Forum posts

I am going to buy one for my baby.

My wife and I are planning to start a family soon.

I promise I'll post a picture of this headcrab on my baby's head!

I soooo want one of these!

Annoying, but in a funny way.

The guy is just stoned.

His post proves that some Americans are idiots.

I was talking to my wife, and in retrospect, that statement was a bit overly harsh.

Even though I still stand by my previous statement about the importance of good grammar and spelling, I feel that I still owe Xyos212 an apology.

Sorry for resorting to name-calling, but I was partly attacking the American educational system at the same time.

And jobabob is right. Imagine us. We're aliens to other aliens too, and what makes you guys think we would act belligerantly to other alien species in the universe? Imagine the thrill that we must feel if we ever discover another civilization. Why would we automatically attack them?

Hollywood's aliens are vicious because it's fun to watch. Not that "E.T." wasn't fun, but menacing aliens coming to destroy our planet is much more fun than peace-loving aliens.

Give them five years, and the average gaming computer hardware will far surpass the Xbox 360 technology.

PC hardware is always going to be on the cutting edge. No console can ever compete with that.

Well they are happier.

How do you know that? Like pepper said, the country is on the brink of civil war. Suicide bombings and terrorist acts are daily occurrences. Sectarian tension is at an all-time high.

People are starving, people live without runny water and electricity on a routine basis. Students can't go to school, and adults can earn their living wages.

Is that happy?

By the way, I just can't take someone very seriously when they don't even bother to spell correctly. I came from an ESL background, so writing proper English doesn't come second nature to me. Every word counts, and I learned all the grammatical rules with blood and sweat.

People used to tease me about my linguistic errors, and I believe someone who is blessed to be a native speaker should take the time and effort at writing properly. Writing is a privilege, and grammatical error is a huge distraction for me when I read anything. I can't even focus on the content of the writing when the spelling is all fucked up.

Rabid FTW!

Has anyone noticed this?

I guess that ends the debate about PC vs. console gaming.

It's a sad day. :

First, you should ask her whether she remembers her first name.

Second, you should give her some "hard driving" yourself if she cannot remember it.

No other takers?

How am I an idiot Satchmo?

It's nothing personal, but your spelling and grammar is an embarrassment for all Americans (or perhaps just the American educational system).

Wow, amazing. Ant did better than I did. He only missed one.

I won't post the answers just yet. We'll give the others a chance to guess too.

Let's send "The Rock" to Hell. He accomplished his mission pretty well in "Doom" the movie.

And if "The Rock" doesn't make it, we still have our California governor as backup. Let's put our politicians to do some real work for a change.

And yes, even some Yanks hate fellow Yanks. Self-loathing is in fashion now.

Were there because he was gassing his own people for weapons testing. Were there because His people were suffering.

His post proves that some Americans are idiots.

As mentioned above, all Bush does is throwing empty threats to the Chinese leader and the North Korean crazy bastard because (1) China is too powerful to be messed with; (2) North Korea is just a poor ass country that has no important resources. Americans have no vested interest in North Korea. For all we care, they can all burn in Hell.

In fact, we probably should invade Hell next, since they must have tons of oil supply to allow eternal burning.

Let's send "The Rock" to Hell. He accomplished his mission pretty well in "Doom" the movie.

...but at least the Swedes aren't invading other countries for oil and aren't claiming that they're the best and most powerful people on Earth.

Us damn Americans, on the other hand...

Since it's in the Source discussion...

Why did someone mention r_speed then? I am confused.

It all depends on whether the original poster is talking about HL1 or HL2.

Have you noticed that the Vortigaunts run around completely naked all the time?

That's enough to stir the gayness in every dormant homosexual.

Someone should teach a course on how to pick out reliable information from the Internet.

That skill will be essential for survival in the near future.

I believe the author of the article is actually a woman.

Isn't that something?

Alright, seeing you guys aren't expert on menstral cramps, I'll give you the answers early.

11.E 12.D 13.D 14.A

Seventh did fairly well, considering the subject matter.

Just remember, if your girlfriend has menstral cramps, offer her some ibuprofen (Motrin or Advil in the United States). 200 mg standard pill can be purchased over the counter without a prescription. You could be the next hero in her life.

