Ah. It says right here that "Bōsōzoku" is Japanese for "really really really really fucking ugly cars that Gundam fanboys drive">> ^blutruth:

The vehicles are "bōsōzoku style", you might want to make mention of that in the tags.

>> ^Jinx:

>> ^bunidblanc:
Woah!! Looks like a Gundam warrior or something

I was just thinking how it had never occurred to me before that Insects were miniture Robots.


Insects run on hydraulics. Kinda.

>> ^bunidblanc:

Woah!! Looks like a Gundam warrior or something

I was just thinking how it had never occurred to me before that Insects were miniture Robots.

Woah!! Looks like a Gundam warrior or something

oh THIS guy! Go through his channel. He has one featuring Gundam models played out in the style of old Hong Kong kung fu flicks. Good stuff.

ALL HAIL THE GREAT DAWKINS.

AMEN.>> ^Ryjkyj:

But Gundam,
It's the great Dawkins who teaches us that it's not enough to stand up for what you believe, you also have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you...

But Gundam,

It's the great Dawkins who teaches us that it's not enough to stand up for what you believe, you also have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you...

I would say the parents are materialistic for doing something like piecing their child's ears, but hey, we are speaking about Americans...

However, I would not say piecing your baby's ear is equivalent to circumcision. An adequate comparison would be removing the earlobe from a baby's ear completely. After all, who needs the extra skin? And we both know Gundam, that is definitely illegal.

Secondly, you have no idea what nerves do to the brain when functioning to trauma--even when unremembered. If a baby is beaten until they are two-ish, remember nothing of the beatings and are otherwise healthy, don't you still think his/her brain will actually form based on its experiences? I do. You read to a child, his brain actually grows differently than when you would not. You chop off his dick's skin...

Lastly, you can pull out earrings. How the fuck is my scar ring supposed to be fixed? Or for that matter, what about those with really botched, fucked up shit?

>> ^SDGundamX:

Just to echo what I wrote on the Penn and Teller Sift regarding circumcision:
I feel it's a cosmetic choice. It's not a crime to pierce your kid's ears when they are born--and that's done without anesthetic. There are people who clearly have medical benefits from having it done (see nanrod's comment at the Penn and Teller video) and if it's done at a hospital anesthetic will often be used so that it's not nearly as traumatic as the pundits are making it out to be. Even if anesthetic ISN'T used, no child ever remembers the experience. If you belong to a culture that supports male circumcision and want your kid to fit into that group then by all means, have it done. It's not going to do any permanent damage to him. And if he really, really wishes you hadn't done it, it can be undone.
I agree with DerHasisttot, legislating this is just stupid. Even if it passes, it won't be seen as anything except an anti-Semitic attack and--unless some new compelling medical research appears that shows it is harmful to have the procedure done--will likely be overturned. Educate people about the truth--that for most people it's medically unnecessary and let them decide for themselves how they want to raise their kids.

upvote for Gundams

and the great *music

while i totally agree with the sentiments of spoco,gundam and dag.
they put forth a reasonable and civil solution to the situation and maybe this kids school has the resources to do something about it but (in my opinion) their solution ignores the social/economic factors that contribute immensely to situations like this video represents.

we say "violence is not the answer".
ok..i agree with that but what if violence is the only language that the other person may understand?
we are talking about 12-14 yrs olds after all.
so while a young and scared 12 yr old may diffuse a situation AT THAT MOMENT by including a teacher/principal into the equation.it is only at that moment and that particular situation but what happens AFTER?
are the teachers going to follow him around town also?
are they going to give him the equivalent of a bat signal if the bullies find him alone and unprotected?
of course not and the bullies know that also.
they are also not going to forget the fact that they were ratted on and so will double their efforts to terrorize.
so while i may agree with spoco,gundam and dag in theory i do not see it bringing any relief to a terrorized young boy.
nothing is learned and the stakes rise exponentially.

bareboards mentioned a class which employed empathy.
i agree.for what better way to get the bully to empathize than to stand up for yourself and put HIM in the position of being the receiver instead of the giver?
yes yes..i watched the video and while i felt good about the young man overcoming his fear and standing up for himself, i also cringed when i saw the other boy get slammed neck first...
yeah..that could have gone in a whole different direction and we all might be talking about the tragic bully getting his neck broke instead of cheering the kid who stood up.

this video is not about glorifying violence but rather about a young man over-coming his fear.
FEAR=the most toxic and volatile of emotions.it is the mindkiller.
and this young man overcame his....good on him.

i mentioned earlier that some of the bullies i dealt with moved on to other victims.
this is true but only lasted a year or two and by high school most had stopped their bullish ways.mostly because other kids started to stand up to them too and the ones who didnt had people like me stepping in for them.
the best lessons we learn as children are the hard ones.
getting slammed in the face is a great lesson in not messing with people for the sole purpose of entertainment or showing off to your friends.
i still view this video as a win-win but the biggest WIN is that kid overcoming his fear and no principal or school counselor could have given to him what he did for himself on that day.
he faced his fear...and won.

