Re: The life and times of...
 

LOL that was great...

Re: The life and times of...
 

Where's bobcat been? I want to know his story.

Re: The life and times of...
 

I'd like to know more about Angrist and his Jehovah's Witness faith, if he was born into, if he had a choice to accept or not accept the faith, if he also finds truth in other faiths?

Re: The life and times of...
 

I was kind of born into it, as in: my parents were Witnesses and I grew up with it. Nobody is fully born into it, because every person has to study the bible himself and then decide if he believes it. If he does and he/she wants to accept it, he gets baptized.

So yes, everbody gets a choice. I got baptized when I was 18, my brother when he was 20. Some want to get baptized when they're 13 or so, it really depends on what somebody believes and if he/she can take responsibility for it.

Do I see truth in other religions? Hm not fully. Most of them have many things right, but they also still have a lot of non-biblic influences. Only God can judge, but I'm glad that we're as close to the bible as we are.

I'm still growing in my religion, trying to do more for the congregation, strengthening my faith and love. I really love it. :)

Re: The life and times of...
 

I'd like to know more about folks reading habits.
I want to get into it more.

Re: The life and times of...
 

Movies i liked that were based off of books. ie Thank You for Smoking, No Country for Old Men. Plus the classics ie 1984, The Grapes of Wrath. Plus anything that interests you.


Library is free reading for all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: The life and times of...
 

The Fabric of Reality was a fascinating look into David Deutsch's interpretation of quantum physics, namely the multiverse and how right now there are countless yous and mes in other parallel universes. Somewhere there is a me writing how his whole theory is hogwash and there can't possibly be another him (namely me). It also gave me the best explanation of what science really is that I've ever gotten.

That book put me on the science bent ever since. Now I'm reading The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. So far, he has given me the best explanation of Einstein's relativity that I have ever gotten. Greene is a very good scientific writer, he makes his book very easy to understand (something that Deutsch often has trouble with).

Re: The life and times of...
 

I like all of the Michael Crichton books. He wrote Jurassic Park, Sphere, Timeline, etc.

Books I recently read and liked: Shogun, Dune.

Re: The life and times of...
 

The only books I've ever read under my own free will, are the books by George Carlin. I have all three, and I've read each of them about 7 times.

I really want to read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but nobody I know has it.

Re: The life and times of...
 

I learned to read at around age 3-4, and eventually got bored with it.

I bought a book for the first time in a long time (6-7 years?) because I wanted to see how it felt to be one of those hip college(-aged) students who are interested in and curious about things, and spend their time reading and having opinions... And because a program on the civil war sparked my interest.

So on impulse, I ran to amazon.com, glanced through a list of Civil War bestsellers, compared reviews and subject matter, and settled on This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War...

It's pretty interesting, although I find it hard to keep my eyes and mind focused on reading and comprehending the book... My vision goes blurry, my mind wanders. And I bought it maybe 2 weeks ago and I'm 25 pages in...

Baby steps...

Re: The life and times of...
 

Hey, I can't believe somebody would ask about me, lol :) And I really don't know why I haven't seen this before..

Anyway, I'm 22 years old. Moved around a lot because my father was in the Navy - and because of this we lived in Virginia, USA between 92-95, and I had to start school there with no English. In 2nd grade, my teachers made me take some tests - the reason was that they thought I was mentally challenged because I never would do the assignments they gave me, but that was because I was bored. I could've told them if they'd just asked :) Anyway, I was found to be "gifted" and was transferred to a different school. Then we came back to Turkey, and I lived some of the worst years of my life. Things changed, and it's a little better now, although I really don't like life itself.

I've always wanted to be a computer engineer, but due to childish stupidity and bad choices, I'm a 5th year/4th grade med student, in a military medical school - but I'm getting myself kicked out because I don't want to be in the army anymore. I'm hoping to be able to transfer to a normal med school.

Like DH, I don't see a point in small talk and social gatherings. I'm introverted, but I like going out with friends. I'm pretty emotional, faithful, and always try to do the right thing. Ladies like me for these qualities but I've never had any luck with them, because I don't really like the "hey, how you doing" talk. I broke up with my girlfriend, whom I had been together for a year, about a month ago. I most probably have bipolar disorder (still haven't gone to a doctor, schoolmates say so) and am currently in the manic state.

I love music, I play the guitar. I could say that I have a band - my bro plays the drums, my cousin plays bass, we jam together. I'm trying to start a band at school, and to play in our end-of-the-year concert but nobody is as enthusiastic as me, and you just can't make people play. However, I haven't given up on this band thing yet.

Other than music, I love reading (I like either mysteries, or stuff that makes me think), watching movies (I like either mysteries, or stuff that makes me think) playing games (I, too, don't have any friends who like to play as much as I do - except my bro and cousin), and sports - soccer, especially (I support Fenerbahce, they're currently in the 2nd round in the European Champions League - that means they're in the last 16 in the tournament). I also like American football, and support the Redskins.

I've been a member of this community since the nintendodolphin.net days. I'm proud of this, and say it every chance I get.

And that's that, I guess.. Almost a biography. Whew.. Now let's talk about Turkey.. :)

You could say that Turkey is a pretty nice place, if you've got money. It's a great place for sightseeing, and the natural and historical beauty is probably unrivaled, especially in the western and southern coasts.

The north-western, western, southern and the central parts of Turkey are pretty well-developed, especially Istanbul (a northwestern city), Ankara (a central city) and Izmir (a western city). However, the eastern and south-eastern parts are very under-developed, and have serious problems - health and transportation are the most important.

We used to be a pretty modern country, with a little Islamic fanatics sprinkled around (we are an Islamic country, but nothing like Iran or something) but the last 10 years saw an Islamic fanatic prime minister elected, and the country has been going downhill since. The future doesn't look good with what he's trying to do. This is the Republic of Turkey, and he sure seems to think that it shouldn't be.

Besides that, we have a lot of university problems - we have a university test, the only way you can get into a university. Every year, 1,5m people take this test, and only about 200k get in. The rest, they either take it the next year, or they're just high-school graduates. Unemployment is a very serious problem here, and even if you are a university graduate, there's a big chance you won't be able to find a real job.

And..umm..I don't know what else to say.. Any specific things you were wondering about Turkey?

Aaaanndd..that's the end of my longest post ever :) Thank you for reading.

Edit: Great photos, btw, DH. The first one looks very Resident Evil-ish :) All of them are great though.
And GM, the music in the background was Moonlight Sonata, right? Creepy stuff that was. Also reminded me of RE.. It felt like your avatar was talking :)

Re: The life and times of...
 

Nice. Timeline was great but the movie sucked.

And James Clavell is great. I have his whole Asian Saga. My girlfriend also got me the made-for-TV movie of Shogun, and we're watching it right now. It's really good, and a nice recap of the book.

Edit: Typhoid - Me, Dylan, and Becky all have it. I'm in the middle of the third one right now though.

Re: The life and times of...
 

I loved Timeline as well. Remember the double-slit experiment that he writes about that proves the existence of the multiverse? He took the diagrams and descriptions straight from The Fabric of Reality. That's actually where I heard of it, from Crichton's bibliography.

Re: The life and times of...
 

If you come over, I'll lend it to you.

Re: The life and times of...
 

Phil, you Dylan and Becky all suck then.
Wtf.
I request a copy of the book from one of you.

Also, Dylan - I believe you will like your birthday present.