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California Mountain Snake

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Posts posted by California Mountain Snake

  1. Hard to say. I'm involved with someone right now who I like a lot, but they seem a lot slower starting up (his first real relationship), so wouldn't quite say he's my boyfriend yet, but for the past week or so it's been "his right hand (today I think it was his left, actually...)" so I'll pick the boyfriend option anyways.

  2. What are you talking about? Their power in government should be proportional to their population, which is why the house exists. The Senate kills the proportional representation by giving 2 extra members to California and... 2 to Alaska. This makes sense how, exactly?

    Exactly what you're talking about. You want voting to be proportional to the population, which is exactly why the House is in existence, which is pretty much an equal statement to small states should have no real power.

    Here are some numbers for you. The House of Representatives has 435 members, on most issues all that is needed is a simple majority vote of 218 of those members. California, Texas, Florida, and New York together have 138 of those members. Why should any of the small states even bother when more than 60% of a vote is decided by four states? And you want to spread that to the Senate so those undeserving small states are screwed even more? In that case all the small states should secede from the United States and start their own country where they can have that voice that the Senate of the United States used to give them.

    It doesn't matter that we have a house of representatives to deal with the proportional representation issue, because all laws have to pass both houses, this gives the senate the power to kill bills which the house may pass overwhelmingly. Just take a look at the numbers:

    Over 50% of Americans live in the nine most populous states (CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, PN, OH, MI, GA) but only get 18 senators. The nine least populous states, making up only 2.5% of the population, also get 18 senators.

    So it makes sense half the people get 18% representation, the other half get 82%, of which 18% of this total is claimed by 2.5% of the population, just because of where they live? I get it, state sovereignty and all that, but the senate made much more sense in an era when the United States was much more federal (it still is, but it's unlikely that we'll see states go to war nowadays), and today has become a decrepit dinosaur that has been distorted by population disparities between the states that the founding fathers could not have anticipated. It was mostly made to appease the South, which at the time also had sparse rural populations but a lot of money (aha).

    The senate has been a roadblock on almost every important issue, from decreasing agricultural subsidies to gun law and healthcare reform, things which a majority of Americans support. But because a majority of Americans live in concentrated areas in certain states, it makes sense that their desires deserve to be relegated below those of rural populations? The bicameral system doesn't solve this, because the senate still has full veto power over the house (and is far more often the one to exercise it).

  3. In the past the word adventure for me usually involved a hike, sometimes at 3:00 AM, to ascend a radio mast or cell phone tower on some distant peak, or various other exercises of my natural freedom. But lately I've been taking adventures of a less solitary nature and been exploring more intimate realms. Up until extremely recently I had an highly repressed sexuality, mostly due to the fact that I was intensely closetted until about 4 months ago when the school year ended. Since coming out I've gained a lot of confidence as well as discovered the delights (and disappointments) of wanting and pursuing intimate companionship. In terms of sex I can say I've since lost my virginity (about a month ago... better late than never), and since then the most debaucherous thing I've done is participate in an unexpected foursome (all while quite inebriated of course); but outside of that realm I've also been pursing a guy I've had a crush on for some time who's also been going through the trials of coming out in college.

    I say it's an adventure because it's unlike anything I've done in my life before, and I've had to take a lot of risks, break down a lot of barricades, and am still making a lot of mistakes in figuring it all out. But like any adventure, the rewards have outweighed the risks, and I'm learning more about myself with each quest embarked.

  4. No.

    Last year I got stomach flu so bad I had to shit in a wastepaper basket all night long in my room while throwing up simultaneously. The stench was so bad my roommate went into the common room to sleep on the floor. It was a pretty terrible. More terrible for me, of course.

  5. Except we don't know for sure it'll take billions of years. For all we know, the Big Crunch may have already started and most of those stars and galaxies that we can observe today may have already been destroyed.

    Except through spectronomy we can calculate the exact relative speed of other stars and galaxies and make a pretty accurate prediction for when such an event might happen (scientists don't just pull these numbers out of their ass you know).

    However, the ultimate fate of the universe is largely dependent on how much dark energy is in the universe, which is noted for its role in expanding space, and for constituting about 74% of all energy in the universe. If there is not enough dark energy in the universe to facilitate the expansion of space, then there will be the eventual "big crunch" of which you speak. If there is just enough, then the universe will slow but reach equilibrium at some point, allowing the limitless existence of the universe. However, the most likley case from recent observations is that there is in fact too much dark matter in the universe, explained by the fact that not only are all the galaxies in the universe moving apart, but they're accelerating, moving apart faster than ever before. Under this approach, the universe will most likely become an increasing large and decreasingly matter-dense place, as heat and energy is dissipated and all mater approaches absolute zero in temperature. Most models nowadays predict that the universe instead of closing in on itself in some sort of fiery Apocalypse will instead expand into an empty, cold, lifeless space.

  6. I'm not sure why, but there's been an unusually high celebrity and/or famous person body count over the past few years. Now I know we all have to die eventually, and I know that celebs do too, but these deaths are so consistent now.

    I think after reading this statement we can add human intelligence to the list of the dearly departed.

  7. No problem.

    You didn't do a fucking thing.

    FionordeQuester, these questions aren't particularly hard if you understand the question, which leads me to believe that you don't. The biggest error someone can make while helping another on their homework is to just give them the answer and not have them understand it. Do you realize how Meteor's quotes might have answered your questions in any way, or are you just copying this down without comprehending what's been said?

  8. I'm playing HeartGold.

    Chances are you're not.

    Nyaaah. :P

    And? I still have my first copy of Gold, and it still saves.

    :3

    You can always replace the battery when it doesn't save anymore. It's easy enough to do.

  9. 1250469338382.jpg

    Real cool story bro.

    Perhaps you'd like to revise this by adding something called details which would make this topic different than the trash that you seem only able to post.

  10. New Hampshire is strikingly lacking in 3G networks, or cell phone service in general. It seems to drive flatlanders wild when they come up here and realize that for miles at a time they may not have reception on their precious phones.

    I dunno... I live there, and I haven't had any problems with my cell phone. Then again, I never use it.

    What, do you live in the Concord area or something? Also, 3G =/= normal cell phone service.

  11. New Hampshire is strikingly lacking in 3G networks, or cell phone service in general. It seems to drive flatlanders wild when they come up here and realize that for miles at a time they may not have reception on their precious phones.

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