So the argument could be made it wasn't the darkside, but high-intensity light therapy that caused the sudden weight loss?

Doesn't that prove the point then? The argument (well the point raised a few levels up) was that lacking empathy (i.e. being born without) was a trait, and so a psychopath could not be skilled in empathy. Having an off-switch for said implies you still have it, only choosing when to have it active, which could allow for them to be skilled in empathy.

Not following that.

Premise: Do unto others before they do unto you
You acknowledge an action you wouldn't like done to you..but you aren't doing it to you, you're doing it to them, and since they aren't material to effects on you, you don't care. You can be aware a gunshot hurts and still shoot someone. Empathy isn't a barrier to cruelty. I'd imagine sadism would require decent amounts of empathy to actually enjoy it (emotional sadism more so than physical).

It's a Cantonese saying "Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies, with its back to heaven is edible.", used in South China. It backdates to the 1800s. It's been referenced in some cookbooks (e.g. "The Chinese Kitchen" by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo), and is known/used by some Chinese, and not others.

Cue supposition based on some searching: the area traded heavily with the West during that time. Take the exotic delicacies and dishes concocted by chefs, add in a language/culture barrier,good old prejudice, and the loss of context in repetition...I can easily imagine it's a Western generalisation/mild slur that got repeated and adopted and over time became adopted as a regional motto of sorts (i.e. isn't 'known' in the Mandarin areas, just the Cantonese south).

Could be waaay off though.

Easy: no blacks applied: [your] luck of the draw[n applicants]. Of course if your company attracted 10,000 people and not one were black, you might have significant P.R. issues.

The american system is the only true democracy then, there is no better form it could take?

*amused* they weren't left unattended. "The only problem is that the amount of time between "done" and "everything smells like smoke" is a very short amount of time" was pretty much it. The space of a few seconds it seemed to jump from 'half the bag isn't popped' to 'half the bag is briquettes', so power reductions were played with.

Personally prefer using the airpopper, but when you're just whipping up a last minute snag for the bratlings, nuked works.

My place reeked for a week as I went through a few dozen backs of microwave popcorn, trying to find the balance of power and time that didn't leave either a bag of charcoal, or a bag of kernals. We don't even pretend that popcorn button on it is anything more than a cruel joke. [Ended up being 60% for 1m50].

Oven instruction? Sure. Stove-top instructions? Maybe. Microwave instructions? Put in the same category as "may have been in the same building as a peanut" disclaimers: there on the off chance that it might be important to that one in a hundred people it applies to. Every one else use (learn?) your own discretion.

People DO however get violent over parking spaces. Maybe it's the frustration of driving in traffic and trying to find that one free spot, while other drivers are getting mad at your slow speed. A sense of entitlement: "I saw it, therefore it was mine". It's especially apparent around sales like Black Friday.

Wheels would seem horrid for any non-flat or broken terrain, or swamps. The height I'd imagine is a trade off: you're visible from much farther, but you've also line of sight for direct fire weaponry back. Legs seems the best 'fit' for having that amount of elevation without drastically increasing mass (e.g. jawa sandcrawler design)? Assuming mass is why it just doesn't hover (or maybe that'd been a vunerability). They seemed only vulnerable at the neck joint to attack, so their armour is adequate (though at that size, why not give them shields?). As for being tripped up, I'd assume that's the same issue with any time you send in amour without infantry or air support.

Plus, having your AT-ST squash an ewok? That level satisfaction cannot be achieved on a wheeled vehicle.

Totally fabricated. NASA with a high-altitude test plane throwing out rocks to simulate showers.

I know this for fact: when younger, I went out on the roof and watched a beautiful meteor shower (persieds believe was 'named')...

...but then they announced budget cuts to NASA. There was less money in astronomy. Shuttles started getting issues launching to cover up this reduced budget. During every subsequent 'meteor shower' that was scheduled... the skies were overcast all night, and the sound of planes could be heard infrequently.

The truth couldn't be more obvious: NASA could no longer afford to dump rocks to fake the showers anymore. The showers were scheduled though, even if the money for the special effects was lacking. Instead, they just seeded the clouds to force poor visibility so the myth of the meteor shower could continue onwards. Even as I type this now, the weather forecast gives days of sunny weather, but overcast or rainy evenings. How much longer must this go on? We must either return NASA's budget back to its Hollywood Effects heyday, or admit to ourselves... space is just really really empty, and 'space stuff' is just a lie.

...I've slammed down the e-brake before doing that. Also nearly put a car in reverse (it didn't let it engage though) trying to drop it into second.
Been driving automatics for years now, and still hate them...and get smirks when pound the foot off the floorwell: "Third gear?"

Considering how many movies are just derivatives, retellings or reimaging of previous older works... that's an interesting view.

I'm of the view ideas can be limited in scope, underutilise the potential, and be poor in execution; something ripe for continuation or revisioning in the hands of another. i.e. canon can just plain suck, so fidelity to such is a waste.

There are methods for population control that exist beyond genocide. Just choose to not have kids. Of course people then whinge about freedoms and such so that idea isn't palatable as a law, but it DOES exist beyond "One Child" Policy...just give incentives. A tube-tied/snipped bonus, either gender, that pays out either lump or over time, whatever. Void by preexisting children. NOT void by adopting (get both? baby bonus and not having kid bonus?).

Won't help in third world/uneducated/religious moron areas, but you can solve that part by 1-educating/helping them, and 2-containing them until they solve themselves out (like rabbits do).

Yes, I can, because I don't own a smart phone, and expressly for those reasons. I also don't post pics of relatives or give out information of their behaviours online, with OR without their permission. No twitting, no facebooking, no blogging of habits. There is no hypocrisy here. [Not exactly material, but I've also jailbroken and secured phones for friends: I am conversant with the tech, merely have no use for it personally].

No, I don't contradict, because they NORMALLY give up their information freely (posts, pics, updates) and it's gotten so prevalent they aren't even cognizant that they do so anymore. As I said, it's tangentially related, not directly. It isn't that she didn't secure her phone, it's that she let her phone give her information out all the time, and had gotten so used to it as to forget that it did so. Afterwards she didn't turn it off, she was FINE with that feature. Starting to believe the phrase 'overshare' is disappearing from the lexicon.

DIRECTLY my point was regarding the the mass of 'johhny's first communion' 'jack scoring in little league' 'my kids at the hotel pool' 'katey's report card'...a wealth of shared data. Yet, the moment an institution asks for it (as opposed to just collects it online by itself), that information is sacrosanct. The data (or at least a decent portion) is out there to be collected, but a formalised request for it, one that could possibly be of actual benefit for the target, makes it a knee-jerk bad.

Do note I'm saying 'could' and not 'would', as I'll make no claims on that. Personalising education to the child would be beneficial...provided was done with the child's interest and not some political/corporate agenda.