2008-10-03, 16:46 | Link #861 |
Aria Company
Join Date: Nov 2003
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Actually the Russians had Germans working for them as well, though not in as high a profile role as the Wernher von Braun had in the US program. Also many earily American and Soviet designs were based on the German V-2. Of course one shouldn't sell the soviet rocket program short. Their first successful design not directly based on the V-2 is still used today in modified form for space launches after all.
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2008-10-04, 01:43 | Link #863 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
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OJ goes away for life...
O.J. Simpson was found guilty Friday of all 12 counts in the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas, Nevada, casino hotel last year. http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/04/...ef=mpstoryview ...at least one man believes he's innocent (Thomas Riccio) |
2008-10-04, 02:00 | Link #864 |
♪♫ Maya Iincho ♩♬
Artist
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Battle to buy Wachovia heats up
Well... for us Wachovia bankers, seems like it's being bought by Well Fargo. Nothing should change, too much...
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2008-10-04, 10:51 | Link #865 | ||||
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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No weapons were found. All reports had claimed that even if there were weapons, Iraq lacked the technology to attack the US with them. What if Iraq had weapons? I'm sure a number of people would be feeling a bit more smug right now, but I still don't think that I would have supported it. Would you tell me that we should attack anyone who has weapons? That raises a new issue: who gets to decide who has weapons, and who doesn't? Understand that it's easy to feel that no other country should have weapons when yours is the one holding the weapons, but how would you feel if you were in a smaller country or a less-armed country? Quote:
So I'll ask it again: if a foreign power came in and "liberated" you from your current form of government, either by replacing the people within it or by creating an entirely new system, how would you feel? Don't make it too hypothetical, either, because you'll lose touch with your true feelings. Pick an existing country - perhaps one that you're already fearful or mistrusting of - and imagine if they set up their current form of government in your country. Even for all of the failings of your current government, would you feel comfortable with your new government?
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2008-10-07, 19:10 | Link #866 | |
Not Enough Sleep
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: R'lyeh
Age: 48
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More great Asian Democracy stories.
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Last edited by Xellos-_^; 2008-10-07 at 20:26. |
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2008-10-08, 02:52 | Link #868 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Boston
Age: 35
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The internet is being used as a tool to concentrate mass hatred on individuals in China.
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/...ry_id=12342705 |
2008-10-08, 06:42 | Link #869 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: ¯\(º_o)/¯
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Also I'd like to encourage people to visit and read the source provided or at least part of it in order to understand some context in which Xellos-_^'s quote was under. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/wo...08thai.html?hp They've been on a mass non-stop protest for a good while now (since May i think the article mentioned?) and its a shame that things had to get violent now when it had been peaceful for the majority of it =/
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Last edited by brocko; 2008-10-08 at 07:09. |
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2008-10-08, 10:59 | Link #871 | |||
Not Enough Sleep
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: R'lyeh
Age: 48
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Instead of trying to find out why the rural poor supports Thaskin's party and come up with programs to draw up away the support of the rural poor, they decided to stage a coup. Make no mistake about it this is a coup attempt just without the guns. The freedom alliance wants to overthrow a legitimate government voted in by the majority of the people of Thailand. Establish thier own government and exclude anyone else that disagree with them. form older NyTimes articles: Quote:
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2008-10-08, 15:25 | Link #872 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Boston
Age: 35
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Everything i've read says that the People's Alliance for Democracy is about as anti-democratic as you can get while still claiming to support democracy. They believe the rural citizens of Thailand are too stupid to participate in a democracy and elections so they want many of the seats in the legislative branch to be reserved for the military and aristocrats, as this article points out.
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2008-10-08, 23:07 | Link #873 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: ¯\(º_o)/¯
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None taken Xellos-_^. To be honest though, I havn't really been following much on the issue myself, my dad listens to a live podcast set up by the Peoples Alliance of Democracry, 24/7 where all they do is just hate on the government. It's refreshing to see the other side of things every once in a while, but frankly I'm sick and tired of this whole mess already. Like that one Tuk Tuk driver mentioned “The economy is bad. Fewer tourists are coming to Thailand. There are traffic jams all over the place...They should talk this out, and the demonstrations should stop.”
I do question from time to time though the PAD rallies, but in the minds of the protesters they believe that they are fighting for democracy. Although true, the current government was democratically elected, also keep in mind this is the same government that was thrown out for corruption (i.e being non-democratic) two years ago. Naturally when this same government is back in power, the same people who opposed them and drove em out 2 years ago will also be back. And with the recent violence within the past few days, they are more determined than ever. And actually we don't even know for sure yet if the current government was fairly elected or not. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/wo...hp&oref=slogin Quote:
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2008-10-08, 23:40 | Link #874 |
Le fou, c'est moi
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Las Vegas, NV, USA
Age: 34
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brocko: Isn't there an ongoing "controversy" about how the police's breakup methods like using "tear gas" *cough* can cause mass injuries that somehow happens the most among the PAD's security forces that were defending the rallies?
