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Post by Einherjer on Jul 10, 2010 20:40:25 GMT -5
I'd love to own a pink pistol, but I don't know where to buy one in my town. Stage 1: Buy a cheap pistol and a can of pink paint. Stage 2: Paint the gun pink. Stage 3: Post pics to this thread. Spray paint would likely cause too much trouble with gluing or gumming together parts that shouldn't be glued or gummed together. A 1" brush head with a second detail brush head and a small can of modeler's paint would actually be a better choice, as said resulting gun should still be quite functional. Alternatively, depending on where you live (there are a few in Chicago, at least) there are some gun shops that will do "girl gun" colors for free, in an attempt to bring more women into the fold. They'll do the painting and detailing on an expert level without the risk to damaging the gun. However, Stage 3 of aaa's post remains the same: let us see the end results, if you do something like this!
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Post by Einherjer on Jul 9, 2010 21:42:46 GMT -5
Edit: I actually think it would be more interesting to compare opinions on gun ownership with nationality, to see how much of a role culture is playing here. That would be interesting, indeed, but... the poll would be huge ._. There would need to be so many topics for it, just to cover all the bases. I suppose it could be limited to the continents, N./S. America, Europe, etc, but even then there are such varied changes between individual nations. The EU alone has over a dozen nations in it while many states in the USA have the populations of entire nations, and opinions are varied even between states and other more localized borders. The ability to get a good, solid bit of info on that, from a community as small as FSTDT (in relation to the global community at large) would be difficult, at best, and would give such a small view that it would be almost meaningless. Or so my opinion stands. If another person has the desire to go to the efforts it needs, I will stand behind them 100%, but considering I work two jobs and only have 1-2 hours' free time each day (which is spent looking for a job to replace the two) I simply couldn't accomplish the depth that such a topic would need.
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Post by Einherjer on Jul 9, 2010 18:54:30 GMT -5
A quick back-story: My neighbor, a pretty hard-core Christian, recently declared that Atheists were "gun-scared Liberals who would make us bow down to the first gunmen we see."
He was quite surprised when I produced my concealed carry permit, but quickly stonewalled by repeating that I was "the exception that proves the rule" without actually saying why.
That got me curious, though, just what many Atheists and Agnostics think about firearm ownership. We are generally considered to be Liberals, but at the same time, we tend to be a bit more level-headed and more willing to look at studies and tests than simply touting what we want to be true as actually being true. These two stances seem to butt heads a little bit.
Please note that in the poll, I am asking about law-abiding citizens being permitted to own a firearm, NOT federal criminals. Also, if your own religion (and I know we have some pretty level-headed religious people who come here) has a generally-accepted view about firearms, perhaps make a note of them in the comments?
Ciao!
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Post by Einherjer on Jun 20, 2010 0:50:30 GMT -5
Wait, I'm confused. Isn't one of the major properties of the internet the fact that it's so decentralised that the idea of shutting it off is quite frankly laughable. I mean the most the government could do is order all American ISPs to close down, but I doubt any terrorists would be relying solely on American ISPs in the first place. The problem is that, while it is mostly decentralized, the biggest and strongest of the backbone servers are located in the States. If these were disabled (the government wouldn't have to order all ISPs to shut down, they'd just have to do the 6-7 backbone servers located in the States, out of the 11 or 12 that exist in total), and that would cause such a massive influx on the other 5-6 backbone servers that if they did not crash, they would be so slow as to render the Internet almost unusable. Correct me if I'm wrong, but shutting down American ISPs sounds exactly like the kind of thing that would accomplish nothing against terrorists and severely fuck up the lives of millions around the world. What the hell, people. Welcome to the world of United States Politics.
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Post by Einherjer on Jun 19, 2010 22:20:30 GMT -5
www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/3831440/Obama-internet-kill-switch-proposedThe basic run-up is this: Joe Liberman has created a bill, co-sponsored by Susan Collins, that claims the Internet is a national asset of the United States and wants the President and Homeland Security to have the power to shut it off in case of an emergency to prevent terrorism. My thoughts: Joe Lieberman, a name I've no doubt most of us cannot help but spit out, has proposed this bill, backed by Susan Collins. I'm not exactly one to normally say "call your representative and say NO" but in this case, considering the horrific levels of potential trouble this could cause if it were ever enacted, it might be a time for non-activists to start checking their voices. The United States is the only nation in the world with enough control over the Internet (enough of its Backbone) to truly be able to accomplish something like this, and while they would not be able to shut off the entirety of the Internet, they would be able to cause enough of a disruption that the Internet for the rest of the world would be crippled, at best, and unusable, at worst. Let us hope this bill dies a swift death.
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Post by Einherjer on Aug 25, 2009 14:19:41 GMT -5
I shall be there on the 12th, to finally hopefully buy Cait that drink I promised her about... six months ago! Alas, I shall be at a wedding in Chicago the day before Labor Day, so there is no way I could get out there for Labor Day.
As for dress? I shall be in a (pseudo) kilt. I still need to find a shirt that goes well with it, though...
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Post by Einherjer on Aug 21, 2009 3:18:57 GMT -5
Einherjar (as a Celtic/Norse pagan, I love the name!), you've got every bloody right to be exasperated and amused, even pissed. They imposed THEIR beliefs on YOU - and to me, that's the worst sin one person can do to another outside of actual bodily and mental abuse. I'll be honest, that if they hadn't wanted me to take part in it, I probably would have asked/offered or at the very least, requested to watch it. I am fascinated at how various belief systems work, and it was very interesting to see this one in action. I was rather disappointed that I didn't feel anything, though. Even more-so that the spirit didn't try to do anything to me. C'est la vie. It was worth it, I think, even if it was... odd. Dearie, you probably ARE Satan. And, if you are not, you are most certainly his bride!
