Honestly, I haven't been a solely Nintendo guy since the NES was at it's height. I went the Sega Genesis route when it released and then to the Sony Playstation in the mid 90's. I've been a Sony guy ever since, though I do own a GBA SP.
Right now I'm on the bandwagon for the Playstation 3, but all of these innovations are making me reconsider. I have seen a ton of great games for the N64 and GameCube, and no doubt those franchises and new ones will be made with the Revolution. While I really want to stick with the games on Sony's train like the Armored Core or Castlevania series, Nintendo might put up some serious competition and I might find myself buying both. My wallet could be hurting when I get back from Iraq.
It is my firm belief that if a kid wants to do something, he's going to do it regardless of what ratings or his parents say about it.
My parents may or may not have been concerned with the video games I grew up with (the 80s and early 90s were different). You could, however, expect some titles to be obviously violent. Robocop, Rampage, anything with "Ninja" in the title, etc. I don't think that parents would expect anything less than Robocop going around shooting baddies and Ninjas cutting stuff up with swords in these cases.
I think the ESRB does a fine job in defining the normally available content in a game. You can't say "this is good enough for every person above 13" definitely. Maturity level matters way more than actual age in years for children. I know full grown adults who are less mature than a 13 year old in many regards...sadly. The politicians and naysayers should just get off their high horses as far as this is concerned. Let the players decide whether a game is right for them.
It's that old saying: "Find a job you love and you'll never work another day in your life." I feel this is true, but the number of people who actually have that one job that satisfies them completely is few and far between.
You need to consider what you enjoy more. Is it the money that you like, the tasks that you're accomplishing, or the people you work with that means the most in your workplace? Perhaps the benefits or vacation time are extremely good. There's a chance that you may or may not like the new job better.
For me, the social work environment has to be good. If I don't get along with the people I work with, I won't be as effective in my job. Currently, I would put my life on the line for the people I work with.
The tasks themselves just need to keep me busy without being nonsensical. This goes either way in my line of work...I get stupid BS and then I get things I like doing.
The money...am doing quite well considering my relatively low-paying job. I am single and have zero obligations. I've already got a strong financial future planned although I'm not quite 23 years old.
The point is, you find a job that works for you. You won't be happy in every aspect, because life isn't likely to deal a good hand every time. If you're happy, stay. If you think you will become unhappy where you are or will find greater happiness in another venture, then by all means change. Go with your gut, whatever it tells you.
I believe me I'd rather NOT be here. It's not a pretty place, I'm 6000 miles away from everything and everyone I love, and I've been within blast range of indirect fire on more than one occasion. Not cool. There is, however, a mission that needs to be completed and I'm going to do my job until my duties are over. Overall though, I feel we're doing the right things...just perhaps we do them in the wrong way. The start of the war in Iraq had it's reasons but we should've been out of here a long time ago.
I am an open minded person and I do not start fights - I just finish them when I have to. It's not like we go around just pulling the trigger at a whim, there's a little thing called Rules Of Engagement we have to follow. The people who get killed by Americans are either considered hostiles (clearly defined in RoE) or very unfortunate collateral damage.
Violence is not always the answer, but sometimes it is the only answer your adversaries will understand. How do you explain to a Jihadist who is willing to kill himself, because he believes unshakably that he will go to paradise, not to fight against you? "Oh we're sorry, we won't be a big mean antagonist anymore." ? You say that, he levels his AK-47 at your face, and you tell me...what is YOUR course of action?
I agree with your point being anti-war when there is no need for war - but I will defend my family and friends tooth and nail. Thou Shalt Not Murder.
One reason to hate us, we're the richest and we're the superpower. People hate the popular. Jealousy rears its ugly head. Sure America has its flaws, there is no question there.
Unfortunately it's hard to describe time with a doctor or nurse while you have a cathater in your vein with an IV and pneumonia in a hospital in Georgia as "A good time".
