Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

At some point it will mean people stop caring about sports, or at least the sports where modification is particularly beneficial. It'll be a hard line to determine what modifications would allow people in or out, particularly if modifications are not detectable (ie desirable traits were selected for out of the existing chromosomal choices). Skill sports would probably benefit because success will reward dedication and training.

I'd say this is the best trailer I've seen in a while:
OT The Movie

Most companies advertise their download speed and put controls on the upload speed. Chances are you are getting your internet from such a company.

The Chewie shirt is the winner, though I think it could have done without the suggestive furry patches.

My god. Those could give the worst hand job, EVER!

I'm getting a similar message when using my Netscape browser. (No big surprise given AOL owns Netscape too).

References to the French in American humor is very common and not limited to Get Fuzzy. In general comments related to lack of military prowress, hygene, and rude behavior are common.

Just look at what happens when you put "French military victories" into Google and hit "I'm feeling lucky".

I guess the point is to confront the essay more so than the topic. Difficult, but I'll try.

At 2/15/07 02:32 PM, Dre-Man wrote:
Abortion is a very common practice utilized by thousands of women every year. ... some are very radical "pro-choice", and "pro-life" extremists. Pro-choice extremists believe ... . Pro-life extremists believe .... Both of these sides can be somewhat flawed and very unpresentable in their arguments and opinions.

Referring to adherents to a position as extremists isn't quite fair, and starts you off with functionally an ad hominim attack. I think extremists on either side are those who start to take extra-legal means to attempt to make their position happen, such as those who bomb clinics or attack protesters.

The entirety of the first paragraph would lead a reader to believe the essay is an equal treatment of the issue, however, the remainder of the essay clearly attacks the pro-choice position while providing little criticism of the pro-life side.

Many pro-abortion extremists often turn to the topic of rape in defense of abortion. ... Facts tell us that most women who are raped usually do not have or even want abortions, and that if they do they usually regret it for the rest of their lives. ... We also know that less than 1% of abortions in the U.S. are the result of sexual assault or incest.

Again the charachterization of extermism should be avoided, especially on the rape issue. Rape in the discussion usually holds one of two roles. First, it is used to illustrate that not all abortions will stem from irresponsible sexual practices (one of your later points). Second, rape and incest is often a moderate compromise position for abortions.

Your sources also fail to support your argument. The second cited source highlights the stories of 20 women who regret their post-assault abortion. This does not show that most regret the choice. Given the first cited source indicates 13-15k rape abortions occur each year, 20 fails to prove this claim. Further, even if this number is only 1%, the underlying 15k abortions are a significant number of individuals impacted by any policy, hence rape and incest being the common moderate compromise for many people.

Even if this were not so, should the child have to pay for the crimes of his or her father? ...That is a question that every impregnated rape victim should ask herself before making the decision to have an abortion, and it is also a question that every pro-abortion extremist should ask him or herself before using the topic of rape in an abortion related argument.

This paragraph places you firmly into the pro-life camp, with the charachterization of the concieved fetus as a child and pro-choice as pro-abortion. You've clearly lost any objectivity here. During the first 20 weeks there is a 15% chance of a natural miscarriage. I'll address this issue more below. Some women will answer this question as a no, others will see the pregnancy and its negative effects a continuation of the assault on her body. For a pro-chice advocate, the issue is whether a woman elected to take on the duty of carrying a child. Also remember a rapist in prison has no ability to provide support and in some states a rapist hold parental rights of visitation or custody.

Many ... can not seem to understand is that it is the child's body that is being tampered with, not the woman's....

The woman's body is being used in thesymbotic relationship of pregnancy-- which carries its own risks to the woman's health. The severity of the procedure is unnecessary hyperbole when we know the end result of the procedure. Ultimately, you have a conflict of interests at play- not a one sided set of demands.

... Are we not often told what to or not to do with our bodies almost everyday?

Now you hit on the general libertarian principles. Philosophically, without supporting abortion, many argue the government should not regulate anything we do to ourselves. Government control over the self is a much larger debate. As an arguement on this topic its use is either logically flawed (one wrong justifies another) or its a tacit agreement that the state has and should have authority to regulate personal choice (when its not an issue of settling competing rights claims).

Many times the argument boils down to whether or not a fetus is a living being. ... It may not be able to live on its own outside of the womb, but newborn babies can not do this either. If you leave a two year old child in the wilderness alone he or she will not be able to survive without proper care from a parent of some sort.

