Soxbadger

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2017 -> 03:57 PM) Nothing wrong with slightly off the strip. There are legit differences in how "luxurious" each hotel is. The older ones are more "classic hotels". There's then a mid-tier like the MGM and that class where the rooms are modern and there's lots of stuff to do but they're not extremely fancy. Then there's a bundle of really, really nice ones where you'll have trouble going wrong with any of them. The Rio is pretty close to the top tier but you don't have to pay the extra funds for being on the strip. Ended up staying at Mirage it was pretty nice. Maybe would have liked a more upbeat casino, but there is also something to be said for having a place to stay that is actually relaxing after youve been out all day/night. QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 24, 2017 -> 09:42 AM) that was an annual trek when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it. They'll most likely have a blast. Took the kid to Kalahari this summer. We were at the indoor park almost exclusively because she thought the water outside was too cold.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 02:37 PM) I have a pretty hard time understanding why the fact that Jon is a Targ is all that important in the war with the Night King. Other than the fact that we all assume it means Jon can ride a dragon, unless there is some unknown mythology re: Targ + Stark means you can kill the Night King, Jon's parentage means a lot more to succession than anything to do with winning the war. I assume that Bran has to have a much more important role to play than that... I think it may have something to do with the whole "Targ's are dragons/special powers." Dany cant be burnt, her brother could be. Jon has been resurrected/etc, so maybe he is the "Dragon" or the "Prince who was promised" or some other mythology that is either unknown or has been lost in time. And while secession isnt "super" important, it could help in terms of getting other banner men to join if the Cersei thing doesnt work.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 02:16 PM) Which is so dumb because didn't Bran already send a raven to Jon? He could have told Jon in that first communication. Its hard to tell. If Bran can see the future, maybe he knows he cant send the raven. Or maybe he has some concern that someone may read the message and the information is too important.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 01:43 PM) I thought she said she didn't want to go to back to King's Landing (seems fair) so she was sending Brienne as her proxy? Is that not the case? That is what Sansa said, I think it was something like shes not going to King's Landing to be a Lannister prisoner. A lot of it was kind of jumbled because prior it seemed like Sansa was going to use Brienne as protection against Arya. (edit) Also Im pretty sure the 3 eyed raven story is how Jon finds out he is a Targaryen. Because Bran said something like "I need to talk to Jon." Maybe to Bran that is really the only relevant issue, everything else is just noise.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Aug 22, 2017 -> 10:49 AM) As others have said, I think they really could have used another season. The pacing and timelines are a mess, they needed some space for background info to even things out. There were multiple episodes of build up to things like Blackwater and The Red Wedding so things were fleshed out better. Even season 4 where there was a ton of major events, things weren't rushed. My uneducated guess is that contracts became problematic.

Army of the dead are basically orcs. Main characters can kill hundreds, but eventually the numbers overwhelm them.

Went to the game yesterday because I was given some free tickets to the "Left Field Porch." Its a new section under the scoreboard where it has a lounge area and a reserved bleacher section. Free beer/wine/sangria/drinks but no food. The area was nice and it was completely covered so you couldnt get rained on. The bleacher section upgrades for bathrooms are a big improvement. The food was pretty good, I tried some "Hot Dougs" and overall liked it. Two things I did not realize were 1) bleachers is GA and 2) bleachers do not connect to the regular stadium. So even with one of the most expensive tickets I was not allowed to walk around the park.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 17, 2017 -> 10:06 AM) My favorite Facebook meme so far is: "Martin Luther King was anti-gay marriage, why aren't we taking down his statues??" If people/cities/states want to vote to take down MLK statues go for it. Last I checked the city council of Charlottesville voted to take down the statute. No one forced them to. The issue is actually in court as other people have sued to keep the statute. The meme shows a fundamental lack of understanding of what is going on.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 16, 2017 -> 11:43 AM) the Daily Stormer just became The Daily Stormer.RU Strange bedfellows, Russians used to hate Nazis as much (or more) than anyone.

