Retribution

[quote name='Dagger']Or to being a pedophile or a psychopath, I guess.[/QUOTE] [font=Arial]And of course gay marriage is as dangerous as these two examples. :p [QUOTE]...why is "It's not a choice!" still used as the first line of defense against homophobia? In some ways it sets a very dangerous precedent, because it implies that while we have the essential right to be what we are (through genes or environment or whatever), we don't have the right to be what we choose to be. What if homosexuality were a choice? So what? It still wouldn't hurt anyone, and homosexuals would still deserve protection from discrimination, just like anyone else. Whether you're choosing who to marry, worship, love or hate, deliberate choices are every bit as valid as the intrinsic qualities you're born with. ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] You have a good point, and I'll answer your question. People use it as a "first line of defense" because it carries more weight. It's a stronger defense, especially if you couple it with a historical precedent no one wants to be associated with (i.e. racial discrimination). Again to call upon the example, non-white people didn't choose to be non-white, and white superiority was based solely upon the idea that one race was greater than another. I personally don't agree that it sets precedent that somehow says it's not alright to be what you choose to be. This logic simply lends a higher respect to things you have no say over, and in many ways I agree with it. I mean, we don't prosecute someone who is legitimately insane (suffering total breaks with reality) the same way we prosecute someone who is of sound mind.[/font]

[font=Arial]Hey, you're doing great already! To be honest, my life isn't that interesting at the moment. I go to work (at the Federal Home Loan Bank) every day (9-5), go home and work out, then relax the rest of the night. I'm sorta in limbo right now, waiting for my first semester of college to begin this fall, which is exciting. I'll be at Columbia University in Manhattan, so if anyone is in the area let me know and we might be able to meet (gasp). On weekends I go up to Manhattan to hang out with my brother and cousin, which is always a fun time. You know, hanging out on saturday, partying it up at night, and coming back home on sunday.[/font]

[quote name='AzureWolf'][COLOR=maroon]I wasn't talking about fairness/communism. I was talking about right or wrong. They are not the same.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [font=Arial]Sojiro pretty much nailed it. I mean essentially your position could be applied to interracial marriage. If you see it as something negative, then it's the exact same argument that's used against gay marriage. "People should realize that things that are not your choice do not validate it," meaning interracial attraction (hypothetically this could be something you have no influence upon) is not valid. Race and sexual orientation are arbitrary measures for segregation and discrimination, and as such really shouldn't be factored into deciding who you may or may not marry.[/font]

[font=Arial]This is really good, thanks for sharing some knowledge. Not many people here use C4D, so that'll be a step not many can follow up on. But I'd still like to see more tutorials from you, if it's not too much to ask.[/font]

[font=Arial]Lan, you've made leaps and bounds since you last posted. It's really cool to see how you're exploring and finding your style. Amnesiac said most of what I was going to say. But really quick -- I like v2 of your Samus banner more than the current one. Make sure next time around you don't leave so much unused white space (on the left)... it makes things feel unbalanced and awkward. Keep it up![/font]

[font=Arial]I have extremely limited knowledge about vectoring, but I do know how difficult it is. It's hard to tell how you're doing in terms of realism because it's not all done, but thus far you're looking good. I'm also astonished at your versatility, assuming you made your current signature. It's an honor to have such awesome artists pop up all of the sudden.[/font]

[font=Arial]Interestingly enough, your favorite banner is mine as well. Your brushing technique is extremely good. The only other point of improvement I'd offer you is to make your stock blend in more to create some depth within the banner. For instance, your favorite banner is good because there is a sense of depth created by the layers in front of and behind the woman. A few of your other banners lack that, which makes them less interesting. Another point you could try to experiment with is your text. They all seem rather fragile and weak, and if that is your style, I encourage you to keep with it. However, I'd also recommend you think of more outside-the-box methods of placement and such. But seriously, you're excellent. Great job.[/font]

[quote name='AzureWolf'][COLOR=maroon]At the same time, people should realize that things that are not your choice do not validate it. The world is unfair: people are born into poverty. Should we just let that be allowed because it's not a choice? Is that ok? Just because something is out of your control doesn't give it an inherent value of right or wrong.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [font=Arial]Discrimination on the basis of factors an individual has no control over is almost always unfair. Should the government not allow blacks to marry whites? Likewise, should the government not allow men to marry other men, or women to marry other women?[/font]

[quote name='Dagger']Like you really had to ask. :p ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] [font=Arial]I twist the knife where I can. :)[/font]

[quote name='The Blue Jihad']That's nothing. Try managing rage, anger, sadism, aggression, deviancy, all wrapped up in a sociopathic tyrant personality. [I]That's[/I] depressing, mate.[/QUOTE] [font=Arial]You speak from experience, I presume?[/font]

[font=Arial]Hey there, haiatso! Welcome to Otakuboards. Unfortunately, we don't usually let people resurrect threads, especially when they're three years old. None of the members in this topic are active these days. You should probably [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?][b]read the rules[/b][/url] so that you've got an understanding about how things work around here. Feel free to ask me or any other staff member about [i]anything[/i]. Seriously, we don't bite. :p[/font]

