I heart you.

Of course she needs to take care of her kid. And single mothers who don't have the dads stick around DO. Are you saying they don't? Saying that it's a 50/50 deal makes me misandric? I'd say the opposite. Children need a father in their lives, imho, and the world would be a better place if more men stepped up to the plate. it's *getting* better, but it needs work.

I don't know what women you've met in life, but I assure you, I ain't one of them. Neither are many. Have you ever thought that your selection and choices are messed-up and you're honing in on the WRONG chicks? I hooked up with a great guy, a real, 100% geek, while nearly all of my friends decided to moon over the Bad Boys. I get jealous looks from them, especially from the single mother demographic, but I don't say, "Yea, men are assholes," but "Well, you made the choices."

It's not being PC, that's not how I meant it. Of course we're different. It still stands, though; a lot of men would see this form of contraception as an intrusion. Most men I know are really good people, but get squeamish about body issues, even if it's their own. That's only one set of experiences from one person, but... yea.

My husband watched my c-section, though. He doesn't fall into that category, lol.

One time discomfort? What do you think boobs are, detachable?

And seriously, I don't know what your mom or girlfriend or babysitter did to you, but your martyr complex needs some attention. Do you honestly think all women get by on their looks and bodies, even when it comes to jobs (that, might I add, women get paid less than men in most cases, even when they work just as hard) and working on relationships? That's a crock. Maybe SOME do, but tons of men are just as asshole-y.

I've worked hard for everything I have. I made the right choices in almost every area, and while life isn't perfect, I'm not about to blame an entire race, sex or demographic for the crap in my life. I could sit here myself and complain, whine and make blanket statements about men, how my daddy cheated on my mom, broke up their marriage then left us in the lurch never paying a cent for my upbringing, or how half the guys I tried dating were only in it for the sex, whatever else. But... see, I don't do that. I'd rather take a scientific view, wherein I don't judge an entire people based on a small, insignificant set of personal experiences. Try doing that for yourself.

And may I add: by "stupid-ridiculous body issues" I meant an upheaval of your body's system. Getting boobs is a Big Deal. Try being a sixth grade girl with D-cups then get back to me.

I have DOUBLE-Ds, honey. E-cups when I was pregnant.

Perhaps, but for a married couple who don't want any more kids, or ANY kids altogether, it can be beneficial to their love lives if one or both uses oral contraceptives. And really, MOST women (though not all, unfortunately) understand that birth control pills don't prevent STDs, but we take it anyway AND condom use is encouraged.

What is this, this putting his wallet in involuntarily? Are you talking about the woman getting pregnant and the man having to pay child support? Well... um, if the man in this hypothetical situation was raped for that there sperm, then sure--he shouldn't pay a red cent. If he wasn't, then he needs to re-enroll in his sixth grade health class to learn that when you stick your junk in a vagina, it may produce a pregnancy.

Seriously. This argument is so old and so tiresome. If you get a woman pregnant, that's your kid. You need to take care of your kid. Is that too hard a concept to grasp?

I thought they could do a reversal for those who changed their minds? Either way, I think more and more men are evolving past their insecurities with body issues and it MAY catch on. Hoping so, anyway. Having more and more options on the table involving both sexes in preventing pregnancy, especially if either the man or woman can't DO oral contraceptives (as it was for me, previously stated) is a must, imho.

I get this strange, uncanny feeling that it won't catch on. From my own experience and opinion, men get squicked-out when it comes to changing one of their body functions. Women are "meh, okay," when it comes to oral contraceptives (in SOME cases--me, it didn't work out at all) simply because they have to put up with major, stupid-ridiculous body issues over their entire lives (menstrual cycles, D-cups, pregnancy, menopause--just to name a few) while a man's changes are more subtle, quicker, and easily controllable (facial hair, voice changes, etc.). It'd be nice to, as Samwise says, 'Share the load,' (har har) but it'd take some time and re-thinking of roles.

This disturbs me. The phrase "the Constitution is not a suicide pact". Deeply.

The first time I heard this was from full Commander in the Navy, while I was enlisted. She said "The Constitution isn't a suicide pact". As an aside, she was very liberal.

I was speechless. Here we were, on a military base, surrounded by Marines who were being deployed to quite literally give their lives to defend the Constitution, and this woman was blatantly and flippantly disregarding the Constitution. Especially considering the fact that she took this oath (similar to mine, as enlisted):

"I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;"

Over the years, millions of people have given their lives to defend the Constitution, and many more have suffered great personal harm and hardship to stand up for it civilly.

If you are not willing to stand up for the letter and the spirit of the Constitution, why have it? It has no teeth. It can be violated without consequence.

The U.S. Constitution is indeed a suicide pact. Otherwise, it's just a series of nice suggestions.

I agree with most of your points here, the hyper-stylized sexualization trend in asian manga, games and art is pretty distasteful to western cultures. Actually, the US/western release of Tera has a lot of this stuff toned down, because they received a lot of negative feedback from the early testing over it. I also dislike the feminine stylized males, to the point of almost being androgynous (this is also common in anime/manga, and taken to extremes occasionally, like in Black Butler).

Having lived in Tokyo briefly, I sort of "get" this kind of thing a little better than I would have before that experience. Asian cultures aren't just "america, but weird". They are very alien to our way of thinking. Completely foreign, we just completely lack context.

I have always considered myself to be a fairly modern, laid-back guy, and really didn't think much could shock me. I never really considered myself to be heavily influenced by the whole western "puritan" morality thing, I like to consider myself a critical thinker and objective.

Then I went to Japan and learned how incredibly naive I was. The examples are too numerous to list here, but I happened to be there during the annual penis festival, where young girls would walk around with candy penises in their mouths: Kanamara Matsuri (NSWF!)

Suffice to say, my eyes were opened quite a bit.

As for the game Tera, I find the combat to be a refreshing change, and generally enjoyable enough to ignore the (valid) criticism of shallow questing. I don't spend nearly the amount of time playing it as I did WoW, I generally play for maybe a couple hours per week, so maybe that in itself is telling.

Or maybe I've just grown up a little.

FWIW: when I wrote that I had a tag "snark" at the end of that statement, but the slashdot cleanser stripped it out. The Panda statement was meant to be snarky/sarcastic - sorry about the confusion, I should have said /snark.

Oh my god, try installing 12.04 upgrade with an Nvidia card.

Hell.

Was damn near enough to make me swear off Ubuntu forever.

Honestly, the technology underpinning WoW is just too dated these days. Players expect more - Tera is a perfect example of that, a combat system where you actually have to hit your opponent (yes, some of it is simulated, but it feels real.

I have 5 level 80+ chars on WoW, but haven't played the game in at least a year, maybe two, and don't plan to go back to it, even for Pandas.

What little gaming time I have, I spend on games that are trying to innovate.

If Blizzard wants me back, they need to do something other than yet another expansion money grab. They need to do something new, innovative and wonderful. Sadly, I don't see much of this coming from them any more. I played Diablo 3 for about 3 hours before I got bored and switched back to Tera.

Hey Blizzard, how about this: World of Starcraft. And make it awesome, using latest technology - not an groaning engine that's 10 years old.