Valsuelm

Transcendence. In order to avoid spoilers, I'll just say: Good Flick.

Of course FDR is ranked high by most academics. Most modern academics are communist/socialist/statists, FDR was like a godsend to them. He also presided over WW2, and many historians are enamored with war leaders of all types throughout the ages, no matter how evil they really were. So you dismiss the majority of highly educated scholars. Brilliant. Yea.. actually I do. I've spent enough time in Universities to realize that the academics there don't magically have a higher intelligence than those not there, that to an extent many of them live in a bubble that has little to do with reality (especially those who never left academic life, which is a sizable amount of academia), there are agendas that don't meet the average eye by those financing academia, and there are egos amongst academia that drive agendas and squash real scholarship. My apologies that I don't look at academia as a group of clergy as so many do. Professors are just as fallible as the rest of humanity, especially when considered as a group. In regards to FDR specifically. The guy was an evil MFer, who had zero respect for the Constitution and served the financial interests in New York and London first and foremost. I have a great deal of respect and desire for the liberty of man, FDR did not, and neither do a great many modern academics in the US (who I already mentioned are socialist/communist/statists).

I'm curious. What got you kicked off and banned on the FreeRepublic forums? Vals how many forums have you been banned from...I imagine its a long list Zero.

For BG2 and ToB, there was Gromnir, Mencar Pebblecrusher, Del, and Lanfear. I may be forgetting a few. But there were definitely a lot of crybabies. Including Lanfear herself, who couldn't quite get a joke. ...Typical humorless German not understanding American/Kanedan making funny. Lanfear is a name of a fairly major character in The Wheel of Time books, which were extremely popular books in the 90s (and 00s) if you're somehow unaware. It would be a very safe wager that the forum user took her/his name from these books, and that bioware did as well. And on that note, I'd wager that most of the names you guys are thinking were taken from forum posters that made it into games were really not, and the game creators were just taking the name from the same place the forum poster got their name from, wherever that was.

I'm curious. What got you kicked off and banned on the FreeRepublic forums?

There's no will happen again about it. It's already going on in the innumerable violations of the various fundamental liberties laid out in the Bill of Rights. Probably most notably in the systematic violations of the fourth amendment by the TSA, NSA, et al. All justified in the minds of the evil and brainwashed under the absolute BS excuse of protecting the populace from the boogie man, aka Terrorists. Justice Scalia just recently affirmed that this is somehow ok, voiced his opinion that the SCOTUS really shouldn't be deciding whether or not it's ok for the NSA to continue violating the fourth amendment, and interestingly suggested that rebellion might be a good idea down the road if taxes get too high....

Of course FDR is ranked high by most academics. Most modern academics are communist/socialist/statists, FDR was like a godsend to them. He also presided over WW2, and many historians are enamored with war leaders of all types throughout the ages, no matter how evil they really were.

You are operating from the mistaken impression the federal government gives a sh-t about the environment. The people in the government don't care about land they don't live near. They care about their money, their power, their continuation in office. If they have to run agricultural or other interests off that land to sell it to someone else so be it. And if they can cloak their business dealings in the pseudo-morality of helping the environment then that would just be the icing on the cake. The Bundy situation is pretty close to matching that description to a T. One of my favorite quotes is "Government is small minded people grasping for power under the guise of advancing high minded ideals". That kind of sounds like a campaign push for Al Gore Al Gore's dirty little secret is that he does not really give a damn about the environment either. It was just something he used to stay relevant after he lost the election. Oh.. and to make many many many many millions of dollars. Can't forget that.

Updated SCG video in regards to the Reid/Bundy connection:

Please confirm you aren't serious. I doubt he is joking I don't think Val is saying it has never been done, but it is not joke that the ability to do it right this minute does not currently exist. If there were a compelling reason to go it could be put together in a few years time with sufficient funding no doubt. The main reason Apollo was cancelled and no other programs created is that it is prohibitively expensive to stage manned moon missions with not a lot of benefit to justify the costs (aside from exploration for its own sake) This is precisely why we have to militarise space. The only way to motivate humans to organise for the long term. Savage self-interest. I'm only 20% joking. Militarizing space, will likely guarantee humans won't ever see Kepler 186f up close and personal, or even the far reaches of our own solar system, or ever come close to having to worry about the Sun theoretically eating us up in a few billion years.

