Lurker > snake1989

ModLogic posted...

snake1989 posted...

The US has confirmed

stopped reading right there

Alright, then let's consider the highest number of casualties reported by any tracking agency to date:

"The military recently confirmed that American-led airstrikes had been responsible for at least 352 civilian deaths since the start of the war against the Islamic State. But Airwars estimated that the total was eight times higher. The group found that at least 3,100 civilians were killed in American-led airstrikes from August 2014 to March 2017."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/world/middleeast/syria-airstrikes-civilians.html?mcubz=1

Sounds pretty awful, and if those numbers are accurate, they are deplorable and the US can do better and should be held to a higher standard. But those estimates are also 3 times that of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (http://orient-news.net/en/news_show/136037/0/SNHR-US-coalition-strikes-killed-at-least-civilians), and 8 times higher than the US Military estimates, so I don't think they should be taken as certain since there is such a disparity and this is a difficult statistic to track.

But let's assume that this 3,100 civilian deaths over 3 years is 100% accurate. Even that figure is still dwarfed by, for example, the death toll Isis inflicted upon Iraq in a shorter 2 year period, estimated at 18,800 deaths, 36,245 injured, and 3500 taken into slavery:

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/isis-death-toll-18-800-killed-iraq-2-years-u-n499426

The difference in outcome between trying to avoid killing civilians and trying deliberately to kill them is pretty profound.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

TC seems like a troll, but since there are people in this topic acting like the numbers he posted are real without any sources, I'll post some actual sources.

The US has confirmed the death of 685 civilians between Syria and Iraq since the recent conflict began in August 2014:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-civilian-deaths/u-s-led-forces-acknowledge-killing-61-more-civilians-in-iraq-syria-idUSKCN1BC4O1

And some quick math based on what's listed here, Islamic terrorism has killed roughly 460 civilians in Europe in the same period of time (440ish if you decide to start counting from August, so it lines up more exactly with the US-Syria conflict):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_terrorism_in_Europe_(2014%E2%80%93present)

Yes, the US has killed more civilians in Syria than Islamic terrorists have killed in Europe since 2014. Has it killed more in 1 month than were killed in 12 years? False as hell.

And this doesn't even count the number of deaths in the Islamic world or US due to Islamic extremism. Or contend with the issue that a country who ends up accidentally killing civilians as collateral damage, as unsavory as that is, is very ideologically different from a group of radicalized zealots who act specifically with the goal of killing as many innocent people as possible (and innocent people not even from the country who is bombing them, for that matter). The former can be rightfully criticized for their failures relative to their stated goal of killing terrorists and restoring order, whereas the latter group's killings of innocents would to them be considered a huge success based on their own stated goals.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

They make great games. The only big problem imo is a trend toward less depth and more breadth, which worked for Skyrim but left Fallout 4 feeling unsatisfying. That and the pushing of paid mods in various ways, but that has more to do with the company than the games themselves.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Order Agedashi Tofu (sometimes shortened to Agedofu) at a Japanese restaurant. Its lightly fried and in a sweet soy sauce, so it's very approachable but still highlights the tofu well. It's also usually an appetizer, so it'll be less expensive too.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Staplersan posted...

That poll included students 80% of the "unemployed" were unemployed students who aren't typically considered unemployed. Also 60% is under 21 so that high of percentage of people living with their parents isn't really that unusual. You'd probably see similar statistics when accounting for age elsewhere. Not that anyone bothers to actually understand statistics.

So socialists are either majority unemployed and living at home, or are mostly college students who aren't even old enough to drink yet.

That sounds about right for most stereotypes of socialists either way.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Just finished it a few weeks ago myself. Easily some of the best DLC to any game I've played. Really felt rewarding when all was said and done.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

From the standpoint of absolute min/maxed military effectiveness, probably not.

From the standpoint of equality, they should be allowed to, but only if they meet all of the standard requirements the men do for whatever they are applying to (be it combat or non-combat). But women should probably be eligible for the draft as well, since men have to register to be able to vote.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Paladin. The variety of roleplay options and the fact that some of your stats depend on your choices is a lot of fun, and really good for getting into a role-playing mood.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Just started it too after first getting into Brooklyn 99. Both amazing, and I am glad to have finally checked them out.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Meanwhile, albeit in another city, LGBT marchers kicked out people who brought flags with a Star of David on them to represent their Jewish Israeli identity:

http://www.newsweek.com/gay-pride-marchers-jewish-flags-told-leave-chicago-parade-628879

Not a good look. I get that it's different branches or what have you, but I worry this dissonance between practices could blow up into extremely divisive racial politics within the LGBT community.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

I strongly dislike Pelosi and wish she were out. Not only has she given wonderful soundbites to the opposition, such as "You'll have to pass it to see what's in it", but then you have her referring to Trump as Bush twice and the fact that she broadly stands for "business as usual", which has lost the democrats all control of government.

