What the fuck?!

Visual Novel Community Off Topic
#1041

I am disgusted by this as well, but the facts don’t quite agree with that. The real giveaway is here:

In other words, they considered changing the policy, but then gay-hating members of the community threatened to leave, because a BSA that was openly supportive of homosexuality would undermine their ability to raise their children as they see fit (that is, make them hate gay people too). Churches are facing the same issue; a pastor I know is worried that some of the most generous donors will eventually leave the congregation because he’s not anti-gay, and he’s trying to move the congregation away from that.

This isn’t about pedophiliophobia. That’s a smokescreen. It’s about cowardice.

Pray, go on.

#1042

Eh, fair enough. I’m a pretty small-government freedom-loving kind of guy, I can respect that. But I have to insist:

  1. that the Boy Scouts receive no government funding
  2. that these churches pay taxes like everyone else does

I think it’s perfectly okay* to hate on gays within your own private organisation, just don’t do it with my money.

*alright, not necessarily okay. Homosexuals should really have the same anti-discrimination law protection as anyone else, which means that even a private company wouldn’t necessarily be able to discriminate against them. But for the sake of my argument…

#1043

#1: I have all the fully functional bits and tackle of a male, along with all the 100% natural chromosome and hormone chemistry, but absolutely find no appeal in the idea of me having sexual contact with another man.

#2: I can’t be a traditional lesbian, because I have man’s body.

#3: ???

#4: PROFIT!!! (Lesbian in a man’s body!) :o

#1044

The First Amendment stands for the freedom to believe whatever you like and associate with whomever you wish. Communists, Republicans, atheists, Democrats, muslim fundamentalists, every other kind of fundamentalist, punk rockers, pedophiles, alcoholics, scientists, creationists, neonazis, all enjoy exactly the same rights.

You’re allowed to be the most hatefully racist asshole you like. That’s the way it works. Everyone means everybody. But to make things fair for everyone else, there are certain things you’re not allowed to do - like exclude from hiring or housing on the basis of race, gender, etc.

Homosexuality ought to in that list of protected statuses today; it’s not, but we’ll get there eventually.

#1045

Exactly so, and it’s a wonderful right. However it does not mean that the government condones them.

The Boy Scouts of America receive HEAVY support at the federal and state level. The President gives them a special speech every year (sometimes in person). They let them camp on military installation. Being an Eagle Scout and getting a federal job sometimes results in an automatic bonus or promotion (in the military you automatically start as an E-3 after boot camp instead of a lowly E-1).

They discriminate on homosexuals. You’ll never see the Junior KKK or NAZI Youths get that kind of government love.

Boy Scouts can keep hating homosexuals. I’m not demanding that. BUT THEY LOSE THEIR GOVERNMENT BENEFITS. That is the fair and right thing to do. In fact, the Supreme Court ruled on it that way. This is the REAL reason why employers don’t discriminate on race and creed. You can still be a business that’s racist… you just cannot deal with the government, or be associated with a company that deals with the government by one degree (like McDonalds or a dry cleaner that services military families). That’s a huge chunk of business in America, except for the smallest companies and your mini mom-and-pop stores.

#1046

Speaking of racism. Recently read this:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/328/5979/710

That’s a scientific study of human genetics that reveals the farther ethnic groups are geographically located from Africa, the less “genetic purity” they have from the earliest samples of Homo sapiens. In otherwords, sapiens would interbreed with neanderthal and our other extinct cousins – we fuck anything with a hole. :wink: That means all that talk about racial purity from the KKK and NAZI? Total opposite from a scientific standpoint. Non-Africans have been contaminated with “failed species” of the genome. :stuck_out_tongue:

On the weirder side of things: it also means there’s a possibility we could “genetically reconstruct” a neanderthal in the future, if greater samples (of both living humans and frozen corpses) are located. If that’s morally sound or not, is another debate.

#1047

Pedobear has a brief job at Nestle :lol: :

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/nestl-cla … cot-142120

#1048

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-new … s-firewalk

Yeah, yeah, it’s a bit old, but I’m just now finding out about it. And I just have to wonder – why did the guy who was the 21st to get injured get on the coals? You had to have seen the 20 other people. You know that’s not supposed to happen. And you get on the coals anyway? For that matter why did the event continue?

#1049

Simple really.

The organizer – Tony Robbins – did it for money. The entire seminar was based around the event, and it’s success earns millions of dollars.

The people who did it, were psychologically gullible for the very reasons they attended the seminar: individuals seeking empowerment. They are willing to do anything to improve their lot in life, as obviously proven when they paid thousands of dollars for a ticket to see him speak on stage and tell them their lives could be better.

tl;dr

People are sheep, sheep are stupid, and a stupid shepherd gets the flock killed.

#1050

The US Army is spending over 500 million dollars on three blimps…

BLIMPS!?

Seriously. In the age of satellite photography, stealth planes, advance electronic warfare, and unmanned drones… they bought fucking blimps? :roll:

Use them in Afgan!? Who’s gonna miss a massive football sized ballon that moves 15 MPH, in a sky that has no clouds, with a cheap Soviet era RPG (and I’m not talking about the game version)? Only a blind old man. Waste of tax dollars.

#1051

Actually, the LEMV has a design specification to operate at ~6 kilometers above sea level (~20,000 feet). The commonly used RPG-7 only has a maximum range of ~920 meters before it self detonates. As a comparison, the Predator has a reported service ceiling of ~7620m (~25,000 feet). As long as it is used properly (i.e. away from high peaks that significantly shorten the distance from ground) it will be a great asset, since it can carry much more observation equipment at a much greater cost benefit ratio. Given the increased payload capacity, I’d bet it will have much better cameras on board, which means it can stay a greater distance away than the Predator while providing a better picture. Plus it can observe an area for a much longer time. The only thing that could observe for longer is a spy sat in geosync orbit, and as far as I am aware they don’t do that (for reasons such as needing to shift between different areas of interest).

