Wow, you do sound like you are in a bad way. Sorry pal its pretty rough, feeling like that. I have been through quite a bit of what you describe and I am not entirely out of it. However, if you feel like listening to some advice, here goes:
1. I am one of the older people on NG and I have been through this kind of thing more than once. Last time I was in it, my heart said life was not worth living and I couldn't imagine it ever getting any better, but my head said "wait a minute- I remember this feeling, I've been here before, more than once!" Then I realised that however long it takes, it can pass.
2. So, you let the brain take over and keep your life in order- routine clean and healthy things to do; You accept that you can't MAKE yourself happy and go and do some things you always meant to do- that way you don't look back on a wasted piece of life.
3. For me, that meant going out and doing Karate - I met the person who became my secretary and helped me to get published, my life's ambition!
4. I also decided that if I couldn't help myself, I would help others, so I went to give blood. There is actually a blood donors crew here. It feels great when you know you have done something most people haven't got the courage to do.
5. Ask yourself what your mum would feel if she could 'look down' and tell you- you will know it in your heart- It wouldn't involve crying and moping and spoiling your life, would it.
6. Don't feel guilty about laughing about the good times with your mum. People's memories of their loved ones are the only sense in which they truly live on, other than the blood in their family.
7. Smile even when you don't feel happy. People will soon give up on you if you don't.
8. Seek out funny things, go look at Funny Cartoons here on Newgrounds.
9. The only wayt to counter the loss of the older generations is to appreciate the younger generations- spend some time with children and make them happy.

Best Wishes,
Ice

I don't think most of the rest of the world really knows much about Russia and what they do know is distorted by the same things coming up again and again- whatever makes news, such as Chechnya. I think the western world, at least is confused between what they know about Russia and what they know about USSR.

Personally, I imagine that, like all huge countries, Russia is very different in different parts and I imagine it is difficult to realistically generalise about it.

The kind of things that come to mind re Russia are:
Cold, Vodka, Russian Revolution, Comunism, Stalin/Lenin, Moscow, USSR, Space Race- , Sputnik, Luna 1, Lunokhod etc; Glasnost/ Gorbachov Putin.

At 7/19/07 05:13 PM, Chorkles wrote: I suppose this could be called revenge from all the cultures that were crushed by europe.

I am sure there is a lot of truth in that- I think various people all over the world think that way. I feel frustrated because we are being blamed for the past.

At 7/17/07 06:56 PM, SHIT-TASTER wrote: What the fuck, where are the signatures?

Good Question! My last post doesn't make much sense without my signature. Lets hope its just not enabled yet. Tom? Signatures?

Hi, Tom,

good stuff. Generally, I like it so far, although there is still more to explore. I would guess the other Dragons & Spirits will be OK with it.

Naturally, as a "SAVE TANK Sm.gf" supporter, I am heartbroken at the loss of our tiny friend. Are you sure you couldn't put him in somewhere?

Dear Review Club,

I would be grateful if anyone amongst you felt like reviewing our recent submission. You may have seen the Expert's Guide to NG in its previous forms over the last year. This time I have been much more involved since Highwatermark decided to make it more generally useful and less Stat-whore orientated.
We have had a few reviews and suggestions, but it doesn't amount to much and I would like to know where the project should go from here.
Best Wishes and thanks for your attention.
Expert's Guide to NG 'Deluxe'

Obviously it is not true that you can't stop teenagers doing what they like or other countires wouldn't have the same high rate of teenage pregnancy that we have here.

In my experience its all about getting the right ideas across at an early age. Kids throw a tantrum and get what they want cos parents cant be bothered to sort it out. Then, far from loving their parents more cos they got what they wanted, they respect them less.

No must mean no, instead of "no... well, all right then"

Regarding the sex situation, the difficulty is that kids think every other kid around them is having sex at 13, which probably isn't true anyway.

At 6/7/07 01:44 PM, Jizzlebang wrote: I <3 British people

Yeah, but they're pretty dumb

Dumb? How can you generalise about the intelligence of a whole nation?
...Oh, no, wait a minute, the majority of us voted Tony Blair back in after Iraq, so you're right pal, as a nation, we ARE dumb!

Basically what you are doing is internet bullying, he just asked a simple question, that does not deserve the amount of abuse he may have received. I don't know I haven't read the whole thing, but really don't people have any respect for each other?