Was re-watching the first season of game of thrones, and oddly enough the pins on Danys dress have 3 dragons. Ive never read the books, so I thought it was just a foreshadow for the 3 dragons she would raise.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 05:40 PM) I rarely post in this section of the forum because I really don't like getting into arguments on views, ideologies, etc. I also don't follow news very often anymore and it's made me such a happier person. What happened last weekend was basically impossible to not follow along with. It's so disgraceful that we have people in this country in some capacity think it's alright to either be or pretend to be a Nazi. Idolizing Hitler is so far off and makes me sick. Both of my grandfathers fight in World War II and to me, there is nothing more disrespectful to that generation, especially the WWII vets who are still alive. As far as Trump's comments about the situation, I can see why people are upset about it. I'm probably in the minority but I can also see why he blames both sides. Before I get thrown off the forum let me say that if I was given the opportunity to be there, I definitely would've shown up and supported the protesters to these hate groups. But I wouldn't have brought weapons to this demonstration. Seeing both sides bring weapons shows that each were looking for a fight. While I entirely blame these white supremacy groups, I also do not think the protesters are innocent in this fight. The one's who were actually fighting at least. Just the feelings. The problem is that there is always going to be tension when we truly support the 1st amendment. ACLU has fought for Nazi's right to protest, https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-history-tak...e-speech-skokie , one of my personal favorite sayings is that "I may not support what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." It takes 2 people to start a fight, and both sides have some sort of culpability with respect to the violence. That being said, the most important part is that it is disgraceful that we have people pretending to be Nazis. And that shouldnt be a partisan issue, that should be something Democrats, Republicans agree on. We should have a President who comes out and condemns all forms of racism, all forms of prejudice. That we are a nation of outcasts, of others, formed on the backs of those who escaped all different forms of persecution. But to be honest, I dont know what I would do if I saw a group of Nazis. My great uncle died on D-Day (ironically a 1st generation Italian), I have relatives (through marriage) who were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust. I hope that I would be the better person, but if they started acting violent, Im pretty sure that I would return the favor.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 04:08 PM) It wasn't meant to be a dig. I just meant there is a group of posters who lean very far to the left who also happen to be vocal on this board. I wasn't trying to be offensive when I grouped them all together as "hardcore liberals", although I can see why someone might interpret it that way. I dont really know where most people on this site lean, because (imo) most of the arguments on this board actually arent left or right. Nobody really argues about free trade, immigration, etc. anymore. When those topics do come up, you would be surprised that most of the people on these boards have pretty different opinions. For the past year the majority of the posts/arguments (imo) have been anti-Trump. The problems start to arise because Democrats/left want to force Republicans/right to disassociate from Trump. So anytime Trump is an idiot, it leads to a similar argument "If youre a Republican youre okay with what happened." To be fair, I can only recall 1 poster on this site openly supporting Trump. I believe that, the association with Nazis/KKK etc is mostly out of frustration because some people really believe that Trump is leading the US down a terrible path, and that no amount of alleged jobs, etc are worth the damage that he is doing. As an American, I feel that my credibility/respect takes a hit every day because of Trump. Its not a good feeling, especially when the person who is supposed to be our representative does not seem to care at all about how we are perceived. A lot of people have disliked my comments about GWB as compared to Trump, but it really just shows how far the country has fallen. I may not have agreed with GWB's ideas, but I think that beneath it all he was a good person trying to do his best. You see him having a good time with Michelle Obama, you see the respect that our former Presidents have for each other. And then you see Trump. And personally its hard for me to accept that anyone would support a party that willingly got into bed with him. And maybe it would be different if everyone rallied against Trump. But too often it seems (at least to me) that Republican's are willing to agree if they think it will help them in the end game. That bothers me, because certain things you have to stand against.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 04:02 PM) Trump thinks the Allied army was "very agressive, looking for trouble" Was going to make a joke about Pearl Harbor but I couldnt phrase it in a way that was humorous enough.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 04:01 PM) The thread should really end here. All this forum has become is pitchforks and tiki torches. Message boards are the place for pitchforks and tiki torches. Problems arise when the virtual torches become real torches.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 03:59 PM) Fair enough, I'll move on from this issue. In my opinion, you dont need to move on. If anything sometimes it takes another perspective for people to see that maybe they are coming across poorly.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 03:48 PM) How about the posters who didn't vote for Trump and have never spoken a positive word about him that are still constantly grouped and berated into the enablers, racists, Nazis, wishing sickness and death upon the American public? Nobody is allowed to post a different thought without getting railroaded. That's why no new people ever post in the Buster. I had enough personal attacks that I had to step away, see what happens now. You cant worry about what other people are going to do. If you have a legitimate position, say it, defend it, argue it. Some people on this site get a little carried away, I personally find that it detracts from the argument and does nothing. But people are mad and upset, they feel the core ideas of Americanism are under attack. The irony is that both sides believe that last sentence to be true.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 03:22 PM) Why don't we give him a chance to clarify his statement without five people jumping down his throat? Imagine trying to explain yourself when you have a half dozen people attacking you. That's my point here. The mob mentality doesn't add to the general discussion, it just creates unnecessary tension for the posters with opposing viewpoints. I did. He chose to make false allegations about what I said. What more can I do? Write Rabbit's posts for him?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 03:09 PM) I find it interesting that multiple posters continue to harp on raBBit for his genetics comment when we all know the point he was trying to make, while StrangeSox accused everyone who voted for Trump to be racist or racist enablers and implied they were bad people and yet not one of the hardcore liberals on this board called him out for it. In fact, most of them came in and defended his ridiculous statement. As a liberal I don't always agree with raBBit's point of view, but I think he deserves better treatment than he gets around here. There is definitely a bully culture on this subforum with the hardcore liberals leading the charge. It really sucks because I come here to learn about issues and opposing perspectives, including raBBit's, but it quickly turns into a groupthink exercise where the same four or five posters aggressively force their opinion down everyone's throats (as if it were fact) without really giving the other side a chance to explain their views & opinions. I asked Rabbit to clarify because I think he worded his post poorly. Instead of clarifying he decided to fabricate a story. That leads me to believe that other people did in fact interpret Rabbit's post correctly because if they didnt all he had to say was: "Soxbadger was right. My post was worded poorly, I really meant that rich people are more likely to have children who are rich and influential, irrespective of their genetic make up." It was that simple. But since he wont come out and say that, I think we now have to assume that Rabbit meant what he wrote, Ivanka's children have better genetic make up than people in Appalachia because of common sense. /shrugs I dont really care to be honest. All of these "group think" attacks are meaningless. Long before Rabbit posted on these boards I used to argue with many (if not all) of the people who now are "group thinking" against Rabbit. Is it group think if we all agree 2+2 = 4?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 03:13 PM) I say incest makes people genetically inferior and SB says I am a flat earther. Cheap, intellectually dishonest, irrelevant and right up your alley. Quote where I said that. If you can quote me saying (prior to this post) saying "Rabbit believes that the earth is flat." I will argue on your behalf on this board for the remainder of Trump's presidency. If you cant, I expect an apology. I know you wont, but itd be nice to think you actually wanted to have a legitimate discussion. As I was going out of my way to try and give you a chance to clarify. Shame on me for thinking that youd take that opportunity to clarify.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2017 -> 03:05 PM) Basically the last 20+ years of behavioral science has shown that there is no real evidence for one group being genetically "superior" to others in any way that is relevant to behavior. There are certain traits that are found in certain populations - sickle cell anemia for example, more substantial risk of certain illnesses being triggered by environmental exposures, but in terms of behavior or ability or who you turn out to be in life, things are so complicated by how people are raised, by the interaction between the environment and genetics, that it is impossible to tease out one factor from another. By the time you reach the point of discussing "things that make you successful" you've piled on such a huge degree of complications that teasing out genetic differences is statistically impossible. Most of those studies have been done using twins - identical genetic material but different environments, and that's the basic result. Aside from specific, genetically at risk diseases, the science argues against these statements. Furthermore, just as he said that "incest" is more common in rural areas (which btw I can't find any evidence to actually support that, it turns out that incest is most common between siblings and there aren't statistics drawing which of those are urban/rural), you have environmental issues that could easily push a different way. Comparing a person from Appalachia with New York for example, someone from New York could very well have higher exposures to lead as a youth in a way that would do greater cognitive damage. The problem is that the post was so poorly written that it really is impossible to tell what was meant by it. I think its safe to say that my children are less likely to be as tall as children who came from parents who are both taller than 6'6. But that doesnt mean its a guarantee, just that there is a higher chance. Which is why Im not 100% sure what Rabbit really meant. Did he mean that in his opinion Ivanka is hot and therefore her children are likely to be hotter than a random person? Is he going down the Seinfeld route that 99% of the population is cant be dated and therefore Ivanka is in his 1% and thus more likely to have a child who he finds attractive as they have similar genes? I really dont know. I think that most people who have taken even basic genetic/science classes understand that success/influence at best is slightly connected to genetics. Even in sports its true, otherwise how can Michael Jordan's kids be worse at basketball than Lavar Balls.

