non-contradictor

I agree with alann. Who you agree to add is your business. Also, I don't even know how many people will notice that you've ignored their request. It's not as if facebook informs them that they've been rejected (or at least I hope it doesn't). For the future, if you don't want so many friend requests, I would set your privacy settings to be only searchable by your friends, and to only show your profile to friends (if you haven't done this already). Under the "search" category in the privacy settings, you can also uncheck the option to let people friend you from a search. I believe that this makes it impossible for someone else to friend you first, though there may be a loophole (such as linking through a mutual friend).

Thank you very much for the birthday wishes!

Mmm, grilled turkey. My mother made it on the grill one year, and it was amazing. The apple brine sounds especially good, too.

SPOILERS Agreed again. I was very worried until I got to that chapter that he was going to turn out to be all Death Eater after all. The first chapter almost had me in the "Snape is evil" camp. Well, there are my thoughts for now. I'm not sure how coherent I managed to be. It's been months and I'm still changing my mind every so often. But I liked DH. Despite the darkness in the middle, Harry got what he had always wanted in the end. I loved the epilogue. Albus Potter!

Happy Birthday Zak!

Thank you both very much! I love the poem, B. Royce. Thank you.

He wouldn't need to risk his job to get the book now. There are plenty of illegal copies on the web. >.< Someone photographed each page and uploaded it to a filesharing site. The New York Times has already published a review. Scholastic has a lawsuit filed against one source of leaks. This is really ridiculous. I've sworn off everything internet except my e-mail and this forum until after I've gotten my copy. Good for your son! Wish these spoiler people had as much respect. I think I've already been spoiled at least one of the deaths. Course, you can't really tell, can you, until you've got it?

Spoilers Below (and a book 7 theory) They tried to get rid of Kreacher, but Jo told them that that would not, in fact, be a very good idea. (because of book 7). My theory is that Kreacher either has the locket horcrux, or helped RAB (presumably Regulus) to get it. Or both.

Well, Order of the Phoenix [OotP] is my favorite of the series, book-wise, so it was with a bit of trepidation mixed with a lot of excitement that I went to the IMAX theatre at midnight to see it (the IMAX is brilliant, by the way. Ending's in 3D). I'm happy to say, though, that it's also my favorite movie so far. I think they really hit the mark with this one. Spoilers Below I'll start right out and say that they cut a lot of stuff out of this movie, including a lot of material I really wanted to see. I thought Harry's exclusive interview with the Quibbler was inspired, and I was sorry it was cut. However... I don't think any of the things they cut detracted from the movie as a whole. With OotP being over 800 pages, there was no way they were going to fit it all in. What I liked about this movie was how true it stayed to the characters. Luna's ethereal weirdness was spot-on. Umbridge's sickly-sweet poison was enough to have me wanting to throw things at the screen. I loved how there were little hints about what's to come regarding Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny. Ginny's reductor curse was brilliant, as were her jealous looks whenever Cho was mentioned. Also, while the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore still isn't as developed as I would have liked in the movies, I think this one, with Dumbledore's obvious fear in the posession scene, took great strides in moving forward to a place where their interaction in Half-Blood Prince will be believable. I loved the whole posession scene, actually. Harry's warning to Voldemort was just so Harry, even if it wasn't in the book. And then there was Sirius. I have to admit I didn't much care for Gary Oldman as Sirius in Prisoner of Azkaban, but this movie made up for it. From the Christmas scene where Sirius lingers in the back, to the ending where he says "Good one, James," to Harry, I think the movie really brought out the complexity of Sirius' character. He needed that, before the end. I did get the impression, however, that if I hadn't read the books I'd have had no idea what was going on. It's hard for me to tell whether or not the movie would do well as a stand-alone when I just fill in all the gaps automatically. I had a great time, though. Definitely recommend seeing it at the IMAX. (The whole department of mysteries scene is in 3D. It's brilliant!)

My heart goes out to Betsy and all the rest of Stephen's family. I am so very sorry.

Oh no! It is good that the operation went well, though. Get well soon to Stephen, and best wishes to him and his family.

According to my microbiology teacher, this is because toilet seats are generally cleaned with heavy antibacterial soaps, whereas cell phones are generally, well, not. Though as to the harmful/safe issue, I have no idea. I would think that while toilet seats may have a lower concentration of bacteria overall, they would probably have more harmful ones than cell phones. Do you have a link to any of the news sources you mention? The first day of microbiology, we went and streaked various locations in the school for bacteria. I found more on the water fountain than on the garbage can. Yeuch. My teacher said he used to have students streak their mattresses, but then he got complaints about students not being able to sleep so he discontinued that.

I don't know how I missed replying to this before. In any case, thank you. I do too.