Its hard to not have this be part of the discussion. If it is a living being, its entitled to make rights claims, if not, there is no harm to ending the embryonic life. If its not living, why do pro-choice adovocates want to save it? Defining life is really hard, but its at the heart of the matter. It's not foolish to make this part of the discussion. The newborn is a flawed anaology. Survival out of the womb means the womb is not essential to support life. A fetus requires the symbotic relationship of the womb, an infant can be cared for by anyone.

Yet another reason abortion should not be a legal practice is simply because most cases of abortions are the result of irresponsible sex and fornication. Why should a woman be allowed to practice debauchery without consequences? ... If a mother that conceives is not capable of raising a child, this is still not a legitimate excuse for having an abortion. This is because adoption, orphanages, and foster homes are frequently available in great numbers for utilization by any woman at any time.

This is now the correlary to the rape argument-- consequeces of free choice-- the choice opportunity was when you had sex not terminate the pregnancy. Your lanugage shows a clear slant- fornication and debauchery imply that sexual relations are fundamentally immoral and deserving of sanction. Incapability is a real concern-- both pre- and post-natally. Minoity and disabled children have significant difficulty in finding stable or permenant homes. Poor mothersoften lack health care and nutrition necessary for healthy development. With a possibly 1.3mil unwanted children per year (source 1) the adoption/foster system would be in tatters.

Banning abortion might actually stop or at least slow the horrible overflow of debauchery that modern day society sees as acceptable. The rapid spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. would probably significantly decline as well. ...

Again, moralizing not related to the abortion question. I won't engage in a seperate rant on unsupported speculation.

This raises the question, why should a woman even want an abortion in the first place if she can simply hand her child over to the care of another parent?

Because preganancy carries its own health risks, damage to career or education, and, as your prior paragraphs show, condemnation for irresponsible sexual activity. (Source 1 - accounting for 4, 4 and .5% of abortions currently, plus more depending on the interpretation of reasons given).

... Everything seems to point against abortion. It is not only a wrongful practice, but also a poor resolution to the situation of an unwanted pregnancy.

As this is a conclusion to the above arguments, it needs no additional response. It clearly, however, strays far away from the balance implied in the opening paragraph. The essay as a whole, however, fails to show "everything" points against. At best it shows there are views holding it to be wrong.

That ought to learn her not to disrespect her mama and throw holy books. Should be a lesson to all young girls who would rather sing than pray.

I find it amusing that you are complaining about smilies on your computer yet use one to highlight your post.

At 12/14/06 11:05 AM, Scarab-Stalk33r wrote: Those aliens at my window aren't any better.

You can't complain about aliens unless they were commencing with the anal probing.

At 8/25/06 12:01 PM, vulcanus_1313 wrote: What's so funny?

That our political system is in such a condition in the US that we need to qualify the type of retard that we want or don't want in office.

The Japanese have a solution for you!

My god, I think I may need a change of pants after seeing that.

That is a sweet preview, just hinting at what there will be. I can't wait to see the previews as they get more and more elaborate.

I remember seeing the cartoon movie from the front row of the theater and it blew my mind (well, almost, Hot Rod?). I can't wait for a repeat perfromane about 20 years later.

I would totally go color... I'd worry that there wouldn't be enough contrast between the president and the filthy water.

It is funny but I wonder if it originated as a practical joke or if it was all acting... there's no other explanation for having a working video camera there. If it was a joke, that kid needs heavy medication and a lot of time outside his bedroom. If it was acting, I'm impressed he could keep up the screaming and yelling for more than four minutes the way he did.

Wow... nothing like an over the hill Senator proving why he should have retired 20 years ago.

I want to copy that transcript and internet it via tubes to my friends.

Write the network and express your distain for the show... they are clearly aiming the show at the 16-34 male demographic... give them negative feedback on it!

Write to:
feedback@usanetwork.com

Here is the letter I've sent.

Dear Sir:
I have read an entertainment news rumor, and verified by the ebaumsworld website, that your network was producing a show based upon that website. The producer of that website is nothing more than a common thief who hides behind the difficult abiguity of internet law. Much of the content appearing on his website is directly stolen from the websites of the content producers or from sites such as smosh.com and newgrounds.com where the creators give explicit license to smosh and newgrounds to display and distribute their content.

I would be my hope that USA would demand from ebaums proof that all content hosted on his site has been legally obtained and liscensed, not just the limited content appearing on a possible show. Rewarding ebaums with something as commercially lucrative as a television show when the website is built upon the repeated and flagrant theft of intellectual property from artists who rarely have the means to enforce their rights in costly federal civil litigation.

