grazzhoppa

MS Visual C++ express edition 2005 is free until Nov 2006. http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/download/

to get the basics down, you should be competant in algebra and problem solving. You should be able to take something you want to do, then figure out steps to the solution. If you get frustrated very easily by word problems in your math classes, then you'll probably get frustrated when writing programs.

I've been reading the Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing, same thing different spelling). I'm doing one section a night cause it's so different from my way of life. I'm trying to learn from it, sort of like what some people do with the Bible, except I won't take it word for word

I just finished reading the first "Dune" book. I got the ones I'm reading now from Christmas too. Stephen Hawking's "Universe in a Nutshell" Dean Koontz "From the Corner of His Eye" off and on books: Plato's "Republic" Analects of Confucius Both are slow reads.

Seeing how you got close with her after all the initial problems with her being your friend's sister, I'd say you have something going....but....you and her got to stop playing games. If she really meant that she loved you at the end of your story, then I'd say the whole night she was just testing you. Maybe she was trying to make a decision whether or not to make it a more steady relationship. When you were at the skate rink, she could have started "thinking," and that's why she didn't reply to "I love you." As for asking you to pull over.....maybe she just felt the urge to, I see nothing wrong with that If you feel that thing about her and suicide was real, I would suggest to try to understand what's happening that would make her write that to you. If it's real, she trusts you enough to help her, without making her feel worse, that's why she would've told you. Though, I don't know why someone would joke about that...it does sound a little weird, rubbing your wrist with an earaser. All that strange behavior could be linked that "suicide note." I suggest try to find out if it did happen.

. evolution doesn't know where it's going. The abilities of species is determined by what evolution has provided. Take flight for example. Flight is only a by-product of evolution. What are the chances that an organism would evolve to have the right characteristics to take flight? Very small. Same with developing a sense of logic with that expanded brain. And mice can hide under rocks...rodents are hardy creatures. When all the dinosaurs died because of that castostrophic disaster...rodents were left which spurred the age of mammals. Humans are relativly unprotected...they can't sqeeze in tiny places, they have relatively thin skin and minimal body hair. Survival of the fittest...in human's case...survival of the smartest. And that evolution gave logic and "intelligence" as a by-product. That's how I see it. Although it may be twisted in some way

People aren't that stupid...if AIDS was created by humans, then they would have the antidote. You have to look at this on a species lifespan, not from your lifespan. Why introduce the antidote when the objective is not complete? To make such a huge change as wiping out a certain type of people, you must sacrifice things. If they were clever enough to engineer AIDS they would realize that subjecting most of the human population could be a possibility or the only way to "exterminate" a type of people. Just thinking "out of the box." I don't think it could be engineered though. If it was, then everything you know about the way governments operate and even your entire life does not come close to resembling what you think you know....sounds like the Matrix but without computers. It's too sci-fi for me.

The goal shouldn't be to lose weight, it should be to feel like you can carry yourself without huffing and puffing...feeling healthy should be your goal or just to look good. I've given up on worrying about how much I weigh. The good things I do for my body are to make it look better or feel better. I had a strict excerise program for 3 months. Every other day running for 1 hour. The days inbetween lifting light weights (talking 10-15 lbs.) and an ab workout (what a killer! ). Streched every day...that's something I continue to this day. I didn't miss a single day...and on top of that I had cut out little things like regular sugar...less salt...a little less ice cream. I didn't lose ONE POUND but I felt unbelievably good. In fact I gained 10 lbs from the muscles I gained....too bad I didn't keep it up. Anyway, as long as you don't stuff yourself at meals you wouldn't gain weight. The way you were raised affects it...what you consider not particularly well might be considered good to someone else. But yea, genetics has a lot to do with it....some people have a high metabolism naturally. At 19, your body isn't as needing of calories as it had been, but relatively your metabolism is still running full speed. I think around 30+ you will start to notice it slow down, I may be wrong about that though.

Do we know what will happen with a nuclear explosion in zero gravity? We have seen super-novas and other explosions but nothing close up. And would there be radioactive "fallout" in space? It sounds too messy for the people of NASA. I think antimatter anything is a couple hundred years away. But the first thing to appear would be the weapon for war or the weapon for keeping peace...you could see it either way. Antimatter dishwasher....heheh nothing beats the cleaning power of antimatter meeting normal matter *BOOOOOM*

Aye, it sounds like the problem lies in you Greg. Be more tolerant of other people's opinions don't force yours down her throat. If you want to "prove" something to a person who believes in fate and destiny then you have to relate your proof to their experiences. You can't just throw out statistics and facts without attempting to make a connection of those numbers and "big words" to what she believes is true. This might help you understand what I said a little better: You have to disprove her ideas instead of trying to prove yours....but I wouldn't recomend trying to change the way she looks at life and its workings. If it really makes you frustrated, you can always try to make her understand where you are coming from. She should, in turn, try to make you understand where she is coming from. A mutual understanding is what (real) relationships are all about. That's just what I think.

