Messages

1

Real World Topics / Re: PRISM, spying and the US attitude to foreigners

« on: August 01, 2013, 11:19:20 PM »

What's worse about this entire thing... is that by doing this, they're actively ignoring the Constitution.

Only for US people, I think. The rest of the world doesn't count.

Considering most laws, by law, are ILLEGAL if they counter the Constitution in any way, shape or form (Yes, including Obama's Gun Laws that he wants to put in), it means that they're knowingly breaking the law.

Well, yeah, but to determine that it is unconstitutional, someone has to complain about it, and since no-one knew it was happening....

Plus, the court is horribly politicised anyway, so what decision you get mainly depends on who managed to appoint the most judges (plus, of course, all judges are appointed by some president or another, which hardly seems to me to be the best way of limiting the government's power...).

And flaunting that fact, too.  This, honestly... scares me a lot.  A LOT of things that people do are illegal, even if we don't realize we're acting illegally, with how screwed up the law has become.

Yeah.

Although, at least you guys have a constitution to protect you somewhat, even if the government is getting good at ignoring it.

And realistically, it's not a democratic republic, it's a CONSTITUTIONAL one.  NONE of this crap should have happened in the first place, if they had followed the Constitution first, and the bullshit laws second. 

Well, that is true, but in this case it's not even democratic. For it to be democratic in a meaningful sense there needs to be a public debate about what the government is doing, and secret actions deny us that.

Thankfully though, they've not managed to gut the Second Amendment as well as they wish they could, which was put into place to ensure would be tyrants and corrupt politicians all have something to fear.  The people uprising against them and shooting them for making stupid laws.

Well, except that people never focus on that aspect. They always focus on the aspect of wanting to be able to defend theirselves from criminals. Which, frankly, is not a good reason to have a gun. The government is here to protect people from criminals, what people need is a way to protect theirselves from the government.

And, honestly, I think it has been gutted somewhat, because by the point that it becomes necessary to rise up against the government, the government will have taken weapons from anyone who is even remotely likely of doing so. All they have to do is call them a "traitor" or a criminal and that's it.

I'm always a bit torn on gun control laws. On the one hand, they make massive amounts of sense, because there really is no reason to possess a gun 99.9% of the time (aside from for hunting or the like), and most of the time it seems to me that guns do more harm than good. However, if you allow the government to disarm the population then it becomes very difficult or impossible for an unpopular government to be overthrown (look at Syria, for example), and that possibility does really need to be there.

Although, honestly, what I really do not like is stuff like this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23304198

It seems pretty clear to me that these "stand your ground" laws are far too lenient and broad. What appears to have happened is that some idiot vigilante decided that, because some guy was black and wearing a hood, he obviously must be a criminal, and decided to chase after him. The kid then defended himself quite reasonably, but because the other guy was carrying a gun, he got shot and killed. I do accept the concept of "self-defence", but I don't see how that should apply to a fight you started, against someone who was clearly unarmed. At very least he should have been convicted of Manslaughter, but because Florida's law is ludicrously biased towards people fighting back even when they really shouldn't, he got away with it.

I know ALL too well about how they've screwed things up, Mike.  I've read books and history on the fact, myself, as has my father.  Osama Bin Laden became an enemy of America because we withdrew all funding to support the hospitals there after we helped them kick Russia out... when they needed medicine and food the most.

Yeah, exactly.

Frankly, if you look at history, basically every problem in the world today can be traced back to either something the US did during the Cold War or something that European Colonialists did to maintain control. Most of the sectarian tensions you get now are there because the British spent most of the 19th and early 20th centuries getting them to hate each other so they wouldn't ally and attack us.

And don't even get me started on the bullshit involved with 9-11.

Eh, what?

Guns, I can see your point on, all too well.  My mother's a pacifist, so I can understand why most people don't need them.  At the same time, Syria, Nazi Germany and more are all good examples of how the government can go out of control if you don't have firearms anymore.

Stand your ground laws are ok, most of the time, but the ones involving your home being your safe castle laws are most important, I think.  If someone breaks into your house, you're legally allowed to kill them.  Something like that, I can agree with.  It's why I live in Washington state, where that law is at.

