Lurker > ElatedVenusaur

Just LOL at anyone who gives ICE the benefit of the doubt. If you allow violence like that to happen, it will inevitably be turned inward as well.
In any case, you can't "reform" an agency that is dedicated to viciously and systemically violating human rights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffito_of_Esmet-Akhom
Imagine being whoever wrote this. The last known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, expressing your devotion to gods who were rapidly being consigned to history's dustbin.

Seems to fall into a common fallacy laymen stumble into in such disciplines: the idea that ideas and concepts can only have a single origin, and that the sum of a few random coincidences is iron-clad fact.

Like, just for starters, if the Creek were originially Mayan, we would expect that their language would very strongly resemble Mayan, even after ~1,000 years or whatever. Not just a maybe a few random words, but lots of vocabulary, as well as significant commanalities in syntax and phonemes. You would expect legends of a great migration told widely among not just the Creek, but also their neighbors and from peoples along their path. You would expect the Mayans to have some record or allusion to a large group packing up and leaving suddenly. You would also expect the glyphs to be, well...Mayan.
You would also expect them to live in a broadly Mayan manner, especially at first.

Moreover, the Creek or whoever do not need to be literally Mayans to be able to build a big stone complex(that it is a Mayan ball court seems to be entirely unsupported beyond it maybe vaguely resembling one. Compare that to the Mayans, who wrote about the game extensively and commonly depicted it in art). There were quite a few large, well-organized city-states in pre-Columbian North America with vastly greater resources than what the remnants left behind by the Columbian Apocalypse could hope to muster who built lots of fascinating stuff that's mysterious because they didn't leave behind writing that tells us why.

What are you going to tell me next, that the Mayans learned to build pyramids from the Egyptians?

Yes, but sauted, roasted, caramelized, or fried for me. No fresh.

BLAKUboy posted...

Legit looks like Thanos after the snap.

He used the Infinity Stones to get a 6-3 Supreme Court.
Is what I would say, if it hadnt been so easy for him. Would be a waste of a snap.

It shouldn't be surprising that a relatively normal and collegial confirmation process has improved Amy Coney Barrett's standing with the public.

Ilhan Omar's daughter, climate activist Isra Hirsi, also took part at some point.
https://twitter.com/israhirsi/status/1318769475190218753
You can find her mom towards the top of the replies. It's so wholesome it hurts.

Plus, you know, this was elected officials interacting with regular people in a casual setting, which needs to be more of a thing.

shockthemonkey posted...

I dont think hes being insincere about having Republicans in his administration

Yeah, Obama had Republicans in his administration(including James Comey...how did that go again?) and Joe Biden has never been shy about his affection for the Republican Party.
I mean, he literally did a campaign event for Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton in 2018. Somehow this didn't undermine his Resistance(TM) credentials at all.

Super Mario Kart - Bowser's Castle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToWvjgl32j8
Yep, that's a remix of the SMW final boss theme that's way better, IMO.

Super Mario Kart - Rainbow Road
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNXW37DGQgM
I've always dug SNES Rainbow Road. It sounds more mysterious than its successors. The original also established the precedent of Rainbow Road being absolutely brutal which has been continued to this day.

Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past - Hyrule Castle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx3rqhQGN9A&t=175s
What an epic way to start a game.

You should vote, but keep in mind that your individual vote is insignificant, if not meaningless(at the presidential level, at least). Cast it in whatever way helps you sleep at night.
And do a lot more than just vote.

She got Ilhan Omar to tag along? Epic.
If we just get Ilhan a Gundam, everything will be better...

berlyman101 posted...

why would he do this

It's a big club, and we're not invited.

marc55 posted...

the protests were to kick him out
people had no problem voting for his party its was evo who they wanted out

ehhh

you do know Luis arce isnt evo morales right ?

LOL no, they protested Evo Morales being deposed, where do you get news?
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/16/780118421/8-killed-in-bolivia-as-protesters-call-for-return-of-ousted-president-evo-morale
His party did even better because the opposition so thoroughly discredited itself with its authoritarian, anti-democratic tactics and behavior(as well as anti-indigenous actions and violence), allowing MAS to cast itself as the defenders of Bolivian democracy, in addition to everything else.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/19/bolivia-election-exit-polls-suggest-thumping-win-evo-morales-party-luis-arce
Guardian has a good article about it.
Hopefully they'll respect the outcome this time.

