Inky

I've found a phantom foot in the painting! In the lower left hand corner. It's the same color as the floor, so it might just be a random blotch, but it certainly looks like a foot to me. And as to your comment, Mum, I think I mostly liked to look at it because it confused me. Like, the ballerina sitting on the edge of the bench? I was trying to figure out why her feet were so small--I didn't realize that those were the legs of the bench. And the ballerina lacing her shoes or fixing her stockings or whatever...I thought she was a midget with hair covering her face. And the creepy guy in the corner, of course. I know these are weird points to be confused about, but I was young and apparently I had a weird grasp of reality.

I find it a little ironic that you post this just as I convert to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Inky sure is awesome...

Excellent! A perfect way for me to celebrate! (I've just converted to Pastafarianism. I follow the Flying Spaghetti Monster.)

Welcome to the boards I hope you enjoy your time here.

I had a friend who wanted to be both a hippie and an Objectivist. He wrote NB asking if this was possible. The response was "Just as long as you're not a Communist."

Yeah, that guy in the corner always creeped me out.

Why is it a requirement to say something every time someone sneezes, I wonder? There's nothing of the sort for coughing. I, personally, just ignore it when someone sneezes. The difficulty now is figuring out what to say when someone belches, because I had made it into a habit of saying "bless you" (oh, blasphemy!) to my friends everytime they would eructate.

BIRITIBA MIRIM, Brazil (AP) -- There's no more room to bury the dead, they can't be cremated and laws forbid a new cemetery. So the mayor of this Brazilian farm town has proposed a solution: outlaw death. Mayor Roberto Pereira da Silva's proposal to the Town Council asks residents to "take good care of your health in order not to die" and warns that "infractors will be held responsible for their acts." The bill, which sets no penalty for passing away, is meant to protest a federal law that has barred a new or expanded cemetery in Biritiba Mirim, a town of 28,000 people 45 miles east of Sao Paulo. "Of course the bill is laughable, unconstitutional, and will never be approved," said Gilson Soares de Campos, an aide to the mayor. "But can you think of a better marketing strategy?" A 2003 decree by Brazil's National Environment Council bars new or expanded cemeteries in so-called permanent preservation areas or in areas with high water tables. Environmental protection measures rule out cremation. That left no option for Biritiba Mirim, a town on the so-called "green belt" of rich farmland that supplies fruits and vegetables for Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city. The town produces 90 percent of the watercress consumed in Brazil. Most of Biritiba Mirim sits above the underground water source for about 2 million people in Sao Paulo, de Campos said. The rest is covered by protected forest. More than 50,000 people already are buried in the 3,500 crypts and tombs in Biritiba Mirim's municipal cemetery, which was inaugurated in 1910. The cemetery ran out of space last month, and 20 residents who have died since November were forced to share a crypt. But even that solution has limits. "We have even buried people under the walkways," de Campos said, predicting that crypts will reach capacity in six months. "Look, people are going to die. A solution has to be found, or we'll have to break the law." At least 20 towns within 60 miles of Biritiba Mirim have a similar dilemma, de Campos said, though none has ordered its citizens not to die. Biritiba Marim isn't the first Brazilian town to draw attention with an unusual law. A few years ago, a mayor in Parana state banned the sale of condoms, arguing that his town needed to increase its population to keep qualifying for federal aid. Drugstores ignored the ban. De Campos said his town wants the Environment Council to change the wording of the cemetery decree to allow exceptions approved by environmentalists. Biritiba Mirim has set aside public land -- five times the size of the current graveyard -- for a cemetery that environmental experts from the University of Sao Paulo say "will not affect the region's water tables or surrounding environment," de Campos said. The Environment Council declined to comment before a meeting to discuss the matter with local officials Thursday. Meanwhile, town officials say they are hoping no one else dies.

