Necro

 

TRY AND STOP ME

blorp

What angle are you holding it at? If metalworking has taught me anything, it's that the easiest mistake to make when shaping something like that is holding the sharpening/filing/smoothing/etc. tool at the wrong angle.

 

Matoro.

See, it's funny because his character died around six years before the movie came out =3

 

I still remember how many people absolutely flipped out when that happened.

Not me.

 

*sobs*

:c This needs immediate correction. Go see it next time you're off!

You never realize how much you love grain products until you have to start denying yourself every single craving that pops into your head

It's so true it's painful. And somehow ever single year I get lulled into a sense that it'll be fine this time!

The worst thing is the passover rolls. They're close enough to real rolls that you can tell what you're missing, but the texture is all wrong, and no breadroll should ever be springy!

I hate to nitpick, but you're incorrect about the suicide rate. White people have the highest suicide rate in the US, and men by and large have around a three times higher suicide rate than women in every racial demographic.

The rest of it I pretty much agree with, in incarceration, harassment, and especially homicide, you're dead-on, but suicide does not impact women or racial minorities more than men or caucasians, at least in the US, and it bugs me when I hear people say that because I've had two friends attempt it, one of them succeeding. Both guys, both white, and I feel like misrepresenting that one minimizes them by suggesting that the problem that took one of my friends and almost took another affects their demographics less than others.

Sexual minorities in all likelihood are impacted more extremely than any other group with all of these though, other than incarceration simply because of how disproportionate racial minorities are in incarceration rates. Unfortunately I can't find government statistics about violence against LGBT individuals, which is disturbing, to say the least.

I'm well-aware. But there's two big things I've come to feel about stereotypes in my experiences with them; the first being that being defensive only makes it worse. Every time I would get angry or defensive when someone made them, one of two things would usually pop into their head, depending on whether they were actually antisemitic or not. If they were, it'd usually be something along the lines of "That's making the Jew kid mad, I bet he doesn't like hearing the truth." and if they were just ######, it'd be something along the lines of "Hah, that's getting under his skin, I should do this more." It just made it worse unless it was a friend, in which case it never happened until the past two or three years when I started laughing this stuff off.

If you get upset, then in the mind of someone that already has the preconception that X is true and is going in with that bias preexisting - which, even if they aren't bigoted, they're typically going in with as a result of how reinforced the stereotypes are - the fact you're so defensive means to them that you have something to hide. The way they're looking at it, if it's not true, then you shouldn't get upset about it, and if you are getting upset, it's because you feel guilty or embarrassed about how absurd your people are. It's the same way that when someone's accused of anything false, all acting out and getting upset does is make them look more guilty.

Is that right? Absolutely not. Things shouldn't be like that at all, and it's sad that they are. But few things in the minds of the bigoted are the way they should be. What we're looking at is the thought process of someone who, in this case, is antisemitic, so their perception is what's important to my argument since that's what impacts their thoughts, not reality. Reality comes in a minute.

Meanwhile, laughing it off or shrugging it off, every time I've done it, suggests that you don't have anything to hide, because it's not true. It suggests that it's a fictitious notion that doesn't bear any weight, and therefore doesn't hurt. Does it hurt? Yes. Even when I've put on a stoic face, things that are genuinely hateful and antisemitic hurt. A lot. But I know that if this is someone that already has those biases and prejudices, all that will happen if I react strongly is it will make them more eager. After all, what do you think is the reaction they want when they call me a money-grubbing hebe? I'd be willing to bet my life they're trying to rile me up and make me mad and/or upset. I'm playing right into their hands if I let it show that I'm upset. If I just let it roll off my back, or even give a positive reaction to it, then that's not the outcome they want, and most people don't plan for an outcome they don't want. It's when things don't go how someone's biases tell them they're going to go that they get confused and question things, and it's when I've taken the hits and kept a smile on that I've been able to educate them and actually do some damage to those prejudices, not when I get angry and upset. People should care about the feelings of others and not making them upset, but if they're intentionally saying hateful things and already look at me like a lesser person, then they're probably not going to care about that, and if anything it'll be amusing to them. It's wrong, but that doesn't make it untrue.

The second thing I've come to feel about them is, being honest, there's some truth in them somewhere. Is it interweaved with a bunch of hateful nonsense? Absolutely. But plenty of it has some basis; every Jewish guy I know, myself included, is a momma's boy. One guy I know is the son of a stockbroker and a CEO, he's filthy rich. Another guy is a short, round, brash, and fun. Another is a goofy klutz who embarrasses himself every time he tries to be athletic. Then there's a girl from New Jersey who is every Jewish woman stereotype rolled into one, she's short, loud, fun, smart, great cook, says whatever she's thinking, and really caring. Heck, I have a big nose, and while it's less because of its monetary value and more because I make jewelry so find them beautiful, I love gold and silver. And all of us - all of us - love to eat.