Im on the fence with this one. I cant decide if Rabbit's post is just worded horribly or if he really believes that "influence and success" is genetic. At first I thought worded horribly, but his implication that Ivanka has a better genetic profile is somewhat disturbing as scientifically there is no way to know whether Ivanka has good or bad genetics. I think a good example of this is Paris Hilton. Does she have better genes than Ivanka? Better than someone random in Appalachia? I dont know the answer. Will Bezos have super children? I guess my biggest problem with this whole argument is that it seems Rabbit is going down the path of science denial. I mean its just common sense that the Earth is flat, common sense that the Earth is the center of the universe... The problem is science has repeatedly shown that what people "commonly" believed was wrong.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 02:40 PM) I feel like he has them finished but HBO asked him not to release them until the show concludes. Just my personal conspiracy theory with no basis He is a really slow author. I wouldnt be surprised if he never finishes. (edit) Unrelated looks like Wheel of Time is actually going to be a tv series.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 14, 2017 -> 01:23 PM) I don't understand this. Why would it matter? Conflict of interest.

Can we all agree that if someone is planning to post any of the alleged "leaked" future scripts that they put spoiler tags on them?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 31, 2017 -> 03:35 PM) I have never actually seen it, but I could have easily gotten involved with it. Anybody who has gone to college and partied to any extent could find it if they really wanted. Like you, I was afraid that I'd like it too much and that it'd be a tailspin from there. Cocaine is pretty big in higher end circles. Would make complete sense that anyone making millions would be around it/ taking it. MDMA is all the rage, but that is mainly because its usually cheaper.