BruceVC

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/02/world/meast/lebanon-isis-leader-family/index.html Interesting news, the wife of the leader of ISIS has been detained in Lebanon I am also amazed that apparently there are several teenage European girls who want to become his wife.... That boggles the mind, that life in Europe is somehow worse than going into the desert and marrying some zealot...they must be brainwashed in some ways

All Romance means in the context of RPG is where you have dialogue options and interaction with party members that leads to a non-platonic relationship, and normally a sexual relationship is the outcome

I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be letting ebola victims lick your earballs. Yeah, Walsie is right Hiro Its probably best not to let people who has Ebola lick your ears

Coming out against Israel was for a very long time political suicide in the U.S.. The Israeli lobby is arguably the most effective lobby in Washington D.C. Without a doubt it's the most effective foreign lobby. They have a lot of politicians by the balls. Times are slowly changing though as one really has to try to ignore the evils and pure BS that government perpetrates, and more people have woken up to that and the fact that Israel really does near nothing positive for the U.S. as an ally. Hearing anything bad about Israel in main stream media just about never happens. It's pretty much non stop: 'Israel is out friend we must help them', 'Israel is out friend we must help them', 'Israel is out friend we must help them' over and over and over and over. Basic and effective brainwashing. The closest you'll get to a major national politician saying we shouldn't support Israel is someone like Ron Paul saying we shouldn't be involved in their issues, and he wasn't at all supported by the major parties or the main stream media. This is an interesting post but I'm convinced its accurate I would like other people to comment, with the basic premise of the post is " Israel does nothing for the USA so why do we keep defending and claiming we are such good friends" ? I have my opinion because I do think Israel is an ally to the USA but I want to hear other opinions first

The problem you are pointing to aren't a result of socialism, it's monetary and cultural. We have more than enough resources, it's simply distribution that have needed, until now, to be tightly controlled... and it worked really well, we brought an entire group of people from abject poverty to excess. Capitalism truly revolutionized distribution of wealth and socialism with capitalism has worked really well up here in the north - some would say better than most other system (if Fukuyama is to be believed). But the system is starting to show it's weaknesses in a modern economy evolving away from production and industry. Extreme waste, the fact that irresponsibility is more often more profitable, growing disparity due to ingrown corruption etc. We need to come up with a new system - not socialist - which essentially still operates under industrial assumptions and not capitalistic. Extreme waste, corruption and irresponsibility are hallmarks of all political system across time when you look deeper into them. Nazi germany was extremely controlled and yet there was plenty of corruption in it. The point being is that those traits are not the result of systems failing but people failing the system. Unbridled capitalism is the absolute champion in those categories anyway. The push to destroy the welfare state comes from the rich, all in an effort to push the state out of businesses (both in terms of regulation and ownership) so they can take them over and put all the profits in their own pocket. If you cut down on the socialist aspects of the system all that will be achieved is that more money will be drained out of the government and by extension, out of what it can provide for the citizens, while the corrupt public figures will be replaced by corrupt private figures accountable to no one. Wow, if this is your positive view on current state of Western societies I would hate to see your negative or more critical view

Working from home today, I applied for my UK visa for my trip in January. It works out nicely because I'm going for a training symposium, so my work pays for the flight and accommodation, but I'll be staying 3 days extra on holiday I have my appointment with the British Embassy scheduled for next week so its looking good so far

@ Endrosz That was a excellent post, thanks for sharing. I particularly enjoyed reading the beginning and the story about your gran that set the context in your journey into fantasy RPG But very well written, engaging and interesting

You don't seem embarrassed...that concerns me the most

Something else occurred to me highlighting just how misplaced these protests are, they are insisting people boycott certain chain stores as an act of defiance. But what has the likes of Macy's got to do with the issue that the Police may be heavy handed when it comes to treatment of African Americans? So some supermarkets lose some revenue for a few days , how exactly does this influence law enforcement policy? I don't get the point or the connection?

That doesn't surprise me and it shouldn't surprise you ?

Gromnir you do seem a little confused about this case, I have spent considerable time dissecting it and I have a fairly good understanding of the US legal system so let me know if there is anything you need clarity on

One of my friends was arrested last night for DUI and I received a phone call early this morning, there were over 20 people in the same cell who were arrested for the same crime We should be able to pay his bail so hopefully he should get out this weekend

@ Dark_Ansem I read your whole initial post and I'm going to be completely honest Your issue is your communication skills and your need to feel you always have to have the last word. It reminds of people who have spent loads of time on the Internet and are quite skilled at forum responses but aren't that great at normal RL communication and etiquette. I see this a lot, it not a serious issue because many people share your problem but it does at times cause confusion and unnecessary consternation. for example like now where you think you are communication with that Dev in a normal and rationale way...but you not and you don't see it Sorry to sound harsh, but my input should be seen more as constructive and not critical

Hi Hurlshot Nice to see you posting again, I am of the opinion that when someone of your reasonable temperament and equanimity decides to leave these forums its an indictment on certain levels around the level of conversation I'm am hoping others realized it? So its good to hear from you again You come off as so amazingly prissy. Do you realize that? Why do you say that? Because I'm recognising that if someone like Hurlshot leaves the forum its a loss, I thought you were all about the truth...but you seem to have a problem when you hear it

This thread is really entertaining, excellent idea

Hi Hurlshot Nice to see you posting again, I am of the opinion that when someone of your reasonable temperament and equanimity decides to leave these forums its an indictment on certain levels around the level of conversation I'm am hoping others realized it? So its good to hear from you again

Nope, I don't believe you, You are in looooooooooooove .....don't be embarrassed..nothing to be ashamed about

That's sweet, I like to see people develop a little Romance crush on characters in a RPG Welcome to my world Volo, the world of Romance where you are never truly alone

Normally I am very supportive of international news channels like CNN but I'm a little concerned about how they are covering this story Its does seem a little biased against the Police, for example they have Michael Browns parents in an interview and the journalist is asking questions like " do you think your son would argue or tell a Police officer to f***k off " And obviously you have these two very sober parents responding like " no, our son would never do that. We don't believe a word of what Officer Wilson say " In seems in the interests of creating a balanced story you inadvertently polarize the debate because you will have people watching this interview who already think the Police are completely wrong and these types of comments just harden the resolve of people who are already think the Police are murderers So all the evidence that Brown wasn't completely innocent gets ignored

Sure. But please make sure you use the proper spoiler tags so others don't accidently read what you say

I have heard from several commentators that the reason the National Guard wasn't brought out was that they didn't want to be seen to be heavy handed and then provoke the protestors...not that it made much of a difference because the looting and damage to property still happened

I can empathize with the pain in this cartoon And my credit card will testify to my suffering in case there is any doubt to the veracity of my comment

Are you asking me why I like Romance or are you telling me why I like Romance The reality is I have explained why I like Romance many times, but I'm happy to explain again Simply put an RPG for me should be as realistic as possible in a fantasy context. Since most RPG offer interaction with party members it is completely reasonable that physical relationships would also develop. Also I can really imagine my character on this hectic quest to save the world, face death on a daily basis but also have a Romantic interest with someone in the party who my character is attracted to and is prepared to die for me. I can't think of a closer emotional bond, someone who is prepared to die for you on some epic quest. So Romance is just the expected outcome on your typical RPG journey and Romance adds to the immersive factor of the overall RPG experience Hope this clears up why I like Romance

I imagine various things make a debate exciting and its subjective as we all have different interests But I know what doesn't make a debate exciting...anything related to GG ( I couldn't resist, sorry )