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Messages - Jervill

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 82
1
General Discussion / Re: American Election Megathread- Voting Trump/Wallace in '168
« on: December 02, 2015, 05:30:44 pm »
Quote from: RedKing on December 02, 2015, 05:26:58 pm
Ok, I have to just unplug from all this. Mass shootings just kind of....fuck me up, for lack of a better term.
This may sound harsh, but no, you should not.  If I remember correctly, you did this as a job when you worked for the feds*, but recognizing that it is an abhorrent problem puts in better position than the rest of us who have been desensitized to atrocities such as this.  We need someone to recognize just how awful this is here, after all, and not just shuffle it away as "oh well, it happens".
*Or a contractor working for the feds, I think.  Correct me if I am incorrect.

2
General Discussion / Re: American Election Megathread- Voting Trump/Wallace in '168
« on: December 02, 2015, 05:18:21 pm »
Quote from: RedKing on December 02, 2015, 05:11:33 pm
Ye gods...these journalists at the chief's press conference are idiots.

Latest eyewitness states that the shooters were dressed in "all black" with body armor.

WTF? Mafia? Rogue SWAT team? Rainbow Six promo event gone horribly, horribly wrong?

The only advice I can give is wait for about six hours.  Then we may, I repeat, may, have some idea of what is going on.

3
General Discussion / Re: American Election Megathread- Voting Trump/Wallace in '168
« on: December 02, 2015, 04:29:28 pm »
Quote from: RedKing on December 02, 2015, 04:17:14 pm
Interesting bit on CBS that the FBI did a trend analysis and determined that from 2000-2006, there were an average of 6.4 active shooter incidents per year. Since 2007, it's averaged 16.6 incidents a year.

So yeah...it's happening more often and that's not just observation bias.

Just a guess, but the economy crashing in 2008 may have had an effect.  That, and wage growth has been nonexistant for awhile may also be a factor.  An actual statistical study would really be helpful.

4
Play With Your Buddies / Re: Minecraft With Mom! (Formerly Minecraft Commune)
« on: November 22, 2015, 03:03:51 pm »
I finally caught up with the other Minecraft with Mom vids myself.  Good to know there is another one coming up soon. :)

5
General Discussion / Re: American Election Megathread- Voting Trump/Wallace in '168
« on: November 22, 2015, 02:48:10 pm »
The polls were actually right for once in Louisiana.  It certainly helps that David Vitter (the Republican) was a scumbag and his almost decade old prostitution scandal finally came back to bite him.

6
General Discussion / Re: Bay12 2016 Election Megathread- It Was Inevitable
« on: June 25, 2015, 07:53:28 pm »
Quote from: Lord Shonus on June 25, 2015, 02:43:17 pm
In other, possibly even more important SCOTUS news, the court ruled 5-4 that housing policies can be found discriminatory regardless of any intent to discriminate, exponentially decreasing the difficulty of fighting against such things.

Hopefully that makes it easier to tone down with the de facto segregation many areas face. (St. Louis, Chicago, Cleveland, for example)

7
General Discussion / Re: Bay12 2016 Election Megathread- It Was Inevitable
« on: June 16, 2015, 04:38:30 pm »
Quote from: Frumple on June 16, 2015, 04:18:29 pm
I'd... actually kinda' doubt it. The states had straight up socialist/communist political groups for a little bit, iirc. An actual leftist movement. My brain's out of it enough I can't really recall how much bernie hearkens back to the older stuff, but if it's a major divergence from what paths have been tread before I'd be a lil' surprised. Don't actually know, though. I pay attention to sanders to more or less the exact extent he influences the major political stuff (which is to say little).

Probably during the 1930s.  The Non-Partisan League of North Dakota and the knock off Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota were about the closest things we've had to socialism in the United States.  North Dakota still has a state grain exchange and bank, for example.  Of course, the Non-Partisan League allied with Republicans at first, before switching to the Democrats later on.

Also keep in mind that both those groups came about during the time both of those states had a massive immigrant population (mostly composed of Scandinavians and Finns).

