The Refuge of the Toads

#36361

Steersman wrote:Don't think many appreciate the degree to which Islam is fundamentally antithetical to Western democracy and human rights.

I have some doubts about whether you really believe that, but if you do, please see my latest post in the "Islam and Islamists" thread.

#36362

rayshul wrote:Yeah, I agree, Lego Worlds is where it's at.

Okay, I'll check it out. It sounds like it might be family friendly. I've found that the best games for me are ones that are listed as being for children, or family friendly.

#36363

Lsuoma wrote:BTW, tomorrow - 3rd July - will be the Pit's fourth birthday!

:occasion-balloons: :occasion-birthday: :occasion-birthdaymulticolor: :occasion-cake:

#36364

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote:It seems the German contingent of our board is miffed with the Brexit. Am I mistaken? Why are they displeased? Inquiring minds and all that.

Probably :nin: , but:

Loss of valuable Lebensraum?

#36365

Two independence days in a row!

#36366

Happy Pitday everyone!

#36367

Scented Nectar wrote:
jet_lagg wrote:
Scented Nectar wrote:
Compared to minecraft, NMS is hugely better <snip> I can't even try minecraft<snip> .
...
>:(

Minecraft is about building and surviving as much as it is exploring. You start off with your fists, stranded in an isolated land, and you're lucky to survive your first night. You'll probably spend it huddled in a small hole you dug I to the side of a hill, stacking lumber at the entrance to keep the horrors out. You'll be awake until the sun rises listening to them scratching at the earth outside.

By day two you've fashioned a crude hut and stone tools. You can start a quarry to gather materials for what will eventually be a fortress.

By day oh-my-god-how-long-have-i-been-playing-this you stand atop the battlements you built yourself, looking out over a landscaped valley dotted with the lighted windows from a dozen out buildings you also built yourself. You'll head downstairs to the elaborate trolley system (which you again built) which will take you deep into the even more elaborate mine system (which of course you dug) because there's another valley to conquer, and you'll be needing more steel.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
If you say so, but I can't get past the pixel/cube graphics. I'm all for pixel art once in a while, and it makes for great needlepoint patterns, but to look at it for hours? Can't do it. The visuals are the most important thing to me. I think NMS also has very interesting gameplay etc, but if it was without the stunning sci-fi visuals, I wouldn't be at all excited about it. Plus, I've had my fill of 3d world building over the years (Activeworlds, 3d Anarchy which later became Adobe Atmosphere, and one called Flatland, etc), so I don't mind that NMS is missing the building part of it all. And even those 3 very old programs had better graphics than minecraft.

I guess we can safely assume from the phenomenal success of minecraft, that graphics quality is not necessarily top of the list of must haves for many gamers.

Or perhaps it is that people who play games can appreciate the beauty in complexity through simplicity. Minecraft might look like a simple game if you focus on the graphics, but it is hugely complex in the ways you can play it. For example, I have played it for several years now, but rarely build anything major in terms of complex traditional structures, and never play in creative mode. I love exploring above and below ground. I build complex mines, and connect my mines and exploring finds with stupidly huge and complex redstone train systems. I find villages and their occupants fascinating and spend time developing the villages I come across exploring. It's a game I can not play for months and still want to come back to and get engrossed in again.

My son likes modding it and uses mods to make the graphics more complex. He does build huge structures which amaze me for the detail they contain given the block nature of the game. We sometimes play Space Race games using the Galacticraft mod, although that requires a degree in retrofitting minecraft that does my head in, but at least it keeps the brain cells active.

My youngest uses it for all sorts of things. She recently got top marks in history by demonstrating her understanding of castle structures and their uses via building a detailed & historically correct castle in minecraft. And her negotiation skills in getting her teacher to allow her to use minecraft as a medium. We also have a realm that lets her and her friends play together even when they are half a world away during the holidays, or when one of the group moves country (as frequently happens when you are an expat). She has used minecraft to learn some programming and makes her own simple games that run in minecraft.

And on a very personal note, I appreciate that games without realistic or detailed graphics exist, because I suffer from VRMS (video-related motion sickness), and the more intricate the graphics the greater the chance that I will be lying down in a dark room trying not to throw up after playing for 10 minutes. Witcher 3 is at the limit of games that won't make me sick, World of Warcraft and Minecraft never do.

Gaming is so subjective and personally I avoid saying one game is better than another, especially when I haven't played the game I'm comparing. Unless that game is Depression Quest, cos I'll never play that and I know it sucks.

#36368

Service Dog wrote:
Billie from Ockham wrote:So, if my son and I were interested in a building game like Minecraft, but want good graphics, what is the suggestion, please?
Pepakura.

http://makezine.com/2012/11/09/prop-bui ... apercraft/

http://makezine.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... elmet1.jpg
(snip)

Wow! I love it!

I met someone here in Guilin who does amazing things with one folded sheet of paper. These are not his, but it will give you an idea.
[youtube]s1e0d5gJd5Q[/youtube]

#36369

Interesting on the Gifted shit. As a so-called "gifted child" myself it basically gave you a license to never try at anything because you expected it all to be easy and never have to work at anything. Then you grew up into a worthless sack of shit which blamed society for the fact people didn't appreciate you and call you a precious snowflake.

My mother thinks it's wonderful to be considered "gifted" but it was the most fucking dumbass stupidity ever and teaches kids to be fucking useless shitbags. My eldest son was recently considered "gifted" and I think people are expected to be like yay about it, but I'm like aw fuck well let's put the little fucker up a bunch of years and make him fucking work.

