Posts made by Ganymede

@Tyche said in RL Anger:

Yes, the economic factors are the result of EPA regulations that the Obama administration put into effect.

Which economic factors are those? You mention them without specificity.

Like, are you talking about the reason it retired Unit 1? That was because Los Angeles Department of Power and Water sold its 21% share to a public utility, the Salt River Project.

Maybe we should take it from Peabody Energy, who provided the NGS with coal and filed for bankruptcy last year: "The company cited an “unprecedented industry downturn,” which it attributed to a range of factors including an economic slowdown in China, low coal prices and “overproduction of domestic shale gas.” In the United States, cheap natural gas, driven by the shale-gas boom, has been steadily eating into coal’s share of electricity generation."

So, how has the Obama Administration responsible for: (1) the economic slowdown in China; (2) low coal prices; and (3) the overproduction of domestic shale gas? And, presuming these facts to be true, how can these not be linked to Republican policies regarding: (1) enforcing competition laws against China; (2) de-regulating coal to lower its cost; and (3) permitting and proliferating shale gas mining operations in order to combat OPEC-directed oil shortages?

Please respond with something more than "because." I'm interesting to know how Pruitt plans to change all of this, and meet Trump's mandate of "saving coal."

@Thenomain said in Tales of Cobalt-Colored Woe:

To those who have helped, you have my undying gratitude. I've been thinking of what I could do for those insanely amazing people who have donated $100 (and higher, holy shit!), but short of baking cookies or code services, I can't think of anything.

I intend to donate again once I get my next paycheck in 6 days. And if I had my tax refund in, yeah, I'd do what I can too.

Because I need code help.

@Sunny

Here's the article I read. It's worth the 51 pages.

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jsinger/files/myths_realities.pdf

@Sunny

It should be a huge deal. I can't blame them for wanting to fight the constant barrage against them.

After reviewing this law review article thoroughly, I could not help but think of the massive potential in letting tribes not only maintain sovereignty, but also expand it. For example, the U.S. could enter a treaty that would allow tribes to directly negotiate with states by consent. The U.S. could exempt tribal lands from all forms of federal taxation, making them, in essence, FTZs or SEZs that could increase growth.

But then you'd have to get over the crippling American cultural stereotypes, and that'd be Herculean.

@Sunny said in RL Anger:

Man, this is a person that just said it wasn't bad that they are talking about removing tribal sovereignity. I don't think facts have anything to do with the views being expressed.

It is not an unreasonable position to take for the sake of argument.

I'm not well-versed in U.S. Tribal law. My understanding of tribal sovereignty is minimal. But from what I do know, tribal sovereignty is something which has, in some way, crippled the ability for aboriginal tribes to seek what other Americans may consider justice.

For example, in Duro v. Reina, the Supreme Court held that a tribal court does not have criminal jurisdiction over a non-member Indian. At that time, tribes could exclude people from their lands, but that's about it; jurisdiction to try and punish an offender rested in courts outside of the lands. Congress later passed a law that permitted tribes to exercise criminal jurisdiction within their reservations over all Indians, including non-members, but that law was only upheld by the Supreme Court in United States v. Lara, 541 U.S. 193 (2004). Still, under the Indian Civil Rights Act, punishments are limited to 1 year imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

Tribal sovereignty is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can protect against predation by private entities or state governments: states, for example, cannot pass laws regarding such lands because federal law recognizes the sole, exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government to negotiate treaties with native lands. On the other hand, it can also prevent tribes from negotiating in good faith with state governments towards beneficial arrangements; these can get blocked by the federal government under the same principle.

Unfortunately for Trump, he does not have the authority to remove tribal sovereignty. Unfortunately for aboriginal tribes, Congress is full of bucket-heads that don't give a shit about the conditions in native lands.

(Edited to add: thanks to @sunny's opposition, I have come upon and read a very interesting law review article, and have come to the opinion that, if asked about, I would oppose any action to deprive the tribes of their sovereignty. In fact, if anything, I think that expanding them would probably be the best thing since sliced bread.)

@Tyche said in RL Anger:

While a change in this arrangement would require Congressional action, it is quite likely the Trump administration will almost always grant that permission to mine, or drill for oil, or nix EPA requirements.

You do understand that agencies must still engage in due process prior to enacting regulations and, even when they do, still must work within the confines of existing federal law?

If so, then, no, the Trump Administration cannot nix EPA requirements or any other statutes requiring certain levels of review for every permit.

As for the Navajo Coal Plant, are you referring to the one that is still operational and is thinking of closing due to economic factors?

http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/energy/2017/01/04/navajo-generating-station-threatened-closure/96164528/

@Thenomain said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

I don't know if this is what you meant, but I think most people mean success as "success in what I want to be successful at". Which is mostly about being capable or even powerful characters. Remember, a lot of us are WoDers, not L&Lers!

As a WoDer, I have no problem with delegating and being successful at something.

On RfK, as Cai, I survived my way into a powerful position and delegated many political tasks because, even as a Ventrue, I wasn't good at it. I was probably one of the worst choices for a Circle Hierophant statistically; however, I had the social connections, I delegated to where I kept a decent amount of activity going, and I lead because I had some sort of earth-shattering reputation as being honorable and trustworthy. Given that Cai was originally constructed to be a thuggish sycophant, I strayed a bit from the original concept -- but I was a specularly-good thug, even if I never got the chance to wield that power.

On Fallen World, the Shrike is an imperfect First Talon, but is probably the best connected of all of them. This is despite having piss-poor social skills and being publicly ultra-violent. She is very successful in design -- she's a vigilante and street-level investigator -- but she's horrid at what she's been shoved into. Regardless, through delegation, she's somehow managed to appear impressive and get shit done, although, truth be told, she probably gets her way because she is a big thuggish when it comes to social interactions.

