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| Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - - Posts by Ziff |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES                  Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| ROM + Emulator = world of opportunities.
My usual suggestion though is to find a good bunch of guys and get into D&D |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Well, the Great Firewall is pretty easy to get around. Set up a proxy server and BOOM free internet access. It is pretty hard to control the computers of x million people all at once. I believe that the Information Control Office or whatever it is called now employs something like 4000 people to keep this travesty running.
Then again, as far as it goes, Chavez isn't that bad ||bass. At least he isn't doing anything like Pinochet or the other dictators of the region. He's just trying to protect himself from a very real threat. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES  Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Oh, I was aware. I just figured that since you interjected with those points (not yours) it seemed appropriate to address that statement to you. | |||
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| zer0wned
That's everyone. Not just the poor and homeless. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Heh, kids.
I try to teach kids to drink responsibly at university, mind you...I'm no role-model. When I went out with my buddies we played a game called Thumper. I didn't have beer like the rest of the guys. I had whiskey, rum, and SoCo. You know those .85 cent mini-bottles that come with mickies sometimes? That was the rum and whiskey. About two and a half shots. I had a 26er of SoCo. Which I chugged. I downed about 3/4 of it on one chug. Then we went out to a bar. And I had a pitcher of beer and tequila shots and liquid cocaine. You want to know what is sad about this? I didn't know I drank that beer, or the tequila, or the other shots. I simply didn't remember it. I woke up in my friend's room the next morning. Didn't remember how I got there. It is fine to drink, but don't over do it like I do. And if you do over do it...take a taxi or something. I see too many kids getting in trouble, getting hurt, whatever. Breaks my heart. Also, the brain cells thing is pretty much bunk. Ernest Hemmingway was a raging alcoholic and wrote some of the world's greatest fiction. It is your liver you have to worry about with regards to SUSTAINED alcoholism. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES  Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| There are some pretty hip Esperanto language bands that I've listened to.
Also, there are some Ukrainian pop groups, like Ruslana, that are decent. There are also some Ukrainian rock bands out there. Little difficult to find. I also listened to a Persian rock band a few weeks back. I'd need to bug my buddy Darius to translate the name for me. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| You know how they say they won't price drop You know that they WILL price drop. Plus, MS has the biggest marketing machine that is up and running for their console right now. MGS4 can't save the PS3 in the face of whatever MS has up their sleeves.
Plus, Wii is my darkhorse winner of the new generation. I want to see it win, it is innovative...unlike PS3 or 360. Sony is going to shoot their own foot many times before they learn to ship a proper amount of units. MS has proven that a shortage can actually spur sales, at the anger of the gaming community. Sucks, we all know, but this is what happened when you're trying to feed at the hand of a corporate entity. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Yeah, we shot our own feet in Iran. We could've had this guy rather than the man we have in there currently.
Then again, what do you expect? Much of the foreign policy is being directed by people that buy into Strauss' ideas or even the ill thought out and pompous ideas of Huntington. When you have the primary military leader of this mission believing in a hegemony with them at the absolute centre, empire building through market, and a world view of Civilized and Savage people...well, expect to have problems. Although, on one point, radical Islam is a threat. We should've been working through economic incentives to stamp it out rather than bombing it. The first thing should've been the weakening of the Arabian peninsula regimes and their Wahhabist ideas (which have spread out like a cancer and infect any and all movements relating to Muslims, like the Chechens and Kurds). |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Get a mug.
Pour milk into it. Put a thimble of rum into this milk. Put milk into microwave. Warm the milk. Put in some honey. Stir. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Even then, it is representing a growing internal threat in Europe which has much more proximity to the Muslim world than North America.
