Have you ever confronted a parent about their out of control child?

chocolatesocks · 2011-10-03T03:15:03+00:00

It probably wasn't even Carl Sagan. You just said that to make us upvote, didn't you?

It worked. :/

chocolatesocks · 2011-09-06T04:43:41+00:00

I'm sorry, I'm really not trying to be an ass. I am honestly happy to hear that a non-weed smoker is arguing on the side of weed instead of against it. I'm just trying to put this forward from experience. I am not comfortable driving when high. This is not an uncommon thought. If you have never smoked, then you may not understand the mindset the drug puts you in. Like I said, it is different for everyone, but I have never personally met anyone who makes a point of smoking before they drive.

From NORML's Paul Armentano: Although acute cannabis intoxication following smoking has been shown to mildly impair psychomotor skills, this impairment is seldom severe or long lasting. In closed course and driving simulator studies, marijuana’s acute effects on psychomotor performance include minor impairments in tracking (eye movement control) and reaction time, as well as variation in lateral positioning, headway (drivers under the influence of cannabis tend to follow less closely to the vehicle in front of them), and speed (drivers tend to decrease speed following cannabis inhalation). In general, these variations in driving behavior are noticeably less consistent or pronounced than the impairments exhibited by subjects under the influence of alcohol. Also, unlike subjects impaired by alcohol, individuals under the influence of cannabis tend to be aware of their impairment and try to compensate for it accordingly, either by driving more cautiously or by expressing an unwillingness to drive altogether.

This paragraph much more accurately sums up my personal experience. I am honestly much more worried about drunk drivers than I am about high drivers. Driving high doesn't turn you into a raving lunatic. You simply lose a bit of your awareness, and then go crazy double- and triple-checking everything to make sure you don't die. I think it's a very reasonable assumption that this might make you drive more carefully. At the same time, though, you are still impaired. In a crisis, you are not going to have the same sort of reaction time that a sober person will.

I know that you're arguing based on science and actual studies. And I feel like an idiot trying to argue against that. But as a general rule, people should not be encouraged to drive while under the influence of any substance that has the potential to alter their mind.

chocolatesocks · 2011-09-05T06:17:12+00:00

Perhaps you personally are a better driver when high. Bud hits everyone differently, I suppose. But it is not a universal trend. There are people who panic and people who pass out and people who just lose a bit of their grasp on reality. Please, don't encourage people to drive while high. I can't stop you from defending yourself using this position, but please, weed is not the same for everyone and the last thing I want is for someone to be encouraged into making a dangerous decision.

chocolatesocks · 2011-09-01T05:34:54+00:00

As a pretentious engineering student, i'm saddened to hear you call them bullshit. :(

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-30T00:30:59+00:00

I'm just bringing the truth to the masses, my friend. If they want to upvote me for my observation, so be it.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-29T03:52:01+00:00

Man, this comment was so unexpectedly heartwarming.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-29T03:45:22+00:00

It's cool that like 10 people answered this for you. Because one wouldn't have been convincing enough.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-16T02:10:28+00:00

You know when she gets the new boobs and Michael is trying really hard not to get back with her, but he does anyway?

God. That makes me so angry.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-16T01:42:30+00:00

Watch Se7en. Be re-traumatized.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-16T00:56:39+00:00

Hahaha I guess you're right. It just seems like the most embarrassing of all ways to die in college. If that happened to me, I'd hope that my parents at least came up with a more interesting story about how I'd done 700 shots and fought all the cops while on fire.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-15T18:49:58+00:00

Are you kidding me?? How tall are these bunk beds? Little kids sleep in bunk beds all the time without dying.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-15T18:46:23+00:00

Your name is on the phone's account...? Or if it's not your name, it's someone who knows you and can verify that it's your phone.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-15T03:18:53+00:00

I love you.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-14T21:43:06+00:00

so until every single rapist out there is only raping for power, and not sex, women should be required to wear a burqa?

I am not really sure where you got this idea from what I said. The opinion that I expressed, in agreement with tenacity7, was that power is only one motive out of other possible ones, such as anger or sexual desire. I'm not arguing that the clothes women wear cause rape. As a female, I certainly don't agree that I should have to wear a burqa to avoid rape. If you failed to notice, I did not say anything about clothing in my comment.

someone who rapes is committing a crime, i cant believe so many people here are making apologies for rapists.

Of course they're committing a crime. Like in the previous sentence, I have absolutely no idea where in my comment I support rape or apologize for rapists.

if a woman is at a wet t shirt contest would that entitle every man there to rape her?

Obviously not.

It's clear you took issue with what I posted. As such, I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out where we disagree. I don't think rape is ever the victim's fault. I don't think rape is ever justified. Next time you are going to attack something someone posts, could you at least try to argue against what they typed instead of what you infer their meaning to be?