If you are truely seeking a show with humorous and edgy content, seek out a content provider who actually obtains an agreement to distribute the intellectual property of others.

Sincerely,

Timothy M. Scheffler, Esq.

I'm curious... can I get a rating?

There's a lot of new to flash folks who put forth effort and have movies that manage to barely clear. I think it'd be a shame to deny some of those folks the opportunity to have their work showcased permenantly. The higher limit won't stop the complete crap submitters from sending in their stuff and the casual viewer pouring over recent submissions can see the scores and make a decision to watch or not. A higher threshhold would only serve to dis-encourage people who can make promising flash in the future from continuing. That first movie through the portal can mean a whole lot to someone who puts in their reaosnably best effort into something that is only so-so in the end.

What the hell? A picture of a toilet. I sure hope there's more than just that hidden somewhere otherwise what a waste of space on some server.

At 4/6/06 11:32 AM, Kickme123 wrote: Fulfill everyone's every want. With nothing to look forward to they will slowly go insane.

Thats probably my favorite episode of the old B&W Twilight Zone shows. Where the gangster gets the the afterlife and takes weeks to slowly realize that what he thought was heaven was definately not.

It is the existance of screamers that makes me truely value the mute button on my keyboard. Nothing like being able to quickly save my speakers and sanity from some god awful noise. At least most of them are a quick Blam point.

It is pretty good, and I think the flame thrower is a tacit admission that Family Guy bases alot of its humor value on pushing things that one extra bit past the "that's funny" point to the "wow this is really going on and on" point.
Stewie and the bus though, great.

If you don't have any ideas of your own, just take an old story (fairy tale or the sort), modernize it a bit to make it your own, and draw it.

At 1/20/06 01:44 AM, JoS wrote: Yeah well this colony burned the White House to the ground, pissed on its ashes, chased your army to New Orleans, then went home and got hammered.

I'm not sure I'd be all that happy about the New Orleans battle... In terms of US military victories it is perhaps the most lopsided sucess for the US that didn't involve air bombardment. Stick to the battles around So. Ontario and Detroit where the US army was functionally impotent to achive anything even resembling victory.

Given Lewis' objections are based on how things would look on TV I doubt this letter has little value now. He was willing to see a disney verison of things (or at least almost so). If it was the 1950s most anthro-animals on TV would have been crude puppets. Given the more sophisticated CGI now avialable I'm sure there would be less of an issue.

I'm all for an "attack" campaign so long as it doesn't turn into lies and includes and element of the first type.

If you are in a winner take all system, like the US, you have only two choices with a real chance of being elected. (I'm not saying this is good, just what is). Thus the voters will choose the lesser of two evils or the greater of the goods. Unfortunately, many people are not mentally equipped to understand that criticism of someone's record is not an "attack" or a "blame game" it is criticism of why that politician should not be entrusted to be a representative. Attacks are name calling, or criticism of something unrelated to the individual's ability to act as a representative. Unfortunately, most people in the electorate are too uninformed about their representatives making record criticisms necessary, and equally deficient to separate out a legitimate criticism from a true attack.

That being said, a candidate who cannot defend against criticism with well reasoned explanation and/or cannot state their own vision/ideology should also not win an election, but with a lesser of two evils system, it is much easier to do so.

OPEC is out of the picture because before OPEC could mess with the amount of supply, now most OPEC countries are producing at levels reasonably near capacity so there aren't issues with them limiting supply by holding back production.

The price of gas is largely the president's fault, but it is fault through inaction. Watching the Chineese and Indian economies grow, it was easy to track where consumption was/is headed. The president could have taken real leadership and tightened milage controls on new vehicles, provided incentives for non-oil power generation, and taken other energy conservation measures. This would have lowered our domestic consumption allowing for our domestically produced oil to go a bit further, lessing the need to import the sometimes more expensive foreign oil.
Even if you argue the president has little over all control of the economy, he's failed to take action where he could to improve things.

Because we've done nothing about the price of gas, gas costs are dragging down the possibility of meaningful economic progress because of the increased cost getting passed onto consumers for the other goods we purchase.

I bet it could be to combat improper voting... If I notice that the shittiest flashes are passing judgement at 3.0 when they should be a .3 flash, if I want b/p points I'll go ahead and vote 2 or higher and every flash. Keeping the current score hidden for right now hides the fact that this is the trend in the portal right now.