That said, I should expand, religious extremism of ANY kind is an inherent threat to the stability of any nation in question. In Africa (Kenya, Sudan, Congo, etc.) the religious extremists come of many stripes. Congo's Lord's Resistance Army is an example of Evangelical Christianity gone awry. Mind you, the threat rests not simply in third world nations, but in nations like America. The radical fundamentalist Christians are quickly reversing the tides of hundreds of years of progress and are effectively going to lampoon the economy with their archaic thoughts. As they gain power and intertwine religion and politics they're going to begin striking out. One may not think that this war on evolution has much of a significant effect on an economic sphere, and admittedly it does not in the short term. Within 50 years, given the growth of Evangelical communities which adhere to these extreme principles of anti-modernism, the US could for once be at a deficit of intelligence. This will not be like the intellect deficit which affects nations like Canada, where the talent is drawn OUT of the nation. It will be because the intellectual will simply not exist. Again, there must be some understanding that this is a sort of nightmare scenario. Many areas in the Bible belt have spawned great inventors and minds, however I fear that Southern ingenuity may go the way of the dodo. These people were given the advantage of a good education. Arwon had posted in another thread about the lack of true meritocracy and class advancement in USA. This is going to become even more marked in the future of America. With the growth of lower-cost Bible colleges and community/low cost private colleges they're looking like a nice alternative to State universities or other areas of true higher learning (mind you, a good seminary, theological institute, or divinity school is as good a place of learning as any). This will have a detrimental effect on the nature of discourse among the intellectuals of America (in which intellectual ranks may become thinned out). Of course, this isn't going to be an America-wide issue. This issue can, if it arises which is really just a toss of a coin about demographics and religious trends, truly ruin the economy as people with faux-religious pedigrees climb the ranks of power and begin the muzzle and gag those that are not within their ken of understanding. Now, before I got shot at by the Evangelicals on the board for a fair analysis, I'm going to make something clear. You're all wondering "alright, Ziff, what does this Millenarianism/other crazy ideas have to do with terrorisms lack of threat". I'm going to get to that. In Pakistan and other areas the chief way of education is through the locally provided religious institutions. This is where extremist ideals are bred, spread, and refined. Now, that is in the Islamist Fundamentalist experience. Of course, in the United States long before there was Islamic terrorism there was a consistent tradition of radical Christian and racist terrorism. Luckily these elements are too busy hating Islam to hate the government right now, but should the war on terror shore up or this new Perpetual Conflict shift from Eurasia to Eastasia what will happen to the poor people? The American people are inundated, like the rest of the world, by media. Once the portrayl shifts from dastardly turban wearers to a less palatable foe the extremists may just become anti-goverment again. And then there will be a resurgence of homegrown terror, not from Islam/Communism/whatever Zeitgeist Amerikana there is, but rather from an internal fifth column that has grown there all along and is simply a bizarre exp In short - radical religion bad. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Colin, my buddy applied to Walmart. He theorizes that they scan the references and do a brief background check. He thinks it is their form of pre-emptive union busting. | |||
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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Originally posted by Colin Anyone can have ties to a union. At least that is the Walmart mentality. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| ...modifying a NERF gun?
And you boyfriend is how old? |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| If you have a real reason, say a thyroid problem, that causes massive weight gain than my sympathy is with you.
If you sit around all day staring blankly, vacantly at a screen, eating unhealthy foods...Then you're probably the sort that whines in this thread. The overweight (lazy ones) are rightly stigmatized. They're making an active choice to be sedentry. Finding excuses to burden themselves with excessive weight (which becomes the responsibility of taxpayers when they get diabetes or need hip replacements or any other number of health problems associated with weight issues). I see it enough here "I'm not good at sports" "I have a high metabolism". If you say those words without a thought to it then you're going to end up on a super-scooty scooter to help you move, never be able to walk up stairs. All of your own doing, too. The sick thing is that most people can be content with this outcome. And will continue living in that way. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Another thing you can do is take two gravol before bed on nights when it is particularly bad. | |||
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Do what I'm doing. Get a bunch of people to go as Tetris bricks and then run around trying to form a line! | |||
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| Funny, that. I actually agree with a lot of what Dawkins and atheists think about the state of religion (and there is a lot that I disagree with). I mean, it is kind of hard to be a Catholic that holds onto a tradition that includes the idea of institutionalized God all the while being a semi-supporter of Reformation ideas of unster gott.
But in the terms of it, Dawkins and others argue that it is religious dogmatics and fanatics that are the big problem. When you pick up a name like Darwin's Bulldog and are a dogmatic and fanatic atheist...well, I only see a glimmering Imax lamp of hypocricy. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| There won't be a second Korean War. The war has been ongoing and will be a continuation.
