Y2HH

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 08:06 AM) It seems that it is typically people who were brought up in a fundamentalist, oppressive religion and then broke free. But they've replaced one fundamentalism with another. and they take their victimization/persecution complex with them. I'm at the point where I just wish people would be good people, and stop citing or following completely fictional/hypocritical garbage, from written religions or otherwise. Be as good as you can to each other...and that's that. If you need a deity to threaten you from above in order to do that, than IMO, you're an asshole anyway.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 08:10 AM) An example of everything wrong with software patents: U.S. Backs Apple in Patent Ruling That Hits Google There are millions of such examples.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 03:38 PM) Went to a movie Friday night, decided to see the MI movie because hey, I get to see the prologue trailer. Except, no, I don't. To say that the prologue is showing on the same screens that MI in IMAX is showing is false, turns out it is only at a couple theaters in the area. Not the one I went to. Did get to see the new preview, but not the 6 minute prologue one. MI was actually a fun watch. Believability factor near zero, but entertaining, great stunts and camera angles. Did you just mention believability factor when talking about a movie series with the title Mission:IMPOSSIBLE? I bolded/highlighted it for you, because apparently you missed the entire point. It's not supposed to be believable, it's supposed to make you say, that's impossible. Looks like it did, too. M:I-GP was GREAT. That was the best action movie I've seen in a LONNNNNG time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 07:43 AM) While it's a good thing that this merger died, it remains to be seen what happens with TMobile now, since the company that owns it doesn't want to run it. And herein lines the problem. T-Mobile will go simply go bankrupt now. Why? Because, when the sale announcement was made public, T-Mobile stopped investing in maintaining their infrastructure in any sort of real way. They kept it running, sure, but that's about it. They also stopped clamoring to get manufacturers to make phones for them...if someone did, they didn't stop them, but they also didn't go out and actively seek new technologies/phones for their users thinking there was little to no point. So basically, while the entire cellular industry marched forward for the last year, T-Mobile did nothing...and now, if they even wanted to attempt survival, would have to play catchup...which would basically deplete any cash they saved up. The upside for them is maybe, if they expend all of their resources, they can "possibly catch up"...the downside is, at best, they can catch up...and then have no money left to stay with the pack. They're in trouble now.

I find some of these new atheist movements to be more hateful sounding than most organized religions. But whatever, I'll just ignore them, too.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 07:42 AM) A small group of the protesters does something that looks bad on camera...why that indicts the entire movement. A small group of the protesters does something that looks good on camera, why it's disingenuous to credit the movement for that. Um, complete fail. A small group of protestors does something that looks bad on camera? I'm not discrediting them for doing bad stuff, so don't put words in my mouth, but thanks much. I never blamed the entire movement for small fringe groups of them doing something bad. Just like I refuse to blame every police department, or every cop on a police department, because a few of them do something stupid. I blamed them for failing to send any sort of clear message or accomplishing anything tangible. The example SS posted above -- that's accomplishing something tangible -- obstructing traffic, shutting down shipping ports, getting in peoples way, etc...that's not. That's just being a nuisance. If such actions, as cited in his story, were common amongst these 'occupy' camps, maybe then I'd lend some credence to them as a whole for such actions. But as it stands, this isn't something they're actively doing (at least they weren't). It's a one off story that decided to credit an entire movement for something they've never once said they were attempting to accomplish. If they were, maybe they'd actually have a real message. So while I credit the ENTIRE movement for accomplishing nothing other than wasting time, getting in the way, and at best, confusing people as to why they're protesting in the first place, I've never credited the entire movement based on the actions of a few stupid people. You may go directly to jail for completely failing.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 03:36 PM) <!--quoteo(post=2525175:date=Dec 19, 2011 -> 02:50 PM:name=Soxbadger)-->QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 02:50 PM) <!--quotec-->Succession could be very troublesome. Il-Jong was much older when he succeeded his father and they had spent years prepping for it. Furthermore you are now once removed from any connection to Il-Sung who is the one that garners the armies loyalty. And of course the last problem is competing heirs, Jong-Il was the eldest son of Il-Sung, Jong-Un on the other hand is Il-Jong's youngest son, leaving arguably 2 other suitable candidates. If you are going to strike for power, now is the time because Jong-Un is extremely young (27-28) . <!--quoteo(post=2525180:date=Dec 19, 2011 -> 03:05 PM:name=Milkman delivers)--> QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 03:05 PM) <!--quotec-->f***ing Korean names. That paragraph above me was way too confusing, and I already knew the back story. But seriously, this video is appropriate. That was great.