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Post by Einherjer on Aug 16, 2009 12:54:29 GMT -5
Added to that in the first post, I would need to see a realistic and logical explanation about why there are apparently three or four conflicting accounts about the death and resurrection of Jesus in the very same holy text that they claim is infallible. And as long as we are talking about conflicting information, all of the contradictions in the bible need to be explained.
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Post by Einherjer on Aug 16, 2009 12:51:05 GMT -5
For some reason, I ready "Howling Bells" as "Howling Balls" at first...
Anyway, listening to "Small Two of Pieces" from the Xenogears soundtrack.
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Post by Einherjer on Aug 16, 2009 11:33:23 GMT -5
I would probably say the same thing, if I hadn't been the one sitting through it.
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Post by Einherjer on Aug 16, 2009 11:18:36 GMT -5
As some of you may or may not know, two months ago, I moved in with a friend and some guy I had never met before when my friend was in danger of losing her place because of various issues.
Now, I'm a very accepting person, and don't really mind religion, so long as it isn't thrown in my face. I think I can safely say most atheists are the same. I moved in with two religious people, and this does not bother me. My friend, whom I moved to help, is non-practicing Greek Orthodox. The random guy is a practicing Wiccan. Random guy has a very good buddy who is always over who is also a practicing Wiccan.
Funny thing about the random guy: he is 350-400 pounds and all he ever does is eat. He has fallen asleep at night with his hands in a bag of chips. I kid you not when I say that, if he is not working, he is sitting and eating while playing video games. He is, in a word, stereotypical. This information is important.
So recently, random guy has a very, very heavy dish for dinner that also happens to be extremely spicy. That night, he has a very strange dream where a Hawaiian deity is chasing him after a botched summons. He wakes up, and says that the house is possessed.
My friend, a female, was on the tail-end of her period. She made a comment after random guy related his dream about how she had been more horny than usual (no, not with either of us; she is a lesbian) and had been watching more porn than usual the last few days.
So the two of them agree that the house had recently become possessed by a mischievous spirit.
I will repeat myself:
Random guy had eaten a very heavy, very spicy dinner and fallen asleep very shortly after and had a bad dream. Friend was on the tail-end of her period and was horny.
So they decide that we need to have a witch's ritual type of thing where they call out the spirit and cast it out of the house. Random guy's Wiccan friend is the "priest" for the ritual. Random guy's friend's girlfriend is present, as is another friend of random guy's friend.
Since I am a part of the household, even though they knew that I am an atheist, and even though I had not seen any sort of influence of this spirit, they wanted me to join them. OK, I figure, it would be a good chance to see what they do with this.
Yeah. I won't go heavily into the details, mostly because it was itself a massive stereotype, but basically, random guy's friend calls out the spirit (who random guy's friend says is named Will, which is funny, because my middle name, random guy's first name and random guy's friend's father are all William), my friend apparently becomes possessed and calls the "priest" a hack for asking his name without using a Ouija board, everybody but me feels some sort of pressure on their chest AFTER the "priest" mentions that the spirit is pushing on his chest, and the friend of random guy's friend says that he feels a presence, but cannot describe it or where it is coming from, at which point, "priest" asks if it feels furry ("yes") and if it feels very powerful ("yes") and if it feels like it is sitting right next to him ("yes") at which point "priest" says that the presence the guy feels is the "priest's" spirit guide, a wolf.
The best part? After the spirit was driven out, we went outside, where it was very, very warm and humid (90ish with 80%+ humidity). They took several 2-liter bottles of soda out there, and after they had sat on a table for a while as we did other things inside (cleaning up), we went back outside and they commented on how there was so much water on the table "as if somebody had been crying because they just lost their home."
Long story made shorter, the spirit is driven out, friend still watches a lot of porn while on her period and random guy still gets odd dreams after stuffing his face and condensation is now tears of a spirit who has been driven out.
All-in-all? A complete waste of two hours' time.
Edit ::I would also like to mention, the reason why the "priest" said I was unaffected? I have a little charm thing made for me by a Wiccan/Christian (not sure how that works) about 10 years ago. The "priest" said that this charm was too powerful and protected me.
Mind you, this was said AFTER the spirit ignored the several-dozen stones of power that were being used in the ritual.
Apparently, I have a charm that is more powerful than 30+ stones of power.
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Post by Einherjer on Jul 23, 2009 20:46:14 GMT -5
As long as I can watch/participate, I approve. Watching and/or participating is not only approved of, it is actively encouraged. Hey now! One at a time, please! It's much easier to take care of business that way.
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Post by Einherjer on Jul 23, 2009 14:48:38 GMT -5
YES THEY DO. It's faint, but they do. I've always thought the sound was similar to the sound of a hand running through my hair...
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Post by Einherjer on Jul 23, 2009 13:00:46 GMT -5
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Post by Einherjer on Jul 23, 2009 12:46:57 GMT -5
I've not yet actually encountered any of my phobias, though each person is supposed to have at least two or three.
Then again, I sort of live my life under the belief that the worst possible outcome of anything is death, even something as benign as enjoying a meal with friends, so there is no real reason to worry about things. Maybe I've forced myself to overcome my phobias before even finding out what they are.
Years ago, back when I was still religious, my parents had me so terrified of Satan and demons and monsters that I could not handle darkness at all, even shadows on a sunny day terrified me. But now, I love the night; I prefer a nice, deep night to a sunny day.
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