Recent posts

#21

Off the Record / Re: Being a boy in 2024

Last post by Valmy - May 05, 2024, 08:11:48 PM

Something I have been surprised at, looking at my son going through Middle School, current aged 13, is how little actually has changed since I was in his shoes back in 1990. The same kind of stupid shit seems to still be going on.

#22

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Valmy - May 05, 2024, 08:09:33 PM

You need to have means to get to America frpk house countries, though.

I am not saying the majority of Muslims in Europe want caliphate I am sure they do not. What I am unsure about is how many of them are opposed to the thought enough to work against it, but that part shan't become an issue for many decades.

But I think it's naive to think they or their families have come to Europe because of shared values. I am pretty sure most migrants everywhere are economic ones and they settle in their new countries despite and not because of the cultural differences from their original home.

Koopman's studies point to about 40% to 50% of muslims being fundamentalist.

How many of those live here vs Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and other shitholes?

In the United States I find Muslims statistics sort of hard to understand because they are compared to Christian and Jewish stats and I don't know if they are comparable.

For example weekly service attendance is a big indicator for Jews and Christians at how religious they are. Like 55% of Protestants in the United States attend church once a week or more. 25% of Jews do. 30% of Catholics do. That is pretty important information to know how religious Protestants are compared to Jews and Catholics. Also how sometimes being a Catholic or a Jew doesn't actually have much to do with actually doing Catholic or Jew religious things but kind of an identity.

Whereas 42% of Muslims attend religious services once a week or more and 30% for Muslims between 18 and 30. Does that mean that Muslims in the United States are less religious than Protestants? That young Muslims are comparable to Jews in how seriously they take practicing the religion? Or does that stat really compare? Are Muslims even expected to go to Mosque once a week like Christians and Jews are? Don't know. Something like 15% of all Muslims have said they have never attended religious services ever. So...does that mean they are not religious at all? Not sure.

Likewise what sort of qualities would a Muslim have to be considered "fundamentalist"?

#23

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Valmy - May 05, 2024, 07:52:46 PM

The problem with the above is not what he said, it is that he took advantage of knowledge gained in a professional/business transaction (her address) to be a creep and go back to say it.

I guess. I can see that kid going "wow she was really beautiful" and then people going "oh yeah? Just go back and talk to her, you'll make her day" or some shit. And the dude got up the nerve and walked up there and instead freaked her the fuck out. Or maybe he is just a creepy asshole...who knows I wasn't there.

But still. Don't ever do that. Ever. That's the lesson. And don't listen to those well meaning fools who want you to approach them.

Yep - and if that happened to me I'd be basically be thinking about whether I need to move flat.

Really? I would be like "holy shit, somebody thinks I am super hot? I mean thanks pal but I am married and straight."

I mean the closest anything like that has ever happened to me is when I was with a group of my guy friends in Vegas and a bunch of women came up to us and were like "you guys are cute come party with us" and we had to politely turn them down. Only the fact they were just wearing normal street clothes has me sort of convinced they weren't sex workers.

#24

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Sheilbh - May 05, 2024, 07:49:15 PM

Yep - and if that happened to me I'd be basically be thinking about whether I need to move flat.

#25

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Tonitrus - May 05, 2024, 07:47:49 PM

So this just happened:
My doorbell rang. I opened the door to find one of the men (half my age) who delivered my furniture last week standing there saying, "I stopped to say hello & tell you how beautiful you are."
Next time I buy furniture I'm requesting it be delivered by bears

Heh. that takes me back. ...

The problem with the above is not what he said, it is that he took advantage of knowledge gained in a professional/business transaction (her address) to be a creep and go back to say it.

#26

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Valmy - May 05, 2024, 07:47:00 PM

But the Raz's of the world should be actively ignored.  What is so simple for a guy can be very meaningful to a woman.

Raz is a self-professed shut in though.

#27

Off the Record / Re: The Anime Thread

Last post by Jacob - May 05, 2024, 07:42:22 PM

Iirc he went too over the line at one point cheering for protestors getting their heads smashed in and had a thread locked temporarily. Never banned.

That's right. He was gloating about a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators and I locked his thread for a few days. It was enough for him to stop posting.

#28

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Valmy - May 05, 2024, 07:37:29 PM

So this just happened:
My doorbell rang. I opened the door to find one of the men (half my age) who delivered my furniture last week standing there saying, "I stopped to say hello & tell you how beautiful you are."
Next time I buy furniture I'm requesting it be delivered by bears

Heh. that takes me back. Sometime around the year 2000 I was reading all these really negative reactions some women on the internet were making to what seemed to me fairly innocuous things said by men when they were approached. Now granted, I wasn't at any of those occasions so maybe those guys were especially scary in how they said it I don't know. And I just decided that I was just never ever going to ever approach a woman in public again. If at any time I ever made anybody feel as bad as those women clearly felt, it just wasn't worth it. I mean here this woman is acting like what seems like a fairly harmless statement is less preferable to being mauled by a wild animal.

The funny part is prior to this it would often by my woman friends going "oh you think she is cute? Go talk to her, it's cool." And I would and sure I would be terrified and all but typically the conversation was alright and usually she already was in a relationship or something, it seemed pleasant and harmless enough at the time. None of my woman friends ever mentioned that this might traumatize this woman and ruin her night. Kind of wish they had mentioned that part.

But yeah I am not in the "traumatize you and ruin your night" business. So I stopped ever doing that right there. I would meet women other ways.

#29

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Sheilbh - May 05, 2024, 07:36:28 PM

Yeah I'm not sure the apology is a thing here. Of suspensions I'm aware of, they might apologise to the Speaker for causing them hassle basically (I think Ian Blackford, SNP leader in Westminster did this, for example) - but I can't think of any apologies precisely because they won't retract the offending words so they just take the punishment.

But the most inveterate suspended MP I can think of is Dennis Skinner who was a strong socialist MP. Also took the oath with his fingers crossed, heckled Black Rod for the state opening and would stay in his seat rather than attend the Queen's Speech or basically anything involving the royals. So with that and unparliamentary language - not really a fan of traditions but also apologising would undermine the point he'd made. He was voted out in 2019 and problematic in some ways (and, from what I've heard, not a very good constituency MP) but in other ways pretty admirable.

The other MP who springs to mind is Ian Paisley who had very different politics as a hard-core Northern Irish Unionist but similarly not going to apologise or, indeed, compromise in any way from the points he made

Edit: Having said that none of them are or ever were sitting or aspiring PMs who it feels should show respect for the rules of a place they want to be the leader of - they were more stone in the shoe type MPs.

#30

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by grumbler - May 05, 2024, 07:29:14 PM

This reminds me of a discussion I had with my girlfriend some time back.

She asked me what I would do if I was walking down the sidewalk in an otherwise empty street and saw a woman walking down the same sidewalk coming towards me.  I said something to the effect of just walking normally and trying to avoid anything but the most cursory eye contact and greeting.  She asked me if I had considered crossing the street and using that sidewalk.  I said "no."  We agreed that no men we knew would think to do that, but she pointed out that every woman either of us knew almost certainly wished that that is what I (and any other man) would do.

It really opened my eyes to the need to consider what I could fairly easily do to reduce the anxiety of women who might perceive themselves to be in a vulnerable position.  I know the Raz's of the world think that women are just being hysterical about possible threats (just because only half of them ever feel that their life at some point is in imminent danger).  But the Raz's of the world should be actively ignored.  What is so simple for a guy can be very meaningful to a woman.