Not even close. Theres records of Egyptian artisans refusing to work because the government was late in paying them.
The dispute was resolved when Pharaoh Ramses III(I think it was him) furnished them with their back pay and gave them a raise.
Buddhism can also be seen as a rejection of the Hindu caste system.

Those are pretty good.
Founders KBS was the last one I bought.

Banshee Boardwalk is really cool in theory and has a fantastically creepy theme, but its just way too dim, so unless you know where youre going youll fall off all the damned time. Its annoying as hell.
I play as Bowser, so Baby Park was always a beautiful mess.

The first one is better than 2, IMO.
The MS/GG Sonic 1 straight-up has a better close than its big brother on the Genesis and Labyrinth is about 80% less trash and is generally pretty solid.
2 was my least favorite, honestly. Chaos is probably the best one.

Yeah, the mistake people make is that they assume Thanos is thinking rationally. Certainly Thanos conducts himself calmly and insists on how rational and correct his conclusion is, but that doesn't mean you aren't wrong and/or crazy.
But the reason he just doesn't wish for more resources is pretty simple. First and foremost, Thanos sees trauma as essential to his plan: the shared trauma of half the galaxy dying suddenly en masse will force people to reflect and put aside their differences and behave better. This also plays into another fallacy: Thanos sees "The Snap" as something the galaxy deserves. The galaxy has not been rational, the galaxy has been full of war and suffering and its peoples have grossly mismanaged their resources. They have to be punished for their excesses, they must be taught a lesson, or they will never learn.
That last bit is why past-Thanos becomes so angry at the Avengers and swears to change his wish: the Avengers have foolishly and rudely rejected the great gift bestowed upon them by his alternate self. You see, Thanos actually expects that, once the dust has settled, the galaxy will be thankful. People will think about it and realize how wise and right Thanos was and give him the credit he is due for ushering in an era of unprecedented peace and carefully managed prosperity.

I love how they just reveal Rose is one of the OG Dragoons from the legends without really much foreshadowing at a seemingly random point in disc 2(Well, look at the time, it's plot dump o'clock!)
The game's story is dumb and full of silly twists like that. Like the Leslie Nielson in Airplane! of PS1 JRPGs.
Though even that isn't quite on the magnitude of Jade Cocoon...

About 2/3 of the way through the game, you get "But thou must"ed into attempting to chain some god in servitude in a way that's telegraphed to be a horrible idea. And you end up in a completely different dimension with different characters and your wife is the key to returning the world or something and...I, you know what, I didn't even understand what the plot dump was about at the time, I definitely don't understand it better now. Such a randomly bizarre plot for a game about catching and fusing monsters.

Looking at New Zealand's politics is like looking into an alternate reality. A better one.

YellowMustard69 posted...

Reagan was never a movie "star". Pretty much all of his films were B movies. Ask your average person how many movies they've seen with Jimmy Stewart or Audrey Hepburn, and then ask how many movies they've seen with Ronald Reagan and you'll see what I mean.

This. Reagan wasnt that famous as an actor, but he was very charismatic, witty, and otherwise a skilled politician who brought together some of the best political operators Goldwater and Nixon had minted.
He also faced extremely weak opponents in a much less polarized political environment. Carter was torpedoed by the triple threat of horrible fiscal policy, his inability to work with Congressional Democrats, and the Iranian hostage crisis. Mondale was like a saltine floating in a glass of water: he makes Biden seem exciting by contrast. He also supported genuinely awful and unpopular policy like a balanced budget amendment.

