Guard Dog

Progress in creating the world's first sex robot. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/27/race-to-build-world-first-sex-robot Someday these things will be commonplace. And occasionally they will go rogue and need to be hunted down. My dream job is closer to being a reality!

Prediction: Trump will not run for reelection. Book it.

Someone sold their daughter to the Chinese? That's terrible. Why would the Chinese be interested in buying Russian daughters? Not like they are dealing with a population shortage. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. A chinese guy walks into a bar and orders a White Russian. Much to his surprise the bartender hands him a little girl.

Having read and made a game attempt to comprehend some of his musings and dissertations I'd like to offer my friend s13eps some advice: try breaking the pills in half before taking them.

I cited that as just an example rather than a comparison. But take NK for the sake of discussion, 10 trusted men with hand tools can overwhelm a smaller number of military personnel. Take their weapons and use them. do it again and again until you've armed enough people to matter or until you are dead. I meant it when I said you can only pursue freedom once you believe it is more precious than life. This may ultimately be futile. But what is more futile, continuing to live under the yoke of the Kims or at least trying to do something about it? If you succeed you are free, and if you die you are still free. As my most admired early founding father once said "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" We've discussed this in gun control topics before the fear of prohibition and confiscation of privately owned firearms. I have said this before and I mean it sincerely; on the day that happens I will die. And God willing not alone. There are things that are worth fighting for and dying for. Hurlshot there is no doubt in my mind you would ly down your life right now with no hesitation for your wife and children. Everyone who has ever worn the uniform of their country has written a blank check to their fellow citizens for any amount up to and including their lives because they believed it was worth it. And if enough people in NK decide it's better to live free or die trying, an avalanche begins with a pebble.

Absolutely agree. I'm thinking more zombie swarm tactics. Overwhelm with the sheer mass of numbers. Works for the undead. Freedom is achieved only when it is valued more dear than life itself. If those 50 people, even if the majority of them, decided it would be better to die fighting than live one more day under the control of the man holding that gun then they will be free and he will be dead. The men who signed our Declaration of Independence, a declaration of war on the most powerful nation in the world in that day, wrote in the last sentence "We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor". That is the level of commitment that freedom requires of those who want it that don't have it.

3 quaterbacks taken in the first round. None of them played in a system that would have prepared them for the NFL. Deshaun Watson is probably going to have to play this season because the momen he signs he'll be the best QB on the Texans roster. God help him. The Bears drafting Trubinski andtrading up to do it makes no sens after throwing all that money at Mike Glennnon.

Actually, more people in the city are left since they are exposed to social (cultural, economical, political, etc.) heterogeneity on a daily basis Well that is a factor. I think the reason urban areas tend to be more comfortable with government is because they live in a "controlled environment" so to speak. If you live in an apartment in a major city you share a building with maybe hundreds of other people. Maybe more. Part of the cost of the apartment is upkeep on the common areas of the building. If you step outside you are on a street that is maintained by a municipality that collects taxes from you for that purpose. The landscaping, home security, etc most folks take for granted are being done by entities they pay for. Even single family homes in the suburbs are often part of community associations where just living there means ceding some control over the property you own to the association. Government is everywhere in a city. Even when it become odious and heavy handed, like an abusive parent, you still depend on it. Becoming comfortable with government at smaller levels makes them comfortable with heavy handed and odious government at higher levels. If people live their whole lives in a major city they may not even be able to conceive of a different way to do things. The nearest city to me is Memphis over an hour and a half south of here. There are two towns pretty close but they are tiny. And even they are 30 minutes away. My nearest neighbor is 3 miles away (5 kilometers give or take). We share a dirt road neither of us owns. In seven years here I have never seen a country grader maintaining that road. So when it gets out of hand one of us will take care of it. I've got a box frame disc that connects to my John Deere that smoothes out the whole road in about two hours. Police? Fire? EMS? They are a minimum for 15 minutes away. Whatever happens you have to be able to take care of yourself, at least for a little while. People who live in rural areas suddenly realize we don't need the government that isn't doing anything for us pushing us around and telling us what we can and can't do with the property we own. I believe that is the root of the difference of attitude on government between urban and rural areas. It's a difference of dependency and self sufficiency to a point.

F-----g Spurs.

What if the enemy is really hot?

