zigackly

Needs a "not cut" option.

This.

They are billions - 8/10. Superbly balanced AI for a beta release. Fiendishly difficult RTS. Needs screen rotation.

No toast lets the meal down, obviously.

Toast? Fried slice or fuck off.

No way, man. He's proper shite.

I'm beginning to think you might have a point there.

What gives you that idea?

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. 7/10, not up to the original but still a great Wuxia film, and stunning visually.

Peter Ford (UK ambassador to Syria, 2003-2006) on the Syrian war

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMZVKdWFJPk

He talks as if the west has ever had any intention of increasing stability in the region, which I don't think I believe. 

Should also add that quite a few private counsellors will offer concessions as well. While I wasn't working I managed to find a really good one who was only charging me £15 a session. The problem is that if you are feeling unmotivated in the first place it can be difficult to ask for it.

Once I'm qualified in six months or so though, that is definitely something I will be doing.

Yeah there are a lot of charities which offer reduced rates for counselling for those who can't afford it, but I agree the provision made by the NHS is woefully inadequate.

Nuclear winter is coming!

Fixed that for you.

Oh, he's a white nationalist holocaust denier, no hidden agendas there then.

Tactical nuclear strikes! Pay me now, and we can stop em!

Obviously just savoring the aftertaste of a pot noodle here.

Why does there have to be a reason?

Surely for the vast majority of TLWers a Trump nomination is a good thing?

 

I mean, most of us are of a moderate-liberal to hard-left bent, and the one thing a Trump nomination absolutely guarantees is that the Republicans will not take the White House.  In fact, there will be enough people who hate Trump that the Dems will win huge in the Congressional races as well.  It won't even matter if it's Bernie (which it won't be).  Rubio with Kasich as VP (Florida and Ohio sewn up) would likely beat Hillary to the presidency, and that combo would absolutely thrash Sanders in the general if it came to that.

 

But if Trump is nominated the Republicans are going down hard.  Sure, the crazy 1/3rd of the Republican party loves Trump, but his negatives are off the charts even in his own party.  He would have a hard time getting 10% of the independent vote, and he's not going to get a single Democrat voter to switch sides.  It is almost impossible for a major-party candidate to get less than 40% of the total these days, since 40% of the population absolutely despises the Republicans and 40% despise the Democats, but I'd be wiling to bet that Trump wouldn't get 35%.  Even if it was against Sanders.

 

I still can't believe that Kasich, Bush, Christie and Rubio didn't get together in a dark room somewhere with the money people behind the party forcing all of them to withdraw but one.  Boggles the mind that they're going to let the Donald destroy their chances of doing anything at all for the next 4 years, with a Congress and a White House against them.  

A lot of his stated policies are openly and unashamedly fascist. The thought of him even getting one primary scares the shit out of me.

Isn't Sanders outspending Hillary now? Admittedly, he is getting a lot of small donations, but he is a US Senator, hardly some  Communist guerrilla.

All of Sanders fundraising has been from small individual donors (average contribution of around $30), whereas Clinton's comes from the banks and the big corps, so it's not so much what he spends as the fact he hasn't been bought.

No, they were predicting this might happen as it has so far.

 

I'm leaning on them as they are clearly far more informed and their analysis of the different possibilities seems to make sense.

 

They flagged up serious issues for both candidates.

Be interesting to see how it plays out, but the Clintons definitely seem worried, since their campaign can now be summed up as attack Bernie rather than discuss what her policies are. I would say Sanders is gathering a LOT of momentum right now, just like a certain unknown black politician in 2008 who won against Clinton when the serious political pundits were saying he couldn't for many of the same reasons.

One thing is clear from this election so far; whatever the establishment want they are fighting a massive groundswell of anti-establishment feeling right now.

To be fair though, if that's someone's reasoning "anything can happen", then you have to question the validity.

 

I follow some US Electoral polling wonks. They are giving Sanders and Trump virtually no chance at all.

They were probably saying the same when Sanders was 50 points behind in NH just a couple of months ago and Trump was being written off as a joke candidate?

Worst physical pain you have ever experienced? - Donald Trump

This is also atheist propaganda. Every human society has sought to ask questions about the meaning of their existence. A few have settled on a monotheistic deity. We have it in us to ask questions about our being.

 

It's only in the last two centuries that theoretical physics and biology have progressed far enough to give us the clarity religion previously monopolised. It will take time and science will need better propaganda than calling billions of people mentally ill to convince people. 

Sure, we have it in us to arrive at these concepts by ourselves, but we are not born knowing or believing anything.

To be a theist or atheist you need to understand there is a concept of God. If we are categorising newborns a la Dawkins then isn't agnostism their default? Without knowledge rather than lack of belief?

Agnostics are atheist by definition. If you don't know, you can't believe. It's not a problem to be both though. And Dawkins has fuck all to do with these categorisations, which predate him by centuries.

We aren't born atheist just as we aren't born religious.

If you aren't a theist then you are an atheist, the two are mutually exclusive by definition.

Fuck that, I thought the whole point of being an atheist was to avoid Sunday School & going to Church.

They don't think they are atheists, but since they don't believe in God it doesn't matter what they think they are. Atheism is just the absence of belief in God. We're all born atheist.

Why would you claim to be religious if you didn't actually believe in all the supernatural stuff that goes along with it? Isn't that what being religious is?

Not necessarily ... I know several church attending atheists. They would tell you that for them it's about community, fellowship and trying to do the right thing and live by a moral code. They call themselves Christian but don't believe in God or even that Jesus was anything other than some fella with some decent ideas for his time. 

I watched Cowspiracy the other day, and it has really crystallised for me that this is something I need to do, just for the reason that it's the best possible contribution I can make towards the environment as much as anything else. Can't say it's going to be easy to make the transition, but I know I can do it because I was veggie for about five years some time ago. We are wired to enjoy eating meat, but it's not as if there is any justification for it on the health front these days and with a good amount of variance in my diet I can put up with it I suppose.