I liked War3's orcs a lot better than the previous Orcs. They were a breath of fresh air. "Savage orcs" are present in 99% of fantasy settings so it was a pretty tired formula I was glad to see abandoned.

Still, I find it odd that Blizzard gave the Horde so many traits from real world non-white cultures. The Japanese Samurai Orc Blademaster who speaks Engrish, the Native American Tauren with their totems and such, and the Jamaican Trolls with their voodoo magic are some examples. The "Humans" are all based on white European cultures. I've come to expect a kind of race war element to alotta historically based games, as it makes sense there. But to bring it to a fantasy setting seems odd to me. And then to only give non-white traits to the monsters of the Warcraft setting... it's certainly eye brow raising. Was there some kind of political statement or historical lesson here? My memory is hazey on Warcraft 3's story, but I recall the Humans (ie "white people") unjustly imprisoning a great deal of Orcs (ie "non-whites").

QI, actually. A lot of feminists were upset about Hillary not making it and some are still confused about whether or not to support Palin. Which, frankly, I think is absurd, but apparently it is ok to think along those lines. So it almost seems as if women supporting a woman just because you share XX-chromosomes is fine, white people voting for other white people has been the standard for decades, but someone with Jamaican parents endorsing a person whose father was from Kenya is suspicious.

Fortunately, Powell did a great job in explaining why he made his choice. And I personally believe his endorsement is probably more anti-Republican than anti-white.

>> ^Fjnbk:
The problem with a phonetic language is that people who speak different dialects (Bostonians, Southerners, Jamaicans) will naturally be inclined to spell the words as THEY would spell them, and since there is no central dialectical authority with English, no one would consent to the overhaul.

But at least there would be a standard that they could learn so they wouldn't have to guess how to spell/pronounce similar words.

The problem with a phonetic language is that people who speak different dialects (Bostonians, Southerners, Jamaicans) will naturally be inclined to spell the words as THEY would spell them, and since there is no central dialectical authority with English, no one would consent to the overhaul.

Look at the Chinese language. Someone from Hong Kong would be speaking mostly gibberish to someone from Beijing. But written Chinese is the same for everyone in China, so they can still communicate with each other.

gm is right, words communicate concepts and ideas, and not sounds for the most part.

Every year, The Spelling Society that advocates this silly overhaul of English protests outside the National Spelling Bee. It really would cause way too many problems and solve none.

If you really want to know, I was going to make a comment regarding finding the video offensive, being part Jamaican myself.

I removed it after I realized this was hypocritical of me to complain when I laugh at other cultural oddities.

So yeah, that's the mysterious comment. I have a feeling you may have expected more =P

I HAVE always wondered what spicy Jamaican cock tastes like, but I've never wanted to act on it... Thank you, Grace!

Dats enuff of dat bumba clot bullshit choggie. Leave da patois to da true jamaicans.

If we learn anything from the US version of The Office, it's that what you say isn't racist as long as it points out something considered to be colloquially flattering, such as cock-size.

In reply to this comment by thinker247:
A guy decides to take his girlfriend to Jamaica in order to propose to her.

A few days before they leave, he thinks it would be a great idea to get her name, "Wendy", tattooed on his penis, as a gesture of love.

While the couple is sitting in the restaurant where he's going to propose, he tells Wendy he needs to use the restroom.

He steps up to the urinal next to a Jamaican man, and for some reason he looks down and sees the guy's penis, which has the letters W-E-N-D-Y tattooed on it.

"No way!", he says, "Your girlfriend's name is Wendy, too?"

The Jamaican looks at him and says, "No, it says, 'Welcome to Jamaica, mon, have a nice day.'"

A guy decides to take his girlfriend to Jamaica in order to propose to her.

A few days before they leave, he thinks it would be a great idea to get her name, "Wendy", tattooed on his penis, as a gesture of love.

While the couple is sitting in the restaurant where he's going to propose, he tells Wendy he needs to use the restroom.

He steps up to the urinal next to a Jamaican man, and for some reason he looks down and sees the guy's penis, which has the letters W-E-N-D-Y tattooed on it.

"No way!", he says, "Your girlfriend's name is Wendy, too?"