Of all the cities I worked in Mexico, the two worst, by far, were Juarez and Nuevo Laredo. And they were right on the border. Nuevo Laredo was the worst. I never actually saw anything bad go down but the project manager for our customer told me in no uncertain terms all the places not to go. And there were a lot of them.

66% of all murders in the US occur in just 5% of US counties: A study by the Crime Prevention Research Center has found The overwhelming majority of murders happen in just a handful of counties with 2/3 in just 5% of the 3144 Counties that exist in the US. Now that might sound impressive but anyone with a casual knowledge of US Geography can glance at that map and tell you those red counties correspond with major cities. So the majority of the murders occur where the majority of the people are. Hmmm... never would have guessed. What an amazing statistical coincidence. They cited the state of Indiana which had 135 murders in 2014 but take Indianapolis out of the equation and that number drops to 4. They also pointed out that the areas with the highest probable gun ownership (meaning most relaxed gun laws) had the lowest murder rate. The top four percent strictest counties had a rate of 4.4 per 100000 and the four percent most relaxed it was .056 per 100000. But none of those had a metro area in them. So the conclusion I take from this is don't live in a city. Either it's the traffic, the noise, the crowds, the high cost of everything, or the inability to find a parking spot. Whatever it is it's driving people nuts enough to kill each other.

Funny story about that. I was there for Valiant Blitz, a joint exercise with the RoK Marines in '91. My unit was at an airfield near Pohang we called North Ramp (if it has any other name I never learned it) but I was on armory/guard duty for that whole deployment so I was a few miles away at a camp we called McP (I think it was actually MEC-P, or something). Anyway, this place had no permanent structures. Just hundreds of OD green 10 man hooches (tents) that looked (and smelled) like they might have been there during the actual war. Anyway, it was cold as hell, frost everywhere and everywhere you look you see men in green camo, dirt tracks and trails and green tents. I caught myself humming the song from MASH the whole two weeks!

Kim is China's dog. When the dog acts up you don't shoot the dog you talk to the owner. In the 1990's the US pulled all of our tactical nuclear weapons out of South Korea. Publicly it was not done at the behest of China but I'm sure that Quid had a Pro Quo somewhere. Now that fat boy is off his leash and barking at the fence again we should let the owner know if they don't rein him in we'll have to take precautions; like redeploying tactical nuclear weapons to Osan, McP, and other places. I think that will get their attention. Now if the dog gets over the fence and invades all bets are off. I expect if the leadership of China wished it Kim would come down with a bad case of 9mm to the brain right this very moment. But that probably would not be the best possible outcome. In most dictatorships it's next man up as long as the military leaders support him. But in NK there is such a personality cult built around the Porky Leader that if he were to drop dead there would be chaos. Not a good thing for a country with nuclear weapons and a huge military. Deescalation is the best way to go but the only country in the world that can do that, that has any leverage over NK at all is China. So either they get on board or I suggest everyone get ready for a continuation of the Korean war.

The dollar has never been worth nothing. But I've been advising here since 2007 that everyone, no matter where you live, invest a little in real assets like gold, silver or other commodities. That is the best hedge against currency devaluation due to inflation or whatever.

Cassini will be by far the most successful planetary mission to date. As much as Galileo accomplished you have to remember it ran it's entire mission with one hand tied behind it's back following the failure of it's high gain antenna prior to arrival at Jupiter. Cassini began with an actual landing of the Huygens lander on Titan. A landing on a moon (other than ours) has never been accomplished. The Soviets tried it with Phobos (or was it Demios I forget) and failed. What an amazing run.

GB wouldn't you also agree its because we get access to forums like this where random strangers who dont even live in our own countries help to change and improve our views on politics and SJ issues ? Nah, that's just the icing on the cake