There were a lot of hints that 9-11 was a false flag operation.  Such as a third building going down that was far off (Debris wouldn't magically take that building down in the exact same manner as the other two buildings, while no other buildings went down.  Initial reports of thermite in the structure of the building, all over, and explosives in the basement.  Also, both those buildings having multiple supports, unlike Popular Science's bullshit of them having only one single support, and both buildings meant to survive airplane strikes and fires of the nature reported.  The fact that the person that bought the rights to the place took out a multi million dollar insurance policy a few months beforehand doesn't help the government's case.  So does the fact that people positively IDed the plane that had an "unnatural bulge" as being a prototype plane for refueling jets in mid-air, stolen from Boeing a year before.

And last year, preppers took note of the fact that the government here now states that any person that questions the government's story about 9-11 is a possible terrorist, on a pamphlet circulated by the FBI... well, I think you get the picture.

2

Real World Topics / Re: PRISM, spying and the US attitude to foreigners

« on: July 14, 2013, 09:39:30 AM »

What's worse about this entire thing... is that by doing this, they're actively ignoring the Constitution.  Considering most laws, by law, are ILLEGAL if they counter the Constitution in any way, shape or form (Yes, including Obama's Gun Laws that he wants to put in), it means that they're knowingly breaking the law.  And flaunting that fact, too.  This, honestly... scares me a lot.  A LOT of things that people do are illegal, even if we don't realize we're acting illegally, with how screwed up the law has become.  And realistically, it's not a democratic republic, it's a CONSTITUTIONAL one.  NONE of this crap should have happened in the first place, if they had followed the Constitution first, and the bullshit laws second.  Thankfully though, they've not managed to gut the Second Amendment as well as they wish they could, which was put into place to ensure would be tyrants and corrupt politicians all have something to fear.  The people uprising against them and shooting them for making stupid laws.

I know ALL too well about how they've screwed things up, Mike.  I've read books and history on the fact, myself, as has my father.  Osama Bin Laden became an enemy of America because we withdrew all funding to support the hospitals there after we helped them kick Russia out... when they needed medicine and food the most.

And don't even get me started on the bullshit involved with 9-11.

3

Other / Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

« on: May 15, 2013, 05:52:56 AM »

I own... like... the bulk of Archie's Sonic 31 or so to about 100, maybe 150 or so.  *chuckles* and a good chunk of the Super Specials.  Though... I don't plan on buying Sonic Genesis.  25 bucks for a small Sonic Graphic Novel... is a bit much, even for me.

4

Doujin Projects / Re: Dark Side of the Moon, a collaborative story project (original fiction version)

« on: May 15, 2013, 04:11:17 AM »

OK, so, how does all this "Ki" stuff supposedly work?

Obviously, I don't believe in it in real life, but this is a fictional story with fantasy elements, so there's no reason why we can't include it if it fits.

Ki, in real life, is the life force of your body.  An easier term for it, would be the bioelectricity that your brain uses to communicate, half assed used to achieve other things.  It's the closest thing I've seen to any sort of realistic "Force" in existence.

Acupuncture is used to fix flows of Ki within the body, and though not everyone agrees that it exists, both Acupuncture and Shiatsu were developed by mapping out the flows of Ki within one's body, initially.

But, in real life, there's both the Meridians and Chakras that work for your body.  The Chakras are like the big organs that generate and adjust Ki through the body, and when in tune, helps the body keep from getting sick.  On the other hand, meridians are like the blood vessels for Ki, so it moves through the body properly.

A picture of the Meridians is here:  http://www.healingqigong.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/meridians.jpg

And a picture of the chakras, for the traditional showing of only the major ones, is here:  http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7hzjfaunh1rskgyto1_500.jpg

This is all based off of Chinese martial arts and medicine, mind you.  There's all sorts of different names for it.  I just call it what I was taught.

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Other / Re: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

« on: May 14, 2013, 09:58:43 AM »

When I was young, I watched this on USA all the time.  Man, that brings back memories.  Watching them, Sonic SATAM... getting pizza every friday night, because I loved the Ninja Turtles so much... good memories.  Very good memories.  Also, the movies were fun to watch.

I actually picked up one of the new comic books recently, when it was cheap at a local bookstore.  Haven't gotten up the cash yet to buy anymore, though.