They do some truly great work and they improve the lives of people they work with, and I have a lot of respect for all of them. Someone who simply won a contest on Survivor or ran 4 touchdowns in the championship game doesn't impress me.
Tell me why we're sending tax-paying volunteers called US Military into dozens of countries, routing and killing terrorists?
Oh yeah, it's because the threat is to Americans (and our allies...but they're not first priority). Would you rather have the poorly funded and undermanned law enforcement/military of countries such as Iraq take care of the threats to United States citizens & soldiers?
Then I suppose I shouldn't be deployed to Iraq right now, nor should all of my brothers in arms.
You want something done right? You've gotta do it yourself.
I wouldn't confuse mass hysteria and mass paranoia. Hysteria would be when the shit already happens and people have no idea what to do out of sheer panic.
In what world do you live in where women can drive? I know a whopping two who can drive well. Being a soldier, I'll take my chances with the AI in control.
Dunno...some of our leaders wouldn't want to have to reorder the parts required to fix/replace said robots. They might send in the troops anyway. We're expendable apparently.
Franchises like FuddRucker's often offer the Buffalo Burger. I worked at one in New Jersey when I was in high school and we served Buffalo and Ostrich too. They're way better than beef, albeit more expensive. I'm not sure how many buffalo ranches there are in New England, but I'd assume they can ship the meat from anywhere in the country and keep it fresh.
The entire Castlevania series, mainly Symphony of the Night.
Megaman 2 - the music is the best, I'm actually listening to the Minibosses "Megaman 2" song now.
Final Fantasy - Tactics is my favorite in the entire series, but FF4 was my fave out of the numbered FFs
Grant Theft Auto - Just because it's great to jack cars and blow stuff up.
Diablo 1 and 2 w/ expansions - no explanation required, I think.
Starcraft Brood War and Warcraft 3
Knights of the Old Republic 2 - I love screwing with the other character's emotions and turning them whichever way I like in order to do my bidding:) Call me a sadist? Sure.
Contra, the orininal.
Gradius series + Life Force
Double Dragon II
I'll end it here, but I'm sure there are more. I just can't think of the list because I don't have it right next to me. I can always come back to those games though, some of them for nostalgic reasons and some just because they are THAT good. IMHO a lot of game producers are making total crap these days, so when something decent comes out everyone raves about it like it's the hottest shit since sliced bread.
I've got a Sharp TV at home. When it's on, you hear that distinct oscillation noise that all CRTs make when they're on. As soon as I hit the "power" button however, the sucker is still making that noise. I had assumed it was a standby feature to warm the tube up faster, but if it could be using up to 2/3 of its normal energy I'm just going to cut its juice from now on. At least my ooooold 19" Panasonic TV turns completely off when I hit the button. Old Reliable:)
Now that I sit and think about it, I burn a lot of energy when I'm back in the States...Cell Phone/PSP charging, sound system, if I forget to turn off the lights, broadband modem, router. I leave my computer(s) on, with standby features like monitors off and all that jazz. I wonder just how much power all that uses? I'll do an experiment with that for a month and see how much money I can save once I return home.
I just firmly believe that if its your time to die, you're going to die regardless.
I'm really not sure how to respond to this, as the basic premise is completely alien to me, but since it's a philosophical viewpoint I think that ultimately everyone needs to decide for themselves what value they place on their own life, so I respect your right to make that determination for yourself.
Well considering what I've seen in my life, it's my personal belief that you cannot control when you die - fate's gonna get you. Being in the military I've seen things the normal citizen will never see in their lifetime, I've been with in a hair's breadth of being the one who got hit with a mortar or some other explosive. I'm still here, so I take it as this simple idea: it wasn't my time. Not entirely too irrational now, is it?
That's a subjective assessment. In my opinion, rotting in the ground and having everything that I've learned and become being reduced to worm food in truly creepy!
I have to ask- do you find organ transplants "creepy"? How about artificial limbs?