But here is a more familiar topic--vitamin deficiency:

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1. Vitamin A deficiency is characterized by:

	A. 	Excessive tearing.
	B. 	Loss of vibration sense.
	C. 	Nyctalopia.
	D. 	Severe headaches.
	E. 	Spontaneous hemorrhage.

2. Vitamin D-resistant rickets (familial hypophosphatemia) is differentiated from vitamin D-deficient rickets by:

	A. 	Bowing of legs.
	B. 	Elevation of serum alkaline phosphatase concentrations.
	C. 	Low phosphate concentration.
	D. 	Normal serum parathyroid hormone concentration.
	E. 	Sparing of males.

3. Of the following, the most specific risk factor for vitamin D-deficient rickets is:

	A. 	Birth in April.
	B. 	Excessive sun exposure.
	C. 	Formula feeding.
	D. 	Light-colored skin.
	E. 	Very low birthweight.

4. Vitamin E deficiency is characterized by:

	A. 	Cheilosis.
	B. 	Growth failure.
	C. 	Muscle weakness.
	D. 	Spontaneous hemorrhage.
	E. 	Tetany.

5. A common finding in both vitamin B12 deficiency and vitamin K deficiency is:

	A. 	Anemia.
	B. 	Ataxia.
	C. 	Glossitis.
	D. 	Growth failure.
	E. 	Hemorrhage.

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P.S. Don't feel bad for not doing well on the vitamin quiz. I missed two questions myself.

With the ever so powerful CPUs Intel and AMD are churning out, I am not sure whether a physics card would be necessary.

I think it'll become one of those ideas that seemed great at the time but eventually be rendered irrelevant because of technological advances.

Like the floppy disks and parking utilities for old HDD.

Now, for a topic that is near and dear to your heart--menstral cramps!

It may seem useless knowledge now, but you would become the hero when you help your desperate cute girlfriend-to-be with her problems.

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11. You are evaluating a 16-year-old patient whose chief complaint is painful periods. She is experiencing increasingly severe pain that begins less than 1 day before menstrual flow and typically is worst on the first 2 days of flow. She reports moderate menstrual bleeding. She denies sexual activity and other medical problems. Bimanual examination reveals no tenderness of the uterus or the posterior cul-de-sac and otherwise is normal. Which of the following is the most likely diagnosis?
A. Endometriosis.
B. Fibroids
C. Imperforate hymen.
D. Ovarian cyst.
E. Primary dysmenorrhea.

12. Which of the following is most likely to be associated with dysmenorrhea?
A. Late onset of menarche.
B. Migraine headaches.
C. Obesity.
D. Ovulatory cycles.
E. Regular exercise.

13. A 14-year-old girl comes to your clinic because of menstrual pain. Menarche was at age 12 years. She reports suprapubic pain that begins on the second day of her cycle and lasts for 2 days. She denies heavy bleeding. She is not sexually active. Her external genitalia are normal, as are the remainder of the findings on her physical examination. You suspect primary dysmenorrhea. Which of the following is a true statement regarding the management of this patient?
A. A pelvic and bimanual examination must be performed before therapy is initiated.
B. Acetaminophen taken at the onset of pain probably will reduce her symptoms.
C. Exercising daily has been proven to be efficacious in the reduction of pain.
D. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should be the first therapy she tries.
E. Ultrasonography of the pelvis should be obtained before therapy is initiated.

14. For which of the following patients who have dysmenorrhea would referral for laparoscopy be most appropriate?
A. A 15-year-old girl whose mother has a history of endometriosis.
B. A 15-year-old girl who still has pain despite taking ibuprofen as needed.
C. A 16-year-old girl who has missed 3 days of school this year because of pain.
D. A 16-year-old girl who is sexually active.
E. A 17-year-old girl whose mother has a history of fibroids.

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I'll give everyone a chance to guess around first, and then I'll post the correct answers later.

The crushing wall? That's the mechanical, ginormous wall that moves up and down and crushes the houses. The player has to escape such wall before arriving at the Citadel.

Some of you might have already seen this review of Half-Life 2, but I thought it was a good read.

