Usually if I don't succeed, my failure destroys all the evidence in and of itself! Hahaha.

/Also usually destroyed:
My eyebrows
Surrounding vehicles
Acres of forest

Well those are both pretty extreme examples. The first two are very significant, the other two are absolutely trivial. What about something like the person's habits such as something sort of in the middle...like they don't think that cleaning the kitchen is necessary, even though it attracts roaches. Or their driving is really fast and their significant other asks them to be a bit more careful. Or they don't spend any time supporting their significant other's activities.

Would any of those be acceptable in your opinion?

Sounds like a miscommunication. He thought you called him an idiot, so he defended himself. You thought he was overreacting since you didn't actually insult him, so you responded.

No harm, no foul.

Back to the topic...LadyOfMagic, I'm curious do you think that nothing should be changed about a person, by themselves, in a relationship, ever?

Hey Dustin, welcome.

Have fun on the forums...that's the best way for people (girls especially) to get to know you.

Enjoy!

Yay for puppies!

I haven't had a chance to see the men's handball yet, but the women's handball was good, not great. A couple spectacular moments but overall not that exciting.

The women's singles badminton games are on MSNBC right now. Excellent stuff from the Chinese players.

I know! I would kill to have a body like the swimmers

First of all, let me clarify that I was trying to say that it's far less likely, not impossible though.

My point overall was that you're less likely to ever meet them face to face in the first place when you meet them online...because by that time you will have taken a lot of steps to get to know them and try very hard to figure out their flaws. In typical dating, it's the actual face to face meetings (dates) that allow you to do this. Online, you're able to do that well before you ever meet them face to face, and as a result of knowing their flaws beforehand, I think you'll be less likely to even give them a chance at a face to face meeting.

It's just my interpretation, though.

Haha oh horoscopes, the most self-fulfilling prophecies of them all.

Mine says I'm temperamental, but friendly and well liked. How is that possible?

It also says I have a high probability of not getting along with those who disagree with me... Oh really?!

Which number is for all the jerks and unintelligent people. According to every horoscope ever, they shouldn't exist. Haha.

Same with Manu Ginobli, of the multiple NBA champion Spurs. I think for Argentina, although I'm not certain of that.

Hahahaha, that's not a bad idea! (from a business perspective)

I don't think that it's nearly as likely as marrying someone that you meet in person. With the internet, everyone is very suspicious and demands to know so many things about the person before meeting them, dating them, etc. Relationships that start in person very rarely have that...usually you learn about the person as you go along. That way, their flaws and habits will come out gradually and you become accustomed to them bit by bit. When you flush them all out at once before even meeting the person (like online), it's much more likely that the cumulative effect of seeing them all at once will scare you away. Plus, when you start a relationship before seeing all of a person's flaws, you are able to develop something positive before you see the negative, and this causes you to balance whether it's worth it to give up a developed relationship because of a flaw you just found out about. Online, you find out about most of the flaws before you have anything invested, making it really easy to decide that the flaws outweigh the potential.

What's your favorite Summer Olympic sport to watch?

I'd have to say that it's a tough race. Handball is exciting, water polo and men's gymnastics are both incredible for the athleticism required, and swimming is a classic. Men's volleyball is excellent, and the diving is fun to watch.

Basketball and soccer I don't give as much credit, because they're relatively common matchups (specifically soccer since they have the world cup).

My vote: Swimming/men's gymnastics.

They looked stellar. Becca Ward made a great comeback push to hold on for the bronze medal (after previously giving a great battle in the semifinal with the eventual gold medal winner). Looks like a great young team and it was awesome to watch.

...Although I could do without all the screaming after each point. Sounded like Pumas fighting each other.

That helped the United States to an impressive medal total after the first day: We had as many as the next three highest countries combined. Wow.

It is the Red Sox, actually.

As for the topic...I think that relationships which foster change can be extremely productive. Situations where the person didn't realize that their actions were producing a negative effect are particularly progressive. Also, I think that the changes often wind up being extremely beneficial for the person that changes as well as the person who suggested the changes.

/Of course, this will wind up controverted and counter-productive in unhealthy relationships.

Yes, Yao Ming. And it should be noted that him and the Chinese team just got destroyed by the NBA players comprising the USA team.

Thank you

P.S. - You don't even know which Sox!

I think we're looking at this from different perspectives...I'm not talking about situations where the relationship isn't working as-is. I'm speaking about when the relationship is already working, but could be improved (even if only a little) by some small change. I'm not referring to personality altering changes or anything huge, just small habits and whatnot that a person can change to make things better in the relationship.

Edit: I'm also not trying to condone "changing" someone else, only the suggestion that maybe the change themselves.

It's not only the United States that benefits from the rule change. Many other countries have professional athletes on their teams through a number of avenues. First, many foreign players play in the major leagues of the united states (NHL, NBA, etc.) and then go back to compete for their respective countries in the olympics. Secondly, many countries have their own professional leagues which, although less powerful than American leagues, are still technically professional leagues and produce national olympians. And lastly, as Ted pointed out, many of the athletes are paid for their training, as well as incentives (money for winning medals), which technically removes their amateur status.