News Stories

[ganbaru]

Center-left opposition rides a solid lead into Israeli election
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0M90TL20150313

Exclusive: Major nations hold talks on ending U.N. sanctions on Iran - officials
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0M82IS20150312

Exclusive: From 'Red October' village, new evidence on downing of Malaysian plane over Ukraine
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0M81XF20150312

[SaintessHeart]

Doctors Perform the World's First Successful Penis Transplant

I knew it. One day transmen and transwomen can swap their dicks and uterus for each others'!

[Urzu 7]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Doctors Perform the World's First Successful Penis Transplant

I knew it. One day transmen and transwomen can swap their dicks and uterus for each others'!

What if one day doctors do a penis transplant, but they attach it upside down...and then, when the person gets boners, it goes down instead of up?

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Doctors Perform the World's First Successful Penis Transplant

I knew it. One day transmen and transwomen can swap their dicks and uterus for each others'!

Ah, did not see that you posted this news here.
But yeah, future is going to be strange place.

[hawkeyesvn]

Does that mean a trap can become a real...girl down there ? So then I won't have to feel weird even if I fap to Fate:Apocrypha's Astolfo ?

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

*waits for full body transplants*

[AnimeFan188]

Batman vs Iron Man fan film looks awesome, but will it survive?:

"Here's the setup of a new fan film now raising funds on Kickstarter:

The Joker gets freed from prison by "a group of humanoid combat robots." He then
robs Batman's lair and takes all his wonderful toys. Next, he gets his hands on one
of Iron Man's suits, which he hands over to the uber-villain that set him free from
prison. And, of course, battles ensue in which Batman winds up fighting Iron Man
(although it's not really Iron Man.) All this supposedly takes place after the "Dark
Knight" and original "Iron Man" movies."

See:

http://www.cnet.com/news/batman-vs-i...ll-it-survive/

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Greece Finance Minster has said that the EU knew all along that Greece will never repay its debts from the very beginning. The media act shocked.
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/e...ebts-1.2133267
...But as I mentioned before, no major country on the planet had ever truly repaid its debts except one. The British Empire, at its height, was able to rob and pillage its way to earn so much money that it was able to clean up its debts. Everyone else use a combination of default and/or inflation to end the debts.

Varoufakis was merely stating a known financial fact. But it seems the public, ignorant of how reality works, is now blowing it all out of proportion. As many others on this very thread believe, most assumed that all debt need to be paid, despite it never been how it worked, ever.

Governments don't pay back its debts. This is not news, this is practically ancient history. But too many are ignorant of this reality.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Terrestrial Dream

Ah, did not see that you posted this news here.
But yeah, future is going to be strange place.

Well at least those with gender dysphoria can finally be themselves, not just cosmetically.

Originally Posted by Urzu 7

What if one day doctors do a penis transplant, but they attach it upside down...and then, when the person gets boners, it goes down instead of up?

Hard to make it wrong. The central blood vessel is always on the underside.

And if that goes wrong......well.......

Originally Posted by hawkeyesvn

Does that mean a trap can become a real...girl down there ? So then I won't have to feel weird even if I fap to Fate:Apocrypha's Astolfo ?

Astolfo is a girl dumbass. Wrong reference.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Doctors Perform the World's First Successful Penis Transplant

I knew it. One day transmen and transwomen can swap their dicks and uterus for each others'!

Possibly. Uterine transplants are possible, but the problem is that they're not good for long term use, due to rejection. Even with drugs, there's a huge risk to the patient. If you could somehow do it without rejection there would still be problems. It would probably be easier to create a penis from a ftm patient's cells and then attach it than it would be to create a uterus for a mtf. Female plumbing is complicated.

Besides that, neither type would have reproductive capability. For mtf, current surgeries allow them to have sex with the reconstructed vagina, so unless you could create a way for them to have children, a transplant would be pointless. However, giving a ftm patient a penis would allow them to have sex like a man, which is something more realistically possible with our level of technology.

But one day, yeah, I think it will be possible for people to have fully working bodies of the gender they choose to be. Not in our lifetimes though, barring some miracle breakthrough. But body customization is definitely on the way, through robotics ala Ghost in the Shell and bioengineering.

I for one look forward to our cyborg loli catgirl overlords.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Greece Finance Minster has said that the EU knew all along that Greece will never repay its debts from the very beginning. The media act shocked.
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/e...ebts-1.2133267
...But as I mentioned before, no major country on the planet had ever truly repaid its debts except one. The British Empire, at its height, was able to rob and pillage its way to earn so much money that it was able to clean up its debts. Everyone else use a combination of default and/or inflation to end the debts.

