New Testingstan

Was he the alligator?

I've seen every episode of that show. Of course I think I was like 5 or 6 at the time, so I remember jack shit except bits and pieces.

Count Chocula wrote:Yep, 1776 was a BIG fucking mistake. What were Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Henry et al thinking?

Oh never mind, our little unpleasantness was a useless waste of Brits' and Hessians' resources. Good for us!

All I am saying, is give war a chance.

"The term "just war" contains an internal contradiction. War is inherently unjust, and the great challenge of our time is how to deal with evil, tyranny, and oppression without killing huge numbers of people." - a WWII vet.

"War is a racket" - a Major-General of the USMC.

Count Chocula wrote:Yep, 1776 was a BIG fucking mistake. What were Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Henry et al thinking?

lots of other countries got independence from britain w/o war... and we were on that same route too. by 1776 various forms of noncooperation had already gotten plenty of concessions.

the stamp act didn't last long, the tea act was essentially nullified right out of the gate, and there were more too whos names elude me right now without looking it up.

but whenever the parliament went over the line, the colonists resisted nonviolently and got it repealed or nullified. then the parliament would cross another line, and they'd do it again. this went on for like ten years with the ultimately colonists coming out ahead each time.

if they stuck to this same idea with the coercive acts too instead of stockpiling guns and shooting at british troopers they probably would have gotten them out too, and may have had enough momentum to get the king to take their side instead of calling them traitors and that prolly would have led straight to a compromise that pleased everybody.

(did they really think they could still get his support after opening fire on his men? they might have felt you have to meet guns with guns, and that's understandable... but wrong: nonviolent resistance is more likely to achieve its goal than violent rebellion, even in the face of repression )

Count Chocula wrote:Yep, 1776 was a BIG fucking mistake. What were Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Henry et al thinking?

"What does Britain mean, the free ride is over? FUCK THAT SHIT! TO ARMS!"

That's naive to say the least. When you have truly repressive governments like Iran or China who are willing to murder their citizens en masse, nonviolence doesn't work too well. But the American Revolution was fought over such petty bullshit it's not even funny.

actually no, if you read the study, you'd see that historically, nonviolence has actually worked EVEN BETTER against such a regime than violence has!

Tianeman Square disagrees.

adr wrote:actually no, if you read the study, you'd see that historically, nonviolence has actually worked EVEN BETTER against such a regime than violence has!

I think that's as close to being factually untrue as possible without compelling me to light your pants on fire.

Flagg wrote:That's naive to say the least. When you have truly repressive governments like Iran or China who are willing to murder their citizens en masse, nonviolence doesn't work too well. But the American Revolution was fought over such petty bullshit it's not even funny.

Because violent protest would work so well in China? Don't forget that Tiananman pushed the army pretty hard with units apparently turning on themselves and each other and some near mutinies over their orders and how they were executing them. *edit* Oh yes, and generals getting sent to prison and them having to ship in formations from other provinces because the locals were the ones unwilling to murder the protesters.

But of course, all that goes out the window if the army is getting shot at or IED'd.

straha: check out the part where they talked about the political costs of repression on violent vs nonviolent movements

i actually read this a few weeks ago but i know its in there. gotta get to bed tho, i'm up at 6:45 tomorrow

Got myself a new goal for physical fitness. One year from today, I want to be able to do 40 pushups in 2 minutes, 40 situps in 2 minutes, and run 2 miles in 16 minutes.

i can't get myself to sleep. gonna be fucking miserable tomorrow

but i think i get the misunderstanding here... i poorly worded my thing. "even better" is a relative term

so like in general, nonviolence works 2x better than violence in achieving goals. the success rate is something liek 50% vs 25%

in the face of brutal government repression, the success rate drops... but it drops more for violence than for nonviolence. the number is something like 30 vs 5 or something like that. so you are more like 6x more likely to succeed using nonviolent tactics than violent ones. hence it works even better in the face of repression, not because the absolute odds increase, but because the relative odds do



and the reason for this has to do with the political cost thing. when a regime cracks down on nonviolent movements, it gets sympathy for the movement and condemnation for the regime. people look at it and say "what the hell did you do that for?????"

but when they crack down on a violent movement, they can justify it a lot more easily, painting the opposition as extremists or terrorists or whatever. now the mainstream person might look at it and say "thank you president dictator for protecting me and my property from those armed groups".


anywho maybe with this out of my brain i can sleep so time to try again

Darksi4190 wrote:Got myself a new goal for physical fitness. One year from today, I want to be able to do 40 pushups in 2 minutes, 40 situps in 2 minutes, and run 2 miles in 16 minutes.

Where are you at currently?

Erm. None of the above? I can manage about ten pushups and situps. I haven't really done much running yet.

yeah and sit ups are waaay easier than pushups but it's a decent short-mid term goal if you're way out of shape

starku wrote:40 pushups is where you'll be in a month if you do any exercise at all

I don't have much experience with exercise. My friend dave just told me that that's the minimum requirement to pass an Army physical fitness test, and it seemed like a good goal to shoot for.

2 miles in 16 minutes? Yeah that's going to take awhile depending on your current weight.

Losonti Tokash wrote:yeah and sit ups are waaay easier than pushups but it's a decent short-mid term goal if you're way out of shape

Actually the situps are probably going to be the most difficult for me in the short term, because due to genetics, 95% of the weight I gain turns in to a massive beer gut. It's kind of hard to do a situp when there's this massive blob of fat in the way.

starku wrote:its a healthy amount of exercise, but it's not a stretch goal unless you're captain unfit

This.

Zod wrote:2 miles in 16 minutes? Yeah that's going to take awhile depending on your current weight.

I'm so horribly out of shape that I'm probably going to have to start with walking and move up to jogging. The 2 mile run will probably be the most difficult to work up to.

Darksi4190 wrote:

Zod wrote:2 miles in 16 minutes? Yeah that's going to take awhile depending on your current weight.

I'm so horribly out of shape that I'm probably going to have to start with walking and move up to jogging. The 2 mile run will probably be the most difficult to work up to.

back when i was actively working out on a regular basis (like 10 years ago) i managed to get myself down to an 11 minute mile after a few months of heavy treadmills

course i might have been below the average so ymmv

Situps will be hard, 40 crunches though? Piece of piss.

40 pushups in 2 minutes? Do 2 sets of 20. Then work up to 30/10. Then 40. It'll hurt, but it's straightforward.

Something I did for a while for pushups was http://hundredpushups.com/

While just doing it yourself is probably fine, this can help add structure and goals to a routine, and if you're pretty regimented to following the guide, you should be very capable of doing the promised pushups in the 6 weeks.

I did my first taekwondo lesson today.

My me hurts.

why does donald duck eat eggs? that's some seriously fucked up shit

do they eat turkeys at christmas too?

scrooge mcduck barges in through the door with a dead turkey street walker he killed in some back alley so they can feed on its corpse

their duck eyes turn white and their duck fangs come out and the violent feast begins