-Yes, some of us do. I liked your answer. I guess one could say he asked for some of this, but its nice to see a few people simply answered his question, without abuse.

OK. I think you've got a bit of guts to put your picture up with that kind of question, given that people can anonymously make a ton of stupid remarks about your weight. I never show anyone pictures of me on NG!
I'm a man so blokes aren't attractive to me anyway, but I guess most girls wouldn't count you as "hot". However, I would reckon you're not ugly, and if you have the nerve to post this you must have some character. You might go for losing the glasses when you get the chance cos maybe some would say you have nice eyes. Your complection seems clear too, so at least you don't have spots to worry about (yet!) Your hair seems neat and you don't look like mindless slob.
You look pretty young anyway, so by the time you are a few years older you could indeed be hot!
there is a lot more to attraction than just whether someone is 'hot' anyway. I am not 'hot' but I have had a few girls in my time.
Best Wishes,
Ice

I have been thinking about this site thing since you posted it. Have you been to the Clocks web page lately. It isn't like the old days and it certainly isn't like all the rest. Its got some life and character in it and we cannot say the same of Clocks as the others any more. It actually does tell you something about what clocks are and should be.
Although DS doesn't have site yet it will be quite different from the others because we are not a cyber-based group, so it will have things like an expression of our group identity and our plans, with no forum at all. I will try and make it informative in the way you said.
However, I did ask around a bit and no-one seems willing to consider making what you have said in the way of a web site, although a few people have told me they think it might be of interest to go there now and again to check it out if someone did it. try exploring the Groups Forum and seeing what you can find out and who to talk to there. I think the idea may be worth pursuing. If you look at the effort that goes into NG Log and how many people go there it shows how much interest there is in stats and ids.
Best Wishes,
Ice
PS. This got long again, didn't it! Sorry

At 4/16/07 05:13 PM, NoFinTitles wrote: Is there a site for NG crews? I mean somewhere where you can get a basic sum-up of who they are and what they do?

-As far as I know the Clubs and Crews forum is the only thing like it, but yes, there is a place for something like this. I wouldn't mind being able to go somewhere and get some quick answers. It would perhaps inspire one or two of the more constructive crews to be a little bit more creative. I would certainly recommend it to my crew (DS) to be on it.

I know a lot of them are very short-lived cc clones, but how about it? Would someone like to make one?

-Please!

Maybe each crew could have a small place to submit their own thing about who they are etc.
A couple of paragraphs of stats and basic facts would help people to understand what sort of group they are dealing with. From what people have told me CC started off as more or less a crowd of spammers, much like most (not all) KK and UU seems to be.

- a KK once helped me, so I am glad you said (not all)!

For what its worth our DS info is:
7 members; 7 subs on NG, two subs in collections, highest score 3.1, highest ranked member -me! Been on NG since IHR got through judgement last year. We aim to create a site that will be more friendly and will actually tell people who we are!

I have been to some of their sites and they all seem to be sites based on that same deal where there's nothing to see but a list of members and forums.
How about this:
To get on at all you have to have something through judgement. The key facts could be membership no's; subs through judgement; awards;highest ranking user; time existing on NG, web site; Collection on NG; Day on NG.
I would not want to do this thing myself, but I would be curious to see it now and then. I suppose you will all say 'why bother' but maybe someone will be up for it?

-why not?

At 4/16/07 05:21 PM, pigzlord wrote: how could anyone predict a meteor coming in 15 years?

-We cannot astronomically predict the appearance of a celestial object we don't know about, such as a long-period comet we have never seen before. However, various organisations are spending a lot of resource looking for Near Earth Objects see:

wikipedia info

Which in turn may one day give us the chance to protect against most objects.

Would people like me to make some kind of documentary on Astronomy/the Solar System?
Best Wishes,

At 4/16/07 04:49 PM, gumOnShoe wrote:

I know this is more or less a joke but here goes:

I hear the bee population is dead, which means I won't have food.

-vast exageration. It is quite serious, but there are hundreds of species of bee unaffected and only a relatively samll area of the world is definately affected by the bee thing.

Supposedly a meteor will hit us in 15 years if the bees don't get us first.
- so far all the many groups of astronomers looking for objects which might hit us have found nothing at all likely in your lifetime and far beyond and they are still looking.

