Jrad

Fate/stay night is my favorite VN. Beyond that, I've read Tsukihime (also excellent, but lower production values), Kagetsu Tohya (play Tsukihime first), Kamidori (really grindy), all of the Higurashi VNs (these, too, are amazing and highly recommended), Ever17, Planetarian, Cross Channel, CLANNAD, Muv-Luv, Yume Miru Kusuri, Crescendo, Suika A.S+, and a few more that I'm probably forgetting.

Currently, I'm reading through the Umineko series, and waiting for a translation of Fate/hollow ataraxia that will probably never finish.

I saw the video and my first thought was, "How the fuck did this spark a 'scandal'?" We see more violent and grotesque imagery on TV regularly. The fact that it was real and not simulated doesn't change things — at least not for me. I'll be the first to admit that I'm desensitized to violence, but in this day and age, I'm honestly surprised there are enough people that aren't for this to even be a thing.

My computer's pretty messed up. I have a 360 controller plugged in, but if I wiggle the cable a bit, my PC blue screens. Something about a driver failure. I should probably do something about that. To address the topic: Windows Update runs every weekday around noon -- the only time I'm certain to be either asleep or in school.

My parents were pretty cool. They let me fly across the country for an entire summer (staying with some distant relatives) to get with my long-distance girlfriend when I was 16. My mom packed condoms in my suitcase. That was pretty awkward actually.

My advice, as someone three years your junior, in true overblown internet fashion: go anyway. Defy them. Your car is in your name, so they can't take that away from you. If they want to kick you out they need to give you at least a month's notice, legally. You're an adult, which means you don't have to answer to anyone but the government. Good luck.

I generally get good grades when I actually attend class, but I picked up a pretty terrible habit over the last couple of years. I skip a lot of school. My attendance hovered around 60% in grade 11. That was also the year I took physics 12, chem 12, and math 12, so missing that much class wasn't a great idea. I managed a 78% in math, but had 60s in chem and physics. Literally the worst grades I've ever gotten on anything.

This year, I figured I'd step up my game and stop slacking off. Only problem being I took all of the hard classes last year, so this year is nothing but boredom. I have pre cal, sociology, law, and electrotechnology. Just one of these classes is actually 'difficult': pre cal. The rest I could sleep through and ace (open book tests). I wrote my first pre cal test two weeks ago. Got a 97%. I wound up skipping all of last week, so I'm 6 hours of instructional time behind in every class now. Curious as to what my next test mark will be.

I'd be a hundred percent behind having test scores disclosed. They don't even need to have names attached, hell, I'd be happy with just knowing the averages. If I knew I were slipping behind the rest of the class, I'd be motivated to catch up. I don't value getting high scores on tests, I value getting better scores than others. That 97% is meaningless if the average is 98%. On the other hand, if the average is 80% then I'm fucking awesome, etc.

Don't buy any bullshit alternative medicine or herbal remedies. Don't take megadoses of vitamin C. There's no cure for the cold, but you can treat the symptoms: nasal sprays can provide reliable (but temporary) relief. I'm partial to cough drops when it comes to dealing with sore throats, too.

Pretty much the only preventative measure you can take is frequent hand washing. There are a couple of others, but they're absurdly inconvenient (face masks). There are no drugs that have been proven to be effective in preventing the common cold, and it goes without saying herbal and alternative medicines have no effect.

I spent a lot of time on 4chan between 2006 and 2009 (when I was in middle school) and I'd have to agree with your analysis. It's not half as messed up as other sites. Some of the opinions I see on 4chan are significantly less retarded than the views espoused by a couple of Giant Bomb members. Calling it the cesspool of the internet is going too far. Even /b/, one of the only boards I regularly frequented, is barely any worse than other internet forums. I've seen worse things on /r/WTF than /b/ (excluding child porn, which is always swiftly deleted anyway.)

I just grew out of it. A lot of the comments are shit, and the people are shitty — but tons of amusing stuff comes out of there. It's not as bad as people think, you're right, but I don't think there's any point trying to convince people of this. If they're even slightly interested, they'll gravitate toward the site by their own volition. If its brand of juvenile humor isn't to their fancy, they'll leave. It's how the internet works.

I have a decent sized HDTV in my room, close to my PC and monitor setup, so I can switch between the two at will (Windows + P) -- so for me, Big Picture Mode isn't a huge deal. I'll probably try it out though.

I bought a pair of Sennheiser 448s a year and a half ago. Regretted that purchase immensely. They sounded like absolute trash. I think I paid $140, which was waaaay too much. They broke after 9 months or so (I'm pretty hard on headphones) and I bought a $30 pair of Panasonic HTF600s which seem to be unanimously recommended at that price point. Experience with them so far: they're much, much better than the Sennheisers. I'd recommend them to anyone who doesn't fancy themselves an audiophile.

@tunaburn said:

there is no scientific evidence that second hand smoke hurts anyone.

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2008/07/01/scientific-evidence-shows-secondhand-smoke-no-danger

i cant link it for some reason on this computer.

Ignoring the fact that you just linked to a conservative propaganda website, note that literally every major health organization in the world agrees that secondhand smoke is harmful. The debate is how harmful. Check out these papers: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1748121/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563675/

Overwhelmingly, the studies that 'prove' secondhand smoke is harmless are funded by tobacco companies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondhand_smoke#Controversy_over_harm

And Jesus Christ, to the people in this thread who're saying, "My parents smoked, I'm fine, don't worry about it," — anecdotes do not trump scientific research. It's a numbers game — the correlation is proven. People used asbestos for decades, and not everyone who set foot inside a building with asbestos is dead of lung cancer. Maybe this child's only 4 or 5% more likely to develop asthma or lung cancer than his peers who aren't subjected to secondhand smoke. Is that risk worth it?Especially when it can be avoided?

@J12088 said:

Mind your own business?

I'm gonna go beat the shit out of some orphans later. Don't call the police, though — it's none of your business.

(Yeah, I realize assault is illegal and smoking around a child isn't in most jurisdictions, but the latter has worse long-term effects.)

I don't understand the people who're acting like this is the mother's problem. It's not her problem, it's the kid's problem. The kid isn't owned by his parents. If they fuck up his health, he's the one that has to deal with the consequences, not his mother. Maybe he'll luck out and sue the shit out of her 20 years from now when the law's finally updated, but the chance of that happening is slim to none.

My parents were great. They were smokers, but took great care to avoid smoking around me. Never smoked in the car, never smoked in the house. If they were ignorant motherfuckers like the lady in the original post, though — I sure as hell hope someone'd spout off on them, especially if I couldn't. If you're going to endanger the health of your child because you're too lazy to walk five meters, fuck you. You don't deserve to be a parent.