Does that mean that we all have beards and hats and say "oy vey" every other sentence? No, it doesn't. Does that mean that even the more realistic ones that apply to some of us apply to all or even a lot of us? No, it doesn't. Are all of us the same or incredibly similar? Not a chance. And does that mean that I don't mind the lack of good Jewish characters? No, it doesn't. Why do you think I love BJ Blazkowicz even though I've never played the Castle Wolfenstein games? Because he's a big, mean, butt-kicking Jew beating up Nazis that fits so few stereotypes that you wouldn't know he's Jewish without hearing his name. Magnetism is a fascinating superpower, but that's far from the sole reason I like Magneto. I'd love more well-written, non-comedic/stereotypical Jews.

But, are there certain elements of the Jewish stereotype that, more often than not, ring true? There are. I laugh at the parts that are true, because, well, it's true! I don't know if this is the case for most groups, because I can only speak for those I'm a part of, but for Jews at least, there are aspects of our stereotype we laugh at because if we don't know someone that fits a certain part of the bill, odds are we do ourselves. There has been no greater weapon when it comes to me becoming a much happier person than being able to laugh it off when barbs are thrown my way.

Plus, considering the producer of the show is Jewish, I doubt any of it is done with any sort of malice or hatred.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't have to worry about any of this stuff. But our world's far from perfect. I like it as a whole, but it's far from perfect. If people were perfect, then this wouldn't be an issue, because everyone would have a genuine care for everyone's feelings, everyone would be able to tell fiction from reality, and everyone could take a joke knowing there's no malice behind it. But people are even farther from perfect than the world is.

I don't claim that this applies for every prejudice for every group in every situation - like I said in my first post, I can't speak for everyone - but I do claim that it's applied in my experiences with the ones directed at me. Just because it's a stereotype doesn't mean I'm offended, and just because it's a stereotype doesn't mean it isn't funny. Can it be unfunny and offensive? Absolutely, but it's not automatically either.

This got really tangential and disorganized, I hope it made some sense. Not sure how applicable it is to representation, but I think some of it is.

I can't speak for everyone, but speaking as someone Jewish, I find most of the Jew jokes that the Big Bang Theory used - at least before it completely fell to pieces - hilarious.

I have strong opinions on the whole representation issue, and heck, I wrote an entire research paper for my last college english class on the subject, but I've been involved in enough internet arguments about things like this to know that, regardless of side, it's not a headache I find worthwhile personally.

Absotively posilutely

 

Discussion over dinner with a friend about the fact my advisor's not being brought back after his contract is up at the end of this year led to that friend suggesting jokingly - or at least I assumed jokingly - that I should change majors, which led to a discussion about majors that ended with him dissing pretty much everyone that's not part of the school's engineering department, myself included, and telling me that I'm "wasting a great mind with such an unimportant field." Because apparently studying what I'm interested in is a waste of my mind.

 

Needless to say it's a pretty tentative friendship now and my mixed feelings about engineers continue to be very confusing.

Sorry to hear that. Yeah, engineers tend to be esoteric - I have one for a father, and he considers my writing to be a waste of time.

 

It's a thing - but it can't be 100% proved with two instances of correctness. I'm sure that there's probably at least one engineer out there who is more understanding, but I think there is a tendency of them to look down on artistic types, since art is a less reliable source of income than writing or music or other art. The same logic that makes them such good, practical engineers makes them less understanding of the "impractical" stuff like the arts. It's a real shame.

 

My brother and father are both engineers actually. Which, unfortunately, has not quelled my issues with them - my father's badgered me multiple times about getting a graduate degree, and for the longest time my brother was trying to convince me to switch to engineering. They're both brilliant and I still love both of them to death, but they haven't exactly helped my opinion of engineers. I do know two or three cool engineers that have helped though.

I'm a very utilitarian person, I understand where they're coming from, but at the end of the day, I don't care how little they think what I'm studying and doing is useful, I don't care that they think I'm wasting some sort of gift, I care about doing something I enjoy with my life.

What brought this on, may I ask? *nervously dives under cover to avoid machine gun fire*

Discussion over dinner with a friend about the fact my advisor's not being brought back after his contract is up at the end of this year led to that friend suggesting jokingly - or at least I assumed jokingly - that I should change majors, which led to a discussion about majors that ended with him dissing pretty much everyone that's not part of the school's engineering department, myself included, and telling me that I'm "wasting a great mind with such an unimportant field." Because apparently studying what I'm interested in is a waste of my mind.

Needless to say it's a pretty tentative friendship now and my mixed feelings about engineers continue to be very confusing.

