Posts made by BigDaddyAmin

@deadculture

I guess I shouldn't mention that I think that people who have vaginas and/or don't own property should not vote? And that women should be mothers and not Jedi Knights?

Oh, piss....

@Cirno

Really? Is that so? Seems like every time I turn on the news I am being told to feel guilty because I am white, heterosexual, monogamous, breed other white children, and I identify with the gender that was assigned to me at conception.

Just the other day I was reading about how China has developed "political credit" called Sesame Credit. In other words, Sesame Credit tracks what you do, say, post, watch on social media and lowers/raises your credit score depending upon how conformist or subversive it is.

Can you imagine what that would be like if it were implemented here in this country? Social justice warrior wet dream...

And my hair is a bit too straight to do the afro....

In that case...can I have a whites only fraternity? Or a club for white heritage? Or a white heterosexual' only club?

I'm probably one of the most conservative people on MuSoapbox and even I know safe spaces do not do anything to help people navigate their future.

Didn't like it. Rey was too much of a Mary Sue. Able to use a lightsaber without training? Best Mechanic evuh? Best Starship pilot evuh?

I don't know what kind of character develop you can have for someone who is perfect.

Will there be a resurgence of the MU*?

@Pondscum said:

Victorian England. Also 1940's England during World War II.

YES! Have you been watching Foyle's War too?

@AmishRakeFight said:

Once the holidays pass and its freezing and miserable and its never going to be shorts weather again, people will be more active to avoid going outside.

Eh. Life is just busy for me now. Another baby girl on the way. Work is swamping me out. And I am doing a new workout routine. Aside from the weather....still sweating my balls off here in Louisiana.

10-4, Good buddy!

@TNP

Christianity was also illegal in the Roman Empire for the first of its three-hundred years. Unlike Islam which spread rapidly thanks to attacking the weakest frontiers of the Byzantine Empire, which was already having issues due to internal politics.

@ThatGuyThere

Yeah. And when they do, it pisses me off.

The spirit of the Prime Directive makes a point that cultures and civilizations are unique. They should be left to develop and have self-determination.

While Enterprise did suck (though T'Pol's fun bags made it bearable), there was one episode I liked where they encountered an alien race called the Vissians that had three genders. Male, Female, and then an androgen cogenitor, which was utilized for breeding since that gender of the species provided an essential enzyme needed in the reproductive process. In this alien's society, the cogenitor doesn't really have rights, isn't taught to read, and is essentially circulated in a government sponsored system that provides them for married couples who plan on breeding.

The XO and Engineer, Tripp, ends up befriending one of these Cogenitors. He teaches it how to read. Tells it that it has unalienable rights. Feeds it standard Western civilization free world drivel. Coming to the conclusion that it has no rights in this society, the Cogenitor asks Captain Archer for political asylum. Archer refuses, since this would essentially cause a rift in human/Vissian relations.

What happens? The Cogenitor, realizing that its situation is hopeless, ends up committing suicide. Not only has Tripp's interference caused a diplomatic incident and the death of an alien, it has also prohibited a couple from conceiving a child.

The moral? It isn't our place to judge or correct. When we interfere, we cause damage. We shouldn't expect or attempt to get other cultures/nations to conform to Western standards of life.

@peasoupling said:

I like Star Trek. There's this little thing called the "Prime Directive." The Prime Directive is essentially the Federation's founding principle. For those of you all who aren't Trekkies, the Prime Directive prohibits Starfleet personnel and Federation citizens from interfering with the religious, cultural, political, technological, and economical aspects of developing civilizations. I think we might need to start doing this in the West. After all, in my opinion, places like Syria, Iraq, Iran, etc. are well...developing.

Europe has gone through her development. Maybe it is time to let other nations do the same. If Syria wants to "elect" Assad....um....

so?

@Thenomain

No. They aren't us. Which is why it would be best if we left them to their own devices, stop meddling in their politics, and go back to eating pork, drinking beer, and playing Fallout IV.