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 12:56 PM) "Occupy Atlanta" helps prevent Iraq war veteran from being foreclosed on. These people did something good for someone -- and that's great -- but I see little to no connection to any of these "Occupy" camps. I think calling this "Occupy anything" is disingenuous and attempts to credit an entire movement that deserves no such credit. This was a fringe group of people that did something nice for a small area. Now, if stuff like this became a common occurrence amongst these groups, maybe then we can credit 'Occupy'...and hell, maybe then people would actually get on board with them, because they'd actually be accomplishing something.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 17, 2011 -> 10:04 AM) What's stopping you from doing it? I don't know why anyone would own an Android device and not root and put CyanogenMod on it... If hacking isn't your thing, I recommend iPhones, if it is, I'd definitely side with Android.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 07:47 PM) No one wants to. That would break the game. Balta gets it.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 07:54 PM) ah, i see. well then they are brilliant marketers. Well, if you really think about it, Lowe's bread and butter are middle class American blue collar workers. I.E. union carpenters, plumbers, handymen, etc. I haven't done a "poll", but I'm going to go ahead and venture to guess most of them 1) don't give a s*** about muslims, foreigners, most religions, and 2) probably hate them all. In other words, Lowe's probably won't lose any business. I know this, and I'm not even a blue collar worker...but I've never liked Lowe's, I think Menard's is far superior...however, would this prevent me from shopping at Lowe's? No. Because I don't care about this, whatsoever.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 04:30 PM) It's not true that I didn't hear about it last week? Why I'm downright befuddled, I don't know when I heard about it last week but you tell me that it's not true that the story became a major story this week. Amazing how the discussion on this site only started in the last day or two, I guess that's the message board clock getting confused again. Has someone accelerated the servers to 0.999c? I don't know when you heard about it or not...but two days AFTER the Lowes story broke, the show aired and the ratings went down, they didn't benefit from any news of it. How that has anything to do with what you're saying, I'm not sure. I'm not saying as the story gains tons of momentum it may or may not see a short term spike...I'm simply saying that thus far, it hasn't really helped it. And based on the comments in this thread of the show, I hope it doesn't...because it sounds like another stupid reality TV show the world can do without.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 03:21 PM) The last episode aired 5 days ago and I for one hadn't heard about Lowe's pulling its ads until this week. The publicity boom hadn't started when the last episode aired. Not true. From the link I posted: This recent episode, which aired two days after news broke of Lowe's controversial departure as advertiser, continued a downward trend in numbers, not benefiting at all from the added attention. It dropped from a .4 rating in the key demo from the previous week, and fell below the 1-million mark for the first time.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 03:40 PM) OK, I give. Can someone PM me a link to a still-up video of the prologue trailer? If they have one? Google isn't finding any that are still up. I'd appreciate it! I wouldn't bother, honestly...just wait to see a clean copy of it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 03:12 PM) You went after me hard, very hard, said that: "It hurts me because like you said- too many people either don't care enough, or can't look past their own f***ing noses to look into other culture's and faiths- let alone accept them. They accept the obscenities these jabroni's spew as truth". And yet you don't seem to care about the show either. Like I said, had lowes not done this, no one would have cared about the show, or anything the Florida Family Association or whatever this group is called actually says. By listening to them, they have given this show an enormous amount of free publicity. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed...-ratings-272479 Yet it lost more viewers AFTER the Lowe's debacle.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 02:56 PM) I guess that's not how I meant it. I don't know much about Wiccans, Buddhists, etc. - but it doesn't mean that I'll pass judgement or paint their entire religion and all who subscribe to it with a broad brush. That's exactly what a whole hell of a lot of Americans did and keep doing after 9/11. You keep pushing this pseudo anti-American crap...and it doesn't fly. You act as if the rest of the world isn't the exact same, or even worse in many cases. It's not just Americans that do that. The ENTIRE f***ing world does it. You and a lot of other people in this modern era make this mistake repeatedly, and annoyingly, as if the rest of the world is this enlightened world of awesome, where nobody hates anyone and puppy's remain young forever. Yes, some Americans are dumb asses. Unfortunately, dumb isn't indigenous to the USA. Hell, go to a foreign soccer game and wear a ManU jersey in the wrong stadium. Then let's see how enlightened these savages are.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 02:54 PM) I don't think I said I was expecting him to be that small when it's done. In fact, I said they have to make him look bigger Nolan won't do that. The only way he will make Hardy look bigger than Bale is shooting the bulk of any scenes they are in together with Hardy closer to the camera than Bale, and mostly 3/4 shots from the waste up...it will give Bane a larger appearance. I say this because there is no other way to shoot this without CGI, and Nolan has already gone on record saying he refuses to use CGI to that extent in any of his movies.