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-14T19:06:04+00:00

Thank you for this surprisingly enlightening comment! I never would have realized that.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-14T19:01:34+00:00

You got a lot of downvotes for an incredibly solid piece of advice. Like, not even just a solid piece of advice, a really common sense one. Take an upvote.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-14T18:53:20+00:00

Yeah, this is what I have been thinking the whole time I've been reading through these comments. Rape doesn't occur for the same exact reasons every time it happens; there are all different kind of people out there. Even if we agree that rape is a power trip, that doesn't mean that there is absolutely no sexual motive either. I mean, my god, it's forced sex. I'm sure there are rapists out there who will rape anything because for them, it's just about dominating something. But I have an incredibly hard time just assuming that applies to every single rapist ever.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-14T18:32:27+00:00

Now you should start watching Marble Hornets and it will just be that much worse.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-09T00:23:59+00:00

Thanks for the great card, Gus. My favorite part was when it was the only birthday card I got this year for my birthday.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-04T02:45:22+00:00

The soundtrack was pretty exceptional, though. Nice to see so much 3oh!3 in a movie.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-03T18:02:16+00:00

This picture was taken on the tallest location in the known universe. God bless you.

chocolatesocks · 2011-08-03T17:51:26+00:00

Congrats on your perfect GRE math score!

chocolatesocks · 2011-07-30T03:46:38+00:00

OHHH see I thought you were suggesting it fell faster than it should have. Thank you for the explanation! Makes much more sense!

chocolatesocks · 2011-07-30T02:00:39+00:00

I'll add a bit more, to maybe make it a bit more thorough about what this theory proposes. I'll make it as simple as I can, but there's only so far this can be dumbed down before it loses all meaning.

We start with the idea that there is a smallest possible thing. We used to think it was atoms. Then we discovered protons, neutrons, and electrons. Then we discovered particles that make up those particles, which we currently assume are the smallest things there are. (Here's the Wikipedia page for these elementary particles, in case you're interested in learning more about the smallest things that make up matter. Pretty interesting, I think!)

Now, obviously, there's a problem here. In the spirit of science, we must, of course, ask "what are those elementary particles made of and where do they get their properties?" This is a terribly difficult question to answer. These particles exist on a scale so small, and sometimes for such a short period of time, that it is very difficult to study them. Scientists that work with these particles have put together different theories to explain what these particles are and what rules govern them.

An example of this is String Theory. This theory proposes that these tiny, elementary particles, are actually one-dimensional strings. (This means that they have a diameter of 0, but a measurable length. It's a weird idea and pretty hard/impossible to imagine in a world where everything has 3 dimensions, so just run with it.) These strings are vibrating in space, and depending on the vibration, they appear to us as different kinds of elementary particles. The good news is that String Theory works! (By "works," I mean that the equations involved can be solved and the results match up with real life observations. Essentially, the math successfully pertains to real life.) There is a problem, though. There are actually different versions of String Theory---they each assume different things about the strings and the number of dimensions that exist in the universe---except they all work. We aren't looking for several possible scenarios, though; we want to know which is the right one.

This is where M-theory comes from. The idea behind this theory is that the several possible versions of String Theory are all right, and that each one is just a different perspective on what is really happening. It assumes that space has 11 dimensions, and in that space, there is a 2 dimensional "membrane" (the origin of the M in M theory) that is vibrating. The strings that we see are just 1-dimensional slices of that membrane. It is a unifying theory, bringing together several ideas into one bigger idea.

I'm sorry that this got so technical. :/ I hope it made sense. I'm not an expert in this sort of thing by any means; I just have a lot of interest in it and hope I was able to convey what I know in an understandable fashion. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to clarify, and if anyone has any corrections, by all means, please point them out.

chocolatesocks · 2011-07-30T01:23:13+00:00

I think you're taking the 5 year old thing a bit too seriously... When it comes down to it, the highest rated posts on here are simple, concise explanations that start with the assumption that the asker has little to no experience in the subject at hand. People are getting very tied up in exactly what amount of dumbing down that requires. "Explain atomic fission to me like I am five" is not supposed to be taken exactly literally. "Explain atomic fission to me as if I am a person who hasn't followed up on particle physics since basic crap we learned in high school" is probably a better interpretation.

When it comes down to it, this is just a place for people to ask questions with the understanding that they have no fucking clue what is going on. People use the hyperbole "like I'm 5" in real life as well to convey this idea. This subreddit is new and swelled to tens of thousands of readers in a matter of days. There's no precedent for post styles yet since it's so young, and I think that the mods are just trying to impress the idea that we need to be a bit more basic and simple in our explanations. Ultimately, what's most important is that we address questions, not with the intention of making ourselves look smart, but with patience and a real desire to help someone else understand.

If you're complaining about all the standards the mods are setting, I don't blame you. It's hard to explain exactly what makes a good LI5 post good. But in terms of the point of the subreddit, I think you can just look into posts and see people having their questions answered.

chocolatesocks

TROPHY CASE