213374U

Sounds better than *modern oligarchies* anyway. I agree. It "sounds" better. Is it better?

And continuing your analogy, the difference between a non-democracy and a democracy is that in the former, people are going to get raped even if the majority are not OK with getting raped. I'm pretty sure that the only real difference is that in a democracy*, people are brainwashed to believe that they have agreed to the deed implicitly. Nevermind the fact that nobody ever asks them, and any and all protests against it are ignored as a matter of course. Therefore, according to its own twisted internal logic, "it's not rape", but a consensual coupling stemming from the highest, purest feeling of love... *modern, representative "democracies", anyway.

Why not both? edit: I just realized that Barney Stinson is a smug douche in all possible universes. Cool!

I don't know. What do we say? If you want to break the causal relationship -or more accurately, dispute the assumption that it exists- between the political configuration of states and the degrees of "quality of life" of their respective citizens, it's not Zoraptor's rebuttal that falls apart, it's the original argument, i.e. that "representative republics outperform despotisms" as far as quality of life of subjects are concerned. Because solely being "democratic" or not has no bearing on the quality of life of citizens, and therefore it's a question of economic development and inequality levels, mostly. Unless the sole criteria to judge "quality of life" is voting rights, in which case it's a bit of circular logic.

Unless you want to specify exactly what you mean by outperform, I'm going to assume that you mean from purely economic and international power perspectives. In that case, historically, despotic regimes have in fact outperformed representative republics, by far. The Achaemenid Empire completely dwarfed the Greek city-states economically, Rome eventually ceased to be a "democracy" and the Roman Empire outperformed the Roman Republic, with Augustus being as effective a ruler as he was autocratic. The Spanish Empire and France after the Thirty Years War were fairly despotic hegemonic states as well, and so on and so forth. It is only with the rise to global dominance of the British Empire that "democratic" regimes started to show a competitive potential vs autocracies. That's ~200 years, and it includes the Cold War period where democracies didn't hold a clear advantage over them Commies. And you may be interested to know that China is as of 2014 #1 economically. Not exactly a democracy, either.

I beat Alien Isolation. Great game, solid 8.5 at least. It's not a 10 because the ending is a completely unfulfilling, sequel bait cliffhanger, and in the final act the game really tries too hard to be SCARY!!1, wearing out its welcome. Plot twists and a lingering mood of hopelessness are some of the defining elements of the Alien universe, but there are probably more "LOL NOPE!" moments in the last 3-4 hours than in the rest of the game combined — some of them so forced that I found myself rolling my eyes. As I said before, I'm really not a fan of having the alien constantly glued to my ass, and the scare factor would have been ramped up, I think, if they had it appear at critical moments and then, if you managed to evade it, have it go away, like, for real. Playing hide-and-seek for 12 hours straight is a bit of a PITA. If you don't mind this, then I guess the Survivor mode DLCs would be right up your alley. Otherwise, replayability value is very low. Still, I haven't had so much fun with a first-person game in a long time, and the atmosphere, attention to detail, and similitude to the IP are top-notch. A must buy for Alien fans.

I don't even know what you are trying to say, anymore. Those lezginka (I had to look that up) vids are supposed to prove that Muslim peoples of the Caucasus are actually more white than Western whites or...? I also found this in the same playlist. Draw your own conclusions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5hZQwQFTAY

Y'think? (of course, actual democracy is much worse, because you cannot choose not to be "at the party") Seriously though, talking about "democracy" is like talking about "geometry". It's a concept so general that it's almost meaningless. Are we talking about "representative" democracy like we have now in the West? Perhaps the Athenian version Socrates was supposedly referring to and which (apparently unbeknownst to some users here) was actually not universal? Maybe the "soviet" direct democracy variant (like what briefly appeared during the October revolution in Russia and the 1956 revolution in Hungary, only to be quickly extinguished by Bolsheviks)? E-democracy? Those all produce very different results. For good or ill, democracy is going to magnify the virtues and vices of those participating in it. Problems arising as a result are not a fault of democracy... they are a fault of people's. Sadly, in so-called democratic societies, you always have individuals arguing for tyranny, because statism solves all problems, ever. If anything, democracy as an ideal is too optimistic about human nature. Even so, I prefer this to political models based on pessimism about humanity.