The reviewer is obviously mature, and insightful. There is no unreasonable "fan-boy" bias for Valve nor the vehemently diatribe against Steam. It's fair and balanced.

I enjoyed reading it.

If you don't act now, all you got left is "leftovers".

"Mountain Patrol" is a new Chinese film set in Tibet. VOX should check it out.

[EDIT]: Since this thread is a spam-fest to begin with, I thought I might throw in my own spam too.

Of all the maps above, I am most eagerly awaiting Carceri. cs_fallingwater looks nice too, obviously, but bringing up the framerates may be an impossible feat.

Here are some suggestions for Carceri. From the first screenshot, I think the architecture lends itself nicely to a battle with two gunships (like that first part of Nova Prospekt). Of course, during the aerial battle, annoying combines with pulse rifles keep popping up at different sections of the map too, keeping the player nicely entertained. The dynamic ammo crate for the rocket launcher should be in places where it's risky to be exposed for the gunships' fire. But that just adds to the fun.

And fighting doesn't always involve combine soldiers with guns either. An antlion guard and several regular antlions could be interesting for the second screenshot. It looks like it has a lot of hiding places from the antlion guards, but don't forget to hide plenty of fast headcrabs at those hiding places. Just as the player takes a breather from the antlion guard, spawn those nasty suckers and bite the crap out of him.

That should keep the player on his toes.

[EDIT]: If you want to keep the serenity of the ambiance, turn off the rotor whirl for the gunships. I know there is a flag for that NPC.

How? When? Why? How much have you got?

Eastern boy and western girl...

What are you talking about? All the movies and TV shows, most people know exactly what they're missing.

I didn't have sex until I was way into my thirties. I'd say I missed out a lot.

But now you know.

Just look at our dependence on foreign oil.

Eventually, America is going to invade and occupy all oil-producing countries, just to feed our addiction to gas-consuming SUV's.

In my opinion, India still has a long way to go before becoming a prominent world figure.

The sports arena is a good indicator of one nation's dominance. Have you ever seen an Indian Olympic medal? Despite their population size, the entire country is still mired in poverty and corruption. Perhaps fifty years later, but today's world belongs to China.

Who knows, one of you just might turn out to be a doctor in the future. This thread might be a head-start.

I'll post more later. I'm in the process of picking out an interesting topic. I am sure you don't want to take the quiz on newborn exams and muscular dystrophy.

Gwil, I agree with you completely.

If you know me well enough, you'll know my penchant for controversial subjects. And this propensity is perhaps surpassed only by my passion for inciting strong emotions.

I achieved both by starting this thread the way I did, and just behold how it has grown! It has overtaken the venerable "Now Playing" thread in number of posts and viewing within a short period of time.

But it is true that I am a bit disillusioned by the general complacency of the American public. We tend to view ourselves as intellectually and economically superior than the rest of the world, and I do want to bring it back down to its place a tad. As I said before, it's a wake-up call.

Americans, we need to work harder and study harder to maintain our tenuous position in the international community. Our mighty nation has slipped in the past decade, and if we're not careful, we'll become the modern day Roman Empire. We'll crumble with the weight of our own ignorance and corruption.

Unfortunately, I feel the Golden Era for this nation is already behind us, dating back to the glorious post World War II period. Back then, work ethic and morale were equally high. As China is poised to take over the role of world leadership, America can only sit and watch as it happens.

A real man is so much better than a dildo.

For one thing, dildo usually doesn't come with a pair of arms to hold you.

I am so glad that my wife is non-religious too. Otherwise, I would hate it if I had to go to the church every week.

My brother, however, married a Mormon. He used to be an atheist as well, but now he's converted to please her. If that ain't love, I don't know what is.

Really, you guys really want more of these? I have a lot more, but I wasn't sure whether you guys would be interested.

My wife thought it's a stupid idea to post medical quizzes at TWHL, but I thought rabies is a fascinating topic.

Wow! I've never seen Japanese mappers.

I didn't know they exist.

First I think you have to find out if he is ill.

That'll be great and all, but if the animal had escaped and we're not able to capture the animal in time (by the way, how can you even be sure which animal was the one that bit the child?), it's not wise to wait for the test results to come back before doing anything about it.

