Flaser Posts

Yep from 12:00 CST / 18:00 GMT.

What do you need? (Do you need MMS, WAP, WiFI, GPS?)
If the new phone has more features will you actually use them?

The first thing you should decide on, is whether you need a smart phone or not.
If you don't need a smart phone, then you should look for a sturdy phone that you can quickly get used to. Since you're already familiar with Nokia, I'd stick with the brand as their menus and interface is pretty consistent.

(Before Apple came along with the I-Phone, Nokia was already showing the world what the difference was between technological sophistry and actual design. Apple showed the world that a mobile can be more than a portable phone, but that's another story).

If you could use a smart phone, then you should choose whether you need something with Symbian, Windows CE or Android. (What OS your phone will have. This will dictate what software you'll have to buy, or what you can use for free). This is a broad topic and if you go with this, you should invest more time before making the choice. There are tons of articles out there, so go browsing.

Any news on when the polls will be fixed?
I need to know so it won't interfere with the Eromangaka TM.

Despite all claims to gender equality, boys and girls are still brought up very differently. The core of this issue stems from the fact, that women use different handles to perceive and relate to the world than men.

Men tend to be more direct - when they say something, they're more likely to mean exactly what they say. While they seemingly have a more "down to earth" approach to living they're just as biased as woman. Whenever the talk comes to their self-image or their portrayal of it, expect some major posturing.

Woman are a lot more conscious of the social implications of their life. When they speak they often try to imply such connections. Men may misunderstand this as hysterics about vague feelings... which it is, since most of our relations are built around our impressions, and gut feelings. However a man may utterly fail to grasp the mechanism of this and hence won't "get it".

This does not mean that men are more self-centered, whereas women are only thinking about the group... far from it. A women may be just as much a selfish bitch as the next selfish bastard, it's the perception of reality that's often different.

Women tend to see themselves through their relations and this is why they can be so important for their self-image, while men start from their self-image and view their relations through how they might fit it.

Next time a men/woman baffles you, try to examine what the situation might seem like deprived of the actual substance at hand and focus on the general signals that accompanied the exchange... chances are you might come to some startling realizations. We all send of a lot of emotional "coloring" with our day to day interaction (whether as signals of our self-image, or as signals of our feelings about something) and for a receiver attuned to a different "band" of it we can thoroughly misrepresent ourselves.

...or you can just use a proxy:

http://proxy.org/cgi_proxies.shtml
http://www.proxysmurf.com/
http://www.bypassschoolfilter.com/
http://censorship.wikia.com/wiki/Circumventing_censorship

Since only Flare could respond (...and I know Ramsus probably can't attend), I'll start the session at the usual time.

Since I have stuff to do early Monday morning (4:30 GMT), how about we start a little earlier? 10:00 CST / 16:00 GMT sounds good?

I'll probably won't be back in time to GM on Friday, so it's Sunday or nothing if you need me this week.

I vote "No". I, or anyone else for that matter (that I know) didn't do shit to be part of my country, they just happened to be born here. Being proud can't even enter this as there is nothing to be proud of.

...if someone were an immigrant and did a loads of stuff to get citizenship, I can respect that. Merely being born and proud of that? Dumb, dumb, dumb...

Turns out I can't GM this Saturday... however I *can* do it on Friday evening/Sunday.
So is that good for anyone?

Maybe the first Ghost in the Shell Movie. While Innocence looks fantastic, it's really heavy on references so it's not really accessible, while the 3rd movie is a tie-in to the series, so is also out.

I also recommend the Cowboy Bebeop series ...and the Movie! Damn good animation, fantastic music and a great dub. It has adult themes, but it's light, funny and finally delivers with a solid "whump!".

The stuff that I make availible on Flashbot/#fakku@irc.rizon and on these compilation torrents

http://sukebei.nyaatorrents.org/?page=torrentinfo&tid=26875
http://sukebei.nyaatorrents.org/?page=torrentinfo&tid=26877

...is kept here:

D:\BACKUP_Archieved\6.3.1_Hentai_Doujinshi
D:\BACKUP_Archieved\6.3.2_Hentai_Manga_Original_Doujinshi

Fresh Stuff:
D:\BACKUP_Fresh\6.2.1_Hentai_Pictures
D:\BACKUP_Fresh\6.2.5_H-CG
D:\BACKUP_Fresh\6.2.6_Hentai_Artbooks
D:\BACKUP_Fresh\6.3.1_Hentai_Doujinshi
D:\BACKUP_Fresh\6.3.2_Hentai_Manga_Original_Doujinshi
D:\BACKUP_Fresh\8.0_Videos\Hentai
D:\BACKUP_Fresh\8.0_Videos\Hentai (cenzored)
D:\BACKUP_Fresh\8.0_Videos\Hentai (RAW)

Very Fresh Stuff I Just Downloaded:
D:\Downloads\Hentai\Doujinshi - Fresh 2B Read Hentai Doujinshi
D:\Downloads\Hentai\Doujinshi - Fresh 2B Read Hentai Manga and Original Doujinshi
D:\Downloads\Hentai\Doujinshi -=- RAW

Archiving This Stuff Doesn't Yet Make Sense:
D:\Downloads\Hentai\Doujinshi - Under Further Release
D:\Downloads\Hentai\Doujinshi - Under Further Release in Limbo
D:\Downloads\Hentai\Doujinshi - Unidentifiable

The main objective of terrorism is not the physical persecution of its objective but spreading fear and raising averseness of its agenda.