So in other words I'm really unsurprised if a whole lot of FtB and its little spin-off fucktards are "gifted children" because it sure explains why they're now... what they are.

#36370

MacGruberKnows wrote:Hermant Mehta at Friendly Atheist is a weasel. He will go all day and night about Christians who don't understand separation of church and state and the like. But he rarely talks about Islamicists. He has a guest poster - Terry Firma - who was doing it, but he seems to have gone silent on the subject. So, after the Bangladesh terrorism, nothing, but Hermant had many posts of the Christian symbol displayed on public property stuff. I had this to say on a blog entry about a Christian cross or some such thing on a watertower:

I see Herman has gone silent on Islamic terrorism. But, man, he is on top of Christian symbols on a watertower. If it had been a Muslim terrorist shooting a dozen people from the top of that tower he wouldn't have mentioned it. Keep us informed of Christian symbols on top of America's watertowers Hermant. Keep us safe.

Hemant isn't that bad, usually, but he still caters to a primarily American audience. American atheists are more interested to Christian violation of separation of church and state in the US then with Muslim terrorism in Bangladesh. It's not just a SJW thing, though of course the SJWs are all about justifying everything that is done in the name of Islam as "cultural" or as "consequence of Western imperialism" or as the fault of the Patriarchy.

It's just a consequence of human nature. People care more about their broken toenail than about thousands of dead children in a faraway country. Violation of separation of church and state in the US matters to American atheists. Some deaths in Bangladesh don't really matter, unless they're already wary of Muslim extremism.

I think that this is also one of the reasons why SJWs are unwilling to admit that Islam has some big flaws that aren't the fault of the "West". Social Justice was born in the US and was concerned with US events. The Muslim population in the US is proportionately smaller than in the UK. The problems with Islam in the US are mostly due to terrorism. Non-terrorist muslims are therefore assumed to be "moderate". There are no Sharia councils in the US. There are no crowds of Muslim men who sexually harass women. There are fewer Syrian war refugees, and fewer second or third generation Muslims who are easy pickings for Salafi propaganda.

On the other hand the Religious Right is still relatively strong. In most of Northern-Central Western Europe and in the UK the Christian churches are pretty tame these days, and their political power is waning. Even in Western Southern Europe (Italy, Spain) the Catholic Church is not as backwards as many religious movements in the US (although it's still pretty powerful).

Also many american atheists, SJWs or not, are leftists and in the overall message of the US left is that the real cause of all threats to world peace and liberal democracy are the Republicans, and especially after George W. Bush's disastrous Iraq War. Many American leftists see Muslim violence entirely as "payback" for the action of "American imperialism".

This isn't entirely inaccurate. The Iraq War has been a mistake, and Salafi propaganda has exploited some legitimate causes of fear and hatred against "the West". However the US left, and I think most of the European left as well, underestimate the support for illiberal and regressive ideas in many Muslim communities, and they really underestimate the power of Salafi propaganda, the funds they receive from the Gulf states, and their determination to achieve their goals.

It's left who should fight against Muslim conservatives and never give them what they want in the name of "multiculturalism". It's the left who should criticize imams for their misogynistic and homophobic attitudes (really misogynistic and homophobic, not according to some absurd interpretation of "microagressions"). It's the left who should admit that Islam has big issues and needs to adapt to liberal democracy or be restrained. Progressive people should be appalled by Islam, not sympathetic with it. But identity politics trump equal rights, and so Muslims are "oppressed PoCs" or "victims of Western imperialism".

#36371

https://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/59685544.jpg

#36372

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/pws/client/ima ... 6178_1.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/2d762245c53a ... r1_500.gif

#36373

:pray:

#36374

Happy birthday, 'pitters!

Hey, Lsuoma, where's the fookin' cake?

http://cdn.quotesgram.com/small/14/37/6 ... miling.jpg

#36375

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote:It seems the German contingent of our board is miffed with the Brexit. Am I mistaken? Why are they displeased? Inquiring minds and all that.

It's that peky Nazi guilt, man ;)

#36376

*pesky

#36377

https://twitter.com/paperwash/status/749332484911992832

Happy birthday, 'Pit!

"Thank you" to Lsuoma & ERV for its birth, and for deciding not to have it circumcised.

And here's to all the tough parts of life, and people getting through those, helping each other through it - or going it alone if that's how it works out. There are some pretty amazing people & histories here.

Last but not least: I raise a glass to JG.

#36378

HunnyBunny wrote:I love exploring above and below ground. I build complex mines, and connect my mines and exploring finds with stupidly huge and complex redstone train systems. I find villages and their occupants fascinating and spend time developing the villages I come across exploring. It's a game I can not play for months and still want to come back to and get engrossed in again.

My son likes modding it and uses mods to make the graphics more complex. He does build huge structures which amaze me for the detail they contain given the block nature of the game. We sometimes play Space Race games using the Galacticraft mod, although that requires a degree in retrofitting minecraft that does my head in, but at least it keeps the brain cells active.

My youngest uses it for all sorts of things. She recently got top marks in history by demonstrating her understanding of castle structures and their uses via building a detailed & historically correct castle in minecraft. And her negotiation skills in getting her teacher to allow her to use minecraft as a medium. We also have a realm that lets her and her friends play together even when they are half a world away during the holidays, or when one of the group moves country (as frequently happens when you are an expat). She has used minecraft to learn some programming and makes her own simple games that run in minecraft.

And on a very personal note, I appreciate that games without realistic or detailed graphics exist, because I suffer from VRMS (video-related motion sickness), and the more intricate the graphics the greater the chance that I will be lying down in a dark room trying not to throw up after playing for 10 minutes. Witcher 3 is at the limit of games that won't make me sick, World of Warcraft and Minecraft never do.

