I've recently came across a book that I want to read, "The Straight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness." 

I haven't began to read it or even buy it yet, but it is something I want to read. Although reviews don't mean everything for all products, 90% of the reviews are 5 stars, and all the people who've suggested it, are pretty good people. I'll hopefully begin reading it tomorrow, depending on if I have time after preparing for some exams.

Anyway, for the main purpose of this thread, do you read self help or motivational books? What are some that you have read and enjoyed? Any recommendations?

simple thread debating the ethics of Biotechnology and stem cells, as well as their uses both positive and negative.

so to start with here's the first on topic point.

given that stem cells can be obtained from alternative sources other than fetuses, what other ethical considerations should be considered given their uses, both positive and negative?
also, why should we/shouldn't we, use them to help people?

and... GO!

hello everyone, I am SpookyZalost, I'm a recent-ish member here at makestation, and a bit of a jack of all trades in real life.

I wanted to announce something new!, a writing contest, the rules are simple.

#1 bad grammar/spelling = - points (out of 100)
#2 minimum word count 5,000 words
#3 try to keep it to about 15 pages if possible for maximum.
#4 have fun and enjoy!

now that all that stuff is outta the way, there will also be a community poll at the end of the submission period whereby all stories will be publicly available for an anonymous vote, pick whatever one's you like the most!

the submission period is from now until may 20th and the end of voting will be on may 30th

Submit the stories to the main forum, just make sure "May 2015 Writing contest" is in the description so I can find it and link to it here on this page.

the prize will be the respect and admiration of your fellow readers so if you wanted a chance to test the waters and stretch your writers legs this is a great time to do so!

the topic will be chosen at random, for this one let's pick an easy one, the story has to be about or take place on a ship, ANY kind of ship outside of that have fun, OH! and keep the content PG13 if possible! ^_^


and... BEGIN!

After re-organzing my living quarters I was left with little to no space for a desk along my walls, so I went ahead and did something rather neat! ^_^, also there was bonus space so I setup my soldering workbench up here now!





So? thoughts, opinions, maybe I should add something? I do plan to add more shelves just fyi, but besides that I'm open to just about anything atm!

so this will be my new journal/blog for the public relating to living life as I do, in this post modern world we live in, one ruled by megacorps, where technology is supreme, the street makes it's own uses for things, and the disparity between rich and poor is vaster than the grand valis marinaris on mars.

hoping people are at least somewhat interested.

SpookyZ.

**********************************************

life is pretty straight forward to the techie, we blend in, do our best at our jobs, keep the corps happy.
but when we aren't working the fun begins.
I access my devices with a radio frequency chip in my hand for security, I've got monitors both for my terminals and for the various cameras guarding my living space.
I am a hacker in the truest sense, not those nonsense lies they spread in the media.

I am a cyberpunk, I live in that world, where life is hard, people have to adapt to radical changes in society, and those who don't upgrade are left behind.
I support transhumanism, I desire to upgrade and improve myself, H+ will always win in my book.

I grow bioluminescient plants for home illumination, that which isn't illuminated by the technology I keep with me that is.

I dumpster dive for tech when I see it, I fix it, I restore it, I use it, everything has a purpose.
I collect things, old game consoles, old computers, even the oldest of machines still has a use of some sort, my 286 plays some of my favorite old dos games, I love it.

thus I sit here, illuminated in the electronic glow of the various devices I've obtained, this being my first true post, a beacon to those who are being dragged down with me into the abyss, I don't stare into it, I embrace it, and I'm all the better for it.

I am a cyberpunk.

SpookyZalost, Signing off.

Post your random screenshots from C:S (or any other city building game for that matter) here! I'll start with a screenshot of the newly built Eisenhower Dam, which produces a whopping 768 kWh...

I think Alerts would be very helpful for this forum.

MyAlerts works for 1.8 with some adjustments.

Has anyone here heard of ElkArte?

http://elkarte.net

It's a free and open source forum software that comes out the box with a lot of features! I recently installed it on one of my forums just to play with it and it is really nice! It's the only forum software, apart from MyBB, that I have installed in 3 years. Here is one of the biggest ElkArte forums: http://foreforums.com

I'll admit it. Ever since Windows failed (again) on my PC, I am now religious as a linux user. I don't even really care what I use as far as distributions are concerned (although secretly I do, but I'll pretend I don't to avoid being divisive ). Personally, I just use Ubuntu because it's popular and well supported, and just about everything works great with it. I have found myself going back and forth between Unity and Gnome 3, but I really have found Unity to be a pleasant desktop environment to get the hang of. It's not all that well designed as far as the annoying dash is concerned, but with the exception of the dash, everything else is clean and simple. Open applications are very easy to get to as well on the side launcher, and the HUD is pretty nice to avoid going through annoying menus constantly. 

I'll admit that I'm certainly not afraid of the command prompt, as I have done server maintenance that has my skills fairly sharp, but honestly, I find linux a lot easier to use as an everyday user. With windows 8, you don't know if the setting you are looking for is buried somewhere deep in the control panel, in the settings app, or in some side panel on the start screen. It's a real pain to figure out where everything is, and it lacks any consistency whatsoever. To be fair, the settings application in Ubuntu is pretty crappy, but at least everything truly is easy to find and it's in one place. It beats having to search three different areas in windows for a simple setting, or constantly having to switch between fullscreen "apps" (which are littered with ads) and the normal programs. 

Then of course, no anti-virus software or system maintenance/defragmentation software is required, which is quite nice, particularly considering how often I somehow managed to get malware on my PC as a windows user. No annoying restarts are required for minor updates either, and the hard drive and RAM requirements are significantly lower. Many free programs are also available for linux, and I have yet to run into anything I need that I don't have (besides microsoft word maybe, but I found WPS office to be a decent replacement for my needs). 

So yeah, I am now pretty much completely windows-independent. Anyone else here just as excessively religious about using linux? 

Screenshot of my awesome linux-powered desktop