Which is why we should have left he Husseins alone in the first place. Yeah. Uday was a monster. But he was a monster in the sense that Joffrey is a monster. Joffrey might be slapping Sansa with a bumpaddle while jerking off, but generally he's going to leave a peasant alone in peace.

And in general culture clash.

One of the shocks that several people I traveled with had when we were visiting Syria five years ago (yes, I have visited Syria) was when we were visiting Ma'aloula, which is a Christian monastery (now blown up by Daesh. Yay!) for women and a girls orphanage. We were traveling with a girl who was a recovering anorexic and every dinner was a nightmare for her since Arabs tend to go all out for visitors. She refused to eat some dish the nuns served and I could overhear the abbess shouting at the nun who had cooked the food. When the girl asked me why the abbess was scolding the other nun, I said, "Because you won't eat. The abbess says you won't eat because she thinks something is wrong with the food." It was then I said what Indiana Jones said to Willie Scott in the Temple of Doom: "You are insulting them and embarrassing us all. Eat." To quote Lewis Black, "they...are not....of us."

Unfortunately, it won't. This is a clash of cultures, to be honest. The Byzantines faced it and they died out in 1453. At least they took a stand. We won't because we are stupid enough to fight wars for other people who don't have our vested interests at heart but instead keep us supplied with cheap oil to fuel our cars, iPhones, porn, and Fallout 4. Kind of makes Aldous Huxley's "scent organs"and "feelies" look like Family Circus, huh?

@Thenomain said:

On agreeing with @BigDaddyAmin ::

Western World concerning the Eastern World, "Let them eat cake."

Hey, Marie, they can't afford cake. They are not like you and never will be. Using them for their labor (in the analogy, really the land and oil) is the problem.

This cake that you want them to eat, you cannot also have this cake at the same time.

(Mixing metaphors is my specialty.)

I think Marie Antoinette never said that. It is a quote by Rousseau who said "a great princess" said this. Later, with the famines breaking out in Paris, it was attributed to her. But anyway, your point is well said.

As someone who has been to Arab countries, lived amongst Arabs, speaking their language, eating their food, and observed their culture, I have come to realize it is an ademocratic culture. They respect authority. They honor strength. They are tribal. Individual rights generally aren't respected. This is why Bashar al-Assad is, despite what Western media portrays, is overwhelmingly popular in Syria. This is why his dad's face painted on the side of vehicles and his portrait is framed in living rooms. Hafez drug Syria into the 20th Century kicking and screaming, and whoever was in his way got fucked up.

This isn't a bad thing. It makes them different. It is kind of like expecting Klingons to be feminist Green Party anarcho collectivists. It isn't going to happen.

@Tyche

That seems to be the goal of the Western world right now. To quote Homer Simpson, the way to happiness is to "never try."

@Apu

I hate it that my country hasn't gotten through its thick skull that the current foreign policy that we have been implementing isn't beneficial and that we are responsible for ISIS/Da'esh. It isn't just a Bush or Obama/Democrat or Republican thing. They all have had a hand in it because we are afraid to tell Israelis "no" and tell the Gulf States, "Oh, to hell with you all."

I'm going to say something very un-PC. Might hurt some feelings. But last night I was watching the news and the British Prime Minister David Cameron mentioned in a speech that he was "shocked" that this terrorist attack happened. Hmm. Shocking is usually used to convey a feeling of dismay or unbelief. I don't find it shocking and neither do my friends (both Christians and Muslims) in Syria and Lebanon. Do we ever go a day in the world without an "Allahu Akbar kaboom!" ? So I don't see how it could be shocking. Now it would be shocking if there was a coordinated terrorist attack and it was done by Quakers or Baha'is.

Ya'll remember Star Trek: Voyager? There was an episode (Scorpion) when Janeway wanted to go through Borg space and so she starts negotiating with them for an alliance. Chakotay warns her that the Borg will eventually turn on her. He tells her the story of Scorpion and Fox.