Organ transplants have been around since before I was born, and since they're internal you can't know that someone has another person's body part unless you're told so. Prosthesis has also been around, but having that be so visible most of the time, I do find it a little creepy. Not in the creepy that I get scared when I see it, but I think about the situation in which they lost their own limb and had to receive a prosthetic one. Again, most of whom I see are soldiers with a severed limb and it troubles me a little.
Fanatics indeed. I'm willing to accept that you feel an urge to die at some divinely-determined time. In return, I respectfully request that you keep the torches and pitchforks to yourself and allow the rest of us to live our lives as we see fit.
Like I said, when it's my time to go, it's my time. Nothing I can do to change that. I won't be the one torching and pitchforking Count Dracula's frozen body with the mob, but I see it as a possibility.
I learned Chess first through my older cousin, I was 7 or 8 at the time. He is about 12 years older than me, and he was in West Point at the time - on leave for a holiday or something like that. He was, and still is to this day, my mentor and someone I look up to very much.
The point is, it's much better to learn how to play initially through social means than a computer program. People are more fun and better teachers than computers, in my opinion. After that you can go to Yahoo! chess and learn the intricacies.
Games which are heavily endorsed will receive much more attention, of course. CounterStrike, for example, had a huge following of dedicated gamers well before it was ever picked up officially by Valve. Day of Defeat had a decent sized following before it got picked up as well. With this "revelation" however, people will be attracted to the games in which they think could potentially earn them money or make them famous (silly isn't it?) rather than playing games in which they simply enjoy. It'll be difficult to put the game in gaming if this goes full-scale. I already know teams who compete in tournaments like CAL and CPL for a shot at winning some money and popularity...a lot of them don't even enjoy the games they play, it's like they're working rather than playing.
If more games had a shot at being put on the big screen, so as to diversify the content, this wouldn't be so bad. It would also give pr0 gamers more variety in their goals, rather than just playing CS, Painkiller, or Unreal.
Making the average score lower, but still out of 10 shouldn't make much of a difference.
What if magazines/reviewers just decided to increase their maximum score without upping the aggregate average?...but this volume goes to 11, see?
I just firmly believe that if its your time to die, you're going to die regardless. Sure, we may have the technology to fix 'er up one day, but would you really want to get dunked in liquid nitrogen only to wake up many years later in the same old decrepit body suffering of the same arthritis and whatnot? They would have to find cures for all of your ailments and old age, or they would need to clone you or place your memories and consciousness into a host body (be it organic or otherwise). Creepy.
I'll take my chances with dying naturally.
And if cryonics ever becomes a real problem, I'm sure there will be fanatics and anti-corpsiclists (new word) to mob in and torch the homosapien iceboxes.
I've been dabbling with IM/Chat/VOIP programs for many years now, and I haven't found too many problems with Xfire. I do like the fact that I don't get alt-tabbed out of my games when a message pops up - having the old Rainbow Six series of games get closed out when you got an IM was pretty damn annoying. I've even used Xfire like a VOIP program to talk to my family back home (I am in the military and currently deployed).
It's free, and I can't complain about that either:) Now if only it had an option like TeamSpeak or Ventrilo where you could host a Voice server and connect through it - I probably wouldn't use any other program for gaming voip.
If people in general were not so stupid, lazy, and irresponsible, we wouldn't have so many fatasses in the states. There would not be nearly as much obesity and therefore Heart Disease would be less prevalent.
If people would walk, bike, run, or skate to their destinations more often we would have less of an obesity problem also. Moderation in everything, including moderation.
Cities DO have areas which are not polluted by car exhaust and other harmful things. Have you ever been to Manhattan? There's a small place called Central Park which can be accessed pretty quickly from just about the entire borough. Even in the areas further from Central Park are smaller parks and recreational areas within the apartment complexes. This is not the only city I have been to with recreational areas. In South Korea there is Seoul, Daegu, Pusan, Chinhae and countless other cities with parks. I have seen all of those as well, and they are nice. I have no doubt that most major cities have areas reserved for just that reason.
