Meshugger

i write too, and i've got half a dozen publications as well. none of it is interesting stuff, however, as it is all technical. i'd much rather publish something kewl that other people might actually read. my problem is actually what you state in that last bit... i'm never happy with what i write. i agonize over a sentence, sometimes even a single word. i don't know how i got my dissertation done. i could easily have spent a week on a single paragraph if i had had the time. taks While working on my Master's Thesis, my work environment consisted of several PhD-students (two them in my team). From what i gathered, it seems like they have less time, or more like no time at all, to write their own papers compared to peer-per-viewing others. And they always had almost ridicolous deadlines. For example, there was one paper that they had to review that was about an aircontroller-system, described only with first-order logic. That thing was a massive 100-page behemoth, written primarly with mathmatical permutations and logical statements. They had two days to review it. One can add that they also had to focus on our project, being course-assistants for the professor, attending steeringgroup-meetings and doing their own doctorate. Let's say that the quality of their 'review' wasn't the best. One of them went to University of Maryland for a year in order to finalize his thesis Back to topic though, Nur ab Sal had to be one fiercest KotOR fans(the comics) that i know of. I still remember him bashing Avellone for their choice of dealing with the architecture in KotOR II, and especially about the Basilisk War droid. When questioning him, he PM'd me with a lots and lots of pages that he had scanned to show on how KotOR should've looked like. With a small "Don't you see?"-snicker of course. I later agreed with him. So Nur, thanks again for correcting me

search on my posts... i don't remember the context but he went off the deep on regarding something about the eye, i think. taks Found it! Thanks

And i thought that numberman (didn't he join the marines or something) was random_noob. After all, they share the same viciousness when they debate. And about Ender, can anyone link the ID/Evolution-thread, where he had his so called 'breakdown'? I must've missed that one entirely.

Damn, i missed that entirely. Since i am attending a university, where we have our own healthcare, i have completely missed this. Sorry for your friends loss

That's the easy answer, but I would suggest it's overly simple. Africans are people, and in my experience are not much more 'savage' than you'll find in any country. That is, most 'savage' behaviour is carried out by a group or class of twits. The difference is only that unlike in Britain they aren't dressed in Burberry and aren't marginalised. They run the show because the non-twits are so badly organised. They are savages because they still believe in witchcraft and other similar pre-christian practices. We in the west have moved on and are more refined. We have nukes, systematic torture with the best equipments, we commit genocide in the name of ideologies that have been sprung by the brightest minds that the universities have offered. We have impaled 20000-40000 turks just to prove that they aren't welcomed in walachia, and had wars that lasted 100 years in the name of who has the right to sit in a special chair in a special place. They are simple and barbaric, since they are stuck in such ways that were abandoned thousands of years ago in the rest of the world. Get with the times.

For all it's "scandals", stupidity and weirdness, i have to give to the candidates for being so entertaining.

Savages.

He was good, but he didn't die, so he fails. Yes, he fails... at being AN HERO! Sorry, that was in poor taste but I couldn't resist. Anyway, I think his performance isn't praised as often as Ledger's not only because he's still breathing, but because his role in the movie is accessory to the Batman/Joker antagonism which is the main theme of the movie. On a side note, I just saw Falling Down. Awesome movie. Somewhat depressing, too. Maybe not the best played, but definately the coolest character in TDK was Eric Roberts as the italian mobster. *SPOILERS* - Joker threatening to blow up everything? A sigh. - Harvey Dent pointing a gun to your head? Smile and ask what's in for me? - Batman beating up all your henchmen? You look bored and wonder what is taking so long. - Batman threatening to throw you down a building? Mocking him that such a fall can't even kill you. - Batman keeping his end of the bargain and still throwing you down so that you break both of your legs? Looking annoyed and tell the goddamn batman what he wants to know so you can finally return to do some business, and oh yeah, getting a stick as well.

Hoho, this sounds more and more like a "Uh-huh? You think that you're awesome? You better think again, i call on your bet of awesomeness and raise it by the double. Let's see the flop." This goes for both sides of the candidates.