You're giving me a lot to look forward to!

I'm still trying to learn not to get hopelessly lost when I go exploring, and never find my way back to my house and my mines. I've given up and started all over three times now because of that.

When I first started playing, I couldn't find any coal to make torches, and I didn't know I could make my own charcoal from wood, until I did some research on it online.

#36379

Ah, :nin: by Phil

#36380

jimhabegger wrote: You're giving me a lot to look forward to!

I'm still trying to learn not to get hopelessly lost when I go exploring, and never find my way back to my house and my mines. I've given up and started all over three times now because of that.

When I first started playing, I couldn't find any coal to make torches, and I didn't know I could make my own charcoal from wood, until I did some research on it online.

When you are at your house, or anywhere you want to know how to get back to, press F3. There is a lot of info there about where you are. For finding your way the bit that says Z / Y / Z is the mot important bit. Write down the X & Z (Y is height) numbers of your location. When you are lost you can head back to those numbers. It's like GPS for minecraft.

#36381

Hmm, watching an interview with Theresa May, the favourite to become the next PM, and it's being crafted to give a more personal insight. She just said she is a practicing christian and she had to miss church to do this interview. Still quite rare for politicians to say they are atheist, even in what is effectively a secular society. The christianity-lite of the CofE still is given approval, disappointing. Oh well, keep chipping away.

#36382

Billie from Ockham wrote:
Scented Nectar wrote:
Billie from Ockham wrote:So, if my son and I were interested in a building game like Minecraft, but want good graphics, what is the suggestion, please?
Here's a Steam link of 'sandbox' games with 'building' checked: http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/Sa ... ewReleases . Some look like good graphics and others bad. There's 106 results, but less when narrowed down by your operating system.
Thanks, but that might be too overwhelming. I'm a sheep. I was hoping for something like "buy Forest!"

I don't really know the others. I'm obsessed with No Man's Sky only. Just over a month to go.

#36383

jet_lagg wrote:Bah. I misread your post. I thought you wanted to build a game, not buy a building game. My suggestion is to ignore that philistine Scented Nectar, buy Minecraft, and download some HD textures :p

Even the HD texture versions are worse quality than Active Worlds circa 20 years ago. But that's ok. I warned you all. I tried. Some day when your eyes are saying "I should have listened to her", I'll just be like...

[youtube]uVh6RhWdkM8[/youtube]

:whistle:

#36384

I see Michael Cimino has died. Having laughed at the reputation of Heaven's Gate, I was stunned to discover I liked it far better than The Deer Hunter when I finally saw it on DVD.

#36385

Really? wrote:
Service Dog wrote:[youtube]taWWQNUSBdM[/youtube]
So we have some slut shaming, that's always nice. I can't help but notice that the video falls in line with feminist dogma. They wanted to deconstruct gender roles, so men would no longer be expected to be loyal to one woman and provide for her and any children.

And ladies, there would be no "fuckboys" if women didn't give them what they want.

Friends who fuck without commitment are highly under-rated. A lot of women miss out due to wanting all that commitment/loveydovestuff/expectations-of-forever, etc.

#36386

MacGruberKnows wrote:Hermant Mehta at Friendly Atheist is a weasel. He will go all day and night about Christians who don't understand separation of church and state and the like. But he rarely talks about Islamicists. He has a guest poster - Terry Firma - who was doing it, but he seems to have gone silent on the subject. So, after the Bangladesh terrorism, nothing, but Hermant had many posts of the Christian symbol displayed on public property stuff. I had this to say on a blog entry about a Christian cross or some such thing on a watertower:

I see Herman has gone silent on Islamic terrorism. But, man, he is on top of Christian symbols on a watertower. If it had been a Muslim terrorist shooting a dozen people from the top of that tower he wouldn't have mentioned it. Keep us informed of Christian symbols on top of America's watertowers Hermant. Keep us safe.

I've done a 180 regarding christians. These days they get unfairly picked on by my fellow atheists and killed by the islamicist fuckheads, so I find myself defending them. My old arguments with them seem petty compared to my arguments with islam. This Dec, I'll even be saying "merry christmas" to everyone because fuck islam and fuck sjws.

#36387

My wife has decided she might like an ex demo (1000km) 2016 Mini S soft top identical to below.

We have an 8 yo Honda CRV with all the bells and whistles. (L). It probably only worth about 7-10k.

The plan is to get a second car, keep the Honda for son and daughter to learn and drive on, down size for the smaller per journey numbers now in play and use the Honda when a full load is required.

The Mini would be a big extravagance used daily but only in local area.

It's not an S (ie it's a 1.5 turbo) but is optioned up. Wife has always had a sporty car like this on her bucket list as long as I can remember. She test drove it today and loved it.

Deci$ions. Anyone had any experience here.

Please.

http://resources.carsguide.com.au/style ... le-(4).jpg

#36388

DaveDodo007 wrote:
rayshul wrote:Unpopular opinion: I honestly think Carrier's okay. Of all the usual suspects I think he's the least creepy. And I have read everyone's comments on this because I just can't see this bloke as being a creep, even slightly. I'm sure he said 18+ not because he wanted to show how low he wanted to date but because he wanted to show he was open minded about age. His relationships seem to show a pattern for (and he seems to openly want) women his own age or older who are mature about sexual relationships and well experienced. I can't buy any risk for him being around others.

