Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in harwons' LiveJournal:

Thursday, April 24th, 2008
9:37 pm	What is the point of life? WARNING: READING THIS POST MAY CHANGE YOUR LIFE. If you do go ahead, to make the best use of it, click every link and read the linked article. It may sound silly to say that the point of life is, to live. But I think it's true, for two reasons, which I'm going to try to lay down without getting too philosophical: without living, there can be no point to living. Living is thus the primary purpose of life. while living, you can figure out what else to live for. These are secondary purposes. Many of us have been through dark times in our lives. We might have contemplated why we should even continue living, and suicide might have seemed like an appealing option. But suicide is a permanent solution for a temporary problem. We need to find the causes that make us feel that way. In other words, we need to get from neurotically miserable into knowingly unhappy. An extremely effective way to do that is to analyze our cognitive distortions. Often, we may surprisingly find out that "it's not as bad as I though". No matter how harsh life is, there is always hope for improvement. Materially, the standard of living has been increasing constantly. Medicine is making tremendous progress and we can hope to live longer than ever before. Intellectually, we can always learn new skills, and we have the Internet and tens of millions of advisers at our fingertips. Emotionally, new people can enter our lives, and we can synthesize happiness and find motivation. In every area, there is hope, and if finding out about this hope made you just a tad interested; if knowing what others live for lit just a tiny spark inside you; then you have what it takes to live purposefully. How to find that purpose? You already know the primary purpose - to live. Finding out secondary purposes is something that requires introspection, and for which there is very good help available: Brian Kim - How to Find What You Love to Do Paul Graham - How to Do What You Love What I want to do with my life is to focus on the primary goal: living, maximally. That is, living a life of maximum quality and quantity. One may argue that quality is more important, but the fundamental thing to notice here is that in the case of life, there can be no quality for missing quantity. You need to live an extra year, in order to live a great extra year. In dramatic terms, "Maximum quantity of life" can be expressed as "To live forever, or die trying". In realistic terms, it means to obtain the resources necessary for a very long healthy life. It means a lifestyle that is healthy; productive enough to afford the costs of high-tech treatments that are and will become available (rejuvenation, organ transplant, and as a last resort, cryopreservation); and that is geared exactly towards this kind of research. Ready to enter the science-fiction section of this essay? There are many ways to achieve life extension, and all but one fail in the unfortunate case of accidents. If you have a fatal accident and your brain is not re-oxygenated rapidly enough, you will lose your memory, and even if your body is restored, it will be a mindless being. The only method of life extension that overcomes this problem is backing up the human