Arx's system reminds me a lot of RfK's, but it is more streamlined. I know how taxing that can be, if one plunges head-first into the off-screen resource management game. On the other hand, the time-suck is a good thing because it forces a wise player to delegate, so as to be able to manage a few things at once. And this actually benefits the casual player looking for a solid mental challenge.

@Arkandel said in RL things I love:

A trainer told me he thought the yoga advocates were injuring themselves because they extend their range of motion but fail to maintain strength through that range, and powerlifters were injuring themselves because they increase their strength but fail to maintain excellent form due to an insufficient range of motion.

A trainer turned me onto combined exercise sets that challenge the body's range of motion and strength. Basically, instead doing traditional, single-motion exercises, go with the complex ones like the clean-and-jerk, standing Superman dumbbell presses, and weighted burpees.

@Arkandel said in RL things I love:

So like a deficit romanian deadlift?

Pretty much, except that the goal isn't weight; it's flexibility. By making those muscles stronger, you actually increase their flexibility. I'm not a doctor, so I don't know the science behind it; however, it works with the plyometric and yoga principles of active use and stretching to create strength.

@Meg said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

You can't call a doorbell crazy and overreactive if you go to press it 20 times.

You can call it "malfunctioning" if you don't press it and it goes off, though, right?

I always advise staff: do not defend your game. This also means do not defend your players and do not defend other staff. You don't need to do it, and the players and staff can defend themselves if they wish to.

By all means, defend yourself or your policies, but you need not do anything about others. In my 20 years, I have never once asked or expected my staff to defend me as a player or fellow staff member. And I don't recall anyone, in those years, demanding the same of me when I was staff, or telling me that "staff failed to defend me against this mean person on SWOFA/WORA/forum hate-pit."

So, don't. Fucking don't.

Because we're not doorbells. We should have our own senses of discretion.

Arx is still a pretty nifty game.

@Catsmeow @Arkandel

Actually, my friend turned me on to something called "Jefferson curls." You grab an unweighted bar, step up on a short platform, and then "curl" by doing Romanian deadlifts slowly, with at least 5 seconds per rep.

It's good for strengthening up your lower and mid-back muscles. Good for people with back problems that deadlift a lot, ARKANDEL.

@Ganymede said in Mental Health and Grown Up Stuff:

But I just am. I have no trick to it. It's how I am, and, I suppose, that means, relative to others, I don't suffer from mental health issues.

Apparently, I too have mental health issues. I've only recently begun to recognize it.

It's ennui. It is a severe, heavy boredom.

I've done my 'net research. It's not quite anhedonia, but it is approaching that. I honestly thought that my part-time smoking habit was causing the food to taste bland, but apparently that's just my brain. Even that smoking, which I usually enjoy, has become monotonous and repetitive.

Every day is like the one before. The feeling I have waking up isn't quite the same as sadness or shame. I am not physically unable to get out of bed; to the contrary, I get up just fine, and am usually quite motivated to get into the office to repeat the same general 9 to 10 hours again.

And again.

And again.

I'm just writing at this point. But maybe there's something wrong with being a brick.

@Thenomain said in Coming Soon: Arx, After the Reckoning:

I'm at fault for not picking my words more carefully, but I do think I could make a case that I'm not the only guilty party for blowing this out of proportion. At worst I'm one-half of it, and I thank people like you for trying to stop it rather than spinning the tea-cup ride faster until everyone wants to throw up.

This isn't the tea-cup ride, though.

This is like R. Kelly and Chris Brown butt-fucking: absurd; sad; and mildly horrifying.

It feels like the hurts.

Arx is a really good game, though.

@Sunny said in RL Anger:

I mean today I heard coming down the pipe talk of all of the treaties being nullified. Like. Fuck. This is mindblowingly bad.

Doesn't that mean that all of our land reverts back to the Native Americans which held the property prior to white folk settling?

Trouble brewing.

@mietze said in Star Wars: Insurgency:

Dammit, maybe I shouldn't make my bounty hunter Sox Tyrdblatt after all.

My SW PC's name is Orly.

(See attached pic.)

@Goyim said in RL Anger:

uh oh guys you better stop before @surreality shows up and tells you off for not using the political forum and having too much fun

Politics brews anger. That's why it's not appropriate for RL Things I Love.

@Arkandel

Two plates each side?

@ixokai said in Star Wars: Insurgency:

He might play a significent role, but it is not written to be so: it will be on Luke's player to make it happen.

Maybe he'll finally pick up those power converters at Tosche Station.

@SG said in Star Wars: Insurgency:

I'm on board with the one world thing. You can agitate and recruit like everyone's talking about, and sabotage the means of production, but most of the big time rebel actions should be taking place off planet, most likely in other sectors or nav points in the system, but I like the idea of focusing on one planet quite a bit. I've enjoyed a couple of weeks on Dawn of Defiance, but nobody's ever on the planet I'm on, and I don't have a ship, so I'm shopping for a new game atm.

PM me; we'll go flying together.

@Seraphim73 said in Star Wars: Insurgency:

@TNP The Rebels clearly had a presence on Corellia in the EU--Garm bel Iblis was one of the original creators of the Rebel Alliance. And I agree with your statement that it was probably more of a fundraising/recruiting center. But the moment you start trying to incite a revolt in a Core World, you have to think about what the Empire just did to Alderaan a short while ago in your canon. They clearly aren't going to flinch from destroying a Core World that strongly supports the Rebellion.

You're going to need to suspend some disbelief.

Plus, blowing up Corellia is very different than blowing up Alderaan. Obliterating the latter wasn't going to cripple the Galactic Empire's fleet, whereas doing the former would piss off just about every good pilot in the navy.