I can easily tell you that your idea of "peace" is based on hegemonic American control of the region. The installation of friendlies in place of free nations that may be anti-American. It is a reality that most friendly nations are that way because it is easier to be friends with America and reap some of the rewards of trade (see Yemen) than to directly oppose its efforts in any way, shape, or form (see Venezuala - or for an example that doesn't involve Satan and Chomsky - Canada (yes, the lumber dispute and various other issues had MINOR political motivations behind them in order to pressure or punish the Canadian government). However, this is also my idea of peace. It is best to have a Pax Chazarica where economic power is protected and people (as a whole) are left to their own devices by the nomads that benefit from the monetary gains. “Regional stability” is a cop out term? I would argue that regional stability is not a cop out term and is a necessary component of international relations, safe economics, and the general interest of anyone living in any region. Within a given geographic area it can wreack havoc when there is a destabilizing force that threatens to create a domino effect. One such issue arises with regards to North Korea. Regional stability is necessary through the pacification and liberalization of the regime through any given time. We can be assisted by the rest of the world in our dealings with NK: China, SK, Russia, Japan are the primary movers of the world in NE Asia. By expanding the dialogue in the region and giving the 6 party talks a higher priority it would probably work to our advantage for that stability needed in order to keep the market in the area running. Arwon makes no allusions to either side acting as this, that, or the other thing. The truth of the matter is that NK is a destabilizing force - but not simply because of its military and relatively infantile nuclear program. Within the region in question there are also multiple other possible destabilizing factors. The new Prime Minister in Japan, Shinzo Abe, is notoriously more hawkish than his predecessor (as well as less direct, experienced, and reform minded). In the past he has made many nuanced statements to slaughtering the old sacred cow of the one true party in Japan, that being the pacifist clause in the constitution. The Japanese people are mixed on the issue. I'm not sure how NK's actions are going to translate with regards to popular opinion about the state of Japanese defence. The major fear is that within the region the two most able powers will quickly develop small deterrent arsenals triggering a new arms race (as well as unnecessary spending that should be going into more positive programs). Japan is renowned for its high state of nuclear technology. Within a year it could probably have a small nuclear stockpile as well as delivery systems prepped. It already has plutonium that has been created over the years at its breeder-technology-based reactors. It could probably even scale the weapons down to a tactical level for more wide-spread integration into its forces. Assuming that this perfect storm scenario is met (that being tactical nuclear weapons, the dismembering of the pacifist constitution, and a change a in military strike doctrine) then the region could very well face a massive problem. SK could easily have a nuclear weapon within a short time (although quite a bit longer than Japan). Of course, these are both unlikely avenues that either nation would take. As mentioned it would be politically risky, destabilizing, and obsenely expensive. The real fear however would eminate from Taiwan getting antsy. But again, that is more fear mongering over the Yellow Peril posed by the Chinese in the region. In the unlikely event of a full on conflict it would be most probable that the Kim regime would fall due to internal pressures that the war would place on the economy, the unrest it would cause, and a very plausible coup d'etat by dissenting generals. War would not help a nation on the brink if it is struck first. Kim knows this. Even if Kim does continue his designs for the NK state any sort of major intevention on an overt level will only hamper the region and could possibly hurt the West more than is necessary. The best system for the removal of the Kim dynasty is through positive, constructive sanctioning. He will only be removed if the world engages in harsh love diplomacy to take the economy out of isolation. The best scenario would be another Tank Man that wouldn't just be pulled aside with his image forgotten. The best scenario would be a new Glasnost. Well, there are multiple instance showing that pre-emptive strike patterns are based on the fear of strength with regards to international dealings. The use of Hitler v. Poland in this debate is moot. The annexation of Poland was a necessary part of the policy of Lebensraum. A completely different sort of syncretic philosophical and political motives than what we see in the current diplomatic landscape. One such issue was the idea behind Reagen and "The Bear in the Woods". Any idiot could see that the Russians were in a state of collapse. That they were in a state of liberalization of the media (note: the rise of publications in Russia that undermined the constant strangle hold that Pravda had, including the return of various gazettes that had existed in the pre-revolutionary days). Gorbachev would've gradually lent to this process and have his hands tied. The Balts and other Slav groups would've been emancipated from the absolute control of the Soviets. The Central Asian states wouldn't have crazed men making giant golden books in Ashgabat, and we wouldn't be having such a headache is S. Ossetia and Abkhaz. Most likely autonomy would've been extended to a greater degree to Chechnya because Gorbachev was a lot less for shock treatments than his populist successor Yeltsin. That is one simple example of why pressuring those nasty dictators can turn into a bad thing. Perhaps the best example of states attacking when another is strong is called European history during the 17th,18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. 