Vorlonagent

Abraham seems to have levelled up since his "idiot apprentice" days...

I thought MacOS and iOS were overlaid on top of Apple-licensed and developed versions of UNIX...

In that same comic Abraham did say he thought the Diamond had a will of its own...

Half-Immortals could also be infertile "mules" too...

Dabbler does work for the good guys, but "hero"...?

I have a 2-monitor setup for my desktop and my primary screen is a actually a TV Reason: slightly cheaper and I don't play the sort of games that require a monitor's reaction time.

Nothing says this occurred on the EGS-Prime side of the earth...

I forget where, but there is some hinting that the Dewitchery Diamon is intelligent and was so even before being made into the "Dewitchery Diamond"

I, at least, don't see it this way. US leftists seem to regard all politics as driven by social consciousness. When they're not driven by re-election realities, which is why the differences might appear muted from the outside. US social conscience can collide with reality rather hard sometimes. Example: It was a 2008 campaign promise of Barack Obama's to close the terrorist prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. It was a huge human-rights issue when his predecessor GW Bush was president. The fact that it's still open and criticism is muted might make it look like there's actually little difference between the US Left and Right about the place. Not so. Obama's ideology tripped over reality on the way to the one serious attempt at closure he attempted. President Bush released everybody from Guantanamo one could seriously imagine releasing. The 100 or so left were/are all really bad men bent on doing really bad things to the US and its citizens given the chance. Some inmates released by Bush returned to the battlefield as it was. It's easy to expect that the hardcore inmates that Bush didn't release were kept back because of the very high confidence that they'd return to the fight against us. It would be madness to release them anyway. No matter how much Obama would love to close Guantanamo, he has a stronger desire to not see a trail of blood leading from his decision to his door. Several US states offered up their prison systems for housing the Guantanamo inmates but they all fell down on one really nasty question. Once on proper US soil they would be subject to Constitutional due process, especially when treated according to the criminal-justice model the US Left wanted to use. That due process could result in guantanamo inmates being released, begging the question: Do we really want to see what happens if these guys get loose on US soil? So the whole thing ground to a halt with the status quo as the result. But not because the US Left and Rigth agreed to the status quo but because no solution to Guantanamo Bay could be found that didn't impose a high political risk to the US Left. The hoo-hah over Guantanamo actually quieted down rather quickly after Obama was elected in 2008. Not because the US Left and the US Right suddenly agreed about the place but because most of the US news media, which leads or amplifies such concerns, decided not to put any more emphasis on it. 90% or more of people working in US news media identify themselves as liberal, democrat, or both. There was no point in shedding human-right tears over Guantanamo when there was no Conservative or Republican president to use them against. To an outsider, this manner of choosing issues to be concerned about can also seem to mute the actual degree of contention between the two major US political parties.

Politicians are easy and visible targets. Even the best have to surf on the wave of public opinion and sometimes wipe out. The current problem, especially in the US, is political beliefs are very polarized and divisive and that bleeds over onto the party platform which sometimes seems more a collection of advertising slogans than a coherent policy document.

Where I come from, "Islamophobia" is an epithet most often used to shut down debate and attack anybody with an unflattering view of any part of Islam. It is a word I am very weary of. I don't see a non-violent solution to islamic terrorism. In many eyes, that alone makes me deserving of being called an "Islamophobe". On top of that, my time is limited and my reading speed slow. It sounds like you are recommending to me a book that either is a concentrated dose of finger-wagging at me or detailed information the important basics of which I already know. Of course islamophobia must exist. Terroism's stock in trade is fear, uncertainty, doubt. In that environment, of course, people feeling uncertain and powerless will turn on local muslims, or turn on people who might "look like muslims" such as Siekhs. It is my responsibility to keep my normal, expected xenophobic tendencies in check and be as rational about the subject as I can. In my mind people are people and that includes muslims. Muslims aren't demons or indoctrinated cultists. Most muslims just like most other people. They are just trying to get through their lives and make things a little better each day. The question is how to deal with the muslims that are out on one arm of the normal cure, on the fringes where "live and let live" no longer applies. Especially when they are increasingly deciding to bring that attitude over here. I'm sure there's a lot details in Mr. Iftikhar's book I am not aware of. But are there any themes I'm missing? If Skapegoats' page on on Amazon is any judge I am missing out on a whole lot of finger-wagging and am happy to miss out on. The advert for the book takes time out to hate on the usual suspects like Fox News, so if people like that are delighted by the book, it reinforces the impression that it is a mass of well-researched boilerplate ideology. Once again, my time is limited. Moreover the subject of Terroism transcends the treatment of musims in the West. In dealing with the fragment on one part of the normal curve, it's important for me to fill in my ignorance with knowledge from a source I trust. I know Partner555. I don't know Mr. Iftikhar, but a quick 5 minute google-introduction doesn't give me much confidence in his impartiality.

Do the cleric(s) at your mosque address these attacks in their sermons? (or other times for that matter...) If so, what do they say? What range of opinion do you hear from your fellow muslims? There's going to be a normal curve of reactions. Is this affected at all by ethnicity or nation of birth? Agreed...or no ideology whatsoever. But for good or ill, Islam has a place in the spotlight few other ideologies have. You provide me an opportunity to process it in a way I could not by myself. Again, only if and what you are comfortable answering. I want to learn from you, not cause you any discomfort or alienation.

I'm not sure I buy that analogy. When it comes to Islamic Terror and the West, there's a whole ecosystem here and I want to talk about more than one species of fish in it. Especially something else than the one that has been talked to death the most and is most prone to flame wars if used in a Fish Slap Dance.

That's a great comic to test your prospective Elliots especially on. This one ought to be red meat for your Ellens and Tedds...

There's so many more interesting things to ask about than islamophobia. Partner555 has been on this board longer than I have but his mindset seems close to mine. I trust that I'll get honesty from him. What I'm interested in are questions like the following: Does he have any thoughts on the recent run of attacks in the US and Europe by radical muslims? Does one aspect about them stand out? The US government seems reluctant to put the words "radical" and "islam" together in public for fear of alienating muslims. How does this play to real muslims? These sorts of questions touch on islamophobia to be sure but don't really file under the heading.

I thought they looked familiar...

A few suggestions for voice tryouts. I tried out for a video game being done by the creators of Sandra and Woo. They had me read a preset piece of dialogue. Presumably hearing all tryouts for a part read the same thing helps in comparing them. They critiqued my equipment. Apparently a headphone mic doesn't cut it, which is why I dropped out of that project. I now have better sitting in an amazon box that I bought for a personal project. Can we decide on some common lines actors to read?

If the UK were to hold another referendum on EU membership, a fair vote would need to wait for 2-3 years. An unfair vote would be as close to immediate as is possible. All the bad implications of the vote occur at once and the advantages make themselves known over time. Of course the Pound is dropping now. Markets don't like instability or change and there's backfill work to do in order to rebuild the parts of life that the EU took care of. Once that work is done things might not look so bad (but could).

Just saw this. Don't want to put you on the spot but can we (meaning me) bounce questions off you? It's one thing to be on the outside looking in and another to talk to someone on the inside looking out.

Even though inactive....followed.

Dare I ask what the tie is clipped to?

I often use "frell" and "frelling"...

There's a few choice words about creative writing classes on the podcast Writing Excuses, at least in their early years... And YAY BACKSTORY!!!"

It's certainly enough to assume he was a magic user. If not, there's this comic. Remember an EGS "Wizard" is someone who can learn other people's spells. I don't think we knew Ed Verres was a wizard...

Is this comic confirmation that Ed Verres is officially a wizard?