It's "just" the chief of the Hessian section of the DPolG, not the Chief on the federal level.
And there's several police unions as well, with the DPolG only being second largest (about half as big as the GdP with a few micro unions not worth mentioning).
Don't blame the journalists, blame me. I'm the one who translated the article for Game Politics, and due to my relatively poor German skills (I've been learning German as a second language), I made a mistake. I actually caught it and emailed a correction -- I wasn't initially sure how best to translate the guy's job title -- but I don't think Dennis saw my email, and the internet merely amplified the error. Hopefully there weren't any other major mistakes... I like to think I do a better job than Google Translator, but I would never compare myself to a native speaker.
I've seen more English in Quebec than French out here in BC.
Anything related to the Federal Government is bilingual, of course, but for all intents and purposes, Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Newfoundland/most of Ontario are English-only, BC is officially English but a lot of election propaganda is sent out in Chinese too, New Brunswick and the city of Ottawa are bilingual, and I think the territories are English/Inuktitut or something. Canada is a diverse country and our official languages, on a federal and provincial level, reflect that.
I don't understand why people whine about French anyway. I never managed to become fluent and forgot most of what I learned in school, but I'm still glad I made an effort. Learning even a little bit of another language is a great way to learn more about your own language and culture by looking at someone else's.
I had a teacher who allowed us to hand assignments in late with no penalty. Assignments handed in on time got bonus marks, so students who had their act together were rewarded, but the rest of us were motivated to do all the work, despite problems with time management and other common difficulties. The teacher was more interested in making us learn the material than punishing us for our mistakes (not to mention our inability to do things before the last minute), and... well... her strategy worked. I learned more in that class than in almost any other in highschool.
I'm trying to learn German myself, but I only started last September, so I basically can't communicate at all. Beautiful language, though. I'm a computer science student, so I cannot help but love how logical and orderly it is.
When I went to Germany last Christmas for a short vacation, I found that I was mostly able to get by just speaking English or pointing to things that I wanted to buy, but most of the people that I met did not speak more than a few words of basic English. Since you had a different experience, I'm guessing you were in somewhere in the west. I spent most of my time in the eastern part of Berlin, and there were quite a few occasions when I found myself in the company of a large group of people who spoke nothing but German (or at most German and Russian, in the case of the older generation). Thankfully the guy I was staying with was able to translate for me, but... if I ever decide to spend more time there, let alone get a job there -- which I am considering -- the language will be essential.
To put it quite simply, there is no magic formula that works for all women. Even if I were to give you a detailed list of everything that catches my eye and/or turns me on, I doubt it would help you. I know for a fact that I like some things that other women find repulsive, and vice versa.
If you want to know what a specific woman wants, either ask her or use your brain without making assumptions based on pre-existing ideas of "what women want." Yeah, some generalizations can be made -- I think most of us find self-confidence attractive, for example -- but even then, if you're trying to seduce a gal who really digs shy/insecure guys, acting all cocky isn't going to work.
I would like to point out that a woman's idea of how she wants to be treated might be different from yours.
Too many self-described "nice guys" seem to believe that a woman should be put on a pedestal and treated like a delicate flower. The man in her life should hold doors for her, give her gifts, and obey her every whim. He should listen to her, support her no matter what, and never let slip the slightest criticism or contrary opinion.
The problem is... a lot of us don't actually want to be treated like that -- to be quite frank, it's annoying as hell. Yes, we want a man who's nice, helpful, respectful, etc., but we'd rather have someone who pays attention to what we really want than some guy who thinks that acting like a puppy dog will get him laid.
I like guys who aren't always there for me because it means they have lives of their own. I like guys who are not afraid to express their opinions -- criticism can be useful, and I love a good argument. And I like guys who don't pretend that I'm a flawless godly being, but instead acknowledge that I'm a regular human with as many faults as anyone else.
Does this mean I like assholes? Perhaps, if you define an asshole as someone who treats me the way I want to be treated rather than the way guys like you think I should be treated, but I certainly have no desire to date a "nice guy."
I agree that there should have been Nazis, but I see no problem with it being set in the 50s -- after all, it's not like there was any lack of escaped high-ranking Nazis bumming around in South America after the war, pining for the good old days.