100 Hundred Years war. Pre-emptive super-power war. The Sun King's reign on France. A giant mega-power on the continent. Opposed by all the other nations. Prone to sticking it out with the other powers in the region. Not because they were weak, but to get them into that state. The French revolution fought on against the combined armies of Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, the various Italian states, the Prussians and other Germans, the Russians too. Far and away attacking what were stronger states in a feverent dream. Your example is one sided and fails to hold up. States will attack for a lot of reasons. And guess what? Attacking dictators because they're getting a little antsy only leads to problems. Particularly when you do it too indirectly. However, I agree, that isn't naivete and it is a perfectly sensible analysis of the issue. Attack them when they are in a state of weakness. Makes sense. But it is a policy of engagement still steeped completely in the Cold War mind. The entire damned Cold War was based on indirect engagament to keep it from getting hot. And the entire damned Cold War engagement was constantly done in a fear of the Soviets attacking a weaker nation (which it did indeed do, but for the same reasons that any state would if it were a gigantic, open, continental state). The US had a similar strategy which the Soviets tried in vain to oppose. But to carry it on, you're right. We're not in the Cold War anymore. We're in a multi-front battle that we've never had any real experience in fightings. "They didn’t attack unprovoked in the 50s, right? And they haven’t tried to reignite the war since then, right?" And to drive that fact in I take this quote and offer you an anecdote that I've often been told with regards to politics; that was then and this is now. Time changes quite quickly in this whacky world of ours. Policy is just as fluid as anything else. "No, it’s a leave me alone, as in KJI wants to be left alone so he can go on ruling with an iron fist. It’s not as if he just wants to live out his life peacefully in his little corner of the world. " Ultimately that is what he does want. He wants to sit in his miserly little corner of the world looking down on Whoville. Unfortunately he knows that the Whos have been onto him far too long and little Betsy Who and her friends are quite well armed and he can't leave his mountain. He does not want to engage in a war, even a proxy war. It doesn't make any sense, even in a nonsensical and crazy mind. His nuclear weapon is a deterrent, his provactive use of his missile program further exists to drive home this point. And you completely misunderstand China. PEACE IS WHAT THEY WANT. Peace means more money. More money is more prestige. They're on their way to being a super-power and want to safeguard this ascension and safeguard their position in the world from their neighbour-rivals. Russia and India are neighbouring nations with their own ambitions. China does not want to go to war with them. Everybody sabre rattles from time to time. It is the role of the sabre in diplomacy. To scare people into backing down. Actually charging with the sabre makes no sense. You'll normally get sliced and diced because of all the noise you've made already. Now to categorically move on other arguments you make: "but I believe Bush would not nuke North Korea for nuking South Korea or Japan." -read any recent policy changes to the US nuclear policy. The Pentagon has constantly been updating its definition of tactical use of nuclear weapons as well as reactivating additional hedge weapons from the legacy stockpiles. "Japan has categorically ruled out nukes. Not true." -effectively, as of today, they have. My above Perfect Storm scenario is assuming that Condolezza Rice had not gotten an assurance from a Pacific Triangle state in this matter. 'Oh, well, if China has some harsh words, then I stand corrected. Words speak louder than actions, after all. ' -In terms of making sense...words mean a lot more than action. Because those words are put onto the floor of international bodies called the UNSC and becomes direct action. "China does not want peace with Japan. The Chinese hate the Japanese. " -Hating someone doesn't mean that you go to war with them whenever you see fit. Peace and hate can go hand in hand quite comfortably. "If China wanted to control North Korea, they would have. If they could really have made KJI stop his nuclear test just by asking him, they would have. And you’re wrong, I do want a collapsed North Korea. I simply cannot understand why you care so little about the North Korean people. I’m sure you’ll get really indignant about that and say that I’m insulting you. But really, you say the only thing we can do is wait, and you