I mean I don't want to be the person to stand up for the dude but I feel like this is one of the ones where he's going to be totally vindicated if he ever scrapes the pennies together to push this further.
Totally agree, he is a hypocrite and I understand the pit's glee of him being hoisted by his own petard. Though outside of feminist/SJW land the guy did nothing wrong. I personally don't want to legitimise the feminist/SJW standard of human courtship.

There is another issue with Carrier, though, besides his personal morality and the clash between the SJW sex-is-politics vs the non SJW private-sphere-sex viewpoints.

It's from a perspective of the Atheist/Sceptic community specifically. Carrier has long been associated with the idea that this is the sort of community which has 'leaders', and furthermore that the community will look to these leaders for moral guidance. That 'Voila' speech of his may have been a word-salad Mish-Mash but it was very clear about the fact that the community has leaders. In particular I'm thinking of the bit when he seems to offer his audience the tacit offer that if they support and follow him as a leader today, they can be the next leaders tomorrow.

Now, relatively recently, he's gone 'polyamorous' and he seems to be making a point both of trying to introduce discussion about the mechanics of sex - 'Semen Play' and the like - into as many corners of A/S type discourse as he can and also to educate us all into the jargon words of his 'polyamory' club such as polycule and tertiary girlfriend.

Putting these two together, along with the fact that we know from religious 'moral leaders' just how important, and relatively easy, it is for them to control the sexuality of their flock we're left with the distasteful prospect of someone who considers himself an important leader agitating to make the idea that sexual expression should be politicised and public a mainstream idea within A/S spaces. And we know that his own sexual desires and interests are all bundled up with his politics as well as his emotions about the breakdown of his marriage in making his motivations for this.

This is why there is an extra factor in his case from somebody who is alleged to have simply used the A/S community to meet women and to have treated them with a degree of PUA style cynicism.

In Carrier's case he actually wants to change the community to be a reflection of his desires.

#36389

rayshul wrote:Interesting on the Gifted shit. As a so-called "gifted child" myself it basically gave you a license to never try at anything because you expected it all to be easy and never have to work at anything. Then you grew up into a worthless sack of shit which blamed society for the fact people didn't appreciate you and call you a precious snowflake.

My mother thinks it's wonderful to be considered "gifted" but it was the most fucking dumbass stupidity ever and teaches kids to be fucking useless shitbags. My eldest son was recently considered "gifted" and I think people are expected to be like yay about it, but I'm like aw fuck well let's put the little fucker up a bunch of years and make him fucking work.

So in other words I'm really unsurprised if a whole lot of FtB and its little spin-off fucktards are "gifted children" because it sure explains why they're now... what they are.

I was never categorised as "gifted", but I was congratulated at how bright I was as a child, and it did me no favours at all. Early on, in primary school, it gave me lots of adult approval, an unearned sense of superiority and the resentment of a lot of the other kids. Later, it gave me social anxiety and meant nothing I ever did at school was good enough. I never failed a fucking exam, but I wasn't as bright as they told me I was, so I had to spread my effort. I worked harder in the subjects I was weaker at to get over the line, which meant comparatively neglecting the subjects I was good at, so I was a disappointment for only scraping a pass in one subject, and a disappointment for not doing as well as I could have in another subject. Eventually I went away to university, just at the point where I'd finally burnt out on formal education and exams, and had something not far from a breakdown. Even now, in my forties, when I've mostly worked my through all that, I can still only really manage to like myself through being good at things.

#36390

piginthecity wrote:
DaveDodo007 wrote:
rayshul wrote:Unpopular opinion: I honestly think Carrier's okay. Of all the usual suspects I think he's the least creepy. And I have read everyone's comments on this because I just can't see this bloke as being a creep, even slightly. I'm sure he said 18+ not because he wanted to show how low he wanted to date but because he wanted to show he was open minded about age. His relationships seem to show a pattern for (and he seems to openly want) women his own age or older who are mature about sexual relationships and well experienced. I can't buy any risk for him being around others.

I mean I don't want to be the person to stand up for the dude but I feel like this is one of the ones where he's going to be totally vindicated if he ever scrapes the pennies together to push this further.
Totally agree, he is a hypocrite and I understand the pit's glee of him being hoisted by his own petard. Though outside of feminist/SJW land the guy did nothing wrong. I personally don't want to legitimise the feminist/SJW standard of human courtship.
There is another issue with Carrier, though, besides his personal morality and the clash between the SJW sex-is-politics vs the non SJW private-sphere-sex viewpoints.

It's from a perspective of the Atheist/Sceptic community specifically. Carrier has long been associated with the idea that this is the sort of community which has 'leaders', and furthermore that the community will look to these leaders for moral guidance. That 'Voila' speech of his may have been a word-salad Mish-Mash but it was very clear about the fact that the community has leaders. In particular I'm thinking of the bit when he seems to offer his audience the tacit offer that if they support and follow him as a leader today, they can be the next leaders tomorrow.

Now, relatively recently, he's gone 'polyamorous' and he seems to be making a point both of trying to introduce discussion about the mechanics of sex - 'Semen Play' and the like - into as many corners of A/S type discourse as he can and also to educate us all into the jargon words of his 'polyamory' club such as polycule and tertiary girlfriend.

Putting these two together, along with the fact that we know from religious 'moral leaders' just how important, and relatively easy, it is for them to control the sexuality of their flock we're left with the distasteful prospect of someone who considers himself an important leader agitating to make the idea that sexual expression should be politicised and public a mainstream idea within A/S spaces. And we know that his own sexual desires and interests are all bundled up with his politics as well as his emotions about the breakdown of his marriage in making his motivations for this.