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 02:44 PM) I think the ignorant part is thinking something about a certain group of people without actually taking the time to learn about them. If you've never heard of a religion then you can't form an opinion about the people that practice it. Some people DO take the time to learn about religions and are still considered ignorant by the followers of that religion -- take the now deceased Christopher Hitchens for example -- I guarantee he knew more about Islam than most people ever will yet I guarantee most followers of Islam would vehemently disagree with Hitchens opinions of that religion. I haven't heard of or bothered to study MOST religions, but I CAN have an opinion on them. Oh, and I do. That doesn't make me ignorant, either. What it makes me is smart.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 02:29 PM) You don't agree that he should be at least slightly bigger than a pretty muscular guy like Christian Bale? Tom Hardy in these pictures looks about the same size, if not smaller. Tom Hardy is short in real life...I think he's like 5'9" -- they say he's taller than that, but I've seen him and trust me, he isn't. I think Bale is like 6' or so. Keep in mind that finding a "big strong muscular guy" is easy, but finding one that can act isn't. Through the magic of cinema, they will make Bane look quite formidable in this movie, trust me. Yes, by comic standards, he SHOULD be way taller/bigger than Batman, reality is, however, Tom Hardy isn't a big guy, but I'm sure Nolan through this through a bit and it'll turn out way better than you're expecting.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 02:03 PM) If Lowe's hadn't pulled their ads that means they didn't cave in to the demands of a bunch of bigots, and thusly I would have no beef with them. The problem is they did. Not only is it a backasswards and shortsighted approach to business, it's downright awful. I hope they're happy that a small hate group is satisfied with them and will continue to shop there, because now, an even larger group of normal people won't be. I can only hope it ends up hurting them, but that's wishful thinking. Too many people (my own parents and siblings included) are ignorant about Islam and in fact, do think of Muslims as being a bunch of Osama bin Laden's. Weren't most people raised to respect one another? I know they teach that at my church... If falls upon deaf ears to a frightening amount of people- the kind that like to pick and choose what they hear to suit themselves. It would be interesting to see how most Christians would react if they were put in the shoes of a Muslim in America. I can just hear the b****ing, moaning, and outrage. The attitude a big chunk of Christian Americans have towards Muslims and Islam is just the same as the attitude Whites in America held towards Blacks during slavery and through the Civil Rights Movement- LONG after we as a society came to the conclusion that it was wrong as f***, and moved past it! I'm Polish Catholic, both as a result of the family I was born into. My parents nearly s*** a brick when they found out that I own and have read the Qur'an. Some of my best friends are Muslim, and have good qualities/go about life in ways that many of my Catholic or atheist friends couldn't touch. I very much care about and am aware of f***s***s like FFA or the other s***bird pastor that burned the Qur'an. It hurts me because like you said- too many people either don't care enough, or can't look past their own f***ing noses to look into other culture's and faiths- let alone accept them. They accept the obscenities these jabroni's spew as truth. Mix in the fact that our Country is fighting a war in an Islamic country, and all of a sudden it makes perfect sense to them. It's my biggest complaint about people I call "my fellow Americans", and I absolutely can see why other countries can't stand us. To a large degree, I'm right there with them. I try to use as little profanity as possible, but this is a topic that makes me see red, so apologies. Other countries only claim to not like us, because it's fashionable to do so. In reality, they love us. They also have the very modern "short attention span syndrome", and people conveniently allow them to forget the past. I mean, after all, the excuse that "we've changed our wayward ways" only goes so far, in that not long ago these same countries that look down upon us did some of the most unforgivable/heinous s*** the likes of which we still haven't come close to touching. And the only reason many of them aren't still doing it, is because at some point in the past, they lost some rather important wars. And people have the right to be "ignorant about Islam", or the Quran, or Catholicism, etc. Far be it for me to say, but just because YOU decided to care about Islam and read up upon it, don't point fingers at others for "being ignorant". It's not ignorant to NOT read up on something that exists, because I have to tell you, there are religions out there that YOU'VE never heard of, thus you're ignorant, too, by your own definition. Look, we only have so much time in our lives, and just because a person doesn't decide to educate themselves on something (or EVERYTHING), that doesn't mean their ignorant. It just means they have different priorities than you. If you spent your ENTIRE LIFE studying religions, both past and presently existing, and lived to be 100, you'd die well before you got half way through knowing much about religions.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 10:46 AM) Stow the condescension. I'm not talking about the guy being the hulk, but perhaps more of a steroid abusing guy, not an average muscular dude.

