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My theroy would be that the reputation of these places have such a huge psychological effect on us, that we will experience something because we expect it to be so.

Well, I guess that is up to personal opinion. Right before death most of us will think 'Wtf comes next?' though and then you will be happy that it might be a 50/50 chance.

I think he will get that bee shooting thingy somewhere along the way.

I also can only raise my right one. I never managed to raise the left one, it kinda feels like the muscle for it is missing. Interestingly, my left eyebrow is slightly higher then the right one to begin with, so I kinda have a constant look of slight skepticism on my face and have to raise the right one to make it look normal.

Hmm, from reading a bit here, what should be taught in school instead of those two should be to be open for new possibilities and not ignorantly believing in something that might be as right or as wrong as any other 'theory'. THAT we could need a little bit more. But both, evolution and creation, we would never need in 'real life', other then maybe for being a knowledge show-off, but less ignorance, ahh... that could actually make the world a better place... I hope that was understandable? I'm kinda tired at the moment and I think I am lacking some grammer up there.

Heh, I thought about that 'dreaming the future' a lot too. I always got many of those deja-vu feelings, at least once a week. Though, not anymore so often nowdays, but that is because of something else. Well, some years ago I 'studied' dreaming, especially 'lucid dreams'.[1] To better remember my dreams I started a dream diary, which helps alot. And at some point I realized that I wrote down some dreams which had parts that sometimes happened a few days after the dreaming. For example, I dreamt on a night from a sunday to monday that on the next wednesday (I don't know why I knew the exact date) at dinner with my mother and sister, my mother, who sat right of me, would tell me that my grandmother has cancer (which at monday noone of us yet knew). So I waited for wednesday and at that days dinner my sister, who sat right of me, told me that our grandmother has cancer, in the exact same words which I dreamt. That was very confusing because I dreamt my mother would say it, but instead it was my sister.. I have some more examples, but that one was one of the most vivid ones and funnily enough also the most generic one. Well, some of my conclusions of the whole thing: 1. Mostly these deja-vus happen suddenly and when I realize it, it is already over, but a few times I could 'predict' what would happen next for at least some seconds, especially in conversations. 2. With training it seems possible to dream more then just a few seconds and also more often. 3. The future seems unchangable. Even if you knew what would happen, the knowledge that you know it is already in what you dream. Kinda sounds like a paradox, doesn't it? Well, but since I stopped 'working' on my dreams quite some time ago, it all rather subsided. I am still not sure if I really dreamt the future or if I just got so much imagination that I had so many different dreams every night that some just have to happen someday. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream

I would prefer cannabis to be legal instead of alcohol, the later is far worse imho. But I doubt marijuana, cannabis, pot, grass, whatever you like to call it will ever be fully legalized by any of the current governments. Sadly the reputation of hemp went from 'the most versatile plant to date' to 'that funny drug there' just because some men with power invested in different resources and needed the plant out of the way, what better way then to label it as evil drug...?

What are your beliefs? Something similar to buddhism I guess. Are you willing to stand up for them? No, there is no point to it since I probably will never know 'the truth' anyway. Are you extreme or just partial with your beliefs? I'm just a hypocrite like everyone else too, so I guess partial? Are you proud of your religion? No, it is kinda hard to be proud of anything in this world to begin with.

I am currently using laptops/notebooks only and I must say that using touchpads is actually quite comfy. Before that I had some razer gaming mouse, don't know which. It was a good one (or at least for me good enough), a generic looking mouse but precise enough for my purpose and never got tired or painful using it. Used it for years, was the first mouse that lived longer then a year at my place and I don't really treat my equipment well. Gave it to my sister when I didn't need it anymore and it had a cable break within a month.

Hm yes, even some general responsibility would be a nice new change. Imho the absent of those two are caused by something deeper and older. But I guess we just have to differ on that.

I voted for anarchy, it only comes nearest to what I want though (the classic anarchy is to crude imho). What I like would be a 'gift economy'. There is probably a fancy name for it, but I don't know it. In short: Everyone gives what he can and everyone gets what he wants. Well, but that probably will never happen (I don't give up hope though). The technology for it is ready (or could be easily developed because then it would be easier to research), but our mind is still countless millennia from it away, even thought it could happen now...

Behind companies are people. And behind governments are people too. It comes pretty much to the same, both extremes, power only for the government or power only for 'private people' would not work because there will always be someone misusing the power for their own good only. A balance should do it, what was it called? Free market economy? Sadly it doesn't work though. The cause for such problems are rooted to deep in human nature to be fixed by a solution which is applied on a higher level.

Yes, now that you mention it, it is a problem too that we tend to repeat the same mistakes the last generation already repeated. We could use a genetical memory or should just listen to what the old fools have to say. I did not really meant a time scale as 'big' as generations though. More like a few years at maximum. For example: election/voting of parties. We always vote for the same few parties and swap them every four years after the previous one fucked it up again (as they always do it or at least to us pawns it looks like they do), just to elect them again after their successor did the exact same thing, again.