Varoufakis was merely stating a known financial fact. But it seems the public, ignorant of how reality works, is now blowing it all out of proportion. As many others on this very thread believe, most assumed that all debt need to be paid, despite it never been how it worked, ever.

Governments don't pay back its debts. This is not news, this is practically ancient history. But too many are ignorant of this reality.

Of course debts are paid back, or who would lend? They just are paid back with more borrowed money, so the country itself is still in debt. If you buy a ten year treasury bond, you should damn well expect to receive money in ten years, even and especially if the country keeps selling bonds.

It's a different proposition from an actual default where, yes, the debt isn't paid back at all.

And I said it earlier: if the Greek want to default, let them. What's annoying is that dance of "we want to default but not really, also, lend us more money, which we don't intend to repay".

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

What's annoying is that dance of "we want to default but not really, also, lend us more money, which we don't intend to repay".

Greece would not need to deal with the debt if they were given the right to inflate their currency. They are asking for money as a consequence of being in the Eurozone. The Euro needs to pay because that's what it means to be in the Eurozone. If you don't want them to be given money then you are going to have to kick them out. Greece made it clear they won't leave the EU voluntarily.

Funds from one part of the country is always used to help a different part of the country elsewhere. This is what countries do, we don't question it. Every nation on Earth have areas where they are constantly getting more allocated tax money than they collect in taxes. This is mundane.

So why is it that Greece can't be treated the same? If Greece is an independent nation, it would be able to inflate its way out. If Greece is part of the United States of Europe, it would be given financial help indefinitely without question. Right now Greece is half way between these two things. And the only way out is to pick one. Greece appear to be asking for the 2nd option. Germany might decide the 1st option could be inevitable. Either way, telling Greece to stay where it is is impossible.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Greece would not need to deal with the debt if they were given the right to inflate their currency. They are asking for money as a consequence of being in the Eurozone. The Euro needs to pay because that's what it means to be in the Eurozone. If you don't want them to be given money then you are going to have to kick them out. Greece made it clear they won't leave the EU voluntarily.

Or, you know, we could just not give them money and see where that leads us.

Funds from one part of the country is always used to help a different part of the country elsewhere. This is what countries do, we don't question it. Every nation on Earth have areas where they are constantly getting more allocated tax money than they collect in taxes. This is mundane.

So why is it that Greece can't be treated the same? If Greece is an independent nation, it would be able to inflate its way out. If Greece is part of the United States of Europe, it would be given financial help indefinitely without question. Right now Greece is half way between these two things. And the only way out is to pick one. Greece appear to be asking for the 2nd option. Germany might decide the 1st option could be inevitable. Either way, telling Greece to stay where it is is impossible.

Greece is a sovereign nation, who do what they want, and they're not shy about reminding us. The United States of Europe don't exist, and their creation has little support. Least of all in Greece.

And no, financial help doesn't come "without question". The central government of a country may chose to help part of the country, but that part understands it's subject to the supervision and orders of that same central authority. It doesn't get to do whatever it wants like a sovereign nation.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Greece is a sovereign nation, who do what they want, and they're not shy about reminding us. The United States of Europe don't exist, and their creation has little support. Least of all in Greece.

And no, financial help doesn't come "without question". The central government of a country may chose to help part of the country, but that part understands it's subject to the supervision and orders of that same central authority. It doesn't get to do whatever it wants like a sovereign nation.

Except that they actually aren't a sovereign nation in one major part of what it means to be a nation: currency. They, like all other Eurozone countries, gave up their monetary sovereignty with the hopes that the Eurogroup would allow them to grow in ways they would be unable to do so alone.

So yes, the Eurogroup has to either give Greece money OR kick them out of the Euro and restore Greece's monetary sovereignty. You can't punch a person in the stomach and then argue that they shouldn't complain about a stomach ache.

[Ithekro]

Would that place the European Union as the halfway country? It is halfway between being a country and being an alliance of countries.

Oddly I'm thinking back to what the United States of America was under the Articles of Confederation and how the states dealt with the later Federal Government following the Constitution up to the aftermath of the Civil War, when the states had more power, or thoughts of power.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Except that they actually aren't a sovereign nation in one major part of what it means to be a nation: currency. They, like all other Eurozone countries, gave up their monetary sovereignty with the hopes that the Eurogroup would allow them to grow in ways they would be unable to do so alone.

