Design your own Asteroid that wipes out life!

Oh yeah i remember that LOL.  I’ve slept in my car many many times…

I was born at an early age.  I think my sign was “room 224”.  ba-da cha!

I was born March 4/73 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to two loving and caring parents (mother and father for some of you).  I grew up in a Christian home as well, went to church, went to church-camp, and i was on a Christian TV program for 6 years.  I was baptized when i was 16 years old.  I am technically a Christian, and i attend church and give them money from time to time (and i’m a big believer in the Mennonite Central Committee), but i guess that i’m still searching for truth (admittedly, i’m pretty lazy w.r.t. this as i’m quite busy in other respects and tired most of the time).
I graduated (w/ honors), got my B.Sc. in Chemistry (i focussed on advanced organic and biochemistries).  I then did an M.Sc. in Biochemistry and molecular biology and published 6 papers (including my thesis).  
I quickly got bored with this life, and looked for something with a little more fun in the job description.  I then became a “territory manager” for a pharmaceutical company.  I did well here (the quarter before i left i got the highest bonus out of around 300 reps) and was in a fast track to a management position.
Still i found the job to be very easy and although i enjoyed it, something was missing.  If i had a bad day, it was because one of my key clients didn’t have enough time for me - not because anything actually BAD had happened.  If i had a good day, it was because my numbers came out and showed me to be growing my business well and both me and my masters were becoming wealthier.
After one of my clients - a physician - banned me from his office for not giving him presents (it was against the rules, even tho’ several companies were doing it anyway) and changed his patients from my product to that of my competitors, i got quite angry.  I figured - fuck him - i’ll go into medicine, and be a better doctor than he is.  The fact is, i was being told from all over that i should go into medicine  I thought that here would be my chance to make a difference in people’s lives, to do something challenging and to be involved in people’s lives at a very real and personal level (i also thought that this would be a handy way to escape work in the salt-mines for when the aliens from Grargrotha IV invade us as they would want someone to keep their slaves happy . . . but i didn’t tell this to the interview board).
So i studied medicine for 4 years, then i did a 2 year family medicine residency with an interest in emergency medicine.  Currently i work in 2 ER’s, 1 urgent care center, and i have my own patients in my private practice.  
I love to travel - for 4 years i made it a practice to go somewhere and hang out for a month.  Last year it was Vancouver (i was with my then-g/f and working in the Vancouver General ER) and also Australia (i understand that it was a cold winter that year in winnipeg . . . :)).  The year before i travelled about Cuba for a month.  Before that was Belize.  I also spent around 6 weeks in Portugal with a girl i was dating - long story.  I’ve been to Mexico (several times) Brazil, Barbados, Holland (my uncle was a diplomat there) and Germany as well as all over the US (Phoenix, Boulder, Moab Utah, D.C., Seattle, Minneapolis, ND, SD, Miami, Tampa and Atlanta) as well as from sea to shining sea here in Canada.
I love women - i’ve dated over 50, but i’m down to one right now.  She’s beautiful, brings me supper when i’m working late in the ER, keeps my house clean, and her son does yard work for me (he’s 14, and a good kid).  
My political views are mixed - as most people can tell.  Particularly since my father recently secured the nomination for the Liberal party for the riding of Charleswood/St. James/Assiniboia and Headingly (around 80 000 people live here).  If he wins the next federal election, then he will be their Member of Parliament (traditionally a tight race) - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2306058560&ref=mf
I’m sure there is more, but lately my life has been work-sleep-work-sleep.

All right. It’s time for me to chime in here.

My case is to eliminate the DH. My points:

1. Affect on the Roster
a. By eliminating the DH, you place 6 men on a MLB bench instead of 5. This is a good thing because the team no longer has to pay 9 everyday players, lowering player costs significantly. An everyday player costs more than a bench player. It also opens up space for more specialized bench players - 3rd catchers, glove men, or speed demons who lack in other aspects of the game.
b. It forces the manager to actually use that bench. Without a DH, AL teams barely need to pinch hit or pinch run.
c. Using more specialized players and the entire bench leads to a more strategic game. Too many AL managers are absolutely terrible at managing significant aspects of the game, and this gives the advantage to the team with the more crafty manager.

2. Fairness
a. When playing against each other in NL parks, the National League gains a big strategic advantage over the American League. American League pitchers don’t know how to hit, bunt, or run like the NL pitchers do.
b. In addition, American League pitchers risk injury much moreso than their NL counterparts, because they are performing actions that they are unused to. Do you really want to see your ace sliding into 2nd base in the 1st game of the World Series?
c. In terms of the designated hitter himself, not having to field gives him a huge advantage over his peer hitters. Guys like Frank Thomas, David Ortiz, and Travis Hafner can pile on the muscle without needing to worry about general agility. Similar players of size who have to play the field every day (Example, Jason Giambi, Richie Sexson) are constantly troubled by nagging injuries due to size.
d. The balance of power. The mound was lowered. The brush back pitch was taken away. Newer, lighter bats with huge sweet spots were introduced. The balance of power has shifted too much away from pitchers, resulting in more offense than at any time in baseball. Eliminating the designated hitter will shift that balance back toward pitchers. It won’t solve anything, but it will make their job much easier.

3. History
a. Baseball is a game of history. Moreso than any other sport, baseball fans see their record books as sacred. Look at the controversy surrounding steroids allegations for Bonds. The Designated hitter is a departure from the times of Maris, Mantle, DiMaggio, Williams, and Ruth. It completely changes the record books. Look at a guy like Frank Thomas. He is putting up numbers for the ages, but could not do so with his size if he wasn’t a DH for 15 years.

Thanks, trihero.

Because I just realized that the most important decision in life is what you decide to do, RIGHT NOW.

Steve Vai is an awesome guitarist.  I especially like the way he played Bethovens 5th symphony……rock style.  :wink:

Last thing first…
Obviously I am a split in my views on those points, but with a slight imbalance to “Peace” (but my “War” points are the most strongly held…)

Main topic…
That is a “so called” life? 
Profesional career with diverse specific pursuits within the field; travel, new experiences; continuing education…
I call that a LIFE.

Good points, but what if you applied it to abortion as we have applied other parts or added ammendments for blacks, hmm?

“Also there may be life in ways that we do not understand it . . . using non-organic metabolites and structures, with/out systems of respiration reproduction etc. different then we’d imagine. I’m not too sure about the little green men concept, but i do wonder if there were aliens, what they would be made of, look like, and would they bear any resemblance to life around here to an extent that we would even recognise it as life?”

CC is hitting on something important here. There’s a whole other universe out there and what we know as the basic building blocks of life could be radically altered somewhere else. I guess the question is that if we encounter such a thing, can be classify it as alive? Time will tell. I think what CC, was referring to about viruses being machines was no so much in a metaphorical sense (as animals being machines), but in the fact that viruses are unable to replicate without a host cell, and therefore are typically not considered living organisms.