say the stability of the region is more important. More important than what? The North Korean people, obviously. " -No, they wouldn't have. It would not be logical to assume the debt, the delapidated infrastructure, and inherent problems with North Korea. It would not make sense to effectively allow millions of refugees to flood your nation as if it were 1845 all over again. "I guess that’s the difference between us. You view the so called stability of a region as more important than individual freedom. Have you ever lived under a communist government? If you would be happy living in North Korea, the Soviet Union, or Cuba, then I will concede the point, and admit that there is no benefit to bringing the North Koreans into a democratic government. " -it is called the greater good. You save more lives, ensure the greatest amount of freedom, and cause the least amount of lasting global economic damage. However, I feel that this lady doth protest too much. Have you ever lived in a totalitarian regime? Individual freedom is not something to be completely enshrined and something to constantly shed blood for. That removes freedoms. You state this hyperbolically and in poor tastes. Concede that much. Arwon hasn't said anywhere "GOOOOOOOOOOOO STARVATIONAL COMMUNIST WAR ECONOMY". Arwon hasn't stated that bringing a liberal democratic government to NK is a bad thing. He has stated however that your persistent belief that destabilizing the regime in order to bring it about is not the proper way of doing so. "So we should abandon the East Germans? The West Germans should say “tough luck, you bunch of krauts. It’s your fault for being invaded by the USSR, so we’re not going to let you back into our country anymore.” Also, South Korea has about twice the population of North Korea. " -Beyond ignoring some thrusts of Arwon's arguments and ignoring the information about German reunification that he presented in previous posts I want to make one thing clearly. Triple the population allows for a greater amount of weathering attrition that only double the population. That is a big difference in numbers. "Then the problem lies in the apathy of world leaders today. As I said, people don’t care about Korea. That’s unfortunate. And we Americans are called the immoral ones, while Europeans sit on their high horse claiming to be morally superior because they don’t have the death penalty, and don’t spend as much on military funding. I hope they really feel good about themselves here. " -proactive solutions instead of destructive solutions is not apathy. In fact there is a great amount of interest in engaging this issue and ending it in the least painful way possible. Besides, everyone cares about the Korean issue. From those that see it popping up on the news and in the media. To those engaged in the intelligence community. From any echelon of the diplomatic sphere. Also, I suppose that you truly know what it feels like being thrown to the lions by the Romans? Come on now. The EU is the second largest military spender on the planet. The nations pride themselves on their militaries. They aren't on a moral highhorse. You're sitting in the toddler car seat of self-pity and global ignorance. "Yet again, that is something the rest of the world should be ashamed of. If the US would be criticized by the world for toppling the KJI regime (and I agree that it would), then I’m not sure I care what the world thinks anymore. If the world says that the North Koreans are so worthless that so called regional stability is the most important thing, then I’m glad American is a unilateralist country. Just because the rest of the people in the room are immoral and disagree with you cause, their majority opinion doesn’t make your cause any less moral." -They would. Because they are over-extended right now and can't lend the proper resources to the proper clean up operations and the rebuilding. You can't expect a set of non-superpower nations to assume that sort of responsibility! And if you think that the Japanese, South Koreans, Russians, and Chinese are so insignifant and worthless and that you're willing to risk them to fulfill your own moral ambitions. If you're willing to threaten regional stability and safety. If you're willing to ignore the opinions of the other entities of the world. If you're willing to turn this into a battle of moral relativism...Well, then you've lost a battle. Unilateralism is a universally bad idea. And to end this...I hate having to actually be the voice of realist ideas and reason when it comes to foreign policy. |
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| No, the Wager completely eliminates posiutive morals and is an exercise in greed and self-preservation. Thus circumventing a good 90% of all those religious teachings that you should follow in order to get the best result of the wager. | |||
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Ziff B2BB BACKTOBASICSBITCHES Since: 11-18-05 From: A room Last post: 5907 days Last view: 5907 days |
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| All night long, broken glass. Living in a medicine chest. The Meditoromanian hotel baths, sprawled upon a roll top desk. The monkey rode the blades on the overhead fan. They'll paint a donkey blue if you pay. I got a telephone call from Istanbul. My baby's coming home today! |
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| Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - - Posts by Ziff |