I just heard it on the news as well. Suspending the campaign? Suspend the debates? Didn't McCain say that he wants to leave these issues to experts? What? What? What?

I second this. Sorry, of some reason i stroke the wrong button on the keyboard. It should be "PC", as in "Politically correct", which also means that one shouldn't say anything that can be interpreted, even in the most remote way, as offensive to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

I do not see a problem with owning guns and keeping them home. I do not however, want to live in a society where everyone walks around with a fully loaded, automatic assault-rifle on their respective backs. Just use good judgement and keep them at home, folks.

Ha, so true. I'd say it's a mixed bag of lack of understanding of the candidates, a lack of understanding of how politics actually work, and a serious lack of choices. Especially the middle one I think. For example, Obama has promised the end the Iraq mess once he is in office. I say that the Iraq occupation will not end one day sooner no matter who is elected. Why? Neither side wants the effort to end in failure. Obama is not stupid, far from it. If the the war ends in a failure he will be the one history blames no matter that it did not start on his watch. Quickly, think Nixon and Vietnam and what is the first thing that flashes in your mind? See? As far as substantive differences Obama's foreign policy will be far less confrontational than McCains will be I think. Although McCains will certainly be far less than Bush has been. As far as foreign policy goes I really believe there will be far less difference between Obama and McCain than most people believe, never mind what they are saying on the campaign trail. In economic and social policy I think they will be very different. Obama is all about government control, government regulation, using taxes as a means of controlling economic behavior. Control, control, plan and control, is Obams's economic mantra. McCain is more from the Teddy Roosevelt mold, he won't be shy to use government regulation but I doubt he would be near so heavy handed about it either. I think he will cut taxes and allow market forces to work. I thought the same of Bush but although he did the former, he did not do the latter. Here is the thing, and there is no getting around this. No matter who wins the Presidential election, Congress will be controlled by the democrats. If history has shown us anything, bad things happen in the US when one party controls everything. I don't care what Obama and McCain are about, I'd rather have a Democrat in the White House when the congress is Republican and a Republican when congress is in the hands of the Democrats. Heck I voted for Bush in 2000 but not in 2004 for that very reason. Well, lots of reasons but that was one of them. My post on the banking situation should demonstrate how much damage Congress can do while trying to do good. The need a counter weight to keep them in check. Damn, that almost sounds depressing. If i was an american voter i would be truly perplexed. I mean, sure Obama seems to have judgement and a strong sense of rightoussness that appeals to many, but i only liked him for his positions on the Iraqi-war, which he changed btw. Then we have McCain, who seems to be more of a "i let the experts deal with this"-mantra around him, with an attitude that, as you described it, as Teddy Roosevelt-like. However, there's something seriously disturbing in Palin's policies and the way she shows judgement and character. I couldn't seriously vote for a ticket with her involved. I highly suspect that he really didn't want her, but some experts convinced him that she vote excite the republican base more than anyone, which she sadly did. Personally, i am 100% behind free press, freedom of expression and religion, seperation of religion and state, and the right to bear arms. But on the other hand, i am anti-PK, since i see as a form of supression of the individual mind. A social safety net should exist for those that are unfortunate, meritocracy when it comes to education (free, as long as you're smart enough pass the exam, where the bar should be high of course) and healthcare-insurance, not healthcare in general, payed by the state through taxes (and not by the employer, who ever came up with that silly idea). Mind you, i would not like Brussels to mandate that, but rather by the local goverment in Helsinki. Brussels, or Washington in your case should be left as a 'Nightwatcher', only stepping in when the state interferes with my rights. If one state decides that everything is according to worldview of Ayn Rand, then so be it, but i wouldn't live there I am still though undecided on pollution, environment and economic regulatory policies. Now, where would i find my candidate? None of the candidates that were remotely similar to my worldviews failed to get to my local senate, btw. And thanks for your insight on the current financial crisis, very enlighting