And if those Nazis learnt of an ancient artifact that they could use to resurrect the Reich, well... it would make a much better movie than anything involving the Soviets (much as I love those guys in spy movies).
Depending on where you are, even whites can be the minority.
I'm taking computer science at UBC, and in my Computers and Society class (the only CS class I took last term) roughly 50/67 were non-white. The vast majority of the non-whites were Chinese or otherwise Asian, and a small percentage were Middle Eastern. There were only two blacks.
I live in a city with a very large Asian population, but whites are still (barely) in the majority. Thus, Asians are clearly overrepresented in my class (and in the computer science faculty as a whole). The number of blacks, however, is roughly what I would expect -- they make up less than 1% of the population here.
Now, if I was going to use the standard logic favoured by many IT industry types, I would be forced to conclude that whites are being actively discriminated against. Realistically, however, the reasons are likely much less sinister. My guess is that some cultures emphasize math and computer science more than others -- Chinese parents are apparently delighted when their kids go into the tech industry, white parents like it too (but clearly much less), and there seems to be some resistance to the idea among blacks.
I don't think I'm the only one around here who has fond memories of telling my computer teachers in highschool how to copy/paste, alt-tab, and use other extremely basic functions. Oh, sure, I learned a lot in those classes, but very little of that knowledge actually came from the teacher.
If this is going to work, either a lot more money must be spent getting the teachers up to date (easier said than done, since many of the people on top remain fearful of or overwhelmed by this series of tubes), or they'll have to make getting kids to teach each other (with supervision) a major part of the curriculum.
I am assuming that these internet safety lessons are supposed to enable children to learn more than they would in a 5 minute talk with their parents about how they shouldn't give personal information to anyone and they should be very careful about trusting anyone they don't know. If that is the case, I have no idea how they're going to keep it up to date on all the latest threats. Even universities struggle with this, so I have no idea how the average public school is going to handle it.
When I played WoW, I usually ended up hating whatever side I was on more than the other side, just because my teammates were the only ones I could hear talking. I dealt with this by spending most of my time skulking around enemy territory where general chat was less mind-numbing.
Overall, though, I don't think the game stressed me out. Getting ganked wasn't much fun, but it wasn't too hard to get revenge or just do something else for a while. Any increase in stress didn't last long.
It occurs to me that most of the Jews that I talk to on a regular basis are either Zionists or people who are currently pissed off at the Zionists, so that's probably why I'm not getting the whole picture. Biased sources can be interesting, though... if only from an intellectual perspective.
I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm typically viewed as an introvert -- I love to hide in my room and play or read, and I honestly don't want to go out and socialize most of the time -- but I become very unhappy if I am unable to get some form of social interaction online. I get lonely if I have no way of contacting other humans.
I've noticed that many otherwise extroverted people do not understand online social interaction (beyond just posting on myspace or what have you). I know many extroverted girls who cannot understand why I would be content spending hours reading or posting on Slashdot or other such sites or making friends from all over the world who I will never meet. They particularly cannot understand internet etiquette, let alone why many of us actively seek out pointless arguments purely for the sake of it. Likewise, I cannot understand how anyone could enjoy devoting countless hours giggling with real life friends about makeup or celebrities or boys or whatever normal girls talk about these days, and in their world, I am seen as hopelessly socially inept.
But cigarettes build a physical dependence -- WoW does not.
Although I don't play WoW (anymore), I'm on Second Life in another window as I type this, and given how much time I spend on my computer, if I've gotta be addicted to some aspect of the internet (gaming or otherwise). When I find myself stuck without internet, I get bored. No shakes, no extreme agitation, nothing like that... just overwhelming boredom mixed with loneliness, because all of a sudden I have a huge void in my life, and I don't know how to fill it. If this was all cigarette smokers had to deal with, they could cure themselves by simply finding a new hobby.
So... while I agree with you that addiction is likely to result from any activity that produces such a calming effect, I don't think that even the most addicted gamers need to worry about the withdrawal symptoms typically associated with chemical addictions. Any agitation is likely to be associated with boredom or lack of social interaction.