mind, in such a way that the backup can be restored in a human body, an artificial one, or run on a computer simulation. If there is any way to really maximize the quantity of life, then this is it. Currently, of all methods of performing a mind upload, the one with the most chances preserving personal continuity throughout the process seems to be the nanotechnological infiltration. This fact naturally presents studying nanotechnology as the best step in my intellectual pursuits. The backup plan that I execute in parallel? Living healthy and gathering the resources necessary to afford life extension. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
9:18 pm	Emigrating from Romania to the USA - Why? One of the time when you know you have to blog about something, is when it becomes an FAQ. Such has become a question often addressed to me: Why did you leave Romania, and what made you come to the US? I started to want to leave Romania as a teenager, and initially for rather frivolous reasons: I wanted to live in an English-speaking country with a nice climate (I hated the very cold winters in Romania) and a decent economy and relatively stable political/social situation. The second criterion ruled out UK and Canada, and the third ruled out South Africa. Australia and the US were the only destinations left. As time passed, and as I started to become more aware of the bleak Romanian reality, and more hindered by it, the reasons matured as well. By the time I entered college, my top concerns were education and employment. At both, Romania sucked. I was seeking a computer science education (not a remote cousin like mathematics or electrical engineering). At the time (1998), only one university in Romania was offering a CS curriculum, and it wasn't located in my city. If I were to leave home, I might as well move to another country. I also wanted a decently paid programmer job. At the time, Romania's GDP per capita fluctuated around $1800. Another large problem with Romania was its pervasive underground economy, powered by the ubiquitous bribe. You may have various strong Mafias in the US, but as a normal resident, you don't really have to bribe anyone. Not quite so in Romania. Corruption is ripe, from the top to the very nobody's of the society. I had to bribe professors, city officials, doctors, police officers, because that was the unwritten but implacable law of the land. In my city, well-known murderers were flaunting their red Ferraris because they had connections in all the right places. Drank and drove and seriously injured someone? You can walk away free if you "talk" with the judge. In numbers, Romania's Corruption Perception Index hovered around 70%. For comparison, the index for US is around 30% and Denmark's is 5%. Next: the health system. My father is a medical doctor, so I had a direct look at the medical system. Understaffed, underfunded, technologically outdated. Coupled with all the other problems of life, this lead to a life expectancy at birth for males of 68 years, and that is the 2007 estimate. As I became an atheist around 2002, I realized that statistics (over 90% of Romanians believe in God - the worst situation in Europe) were again very tangible. My family, friends and significant other were... not particularly proud of me. And don't get me started on how proud I am