And now the stupidity comes with the politicians Finnish prime-minister Matti Vanhanen: - Nevermind that the finnish police failed to determine that he was a threat to society and sent to psychiatric evaluation days before the execution. - Nevermind that the guy was way over the legal age of buying/carrying a gun: 22 - Nevermind that the guy planned this for 6 years, so it wasn't "a heat of the moment", or so to say. There's a scandinavian saying "Eth

Let's skip the "Healthcare = Socialism?"-discussion and reserve that for another thread. I am more interested in why McCain/Palin is better than Obama/Biden and vice versa and of course why there's little interest on third party candidates and fringe candidates from the democrats and republicans. I mean, if everyone here at the 'way offtopic'-forum took the 'Political Compass'-test, they would quickly notice that almost everyone greatly differs from the candidates that they vote for. Why is that?

Oh, I can read just fine. I read the part where you said you couldn't know the specific reason, and I also read the part where you laid down a rather simplistic and tendentious possible explanation of the circumstances that made him go bat****. That is called contradicting oneself. lern2write You mean social outcasts are a product of changing social rules and customs? Do you really believe that? I agree with the general idea that some people are becoming more and more disconnected from their environment. What I don't like is the automatic connection between this and capitalism, which is as weak as disingenuous. On the other hand, I believe that, more than a lifestyle and outlook that places the self above everything else, it's the increased chance for publicity that makes these things increase in frequency. I mean, the guy was obviously, desperately seeking attention. And, of course, one of these incidents per year is still not enough to suggest that society is spiralling to its DOOM. EDIT: Apparently, the Police questioned him about his YouTube channel the previous day, or so says Wiki. All, in all, I do not know. I am just speculating that it might be a product of when the underlying social tapestry, which has been shared by generations, erodes or dramatically changes. However, since there are several different countries with several different cultures, one can have some trouble on defining what a social outcast really is. In the end, it is all relative.

I think that Xard is trying to say that all these killings were done by people who were social outcasts and often picked on by others at school. They expressively feel that they do not belong to the society that they live in and start to have depressive and hyper-aggressive tendencies. At least in Finland, "in the good old days", the underlying social binding with society was stronger among people, and everyone felt that they took part in something (Solidarity perhaps?). Those days are long gone and many people here see this society has turned into a egoistic, selfish, and greedy one. This is also known as the "ME"-generation, hence capitalism and it's strongly individual message. However, i do not know the reasons mentioned above are true or not, it is just the saying on the street, or so to say. But studies have shown that a growing number of young people feel disconnected to the rest of society, which is the underlying problem to begin with.

He's dead.

Ah, oh. Sorry, my bad

"A hunting license class" takes quite a while, and you have to attend several hunting sessions with seasoned hunters, usually with people from your own family. These kinds of matters are usually have a "father-son" social mantra to them as well, so i fail to see where this simple paper-work idea is coming from.

EDIT: Wait, you can buy a gun at 15 in Finland! Eh, you just don't walk inside a gunshop in Finland at the age of 15 and get your gun directly. You have to have a huntinglicense and a permit from the police authorities to do so. It is not that strange here where i live, several of my friends in highschool got their huntingrifles/licences when they turned 15.

Here's his manifesto: Good luck getting it, it's getting seriously hammered.

Some updates, when the finnish equivalent to the american S.W.A.T., "karhuryhm

There's been another schoolshooting by a self-proclaimed "Social Darwinist" in Kauhajoki, about 150km from where i live (Vaasa). So far, the news say that the deathtoll is either 9 or 10, and the shooter is suffering from a severe headwound and is currently treated at Tampere central hospital. Kauhajoki is by the way, a small, sleepy town in western Finland, where everyone knows each other, no one locks their doors, everyone owns a huntingrifle and blablabla.... Apparantly, the guy posted on 4chan the day before and asked what weapons he should be using. The responses where ofcourse "DO IT", "BECOME AN HERO" and "FINLAND IS WINLAND". All sites and their respective mirrors are too hammered at the moment, but he left a couple of videos and pictures before the incident. Check CNN, FOXNEWS, BBC and whatnot for further info.

I just saw Nixon's 1972 re-election map, it looks damn redicilous