Hey, I have nothing against them. I just think it's silly to pretend that they're just a religious group. Maybe it's possible to convert to Judaism today (although my Jewish friends have assured me that Rabbis consider it their job to make it as difficult as possible), but for much of recorded history, that was not the case... and there's still that issue of Israel treating even atheists whose mothers are Jewish different from the black Jews (who apparently don't count as Jewish). It doesn't even bother me all that much that they are being nationalist, but I can't stand the hypocrisy. If they want to protect their race/religion/culture, that's all well and good, but it's awfully silly when the rest of us (or at least whites of English descent) pretend that it's something that only they and a few other minority groups can do.
(Oh, and a small disclaimer: in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit of a politics/history geek, and I love to play devil's advocate.)
The difference between Jewish dating sites and Christian dating sites is that Judaism (at least according to the folks in charge of Israel) is something that can and must be passed on from mother to children. This is why some people identify themselves as Athiest Jews. Christianity is a religion that anyone can convert to regardless of their parentage, and as I understand it, Islam and many other major religions are similar in that regard.
And... I don't know if there are Italian/Greek/etc. dating sites, beyond those that are merely run in those countries, and if they do exist, I doubt they are limited to whites. After all, there are plenty of Italian or Greek-speaking people of other races these days. As for Hispanic sites, well, that is more of a racial category, and if such sites exist, I would consider them racist... but minorities are typically cut more slack in that regard. I must admit that I've never actively searched for dating sites for my own race (white, of largely English descent), but I have stumbled upon the occasional one, and yeah... every site I've found has been full of white supremacist rednecks. This implies a distinct lack of mainstream acceptance of nationalism among whites, or at the very least, English-speaking whites. That's probably a good thing, of course, but it's still interesting to observe... and if personality traits ever are linked to genes, and thus to racial groups, it will be very interesting to see any of that changes. After all, we were the ones responsible for most of that old racist science of the 1800s, and while phrenology is obsolete, some of this new stuff... well, we'll see. I just really hope we don't find genes to validate stereotypes -- can you imagine what could happen if a greediness gene was found in Jews, for example? Or a violence gene in blacks? Or... uh... damnit, I suck at racial stereotypes, but I'm sure there are others that could be validated. It's much harder to fight racism when there is evidence supporting racist views right in front of you, and if those views are correct, a lot of people are going to wonder if we should fight it at all.
Well, back in 1936, the Allies weren't exactly eager for another war either. It was inevitable, of course, but I think it's good that they tried diplomacy first. Besides... at the time, they didn't know it was going to fail.
You should read some of the more extreme Zionist propaganda sometime. It's almost indistinguishable from the extreme white supremacist shit -- both groups tend to whine to no end about the need to protect their race and
culture, stop interracial marriage, maintain the racial purity of Europe/Israel, etc. They also tend to bring up the fear of being outbred (both white and Jewish birth rates are apparently quite low), and blacks and hispanics are often given as an example of peoples who are going to overwhelm the jews and/or whites with sheer numbers. Here's an example post on the Jewish side, and I really don't want to go searching for something on the white supremacist side; do that yourself:P
When you get right down to it, many nationalists of ANY race follow very similar rhetoric... I guess it's just part of being extremists. The thing is... nationalism is actually accepted among Jews. It's apparently ok to have Jewish dating sites, but I doubt there are all that many all-white dating sites that aren't run by trailer trash skinheads, and I can only imagine the backlash if such a site was advertised publicly.
Now... back on topic: if ruthlessness is linked to a gene, it may well be especially prevalent in one or more races. And no, I'm not just thinking about the Germans here (their successes would probably be better explained by a discipline gene anyway)... also the English, the Romans, and other empire-building civilizations over the ages.
This could be dangerous... it's one thing to rant and rave about [insert race here] being [insert negative characteristic here] (and thus deserving of destruction/enslavement/etc.), but when you can bring up genetic proof... well, there's a good possibility that a lot more people are going to listen to you.
Hey, even Hitler was right from time to time. As insane and misguided as he may have been, he was occasionally insightful, and the Olympics of 1936 may well have helped to postpone hostilities.
Besides, it would be awfully nice if the Olympics actually did stand for peace and understanding in this day and age -- the politicians barely even pretend anymore.
I think that's true to an extent, but something about a perfectly symmetrical and idealized face (perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect teeth, etc.) just creeps me the hell out. And no, I'm not just being jealous because I don't look like that myself -- I've met the occasional male actor, and although objectively, they looked good, their looks still made me feel distinctly uneasy. Maybe it's just my brain reacting poorly to something that seems too good to be true, or maybe there actually is a genetic benefit to moderately "flawed" features.