I find astrophysics is extremely interesting, and most people are interested at some level or another (it's safe to say everyone reading this thread has at least a passing interest). The problem is when folks start accepting theory as fact. ie: Most people these days accept the Big Bang theory as fact. They shouldn't, it's a theory. Not only does accepting the Big Bang Theory as dogma quash imagination into theories other than the big bang (or whatever theory that's become dogma we're talking about) it creates in the minds of some conflict (as it's a theory with many holes the more one looks at it) to the point they just want to ignore or outright dismiss it altogether and just 'leave it to the physicists'. As in modern times, who are you to dare to question the Big Bang? Who are you indeed? (The bias in universities and our culture these days in regards to some theories that have become dogma is incredible, stifling, and overwhelming to the point that many will think you a kook if you question them). Who wants to be a considered a kook? Not many, so lots of people don't get involved or speak up who otherwise would. Not a good thing for science is this. As for third best? It's arguable that maybe aside from mathematics (if we consider that a science in and of itself), physics is the first science, as all other sciences depend on it, at least in the physical world.

Nothing the U.S. has done militarily since 1945 is even remotely comparable to what would need to be done if WW3 or war with any major power broke out. Just about all of the BS economic numbers would mean poop at that point. What would matter is current infrastructure, how fast could new be built, how many trained manufacturers you have in your populace, how fast you could train more, and your local resources. And while WW3 will not be fought entirely the same as the previous WWs were, in the end (if we don't all nuke ourselves to bits with ICBMs) industry will still play a very large role, if not the largest in determining who is victorious. Right now, unlike in WW1 and WW2, the U.S. does *not* have a robust manufacturing base, nor is it out of reach of enemy action as it was in the first 2 WWs. The modern average worker is also skillless in regards to manufacturing, and so many other intangibles pertinent to survival in a war, which was not the case 70-100 years ago,. We do have resources aplenty though in our backyard. Considering even most mainstream thinkers believe that China would be our enemy if WW3 broke out, the fact that we've pissed away our industrial base to the very nation that might one day fight us is downright insane. This wasn't done by accident though. There are some real evil MFers out there, and some of them run the world bank. As things stand right now, in 2014, I don't like the odds at all for the U.S. if a major war breaks out, and the current trajectory for those odds is to get worse all the time as time goes on. In very real terms we have pulled our pants down around our ankles while we bomb the hell out of people in tents in deserts under the guise of freedom and democracy (*cough* *choke* *puke*) but the real unfurled banners of corporate imperialism that has no loyalty to any nation and is greatly endeared to communism/fascism loom large for anyone with their eyes open.

You do realize that the United States has the second largest manufacturing industry in the world, right? Differing from China's by a small percentage? Christ, you're not even looking up concrete data, are you, Sarex? The U.S. has been consistently developing its sector for the past forty years. The fact that some manufacturers have outsourced low complexity, cheap item manufacturing overseas doesn't mean that the U.S. has dismantled its manufacturing sector. As the statistics show, it did not. Neither did it dismantle its strategic military industries, such as tank plants, fighter assembly lines, shipyards, and other vital industrial centers. No. That data is even less useful and factual than the unemployment data coming out of the US federal government. The U.S. has been hemorrhaging it's industrial/manufacturing sector for the last few decades, mostly to China, but other places as well. I live here, and I'm very well traveled within the states. I've been through all lower 48, and all major cities repeatedly over the years for work (and some play) and I've witnessed first hand the damage done over time. I've seen factory after factory close all throughout the U.S. with few new ones being built, and just about anyone here who ever pays attention to where whatever it is they just bought is made can tell you that at this point very little of it is made in the US at local store X, whereas not so long ago that wasn't the case. The World Bank numbers on most things is not to be trusted. It's a pretty evil entity, and is not even remotely an unbiased benevolent organization as is advertised. The numbers you cite however are even noted as being in accurate in their description, taking almost no pertinent factors into their calculation. These numbers you cite as well as many of their other numbers from the WB are generated to obfuscate the damage that the WB and those behind it do.

Neither the executive nor the judicial branches of the government are policy-makers. If you remember from civics in 7th grade that is the purview of the bicameral legislative branch. That would be the senators and the representatives. Neither the scotus nor the president make legislation, regardless of the commerce law. Anyone can present a law including the president, but the legislative branch has to actually vote it in. The scotus, being a part of the judicial branch only determines if a law is being upheld correctly or not. The scotus specifically, can determine what a law really means or if it is constitutional. Well.. that's how it is *supposed* to be. That's not what we currently have, or have had now for the last couple generations. Congress by and large has abdicated most of it's power to the executive at this point, just as they abdicated most of their power of the coin to the privately controlled Federal Reserve Bank. The alphabet soup agency/departments that are run mostly by the executive make and decree regulations that are essentially law all the time. In many instances this is done by unelected folks. There is a great deal of what the Federal government now is and does that is black and white unconstitutional. Ravenshrike pointed out one of the major reasons why the Federal government gets away with much of what it does.... get a few corrupt SCOTUS judicials and strong arm the others under your belt as FDR did in the 30s/40s to make up constitutional law, pretend that a duck is fact a cow, and pretend that some ducks don't exist when they're right in front of your eyes and we get what we have now.