All the cool kids are doing it. Old news. http://mondoweiss.net/2013/08/covert-online-students-hasbara-units-directed-out-of-israeli-pm-netanyaus-office http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7783640.stm This is how the pros do it, though: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/14/manipulating-online-polls-ways-british-spies-seek-control-internet/ (with cool Bond-like op codenames and all; I like CHANGELING in particular) He was promoted and now serves in a management/overseeing capacity.

I see where you're coming from, but to me it's more scary than moving: And this is in a country that was nuked, twice. Thing is, the mother****ers writing and approving school history textbooks know full well that neither them, nor their sons will directly experience the horrors of war. In the same vein: https://twitter.com/crusoes/status/582825298686791680

Well, you are right that the silence with regards to this is rather deafening. I disagree with your perspective, however. No one pays this much mind because this happened in Africa and we don't really care what goes on over there as long as it doesn't involve us. It's not Master Race Westerners dying, so it's not news. Hence my "Je suis" remark. We are desensitized to atrocities being constantly committed elsewhere. Now, I don't remember any demonstrations in Egypt, Turkey or Tunisia after the Paris attacks were carried out, so it's not like we have a monopoly on callousness, heh. I also have this theory that, due to time spent daily in poor posture, slouching in front of a computer or looking into their "smart"phones, citizens of developed countries tend to lose the ability to keep an upright back, forever being condemned to gaze at nothing beyond their own navels. I came up with this while trying to understand the really weird priorities some people seem to have.

Patch is live on GOG as of now.

Yet another example of the boards' ruling elites lording it over the posting class! The revolution is coming, pal!

Yeah, I'd very much prefer this. Obs aren't exactly lacking in the creative and design departments so if there's a dev that could come up with an interesting proprietary sci-fi setting, it has to be them. That also has the advantage of not being hamstrung by existing lore and IP owner bull**** from the get go. Feargus, make it so! *cough*

So, another reason not to pay taxes? Like I need more... (grabbing popcorn brb)

Je suis... somethingorother

All it needs is a Putin cameo, as the barechested wrestling coach of the bear dude.

To be honest, I don't really read oby's posts if they are longer than one sentence (and even then...). I tend to make out-of-context replies to people addressing his/her/their points, as a result. I'd apologize but that would probably be a fake apology, as I don't intend to start reading oby's posts in detail in the future... re: debating the economy. Economics is commonly viewed as a social science, but the economy is a complex system. Economists aren't trained as physical scientists (no offense intended to economists), so there is an installed lack of rigour in economic debates, which is further compounded by ideologies and data manipulation to fit various agendas. Given the scale of the problems also, it is difficult to ascertain clearly the full effects of measures. In the end, what you have is a lot of people having a lot of opinions with little basis in fact. Under these circumstances it's difficult to have a productive discussion, and people will believe what they wish to believe.

You vote some of those people into office, the really inconsequential ones. Those actually running things, bureaucrats, special interest groups, and 99% of public officials never run for office. The deep state isn't subject to public oversight, separation of powers or even the rule of law. As with everything else in a world ruled by and for money, the little power you have resides in your wallet. Stop paying taxes and things would change tomorrow.