And even more likely, I might get shot in school now from mimics.
The probability of someone somewhere doing something is not too small, but the odds of it being you in your school !??

If that wasn't bad enough, I have a dread that the polar caps are melting, and my house will be 15 feet below water.
-the polar caps ARE melting; its not a nightmare or a theory. However, temperatures ahve changed many times before and it is very hard to be certain of what lies ahead. although the temperature is changing very fast by geological standards, its still not going to wash Bangladesh away overnight.

What's more, there are terrorists trying to get nukes to blow them up and kill me.
To be honest, so many nukes ahve been around for so long, sometimes with such poor control it is surprising someone has not got one by now. However, actually finding a way to use one to help the cause may not be as easy as it seems.

And if we don't die from those nukes maybe north korea will start a nuclear war and get us all killed in under 5 minutes.
Unlike the Cold War, if Korea hit someone with a nuke, no-one else would be on their side really, so although they want nukes as a deterent, there is no need to imagine them being the start of ww3.

So, after all of that and whatever else I missed I want to know one thing:
If we all put paper bags over our heads will it help?

Strangely, I could imagine that an International Paper Bag day in which anti-war/anti-nuke protesters by the million symbolically put paper bags over their heads to symbolise the futility of trying to survive ww3 and a nuclear attack it just might help!
Arms Limitation treaties and peaceful initiatives CAN be very important. Just becuase we hear of terrible news about how people like Israel, UK, US ignore the UN sometimes or how new wars are always starting or the latest environmental threat looms- doesn't mean that there isn't also a lot of good news and hope for mankind too.
Best Wishes,

I don't care, so long as you SAVE TANK SM GIF!

At 3/13/07 05:47 AM, Guerz wrote: HOW?

Go to Versucha's Noob Sanctuary. She has some great tutorials with good graphics.

Noob Sanctuary

At 3/31/07 10:59 AM, SouthAsian wrote: So regarding the latest events what do people think about the Iranian hostage situation?

Its all so difficult. We see thse things and we have to make up our minds, but we rarely get anything like the full picture.

First of all, be careful of the phrases you use to describe it. To a loyal Iranian, they are not hostages at all, they are invading military personel who crossed half a kilometre into Iranian waters, despite Britain being warned just a few years ago not to do this. My heart tells me they are what I would call 'hostages' but I hardly know what to think. I discussed the matter with an anglo-Italian friend of mine a few days ago and we agreed that theoretically, at least, either side could have set this up. This could have been an event set up by Britain, on behalf of USA, to hot up the crisis with Iran as an excuse to move towards invasion.
Alternatively it could have been set up by Iran in retaliation for the aresting of their personel in Iraq- which, to my mind seems more likely.
Despite 'experts' and techonology we, the public, may never know the truth.
Whatever the origin of the situation, I feel that Blair should not have rushed at it, but stuck to direct diplomacy between UK and Iran without involving others as soon and so inflamed the situation.

On a side issue I feel the news coverage is very sexist, as usual. The personel are only getting the coverage they are because there is a woman involved, same as we always hear about some woman who gets hurt or killed thousands of miles away round the world, but not men- aren't mens lives as important?

Speaking unofficially for the Dragons & Spirits, we hope the matter of arrest of the British personel can be resolved peacefully and quickly.

I like the idea of this UN thing. I don't normally do BBS at all, I just blow through from time to time so i don't join anything, but seeing some of this inspires me to think some more about a project I have written in the big shiny book of DS plans.
I want to knock up some simple, short, language tuts. Just a little bit of fun and a bit of outreach to other nations.
I haven't figured out the format or anything yet, I'm not even much of a liguist, but if each one got just, say a dozen people to try a few words of, say Portuguese or German etc, it ought to be a good thing.
PM me if you have any thoughts on this and I will think about it, tho' I am not making any promises cos DS already have a lot of plans and promises in the pipeline.
Best Wishes to all the world from the Dragons & Spirits

We all know what the word is. If it's in the title for a reason, just let it be. This is, essentially, an adult website after all.

This makes sense. I think The Bezman has a point. I more or less agree with all of what he says, apart, perhaps from the assertion that this is an "adult" website. I imagine that the vast majority of viewers here are under 18. However, I guess we all know that any site where you can upload what you like, even if it doesn't last long, will always have stuff people find offensive, so I don't intend to spend my life fighting it. I suggest that when this new guy has more than a lolipop he might think there are more important things to worry about.
I personally think it was worth thinking about and I suppose I would always view most titles of this nature with a view to blamming 0 pretty quickly.