So yes, the Eurogroup has to either give Greece money OR kick them out of the Euro and restore Greece's monetary sovereignty. You can't punch a person in the stomach and then argue that they shouldn't complain about a stomach ache.

No one is making them stay. If they want to leave the Euro, they can. So, yes, they shouldn't complain about that stomach ache when they also keep saying "Punch me again! Harder!".

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Would that place the European Union as the halfway country? It is halfway between being a country and being an alliance of countries.

Oddly I'm thinking back to what the United States of America was under the Articles of Confederation and how the states dealt with the later Federal Government following the Constitution up to the aftermath of the Civil War, when the states had more power, or thoughts of power.

Uh, maybe I should look into the history of that time a bit more since I'm not too familiar with it (being from Portugal and all that) but yes, I think it's an interesting parallel. The Europe Union is halfway between a country and an alliance of countries and that carries with it some issues like the current Eurozone situation.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

No one is making them stay. If they want to leave the Euro, they can. So, yes, they shouldn't complain about that stomach ache when they also keep saying "Punch me again! Harder!".

And you keep saying: if you don't want to get punched you're free to get out of our submersed submarine and swim ashore. You'll probably drown but you'll probably get there eventually.

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

...But as I mentioned before, no major country on the planet had ever truly repaid its debts except one. The British Empire, at its height, was able to rob and pillage its way to earn so much money that it was able to clean up its debts. Everyone else use a combination of default and/or inflation to end the debts.

Oh please. Where do you have that from, some little englander pride blog?

Germany paid their postwar debts in full, for example.

Varoufakis was merely stating a known financial fact. But it seems the public, ignorant of how reality works, is now blowing it all out of proportion. As many others on this very thread believe, most assumed that all debt need to be paid, despite it never been how it worked, ever.

Of course debt is paid. You issue a bond over a specified time, and at the end, you pay it back plus interest. Happens all the time, even in Greece. It's rather that in order to pay the maturing bonds back, you sometimes create new ones. This process is being called "rolling over".

Governments don't pay back its debts. This is not news, this is practically ancient history. But too many are ignorant of this reality.

Governments do pay back their debts. Too many people just don't understand how it works.

Originally Posted by Dextro

Except that they actually aren't a sovereign nation in one major part of what it means to be a nation: currency. They, like all other Eurozone countries, gave up their monetary sovereignty with the hopes that the Eurogroup would allow them to grow in ways they would be unable to do so alone.

And they can. However, within the set of rules that every Eurozone member agreed on when they joined.

So yes, the Eurogroup has to either give Greece money OR kick them out of the Euro and restore Greece's monetary sovereignty. You can't punch a person in the stomach and then argue that they shouldn't complain about a stomach ache.

No, the Eurogroup does not have to give Greece more money, and in fact, they shouldn't. Greece can either start doing what they should have been doing decades ago, namely educating their "citizens" to do their basic civic duty: Paying taxes. If at least a majority of Greeks would pay their dues, Greece wouldn't be in the current predicament.

If Greece is too much of a special snowflake to do that, they are free to exit the Euro, create their own currency, and inflate away. Zimbabwe is a great example for how well that works.

You can't have your cake and eat it. If you want to have a hard currency with all its advantages, you need to act accordingly. Simple as that. It is not the EU's duty to fix Greece's problems _against their will_.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Dextro

And you keep saying: if you don't want to get punched you're free to get out of our submersed submarine and swim ashore. You'll probably drown but you'll probably get there eventually.

More like a rowboat. I'm saying "Row your fair share or get out and swim". Neither of the options are pleasant, but they're what's available.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Would that place the European Union as the halfway country? It is halfway between being a country and being an alliance of countries.

Oddly I'm thinking back to what the United States of America was under the Articles of Confederation and how the states dealt with the later Federal Government following the Constitution up to the aftermath of the Civil War, when the states had more power, or thoughts of power.

The original states had very little to unify them after the Revolution, and they had little interest in ceding power to a larger government. It took a few more years of fighting the British, with a large assistance from France, to help change their minds. One of the biggest hurdles in drafting the Constitution and creating a formal government, with an electoral college and representative system, wasn't in writing it, but in getting the states to ratify and follow it.

Early US history in the revolutionary period is pretty amazing, especially in retrospect. It's a miracle they lasted long enough to form a true union, or that it didn't fall apart 100 years later during the Civil War. A shame that so few understand and appreciate the bloodshed and sacrifice it took to get us to our current era. It would make them wiser to the divisions that threaten it today.

Originally Posted by Mentar

You can't have your cake and eat it.

I've never liked that phrase. It makes no sense. It's my cake, dammit!