Mega Evolutions were much more interesting, mechanically speaking. Only one Pokemon could be mega-evolved per battle, and mega-evolving required sacrificing your item slot to a Mega Stone. In exchange, the pokemon in question got huge stat boosts(and sometimes stat shifts, as well). The designs weren't *always* on-point, but you did have some seriously awesome ones: Mega Mawile, Mega Charizard X(it finally gets to be a real dragon!!!) and Mega Ampharos come to mind. While Mega Evos were not always doled out in a way that made sense/to pokemon who needed the boost, I do feel it's worth noting that Mega Pidgeot was really good(and really neat: being a special-focused flier with No Guard, which makes everything 100% accurate, enabled it to spam a powerful STAB* Hurricane) and that Mega Beedrill took a pokemon that was an absolute joke and made it (played well) a terrifying monster. Moreover, it was actually much more balanced than Dynamaxing: though Smogon banned some mega evos, it never needed to blanket-ban the mechanic. It should also be noted that Dynamaxing simply makes the rich richer: pokemon with poor stats or poor stat spreads remain at least as poor as they did before.
Z-Moves were okay, and by far their biggest asset was how egalitarian they were: any pokemon could pack a nuclear-strength attack for some specific purpose. Perhaps the most interesting Z-Moves were the ones that provided or buffed stat boosters, which enabled some Pokemon to choose between nuking the opposition or buffing themselves. Again: unique Z-moves did not really go where they may have been most needed, but they were cool(and there's something legit terrifying about Snorlax rising from its eternal somnalescence to attack with great vigor and purpose).
*Same type attack bonus. If a Pokemon uses a move that is the same type(regardless of if it is mono or dual type), it does 1.5x as much damage.

CruelBuffalo posted...

Bernie. Sanders voted for the crime bill.

Black Americans were in favor of the crime bill. More Americans now see the negative consequences of the actions of the bill.

"Black Americans" or black politicians? There's a big difference between the two.
And yes, Bernie made a big mistake in voting for the bill. He also wasn't its architect and hasn't defended it ever since. I haven't really seen anything from Biden that suggests his underlying political philosophy has changed much since he got elected to the Senate in part by attacking his opponent's support for busing.

Antifar posted...

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/1316912846266052609?s=19

Yup, that makes sense. He doesn't regret his terrible '94 crime bill, just his terrible '86 crime bill.
In any case, although it would be nice if he acknowledged his mistakes more, it's ultimately insufficient if he's not also willing to make it right.
And considering he was the only Democratic candidate to be opposed to at least decriminalizing marijuana...

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga - Steel Coffin(Movement 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8z0dVFIcVc&t=252s

An abandoned cruise ship, rusting away in the desert...that's pretty creepy, right? How does a cruise ship end up in a desert anyway?
And, for completeness sake, Movement 2, even though it doesn't fit the theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZRV_M3CK-4&t=130s
You lure the Brutes into the cruise ship, fill it with C4, and blow it to kingdom come! Yes, Digital Devil Saga is amazing.

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2 - Rest in Peace, My Friend(Power Plant)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWub8nGWC_8

A grim, oppressive track. And, considering the power plant is surrounded by the Karma Society, things certainly aren't looking good. And they're about to get much worse...

Literally nothing is original, so don't worry that you're cribbing some stuff you read or saw or whatever, as long as you recontextualize it and make it your own.
Oh, and you don't have to explain everything. Sometimes the audience is going to be able to come up with something more satisfying on their own.

Let's get something niche up in here!

Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV - Menu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFJper4g3K8

Challenge(Theme 1) - Basically for weak forces: few cities and officers. You'll probably start off listening to it as you develop your starting city and plot your opening moves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sujWAiGtaRw

War - Offense Side Inferior - Despite what it says on the tin, it's what plays when the odds are stacked against the player. Better have some good strategies up your sleeve!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VXLfa_5_U

Duel - This was the first RTK to enable you to initiate duels(2 had dueling be an option at the beginning of battles). You weren't able to control them yet, but your officer probably wouldn't get caught if he lost unless the enemy had Archer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f3ZI2GgltM

Master of the Land(Theme 4) - For Emperors only! How do you become an Emperor? RTK IV had events, making it the first in the series to have them, but their ridiculously-specific triggers meant most players never saw them!
You have to control 2/3 of China and meet ridiculously specific requirements: Your ruler must stay in one city for 10 years and also be chilling with at least one civil officer. Requirements may be less stringent for Cao Cao.
Or you just played as Cao Pi or Liu Bei in the last scenario and were blown away by this epicness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ZgKNt1-rY

On the subject of RTKIV's events, this topic illuminates them: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/588631-romance-of-the-three-kingdoms-iv-wall-of-fire/69776614

Oh sure, it wound up getting ported to the Playstation, but Koei really made the SNES's sound chip sing first.