Edit:  Before I go to sleep, I found something you may be interested in:  Building Raphael's Sais (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) - MAN AT ARMS This guy forges a copy of Raphael's Sais, both of them.  Thought you'd enjoy seeing his work.

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Doujin Projects / Re: Dark Side of the Moon, a collaborative story project (original fiction version)

« on: May 14, 2013, 09:51:25 AM »

If I may interject... you may wish to add in some of this.  You may want to use Scifi, using elements of mysticism, martial arts, etc., to allow someone to understand technology, etc. better.

It might not be a PERFECT idea... but it's still an idea.  A lot of my teachers when I studied Ki in depth noted things like "pouring Ki into the training sword" let you understand how to wield it better, sometimes superbly if it had been used by other people before, as well as making it easier to be in tune with it to use it as an extension of your own body, rather than just crappy sword swinging.

Not so much a "Kamehameha" vs laser guns of doom, or even a rail gun, but a "+5 to cutting through a bullet using an old Katana" sort of deal.
It can also slow deterioration of damage to organs, such as eyesight, if channeled to an organ several times a month, which means it might be useful for a medical method in game.  Maybe not so much a "You won't lose your arm, because it REGENERATED INSTANTLY!" sort of a deal, but "More of the arm can be saved if it's horribly damaged, because you channeled Ki to it in time."

Psionics has several methods of making an artificial intelligence, as well, that could be used for a sort of "spying technique", but that's usually the maximum of what it's good for, except for defending against psychic attacks.  Which... really don't happen unless you're actively hunting for a fight and trying to tick someone off.  It's why I didn't read up on it much.  But in a game, that could be rather useful, as a sort of "spy drone" or "security camera that can't be found" sort of a deal, as a plotline.

Finally, people have been known to use Ki to not feel a thing while their balls have been hit with baseball bats, and 2x4s, and monks have been able to keep themselves alive without much food, air, or water, for months at a time with meditation.  You could use both for things like "pain countering" so you can focus through attacks better, and the meditation deal could've been how people were able to handle being on the moon in the first place.  If the first people they sent were monks trained in such things, it could explain the reason why colonization worked in the first place, with later colonization being possible by the first settlers, the monks.

Just thought it all might be worth a read, and tell me what you think of it.

7

Video Games / Re: General MMO thread

« on: May 14, 2013, 07:13:47 AM »

I've thought about Mabinogi.  Is it any good?

I've got more experience with Maple Story, as well as World of Warcraft... and the first has problems with accounts getting hacked, while the second... just... ugh.  Pay to play is starting to get old.

Guild Wars was DECENT, but I couldn't really get into it very well.

8

Video Games / Re: what do you play?

« on: May 14, 2013, 07:11:49 AM »

Visual Novels, RPGs... Action games... Armored Core!  Mech games in general, though I can't afford much.  Fighting games, are always good, like Street Fighter.  Megaman games, Metroidvania games... SOME bullet hell games, though not much... Sometimes platforming adventure, but it depends.  Visual novels if I can afford them, as well.

FPS games usually make me sick, except for the Metroid Prime games... or, for some reason, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine.  Weirdly enough, though, I can watch Let's plays of them without difficulty.  Star Fox 64, and Assault also do a good job of leaving me sick after a while.

9

Doujin Projects / Re: Game development 101 (discussion and idea thread)

« on: May 14, 2013, 07:00:10 AM »

Doesn't seem TOO bad an idea, for it all.  An AU game would be interesting to see.  Let me give you a bit of advice, though.  RPG Maker VX Ace is harder to use than it looks.  I've had my copy since... bit before April.  It's POWERFUL, but if you don't have much of a talent for designing game maps on the fly... it's going to be a bit of a pain.  Also, forest decor is a pain in the ass.  Same with City Decor, City DESIGNING, etc. etc. etc.
Then there's the fact that you have to program in EVERY little detail for animation so the fires look like they're slowly moving, and you start to see the problem.  It's a WONDERFUL tool, but you have to be dedicated and keep yourself up on it to work well with it.

I'd reccomend taking it down to two routes, if possible, until you're used to RPG Maker VX Ace, or even building just a single route to see if it's feasible.