The Jamaican looks at him and says, "No, it says, 'Welcome to Jamaica, mon, have a nice day.'"

Sup. I'm Jim. I'm a lifelong New Yorker (26 full years) and just finished my undergrad at Hunter College, majoring in Latin and minoring in Physical Anthropology. My battle with college raged for eight years, and I have to say to all doubters and those living in fear: fuck what your parents (and others) say and do it your way. I got into the grad school of my dreams (in Biological Anthropology), and have enough perspective now on what's important that I'm deferring admission for a year so I can go live and teach English as a second language in Taipei, Taiwan.

I travel a lot. It started with a month-long humanitarian trip to rural Kenya when I was 14, digging irrigation trenches in Kondo, Kenya (near Thika) with the Ridgewood, New Jersey, YWCA. That experience affected me deeply, organically engendering in me the staunch idea that race is total bullshit, and I am addicted to constantly proving myself right (also, it might be noted that I was raised by a Jamaican woman whom I loved more than my own mother--I'm of mixed European descent). My latest jaunt was last summer to coastal Ecuador, where I attended an archaeological field school, and where I met my girlfriend. We're going to Peru at the end of this month (I hear they're finally closing Machu Picchu pretty soon due to foot traffic erosion of the ruins), and we'll have less than ten days state-side before we go off together to Taiwan.

VideoSift and science mags are pretty much the only things that I use these here intertubes for. I am a pretty staunch atheist, but my particular brand of atheism has many facets, as I believe every individual's brand of religiousness/spirituality has.

I'm not sure what's going to happen when I get back from Taiwan; I might go to grad school and support myself by teaching high school biology, or I might get my finances in order and check right out of this crazy-ass America hotel. My girl and I are researching what it would take to open a hostel in South America and all the costs associated. But that's just the latest pipe-dream.

K, that's enough about me. Catch y'all on the sift waves!

eh..

* Antigua dollar - Antigua
* Australian dollar - Australia, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island, Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu
* Bahamian dollar - Bahamas
* Barbadian dollar - Barbados
* Belize dollar - Belize
* Bermudian dollar - Bermuda
* British Columbia dollar - British Columbia
* British North Borneo dollar - British North Borneo
* British West Indies dollar - British West Indies
* Brunei dollar - Brunei
* Canadian dollar - Canada
* Cayman Islands dollar - Cayman Islands
* Continental dollar - Colonial America
* Cook Islands dollar - Cook Islands
* Dominican dollar - Dominica
* East Caribbean dollar - Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Fijian dollar - Fiji
* Grenadan dollar - Grenada
* Guyanese dollar - Guyana
* Hawaiian dollar - Hawaii
* Hong Kong dollar - Hong Kong
* International dollar - hypothetical currency pegged 1:1 to the United States dollar
* Jamaican dollar - Jamaica
* Kiautschou dollar - Qingdao
* Kiribatian dollar - Kiribati
* Liberian dollar - Liberia
* Malaya and British Borneo dollar - Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, British North Borneo and Brunei
* Malayan dollar - Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore
* Mauritian dollar - Mauritius
* Mongolian dollar - Mongolia
* Namibian dollar - Namibia
* Nevisian dollar - Nevis
* New Brunswick dollar - New Brunswick
* New Zealand dollar - New Zealand, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Pitcairn Islands.
* Newfoundland dollar - Newfoundland
* Nova Scotian dollar - Nova Scotia
* Prince Edward Island dollar - Prince Edward Island
* Penang dollar - Penang
* Puerto Rican dollar - Puerto Rico
* Rhodesian dollar - Rhodesia
* Saint Kitts dollar - Saint Kitts
* Saint Lucia dollar - Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent dollar - Saint Vincent
* Sarawak dollar - Sarawak
* Sierra Leonean dollar - Sierra Leone
* Singapore dollar - Singapore
* Solomon Islands dollar - Solomon Islands
* Straits dollar - Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore
* Sumatran dollar - Sumatra
* Surinamese dollar - Suriname
* Old Taiwan dollar - Taiwan
* New Taiwan dollar - Taiwan
* Texan dollar - Republic of Texas
* Tobagan dollar - Tobago
* Trinidadian dollar - Trinidad
* Trinidad and Tobago dollar - Trinidad and Tobago
* Tuvaluan dollar - Tuvalu (not an independent currency, equivalent to Australian dollar)
* United States dollar - United States of America
* Zimbabwean dollar - Zimbabwe

"... anymore than having the name 'Poke-mon' makes you Jamaican."