In any case, although there's certainly a limit as to how many flaws I'm willing to tolerate, I prefer to date men who look human.
"The court described one of Thompson's recent filings in detail. [Thompson] dubbed it a "children's picture book for adults," interspersing images with text in his motion due to "the court's inability to comprehend" his arguments.
Images included "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, a baby, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, a house of cards," the order said."
I'm presently in the middle of reading an English translation of Mein Kampf. Earlier tonight, I got to the part where Hitler talks about the dangers of "freedom of the press" -- he rants at length about the need to control it completely, and to stop it from poisoning the state with lies and digging up dirt on even the most noble politicians.
Needless to say, while I am well aware that NZ can hardly be compared to Nazi Germany, I found this news quite disturbing.
I expect they'll hire us anyway, no matter what their priorities might be. There are plenty of tech companies in Vancouver -- including game industry giants like EA -- so there's certainly no shortage of burned out programmers looking for a change of scenery.
On my right hand, the ring finger is slightly longer than the index finger, whereas on my left hand, the opposite is the case. It's not enough to be noticeable by anyone other than me, but I am curious about what that would imply. If the ratios cancel out, for example, that might explain my weak verbal skills (I'm female, so I don't think the math thing applies), or my right hand alone might imply that I have been exposed to a higher level of testosterone than the average girl, which might explain my tomboyishness and interest in all things geeky.
I know you're just being funny, but you actually make a good point -- Second Life is a predominantly adult-oriented game. Complaining about "rape" or even sexual harassment on SL is like complaining about rape after logging into a camwhore site and being unexpectedly flashed by one of the stars. There should be some degree of implied consent (at least as far as propositioning goes, because you can easily stop everything else after the initial contact) when you deliberately put yourself into an adult-oriented environment.... especially if you're wearing a fursuit;)
Slashdot Mirror
Don't blame the journalists, blame me. I'm the one who translated the article for Game Politics, and due to my relatively poor German skills (I've been learning German as a second language), I made a mistake. I actually caught it and emailed a correction -- I wasn't initially sure how best to translate the guy's job title -- but I don't think Dennis saw my email, and the internet merely amplified the error. Hopefully there weren't any other major mistakes... I like to think I do a better job than Google Translator, but I would never compare myself to a native speaker.
I've seen more English in Quebec than French out here in BC.
Anything related to the Federal Government is bilingual, of course, but for all intents and purposes, Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Newfoundland/most of Ontario are English-only, BC is officially English but a lot of election propaganda is sent out in Chinese too, New Brunswick and the city of Ottawa are bilingual, and I think the territories are English/Inuktitut or something. Canada is a diverse country and our official languages, on a federal and provincial level, reflect that.
I don't understand why people whine about French anyway. I never managed to become fluent and forgot most of what I learned in school, but I'm still glad I made an effort. Learning even a little bit of another language is a great way to learn more about your own language and culture by looking at someone else's.
I had a teacher who allowed us to hand assignments in late with no penalty. Assignments handed in on time got bonus marks, so students who had their act together were rewarded, but the rest of us were motivated to do all the work, despite problems with time management and other common difficulties. The teacher was more interested in making us learn the material than punishing us for our mistakes (not to mention our inability to do things before the last minute), and... well... her strategy worked. I learned more in that class than in almost any other in highschool.
I'm trying to learn German myself, but I only started last September, so I basically can't communicate at all. Beautiful language, though. I'm a computer science student, so I cannot help but love how logical and orderly it is.
When I went to Germany last Christmas for a short vacation, I found that I was mostly able to get by just speaking English or pointing to things that I wanted to buy, but most of the people that I met did not speak more than a few words of basic English. Since you had a different experience, I'm guessing you were in somewhere in the west. I spent most of my time in the eastern part of Berlin, and there were quite a few occasions when I found myself in the company of a large group of people who spoke nothing but German (or at most German and Russian, in the case of the older generation). Thankfully the guy I was staying with was able to translate for me, but... if I ever decide to spend more time there, let alone get a job there -- which I am considering -- the language will be essential.
To put it quite simply, there is no magic formula that works for all women. Even if I were to give you a detailed list of everything that catches my eye and/or turns me on, I doubt it would help you. I know for a fact that I like some things that other women find repulsive, and vice versa.