I don't get the feeling that I'm being gagged by diesel exhaust unless a bus just drives in front of me while accelerating, no matter which place I'm in. If it were such a big concern, more people would be getting carbon monoxide poisoning.
As far as immunity and resistance, I chose my words poorly:P Sorry about that.
With regard to antibiotics and other drugs I simply did not distinguish , since we were on the subject of antibiotics.
Being in the military they issue out antibiotics like candy. Keflex, Penecillin, Amoxicillin, Z-Max, and some of the other stronger ones. Something that is clearly viral will still receive meds that will do nothing to fight the infection itself (that's how I understand it). It is free for us and doctors/medics just put them out there to make their job easier and to process patients more quickly. It's as easy as going to the store and getting Over The Counter drugs. It may not be as prevalent outside military life, but many doctors still presribe antibio's for illnesses which will not benefit the patient. Not to discredit people in the medical field, but as everywhere some individuals just don't know how to do their jobs properly, or choose not to for the sake of ease.
I'm attempting to stay somewhat on topic here, so I'll not get into an agrument of ethics and personal health. 'Nuff said.
I'm not surprised in the least. Having studied Forensic science - not quite as detailed as microbiology - I know a little about this subject. Organisms living in soil are exposed to numerous chemicals and other species, it's a wonder that they're not immune to even more antibiotics and disinfectant chemicals.
Another point: are these same resistant organisms hostile towards humans? They could simply exist without needing us in the least. They could also be beneficial, like the organisms which live inside and outside of our bodies; symbiotes.
I think what is worse than bacteria becoming resistant to the drugs we use is our haste to use such drugs. People are far too dependent on prescription and over-the-counter medications these days, even if it is known that said medications will not cure or even treat the symptoms. Zithromax is not a proper prescription for the common cold (I have been prescribed this by Army doctors, for exactly this reason). I'm a fan of the placebo - let them think it will work, and chances are it will.
Slashdot Mirror
Honestly, I haven't been a solely Nintendo guy since the NES was at it's height. I went the Sega Genesis route when it released and then to the Sony Playstation in the mid 90's. I've been a Sony guy ever since, though I do own a GBA SP.
Right now I'm on the bandwagon for the Playstation 3, but all of these innovations are making me reconsider. I have seen a ton of great games for the N64 and GameCube, and no doubt those franchises and new ones will be made with the Revolution. While I really want to stick with the games on Sony's train like the Armored Core or Castlevania series, Nintendo might put up some serious competition and I might find myself buying both. My wallet could be hurting when I get back from Iraq.
It is my firm belief that if a kid wants to do something, he's going to do it regardless of what ratings or his parents say about it.
My parents may or may not have been concerned with the video games I grew up with (the 80s and early 90s were different). You could, however, expect some titles to be obviously violent. Robocop, Rampage, anything with "Ninja" in the title, etc. I don't think that parents would expect anything less than Robocop going around shooting baddies and Ninjas cutting stuff up with swords in these cases.
I think the ESRB does a fine job in defining the normally available content in a game. You can't say "this is good enough for every person above 13" definitely. Maturity level matters way more than actual age in years for children. I know full grown adults who are less mature than a 13 year old in many regards...sadly. The politicians and naysayers should just get off their high horses as far as this is concerned. Let the players decide whether a game is right for them.
It's that old saying: "Find a job you love and you'll never work another day in your life." I feel this is true, but the number of people who actually have that one job that satisfies them completely is few and far between.
You need to consider what you enjoy more. Is it the money that you like, the tasks that you're accomplishing, or the people you work with that means the most in your workplace? Perhaps the benefits or vacation time are extremely good. There's a chance that you may or may not like the new job better.
For me, the social work environment has to be good. If I don't get along with the people I work with, I won't be as effective in my job. Currently, I would put my life on the line for the people I work with.
The tasks themselves just need to keep me busy without being nonsensical. This goes either way in my line of work...I get stupid BS and then I get things I like doing.
The money...am doing quite well considering my relatively low-paying job. I am single and have zero obligations. I've already got a strong financial future planned although I'm not quite 23 years old.