8
General Discussion / Re: Bay12 2016 Election Megathread- It Was Inevitable
« on: June 16, 2015, 04:12:29 pm »
Quote from: RedKing on June 16, 2015, 09:58:28 am
But enough of the highbrow political wankery...let's get back to the down and dirty of the campaign.

Jeb Bush finally declared himself a candidate, in much the same way that an alcoholic might declare that he has a problem *AFTER* going on a Wild Turkey-fueled rampage for three months.

That brings the total of credible (and I use the term very loosely) Republican candidates to 11. Which may expand to 12 if the Human Toupee declares today, as many expect him to (although many also expect him to duplicate 1987, 1999 and 2004 and NOT run after milking the media cycle for attention till he got bored).

I have to say though, Trump as a candidate would be somewhat fitting. In an era where wealth disparity is at levels not seen since the Gilded Age, you have a guy whose entire campaign message seems to be "Hey, look at how fucking rich I am!"


As for Jeb Bush, I think any opponent simply needs to respond with this message: "And remember, every Bush Presidency comes with a complimentary war in Iraq and a recession!"

Is the toupee actually a mind controlling parasite?  Considering many of Trump's comments I think that may be likely.

To Aqizzar: Not even Sanders?

9
General Discussion / Re: Bay12 2016 Election Megathread- It Was Inevitable
« on: May 22, 2015, 10:56:35 pm »
Quote from: Aqizzar on May 21, 2015, 03:00:44 pm
<snip> So screw the union buster, I simply wanted your attention.

Any chance, Aquizzar, you may run for house or maybe state house in your district?  It is not that unreasonable after all, the Texas Dems need all the help they can get.  Think of all the money you could get...

More seriously, however, Wisconsin is trailing all its neighbors in the economic recovery.  Minnesota, for example, has a $2 billion surplus, Illinois is growing, as is Iowa.  Wisconsin is trailing behind all its neighbors except Michigan, but MI being MI, does not look so good.

10
General Discussion / Re: Sheb's European Politics Megathread
« on: May 11, 2015, 09:20:58 am »
Quote from: lijacote on May 11, 2015, 07:57:30 am
Quote from: BlindKitty on May 11, 2015, 12:43:34 am
First place: Andrzej Duda, our major counter-candidate. About 35 - 40 %.
With his party (who besides a total criminal names their party the Law and Justice party?) having a nature as described by Wikipedia here, I would hesitate to call him a counter-candidate. Wouldn't this guy be more of the same if not worse?
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Would a global language be good? Perhaps it'd enable international struggle of the lower classes, but I'd be wary of shifts in power. Could any one or couple of institutions control this language to a degree where they could hamstring this reconstruction of Babel?*

*Ignoring the problems of trying to reduce languages to just one.

Looking at the wiki page, it looks as if all three of the largest parties in Poland are centre-right to right wing.  The one with the rockstar is apparently an agrarian party as well.

The link has a helpful map on the bottom of the page (Parliament, not President, but same parties), and it looks more like an East/West split between the parties rather than a left/right one using prior election results.

11
General Discussion / Re: The Official Bay12 Fifty-Two Books Challenge: 2015 Edition
« on: May 08, 2015, 04:53:47 pm »
Quote from: Vector on April 16, 2015, 08:58:19 pm
Spoiler: Challenging reading: 20/52 (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Books: 48 (Comics: 22) (click to show/hide)

Some of Sontag honestly remains as relevant today as she was back in the 1960s. I especially enjoyed her essays "Against Interpretation," "The Imagination of Disaster" (which is about science fiction), "Happenings: an art of radical juxtaposition," and "Notes on 'Camp'." Sadly, I found the other works rather less relevant, since she's writing on theorists, critics, and authors who have almost entirely left the modern imagination. I felt that I learned something, but that most of the interest was in gaining access to examples of Sontag's beautifully clear style and of further historical notes. It is peculiar to discover how much of her intellectual climate has really disappeared.

Supercommunicator is a very readable book on, well, communicating. I feel its chief contribution is the meeting of what it's saying and how it says it, since I've seen every concept in the book many times elsewhere, without accessible examples provided. It's almost like a living example (or, for those who are familiar with this terminology: it is performative/self-demonstrating).