If you want to know what a specific woman wants, either ask her or use your brain without making assumptions based on pre-existing ideas of "what women want." Yeah, some generalizations can be made -- I think most of us find self-confidence attractive, for example -- but even then, if you're trying to seduce a gal who really digs shy/insecure guys, acting all cocky isn't going to work.
I would like to point out that a woman's idea of how she wants to be treated might be different from yours.
Too many self-described "nice guys" seem to believe that a woman should be put on a pedestal and treated like a delicate flower. The man in her life should hold doors for her, give her gifts, and obey her every whim. He should listen to her, support her no matter what, and never let slip the slightest criticism or contrary opinion.
The problem is... a lot of us don't actually want to be treated like that -- to be quite frank, it's annoying as hell. Yes, we want a man who's nice, helpful, respectful, etc., but we'd rather have someone who pays attention to what we really want than some guy who thinks that acting like a puppy dog will get him laid.
I like guys who aren't always there for me because it means they have lives of their own. I like guys who are not afraid to express their opinions -- criticism can be useful, and I love a good argument. And I like guys who don't pretend that I'm a flawless godly being, but instead acknowledge that I'm a regular human with as many faults as anyone else.
Does this mean I like assholes? Perhaps, if you define an asshole as someone who treats me the way I want to be treated rather than the way guys like you think I should be treated, but I certainly have no desire to date a "nice guy."
I agree that there should have been Nazis, but I see no problem with it being set in the 50s -- after all, it's not like there was any lack of escaped high-ranking Nazis bumming around in South America after the war, pining for the good old days.
And if those Nazis learnt of an ancient artifact that they could use to resurrect the Reich, well... it would make a much better movie than anything involving the Soviets (much as I love those guys in spy movies).
Depending on where you are, even whites can be the minority.
I'm taking computer science at UBC, and in my Computers and Society class (the only CS class I took last term) roughly 50/67 were non-white. The vast majority of the non-whites were Chinese or otherwise Asian, and a small percentage were Middle Eastern. There were only two blacks.
I live in a city with a very large Asian population, but whites are still (barely) in the majority. Thus, Asians are clearly overrepresented in my class (and in the computer science faculty as a whole). The number of blacks, however, is roughly what I would expect -- they make up less than 1% of the population here.
Now, if I was going to use the standard logic favoured by many IT industry types, I would be forced to conclude that whites are being actively discriminated against. Realistically, however, the reasons are likely much less sinister. My guess is that some cultures emphasize math and computer science more than others -- Chinese parents are apparently delighted when their kids go into the tech industry, white parents like it too (but clearly much less), and there seems to be some resistance to the idea among blacks.
I don't think I'm the only one around here who has fond memories of telling my computer teachers in highschool how to copy/paste, alt-tab, and use other extremely basic functions. Oh, sure, I learned a lot in those classes, but very little of that knowledge actually came from the teacher.
If this is going to work, either a lot more money must be spent getting the teachers up to date (easier said than done, since many of the people on top remain fearful of or overwhelmed by this series of tubes), or they'll have to make getting kids to teach each other (with supervision) a major part of the curriculum.
I am assuming that these internet safety lessons are supposed to enable children to learn more than they would in a 5 minute talk with their parents about how they shouldn't give personal information to anyone and they should be very careful about trusting anyone they don't know. If that is the case, I have no idea how they're going to keep it up to date on all the latest threats. Even universities struggle with this, so I have no idea how the average public school is going to handle it.
When I played WoW, I usually ended up hating whatever side I was on more than the other side, just because my teammates were the only ones I could hear talking. I dealt with this by spending most of my time skulking around enemy territory where general chat was less mind-numbing.
Overall, though, I don't think the game stressed me out. Getting ganked wasn't much fun, but it wasn't too hard to get revenge or just do something else for a while. Any increase in stress didn't last long.
Well, two is more common than one, so if we originally thought we were unique.... well...
Ok, ok, I admit defeat :)
It occurs to me that most of the Jews that I talk to on a regular basis are either Zionists or people who are currently pissed off at the Zionists, so that's probably why I'm not getting the whole picture. Biased sources can be interesting, though... if only from an intellectual perspective.