This is why there is an extra factor in his case from somebody who is alleged to have simply used the A/S community to meet women and to have treated them with a degree of PUA style cynicism.

In Carrier's case he actually wants to change the community to be a reflection of his desires.

It's not a coincidence that Amy apparently asked Carrier about convincing her boyfriend to enter a poly relationship. As you say, it's part of his rap.

#36391

Skep tickle wrote:And here's to all the tough parts of life, and people getting through those, helping each other through it - or going it alone if that's how it works out. There are some pretty amazing people & histories here.

Yes to all that.

#36392

HunnyBunny wrote:
jimhabegger wrote: You're giving me a lot to look forward to!

I'm still trying to learn not to get hopelessly lost when I go exploring, and never find my way back to my house and my mines. I've given up and started all over three times now because of that.

When I first started playing, I couldn't find any coal to make torches, and I didn't know I could make my own charcoal from wood, until I did some research on it online.
When you are at your house, or anywhere you want to know how to get back to, press F3. There is a lot of info there about where you are. For finding your way the bit that says Z / Y / Z is the mot important bit. Write down the X & Z (Y is height) numbers of your location. When you are lost you can head back to those numbers. It's like GPS for minecraft.

I've just got back from the nether regions with all my nether wart and that but the portal's been moved to god knows where away from all my beetroot fields and sheep. And I'm on hardcore mode. Dunno if I can be bothered to carve out a new house.

#36393

Further to my last comment. I think a fair amount of SJW-ism comes from people whose egos were warped by early academic success. They were valued above their peers as kids because of how bright they were, and now think they're the intellectual elite, indisputably right about everything, despite being no smarter than a bright teenager. Or look at Carrier. He gets a PhD and thinks that makes him infallible, his writing ends all rational debate and all that.

#36394

HunnyBunny wrote:
jimhabegger wrote: You're giving me a lot to look forward to!

I'm still trying to learn not to get hopelessly lost when I go exploring, and never find my way back to my house and my mines. I've given up and started all over three times now because of that.

When I first started playing, I couldn't find any coal to make torches, and I didn't know I could make my own charcoal from wood, until I did some research on it online.
When you are at your house, or anywhere you want to know how to get back to, press F3. There is a lot of info there about where you are. For finding your way the bit that says Z / Y / Z is the mot important bit. Write down the X & Z (Y is height) numbers of your location. When you are lost you can head back to those numbers. It's like GPS for minecraft.

Thank you!

Only, I'm playing the pocket edition, on my phone.

#36395

Scented Nectar wrote:I've done a 180 regarding christians. These days they get unfairly picked on by my fellow atheists and killed by the islamicist fuckheads, so I find myself defending them. My old arguments with them seem petty compared to my arguments with islam. This Dec, I'll even be saying "merry christmas" to everyone because fuck islam and fuck sjws.

:lol: That gave me a good laugh.

#36396

Brive1987 wrote:My wife has decided she might like an ex demo (1000km) 2016 Mini S soft top identical to below.

We have an 8 yo Honda CRV with all the bells and whistles. (L). It probably only worth about 7-10k.

The plan is to get a second car, keep the Honda for son and daughter to learn and drive on, down size for the smaller per journey numbers now in play and use the Honda when a full load is required.

The Mini would be a big extravagance used daily but only in local area.

It's not an S (ie it's a 1.5 turbo) but is optioned up. Wife has always had a sporty car like this on her bucket list as long as I can remember. She test drove it today and loved it.

Deci$ions. Anyone had any experience here.

Please.

[img].%20http://resources.carsguide.com.au/styles/cg_hero_large/s3/MINI-Cooper-Convertible-(4).jpg[/img]

You might wish to tweet R Watson - if you are looking to get feedback on owning a mini

#36397

paddybrown wrote:
rayshul wrote:Interesting on the Gifted shit. As a so-called "gifted child" myself it basically gave you a license to never try at anything because you expected it all to be easy and never have to work at anything. Then you grew up into a worthless sack of shit which blamed society for the fact people didn't appreciate you and call you a precious snowflake.

My mother thinks it's wonderful to be considered "gifted" but it was the most fucking dumbass stupidity ever and teaches kids to be fucking useless shitbags. My eldest son was recently considered "gifted" and I think people are expected to be like yay about it, but I'm like aw fuck well let's put the little fucker up a bunch of years and make him fucking work.

So in other words I'm really unsurprised if a whole lot of FtB and its little spin-off fucktards are "gifted children" because it sure explains why they're now... what they are.
I was never categorised as "gifted", but I was congratulated at how bright I was as a child, and it did me no favours at all. Early on, in primary school, it gave me lots of adult approval, an unearned sense of superiority and the resentment of a lot of the other kids. Later, it gave me social anxiety and meant nothing I ever did at school was good enough. I never failed a fucking exam, but I wasn't as bright as they told me I was, so I had to spread my effort. I worked harder in the subjects I was weaker at to get over the line, which meant comparatively neglecting the subjects I was good at, so I was a disappointment for only scraping a pass in one subject, and a disappointment for not doing as well as I could have in another subject. Eventually I went away to university, just at the point where I'd finally burnt out on formal education and exams, and had something not far from a breakdown. Even now, in my forties, when I've mostly worked my through all that, I can still only really manage to like myself through being good at things.

https://67.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lj93 ... o1_500.jpg

#36398

Brive1987 wrote:My wife has decided she might like an ex demo (1000km) 2016 Mini S soft top identical to below.

Wife has always had a sporty car like this on her bucket list as long as I can remember. She test drove it today and loved it.

Deci$ions. Anyone had any experience here.

Please.

