Introversion/Extroversion

I've always been the type of person who thinks way, way, way too much. It's how I've learned to rationalize and deal with whatever hardships come my way. I've always hated going to other people for help, or letting other people in on emotional issues that I might be going through, especially when it comes to love. I'm more of the introverted type, and to an extreme degree in certain cases. Most people explode if they bottle up their emotions inside for too long. It's never really gotten to where I've gone out and just flipped though, although I do know this happens to people. But as time goes on, I realize it's made me feel very isolated, and pessimistic. It comes with the territory I guess.

What I want to know is how do you deal with emotions, pain, or difficulties. Do you internalize them like me? Are you very external and expressive of your feelings? Do you let your thoughts on these things boil over too much into your dealings with others?

Basically, talk about what type you are(introvert/extrovert), and problems you might have in dealing with emotions because of what kind of person you are. Feel free to discuss issues you have, or to give advice on better handling emotions.

Looking for a new Sig

What text do you want?
Looking for the words "Beyond the realms of life and death; I travel swiftly without a sound. I leave no mark upon each place, so those more worthy may leave a trace" centered in an elegant script towards the top of the image. The text can be pretty small.

Any pictures you suggest we use? (If so, provide a link)
Nope.

Any specific colors or mood you want?
I'd like it to be mostly blue and black, with white snow. As long as it looks quiet and isolated.

What do you want to use it for? (sig, avatar, wallpaper, website banner etc.)
Looking for a signature image.

Anything you don't want on your image?
Nothing I can think of.

Any other comments?
I'm looking for a lone wolf in the snow, with or without a full moon. It can be howling or not. Any help, questions, or suggestions are much appreciated.

Overpopulation

I've been doing a summer assignment for AP Biology and the subject has been about ecology and populations, which if you don't know, is the study of ecosystems, their interactions, and the interactions of species within the environment. The book made a point about addressing how humans affect the biosphere(The sum of all the world's ecosystems). One specific topic got me thinking, and that was about the unique and exponential growth of the human population.

Our population reached six billion in 1999, and is predicted to hit seven billion around 2012. That's a billion people in thirteen years. Furthermore, the population is expected to reach about nine billion by 2040. That's another two billion in just 28 years. These are just predictions, but there should be cause for concern. There are some models which expect the human population to peak naturally, without undue consequences, but it is impossible to be sure.

Our planet has limited resources, and there is a limit to how many people our planet can support. Technology can help alleviate some of these issues, but the need for more farmland and more living space for so many people will take its toll on the planets natural cycles of resources and will necessitate the elimination of more habit for other living creatures. Our population growth will have untold affects on the planet. Also, if we over extend our resources, there will be an inevitable shift to a sustainable population, which will mean famine and death for millions, if not billions when there is not enough to go around. Different factors, such as disease and food shortages will inevitably be a part in bringing the population down to a level that the planet can support.

There are already numerous things limiting the human population. Cancer, war, AIDS, and other genetic disorders are all things that we consider evils and want to come to an end. The side effect of solving these problems is that if we can find cures for such diseases and others through medicine, our population will grow even further. Here are the leading causes of death in the world, from 2004:



Many of these come from diseases. Curable diseases. Obviously the majority of some of these come from under developed nations. But with progress in medicine, declines of all of these could be seen. But contrastingly, saving these lives could lead to the world population to grow even further. This furthers our population problems, which could result in millions to billions of deaths if gone unchecked. Literally dead if you do, dead if you don't. Obviously, some of the other leading causes of death, in cancers as well as some of the above mentioned causes strike close to home, so please, I don't mean to give offense if you know or have been affected by some of these, but these deaths are nature born. If we view them from an outside perspective, rather than their personal impacts on families or friends, they are designed to limit our population so that we don't exceed our means. By curing or alleviating them, we are causing another problem for ourselves. The ideal situation is that we begin to curb our population growth and find cures or better treatments for these diseases, but we are concentrating far more on the latter than the former. But the ideal answer is not always the case. China has already put limits on births, but many countries have no such laws(India is expected to outpace China's population by 2050) and there would undoubtedly be protests against such birth restrictions. Which do you think is a more pressing concern, curing diseases, or working on our population control? Again, I don't mean to pose it as an either/or situation, but hardly any thought goes to the alternative idea of "too many" people being alive, rather than too many dying.

Please give your thoughts on any and all things that relate to the human population.


Resources: World populations-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population
Leading causes of death-http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/index.html

Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica

I'm surprised that there isn't already a thread on these, although they are lesser known books. The series consists of Here, There be Dragons, The Search for the Red Dragon, and The Indigo King. There are several more books planned in the series, including the upcoming book, The Shadow Dragons which is being released on October 27. If you would like to see more information you can check out the blog of the author, James A. Owen, here http://www.heretherebedragons.net/

The books are a good fantasy tale that incorporates a huge amount of familiar myths and legends and throws them all together very well. I won't spoil anything, but for anyone who enjoys seeing allusions to many historical and mythological tales and incorporating them all into a well knit plot, without losing the identity of the story, then you will probably enjoy them. I will admit though that these were not books that I just burned through quickly, like many other novels that people will go through because they are so addicting. They are good, enjoyable books that are satisfying, yet sometimes you just put them down and read them bit by bit.

Anyone else read them? What did you think?

Developing Characters of Different Races

Over the course of the cycle, we have seen five main races, Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Urgals, and Dragons. Putting human's and dragons aside, we have seen only tidbits of elven, dwarven, and urgal characters. There have been a few notable elves, dwarves, and urgals though. As anyone can see, the war going on in Alagaesia is being used as a way to bring all the races together, for the first time in history. Again, I want to focus on characters who are not mainstream. For elves, we have only seen Vanir, Dathedr, Rhunon, and Blodhgarm(I doubt we will see more of the elves who traveled with Eragon on the way to Ellesmera). For Dwarves, we have met several of the clan leaders, such as Iorunn, but we have yet to see any real importance developed with their characters. As for Urgals, we have only met Garzhvog and a brief encounter with Yarbog. The thing is, the histories of these people have never been developed. We know nothing of Rhunon, Blodhgarm, or Gilderien the Wise's pasts(outside of general accomplishments). We have yet to see more of Urgal culture, unlike elves and dwarves. But has anyone else found the surprising lack of detail in these characters?

My question is, what role do you see some of these minor characters playing in the coming book, and which characters do you think will recieve more elaboration on? Personally I see more Urgals being introduced, Iorunn, Blodhgarm, Rhunon, and Dathedr being given increased development, due to their repeated acknowledgement or multiple appearances. We have met quite a few characters, but few have been given a story. Who do you want to see given more time to, and what do you think may be revealed about these specific minor characters of the other races? (I avoided werecats here, because CP has already stated he has plans for werecats in Book IV).