of their fundamentalist beliefs, or on how villagers always have money to build a new church but never a new levee, and get flooded systematically each spring. Other problems with Romania: the communist mentality is very much alive. People expect to be given, then complain. Few have entrepreneurial spirit, and capitalism is scorned. If one litters the street, nobody else says anything. And when the streets are already quite dirty, you don't feel as out of place as in, say Austria, if you throw your cigarette butt on the pavement. (Yes, smoking is a national sport). Romania also suffers from a cultural shock of rural dwellers suddenly thrown into cities by the large industrialization wave of the 60's. In what you'd call cities (population over 200,000; many 10-story apartment buildings etc.), folks are still raising pigs and hens in their balconies. Cities are ripe with stray dogs and cats abandoned once owners switched from the "house+backyard" lifestyle to the urban apartment block habitat. Sheep and cows on the green space between street lanes are a picturesque but not uncommon sight. Flocks even made it on one of the two freeways in Romania: And then there are the little things Neighbors upstairs not flushing the toilet the entire day to save on water costs. People so poor they climb linden trees on the city's sidewalk to harvest the flowers, but so... moronic that they didn't harvest the flowers nicely; no, they broke the branches and threw them to the ground, leaving behind mercilessly mutilated trees. Gypsies making you feel insecure walking the street after dark. Child beggars. Sewers without covers (a man once fell into one and died because of 4th degree burns from the hot water carried by the leaking pipes underneath). Low Internet penetration. Balkan and bazaar mentality. Weather that makes you hate going out of the house half a year. Parvenus galore. And then, there is hope In the last 4 years, Romania has made some really impressive strides, including joining the European Union: the Corruption Perception Index has improved by ~30% The currency has been among the world's top five performing currencies for much of the past two years. [bloomberg] Romanian GDP will double by 2011. Romania is one of the most stable and prosperous states of Central, Eastern and South Europe. [Wikipedia] Based on the fact that Bucharest produces around 21% of Romanian GDP for a population of around 2 million, the GDP (PPP) per capita of the city would be US$30,057. In fact, the Wikipedia article on the Economy of Romania can almost make one forget the grim reality of 23% of Romanians living on under $4 a day. And when your grandmother officially lives on $3.30 a day, it ceases to be just a statistic. Will you go back? To visit? Sure. Romania is a great touristic destination. To remain there? No. Why didn't you stay in Romania, to help your country? Because I have no duty to do so; and because I may be able to help it better from here. I have investments in Romania and I'm in the process of starting up a consumer reviews site focused on Romanian products and services. Do you feel "Romanian"? Not really. If I tell you I'm from Romania and you say "Oh, Budapest, right...", I won't be offended. The country in which chance had me born is not of so much importance to me. The country in which I choose to