Granted, actually destroying the target is damn good result (from their point of view) and the "best" "message" they could send. (Do what I demand, or I'll keep killing your people!)

However if even an failed attempt makes the general public fear them and give consideration to their demands, then yes, I'd have to say they're succeeding.

This isn't about the realistic effect of their action, but the public perception of them and in this regard the way western governments handle the issue is a major mistake. They should be constantly marginalizing and downplaying the seriousness of the danger in the press.

Meanwhile massive founds should be put into actual intelligence work - good 'ol humint - instead the security theater that seems to seep into our life everywhere.

---

@Chiva: Let me clarify my position. I'm tired of all the ideological debate around the wars. I'd grant you that a solid case could be made for the invasion of Afghanistan and a marginal case could be made for the invasion of Iraq.

I also have to point out that it was only mainstream media who was lapping up and swallowing the line spouted by Bush and company.

Even at the time, there was solid evidence out there that it was the Bush administration who pushed the intelligence agencies into publishing reports in favor or their policy. Nay-sayers and cautionary reports were silenced or suppressed.

That's for the casus belli.

Now about the methods: in both cases the "operational plan" was outstandingly naives and juvenile. We get rid of the "bad guys" and the nation flocks to us while we build a democracy...

...going into the face of over a 100 years of occupation experience and lessons learned in counter insurgency warfare.

To sum it up: the post invasion handling of the situation was a disaster and was the perfect recipe for cooking up an insurgency.

Now about management: it wasn't until Petraeus was deployed that a COIN doctrine was even drawn up! The forces deployed had no idea what they were dealing with, their responses were the wrong kind to actually suppress an insurgency (shock and awe can crush an army... it will only strengthen an insurgency). Even now, while a policy is finally in place, it has yet to be widely understood and brought into actual operational practices.

Now about a intelligence: Because the classical intelligence couldn't be relied on to deliver fast (and the "desired" - ahem WMDs) results the task was simply pushed onto the ground forces who went about it in a heavy handed and gung' ho fashion... an utter disaster. The reason why the CIA couldn't deliver is simple - such work takes months or years. It's subtle and slowly builds up to major results that later on translate to a solid understanding and transforms your actions into a surgical strike that can root out the opposition instead the blundering that does more bad than good. (Number of dead insurgents? Number of raids? All insignificant! Actual casualties are good for the insurgents, as the dead can be made into martyrs and "proof" of the barbarism of the invaders. Successful COIN needs to isolate the insurgents, behead their organization, co-opt its members and discredit the movement before the people at large. Merely killing as many guys as possible (even if they ARE insurgents) won't do that).

So to sum it up:
-Afghanistan was launched under acceptable reasons with valid objectives. The actual operational plan after the invasion was flawed and juvenile.
-Iraq was launched under trumped up reasons and its objectives were ill defined. The actual post-invasion plan was even more flawed than in Afghanistan.
-In both theaters the post-invasion occupation was mismanaged.
-The intelligence efforts in both theaters went against decades of solid advice and the actual experts were marginalized.

All through this sordid affair, an infuriating, "Can Do" platitude was permeating the whole communication and planning(!) that has no place in national policy or military operations. Bush and company tried to convince everyone that being positive will ensure that everything goes as they planned. When it didn't, instead consulting professional advice they just tried the same shit even harder - to disastrous results.

A post word:
As is, I believe the USA will have to abandon one of the theaters as it doesn't have the resources to uphold an occupation in both of them. Preferably if resources were present than both of them should be held onto... but there simply aren't. Contrary to what's said everywhere else, I think it should be Afghanistan that's abandoned.

A shift in perception is also necessary: COIN takes *decades* to do. So the USA better buckle up and realize they'll be in this for a long time and their sons will keep dieing in a foreign land.

A change in policy is also necessary: instead aiming for maximum immediate damage, more effort should go into stabilizing the region and all effort should be made so that native security forces can take over wherever possible. All pretenses to "democracy" should be abandoned. As long as the state can't extend and maintain its power protecting its citizens, all trapping of free voting and freedom will be an illusion strictly for western cameras but a far dream for actual citizens. The prime target instead would be restoring public security.