Gundam, you must have been watching a different video than everyone else. There were no adults around. The little shit had plenty of time to confront Casey, punch him in the face twice, and then dance around while jabbing at his body. No adult ever came to Casey's aid. He couldn't escape, either. If Casey had run away, the little shit most likely could have easily caught up with him and hit him from behind or tackled him. His first punch was actually pretty damn hard and made Casey's head snap back. A punch like that can do some serious damage, like chipped teeth, a broken nose, lacerations, or even something serious like a jab to the eye or throat. Casey's life may not have been in danger, but he was in very real danger of being sent to the hospital.

Comparing Casey to a douchebag at a bar is ludicrous. All Casey said was that he wasn't talking about the bully. Nothing he said egged the bully on in any way. He didn't act out of humiliation. He withstood two punches to the face and only put up his hands to block punches. He didn't act at all until it because obvious that the assault wouldn't stop. It was obvious that he had no interest in fighting. I think Casey responded with exactly the right amount of force, which is the force required to stop a fight. How would this have been better if they had just traded punches? Are two broken noses somehow better than a broken ankle?

And on that note, this is exactly why zero tolerance policies are horseshit. Casey wasn't breaking any rules until his only choice was to either defend himself or be beaten. What was he supposed to do? He chose the best course of action that he could.

>> ^PHJF:

Unacceptable, Gundam. Religion is almost ENTIRELY used to explain the inexplicable. Religion's sole purpose is to convince people that a) there is an afterlife and b) the afterlife is infinitely superior to the current life. That's the only reason idiot-morons buy what these preachers are selling.
And as for religion and science not being diametrically opposed? The scientific method tells us that when confronted with something we cannot explain, we are to observe and test until we can explain it. Religion tells us to simply accept things as they are. "Because god says so" is not an acceptable answer for "why does XYZ happen?"


I understand your hostility to religion, but I'm curious which religion you are referring to in your post--because there are many religions in the world and not all of them are concerned with an afterlife. Even those that are concerned with an afterlife such as Christianity and Islam are much MORE concerned with how we live right now than with explaining the cosmos. In fact the Catholic church has gone so far as to state that the Book of Genesis, which ostensibly explains the origins of everything, is to be read metaphorically, not literally (I can't find the link now, sorry, but it's official doctrine--a little more Googling than I have time for right now should turn it up).

I'll quote Stephen Barr, a physicist at the University of Delaware: there is no war between science and religion. There is, however, most certainly a war between atheists and religion--with both sides attempting to use science as both a sword and shield.

Unacceptable, Gundam. Religion is almost ENTIRELY used to explain the inexplicable. Religion's sole purpose is to convince people that a) there is an afterlife and b) the afterlife is infinitely superior to the current life. That's the only reason idiot-morons buy what these preachers are selling.

And as for religion and science not being diametrically opposed? The scientific method tells us that when confronted with something we cannot explain, we are to observe and test until we can explain it. Religion tells us to simply accept things as they are. "Because god says so" is not an acceptable answer for "why does XYZ happen?"

Shows:
1 - Trigun, hands down.
2 - Naruto
3 - FMA (the remake)
4 - Kenshin
5 - Hellsing
6 - Deathnote was OK too I guess.
7 - Lain
8 - Wolf's Rain
I didn't get into Mushishi. Too slow and odd for my tastes. One of these days I'll have to go back and checkout Lodoss and Gundam, but I have a feeling I won't like either. I'm really looking for something special at this point and I'm just finding a bunch of generic garbage that is either terribly animated or 15 minutes and episode for one lame season. I guess it's time for Cowboy Bebop.

Movies:
1 - Memories - Magnetic Rose (Highly recommended, hard to find, very hard)
2 - The Miyazaki movies, especially Mononoke, Spirited Away, Nausicaa, and Howl's Moving Castle... but excluding Grave of Fireflies, which I really didn't get into. Too, too depressing.
3 - Metropolis
4 - Origin: Spirits of the Past
5 - Steamboy was OK

CGI is so ridiculous these days. Were that not a video of a computer turning into some sort of gundam ship and flying away, i would have no reason to call "fake".