I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm typically viewed as an introvert -- I love to hide in my room and play or read, and I honestly don't want to go out and socialize most of the time -- but I become very unhappy if I am unable to get some form of social interaction online. I get lonely if I have no way of contacting other humans.
I've noticed that many otherwise extroverted people do not understand online social interaction (beyond just posting on myspace or what have you). I know many extroverted girls who cannot understand why I would be content spending hours reading or posting on Slashdot or other such sites or making friends from all over the world who I will never meet. They particularly cannot understand internet etiquette, let alone why many of us actively seek out pointless arguments purely for the sake of it. Likewise, I cannot understand how anyone could enjoy devoting countless hours giggling with real life friends about makeup or celebrities or boys or whatever normal girls talk about these days, and in their world, I am seen as hopelessly socially inept.
But cigarettes build a physical dependence -- WoW does not.
Although I don't play WoW (anymore), I'm on Second Life in another window as I type this, and given how much time I spend on my computer, if I've gotta be addicted to some aspect of the internet (gaming or otherwise). When I find myself stuck without internet, I get bored. No shakes, no extreme agitation, nothing like that... just overwhelming boredom mixed with loneliness, because all of a sudden I have a huge void in my life, and I don't know how to fill it. If this was all cigarette smokers had to deal with, they could cure themselves by simply finding a new hobby.
So... while I agree with you that addiction is likely to result from any activity that produces such a calming effect, I don't think that even the most addicted gamers need to worry about the withdrawal symptoms typically associated with chemical addictions. Any agitation is likely to be associated with boredom or lack of social interaction.
Hey, I have nothing against them. I just think it's silly to pretend that they're just a religious group. Maybe it's possible to convert to Judaism today (although my Jewish friends have assured me that Rabbis consider it their job to make it as difficult as possible), but for much of recorded history, that was not the case... and there's still that issue of Israel treating even atheists whose mothers are Jewish different from the black Jews (who apparently don't count as Jewish). It doesn't even bother me all that much that they are being nationalist, but I can't stand the hypocrisy. If they want to protect their race/religion/culture, that's all well and good, but it's awfully silly when the rest of us (or at least whites of English descent) pretend that it's something that only they and a few other minority groups can do.
(Oh, and a small disclaimer: in case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit of a politics/history geek, and I love to play devil's advocate.)
The difference between Jewish dating sites and Christian dating sites is that Judaism (at least according to the folks in charge of Israel) is something that can and must be passed on from mother to children. This is why some people identify themselves as Athiest Jews. Christianity is a religion that anyone can convert to regardless of their parentage, and as I understand it, Islam and many other major religions are similar in that regard.
And... I don't know if there are Italian/Greek/etc. dating sites, beyond those that are merely run in those countries, and if they do exist, I doubt they are limited to whites. After all, there are plenty of Italian or Greek-speaking people of other races these days. As for Hispanic sites, well, that is more of a racial category, and if such sites exist, I would consider them racist... but minorities are typically cut more slack in that regard. I must admit that I've never actively searched for dating sites for my own race (white, of largely English descent), but I have stumbled upon the occasional one, and yeah... every site I've found has been full of white supremacist rednecks. This implies a distinct lack of mainstream acceptance of nationalism among whites, or at the very least, English-speaking whites. That's probably a good thing, of course, but it's still interesting to observe... and if personality traits ever are linked to genes, and thus to racial groups, it will be very interesting to see any of that changes. After all, we were the ones responsible for most of that old racist science of the 1800s, and while phrenology is obsolete, some of this new stuff... well, we'll see. I just really hope we don't find genes to validate stereotypes -- can you imagine what could happen if a greediness gene was found in Jews, for example? Or a violence gene in blacks? Or... uh... damnit, I suck at racial stereotypes, but I'm sure there are others that could be validated. It's much harder to fight racism when there is evidence supporting racist views right in front of you, and if those views are correct, a lot of people are going to wonder if we should fight it at all.
Well, back in 1936, the Allies weren't exactly eager for another war either. It was inevitable, of course, but I think it's good that they tried diplomacy first. Besides... at the time, they didn't know it was going to fail.