I would point out that bank where your checking account is could absolutely keep all you money if they want. And it isn't even hypothetical scenario but thing that has happened many times in history. Meaning that it is absolutely possible for biggest company in world can buy the bank where your account is and seize your money. I don't know where the heck you got that idea but in the US at least, no they cannot. And even if the bank failed the accounts are insured (up to a point). They may withdraw fess and other expenses and these are all things you agree too when opening the account. And that is the key, that account is an agreement, a contract between them and the account holder. They have to live up to their end and vice versa. So if I overdraft my checking account and they hit me with a $20 overdraft fee (or however much it is) I agreed to the rules when I opened the account so that is not taking money without my permission either. When you give them you money they are in control over it. It is government that gives you assurance that bank can't arbitrarily without consequences to do so, at least not without permission from the government (usually meaning that they have court order that gives them right to seize your money to pay your debts, or something similar). Meaning that even though you have agreement with bank about them holding your money with certain term it does not mean that they can't break those terms and just keep your money. And I would say that in case of bank failure bank has already mishandled money that you and others gave them and insurance exists because such mishandling can happen, even on level that threatens worlds economy. I would point out that governments have power that people give them, where big companies power is restricted by governments (world where there is no governments, who would be there to assure that big companies follow through agreements that they have made with you? You can just look how many big companies work in countries that have weak governments).

Heji, you are seriously overthinking this. We play computer games for the same reasons we watch TV shows, read fiction, go to movies. It's just light entertainment.

I would point out that bank where your checking account is could absolutely keep all you money if they want. And it isn't even hypothetical scenario but thing that has happened many times in history. Meaning that it is absolutely possible for biggest company in world can buy the bank where your account is and seize your money. I don't know where the heck you got that idea but in the US at least, no they cannot. And even if the bank failed the accounts are insured (up to a point). They may withdraw fess and other expenses and these are all things you agree too when opening the account. And that is the key, that account is an agreement, a contract between them and the account holder. They have to live up to their end and vice versa. So if I overdraft my checking account and they hit me with a $20 overdraft fee (or however much it is) I agreed to the rules when I opened the account so that is not taking money without my permission either.

Cassini took this picture of the Earth just past Saturn's D1 ring two days ago. Say cheese...

Wow. The Supreme Court did two good things in to weeks. I'm surprised. Especially since the majority opinion in one of those was written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg who I usually have nothing good to say about. In Nelson v Colorado they decided 7-1 (WTF Thomas?) that the state was not entitled to assets seized as proceeds of a crime where the conviction had been overturned. You see there is one thing and one thing only that government loves. Any government. All of them. Money. They love money. Governments are far more venal than these "big corporations" so many of you seem to be terrified of. Only the governments have police powers and can just take things from you. As I've said a miilion times the biggest company in the world could not take a single penny from my checking account without my approval. The smallest level of government right here in my home state can take all of it including my home, my dogs and my freedom. Ugh. There I go ranting again. Anyway. In Nelson v Colorado defendant Shannon Nelson was convicted of four counts of child abuse and sentenced to 20 years in prison. After a witness recanted she got a new trial and was acquitted. But the state kept all the money it seized even though technically no crime was ever committed. http://reason.com/blog/2017/04/21/scotus-says-states-have-no-right-to-mone The other good thing they did was decline to take up Illinois Transportation Trade Association v. City of Chicago. It seems the cab companies in Chicago don't like competition from Uber and Lyft and were trying to shut them down. http://reason.com/blog/2017/04/24/supreme-court-lets-stand-7th-circuit-vic

There were a lot of plot holes. A lot of unresolved storylines (who the hell was that woman at the end and in the waste anyway?). There was a lot of braid tugging, skirt smoothing, ear boxing, hundreds and hundreds of pages of reading where the plot does not get advanced at all, and the final confrontation with the main character and the main antagonist was totally underwhelming. But despite all that was wrong with it, WoT was an enjoyable distraction over 18 years or so. I think WoT is one of those rare things where the whole is greater than the sum of all it's parts. I wouldn't call it great fiction or even great fantasy. I certainly would not compare it to Tolkien or even Rothfuss or George RR Martin. But it was good enough to entertain.

The far less appealing truth is money in politics is not an issue and American foreign policy is driven by the goodness of its heart? Alright then. No, that it's decisions are usually based on information that is false and conclusions that are fanciful. I don't doubt the good intentions behind every thing ever done in the name of making the world a safer place for freedom and setting people free from tyranny, etc, etc. But good intentions are meaningless. What matters is a proper understanding of the underlying facts and a workable plan of action that is followed. One that has a clearly defined goal, the applies the means to achieve it, then a plan to withdraw. In short everything we did not do in our most recent conflicts.

I know you didn't ask me but it's none of those things. It's a agreement to free trade, travel, and cooperation on matters concerning common interest. It's problem is it's beginning to intrude on the day to day internal governance of the member nations and the Brits have already had enough. Indications are some others may follow.