Your situation does sound unbarable but I have bought many, many, many things from Amazon.com and have had absolutely no problems or complaints. I would be pissed too if I spent $300+overnight shipping and get it in a couple weeks. I bought my computer's parts over the internet and it was a nightmare...but that was from cheap merchants. I too had messed up the shipping info and it does add many days to your order. It's very hard to change something like that...it's not enitirely Amazon's fault. I haven't bought anything over $200 from Amazon though, but I've had around 25 orders and they all have been prompt and perfectly delivered.

Communication and sharing of information makes all that possible. Why don't tiny mice have time to make a language? Because they are too busy trying to survive...to live, if word got around on how to get food easily and hide from or even kill a predator (snake) easily...they would have more time and would develope faster (as a species). You see the exponential growth of our technology and understanding of the world (science) because we develope better ways to communicate with each other which saves us time and that leads to us doing more as a species. Why should you and another human work on the same problem when one could be doing it while the other works on the next step? Then you share your information...and you now have more time to go onto bigger and better things. I'd say from this logic that the printing press was the greatest invention of all time...it was probably equivalent to the impact of the Internet. It also helped that humans had the right body (thumbs, hands and such) to help with using tools which started it all. But I believe in the future the sharing of information will be policed....or regulated is a better word. The advancements of what we can do will heavily depend on money (wealth) and politics (power)....just as it always has been since the first settlement and government. I agree with Radical Edward that what we do will depend on the expense...unless something catostrophic happens. Capitalism does have its boundries but the beauty of capitalism is that it is usually accompanied with democracy, which can be reformed when it is absolutely necessary.

bragging rights is what the computer industry is about

I did a small report on that article for my Bio class, due today (Friday). All I said was what's the problem with making people infertile while doubling their lifespan? (Only if this gene is found in humans and behaves in a smiliar manner) It would control the human population which is growing at a huge rate. And.....the only way people would agree to live twice as long would be if all the diseases that came with old age were cured. You wouldn't want Alhiemzer's in your 170's now would ya?

If your talking about evolution in the sense of natural selection, then dinosaurs had no reason to evolve an expanded brain or a thinking conscientiousness. Dinos were huge beings, with self-protective mechanisms such as spikes and hard scaley skin. If you look at humans, what kind of defense do we have? None! So through natural selection, the early humans developed an expanded brain because that was their defense. We developed languages because we had the capacity to! You get into human nature, why do we strive to do things easier and better? Because at that beginning of our evolution, doing things easier and better meant we could survive for longer, be more alert while giving ourselves the necessities (food, water, shelter). It carries on today and through history because the idea of what is a necessity changes. Languages became a necessity to make things easier to do. Ever try to meditate? It's hard....... Emotion is a byproduct of having a conscientious mind. The chemical reason for emotion is hormones, but the ability to recognize the emotions is all about the mind. You may think this because you are comfortable in your air-conditioned room, typing on your computer, groomed....but what if you were laying next to a straw shack in Africa, with AIDS. Having ulsers and bleeding everywhere, barely clothed, sweating because your body can't handle the amount of heat pounding on you. Do you think a god made you perfect...even in comparison to a dinosaur? Would you thinking about why you are alive? I know I wouldn't. Humans can develop emotional connections, languages, mathmatics, chemistry, a way to understand their environment because once we became smart enough to survive, we continued to strive for something better. We had time to think. Dinosaurs were always occupied with basic survival.

Somatic gene therapy (genes are altered but it's not passed on to offspring) is already in use, like fafalone said. It's still not perfected, and scientists are still looking for easier ways to do it. Germline gene therapy is the type where the germ cell is altered, giving the DNA that is passed onto the offspring the altered gene. This is impossible as of now, but there is a theory to use nanomachines and a newly discovered RNA molecule, as "motors", to find and exchange specific genes. About RNA "motor"- a little old though

Microsoft has already made an environment built for 64-bit processors....for workstations. Windows XP 64-bit version It's made specifically for Intel's 64-bit chip. Microsoft's next OS for home users will probably be built for 64-bit chips.

Thanks !!! Glad to be here!

Hi everyone, I just joined. Blike, this is a very nice operation you got here. I agree that it could use some more people to contribute to it. If you might need some ideas here is a site SciForums.com that is basically the same as this one. The only difference is that SciForums is a little more compacted and has tons of dedicated users. Even more, half their contributing members aren't from the US which is good for debate and point of views. The owner of SciForums is named Porfiry....I would ask him before you rip anything off his site, he's a nice guy though.