Besides, it's not dangerous to administer vaccines, even if they're not necessary. Sometimes we just give patients shots all over again because they've lost their immunization record. It's harmless.

2/5 =D

Don't feel bad. Snpbond got 0/5.

All religious people shall rightfully own slaves and beat them with a stick. Just make sure that the stick is tough so it doesn't break on you.

That's right.

Even though rabies can cause seizures, by the time the disease progresses to that stage, it's too late to do anything to save the patient.

Okay, here are the answers:

5.E 6.B 7.C 8.E 9.E

Now the explanations:

G_KID got it right, but not for the right reason. Squirrels frequently get the rabies virus, but they commonly die in a few days (and during half of that time they're not able to move at all) so it's hard for them to go around biting other animals. Dogs, on the other hand, can live for more than a month after they're infected. So they're much more likely to pass it on to other animals.

Getting bitten on the face is bad, because rabies becomes fatal when it reaches the brain. The virus actually travels along nerves to reach the brain. It moves about a centimeter a day. So it is effective to cut off your arm if you got bitten on the hand to prevent it from spreading it to the brain.

I don't want to go into the last two questions. They're too technical, obviously.

These are the types of questions we get on our licensing exams, except that there are 800 of these questions on the exam. We take them over two days. It's a grueling process.

And they feature in most of my maps.

...and I think you have great taste in women, Kasperg.

I just took this quiz on rabies. It's quite interesting.

How many can you get right?

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5. The rabies virus affects both wild and domestic animals, with the added risk that certain mammals are more contagious with the rabies virus than others. The animal that is less likely to transmit rabies to humans is the:
A. Bat.
B. Dog.
C. Fox.
D. Racoon.
E. Squirrel.

6. In African countries such as Ethiopia, in contrast to the United States, the most likely animal to transmit rabies to humans is the:
A. Bat.
B. Dog.
C. Fox.
D. Hyena.
E. Skunk.

7. The incubation period after exposure to a rabies-infected animal varies, but shorter incubation periods are more often seen in a(n):
A. Adult.
B. Bat aerosol exposure.
C. Face bite.
D. Finger bite.
E. Leg bite.

8. The best test to confirm a diagnosis of rabies earliest in a suspected human rabies case is a(n):
A. Cerebrospinal fluid rabies antibody test.
B. Computed tomography scan of the brain.
C. Direct fluorescent antibody test of the saliva for rabies-specific antigen.
D. Electroencephalogram.
E. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test of the saliva for rabies antigen.

9. A 5-year-old boy is playing in his backyard when he encounters a raccoon, which bites him on his hand. The animal escapes, and the child is brought to the emergency department for treatment. The wound is cleaned with 20% soap and povidone-iodine solution. The best next course of action is to:
A. Administer one dose of human diploid rabies vaccine (HDVC) as soon as possible.
B. Administer one dose of rabies immune globulin (RIG) and HDVC in the buttocks while awaiting the pathology report on the raccoon's brain.
C. Administer RIG immediately in the deltoid and start the HDCV, giving it on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 28.
D. Contact animal control to capture the raccoon for rabies examination and administer RIG and HDVC to the boy as soon as it is determined that the raccoon has rabies.
E. Infiltrate the wound with RIG and immediately start HDCV vaccine, giving it on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 28.

Cute chicks never fail to brighten my day.

I must say that if Tycell broke up with his girlfriend solely based on the long distance aspect, then he must not have been that into her.

My parents got engaged over the Pacific Ocean. My mom was in New York when my dad proposed to her from Taiwan, on opposite ends of the planet.

My brother dated his girlfriend (now wife) for twelve years, and they lived in different states (over 2000 km away).

When I first started dating my wife, she was in Montreal (I live in California). That's about 3000 miles away. We emailed each other for four months before even meeting for the first time.

After our first date, I knew I was going to marry her.

Love is a funny thing. If it's meant to be, no amount of distance could keep the two apart.

When it comes to religion, there's no shortage of heated emotion.

Needless to say, I am an atheist. But I hope everyone understand that the most inflammatory remarks I made in the past few days were just inteded to inflame the debate.

I do respect other people's beliefs, as long as they don't infringe upon my rights and other people's rights.

But that method makes you look like a loser.