[.img]http://resources.carsguide.com.au/style ... le-(4).jpg[/img]

I only have experience of driving minis as a loaner from the BMW service garage, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I have experience of being the wife with expensive things on her want list, and in my humble opinion there is everything to be gained by sourcing such items. Go for it.

#36399

paddybrown wrote:
I was never categorised as "gifted", but I was congratulated at how bright I was as a child, and it did me no favours at all. Early on, in primary school, it gave me lots of adult approval, an unearned sense of superiority and the resentment of a lot of the other kids. Later, it gave me social anxiety and meant nothing I ever did at school was good enough. I never failed a fucking exam, but I wasn't as bright as they told me I was, so I had to spread my effort. I worked harder in the subjects I was weaker at to get over the line, which meant comparatively neglecting the subjects I was good at, so I was a disappointment for only scraping a pass in one subject, and a disappointment for not doing as well as I could have in another subject. Eventually I went away to university, just at the point where I'd finally burnt out on formal education and exams, and had something not far from a breakdown. Even now, in my forties, when I've mostly worked my through all that, I can still only really manage to like myself through being good at things.

It's thought out responses like this that remind we why I dislike the 'Privilege' (white or otherwise) arguments of the SJWs so much, which pretty much amount to 'Shut Up' (though they won't admit it).

At times, it becomes tempting to try to beat them at their own game and justify your speech by rationalising your own place on the progressive stack as a victim. Which I think is a trap. It's not like you can't own a horse worth more than £5 today - some greivences are best left in the past.

Anyway, I think that some of your experience matches my own - but I won't overshare today...

cheers and all the best

#36400

MacGruberKnows wrote:Hermant Mehta at Friendly Atheist is a weasel. He will go all day and night about Christians who don't understand separation of church and state and the like. But he rarely talks about Islamicists. He has a guest poster - Terry Firma - who was doing it, but he seems to have gone silent on the subject. So, after the Bangladesh terrorism, nothing, but Hermant had many posts of the Christian symbol displayed on public property stuff. I had this to say on a blog entry about a Christian cross or some such thing on a watertower:

I see Herman has gone silent on Islamic terrorism. But, man, he is on top of Christian symbols on a watertower. If it had been a Muslim terrorist shooting a dozen people from the top of that tower he wouldn't have mentioned it. Keep us informed of Christian symbols on top of America's watertowers Hermant. Keep us safe.

Terry Firma is cool.

Following the Pulse Orlando massacre, Hemant also jumped on the Islamapologia bandwagon where everyone bashed a couple of fringe fundie pastors who said the gays deserved to die, thus ignoring the ENTIRE FUCKING RELIGION OF ISLAM that says gays deserve to die.

At the end of the day, Hemant will always be an SJW pussy at heart.

#36401

DaveDodo007 wrote:
Malky wrote:
Billie from Ockham wrote:I've never seen this guy before, but he rocks.

[youtube]ivOOM0PbNps[/youtube]

Which "Guy" do you mean? He is using the I never said that personally argument while having been spokesman for a side that promised no further immigration without control including Europe. It has also become laughably clear the Brexit side had no plan in place for having won the vote. The saddest part of this is that people voting to "keep Muslims out" seem to be to ignorant to know that this have very little to nothing to do with Europe. I am at least enjoying the fall out, especially Johnson being knifed by Gove although he was most probably politically dead anyway after this.
Why should Brexit have a plan? The people voted on whether we stay in the EU or not. Now the government should earn their salary for once and do their job.

I'm quite flabbergasted by this - a group of people press relentlessly for a result in a referendum and then when told ok you won you cn now take it forward then seem to turn around and say we haven't thought it through this far is more than shocking. If you campaign for a result you should know what you will do if you get the result campaigned for. I am happy to give some space to adjust but the reaction so far seems to be just rowing back on promises made.

Billie I will respond further but it will take some tome for me to get the spoons together. I have no idea how most of you keep up let alone keep posting such erudite stuff, I certainly will find it difficult to do a wall of text like Aneris and Kirbmarc. Havong said that there is quote a lot of rubbish posted here as well but that goes with the territory.

#36402

Service Dog wrote: http://img07.deviantart.net/b6fb/i/2014 ... 7esyzi.jpg

"I'd tap that." - Brony, Social Justice Cenobite

#36403

Matt Cavanaugh wrote: Terry Firma is cool.

Following the Pulse Orlando massacre, Hemant also jumped on the Islamapologia bandwagon where everyone bashed a couple of fringe fundie pastors who said the gays deserved to die, thus ignoring the ENTIRE FUCKING RELIGION OF ISLAM that says gays deserve to die.

At the end of the day, Hemant will always be an SJW pussy at heart.

Hemant panders to his fans.

Most of the people who comment on his posts are Americans, and most American atheists are more concerned with bashing Christian pastors and the Religious Right than dealing with Islam. Those who are concerned with Islam more than with Christianity are accusing of being conservative warwongers, like it happened to Sam Harris and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

European or Australian/New Zealand atheists, or in general atheists outside North America, are more evenly split, but the SJW everywhere are spreading the message that Islam is only "reacting" to American interventions in the Middle East.

#36404

jimhabegger wrote:
Scented Nectar wrote:I've done a 180 regarding christians. These days they get unfairly picked on by my fellow atheists and killed by the islamicist fuckheads, so I find myself defending them. My old arguments with them seem petty compared to my arguments with islam. This Dec, I'll even be saying "merry christmas" to everyone because fuck islam and fuck sjws.
:lol: That gave me a good laugh.