Its incredible she was dunked on by Wolf Blitzer, of all people.
Attempting to work with Trump probably wont go anywhere, because hes a bad-faith actor and McConnell cares only about confirming Barrett, but its a political loser to not go through the motions in this instance, as it makes it seem Pelosi is as indifferent to the suffering of Americans as the Republicans.
I also think shes just pissed because its Ro Khanna and Andrew Yang pushing the idea.

Where do you live, and what are your options for voting?

https://www.270towin.com/maps/6z1BE
Trump has really Trumped it all up. Wish we were going to get more out of it.

I am shocked. This is my shocked face.

The expectation that the Democrats will ultimately do nothing.

I voted. Howie Hawkins on the top, and then there's an actual, real, genuine local Green who is better than the incumbent Dem(who will win by 30+%), and then I marked Dem for the rest. Then I took my ballot, shoved it in the security envelope, shoved that in the pre-paid mailing envelope, and drove down to Town Hall and dumped it in the drop box. 10 minutes, and most of that was the drive.
It didn't take hardly any time at all for me to vote. I would understand not wanting to wait in line for a few hours with a bunch of people though, especially not in COVID strongholds. Ultimately, your engagement with politics must go beyond voting if you want to accomplish anything.

Endgame posted...

Cleopatra was a Macedonian Greek.

It's probably alt-right false flaggers starting this shit. The we on the left know our history better. We're the ones that know the Nazis were the bad guys.

Eh, there's plenty of people who are stupid on some things and good on others.

IIRC, Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaid monarch, was also the first to bother with learning the local language.

In fact, you could play a modern Cleopatra biopic in a lot of ways. Examine colonialism, if you wanted to really get things going, you could have Palestinians play Egyptians, but I assume they would just use Egyptians, who probably look more or less the same as Egyptians did then.

Fair, next.

Shin Megami Tensei IV - Infernal Ichigaya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8X4GXgKgN4&t=210s

Yep, that sure makes my skin crawl.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Goron Mines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZpc5mOV5cw&t=617s

Something a bit lighter.

Vicious_Dios posted...

Then they better make some small as fuck states in the east coast merge to keep it an even 50.

Delaware and Maryland
Conneticut and Rhode Island

What are we? Europe? lmao, fuse them shits already.

Delaware is one of the worst things it's possible to be: an on-shore tax shelter. It should be split between Maryland and New Jersey(as many corporations as possible should be exiled to New Jersey for their crimes).
Rhode Island is useless and will finally be able to shake COVID-19 under Connecticut's enlightened tax code. Everything but the wealthy parts of the state will be left to rot, as is Connecticut's way.
We don't need two Dakotas.
We don't need Wyoming: give the Mormons to Utah, feed the rest to Idaho and/or Montana. Nobody will notice.

I personally saw no point in voting for Biden in a blue state. I probably would have considered the prospect of voting for Biden more seriously if I lived in, say...Wisconsin.
I do wonder why the Democrats are never blamed for alienating voters, however.

Garioshi posted...

It's not like he didn't try. He secured a peace deal in 1968, but Nixon blew it up.

Even that wouldn't really make up for the intervening 4+ years though.

Garioshi posted...

FDR and LBJ have done more to materially improve my life and the lives of the general populace than any other President

LBJ would definitely be really high if not for the utter, pointless horror of Vietnam. He was amazing on domestic policy.
Just goes to show how awful and traumatic and totally, utterly a waste Vietnam was that he's just not even in this conversation.

berlyman101 posted...

China's political history and leadership is confusing as hell. Probably doesn't help that it shows up nowhere in our educational system.

Unfortunately, China is kind of in the same boat as Russia insofar as historically having weak or nonexistent social institutions and power having been highly concentrated in the state.
You *can* overcome that and develop a healthy democracy, of course, but it usually takes time and, you know, elections that matter.

coh posted...

It's definitely not as bad here as some other forums where you even have people praising Lenin and Stalin

Lenin is actually interesting and was successful in some regards. He shouldnt be lumped in with irredeemables like Stalin and Mao.

Like, seriously, not only was Mao a totalitarian monster, but he was also incredibly ignorant to boot!