A scorpion was walking along the bank of a river, wondering how to get to the other side. Suddenly, he saw a fox. He asked the fox to take him on his back across the river.

The fox said, "No. If I do that, you'll sting me, and I'll drown."

The scorpion assured him, "If I do that, we'll both drown."

The fox thought about it and finally agreed. So the scorpion climbed up on his back, and the fox began to swim. But halfway across the river, the scorpion stung him. As poison filled his veins, the fox turned to the scorpion and said, "Why did you do that? Now you'll drown, too."

"I couldn't help it," said the scorpion. "It's my nature."

But the majority of the Western world isn't living in reality right now, Apu. We lack convictions (at least, my nation does). The majority of the Western world is worried about living comfortably, jerking off to porn, and playing Fallout IV. We will probably just get together, change our Facebook profile pictures to French flag, and vocally condemn these naughty, naughty terrorists. Meanwhile, the explosions will continue.

I want either a Red Rising MUSH or a MUSH based on the Old Man's War universe....

I have never tabletopped. But I would like to, one day. I am honestly thinking of maybe getting some people together to start a Fading Suns tabletop

I had one coworker at my previous job in Wyoming who was pretty gung-ho on CrossFit. Did the WoD. Did extra workouts. He even would ride his bike to work for the extra exercise (much to the chagrin of all of us who had to endure his awful body odor. The guy was down-to-earth, but lacking in social graces).

When he described his CrossFit community it was almost...religious. I say this as a man who is a theist, and while he was an atheist, he exhibited more groupthink than many firebrand zealots I have encountered. Though his situation did remind me of a thesis a friend of mine wrote for his DMin. A classicist like me, he comes to the intriguing theory that the more a Western society "deChristianizes" or in this case, secularizes, the more it goes back to ancient classical ideals of the "cult of the body": transcending yourself spiritually and mentally with the attempt to achieve perfect form. This guy was walking proof of this. Well, at least for me.

That is part of my concern. Another problem I have is that it seems that anyone with a weekend and the cash can become a CrossFit trainer, buy some industrial real estate, and start a box. Perhaps this is just capitalism but this and the association that pain and blood equates progress in your physical health.

Maybe i am just being picky and I should proabably just check it out.

So, I have recently moved closer to my homeland - Louisiana, to be precise. When I lived in Godforsaken Wyoming (tm), I belonged to the County Rec Center. It wasn't that bad and thanks to the coal wealth in my area, we had a top notch facility considering that there isn't much for families to do in Northeast Wyoming but pray to White Jesus and take meth.

I recently I noticed that there is a CrossFit box not too far from my home.

So I am looking into maybe giving it a try. Though I have been weighing out the pros and cons.

The pros I think depend a lot the group dynamic. The comradeship seems to be a big thing at these places. I go to gyms and usually when I do I feel like a douche because either I feel like I am doing something with bad form. Turn up the awkward factor thanks to guys who workout wearing way too much cologne (a pet peeve of mine) and idiots grunting like they are having prostate surgery. Maybe it is just a self esteem thing.

Cons are mainly what I have read off the internet. Just about CrossFit not being very healthy, in particular on joints. I'd like to be able to pick my grandkids up when I reach 64. There also seems to be a kind of creepy factor with a lot of these facilities that they remind me of the fitness equivalent of Scientology.

To compound this: local area gym membership costs $59 a month. The gym in my town that offers this is probably some of the best facilities in the South. This includes using saunas, pools, weights, and other equipment.

Local box is about $100 a month. Looks like an industrial warehouse on the outside.

i am not looking to compete in any games. Just want a good workout to feel good and not feel like crap like i did working IT in WY and sitting in front of computers looking at lines of code for 11 hours a day.

So thoughts. Is it worth it? Anyone have experiences good or bad?