Awesome.

Talk out your arse much cobalt?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_issues_and_the_effects_of_cannabis

[edit] Toxicity
According to the Merck Index,[2] the LD50 (dosage lethal to 50% of rats tested) of Δ9-THC by inhalation is 42 mg/kg of body weight. That is the equivalent of a man weighing 75 kg (165 lb) inhaling the THC found in 21 grams of extremely high-potency (15% THC) marijuana all in one sitting, assuming no THC is lost through smoke loss or absorption by the lungs. For oral consumption, the LD50 for male rats is 1270 mg/kg, and 730 mg/kg for females—equivalent to the THC in about a pound of 15% THC marijuana.[3] The ratio of cannabis material required to saturate cannabinoid receptors to the amount required for a fatal overdose is 1:40,000.[4] There have been no reported deaths or permanent injuries sustained as a result of a marijuana overdose. It is practically impossible to overdose on marijuana, as the user would certainly either fall asleep or otherwise become incapacitated from the effects of the drug before being able to consume enough THC to be mortally toxic. According to a United Kingdom government report, using cannabis is less dangerous than tobacco, prescription drugs, and alcohol in social harms, physical harm and addiction.[5]





[edit] Confounding combination
The most obvious confounding factor in cannabis research is the prevalent usage of other recreational drugs, including alcohol and tobacco.[6] One paper claims marijuana use can increase risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. [7] Such complications demonstrate the need for studies on cannabis that have stronger controls, and investigations into the symptoms of cannabis use that may also be caused by tobacco. Some people question whether the agencies that do the research try to make an honest effort to present an accurate, unbiased summary of the evidence, or whether they "cherry-pick" their data, and others caution that the raw data, and not the final conclusions, are what should be examined.[8]

However, contrasting studies have linked the smoking of cannabis to lung cancer and the growth of cancerous tumors.[9][10][11][12] A 2002 report by the British Lung Foundation estimated that three to four cannabis cigarettes a day were associated with the same amount of damage to the lungs as 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day.[13] Some of these finding may be attributed to the well-known custom that many British citizens often mix tobacco with marijuana. It should also be noted that a recent study conducted at a lab in UCLA has found no link between marijuana usage and lung cancer.[citation needed]

Cannabis also has a synergistic toxic effect with the food additive Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and possibly the related compound butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The study concluded, "Exposure to marijuana smoke in conjunction with BHA, a common food additive, may promote deleterious health effects in the lung." BHA & BHT are man-made fat preservatives, and are found in many packaged foods including: plastics in boxed Cereal, Jello, Slim Jims, and more. [14]


[edit] Memory
Cannabis is known to act on the hippocampus (an area of the brain associated with memory and learning), and impair short term memory and attention for the duration of its effects and in some cases for the next day[15]. In the long term, some studies point to enhancement of particular types of memory.[16] Cannabis was found to be neuroprotective against excitotoxicity and is therefore beneficial for the prevention of progressive degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease.[17] A 1998 report commissioned in France by Health Secretary of State Bernard Condevaux and directed by Dr. Pierre-Bernard Roques determined that, "former results suggesting anatomic changes in the brain of chronic cannabis users, measured by tomography, were not confirmed by the accurate modern neuro-imaging techniques," (like MRI). "Moreover, morphological impairment of the hippocampus [which plays a part in memory and navigation] of rat after administration of very high doses of THC (Langfield et al., 1988) was not shown (Slikker et al., 1992)" (translated). He concluded that cannabis does not have any neurotoxicity as defined in the report, unlike alcohol and cocaine.[18][19][20]


[edit] Adulterated cannabis
Contaminants may be found in hashish when consumed from soap bar-type sources[21]. The dried flowers of the plant may be contaminated by the plant taking up heavy metals and other toxins from its growing environment[22]. Recently, there have been reports of herbal cannabis being adulterated with minute (silica [usually glass or sand], or sugar} crystals in the UK and Ireland. These crystals resemble THC in appearance, yet are much heavier, and so serve again to increase the weight, and hence street value of the cannabis[23].


