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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Nov 29, 2014 20:34:09 GMT -5
That's a shortsighted assessment. Rioting can fix a lot of things. The trick is not being blamed for fixing them.
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Post by buddha on Nov 29, 2014 20:44:37 GMT -5
I think that peaceful protest and respect for due process accomplishes more than rioting, which I see as more being about wrecking shops and stealing things than improving society.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Nov 30, 2014 0:33:18 GMT -5
Oh, well if it's society you want to fix, then yeah - rioting is the lesser of those two options.
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Post by Adkenpachi on Nov 30, 2014 1:11:37 GMT -5
But daddy needs a new 80" tv
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Nov 30, 2014 7:23:14 GMT -5
It's amazing what happens when you remove people's stake in society in favour of enriching your chums.
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Today...
Nov 30, 2014 16:28:23 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by emptyhat on Nov 30, 2014 16:28:23 GMT -5
It's amazing what happens when you remove people's stake in society in favour of enriching your chums. That's probably the only reasonable thing you've said all year.
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Post by buddha on Nov 30, 2014 17:34:45 GMT -5
The gains are short lived though. Yeah you have some new stuff and a brief sense of power and freedom, but the next morning you're back where you started and you have the stigma of being a rioter, someone who puts their immediate desires over the well being of their community as a whole.
I thinks it's much better to work peacefully and rationally to solve societies problems, not assume you need to smash it to bits and start all over.
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Nov 30, 2014 18:11:06 GMT -5
It's amazing what happens when you remove people's stake in society in favour of enriching your chums. That's probably the only reasonable thing you've said all year. I've described current politics as an agonizing choice between a man determined to sell off as much of the nation as possible, a man who sold out to a hate movement, a man who sold everything to said man auctioning off the country for the privilege of tonguing his bootstraps, and Nigel Farage.
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Post by cheminhaler on Dec 1, 2014 7:08:07 GMT -5
Something I remember about the 2011 riots in London was that there were a lot of spurious claims going around at the time, rioters looting a children's hospital, setting fire to the London Eye, releasing all the animals in the zoo, the army being deployed around the banks, they all turned out to be fake but I heard them repeated a lot on the street by people who wanted to condemn the rioters. From what Paimon was saying there was video news feed for awhile but I'd be careful about believing stuff that might be a rumour or lie, especially if there was a lack of reporter access for parts of the riot. Yes but the Duggan shooting was listed as the cause, by the media, so I was just parroting the official line. The Zimmerman case was different in that he WASN'T a police officer, and had been specifically instructed by the police to not put himself in the situation where he ended up shooting Martin. I just mentioned it as an example of a racially charged case that didn't result in riots after the verdict. Does anyone remember those huge riots in France a few years ago after the police shot an arab kid? - I meant in terms of demonising the victim, not whether he was officially an officer or not. - Vaguely, but these things are normal now over the Channel.
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Post by Adkenpachi on Dec 1, 2014 10:51:01 GMT -5
Onto other matters. Ive just bought a lovely cpu and mobo, getting a large psu for xmas and wondering what graphics card to go for? Im not totally rich yet but I was considering a hd7970 (to play unity, really). Im wondering if that'll last a few years or not? :/
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Post by cheminhaler on Dec 2, 2014 10:24:47 GMT -5
It'll last as long as the Borg don't adapt to it.
Then when you've killed one or two Borgs with your graphic card they adapt and you can't hurt them anymore. After this I'd suggest loading up on other stuff the Borg haven't adapted to yet. Screwdrivers, lemon meringues, Snickers bars... anything that you can jam into their breathing tubes or just use to slow them down.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Dec 2, 2014 13:03:39 GMT -5
Good old-fashioned shotgun blasts to the vital bits are the way to go. Define vital bits as you like.
But you should probably put a shotgun in your computer to guard against malware. Or home invasion.
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Dec 2, 2014 14:43:01 GMT -5
KE weapon using master race.
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Post by Adkenpachi on Dec 2, 2014 15:52:38 GMT -5
Why did the federation never think of using projectiles?! "Replicator, make me a crossbow"
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Post by Paimon on Dec 2, 2014 16:17:59 GMT -5
Why didn't they just use rail guns? Energy input to damage output is much more efficient than light based weapons.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Dec 2, 2014 16:31:09 GMT -5
They did make projectile weapons. And phasers aren't light-based.
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Post by Paimon on Dec 2, 2014 16:52:49 GMT -5
Are they particle beams then?
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Dec 2, 2014 17:19:50 GMT -5
Whatever they are, they're directed energy weapons.
I'm torn between binary-propellent slugthrowers and railguns. Leaning towards the former for reliability.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Dec 2, 2014 21:08:41 GMT -5
Are they particle beams then? Yes. Nadion particles. Because science!
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Today...
Dec 3, 2014 15:28:39 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by emptyhat on Dec 3, 2014 15:28:39 GMT -5
Does anyone remeber that Federation rifle with the scope that could see through walls, and it used transporter-tech to put the bullets directly in the target. It was abandoned as a prototype on paper though. Also I always got the impression that forcefields in Star Trek had an easier time blocking physical things than directed energy.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Dec 3, 2014 16:36:53 GMT -5
The micro transporter was an add-on by a murderer. But if you want to blow up watermelons with style, there's not better way.
Also, there's absolutely no reason why they should have not used that thing during the Dominion War. That's Star Trek sniper material.
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Post by Rolling Thunder on Dec 3, 2014 17:27:57 GMT -5
If the Federation ever wants to actually fight someone it better get a time machine.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Dec 3, 2014 20:21:54 GMT -5
When you consider that their "exploration" ships are just as heavily armed, if not moreso, than the militant governments around them, you start to wonder. Consider that the Federation is the social equivalent of the Borg in addition, and you paint a picture of them with Starfleet at their side: the most insidious organizations in the Star Trek universe. What else are you going to do with Utopia but cram it down everyone else's throat?
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Post by jenburdoo on Dec 4, 2014 0:17:16 GMT -5
Well, you gotta remember that Starfleet, as initially envisioned, was a bunch of exploration ships and very much a takeoff on narratives like Horatio Hornblower. HMS Bounty and Endeavour were tiny but armed and the crews threw their weight around when they got the chance. And the captain of an independent frigate, like Hornblower's Lydia or Aubrey's Surprise, always had plenipotentiary powers, which we see whenever the Enterprise runs into a new species and has to negotiate with it in the name of a Federation that is much larger than just the one ship.
In theory, I think they're supposed to be a "uniformed service" in the same way that the NOAA is a uniformed service - a scientific agency that's all officers (this explains why crewmen are rarely seen) and only in uniform so they don't get shot as spies. It doesn't always come through that way for the viewer.
Reading my first Miles Vorkosigan book, the new Honorverse companion, and a few children's books by Alexander McCall Smith.
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Post by ElegaicRequiem on Dec 4, 2014 1:16:16 GMT -5
It's clearly stated that Starfleet is a military, and even the amnesiac crew of the Enterprise D is readily convinced that they serve aboard a warship after a cursory glance at their armament. The comparatively miniature Defiant is technically the first Federation warship to combat the Borg, which laughably fails at that job in the only canon occurrence of such a confrontation. It does, however, kick much Jem'hadar ass. And that's really all that matters, since the Borg are such OP enemies for the cast of whatever show is running that the writers only bust them out for holidays or special occasions. Or when they want to make a point. Voyager was an exception.
DS9 is still one of the best written shows I've ever watched. I use it as a template for plot progression in some of my writing.
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