Krin hides as the group decides to move to area --- (that's your cue, Samia) Krin rolls a 5.

Although Kris is in the shadows, he's *right* behind everyone.

Kris emerges from the shadows, takes one of his arrows, and skewers one of the rotting pastries with an arrow. He replaces the arrow in his belt. "No one will know what hit 'em!" he thinks to himself.

Krin moves into the shadows as the group moves towards the next building. (Rolls 2)

"Thanks." Krin puts on the ring and his hair falls out. "OMG"

Despite the sudden loss of hair, Krin feels much better.

Krin falls from the sky in the midst of the group. "Son of a *****," he groans as he stands up. He realizes everyone is just looking at him, a surprised and blank look on their faces. "What?"

Mine sucks, unfortunately.

;-) I'll try again tonight!

Yes, I speak from personal experience: It hurts.

*crickets*


Seriously, though, they say the healthiest babies are born to the people who do not worry too much about it (mental stress is known to put more physical stress on both the mother and the child). Also, stay in good shape and exercise when you are pregnant (easier said than done I suppose, especially for us men).

First, let's define truth. Well, I say that truth is a model which explains phenomena so well, we are not let down should we use the model to make predictions.

Second, how does one go about finding truth? The only way I can think of is the Scientific Method:

Observe>Hypothesize>Observe & Examine>Conclude

Well, one aspect of religion obeys this Scientific Method to the letter.

Example: 1)The sun, it moves across the sky! 2)...maybe someone in chariot is pulling it. 3,4)Yes, it certain looks possible - that is, if someone could fly through the sky and all that. At night, the driver stops pulling the sun around, puts it away, and rests.

Thus, there was a time when religion gave us truth. For any predictions we needed to make, mythical explanations of the sun sufficed.

Now, when we use the Scientific Method, we employ more sophisticated tools and ideas. Religion can still provide us with certain truths, but not as many as it used to.

To summarize, the birth of religion was perhaps the birth of truth as well. However, what was the reason for the conception of religion-truth? Comfort.

Thus, both religion and truth are about comfort.

I'm not really convinced, so help me out guys.

Very right, and the way you offer the idea is so romantic: Is a devout follower of God willing to sacrifice his or her eternal existence to God?

To answer yes is to be but a short cry from being comfortable with an important aspect of atheism.

You're right, it's good for people to come to terms with their fear of agnosticism. Again, I suggest the approach to openly accepting agnosticism be taken slowly though - first, to challenge beliefs in familiar territory, like you've discussed. Then, perhaps show them that dying and ceasing to exist is not so bad the way you describe. Finally, accepting the possibility that God may not be around won't be so difficult.

Smiless, do you remember that monster we saw at building 18? Can it be a giant Pangolin?

For lunch will be my first attempt at Thai food. Hope I don't poison myself!


...or next time, can I play as a sentient Pangolin sorcerer?

*falls over*

And now Smiless' icon is a Pangolin. lmao



What is Barkus Arachnia? I googled it and this came up:



And...does your name refer to the sexual act that is...licking Kenny?

そうですか

Not yet, but I'm going to.
I don't mind if you keep your kidney (it is a bigger commitment than the other options, I'd say), but you're right, when I hear someone is willing to make that commitment, I do feel happy.

...but that's not the only way to make me happy.



Seriously, though, I'm not trying to take your kidney, or trying to force you to give it away. If I had the power to make donating kidneys mandatory, I wouldn't.

But the fact that you are defensive about this makes you sound guilty about not donating. If that's true, maybe you'll feel better after signing up. ;-)
Or, if you've not done so already, register as an organ donor and as a bone marrow donor, and give blood when you can. If *everyone* did just that much, the organ shortage would be over and this discussion about kidneys wouldn't even be happening.

Come on, don't you wanna be cool? Just roll the die...I won't tell your mom.

Seriously, though, it's fun. Check out Smiless' profile for info on beginning, and send him a message to let him know you're interested.

Pangolin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin

"Pangolins can also emit a noxious smelling acid from glands near the anus, similar to the spray of a skunk."

Possibly the coolest rat's ass ever.

Thanks for keeping the topic in mind. Your comments have been great additions to the thread though! If everyone were "off-topic" the way you are, there wouldn't even be an off-topic smiley. ;-)

Yes, this is an interesting aspect that I did not know. My dad mentioned it yesterday when I asked him about organ recipients and post-surgery quality of life.

He said that these immune-suppression drugs suppress the entire immune system, making the patient more susceptible to disease and cancer over all. He did not mention that these drugs actually destroy the function of the transplanted organ, but I'll ask him about it (he's a GP in case anyone's wondering).

Of course, they would try to keep the doses of these meds as low as possible so as to suppress the immune system as little as possible.



The government's attitude towards stem cell research has been embarrassing and deplorable until now. I'm sure Obama will work to fix this.

Also, Obama wants to push us closer to universal health care. Hopefully, he'll be able to do at least one or both of these things, and soon, so finally the nightmare will not be so bad.

Stem cell research is promising, of course, but as it is in its infant stages, I seriously doubt it'll be affordable for the majority of patients. Once the the health insurance problem is fixed, though, this may not be an issue. Even so, it's possible that for the first few years after we have the appropriate stem cell technology, insurance companies just won't cover it, irrespective of whether health insurance is universal or not.

That's brilliant! We should try to get this passed over here in the US. ^_^

That's so stupid! I love it!