. PS: I would still prefer my initial statement because it is not explicitly self-contradictory. I can see how the use of the word 'claim' may be a bit of a red herring. However, the form of the statement and the juxtaposition of 'everyone' and 'no one' should give an indication what was intended. Still, the off-shoot discussion is interesting in and of itself, though very limited in scope due to its very narrow nature. :D

Normally I would try to explain what I mean and where I'm coming from before I put an argument forward. But, just for a change, I'm gonna let you do the work, rather than have me spoon feed you. ;) Those who claim to respect everyone, in fact, respect no one. NOTE: this thread is about respect, a rather large topic, so you can sidetrack a little but try to keep on topic.

Yes. :D She's at his funeral. Its about love beyond death. Darn, come to think of it I think I've already posted this one when I first got here! *sighs* Sorry for the repeat. I sometimes forget where I've posted what. Sere: Oh, here's another from me. It was in another thread by tursi I think. But I think many people may have missed it. If you did look at it before, I apologise for repeating myself, but at least this time I'm doing it in advance! :D [b]Red[/b] Red is a white rose Dipped in blood Stained deep and dark But never quite enough. Red is a blind fury A whirlwind of woe A rage beyond words That swallows all. Red is a traffic light That stops us in the night Wakes us from our dreams And leaves us shivering with fright. Red is a Chinese wedding Of beauty, fortune and trust It is youth in Spring, It is the heart afloat on a crush. Red is many colours Red has many shades Close your eyes and see What red are you today?

I don't know the context in which you use the word 'banning'. But it is generally the case that 'banning' a symbol is to stop that symbol from being used in an inappropriate fashion. That means putting it as a bumper sticker on your car, flying it as a flag hanging outside your shop or home, using it as part of a corporate logo, etc. As far as I understand it, 'banning' a symbol does not mean eliminating it completely from public view. So you can still tattoo it (your body is personal), show it in context, such as war museums, holocaust centers, in history classes, etc. So any argument that it is a part of history and that to ban it will somehow 'erase' history is mistaken, at least in the sense that you can still see it on television, in history books, in war memorials, etc, so we can still 'remember'. However, you can say it is a part of history, and that as such, we should be able to use it without any restrictions, and outside its WW2 context. It is essentially a question of freedom of expression. But in thinking about freedom of expression/speech, it is IMPORTANT to understand that no freedom is absolute, not even the First Amendment. There needs to be a balance of public interests. You can't scream 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre and cause a panic and then claim you were exercising your freedom of speech. Just some points I think you guys and gals should consider. :D

Son Goten: Well I use my second hard drive mostly for movies. I usually have about 30 to 40 feature movies on it at any one time, and then I've got the eps of shows like Family Guy, Futurama, and South Park. It all takes up space. Of course there are a few well chosen hentai on there, as well as classic adult comics like DRUUNA, so you COULD say its PARTLY used for porn....but I wouldn't. :p Panny Chan: Er....there is a VAST difference between a consumer of porn and a producer of porn! :D One is relatively poor and deprived and the other rich and satisfied! Which is which I'll leave to your fertile imagination! *lol* Cera: Really? I thought you'd already won the title for that contest. Hmm....I guess then its not too lat for me to enter the competition! ;) Transtic Nerve: See! I always KNEW there was something wrong with you but I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. Now everything makes sense! :)

I've resisted this thread long enough. Its wjust too tempting. So my apologies for all those who may be offended by the following. Take it in the spirit in which it was given. Having never met any of you, and having never had any conversation with any of you, even via instant messages (short intermittent responses do not constitute a conversation! :)), I thought I'd do what everyone on any Internet Board does, namely make judgemental opinions about people they don't know. :D [b]AnimeLover[/b] Wisdom is experience. It comes not from knowing but from understanding. [b]Wrist Cutter[/b] Do not choose to be wrong for the sake of being different - LORD SAMUEL (my former sig) [b]Lady Asphyxia[/b] Don't be in such a hurry to grow up. The journey is more important than the destination. [b]Cera[/b] Small minds are entranced by the extraordinary. Great minds are captivated by the commonplace. [b]Harlequin and Ravenstorture[/b] The world has enough smart people. It is, however, a little short on good people. AND Vanity is not only skin deep, it is also ego deep. And of course, no list can be complete without... [b]James[/b] I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear -- "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.' -Percy Bysshe Shelly 'Nuff said! :) Its a very short list I know, but if your name doesn't appear its not because you haven't made an impression on me, its just that I couldn't think of something appropriately smart and smug to say! *lol* Be thankful!

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by wrist cutter [/i] [B]The problem isn't so much in liking anime, but with the people who like it. [i]Most[/i] anime fans are just really annoying and nerdy. They try to speak Japanese by throwing in words here and there to their sentences, draw the things all over any of their possessions, listen to the blasted bubbly Eurobeat theme songs, don't shut up about anime, and the list goes on and on... If you think it's quite the opposite, well, in my experience, every anime I've known fits into this category. [/B][/QUOTE] I take it that you include yourself in that description? :) I can only speak for myself, but I can't remember the last time anyone called me a 'geek' or 'nerd'. And I have watched quite a lot of anime. Some anime fans are as you described them, but there are quite a few in my experience who are not. These are the 'cool' people. The popular, the partying and sociable type. You know, the kind with a gorgeous girlfriend not a gorgeous computer. Where I am anime can actually be trendy. As long as you don't take it too seriously... But then again perhaps you don't consider these people, like me who don't have a major beef with dubs, who never attend cons and don't wear 'otaku' shirts, 'fans'? Maybe we're just not 'elite' enough to be a 'fan'? :p

Well shows get cancelled. That's showbiz. But what's really got up the noses of fans is that the writers had no idea the show was gonna get canned. Most shows are renewed on a 2/5/7 year basis. VERY few shows get past the 7 yr mark, even the most popular ones, cos as the cast gets a bigger spot of the limelight, their salaries go up accordingly. Anyways, back to Farscape. The writers were oblivious it seems. So were many of the crew. That's why it came as such a shock. And here's the really annoying bit. Since the writers didn't know the show was being shelved, they ended Season 4 with a cliff hanger. And the last frame on the last episode of Farscape has a 'to be continued' sign on it. That kinda sucks if you're a fan...

Oh you guys really need to see the South Park episode "Chinpoko Mon". I just stumbled across it the other day and its bloody brilliant, in that crude vulgar South Park way of course, but still funny. If you wanna watch it PM me. *eyes admins/mods warily* er...for obvious reasons. :)