I usually don't bother replying to you because of your constant, unsubtle trolling. In this case I'm going to make an exception because I don't want anyone reading your lies and buying into the party line for an instant. Yes, (some) macroeconomic figures say Spain has, in 2014, grown as much as Germany. Whoop-de-****ing-do. However, this "improvement" needs to be put in perspective: intensive use of labor means a decrease in productivity in an economy already notoriously unproductive (25% less than Germany's) "growth" in 2014 is actually only bouncing back from the contraction experienced these last few years — in the absolutely most optimistic predictions, it'll take until 2017 to get back to 2008 levels... other economists say we'll never get back to those levels "austerity" measures have accomplished only one thing, distributing wealth upwards. In 2014 the number of people worth more than €1M increased by 24%, with population in poverty increasing, something even the EC has chastised Spain for. after six years of "fiscal consolidation", we still have a deficit of about 6%, only better than Greece's; this is in spite of massive direct and indirect tax increases and an incresing public debt that is expected to surpass 100% in 2015 the "jobs miracle" is, in true Spanish fashion, a cheap copy of the German model, with 13% of jobs created being for less than 10 hours/mo, and 39% being less than 30 hours/mo. This is in addition to ~40% of contracts being for 30 days or less and new jobs offering paycheck levels from 1995. Yes, 1995. The difference with the German model? The state doesn't make up for the difference between minimum wage and current job salaries. The result of all this? A net increase of less than 200k jobs compared to 2011 levels I could go on, but that should be enough for anyone not otherwise informed to realize that you, quite simply, have no idea what you are talking about. Good day.

I didn't perceive you were yelling, that was in reply to you saying "We'll be over here not even noticing any problems and yelling at Greece to get off their asses", which I take exception to (Greece isn't a Reichskommissariat, bro), but above everything else, I find utterly pointless. Want them to "get off their asses"? Stop lending them money. The Google/Startpage remark was facetious as I already explained, made even more so by the fact that Startpage is Google for all intents and purposes (save privacy). I do not doubt that the current climate in Germany is to blame the PIGS for all of Europe's woes. A not completely unfounded view, but skewed. The links I posted meant to illustrate that it's in fact France's, Europe's second largest economy, that is a much bigger cause for concern than the PIGS, a fact you glossed over as it doesn't fit very well with the mainstream discourse. The links dealing with the "German [mini]jobs miracle" thing and growing poverty and inequality illustrate how the great macroeconomic figures you wield to claim that Germany is an economic powerhouse (which it is) mean very little as far as actual people's living standards are concerned. The whole growth paradigm is hogwash, because economies growing by eleventy bajillions of make-believe money doesn't mean much if the majority's purchasing power is steadily decreasing. That's what the widening income gap means. Your reply was in the context of who is being hurt the most by sanctions, which is a matter I ignored completely. Rather, I was replying to your half-truths and oversimplifications, and especially your own self-contradiction when you simultaneously assert that the dollar-to-Euro exchange is dependent on multiple factors and then launch into a diatribe against Greece. Don't take this as a criticism of Germany, a defense of Greece, or a rebuttal motivated by a hurt patriotic pride. The accepted narrative makes my skin crawl, is all.

I know about Startpage (it says it's Google right there, hard not to notice...). I was being facetious, that's what the ";)" was meant to convey... guess I failed. I used to have DDG as my default search engine some time ago but grew tired of how slow it ran. If it's gotten better I may try it again. I've been getting "our servers are overloaded, come back later" on and off from Startpage, so it's as good a time as any to change. Never used ixquick, though. I suppose the point is, whatever you put in a search engine, you're bound to get results that "support" the pov of the day. Bleh.

Ah, yes. The typical "it's all the PIGS' fault!" excuse. http://www.dw.de/frances-flailing-economy-endangering-the-eurozone/a-18072388 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11101137/Sick-Frances-economy-is-stricken-by-unemployment-fever.html http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/germany-jobs-idUSL5E8D738E20120208 http://www.dw.de/poverty-in-germany-at-its-highest-since-reunification/a-18268757 May I suggest that the reason why you aren't "even noticing any problems" is that, perhaps, you rely on Google a bit too much? I recommend Startpage. And don't bother "yelling" so much. No one is listening, anyway.

Not in the court of public opinion, there isn't!

So, being the incredibly popular* character that I am around these parts, I'm always struggling to make room for new PMs — that means deleting old ones, which I'd rather not do. Fifty conversations just doesn't cut it, this is 2015! I need more. Pretty please? *or simply obsessive about keeping each and every PM archived so I can check who said what half a decade later, no difference really.