[edit] Pregnancy
Studies have found that children of marijuana-smoking mothers more frequently suffer from permanent cognitive deficits, concentration disorders, hyperactivity, and impaired social interactions than non-exposed children of the same age and social background.[24][25] A recent study with participation of scientists from Europe and the United States, have now identified that endogenous cannabinoids, molecules naturally produced by our brains and functionally similar to THC from cannabis, play unexpectedly significant roles in establishing how certain nerve cells connect to each other. The formation of connections among nerve cells occurs during a relatively short period in the fetal brain. The study tries to give a closer understanding of if and when cannabis damages the fetal brain[26][27].[28]

Other studies on Jamaica have suggested that cannabis use by expectant mothers does not appear to cause birth defects or developmental delays in their newborn children.[29][30] In a study in 1994 of Twenty-four Jamaican neonates exposed to marijuana prenatally and 20 non exposed neonates comparisons were made at 3 days and 1 month old, using the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale, including supplementary items to capture possible subtle effects. Results showed there were no significant differences between exposed and nonexposed neonates on day 3. At 1 month, the exposed neonates showed better physiological stability and required less examiner facilitation to reach organized states. The neonates of heavy-marijuana-using mothers had better scores on autonomic stability, quality of alertness, irritability, and self-regulation and were judged to be more rewarding for caregivers. This work was supported by the March of Dimes Foundation.[31]


[edit] Cancer
On 23 May 2006, Donald Tashkin, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles announced that the use of cannabis does not appear to increase the risk of developing lung cancer, or increase the risk of head and neck cancers, such as cancer of the tongue, mouth, throat, or esophagus.[32]The study involved 2252 participants, with some of the most chronic marijuana smokers having smoked over 22,000 marijuana cigarettes.[32][33][34][35] The finding of Donald Tashkin, M.D., and his team of researchers in 2006 refines their earlier studies published in a Dec. 17th 2000 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarker and Prevention.[12] Many opponents of marijuana incorrectly cite the original finding of UCLA Medical Center from 2000 as "proof" that marijuana leaves the users at higher risk for cancer of the lung, and cancerous tumors,[9] even though the researchers at the UCLA Medical Center have revised their finding with a more in-depth study on the effects of the use of marijuana. This seemed to contradict assumptions made after some studies, like those from Dale Geirringer et al., which found that 118 carcinogens were produced when marijuana underwent combustion, and two carcinogens {2-Methyl-2, 4(2H-1-benzopyran-5-ol) & 5-[Acetyl benz[e]azulene-3,8-dione} formed when marijuana underwent vaporization with the Volcano Vaporizer.[36] To help explain this seemingly chemical proof of carcinogenity inherent in the process of combustion, Tashkin noted that "one possible explanation for the new findings, he said, is that THC, a chemical in marijuana smoke, may encourage aging cells to die earlier and therefore be less likely to undergo cancerous transformation."[32]

funnily enough the use ov 'ax' for ask goes all the way back to Old English:
[quote]the Old English verb áscian also appeared as acsian, and both forms continued into Middle English. The two forms co-existed and evolved separately in various regions of England, and later America. The variant ascian gives us the modern standard English ask, but the form "axe", probably derived from Old English acsian, appears in Chaucer: "I axe, why the fyfte man Was nought housband to the Samaritan?" (Wife of Bath's Prologue, 1386.) It was considered acceptable in literary English until about 1600 [13] and can still be found in some dialects of English including, of course, African American Vernacular English. It is, however, one of the most stigmatized features of AAVE, often commented on by teachers. It also persists in Ulster Scots as /aks/ and Jamaican English as /aːks/, from where it has entered the London dialect of British English as /ɑːks/.[/quote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonant_clusters

no, there is not.

if you wanna go full on jamaican, you should drop the h, making everyting.

but only posh people and "normal" english speakers say "everything" afaik. Like on TV or in an awards ceremony or somefink. Liverpool has a th maybe. Sometimes it becomes "d" or "v" a bit, like "it's over der, on ver sofa". But let's face it, th is a hard sound to make in the middle of quick casual speech.