Well this lasted long... Full article link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,23977...gle+Feedfetcher At the Google I/O conference in May, many Android phone vendors and U.S. wireless carriers made a long-awaited promise: From then on, any new Android phone would receive timely OS updates for at least 18 months following launch, as part of the then newly christened Google Update Alliance. So seven months in, we thought we'd circle back and ask all those vendors an important question: How's it going? Here's what they had to say—and unfortunately, it's not at all good: Motorola: "We are planning to upgrade Droid Razr Motorola Razr, Motorola Xoom (including Family Edition) and Droid Bionic by Motorola to Ice Cream Sandwich. As we add other devices to this list, we'll be sure to keep you in the loop." They ignored our specific question about the Photon 4G, the Atrix 2, the Droid 3, the Droid X2, and the Admiral, and our follow-up question that if not, how Motorola would reconcile this with the pledge it made back in May. Samsung: "After reviewing various factors such as system requirements, platform limitations, and partner-related issues, we will consider upgrading Galaxy devices to Ice Cream Sandwich. Specific upgrade plans will be communicated separately. Samsung will stay committed to responsibility for its customers as much as possible." Our question about the Samsung Captivate Glide, the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, the Samsung Conquer 4G, and the Samsung Exhibit 4G was ignored, as was our follow-up question about the company keeping its Google I/O pledge. Sprint: "Sprint will begin to rollout Google's latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, to our customers in early 2012. Ice Cream Sandwich will be available via an over-the-air update to a variety of devices, including HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G and other key products in our line-up. Please stay tuned for more details and exact timing." Our question about the Motorola Photon 4G, the LG Marquee, and the Samsung Conquer 4G was ignored, as was (you guessed it) our follow-up question about holding to the Google I/O pledge. T-Mobile: We asked T-Mobile about the myTouch 4G, myTouch Q, LG DoublePlay, and Samsung Galaxy S II. "T-Mobile is coordinating with Google to deliver Android 4.0. While we don't have any information to share regarding the devices you noted ... we'll let you know when we have more details to share," a spokesperson said in response, but T-Mobile did not mention anything about Google I/O, either. Verizon Wireless: A spokesperson confirmed two existing upgrade announcements for the HTC Rezound and the Droid RAZR, but couldn't release any more information at this time. Our questions about the Samsung Stratosphere, the Motorola Droid 3, the LG Revolution, and the HTC Droid Incredible 2, and the Google I/O pledge in general all went unanswered.

Nolan also tends to prefer "stretching the boundaries of reality" versus outright breaking them. He doesn't want Bane to be the "comic sized Bane", but a more realistic/lifelike version of him. And that's what you'll get in this movie. Bane in the comics -- I'm sorry all you comic fans -- was retarded big and stupid looking. This Bane will come across as much more believable. People have questioned Nolan's decisions in every Batman movie he's made thus far...despite the fact that every Batman movie he's made thus far as been off the charts f***ing awesome. Stop questioning him. He knows what he's doing. You all who seem to be clamoring for retarded big comic book Bane...do not.

15% cap gains tax is only on long term cap gains -- people don't seem to understand the difference, but it's a big one. Short term cap gains = anything bought and held for less than 365 days (1 year), these are ALL taxed at ordinary income levels. So if you're ordinary income tax was 35%, your short terms cap gains tax is also 35%. Long term caps gains = 15%. This is ONLY for things you've bought and held for more then 365 days (1 year 1 day). I've noticed politicians trying to blur the lines between the two, pretending as if cap gains tax is all the same when it isn't.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 15, 2011 -> 08:42 PM) Did any of you catch the big spread the Wall Street Journal did on health care on Monday? I just got through reading it. I think they completely miss the boat. The issue isn't vertical integration (which all these companies, doctors, hospitals, etc.) are trying to do. That completely misses the real issue. Hell, even Balta understands that you have to actually bend the cost curve. Vertical integration doesn't do that, it simply moves the curve from one place to another. I also dislike the use of the word vertical integration these days, since it's become nothing more than a buzzword thrown around board rooms, and most people don't even really understand what it means. The issue with healthcare is a broad spectrum issue that's been ongoing in this country for decades now, and they let the animal grow from a chipmunk into a lion...and this Lion, he's bigger and badder than any other animal in the forest...and he's going to use his teeth to protect what it has. * Education to become a doctor costs WAY too much, to the point that their main incentive becomes the fact that one day they're going to make TONS of money to compensate. * The malpractice insurance policy's doctors have to carry to protect themselves from lawsuits, warranted or not, are VERY costly, so they inflate their wages to compensate. * Hospitals and clinics tend to arbitrarily charge non-Medicare patients...whatever the f*** they please...because they can. I mean, do you know what a kidney transplant usually costs? Neither do I. * Drug companies have similar issues, from VERY costly lawsuits, to the insane costs of creating new drugs, which often forces them to charge exorbitant amounts for said new drugs when they hit the market. Do they keep the prices too high, too long? Possibly, but who can tell them what/why/how? The list of issues between the big 3 (drug companies, insurance companies and hospitals/clinics themselves) is immeasurable at this point...attacking one of the three renders nothing in terms of progress. And the cherry on top of all of this...our lawmakers know almost NOTHING about how the medical industry actually operates...yet they hold the control in passing laws that affect the industry.