live, is. How happy are you with the US? "It's OK". The US is still a democratic republic and still has a solid economy, but both are eroding at alarming rates, together with the state of education. To quote a slightly amusing but deeply troubling 2007 Harris Poll: That very large majorities of the American public believe in God, miracles, the survival of the soul after death, heaven, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Birth will come as no great surprise. What may be more surprising is that substantial minorities believe in ghosts, UFOs, witches, astrology, and reincarnation – the belief that they themselves were once another people. Majorities of about two-thirds of all adults believe in hell and the devil, but hardly anybody expects that they will go to hell themselves. For more information, you can listen to this highly entertaining KQED talk show (50 minutes) with (among others) Susan Jacoby, author of "The Age of American Unreason". Other things that go worse are the slow transformation of US into a surveillance society, and, according to some authors, into a fascist state (Naomi Wolf - The End of America). As a person who stands up for the rights to privacy and free speech, recent events like a federal judge ordering the disabling of Wikileaks.org are troubling. And I could go on a lot with what I think is going wrong with the US. Keep an eye on the blog. If not the US, then where? Australia. But I haven't decided against the US yet. Let's see how things evolve after the elections; and after all, I do live (by choice) in the arguably best part of the US - California. Current Mood: creative Current Music: Bluemchen (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
9:58 pm	Cayenne Pepper gargles will probably NOT cure your sore throat Oh what a happy planet we'd live on if all the "herbal remedies", "grandma's cures", "miracle recipes" and generally "alternative" stuff, worked at least 10% of the time. I've been having the flu this weekend and after rejecting patently useless advice ("take Vitamin C for 10 days") and following confirmed home remedies (yes, chicken soup appears to help with colds), I wanted to make my own contribution to the field... of Harwons' personal medicine (we're all unique, right? YMMV.) This post is mainly in reply to My Financial Journey - Frugal cure for a sore throat. I have tried this quick quack remedy rigorously, following the scientific method and all that. The result: cayenne pepper gargles do not work as claimed. Below is the detailed account of my experiment. Condition before the cayenne pepper gargle: have had the flu for one day sore throat; subjective rating of throat pain: 70% could speak for an average of 12 seconds before starting to cough I mixed the ingredients as directed: heated up about 250mL of water for 99 seconds in a 1100-W microwave added 1 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper (bought from Safeway for about $5) added some salt stirred the liquid well so that the pepper particles would be in suspension After 4 gargles: congested nose cleaned up almost completely, for 8 minutes (in subsequent experiments, the duration of the decongestion stayed below 10 minutes) I could speak for 30 seconds before coughing; after 30 minutes, I could only speak for ~20 seconds the hotness of the water+pepper now overwhelmed the pain caused by the sore throat. Couldn't assess subjective sore throat pain Medium-term effects (over then next 2 days): none. My flu regressed as usual (I get the flu one a year and rid of it in 3-4 days). Conclusion All that cayenne pepper gargling really does is clear up your congested nostrils for about 10 minutes. (try something like Halls instead. It's more portable and your tongue won't burn afterward). Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: *cough* (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
12:42 pm	Clueless confused people that make you go "WTF" Every so often, I get IMed or added as an IM buddy by completely random people who are not spammers. Usually, they're friends of my clueless 12yo cousin who gave my ID to all of her clueless friends. That makes me expect Romanians, so I greet them in Romanian and try to be understanding. Turned out this time, a different kind of confused user came my way. (11:10:08) rosli lee has added you as a friend. (11:10:08) me: salut (11:10:16) rosli lee: salut what (11:10:33) me: How did you find my ID? (11:10:52) rosli lee: whos is this [What I can never seem to figure out is this: For the love of making any sense, how in the world, after getting someone's IM, you message them, then ask "who is this" ?!] (11:11:05) rosli lee: jason from myspace (11:11:29) me: What is your myspace URL? (11:12:10) rosli lee: http://www.myspace.com/roslee88 (11:12:54) rosli lee: helo (11:14:03) me: Do you work for Oracle? (11:14:18) rosli lee: no just put (11:14:28) rosli lee: i have some ability see future (11:14:36) me: oh (11:14:50) me: can you tell me what I'm going to type in the very near future, like 5 minutes from now? (11:15:14) rosli lee: i never see you (11:15:22) rosli lee: even face (11:15:27) rosli lee: how to do (11:16:10) me: ok, do you have some ability to see your own past? (11:16:26) rosli lee: no (11:18:14) me: Um, you don' t have a memory? (11:18:24) rosli lee: no (11:18:35) rosli lee: becouse i adopted family (11:19:23) me: ?!? Anyway, are you from Malaysia? (11:19:40) rosli lee: yup (11:19:46) rosli lee: why you asking (11:19:56) rosli lee: i send something about you (11:20:01) me: do you know who I am? (11:20:20) rosli lee: yes (11:20:36) rosli lee: some people have power by using money (11:20:52) rosli lee: i dont care about that (11:20:57) rosli lee: i want friend only (11:21:39) me: who am I? (11:21:54) me: I'm trying to make sure you're not mistaking me for someone else (11:22:14) rosli lee: i cant tell (11:22:20) rosli lee: i promise some one (11:23:26) me: huh? (11:23:36) me: look buddy, I think you're a bit messed up in the head (11:23:55) me: unless you come up with a good explanation of how you found my Yahoo ID, I'm going to ban/ignore you (11:26:30) rosli lee: from this internet (11:26:37) rosli lee: i just add (11:26:39) rosli lee: why can (11:26:44) rosli lee: cant it ok (11:26:55) rosli lee: many friend i can be frien (11:28:07) me: You mean you just add people at random? (11:30:53) rosli lee: yup (11:30:59) rosli lee: sory if distube you (11:34:13) me: idiot (11:34:18) me: /ban /ignore (11:34:19) rosli lee: sory (11:34:44) roslee_101: you igno it (11:34:50) roslee_101: i dont know how (11:35:12) me: Sorry, this person is ignoring your stupid lousy messages. Press any key then Enter