Are you telling me you almost ditched all the letters I wrote you?!
No, seriously:
I can only do it cos I've always done it. I hardly ever post on BBS so I have ship-loads of PMs, but I only keep those that have something on I want- I usually keep just one for each member I keep in touch with, to remind me who they are etc. That leaves me with around 15 at the moment, but the number is slowly rising.
I am sure if I had a pile like yours I would have the same difficulty.
Best Wishes

Glad to hear someone feels the same way as I do. However, I am not sure I would quite go as far as to say we should, as you say 'auto-blam' movies. I take voting seriously and maybe all movies deserve looking at. I certainly don't like the idea of my movies being blammed without looking at them. Having said that, maybe if there was one type of movie I WOULD judge before viewing, it would be this.
I see you are a new guy,level 1. voting power of just about zip. I don't suppose the UU and the KK etc will exactly be quaking in their shoes at this pronouncement, but hey! Who knows? Maybe you will start a trend. It doesn't seem much to ask- submit what language you like IN the movie, just rate it correctly and don't put it in the title- yeah, I go with that.
Come to think of it, I doubt I have ever passed a movie with the F word or the C word in the title anyway, and my vote is a lot stronger than yours.
I will have to think about this.

It sounds like a very good idea in principle and fits with various vague suggestions within the Dragons & Spirits, so we may be interested. I will ask both groups next time I see them and let you know.
Best Wishes,
Ice

Experience tells me that the others are right, Tom...
That seemingly 1% will go on and on into details and snags! I know many of your regulars have seen many changes and revamps, but we Dragons & Spirits are relative newcomers... I await the revamp with cautious enthusiasm. This is the site we know and love!
No, seriously, I can see from the bytesize stuff and other bits and pieces that NG has come on a long way from its start and I am sure it will be still better when the time comes.

As I tell them all in my reviews- don't rush it, take your time and make it the best you can. We will just have to be patient!
Best Wishes,
IceDragon64 of the Dragons & Spirits

I sort of understand that. I will get Spirit "Codester" to help me get it right.

Thanks- I will let you know how I get on.
Ice

I made an animated song, with lip sync, which works OK- see the alpha:
Toothy Song

Then I put it in our submission and its shifted completely out of sync. It starts wrong and it gets further out, by four seconds, by the end of the song. I have had problems like this before, but I have just moved the sound until it fits. This time I can't move every bit of lip sync, I've got to ask for help...please.

I am using flash 8 and the sound is set to stream.

Its part of the latest DS Quiz- Oral Hygiene- which is Spirit Heffalump87's first submission and she's very sad having to wait while I try and fix it. Please help.
IceDragon64 of the Dragons & Spirits

Congrats to -X-, IceDragon and other funky folk.

Hi Bezman,
I didnt even know i was in the top 100 until I put IceDragon64 into Google out of curiousity and it picked up this message of congrats from you! How strange and random that it should happen like that- I virtually never come here and barely know my way around.
Since I am going to spend more time writing and probably less time on NG, I may not be here for all that long. My success in publication is definately altering my priorities after all these years!

Dear BD crew,

I dont really do BBS so I dont join or anything, but I do donate blood now and again and I do think its important. A number of the Dragons & Spirits donate blood too and I am trying to get them all to donate. Best of luck with the crew here. Keep up the good work promoting blood donation. I don't know anything about your crew, I just saw the name. Maybe we could make some Flash for World Blood Donor day or something. PM me if your interested, maybe I could do one or my DS Quizzes
Best Wishes,
IceDragon64 of the Dragons & Spirits

I currently have 615 reviews with 219 replies, which, I hope indicates a certain quality to the reviews. God we are sad people!

If any of you guys would be kind enough to review my stuff, I reply to all reviews and I act on most of them, often making changes. In fact IHR is being prepared for its final resubmission in the Spring of 2007, so if you want to chip in any ideas (and add to your sad score) try Ibby's Hair Restorer and REVIEW HONESTLY!
Best Wishes,
IceDragon64

To what tune?

If you want a lot of replies, then be the first to review or review stuff in judgement.
Most authors try and reply while they are in judgement- they are waiting with nothing else to do. Afterwards they tend not to get round to it.