She did solid work in the past. Those days are behind her. Even she was planning to retire if Clinton won, which to me says that she knows she is past her prime, but with Trump's victory she seems to have decided that the needs of her branch of the party outweigh the needs of the party-at-large.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Anarchy_Juiblex posted...

It's basically a study that assesses sexual orientation by looking at the eyes and whether they dilate or not.

Sounds as scientific as a polygraph.

This. Pupils dilate for any number or reasons, and they can dilate when exposed to any novel or exciting stimuli or even variant levels of lighting.

They even admit themselves that they hope this method will be "more accurate" than self-report, but this is backwards since normally the accuracy of a non self-report measure would need to be tested against a self-report of the same basic idea to see if they are capturing the same variable. Or, if they want to supercede self-report, they would nerd to establish proof that the level of dilation they observed only ever occurs in cases of sexual attraction.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

CableZL posted...

One Piece has an awesome story and sense of adventure. I think it's worth watching, but make sure you skip any fillers.

Pretty much this. There are guides online for which episodes to skip, and further in you can look into One Pace for a fan project that edits the meaningless padding/filler out of the later episodes.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Try a better lather. I got into double-edge and straight razor shaving a few years back, and it's really fun. But by far the biggest improvement has come not from the razors but from using an actual brush and proper shaving soap or cream to build a good lather, rather than using any premade gels or creams.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

MabusIncarnate posted...

SF_Okami posted...

I had the sweet BBQ one. Very good. Love the breaded onions on it.

This, had it on a burger. Better than I thought it would be for McDonald's food.

Gonna third this. I'm biased cause onions + BBQ is my favorite kind of burger in most cases anyway, but I was genuinely surprised how solid it was when I tried it.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Second one aged pretty well. First one not so much and it's a bit rough to go back to, but both are really worth playing at least once.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Some of my friends have lost interest in gaming over the years, but sadly it's usually due to them not managing their money well enough to afford gaming anymore and not due to lack of interest in gaming itself.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Some of her observations are interesting, but the fact that she calls one niche she knowingly participated in "dangerous" and yet continues to participate in the porn industry at large comes of as hypocritical.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

KillerSlaw posted...

He's a television host like Mike Rowe.

Edit: and it's a shame too, because I remember when he was also a good host who could blend science and entertainment with creativity and passion instead of smugness and derision.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Harmonquest if that counts. They definitely seem to play a simplified version or something with lots of house rules, but it's pretty damn close to how a good campaign feels with friends.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Always has been, always will be. Has his ups and downs but I could never call him unfunny.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

1 is rough as hell but I have fond memories, 2 is a huge leap over the first and a legitimately great game. Never played Buu's Fury either though.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

If there are 4, I usually see something like Strength, Dexterity, Stamina (or some other attribute tied to your character's capacity for taking actions), and health/consitution.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Arguably the weakest story of a MGS game up to that point, plus needing to grind or do some other chores iirc to see the true ending, and it released on a portable that wasn't all that successful. Add that onto the gameplay changes/problems, and the lukewarm reception to the previous portable game, and I think its poor reputation makes sense. That said, I still enjoyed it, but it kind of killed my hype for the series at the same time.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Super fun. Been wanting to play the game for years, picked it up since I noticed it was on gog and couldn't stop playing all weekend.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

I remember reading a week or so back that something like 70% of the Netflix userbase disliked the change. I wonder if they'll revert to the old system or have them both there alongside each other, it seems too unpopular for them to not modify it in some way.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

This sort of seems like the natural end result of all the boycotts and outrage culture directed toward pressuring companies over the last few years. Activists worked very hard to send a message to corporations, and now those businesses are going to try to make headway into what looks like a new market surrounding justice activism. Pepsi tried to hop on that too.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan

Metal Gear Solid 2 was the first game I remember that had an enormous amount of hype. But compared to the hype that can build with modern social media, I don't know if it still stacks up.
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"A man chooses. A slave obeys."-Andrew Ryan