It may sound funny, but I'm serious. I used to laugh at anyone who claimed a war on christmas or christians, but there really is a lot of undeserved shit they face for no other reason than their religion. I'm still against any incursion into things like the school system or city halls, but otherwise, I'm on their side these days.

Check this out. Milo, the famous fabulous faggot, got together with some very religious christians after Orlando. You won't see any muslims doing this (at least not with a huge dose of taqiyya). I'll never be a believer in gods, etc, but these ones have their hearts in the right place despite being against homosexuality. It's a very nice sentiment they're expressing. They are not saying "good, you've been smitten for your sins" or anything vile. So different from most muslims' responses to Orlando. Refreshing in comparison.

"Billy Graham volunteers pray for Milo"
[youtube]6wZWqcpvlUU[/youtube]

#36405

Happy fourth birthday Pit'

And a big thank you to Pizzy, Becky booze, and the old prune for making it all necessary!

Like Frankenstein you created the beast that destroyed you.

#36406

piginthecity wrote: There is another issue with Carrier, though, besides his personal morality and the clash between the SJW sex-is-politics vs the non SJW private-sphere-sex viewpoints.

[....]

Now, relatively recently, he's gone 'polyamorous' and he seems to be making a point both of trying to introduce discussion about the mechanics of sex - 'Semen Play' and the like - into as many corners of A/S type discourse as he can and also to educate us all into the jargon words of his 'polyamory' club such as polycule and tertiary girlfriend.

Putting these two together, along with the fact that we know from religious 'moral leaders' just how important, and relatively easy, it is for them to control the sexuality of their flock we're left with the distasteful prospect of someone who considers himself an important leader agitating to make the idea that sexual expression should be politicised and public a mainstream idea within A/S spaces.

[....]

This is why there is an extra factor in his case from somebody who is alleged to have simply used the A/S community to meet women and to have treated them with a degree of PUA style cynicism.

In Carrier's case he actually wants to change the community to be a reflection of his desires.

There will soon be some shocking revelations as to just how pervasive poly culture is among A/S 'leaders', especially the SJW, A+ types. It will be hard to avoid the impression that orgs like SSA and Skepticon are not serving in part as vast recruiting organs for their polyamorist leadership.

#36407

Milo is a weasel, inisde a gadfly, inside a rabid badger.

Atheists may find common ground with him in the current rounds of the battles for free speech. But on the topic of religion he argues with all the honesty of Dinesh D'Souza.

As to your other opinions on the relative harmlessness of christians in America - I somewhat agree. Though I'm not up to date with the cases of for example the MRFF which does deal with some non-frivolous issues.

http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/

#36408

Kirbmarc wrote:
Matt Cavanaugh wrote: At the end of the day, Hemant will always be an SJW pussy at heart.
Hemant panders to his fans.

Most of the people who comment on his posts are Americans, and most American atheists are more concerned with bashing Christian pastors and the Religious Right than dealing with Islam.

Not my impression from my interactions with atheists, agnostics, and secularists IRL. Most American atheists are concerned with getting on with their daily lives. The Religious Right is no longer seen as a serious threat.

On the internet, however, you encounter a whole gaggle of angry anti-religionists, including way too many recent apostates still seething with resentment.

I'll also note that I'm detecting a rising, vocal opposition to Islam coming from a wide spectrum of folks who'd I'd never expect it.

#36409

Matt Cavanaugh wrote:
piginthecity wrote: There is another issue with Carrier, though, besides his personal morality and the clash between the SJW sex-is-politics vs the non SJW private-sphere-sex viewpoints.

[....]

Now, relatively recently, he's gone 'polyamorous' and he seems to be making a point both of trying to introduce discussion about the mechanics of sex - 'Semen Play' and the like - into as many corners of A/S type discourse as he can and also to educate us all into the jargon words of his 'polyamory' club such as polycule and tertiary girlfriend.

Putting these two together, along with the fact that we know from religious 'moral leaders' just how important, and relatively easy, it is for them to control the sexuality of their flock we're left with the distasteful prospect of someone who considers himself an important leader agitating to make the idea that sexual expression should be politicised and public a mainstream idea within A/S spaces.

[....]

This is why there is an extra factor in his case from somebody who is alleged to have simply used the A/S community to meet women and to have treated them with a degree of PUA style cynicism.

In Carrier's case he actually wants to change the community to be a reflection of his desires.
There will soon be some shocking revelations as to just how pervasive poly culture is among A/S 'leaders', especially the SJW, A+ types. It will be hard to avoid the impression that orgs like SSA and Skepticon are not serving in part as vast recruiting organs for their polyamorist leadership.

And then the whole thing becomes a national scandal, and it all comes crashing down. And then I wake from my wet dream. Oh, please Lord, make it be true.

#36410

Brive1987 wrote:My wife has decided she might like an ex demo (1000km) 2016 Mini S soft top identical to below.

We have an 8 yo Honda CRV with all the bells and whistles. (L). It probably only worth about 7-10k.

The plan is to get a second car, keep the Honda for son and daughter to learn and drive on, down size for the smaller per journey numbers now in play and use the Honda when a full load is required.

The Mini would be a big extravagance used daily but only in local area.

It's not an S (ie it's a 1.5 turbo) but is optioned up. Wife has always had a sporty car like this on her bucket list as long as I can remember. She test drove it today and loved it.

Deci$ions. Anyone had any experience here.

Please.

http://resources.carsguide.com.au/style ... le-(4).jpg

Once you go BMW, you never go back - and that's coming from an ex-serial Jaguar nut.

My current whip:

http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a61 ... uxzncd.jpg

Had it for years and even though I'm forever saying I want to upgrade to an M5, I just can't bear the thought of parting with it. Nippy, comfortable and very, very reliable. Handles like a dream too.