to continue. (11:35:28) roslee_101: a (11:35:41) me: Sorry, this person is ignoring your stupid lousy messages. Press any digit key then Enter to continue. (11:38:18) roslee_101: 13413123 (11:38:37) me: Sorry, this person is ignoring your stupid lousy messages. Press the Control key then Enter to continue. (11:45:27) me: You have 2 minutes left to press the Ctrl key then Enter, or else your computer will explode. (11:46:30) me: 1 minute left! (11:47:05) me: 30 seconds left! We recommend running away. (11:47:26) me: Wait, come back. You can also press the '2' key then Enter to stop the EXPLOSION process. (11:47:58) roslee_101: 2 (11:48:09) me: Too late. Your computer will explode in 10 seconds (11:48:13) me: 9 (11:48:14) me: 8 (11:48:15) me: 7 (11:48:16) me: 6 (11:48:17) me: 5 (11:48:18) me: RUN AWAY!!!! (11:48:19) me: 4 (11:48:20) me: 3 (11:48:21) me: 2 (11:48:22) me: 1 (11:48:23) me: 0 (11:48:24) me: BOOOOOOOOOOM!!! (11:48:50) me: In case the explosion was not complete, type "IMEEDEEOT" then press Enter. (12:28:51) me: This is a non-existent message on the ghost screen of an exploded computer. [After 40 minutes with no reply, I guess they perished in the explosion] (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
3:30 am	On debates I've been told recently that I exceedingly like to debate, want to convince, and keep trying to prove a point. I've been told I should sometimes just stop and "accept". Here is what I think. When it comes to convictions (not "I incline to think but I'm not really sure" statements), I indeed want to convince - the other person or myself. I don't attack the person, but the idea or conviction. Most often though, people stand by their convictions, and they feel attacked. I stand by my convictions and defend them. The only way I conduct debate is to use reason. At the moment a debate comes to "faith", "gut feeling" or any kind of emotional "reasoning", there is no point in debating. If you say "I believe THIS", I can reply "I believe, with the same strength, the CONTRARY OF THIS". Either THIS, or the CONTRARY OF THIS, can be true at a time, but not both. Two questions arise: Are we going to establish which is true? If not, no debate. Maybe this is where I'm wrong - even though I get a "no" answer, I still engage in the debate. Why? Because it irks me that you are afraid to sustain your conviction, but don't admit that it is or may be wrong, either. If yes, then I will debate using reason (classical logic). If as a result of a rational debate, I am proved wrong, I will most happily change my opinion, and I am proud of that. I expect you to do the same. I can postpone a debate to gather more information but I never end debates forcibly ("drop it!" is something I never utter). If you tell me to stop, I don't know if you can't accept that the conviction you defended had lost, or if you want to take a break, or if you simply exercise your right of not communicating with me any more. Kindly let me know why you want to stop, and don't make it sound like I lost the argument. Do I want to convince, and win the argument? Heck yes, and I find that very healthy. Don't you stand by your convictions? If not, then why debate them? Again, I'm talking about strong opinions, ideas, or conviction. If you tell me "I'm not sure about this topic, I need to think more about it", the most I can and will do is provide you with information. Only you can change your own mind. Current Mood: calm (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 19th, 2007
