i'm not the one that started being sexist missy

(plus, that last post had a dripping layer of sarcasm on it....dripping)

-- Edited by T Square Man at 11:03, 2008-04-29

try looking at his profile (its Eric)

drip...hmmm, I'll have to use that on someone one day

cousin? eric's not his cousin...

no not thatt eric but thanks for reminding me :D

so, i had a 5 page paper to do tonight, with 2 choices about topic. either a literary analysis of any passage in the book 2-25 lines long, or a creative writing essay, creating a prologue, epilogue, or story about a minor character in the book, which must be consistent with the author's original writing style. since the first option was too picky about metaphors, symbolism, diction, tone, characterization, etc, i decided to go with the second option, and write a prologue. prblem is, the writer's stlye is very concise and brief. no episode in the book takes up more than 4 pages at most. so, try as i may, i could only stretch my idea so far before it started to lose traces of the author's style. as it turns out, i ended up writing a 2 page essay in good form, along with a note explaining why i cut myself so short, in an effort to at least say that it was not laziness that resulted in my failure to meet 5 pages. still, with all my reasons, i can't help but feel pathetic for failing so miserably.

Joe! you came back! i missed you buddy!

mass extinction... um... well hitler tried to kill all the jews
and chuck norris killed all the dinosaurs by steering a meteor into the planet.

Wikipedia has you covered.

(put in spoilers for massive text block)
(also contains spoilers for the end of the world)

Spoiler

Humanity

Some threats for humanity come from humanity itself. The scenario that has been explored most is a nuclear war or another weapon with similar possibilities. It is difficult to predict whether it would exterminate humanity, but very certainly could alter civilization, in particular if there was a nuclear winter event.
Another category of disasters are unforeseen consequences of technology. It has been suggested that learning computers take unforeseen actions or that robots would out-compete humanity. Biotechnology could lead to the creation of a pandemic, Nanotechnology could lead to grey goo in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all living matter on Earth while building more of themselves - in both cases, either deliberately or by accident. It has also been suggested that physical scientists might accidentally create a device that could destroy the earth and the solar system. In string theory, there are some unknown variables. If those turn out to have an unfortunate value, the universe may not be stable and alter completely, destroying everything in it, either at random or by an accidental experiment. This is called Quantum Vacuum Collapse by some.Another kind of accident is the Ice-9 Type Transition, in which our planet including everything on it becomes a strange matter planet in a chain reaction. Some do not view this as a credible scenario.

It has been suggested that runaway global warming might cause the climate on Earth to become like Venus, which would make it uninhabitable. In less extreme scenarios it could cause the end of civilization. According to a UN climate report, the Himalayan glaciers that are the sources of Asia's biggest rivers - Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween and Yellow - could disappear by 2035 as temperatures rise. Approximately 2.4 billion people live in the drainage basin of the Himalayan rivers. India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar could experience floods followed by droughts in coming decades. In India alone, the Ganges provides water for drinking and farming for more than 500 million people.

Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. In Africa, if current trends of soil degradation continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.

James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis, in his book The Revenge of Gaia (2006), has suggested that the elimination of rain forests, and the falling planetary biodiversity is removing the homeostatic negative feedback mechanisms that maintain climate stability by reducing the effects of greenhouse gas emissions (particularly carbon dioxide). With the heating of the oceans, the extension of the thermocline layer into Arctic and Antarctic waters is preventing the overturning and nutrient enrichment necessary for algal blooms of phytoplankton on which the ecosystems of these areas depend. With the loss of phytoplankton and tropical rain forests, two of the main carbon dioxide sinks for reducing global warming, he suggests a runaway positive feedback effect could cause tropical deserts to cover most of the worlds tropical regions, and the disappearance of polar ice caps, posing a serious challenge to global civilization.

Using scenario analysis, the Global scenario group (GSG), a coalition of international scientists convened by Paul Raskin, developed a series of possible futures for the world as it enters a Planetary Phase of Civilization. One scenario involves the complete breakdown of civilization as the effects of climate change become more pronounced, competition for scarce resources increases, and the rift between the poor and the wealthy widens. The GSG’s other scenarios, such as Policy Reform, Eco-Communalism, and Great Transition avoid this societal collapse and eventually result in environmental and social sustainability. They claim the outcome is dependent on human choiceand the possible formation of a global citizens movement which could influence the trajectory of global development.

Other scenarios

Antibiotic resistance
Natural selection would create super bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, devastating the world population and causing a global collapse of civilization.
Gulf Stream shutdown
There is some speculation that global warming could, via a shutdown or slowdown of the thermohaline circulation, trigger localised cooling in the North Atlantic and lead to cooling in that region. This would affect in particular areas like Ireland, the Nordic countries, and Britain that are warmed by the North Atlantic drift.
Demography
Demographic trends create a "baby bust" that threatens the order of civilization.
Mutual assured destruction
A full scale Nuclear war could kill billions, and the resulting nuclear winter would effectively crush any form of civilization.
Dysgenics
The ideas of dysgenics suggest that the average individual in a civilization may eventually become weaker, because the most intelligent reproduce least leaving the population less able to perform higher functions.
Finance
Markets fail worldwide, resulting in economic collapse: mass unemployment, rioting, famine, death, and cannibalism. (This scenario happened, to some extent, in the 1930s and 1940s, helping to cause World War II which has, so far, been the only war to involve nuclear weapons. That war (along with its its immediate precursor in Asia, the second Sino-Japanese War) also involved major atrocities and genocide. Such a scenario, in an age of ICBMs and hydrogen bombs, might be even worse in the future.)
Overpopulation
Some scenarios of simultaneous ecological (food & water production) and economical (see f.e. below) collapses with overpopulation are presumed to lead to a global civil war, where the remaining habitable areas are destroyed by competing humans (so called 'Mad Max'-scenario).
Famine
As of late 2007, increased farming for use in biofuels, along with world oil prices at over $100 a barrel,has pushed up the price of grain used to feed poultry and dairy cows and other cattle, causing higher prices of wheat (up 58%), soybean (up 32%), and maize (up 11%) over the year. Food riots have recently taken place in many countries across the world. An epidemic of stem rust on wheat caused by race Ug99 is currently spreading across Africa and into Asia and is causing major concern. Scientists say millions of people face starvation.
Peak oil
Oil becomes scarce before an economically viable replacement is devised, leading to global chaos and discomfort.
Experimental accident
The unlikely creation of a hypothetical microsingularity or exotic matter in particle acceleration experiments, or some unanticipated experimental accident, resulting in destruction of the planet or a large scale disaster. An (unrealised) example was that the first test of an atomic weapon might lead to ignition of the atmosphere and global destruction (see Trinity test).

[citation needed]

so did anyone else go to the "end of year" party at school? richard and i did at the beginning for the free food, but left by 7:30