Just food for thought before you commit to a purchase.

#36411

Brive1987 wrote:
Deci$ions. Anyone had any experience here.

Please.

http://resources.carsguide.com.au/style ... le-(4).jpg

Looks like somebody stole the steering wheel on that one...

#36412

I think Matt Dillahunty will be the next to go, and then perhaps Greta. I would say Watson, but I think most people are past the point of be scandalised by anything she has to say or do.

But I'm not plugged into the online Gossosphere - so take this all with a grain of salt.

#36413

Matt Cavanaugh wrote: Not my impression from my interactions with atheists, agnostics, and secularists IRL. Most American atheists are concerned with getting on with their daily lives. The Religious Right is no longer seen as a serious threat.

On the internet, however, you encounter a whole gaggle of angry anti-religionists, including way too many recent apostates still seething with resentment.

I'll also note that I'm detecting a rising, vocal opposition to Islam coming from a wide spectrum of folks who'd I'd never expect it.

I'll take your word for it. I was basing my analysis on the atheist/secularist presence on the Internet.

#36414

Billie from Ockham wrote:
CommanderTuvok wrote:Strange couple of months in the sporting world.
Just wait until an African who is completely clean (in terms of exogenous drugs) wins the Tour de France.

I would be more than mildly surprised if anyone who's not been using any form of illicit doping appears at the start of the Tour.

#36415

Scented Nectar wrote:
jimhabegger wrote:
Scented Nectar wrote:I've done a 180 regarding christians. These days they get unfairly picked on by my fellow atheists and killed by the islamicist fuckheads, so I find myself defending them. My old arguments with them seem petty compared to my arguments with islam. This Dec, I'll even be saying "merry christmas" to everyone because fuck islam and fuck sjws.
:lol: That gave me a good laugh.
It may sound funny, but I'm serious. I used to laugh at anyone who claimed a war on christmas or christians, but there really is a lot of undeserved shit they face for no other reason than their religion. I'm still against any incursion into things like the school system or city halls, but otherwise, I'm on their side these days.

Check this out. Milo, the famous fabulous faggot, got together with some very religious christians after Orlando. You won't see any muslims doing this (at least not with a huge dose of taqiyya). I'll never be a believer in gods, etc, but these ones have their hearts in the right place despite being against homosexuality. It's a very nice sentiment they're expressing. They are not saying "good, you've been smitten for your sins" or anything vile. So different from most muslims' responses to Orlando. Refreshing in comparison.

"Billy Graham volunteers pray for Milo"
[youtube]6wZWqcpvlUU[/youtube]

Yeah. When I was a young man, I was very anti-Christian. Over the past few decades I've come to realize that a fair amount of rationalist anti-Christian history I had learnt and thought I knew was skewed. (e.g. I used to think the Christians destroyed the library of Alexandria (Hypatia, etc.). Now I know that it partly just dissipated over the centuries and the final blow was in fact struck by Muslims.)

I blame Gibbon :) It's clear to me now that as a minority fighting for air in an overwhelmingly Christian world, rationalists (understandably in hindsight) did tell some porkies through the 17th to 19th centuries, and those lies are now unfortunately deeply-buried parts of the liberal/progressive gestalt.

This is part of a larger mental house-cleaning that's been going on over the past 10 years. I started off as a socialist in my youth, and more or less my whole intellectual life has been a dawning realization that I was Motte & Baileyed from a young age, that my core, heartfelt commitment was really always to classical liberal values, and that a major reason it's taken so long has been winkling out the last little gobbets of ideology-induced virtue-signalling from my psyche.

#36416

Life here in Limousin is very exciting. We have 2 stages of the Tour De France this week. And then President Hollande is coming to the town 15 kms away from us on Saturday to open a museum. I can hardly contain my excitement. :|

#36417

HunnyBunny wrote:Life here in Limousin is very exciting. We have 2 stages of the Tour De France this week. And then President Hollande is coming to the town 15 kms away from us on Saturday to open a museum. I can hardly contain my excitement. :|

Oh shit! All my sympathies :(

#36418

I've decided to remove Jim from my ignore list. Let's see how it goes...

#36419

Ape+lust wrote:
Lsuoma wrote:BTW, tomorrow - 3rd July - will be the Pit's fourth birthday!
Thanks for the 4 years, Boss, it's been a blast. You are the best! :clap: :dance:

Suck-up.

#36420

MarcusAu wrote:Milo is a weasel, inisde a gadfly, inside a rabid badger.

Atheists may find common ground with him in the current rounds of the battles for free speech. But on the topic of religion he argues with all the honesty of Dinesh D'Souza.

As to your other opinions on the relative harmlessness of christians in America - I somewhat agree. Though I'm not up to date with the cases of for example the MRFF which does deal with some non-frivolous issues.

http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/

He fully admits that he's a "cultural catholic" only (also jewish by birth since his mother's jewish). I've never heard him say much else about it, other than appreciating that back in the old days when being gay was illegal, the catholic church gave a kind of sanctuary to gay men by letting them become priests. There were probably a lot of lesbians who didn't want to marry men in the nunneries too. Either way, I'm still against any valid problems some christians cause with stuff like prayers at city meetings or trying to teach creationism in the public schools, but in regards to other things, they get unfairly picked on. These days, some atheists like Mehta are picking on them while avoiding talking about the horrors that islam practices.

So, I don't know Milo's other arguments regarding religion, but I'm fine with the ones I've heard. I really like all his other arguments about sjw stuff.