This reminds me of referendum time last year when my home district was campaigning for more funds. They were threatening to cut all extracurricular activities if it didn't pass, including sports, and you can imagine what an uproar that caused. The schools can teach absolutely nothing, but threaten to cut sports and the teachers can rally all the parents together to get them more money. I didn't give it too much thought immediately, since I had transferred to a public magnet-type boarding school the year before in an attempt to escape the mind-numbing boredom of the local high school. Anyway, one Saturday morning I go to the door to find my old elementary school vice principal with a campaign sign. I was wearing a class T-shirt for my new school. She commented on it. I couldn't help but smile at the irony. Then she asked my mother whether she could count on a "yes" vote from our family. My mother said no and shut the door on her. Why on earth would we give them more money if they don't deserve the money they've already got? I didn't leave their school system because I thought it was too good. Unfortunately, it passed anyway. Ach, I get so angry when I think about this. I have a cousin who is starting private kindergarten in the fall. She goes to a private day-care/pre-K school at the moment. She loves school now, is always excited to do her homework, and when I think about what will happen to that enthusiasm when she starts off in public school already ahead of everyone and bored... It does make me wonder how many other famous people have called the teacher's unions out. Why are they specifically targeting Jobs for a brand new "award?"

Oh, I believe you, and no offense taken. I was under the impression that Jobs himself had more of a leftist view. I'll have to do some investigating when I get the chance.

That's awesome. I wish it were more well-known. Thanks for sharing! If you read the article, there is a link to a 1996 Wired article where Jobs makes similar statements, as well as some other promising things: He certainly has a good sense of life. P.S. I've been a Mac user for six years, and I'm no leftist.

The smallpox vaccine was developed by the scientist Edward Jenner in 1788. He noticed that people who had become ill with a non-deadly disease known as cowpox had an immunity to the deadly smallpox. This led him to develop a form of vaccine which he used to innoculate an 8-year-old patient with cowpox. The boy failed to contract smallpox even when repeatedly exposed to the virus. However, even in trying to apply this principle to other viruses, there is no guarantee that there will be a so-called "dummy virus" to trick the body into developing an immunity, let alone a non-deadly one. As for whether or not it is possible to develop some other means of tricking the body into developing an immunity, I do not know. Still, I don't think that there is anything inherently wrong in attempting to attack viruses one at a time, at least until we have a principle that can realistically be applied to all other viruses. How else do you propose scientists discover such a principle, other than testing individual viruses?

That's awesome. My (high-school) senior English elective is called "The Idea of the Individual", and we're going to be reading The Fountainhead at the end of the semester. It's nice to hear about it being taught in college. When the teacher first told us we'd be reading The Fountainhead, a debate started on the merits of rational selfishness. I defended it, of course, and two other students did as well. Anyway, later in the class, we were discussing the place of the individual in Christianity and the teacher asked a question about a Bible story. Not one person raised their hand to answer. Guess we have more Objectivist scholars than Christian ones. jedymastyr, do you know anything about how the curriculum is received by the students?

Oh, that's awesome. I'd heard the rumors, but it's official now. Thanks for sharing.

Mmmmm. Coldstone. I love their Cake Batter ice cream, especially when it's in their Birthday Cake Remix or Cherry Cake Double Take mixtures.

Oh. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for letting me know.

Thank you for your kind words. They mean a great deal to me. As my step-dad asked me today: "How does it feel to get exactly what you want?" Perfect.

Thank you for sharing this information. I have liked what I've heard about Harvey. I wouldn't have applied otherwise. It will be a tough decision. (Provided Harvey Mudd accepts me, of course. I don't get that decision until the spring.) However, since I don't want to go into engineering specifically, I think Caltech would be the better option. Plus, some Caltech's programs, like the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) sound brilliant.

Thank you both! I do hope to be around more. I have missed it.

Hello All! My name is Theresa, or Tea. I joined The Forum back in 2005, but the 2005-2006 school year was a rough one for me and I consequently wasn't very active. However... Now I'm a senior in high school, and I've just gotten back an acceptance letter from my first choice school: Caltech. I'm still hyperactive from the excitement. Anyway, I'm hoping to be able to participate a bit more in The Forum this year, and I thought I'd start a thread to say hello, and re-introduce myself. So here goes: My dad's an Ayn Rand fan. I grew up with Atlas Shrugged on the coffee table. Of Ayn Rand's works, I've read: We the Living, The Virtue of Selfishness, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, The Return of the Primitive, The Ayn Rand Lexicon, and Philosophy:Who Needs It?. My passion in life is science; I'm hoping to major in Biochemistry. I want to do pharmaceutical research. However, I'm also currently developing a fascination with physics, particularly quantum mechanics. My roommate and I are doing a research project on the origins of the current interpretation of quantum mechanics. We got the idea after we read Lewis Little's TEW last year. I also love reading, writing, skiing, singing, Harry Potter , and life in general. That's it for now, I think.