The point is, you find a job that works for you. You won't be happy in every aspect, because life isn't likely to deal a good hand every time. If you're happy, stay. If you think you will become unhappy where you are or will find greater happiness in another venture, then by all means change. Go with your gut, whatever it tells you.
I believe me I'd rather NOT be here. It's not a pretty place, I'm 6000 miles away from everything and everyone I love, and I've been within blast range of indirect fire on more than one occasion. Not cool. There is, however, a mission that needs to be completed and I'm going to do my job until my duties are over. Overall though, I feel we're doing the right things...just perhaps we do them in the wrong way. The start of the war in Iraq had it's reasons but we should've been out of here a long time ago.
I am an open minded person and I do not start fights - I just finish them when I have to. It's not like we go around just pulling the trigger at a whim, there's a little thing called Rules Of Engagement we have to follow. The people who get killed by Americans are either considered hostiles (clearly defined in RoE) or very unfortunate collateral damage.
Violence is not always the answer, but sometimes it is the only answer your adversaries will understand. How do you explain to a Jihadist who is willing to kill himself, because he believes unshakably that he will go to paradise, not to fight against you? "Oh we're sorry, we won't be a big mean antagonist anymore." ? You say that, he levels his AK-47 at your face, and you tell me...what is YOUR course of action? I agree with your point being anti-war when there is no need for war - but I will defend my family and friends tooth and nail. Thou Shalt Not Murder.
One reason to hate us, we're the richest and we're the superpower. People hate the popular. Jealousy rears its ugly head. Sure America has its flaws, there is no question there.
Unfortunately it's hard to describe time with a doctor or nurse while you have a cathater in your vein with an IV and pneumonia in a hospital in Georgia as "A good time".
They do some truly great work and they improve the lives of people they work with, and I have a lot of respect for all of them. Someone who simply won a contest on Survivor or ran 4 touchdowns in the championship game doesn't impress me.
Tell me why we're sending tax-paying volunteers called US Military into dozens of countries, routing and killing terrorists?
Oh yeah, it's because the threat is to Americans (and our allies...but they're not first priority). Would you rather have the poorly funded and undermanned law enforcement/military of countries such as Iraq take care of the threats to United States citizens & soldiers?
Then I suppose I shouldn't be deployed to Iraq right now, nor should all of my brothers in arms.
You want something done right? You've gotta do it yourself.
I wouldn't confuse mass hysteria and mass paranoia. Hysteria would be when the shit already happens and people have no idea what to do out of sheer panic.
In what world do you live in where women can drive? I know a whopping two who can drive well. Being a soldier, I'll take my chances with the AI in control.
Dunno...some of our leaders wouldn't want to have to reorder the parts required to fix/replace said robots. They might send in the troops anyway. We're expendable apparently.
Franchises like FuddRucker's often offer the Buffalo Burger. I worked at one in New Jersey when I was in high school and we served Buffalo and Ostrich too. They're way better than beef, albeit more expensive. I'm not sure how many buffalo ranches there are in New England, but I'd assume they can ship the meat from anywhere in the country and keep it fresh.
Mmmm...buffalo-y
Games I always come back to:
:) Call me a sadist? Sure.
The entire Castlevania series, mainly Symphony of the Night.
Megaman 2 - the music is the best, I'm actually listening to the Minibosses "Megaman 2" song now.
Final Fantasy - Tactics is my favorite in the entire series, but FF4 was my fave out of the numbered FFs
Grant Theft Auto - Just because it's great to jack cars and blow stuff up.
Diablo 1 and 2 w/ expansions - no explanation required, I think.
Starcraft Brood War and Warcraft 3
Knights of the Old Republic 2 - I love screwing with the other character's emotions and turning them whichever way I like in order to do my bidding
Contra, the orininal.
