Am I crazy, and/or do these guys not have a website? Some guy owns the domain and has set up "A website dedicated to All Things Important... to me."

The solution is glaringly obvious: a giant dome. I mean, come on.

I don't know why I like that so much, but I do.
And it's actually Varanasi, or Benares, not Varnassi.

Whoah. I wonder how many fish floated to the surface after that.

I just blogged on this too, and just because our actions can be predicted, doesn't mean we're not free to choose them. We may have natural predispositions that can be overcome through conscious or even unconscious thought - like deciding to break the habit of reaching for that smoke after a big meal.

I've got to believe that with all the raw creative power out there, we’re not just cogs with tiny, predetermined roles to play in a great random cosmic machine, and that free will isn't just an illusion created by the chemicals sloshing around our brains.

Or then again, maybe that's just what our cosmic overlords *want* us to think...

I wonder how much of that stuff is copyrighted, or lifted from inaccurate, unreliable blogs and things?

They don't look great, but would you eat a fire flower? Especially one that magically changed the colour of your pants?

Oh. In that case.

@#11: I'm thinking the same thing... If we're using the Sony q-tip to get the music out of the, er, speaker, like we would with earwax, doesn't that kind of equate music (good) with excess ear wax (bad)? As in, "use our speakers, and your music will sound like some yellow gunk you pulled out of one of your orifices."

I can understand how mothers in desperate situations would feel that both they and their children might have better lives if their babies are adopted by rich first-world types. The fact that some corporation makes money from the process - so long as it's not stooping to kidnapping, pressuring or misleading parents, etc. - seems besides the point.

If I were unable to have kids with my partner, I might seriously consider looking outside my country's borders to adopt a child whose life might otherwise be miserable. Likewise, I can understand how a desperately poor parent might opt to give his/her child a chance in another country rather than allow the child to suffer through hunger/disease/violence/etcetera at home.