#1052

6km? Okay, you’re right, that puts it out of the range of cheap RPG’s. It does put it in the range of cheap MANPADS… so I’m still not impressed. Korea and Iran make and sell them to third world nations. I believe the NK version can reach 7km, though is highly inaccurate at that range, but then this a blimp, so it’s not exactly going to do evasive maneuvers once tracked and found. Just aim for the direction it’s headed, and the missile will find the football sized object good enough. MANPADS are a LOT cheaper than these blimps.

Also, slow moving surveillance with long term use on a battlefield is stupid. Iran has hacked drones. Iraq has hacked Predators. Are we so arrogant to think the Afgani can’t hack these blimps? That move slower. That stay in a location longer. Do we just put kick-me signs on our butts?

EDIT
Did some digging, and it’s actually a South Korean MANPADS (the Shin-Kung) that could theoretically hit a 7km target. The North Koreans use a Chinese knock off QW-2 or FN-6 that could go 4km or 5km. However, Afgan is mountainous and hilly – especially the regions that the terrorist cells hide in. So that puts the theoretical shooter 1km or 2km above sea level already. If the Army really does field these things there, I wouldn’t be surprised seeing a news report in 2015 that it happened. Assuming we’re still in Afgan that long… most everyone sure as hell hopes not… :expressionless:

#1053

I can agree with you there. There is a project that has been in development for some time that is more to my liking you can look at here. Unfortunately it isn’t anywhere near close to completion, unlike the LEMV. If they can ever get it working however, it has huge civilian uses as well, such as replacing communications satellites.

#1054

Yea, that’s much better. 18km would take a SAM battery or combat aircraft to reach it, which hopefully no terrorist cell would have the capability to field.

Google Maps and GPS companies would also love that kind of machine.

The “artist conception” is kinda funny though. I think I’ve seen that picture from a NASA shuttle gallery, only it’s the space shuttle or a satellite instead of the blimp. It’s in low orbit… that’s more than 60,000 feet. :wink:

#1055

As of late, the US Navy has been getting a lot of flack for shooting at – and killing – innocent people in small fishing boats, for getting too close to their warships. How amazing they’re so alert for small 25 feet fishing boats, and all that radar and visual lookout can find them, but can’t see one of the largest class of ships ever built by mankind. :roll:

Well… no one knows what the heck happened yet, and the entire matter is under investigation. Neat that the oil tanker is Japanese owned, but operated under a Panamanian flag, and reportedly crewed by a third nationality. My understanding is that all this is done to avoid taxation, high wages, and various regulations. Maybe that’s why the two ships collided… corporate greed and military incompetence go hand-in-hand. :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

I can’t wait to read how no person or an entire electronic warfare system didn’t detect that HUGE tanker…

#1056

I didn’t truly understand how big those oil tankers was, but now I do.

And well, I think last year or two, a couple of usa captains was caught drag racing their destroyers and they got fired.

And back to that oil tanker… I think their maximum speed is like at 18 knots while usa dessys at 35 knots?

Japanese shipbuilders are now planning huge, unmanned, computer-guided supertankers that might cross the oceans in fully automated mode. (The risks may be too great, however. Small private vessels are difficult to spot on radar, and are occasionally hit by manned tankers when crews aren’t watching the sea too carefully).

The immense size of these ships, as well as the heavy loads they carry, mean that each supertanker has enormous inertia.

A crash stop maneuver (from ‘full ahead’ to ‘full reverse’) can stop a fully loaded supertanker within approximately three kilometres, which takes about 14 minutes.
The turning diameter is almost two kilometres.
(These values vary according to ship size and weight, of course).

Only the most experienced ship captains are permitted to train for supertankers.

Links where i got information from is…
http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/fi … /page.html
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/navyweap … troyer.htm

And seeing how the name of oil tanker isn’t mentioned, its going to be bit difficult to trace down which oil tanker was in area that recently collided with the dessy. But doable but i don’t really feel like it. However the oil tanker mentioned that japan plans to have unmanned super tankers. So perhaps this is a prototype or not. And since it takes one of them to stop like 14 minutes to stop, seems like dessy was spared from the worst of the collision it would’ve sunk easily from being rammed. So the dessy’s crew was asleep or something or their radar was busted and not notifying the crew.

Oh there we go, http://news.yahoo.com/us-navy-ship-coll … 42532.html M/V Otowasan
Name of oil tanker is mentioned there, and its a Bulk Oil Tanker, i dunno wat it mean but i suspect its not a supertanker. Meaning it needs even less amount of time to stop fully.

Wait for the results of the investigation to come out lol. I haven’t the friggin clue. xD

#1057

Why hasn’t there been a Vocaloid anime, huh? [b]The lack is a crime against kawaii.[/b] :x

On a totally different note: WTF Nintendo, Mario games are supposed to be cutesy, not give me fucking nightmares.

Can’t sleep. Boo Boss will eat me… Can’t sleep. Boo Boss will eat me… Can’t sleep. Boo Boss will eat me…

#1058

As always, reality must shatter awesome dreams :evil: :

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi … ur-Cloning

#1059

Uh oh.

#1060

Just when I thought I’d seen every kind of weird thing to come from Japan, I learn of this:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ … r-Monsters

By the way, has anyone seen the TV show this movie takes scenes from?