I would like to know about this new reactor design too. I think it is more likely that it is cheaper and easier to keep the old reactors instead of building new ones or upgrade the old ones and not some 'hippies' who would actually be for nuclear power if it wouldn't be for the waste. To change every reactor would be a huge investment. It takes time to pull of all the propaganda to make people believe it is good to pay triple again. The companies would not want to pay for the building process themself, they would have to do more lobbywork to get government subsidies and since nearly all western countries are on the verge of a possible financial collapse, I doubt that this will happen. In fact why should it? We already got working reactors and after a year everyone will have forgotten about it anyway... After Chernobyl, here in germany they said that they would close all the nuclear plants in something like 15 years at that time. Just this week they said they would close the plants in the next 11 years... So another hidden danger in our daily world be that people tend to forget to fast. Either from information overflow, wrong priorities or simple indifference.

Take it you are not into bondage then. Heh, alright, if it is in consent with all parties, I guess that is fine too.

In my opinion we are. I think we are still the same people described in the bible, still the same as the old romans and undoubtly still the same as the Nazis. All these 'civilization' saw themself superior towards foreigners, barabarian, infidels or whatever they called 'all the ones different from themself'. That is more or less what I meant, not disabled people in particular. And what happened to these 'civilizations'? They destroyed everything around them, pillaged, raped and murdered their way through history until they destroyed themself just to make place for the next one... Well and today we are still driven by hatred, greed and such likes. Yes, there is charity and love in the world, but only local, on a bigger, global scale these words have no meaning other then propaganda. And if we now raise and educate enhanced humans with the same traits, habits and mindset we did for so long for ourself, they will think just like us and as much as I would like to contradict myself on this point, thinking like us is not good. Yeah, sounds reasonable. Though I think it isn't completly impossible for several intelligent social species to coexist on the same planet and that the word intelligent is mostly misunderstood. We just have to rid ourself of negative traits like arrogance, hatred, greed and so many others... On the other hand, it would take several generations to change our traits and habits, which kinda makes it impossible again because it is highly unlikly that such a 'masterplan' could work over a long period of time.

It shouldn't matter what you prefer unless it involves hurting somebody else with it, physical nor psychic.

We will totally get our ass kicked. Some Humans might survive, probably in slavery or hidden underground like rats, but the 'civilization' as we know it will vanish, replaced by a new one build on the bones of the old one. Just as we always did it. If we create 'enhanced humans' AND educate and raise them with the same values we raised ourself for the last couple millennia, then these new humans will see us as inferior, not worthy of equal treatment, just as we do it all the time with other beings we see as inferior. It will lead to a genocide of the weaker. In a war (the easier way) or steadily over time (the cleaner way) doesn't matter, the old mankind will vanish nonetheless. So lets hope that when we can 'enhance mankind', that we will be ready for the responsibility and have removed traits like hatred, greed and envy a long time ago at that time.

Well if we make a 'better human' that will destroy the old human, I guess that could be called artifical evolution?

There were only three suites in the sector were Gordon was working. You can find several bodies with HEV suites in Xen, so I guess there were more in other areas of the Black Mesa too. The biologic guys with the caged aliens for example or the teleporter guys at lamba probably too. And since working with aliens kinda sounds dangerous, I guess you have to know how to defend yourself, not as much as Gordon seem to know, but a bit at least.

I once tried to threaten a CRT display with a power screwdriver. It was a freaking stupid idea and I don't know why I did it. While on that, I somehow managed to break a very small of piece glass out of the display somewhere in the middle of it.. It never bothered me while using the display but it was a constant reminder of my stupidity.

There has to be a compromise between realism and fun, a game that is too realistic wouldn't be fun to play, only if you don't like simulations of course. I'm sure the under water explosion stuff is such a compromise. Well and the silly looking weapons. Yeah, to us as humans who build such kind of weapons they seem to look stupid. But the combine change the technology of the occupied world/dimension and merge them with their own. Their own in itself alone wouldn't survive in different worlds/dimensions, they have to use local technology to an extend. The heavy rifle is obviously such a merged abomination and maybe all the extra lumps of metal do have a purpose, we just don't know the technology behind it? For someone who doesn't know the weapon-technology, an M16A4 with laserpointer, flashlight, supressor, heat deflectors, a forgrip and a reddot sight might look like a ugly rod with chunks of metal on it too.

Hmm, I would say propaganda is very dangerous and is used everyday in many different types and sizes.

I once read about an very interesting theory. It was called something like 'The real mistake in the unreal nothingness', and 'The exception in the vacuum'. I don't know if there is a english version of it, trying to explain it would take to long since it was several pages long. The paper used a symbolic example which I will just roughly translate: You dig a hole in a snowfield and with that snow you create a snowman. The snowman is happy about his faultless snowfield. But then he sees the hole and to create a perfect field again he tries to repair the hole. Since the snowman himself is the material he needs to correct the error in the snowfield, he begins to destroy himself. The moral of the story: With the urge for perfection came suffering to the world. Well, something like that. It probably sounds like gibberish without the whole story but well... If someone can read german, here is the link: http://www.physik.as/ I myself believe in something between an ever repeating 'big bang' (I wouldn't call it big bang though, I just don't have a better word now) and god who is more or less the universe itself. Yeah, something like that. Interestingly, this might sound kinda crazy now, but everytime I think about such 'huge questions' I've got the feeling that the answer is very close but hidden behind a wall which will push you away whenever you get to close. It's a very strange feeling, makes me believe that we humans are far more capable then what we have shown in the last several millennia... Well, maybe someday far into the future someone will find it all out.

Why is this episode a milestone in the game? I kinda don't get it, maybe I'm too stupid to see it.