Next, I'm going to keep finishing the half-read books sitting by me on the floor. I'm in the middle of Life and Death are Wearing me Out (Mo Yan), which I dig but isn't half as good as Dream of Ding Village was, barring a few truly splendid scenes. Sadly, I barely remember reading most of these books on the list up there. I still remember the really great ones, but the ones that were just okay don't stick in my memory at all :/ I should probably worry even more about quality over volume.

On the other hand, I'd like to attest again to the power of that book by Marie Kondo on tidying. Ever since I read it, it's like my room has magically kept itself organized and looking good. I clean up now without even thinking about it, and keep seeing little things where I go: "Oh, I should really get a box to keep those things all tidied up!" Even my bookmarks are tidier


Quote from: Arx on March 27, 2015, 01:53:48 pm
You know, I would really like a series of gritty fantasy novels that don't make everything about sex and rape. That only briefly mention sex and don't have any rape, even.

Honestly, this is why I stopped reading SF/fantasy. I just got sick of that and the lackluster characterization. I get that the setting is supposed to be the main character, but I always felt like most of the big plotlines would have been better as hooks for a computer game or tabletop session...

I'll let you know if I see anything. I think that most likely you'll find what you're looking for in a series of books that doesn't "feel" like sword and sorcery fantasy, because there the sex and rape are as much a staple of the genre as Tolkien Races.


The Secrets of Pistoulet is the worst thing I have read this year. It is trashy fiction of the "Magical French Kitchen for Unhappy Upper-Middle-Class American Housewives" genre, frequently racist, and the plot is practically bifurcated by two unrelated segments that are connected only by their unsurpassed triteness and puerile relation of an Orientalizing fantasia. It is the epitome of the Shitty Coffee Table Book genre.

I will be genuinely shocked if I find anything surpassing it.

Usually I do not comment on this thread, but I do have to give props to reading "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman.  Excellent book describing cultural differences.  I read that in 8th grade, and to be honest, it was out of my league.  No wonder my teacher wanted to read it herself when I was done.

Also, yes, Dance of Dragons is book five, not six.  Six will be Winds of Winter.

12
General Discussion / Re: [*Honk*] Atagos soft fuel tanks return (Also featuring chen) (Happy thread!!!)
« on: May 08, 2015, 03:35:35 pm »
Does that include the spacecraft on the moon?  Or just the rocks?

13
General Discussion / Re: Bay12 2016 Election Megathread- It Was Inevitable
« on: May 08, 2015, 03:28:55 pm »
Well, you have to be loaded to be a governor, generally.  I don't even want to guess how much money my gov's family has. (His family founded the Target department stores and more).

Well, Sanders will be a nice protest vote in the caucus if he survives to this state at least.  Maybe it'll be enough to push Clinton to the left before the general.

14
General Discussion / Re: Bay12 2016 Election Megathread- It Is Terrifying
« on: March 26, 2015, 09:58:35 pm »
Because it's an open seat, and those tend to fall first even when they're more loyal to one party or another.  It is certainly a stretch compared to say, Wisconsin, Illinois, or Pennsylvania, but the opportunity is there, especially if Evan Bayh runs.

15
General Discussion / Re: Bay12 2016 Election Megathread- It Is Terrifying
« on: March 26, 2015, 09:50:20 pm »
Quote from: PTTG?? on March 25, 2015, 12:11:47 pm
Republican Candidates:
Ted Cruise: A loud moron.

Democratic Candidates:
Queen Hillary Clinton.

Are these really the only choices?

The only way Clinton will be pushed at least a little to the left would be with a friendlier congress, Presidents don't exist in a vacuum.  That said, there are numerous pick up opportunities for the Dems in 2016.  WI-Senator, for example.  Ron Johnson is waaaaay too conservative for the state and should fall with Pres year turnout out of Madison & Milwaukee.  Ditto for Kirk (R-Illinois).

Also, Dan Coats (R-Indiana) is retiring, opening up another pick up opportunity.  Aaron Burr (R-North Carolina) is near invisible, but does sit in a seat that could flip.

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