All very true, but I disagree with the Wii U's gamepad. The problem with the Wii U's screen, to me, is the fact that, again, it's so new. How many terrible games did we see for the Wii when it first came out that butchered motion controls? Plus they put a lot of stock into third-party launch titles for it, and that didn't exactly work out well.(It didn't help that a lot of the big-name third-party games in its launch were ports. Ports are always awkward, but the gamepad compounded that). While I can't comment on the battery life since I don't own one, it's not like the battery life of my PS3 controller is that great. I imagine the gamepad's much worse though with that giant screen.

I think the gamepad will become a lot less gimmicky within a year or so. It took a little while for handheld devs to get used to two screens, but eventually they started making outstanding dual-screen play like The World Ends With You. The biggest problems I have with it are that it's not available separately and you can't use more than one at a time.

The 3DS, honestly, I've been disappointed in the 3D of. It's still cool, but you're absolutely right that you really don't use it much of at all. I love the more powerful, more modern DS that actually feels like a full-fledged device instead of just a standalone gaming unit, but the 3D really hasn't panned out as cool as I thought it would.

The thing is right now that the 3DS is being sold at a loss, as is the WiiU. People use this to scream that the end is nigh but frankly Nintendo has billions in the bank, and can afford to take a loss for a little while. Undoubtedly, as we speak there's guys in Nintendo R&D saying "what can we do to make the next consoles we release the big thing."

 

The company has survived for 125 years, they'll manage through this.

I feel like I remember Sony also sold the PS3 under cost for the first year or so. Not positive, so if anyone can find a source that'd be awesome.

And that's exactly the thing, is they can afford to do that to establish the consoles while the prices of the technology comes down enough to make them profitable, because they had such a big windfall last generation. Then once they've established their market by undercutting their opponents price by eating that loss, they can make money off of their games, since they have a much stronger first-party game dev team than their competition, and they get 100% of the profits from those. Plus the big-name titles are going to bolster console sales; how many people are probably going to buy a 3DS or Wii U just for the new Smash Bros.?

Nintendo doesn't appeal to the same markets or use the same strategy as its competition, but for what Nintendo's aiming to do, they're doing it almost perfectly.

If my old fencing jacket still fits, I might actually be able to pull that off with photoshop.

You take that back!

#LeavePlutoAlone

Why hello madam.

I've just realized, this is a paradox.

 

If it's correct, no one can be correct; therefore, you are not correct. But if you're not correct, you may be correct. ._.

 

 

-

 

Was wondering how long it'd take for someone to figure it out

Do not tempt me to join in :<

Everything is wrong? ... but, but, I thought everything was awesome!

 

D=

 

#legomovie #sarcasm. #whatisthisidon'teven

Something can be wrong and awesome =D

Baldness is Magic.

I used to wonder what comb overs could be, until you shared Donald Trump with me!

Yeah, I recommend using Optifine whenever you play - I can usually get by with using only around 300 MB of RAM when playing vanilla.

 

For FtB [heavily-modified Minecraft] I'm lucky if I only use one full Gig.

How do I install it? Aside from my Garrus skin, my Minecraft is 100% stock.

 

Might just end up getting a Pokébank subscription for one month or something once summer rolls around...do need to get them out of Ruby though, that thing's battery is dying.

 

Unfortunately I don't think there is a option to buy just a month subscription to Pokébank. There's only a year subscription option as far as I know and it cost about $4.99 (+Tax), which isn't too bad of a price for it. Looks like Blade beat me to telling you that. XD

 

Hm...There looks like there is sale at Best Buy for eShop cards, so you could take advantage of that if there is one close by you.

 

If you want, I could pick up an eShop card for you and sent you the code, so you could use it for this. Just an idea. I wouldn't mind doing that for ya.

 

- JMJ 2014

 

I really appreciate the offer, but unless the battery being dead in Ruby is as ill an omen for the integrity of the game as it is in Silver, I wouldn't feel right doing that instead of just waiting until I get a job and paying for it myself.

You need to beat the E4 first, actually. Upon doing so you'll receive a ticket to take a boat to Kanto. The land connection point between Kanto and Johto is the Pokemon League Reception Gate, and there's a guard in there that blocks the Kanto entrance/exit until you enter from the Kanto side.

 

Source: Pokemon League Reception Gate

Gaah, that means I have to grind through three gyms on top of the elite four in about a week. Might just end up getting a Pokébank subscription for one month or something once summer rolls around...do need to get them out of Ruby though, that thing's battery is dying.

Oh, perfect. To Kanto I go then!

WOW! Those stats are good. 8-11 is normal for a human, you got well beyond that in all your stats.

If only I were that awesome in real-life! ...

You are the closest anyone I've seen so far came to the stats I got - mine all range from 15-17 and I'm a Chaotic Good Human Ranger. =P

Ranger Buddy!

We were all like that. Just be glad you never attempted a comic series. If you did attempt a comic series, I am sincerely sorry.

I did from when I was twelve - why the heck was I on a forum when I was twelve?! - to fifteen. I think it got deleted in one of the server derps though.