You should read some of the more extreme Zionist propaganda sometime. It's almost indistinguishable from the extreme white supremacist shit -- both groups tend to whine to no end about the need to protect their race and culture, stop interracial marriage, maintain the racial purity of Europe/Israel, etc. They also tend to bring up the fear of being outbred (both white and Jewish birth rates are apparently quite low), and blacks and hispanics are often given as an example of peoples who are going to overwhelm the jews and/or whites with sheer numbers. Here's an example post on the Jewish side, and I really don't want to go searching for something on the white supremacist side; do that yourself :P
When you get right down to it, many nationalists of ANY race follow very similar rhetoric... I guess it's just part of being extremists. The thing is... nationalism is actually accepted among Jews. It's apparently ok to have Jewish dating sites, but I doubt there are all that many all-white dating sites that aren't run by trailer trash skinheads, and I can only imagine the backlash if such a site was advertised publicly.
Now... back on topic: if ruthlessness is linked to a gene, it may well be especially prevalent in one or more races. And no, I'm not just thinking about the Germans here (their successes would probably be better explained by a discipline gene anyway)... also the English, the Romans, and other empire-building civilizations over the ages.
This could be dangerous... it's one thing to rant and rave about [insert race here] being [insert negative characteristic here] (and thus deserving of destruction/enslavement/etc.), but when you can bring up genetic proof... well, there's a good possibility that a lot more people are going to listen to you.
Hey, even Hitler was right from time to time. As insane and misguided as he may have been, he was occasionally insightful, and the Olympics of 1936 may well have helped to postpone hostilities.
Besides, it would be awfully nice if the Olympics actually did stand for peace and understanding in this day and age -- the politicians barely even pretend anymore.
I think that's true to an extent, but something about a perfectly symmetrical and idealized face (perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect teeth, etc.) just creeps me the hell out. And no, I'm not just being jealous because I don't look like that myself -- I've met the occasional male actor, and although objectively, they looked good, their looks still made me feel distinctly uneasy. Maybe it's just my brain reacting poorly to something that seems too good to be true, or maybe there actually is a genetic benefit to moderately "flawed" features.
In any case, although there's certainly a limit as to how many flaws I'm willing to tolerate, I prefer to date men who look human.
Game Politics unearthed a filing that may well be what got him in trouble in the first place:
http://gamepolitics.com/2008/02/22/did-this-document-bring-florida-supreme-courts-wrath-down-upon-jack-thompson/
From the article:
"The court described one of Thompson's recent filings in detail. [Thompson] dubbed it a "children's picture book for adults," interspersing images with text in his motion due to "the court's inability to comprehend" his arguments.
Images included "swastikas, kangaroos in court, a reproduced dollar bill, cartoon squirrels, Paul Simon, Paul Newman, Ray Charles, a handprint with the word 'slap' written under it, Bar Governor Benedict P. Kuehne, a baby, Ed Bradley, Jack Nicholson, Justice Clarence Thomas, Julius Caesar, monkeys, a house of cards," the order said."
I'm presently in the middle of reading an English translation of Mein Kampf. Earlier tonight, I got to the part where Hitler talks about the dangers of "freedom of the press" -- he rants at length about the need to control it completely, and to stop it from poisoning the state with lies and digging up dirt on even the most noble politicians.
Needless to say, while I am well aware that NZ can hardly be compared to Nazi Germany, I found this news quite disturbing.
I expect they'll hire us anyway, no matter what their priorities might be. There are plenty of tech companies in Vancouver -- including game industry giants like EA -- so there's certainly no shortage of burned out programmers looking for a change of scenery.
On my right hand, the ring finger is slightly longer than the index finger, whereas on my left hand, the opposite is the case. It's not enough to be noticeable by anyone other than me, but I am curious about what that would imply. If the ratios cancel out, for example, that might explain my weak verbal skills (I'm female, so I don't think the math thing applies), or my right hand alone might imply that I have been exposed to a higher level of testosterone than the average girl, which might explain my tomboyishness and interest in all things geeky.
I know you're just being funny, but you actually make a good point -- Second Life is a predominantly adult-oriented game. Complaining about "rape" or even sexual harassment on SL is like complaining about rape after logging into a camwhore site and being unexpectedly flashed by one of the stars. There should be some degree of implied consent (at least as far as propositioning goes, because you can easily stop everything else after the initial contact) when you deliberately put yourself into an adult-oriented environment.... especially if you're wearing a fursuit ;)