1:55 am	Aliens Today the lawyers let me know that I had reached the final stage of the Green Card (US permanent resident visa) application. Since the United States does not want to harbor any notorious criminals, the application form is asking the questions below (I'm not making this up!). Since I'm an honest criminal, I'm answering as follows: Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｋｎｏｗｉｎｇｌｙ ｃｏｍｍｉｔｔｅｄ ａｎｙ ｃｒｉｍｅ ｏｆ ｍｏｒａｌ ｔｕｒｐｉｔｕｄｅ ｏｒ ａ ｄｒｕｇ-ｒｅｌａｔｅｄ ｏｆｆｅｎｓｅ ｆｏｒ ｗｈｉｃｈ ｙｏｕ ｈａｖｅ ｎｏｔ ｂｅｅｎ ａｒｒｅｓｔｅｄ? Ａ: Ｙａｙ ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｗｅｅｄ, ａｎｄ Ｉ ｐｒｏｍｉｓｅ ｔｏ ｔｕｒｎ ｍｙｓｅｌｆ ｉｎ ａｓ ｓｏｏｎ ａｓ ｆｉｎｉｓｈ ｔｈｉｓ ａｐｐｌｉｃａｔｉｏｎ, ｐｅａｃｅ ｍａｎ Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｂｅｅｎ ａｒｒｅｓｔｅｄ, ｃｉｔｅｄ, ｃｈａｒｇｅｄ, ｉｎｄｉｃｔｅｄ, ｆｉｎｅｄ, ｏｒ ｉｍｐｒｉｓｏｎｅｄ ｆｏｒ ｂｒｅａｋｉｎｇ ｏｒ ｖｉｏｌａｔｉｎｇ ａｎｙ ｌａｗ ｏｒ ｏｒｄｉｎａｎｃｅ, ｅｘｃｌｕｄｉｎｇ ｔｒａｆｆｉｃ ｖｉｏｌａｔｉｏｎｓ? Ａ: Ａｌｌ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ａｂｏｖｅ, ｂｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｇｕａｒｄ ｌｅｔ ｍｅ ｏｕｔ ｆｏｒ ａｎ ｏｕｎｃｅ ｏｆ ｗｅｅｄ Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｂｅｅｎ ａ ｂｅｎｅｆｉｃｉａｒｙ ｏｆ ａ ｐａｒｄｏｎ, ａｍｎｅｓｔｙ, ｒｅｈａｂｉｌｉｔａｔｉｏｎ ｄｅｃｒｅｅ, ｏｔｈｅｒ ａｃｔ ｏｆ ｃｌｅｍｅｎｃｙ ｏｒ ｓｉｍｉｌａｒ ａｃｔｉｏｎ? Ａ: Ｓｅｅ ａｂｏｖｅ. Ｍｏｎｅｙ ｔａｌｋｓ. Ｗｅｅｄ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ｐｌａｉｎ ｐｅｒｓｕａｓｉｖｅ. Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｅｘｅｒｃｉｓｅｄ ｄｉｐｌｏｍａｔｉｃ ｉｍｍｕｎｉｔｙ ｔｏ ａｖｏｉｄ ｐｒｏｓｅｃｕｔｉｏｎ ｆｏｒ ａ ｃｒｉｍｉｎａｌ ｏｆｆｅｎｓｅ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ Ｕ.Ｓ.? Ａ: Ｙｅｓ. Ｅｙｅ ｍ ａｙｅ ｒｅｚｉｄｅｎｔ ｏｆ Ｗｅｅｄｉｓｔｈａｎ ｅｎ ｐｒｏｔｅｋｔｅｄ ｂｙｅ ｍａｅ ｓｔａｙｔｓ ｄｙｅｐｌｏｍｅｙｔｉｋ ｉｍｕｎｅｙｔｉ Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｒｅｃｅｉｖｅｄ ｐｕｂｌｉｃ ａｓｓｉｓｔａｎｃｅ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ Ｕ.Ｓ. ｆｒｏｍ ａｎｙ ｓｏｕｒｃｅ, ｉｎｃｌｕｄｉｎｇ ｔｈｅ Ｕ.Ｓ. ｇｏｖｅｒｎｍｅｎｔ ｏｒ ａｎｙ ｓｔａｔｅ, ｃｏｕｎｔｙ, ｃｉｔｙ, ｏｒ ｍｕｎｉｃｉｐａｌｉｔｙ (ｏｔｈｅｒ ｔｈａｎ ｅｍｅｒｇｅｎｃｙ ｍｅｄｉｃａｌ ｔｒｅａｔｍｅｎｔ), ｏｒ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｌｉｋｅｌｙ ｔｏ ｒｅｃｅｉｖｅ ｐｕｂｌｉｃ ａｓｓｉｓｔａｎｃｅ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｆｕｔｕｒｅ? Ａ: Ｉ ａｍ ｌｉｋｅｌｙ ｔｏ ｂｕｍ ｏｎ ｍｙ ｂｕｔｔ ａｌｌ ｄａｙ ａｔ ｔｈｅ ｅｘｐｅｎｓｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ Ｕ.Ｓ. ｏｆ Ａ, ａｎｄ ｐｕｆｆ ｗｅｅｄ ｉｎｃｅｓｓａｎｔｌｙ. Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ, ｗｉｔｈｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｐａｓｔ 10 ｙｅａｒｓ, ｂｅｅｎ ａ ｐｒｏｓｔｉｔｕｔｅ ｏｒ ｐｒｏｃｕｒｅｄ ａｎｙｏｎｅ ｆｏｒ ｐｒｏｓｔｉｔｕｔｉｏｎ, ｏｒ ｉｎｔｅｎｄ ｔｏ ｅｎｇａｇｅ ｉｎ ｓｕｃｈ ａｃｔｉｖｉｔｉｅｓ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｆｕｔｕｒｅ? Ａ: Ｗｈｙ, ｓｕｒｅ ｔｈｉｎｇ, ｃｕｔｉｅ!!! Ｍｙ, ｉｎｔｅｌｌｉｇｅｎｔ ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎｓ ａｒｅ ｓｕｃｈ ａ ｔｕｒｎ-ｏｎ!!! Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｋｎｏｗｉｎｇｌｙ ｅｎｃｏｕｒａｇｅｄ, ｉｎｄｕｃｅｄ, ａｓｓｉｓｔｅｄ, ａｂｅｔｔｅｄ ｏｒ ａｉｄｅｄ ａｎｙ ａｌｉｅｎ ｔｏ ｔｒｙ ｔｏ ｅｎｔｅｒ ｔｈｅ Ｕ.Ｓ. ｉｌｌｅｇａｌｌｙ? Ａ: Ｄｕｈ. Ｗｈｏ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｉｎｋ Ｉ ｇｅｔ ｍｙ ｗｅｅｄ ｆｒｏｍ?! Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｅｎｇａｇｅｄ ｉｎ ａｎｙ ｕｎｌａｗｆｕｌ ｃｏｍｍｅｒｃｉａｌｉｚｅｄ ｖｉｃｅ, ｉｎｃｌｕｄｉｎｇ, ｂｕｔ ｎｏｔ ｌｉｍｉｔｅｄ ｔｏ ｉｌｌｅｇａｌ ｇａｍｂｌｉｎｇ? Ａ: Ｗｅｅｄ, ｐｒｏｓｔｉｔｕｔｉｏｎ, ｇａｍｂｌｉｎｇ - Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｍｙ ｏｗｎ ｓｉｎ ｃｉｔｉｚｅｎ ＺＩＰ ｃｏｄｅ Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｉｌｌｉｃｉｔｌｙ ｔｒａｆｆｉｃｋｅｄ ｉｎ ａｎｙ ｃｏｎｔｒｏｌｌｅｄ ｓｕｂｓｔａｎｃｅ, ｏｒ ｋｎｏｗｉｎｇｌｙ ａｓｓｉｓｔｅｄ, ａｂｅｔｔｅｄ ｏｒ ｃｏｌｌｕｄｅｄ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｉｌｌｉｃｉｔ ｔｒａｆｆｉｃｋｉｎｇ ｏｆ ａｎｙ ｃｏｎｔｒｏｌｌｅｄ ｓｕｂｓｔａｎｃｅ? Ａ: Ｎａｈ, ａ ｆｅｗ ｇｏｏｄ ｊｏｉｎｔｓ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｐｏｌｉｃｅ ｄｅｃｌａｒｅｄ ｉｔ ｌｅｇａｌ ｉｎ ｍｙ ＺＩＰ ｃｏｄｅ Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｅｎｇａｇｅｄ ｉｎ, ｃｏｎｓｐｉｒｅｄ ｔｏ ｅｎｇａｇｅ ｉｎ, ｏｒ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｉｎｔｅｎｄ ｔｏ ｅｎｇａｇｅ ｉｎ, ｏｒ ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｓｏｌｉｃｉｔｅｄ ｍｅｍｂｅｒｓｈｉｐ ｏｒ ｆｕｎｄｓ ｆｏｒ, ｏｒ ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ ａｎｙ ｍｅａｎｓ ｅｖｅｒ ａｓｓｉｓｔｅｄ ｏｒ ｐｒｏｖｉｄｅｄ ａｎｙ ｔｙｐｅ ｏｆ ｍａｔｅｒｉａｌ ｓｕｐｐｏｒｔ ｔｏ, ａｎｙ ｐｅｒｓｏｎ ｏｒ ｏｒｇａｎｉｚａｔｉｏｎ ｔｈａｔ ｈａｓ ｅｖｅｒ ｅｎｇａｇｅｄ ｏｒ ｃｏｎｓｐｉｒｅｄ ｔｏ ｅｎｇａｇｅ, ｉｎ ｓａｂｏｔａｇｅ, ｋｉｄｎａｐｐｉｎｇ, ｐｏｌｉｔｉｃａｌ ａｓｓａｓｓｉｎａｔｉｏｎ, ｈｉｊａｃｋｉｎｇ ｏｒ ａｎｙ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｆｏｒｍ ｏｆ ｔｅｒｒｏｒｉｓｔ ａｃｔｉｖｉｔｙ? Ａ: `ｃｏｕｒｓｅ. Ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｔｈａｔ ｓｈｉｐｍｅｎｔ ｏｆ ｗｅｅｄ ｔｏ Ａｎｙｔｏｗｎ, ＵＳ? Ｏｎｅ'ｓ ｇｏｔｔａ ｋｅｅｐ ｂａｃｋｗａｔｅｒ Ａｍｅｒｉｃａ ｃｌｅａｎ ａｎｄ ｆｅｅｄ ｔｈｅ ｈｕｎｇｒｙ ｆｏｌｋｓ ｉｎ Ｓａｎ Ｆｒａｎｃｉｓｃｏ. Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｂｅｅｎ ａ ｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｏｆ, ｏｒ ｉｎ ａｎｙ ｗａｙ ａｆｆｉｌｉａｔｅｄ ｗｉｔｈ, ｔｈｅ Ｃｏｍｍｕｎｉｓｔ Ｐａｒｔｙ ｏｒ ａｎｙ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｔｏｔａｌｉｔａｒｉａｎ ｐａｒｔｙ? Ａ: Ｐｈｅｗ! Ｔｈｉｓ one ｗａｓ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｃｌｏｓｅ. Ｒｏｍａｎｉａ ｗａｓ ａ ｃｏｍｍｕｎｉｓｔ ｃｏｕｎｔｒｙ ｕｎｔｉｌ `89, ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｗａｓｎ'ｔ 18 ｙｅｔ ｂａｃｋ ｔｈｅｎ. Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ, ｄｕｒｉｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｒｉｏｄ Ｍａｒｃｈ 23, 1933 ｔｏ Ｍａｙ 8, 1945, ｉｎ ａｓｓｏｃｉａｔｉｏｎ ｗｉｔｈ ｅｉｔｈｅｒ ｔｈｅ Ｎａｚｉ Ｇｏｖｅｒｎｍｅｎｔ ｏｆ Ｇｅｒｍａｎｙ ｏｒ ａｎｙ ｏｒｇａｎｉｚａｔｉｏｎ ｏｒ ｇｏｖｅｒｎｍｅｎｔ ａｓｓｏｃｉａｔｅｄ ｏｒ ａｌｌｉｅｄ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ Ｎａｚｉ Ｇｏｖｅｒｎｍｅｎｔ ｏｆ Ｇｅｒｍａｎｙ, ｅｖｅｒ ｏｒｄｅｒｅｄ, ｉｎｃｉｔｅｄ, ａｓｓｉｓｔｅｄ ｏｒ ｏｔｈｅｒｗｉｓｅ ｐａｒｔｉｃｉｐａｔｅｄ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｐｅｒｓｅｃｕｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ ａｎｙ ｐｅｒｓｏｎ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｏｆ ｒａｃｅ, ｒｅｌｉｇｉｏｎ, ｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ ｏｒｉｇｉｎ ｏｒ ｐｏｌｉｔｉｃａｌ ｏｐｉｎｉｏｎ? Ａ: Ｈｅｌｌ, ｉｎ ａ ｐｒｅｖｉｏｕｓ ｌｉｆｅ, Ｉ ｍｉｇｈｔ ａｓ ｗｅｌｌ ｈａｖｅ ＢＥＥＮ Ｈｉｔｌｅｒ. Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｅｎｇａｇｅｄ ｉｎ ｇｅｎｏｃｉｄｅ, ｏｒ ｏｔｈｅｒｗｉｓｅ ｏｒｄｅｒｅｄ, ｉｎｃｉｔｅｄ, ａｓｓｉｓｔｅｄ ｏｒ ｏｔｈｅｒｗｉｓｅ ｐａｒｔｉｃｉｐａｔｅｄ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｋｉｌｌｉｎｇ ｏｆ ａｎｙ ｐｅｒｓｏｎ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｏｆ ｒａｃｅ, ｒｅｌｉｇｉｏｎ, ｎａｔｉｏｎａｌｉｔｙ, ｅｔｈｎｉｃ ｏｒｉｇｉｎ, ｏｒ ｐｏｌｉｔｉｃａｌ ｏｐｉｎｉｏｎ? Ａ: Ｗｈｅｎ Ｉ ｃａｍｅ ｔｏ ｍｙ ｓｅｎｓｅｓ ａｆｔｅｒ ａｌｌ ｔｈｅ ｂａｄ ｄｅｅｄｓ ａｂｏｖｅ, Ｉ ｇｅｎｏｃｉｄｅｄ ａｌｌ ｍｙ ｐｒｅｖｉｏｕｓ ｐａｒｔｎｅｒｓ ｉｎ ｃｒｉｍｅ, ｄｒｅａｍｉｎｇ Ｉ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｂｅ ｃａｕｇｈｔ ａｎｄ ｄｅｐｏｒｔｅｄ. Ｑ: Ｈａｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｂｅｅｎ ｄｅｐｏｒｔｅｄ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ Ｕ.Ｓ. ｏｒ ｒｅｍｏｖｅｄ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ Ｕ.Ｓ. ａｔ ｇｏｖｅｒｎｍｅｎｔ ｅｘｐｅｎｓｅ, ｅｘｃｌｕｄｅｄ ｗｉｔｈｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｐａｓｔ ｙｅａｒ, ｏｒ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｎｏｗ ｉｎ ｅｘｃｌｕｓｉｏｎ ｏｒ ｄｅｐｏｒｔａｔｉｏｎ ｐｒｏｃｅｅｄｉｎｇｓ? Ａ: Ｍｙ ｄｒｅａｍ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｃｏｍｅ ｔｒｕｅ :-( Ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ Ｓｉｂｅｒｉａｎ ｄｅｐｏｒｔａｔｉｏｎ ｃａｍｐ, Harwons Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)