I'd personally advise you against taking the PAD's side though. In a fair Democracy it's supposed to be one head-one vote, not my interest is more important than your interest so let's carry out a coup d'etat every decade or so. I myself was rather disgusted with the coup d'etat even if Thaksin was trying to play Ferdinand Marcos with the whole nation. And like almost all mass movements, though the PAD's common rally participant might be genuinely convinced he or she is defending Democracy, the leadership is really just a pack of hyena scums. What's the alternative between a corrupt government and a corrupt wants-to-be-government though? Yet another royal intervention? I'm sick of that too no matter how much Thai people love their precious King. Another coup? The military can fucking go to hell. Caveat, however, to Western readers: the rural attitude in Thailand is still very much surprisingly, hmm, feudalized, viewing local strongmen (who often become politicians) as people deserving of deference rather than, say, in the USA where all are equal rich or poor. The voter fraud is widespread, the equivalent of the USA's pork barrel being far, far more obvious. Pretty much still Tammany Hall over there. The "misguided rural poor" statement should be understood from that perspective, and that Bangkok residents consider themselves somewhat more competent politically and more democratic in sentiment. Whether that is true or not is up to debate, considering how easy it is for PAD leadership to manipulate hundreds of thousands of the city folks. Oh, and the discontent that is being utilized by the movement came very much from Prime Minister Thaksin S.' heavy-handed measures attempting to monopolize pretty much the entire country for himself. It naturally wasn't well received. When you start out with an economy where there are three competing phone companies, and prices and services are reasonable, and when you end up with a monopoly of the PM's family, with sucky services and high prices; and when it's not just an industry or two, but a lot more and crucially indeed the internal news sources; and when some of the elite are dissatisfied with being left out of the spoiling game... Yeah. |
2008-10-09, 00:25 | Link #875 | ||
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: ¯\(º_o)/¯
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2008-10-13, 06:33 | Link #877 | |
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Keep it legal. Some of that stuff is just sick...but at what point do you draw a line? Don't misunderstand me, I won't justify much of it as "art", but I do believe there is a mental release (and a perverted one of course) that is involved with such depictions. Do people enjoy a gory movie for plot content? No, they watch it because they want to see people graphically butchered. I believe this is the same way with sexual fetishes. I don't approve of real life exploitation of children but there is nothing (as far as I know) that ties fictional depictions of such acts to the real thing. Outside of the actual child molester having such material what about the same material in the hands of many people who do not commit such acts? I can't swallow the argument that availability of such material encourages people to commit such acts in real life. That's just placing the blame on the material and not the person who couldn't control his (or her) urges. It's gotten to a point where the laws governing what is considered child porn and what isn't are becoming arbitrary - that is, the laws are so general that they allow officials to press charges on whatever they consider to be exploitation by an adult. Here's one example: http://news.cnet.com/Federal-case-ma...3-6139524.html Like I said, I don't approve of child porn or pedophilia in real life, but I think fiction falls squarely under free speech.
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2008-10-13, 11:47 | Link #878 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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I think you're mistakingly (or intentionally?) conflating the rather amorphous and broad term "loli" with the more specific area of child porn.
Virtual child porn doesn't refer to "cartoons", it refers to a new trend of using Photoshop and other art tools to hyper-realistically simulate child pornography. As far as ""anime depicting sexual abuse" --- which series would that include? Nanoha? Shuffle!? Would it include series that depict such abuse as a "Bad Thing To Do"? I'd argue that virtually none of the series often labeled "loli" that get fansubbed and discussed on the main anime forums meet the criteria. Pretty messy slope for them to be just waving their arms. The last sentence... if you know japanese bureaucracy... is classical "nothing is going to happen for quite some time while we wait to see if the noisy people go away". @Solace's link to the federal case: Sounds pretty much like Alice Martin (the US attorney) has a lot of goblins in her head, I wonder if she's one of the attorneys illegally brought in to replace an attorney canned for not being a "Bushie" ..... that's a year 2006 article though... any news on how it turned out?
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Last edited by Vexx; 2008-10-13 at 11:59. |
2008-10-13, 11:50 | Link #879 |
Back at it again
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Canada
Age: 38
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http://www.japanator.com/elephant/post.phtml?pk=8753
Man arrested for possession of manga.
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2008-10-13, 11:54 | Link #880 | |
Not Enough Sleep
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: R'lyeh
Age: 48
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current affairs, discussion, international |
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