I don't exactly remember where I had heard it, but I doubt that if he was a person made up completely by Christians he would have a place in other religions. For example, in Islam he was a prophet, and the Jewish pretty much agree that he had existed; whether or not he was the messiah is the question. Several history teachers of mine have also said that it is highly probable that he existed, although I don't know how credible that is, because I don't know what their religious standings were. However, there is a lot of dispute on this, and since all the evidence is too old and such, we probably never will have an answer. Mostly, I think he was just a controversial person who was later immortalized and turned into a legend. PS: It was a large assumption that I had made a few posts ago, and I apologize. It's quite possible that I'm wrong, but this is one of those subjects which we may never see the end of.

I have to say, licking the spoon after mom made that has to have been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life :mrgreen:

Haha, yeah. I have a collection of Steven Wright quotes, but I could only put two short ones in my signature, or else it would have been too long. Well, I think there was sufficient proof that there was an actual person named Jesus who started a philosophical movement and was later crucified, but obviously he didn't do all the things that the Bible claims. I think I'm going to start using that one as well.

A little off the topic, but there is one phrase that comes to mind whenever someone decides to throw the Bible in my face and tell me (or anyone, really) that they are damned: Judge not, lest ye be judged. I'm not entirely sure if that actually has anything to do with Christianity or the Bible, but I think I can safely assume that they don't know either. It sounds holy enough to scare them off, at any rate. :roll:

Oh, no, it's fine, I meant for this to be a general introduction thread, anyone can introduce themselves, and anyone can welcome them however they like (as long as it's in a friendly manner, of course), which I think you were just doing. But you all had best hope that we don't follow in the footsteps of another forum that I used to be a part of, in which we attempted to eat newbies online.

Happy birfday, mom! (a.k.a. Kat, for the rest of you) December 11: Let us party.

Eh, not so much that as I'm waiting until I have something worth saying. Not to mention the fact that my writing skills have gone down the drain, it seems. I blame the public school system.

Sorry about that, but the boards are still young and we're just getting to know each other, so I think we have an excuse to be a little casual at first. I've started an introduction thread, though, so now hopefully that won't be so much of a problem? However, if we want the threads to be very "to the point" you might want to say that somewhere. Forum rules thread, perhaps? Just a suggestion.

I figured I should open a thread so that people have a place to introduce themselves. So I'll start. Hi. My name is Inky and I'm a kitten. My views are essentially Objectivist, but as a teenager I'm also exploring my own different ideas. So, if I say something that's "unorthodox," kindly keep this in mind. I'm not trying to insult your views or ruin Objectivism, I just like to put a fresh view on things. Besides, my mom owns the site so you can't yell at me, haha!

Yeah, like I was gonna say. Go read Atlas Shrugged. I'm pretty sure that's where most of us got our start.

Knowing mom, there probably will be. But I've mostly been designing things for people of late, so I haven't had much time to actually draw anything. Which reminds me...I need to design the logo for this site. And perhaps redesign the whole forum, but that'll come later, I think.

The situation is ridiculous. Go easy on me if I'm missing some huge point, but I don't think the tobacco companies should have to advertise against themselves. They can advertise for their product, and someone else, be it state or independent could have their own ad campaign, and let the people decide between the two options--like in a good capitalist society. People are not idiots, and anyone can see that the company wouldn't be advertising against itself unless the government was forcing it to. Many people would think that it's an infringement on some right, if the government's forcing someone to say something against what they want or believe, which in turn makes the government look bad. It's pointless. And as to the quid pro quo actions regarding sit coms or whatever, I don't know if that's true or not. But I wouldn't be surprised.

Don't I feel...special. :-s Right, I'm off to go convert some of my friends so they'll post here. I suppose non-teens can post here as well, if you have something to say that relates to teenagers and Objectivism. Or just teenagers in general. But this is mostly just here for me to be self-centered :green

Mike, keep it clean, there are kittens around. Yes, I am the Kat's kitten. One of them.

Alrighty then ^.^

Yo, momma. Can I join? Considering I'm sort of helping you and all....