Gradius series + Life Force
Double Dragon II
I'll end it here, but I'm sure there are more. I just can't think of the list because I don't have it right next to me. I can always come back to those games though, some of them for nostalgic reasons and some just because they are THAT good. IMHO a lot of game producers are making total crap these days, so when something decent comes out everyone raves about it like it's the hottest shit since sliced bread.
I've got a Sharp TV at home. When it's on, you hear that distinct oscillation noise that all CRTs make when they're on. As soon as I hit the "power" button however, the sucker is still making that noise. I had assumed it was a standby feature to warm the tube up faster, but if it could be using up to 2/3 of its normal energy I'm just going to cut its juice from now on. At least my ooooold 19" Panasonic TV turns completely off when I hit the button. Old Reliable :)
Now that I sit and think about it, I burn a lot of energy when I'm back in the States...Cell Phone/PSP charging, sound system, if I forget to turn off the lights, broadband modem, router. I leave my computer(s) on, with standby features like monitors off and all that jazz. I wonder just how much power all that uses? I'll do an experiment with that for a month and see how much money I can save once I return home.
I just firmly believe that if its your time to die, you're going to die regardless.
I'm really not sure how to respond to this, as the basic premise is completely alien to me, but since it's a philosophical viewpoint I think that ultimately everyone needs to decide for themselves what value they place on their own life, so I respect your right to make that determination for yourself.
Well considering what I've seen in my life, it's my personal belief that you cannot control when you die - fate's gonna get you. Being in the military I've seen things the normal citizen will never see in their lifetime, I've been with in a hair's breadth of being the one who got hit with a mortar or some other explosive. I'm still here, so I take it as this simple idea: it wasn't my time. Not entirely too irrational now, is it?
That's a subjective assessment. In my opinion, rotting in the ground and having everything that I've learned and become being reduced to worm food in truly creepy!
I have to ask- do you find organ transplants "creepy"? How about artificial limbs?
Organ transplants have been around since before I was born, and since they're internal you can't know that someone has another person's body part unless you're told so. Prosthesis has also been around, but having that be so visible most of the time, I do find it a little creepy. Not in the creepy that I get scared when I see it, but I think about the situation in which they lost their own limb and had to receive a prosthetic one. Again, most of whom I see are soldiers with a severed limb and it troubles me a little.
Fanatics indeed. I'm willing to accept that you feel an urge to die at some divinely-determined time. In return, I respectfully request that you keep the torches and pitchforks to yourself and allow the rest of us to live our lives as we see fit.
Like I said, when it's my time to go, it's my time. Nothing I can do to change that. I won't be the one torching and pitchforking Count Dracula's frozen body with the mob, but I see it as a possibility.
Spaceborne Trailer Park. All that would be there is trash, seems fitting enough.
I learned Chess first through my older cousin, I was 7 or 8 at the time. He is about 12 years older than me, and he was in West Point at the time - on leave for a holiday or something like that. He was, and still is to this day, my mentor and someone I look up to very much.
The point is, it's much better to learn how to play initially through social means than a computer program. People are more fun and better teachers than computers, in my opinion. After that you can go to Yahoo! chess and learn the intricacies.
This could be both good and bad.
Games which are heavily endorsed will receive much more attention, of course. CounterStrike, for example, had a huge following of dedicated gamers well before it was ever picked up officially by Valve. Day of Defeat had a decent sized following before it got picked up as well. With this "revelation" however, people will be attracted to the games in which they think could potentially earn them money or make them famous (silly isn't it?) rather than playing games in which they simply enjoy. It'll be difficult to put the game in gaming if this goes full-scale.
I already know teams who compete in tournaments like CAL and CPL for a shot at winning some money and popularity...a lot of them don't even enjoy the games they play, it's like they're working rather than playing.
If more games had a shot at being put on the big screen, so as to diversify the content, this wouldn't be so bad. It would also give pr0 gamers more variety in their goals, rather than just playing CS, Painkiller, or Unreal.
Making the average score lower, but still out of 10 shouldn't make much of a difference. What if magazines/reviewers just decided to increase their maximum score without upping the aggregate average? ...but this volume goes to 11, see?
