That would be "dog bites man". Americans torturing, violating human rights, treaties of war, and manipulating the press is "man bites dog".

Or at least it was supposed to be. Not that it matters much to you...but some of us believe that we're not supposed to become what we behold, that we're supposed to be better than that.

Silly, quaint, and outmoded, I know.

You may repeat your talking points in response now. I've read your posts, I know what's coming. Get to it.

You just made my week.

I'll never forget a last class I took in highschool, 20 years ago now. The name of the class was deceptively different from what was actually taught, which is how I ended up in it to fulfill some last requirements.

But essentially it was "Life for Dummies"--how to pay rent, save money, and generally not do really really stupid things with your life choices whether you were or were not going on to college. One of the really stupid things that was covered at length was getting pregnant while clueless (as in teenaged, with no clear concept of how to raise, provide for, on and on and on).

Here's the punchline. It was a very small class--about 7 females and 2 males (another guy and me). After all this material was presented to us--which included extensive testimonies from former-teen moms who detailed what their motivations and thinking were for getting pregnant so early and why they were dumb but too young to know it--in the discussion afterward, it came out that five of the seven females were, in fact, early in their own pregnancies.

All by 'choice', and intending to bear the child and all its responsibilities solo. This is weeks from graduation, incidentally.

When asked why, they all, to a girl, trotted out all the exact same bankrupt dumbass reasons that the teen moms we had just heard interviewed did.

I mean, they could have made the same video we just watched if they'd had a camera in the room. It was more than astonishing; it was surreal. Definitely one of those "I learned a lot about humans when" moments for me as a youth.

As a side note, in my graduating class of 400+, I knew of all of one girl who had gotten pregnant early enough to be dealing with the actual baby while still attending highschool. About ten years later I was re-visiting my hometown, and noted that the highschool now had an actual daycare center dedicated to the offspring of the students.

So...yeah. Don't think it's anything less than human nature you're up against with this problem. Isn't it usually?

You have now not only made my current week but next one as well.

Ever read "Out of Control", by Kevin Kelly? I believe it's...sheesh, 14 years old now? That was where I first heard of what you're describing. Great book. Don't think it answers the specific questions you're asking, but if the topic interests you, it's a hell of a read.

Oh, indeed. In fact in my fantasyland, there's a Matrix-level simulator where we plug in the various variables, down to the butterfly wings creating typhoons halfway around the world, and see how various courses of action or attitudes might possibly play out for the world's future. Wouldn't THAT be nice.

I believe the next-gen "Life" simulator is slated for release in '08...it's called "Spore", and it looks hella interesting from what I've seen of it. File that as another thing to check out for your amusement

A period where it should have been at the end of my last post. Jeez I hate it when that happens.

Ms. Price...if that ad was the first time you were exposed to the Chuck Norris meme and jokes, I'd like to welcome you to teh intarwebz. That-all was the rage about a year or more ago, so that's by how far Huckabee missed being on the cutting edge, if internet humor can be described in such a way.

I'm sorry, but I really have no issue or problem with the giveaway about the dog's death written in this review.

For crying out loud, the dog's death is shown in one of the trailers, for those of us who actually pay attention. And if you've read ANY OTHER REVIEW on the web (this is perhaps the fourth I myself have read), they too either imply or state outright that the dog doesn't make it.

So, seriously. Welcome to the internet. If you don't want spoilers of any kind, don't read frackin' reviews. Confine yourself either to the blurbs, the star rating, or just skip the reviews altogether. Knowing at least some what happens in a movie as a consequence of reading the review is, well, a consequence of reading the review. Lean into it.

...I'm sure he was simply wanting to show his support for the rail industry. It is such a beautiful way to see the country, after all.

;)

...Among many of the other fascinating topics of psychology on the internet, are the reviews written by people who obviously don't own the product. This is particularly prevalent in the tech and game areas.

Yes, there are paid shills out there; these are not that. I'm talking about people who feel compelled to enthuse about something that they don't actually have any hands-on with. In some cases pre-reviews can be written by beta testers who really did have access to the product pre-release, but in most cases this is somebody opining and, effectively, lying about a product. It's of a piece with fanboyism in a lot of cases, I think. Somebody who's bought the hype and is also seduced by the idea that thousands of people will read their words and be influenced by them.

I've seen at least one site that tags such reviews with "Preview Buzz" to indicate that you should have your salt shaker in hand while reading. I'll bet more such tags follow in the future, from more sites.