No one called Roosevelt a Nazi....

Yea.. because the word 'pagan' means the festival wasn't religious.... Point taken, but what I meant is that christians adapted a festival dedicated to Cybele into a holiday dedicated to the resurrection of Jesus. It's always been religious, but it originally served a completely different purpose than it does now. Christians repurposed a festival to a completely different goddess into a holiday for their lord and saviour because the time frame sort of coincided and there was conflict between the pagan worshippers and the christians in christianity's early years, so while the christians initially tried to abolish the festival they adapted it to their own purpose as a compromise. Can't say I've heard that specific one (Cybele) before, bit I've heard others ,and the tying of Christian holidays to pagan holidays is nothing new. In some instances, there's some credibility to it, in others not really. It's done too often in a half baked attack on Christianity in attempt to de-legitimize it as a religion. Those with a chip on their shoulder against religions often eat up this stuff voraciously. But it's generally really doesn't mean all that much even when it's true, though often what's said is really just made up garbage. Whether or not Easter was set to coincide with celebrations of Cybele or not to help win over some Cybelites (very doubtful, considering she was a relatively minor God worshiped in a relatively small area, and of questionable popularity at the time Christianity emerged) really has nothing to do with Easter itself as a religious holiday. Did the Church at times attempt to replace already existing holidays with their own? No doubt. They would have had to in some instances, especially considering that at the time Christianity came on the scene there weren't too many if any days of the year not dedicated to the celebration of one or another of the many deities in the Roman pantheon or in the pantheon on the various folks that encompassed the world at the time. The spring equinox was of course important to a great many people, pagans or not (it's important to a great many people today, pagan or not, and with good reason). Easter is about resurrection, so in a way is the spring equinox for many. It certainly would make sense to tie the two celebrations together in some way. Trying to say that doing so somehow de-legitimizes the Christian holiday is a very very weak argument.

If he moved out of California S.S.R. the price would go down. Cali has had the most expensive gas in the nation for close to 20 years or more now, due to their retardo laws and taxes.

Indeed. This situation, as it progresses, may help to highlight what's wrong with the 17th amendment to those who don't see the fundamental problem with it as well. If Reid keeps up his rhetoric that is, which he is likely to do.

Good thing the U.S. isn't and hasn't ever been a democracy, but is a representative republic. The writers of the paper got it right, but the BBC, as per usual, didn't. This isn't really news to anyone who can critically think for themselves and even half way pays attention to what goes on here over a length of time. I suppose a study from some official source will help serve to wake up some zombies to this though. Kudos to Gilen and Page for that.

I was obviously a bit sceptical too, but the producer of the graph has owned up to doing so deliberately on Twitter, even if the defense is rather weak. (A personal preference to draw charts that way? Really?) I guess I must hate possums. haha. One wonders why the funk a pseudo journalist working in Singapore is making charts about the Florida murder rate in the first place. I'd probably fire her, knowing Reuters, they'll probably promote her.

Don't think there'd be anything funny about it. We'd run out of people before we ran out of ammunition.

I question the validity of whether Reuters actually published this chart. Either way, it's very misleading, as the crime rate has been steadily going down before and after 2005. The 'stand your ground' law has little to nothing to do with the state murder rate. http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/FSAC/Menu/Crime-Trends/Violent-Crime.aspx As for something amusing:

Yea.. because the word 'pagan' means the festival wasn't religious....

We can't even get a man on the moon, let alone to the closest planet Mars or the far reaches of our own solar system. For the most part our endeavors in space have been abandoned excepting for commercial and military endeavors. By the predominant current dogma of astrophysical theory we will never be able to exceed the speed of light to go the ~490 estimated light years to the planet in question. Kepler-186f is as much a non-issue as planning your 283rd birthday right now is.

I'm interested, but am not 100% sure I can commit. How long do you think playing a game might take in day/week/month terms? My availability to play games gets curtailed as the weather improves. As such, I would likely prefer a 48 hour turn, as at some points in the coming months it won't be feasible for me to be at a computer every single day of the week, yet at least every other should be doable. Would 48 hours not potentially also make for more actual diplomacy?