I just firmly believe that if its your time to die, you're going to die regardless. Sure, we may have the technology to fix 'er up one day, but would you really want to get dunked in liquid nitrogen only to wake up many years later in the same old decrepit body suffering of the same arthritis and whatnot? They would have to find cures for all of your ailments and old age, or they would need to clone you or place your memories and consciousness into a host body (be it organic or otherwise). Creepy.
I'll take my chances with dying naturally.
And if cryonics ever becomes a real problem, I'm sure there will be fanatics and anti-corpsiclists (new word) to mob in and torch the homosapien iceboxes.
...but when he wakes up he finds out his money has come back to get him
I've been dabbling with IM/Chat/VOIP programs for many years now, and I haven't found too many problems with Xfire. I do like the fact that I don't get alt-tabbed out of my games when a message pops up - having the old Rainbow Six series of games get closed out when you got an IM was pretty damn annoying. I've even used Xfire like a VOIP program to talk to my family back home (I am in the military and currently deployed). It's free, and I can't complain about that either :) Now if only it had an option like TeamSpeak or Ventrilo where you could host a Voice server and connect through it - I probably wouldn't use any other program for gaming voip.
If people in general were not so stupid, lazy, and irresponsible, we wouldn't have so many fatasses in the states. There would not be nearly as much obesity and therefore Heart Disease would be less prevalent.
If people would walk, bike, run, or skate to their destinations more often we would have less of an obesity problem also. Moderation in everything, including moderation.
Cities DO have areas which are not polluted by car exhaust and other harmful things. Have you ever been to Manhattan? There's a small place called Central Park which can be accessed pretty quickly from just about the entire borough. Even in the areas further from Central Park are smaller parks and recreational areas within the apartment complexes. This is not the only city I have been to with recreational areas. In South Korea there is Seoul, Daegu, Pusan, Chinhae and countless other cities with parks. I have seen all of those as well, and they are nice. I have no doubt that most major cities have areas reserved for just that reason.
I don't get the feeling that I'm being gagged by diesel exhaust unless a bus just drives in front of me while accelerating, no matter which place I'm in. If it were such a big concern, more people would be getting carbon monoxide poisoning.
A lier is one who lies.
How tautologically spoken.
As far as immunity and resistance, I chose my words poorly :P Sorry about that.
With regard to antibiotics and other drugs I simply did not distinguish , since we were on the subject of antibiotics.
Being in the military they issue out antibiotics like candy. Keflex, Penecillin, Amoxicillin, Z-Max, and some of the other stronger ones. Something that is clearly viral will still receive meds that will do nothing to fight the infection itself (that's how I understand it). It is free for us and doctors/medics just put them out there to make their job easier and to process patients more quickly. It's as easy as going to the store and getting Over The Counter drugs.
It may not be as prevalent outside military life, but many doctors still presribe antibio's for illnesses which will not benefit the patient. Not to discredit people in the medical field, but as everywhere some individuals just don't know how to do their jobs properly, or choose not to for the sake of ease.
I'm attempting to stay somewhat on topic here, so I'll not get into an agrument of ethics and personal health. 'Nuff said.
Nature will find a way...
I'm not surprised in the least. Having studied Forensic science - not quite as detailed as microbiology - I know a little about this subject. Organisms living in soil are exposed to numerous chemicals and other species, it's a wonder that they're not immune to even more antibiotics and disinfectant chemicals.
Another point: are these same resistant organisms hostile towards humans? They could simply exist without needing us in the least. They could also be beneficial, like the organisms which live inside and outside of our bodies; symbiotes.
I think what is worse than bacteria becoming resistant to the drugs we use is our haste to use such drugs. People are far too dependent on prescription and over-the-counter medications these days, even if it is known that said medications will not cure or even treat the symptoms. Zithromax is not a proper prescription for the common cold (I have been prescribed this by Army doctors, for exactly this reason). I'm a fan of the placebo - let them think it will work, and chances are it will.