[font=Arial][size=3][b]December 24, 2007[/b][/size] [size=1][i]11:25 PM EST[/i][/size] It's Christmas Eve and I've been silently sobbing for about an hour now. The bitter cold wind screams outside the window, and an aching pain is within my heart. I cannot begin to describe the immense sadness I've felt. I mean, my family's probably dead in DC but I don't want to think about it. I sit here day in and day out, silently suffering, the bottomless winter swallows me whole. There have been fifteen deaths in the past week in this encampment. Alone, I write this, and I'm reminded of the warmth. The glow of my past, a fireplace painting gold against my walls. We would decorate the Christmas tree -- as a family -- then go to sleep. Utterly protected by my parents, by the four walls and a roof called home. I am alone, starving, cold. I have no family this Christmas Eve. No one would care if I died tomorrow, and to them, it'd only be a minor loss of manpower. Where is this Christ that was born to save us? Where is god amid this freezing and damned city? Choking back more tears. Merry Fucking Christmas.[/font]

[font=Arial]Hey Sentou, are you looking for people to post critique here on OB or on your dA page? Advertising your personal site isn't allowed, but if you want to get some feedback, you're good to go. Thanks! :p[/font]

[quote name='The13thMan'][COLOR=DarkOrange][FONT=Century Gothic]Yes, i get that point. I mentioned it. Though i think the main point should be that the unborn child is as much the man's as it is the woman's. Take this case for example: The woman wants an abortion and the man does not. What should happen? Who should have the say? It is her body... she would have to go through the months of bearing the child. Is that enough to give her the right to terminate the child's "life" when the father says otherwise? The fact that society expects a man to be supportive of whatever the women wants is a little off in my opinion. But only a tiny bit. Don't get me wrong. =D I just think instead of society expecting cooperation it should expect deliberation in this case.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] [font=Arial]What about in cases of domestic abuse? Should that woman have to consult a man who is harming her over the fate of his child? And would not that mandatory consultation be perilous for that mother? I mean it'd be ideal to have a joint decision about it, and that the parents would give equal weight to one another's words, but that's not the case.[/font]

[font=Arial]This discussion reminds of me the [url=http://otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=54890][b]Asiaphilia, or Count to Ten Before You Post, Please[/b][/url] thread. And Sara definitely had a point that time around.[/font]

[quote name='Mr. Maul'][SIZE=1]Umm... I must be blind, because the only changes I've seen are the new graphics. Am I missing something? [/SIZE][/QUOTE] [font=Arial]Oh most definitely. The text editor is much more rich and user friendly. I mean granted, a lot of the changes are subtle and insignificant, but there are also entirely new options that make life easier. Experiment, my friend.[/font]

[font=Arial]Editor?s note: I couldn?t figure out a smooth way to incorporate a link to the thread, so I leave that to you, Charlie. The url is ([url]http://otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=53810[/url]). I apologize for the article's brevity, but I really couldn't think of anything else to say. I guess it's more important that there is some information rather than none. [size=3][b]Banner/Avatar Orphanage[/b][/size] The Banner/Avatar Orphanage is a thread (currently a sticky) in the Art by Request subforum. Created after its suggestion to Syk3 by Retribution, the Orphanage intended to serve members looking for pre-made and out of use banners. The idea behind this thread was to essentially recycle banners as they fell out of use by a member. The process to making a banner eligible for ?adoption? is simple and straightforward. The creator would upload any banners they did not use anymore and thought others would enjoy using. Then, any member could pick a banner and put it in their signature, provided they credit the artist. It was expected by Retribution that this thread would flourish and become a very close counterpart to the Avatar gallery, if not lead to the creation of a Banner gallery. However, the thread enjoyed only brief popularity before languishing in obscurity. Very few, if any members contribute to or borrow from the thread, let alone remember it.[/font]

[quote name='Semjaza']That's a really weird conclusion given people like Mitt Romney are running about. :animeknow[/QUOTE] [font=Arial]That's what I was thinking. People think I'm arrogant when they first meet me. I took a personality test in psychology, which stated what I already knew -- "Your first impression is that you are arrogant and elitist," which was depressing. I mean seriously, it kills me when I find out someone thinks I'm arrogant. But the personality test also said "But once those people get to know you more, they see it is your well-intended confidence that makes you seem high and mighty". Not so bad, I guess. A considerably less scientific personality test said that I share personalities with Hitler and Caesar. Great. :p Additionally, people think I'm about 14 or 15. And seriously, they think I'm joking when I tell them I'm 17 and going to college in the fall. But the worst part is getting checked out by 8th grade girls, while the ones your age think you could be their little brother. >_>[/font]

[font=Arial]I'd probably list [b]visiting Otakuboards[/b] as an embarrasing yet fun thing to do. I've narrowly averted social catastrophy while visiting OB at school. I was typing up a response to an RPG I was in, when he leaned over and asked what I was typing. I told him it was a short story, whew. He jeered at someone who he caught RPing, and the class joined in lol. I think the stigma has something to do with it being a board for anime (people don't respond well to the word 'Otaku').[/font]

[font=Arial][size=3][b]December 10, 2007[/b][/size] [size=1][i]1:01 PM EST[/i][/size] A week has past since I last updated. Life has been more of the same, to be honest. More despair, more total horror, more hell on earth. Haven?t talked to Hedryn, god knows if he?s alright. I think the concentration of zombies uptown is greater/more dense than it is here. Our barricade as expanded three blocks east. We send scouts down the street to look for other pockets of human survivors, and if they are found, we link up. If we keep it up, there is reason to believe that it is how Manhattan will eventually be reclaimed. Some people are holding out for that, hoping that it happens. I know it won?t. None of us used to understand exactly how dense this island is populated. To you, reader, a five-block radius can have up to 20,000 people living there. This means that if you were trapped in a skyscraper, everyone in that building became a zombie, save the few who jumped to their deaths. In other words, the zombies can and have spread at an exponential rate. We have trouble keeping that many away from such an abundance of fresh food i.e. us clean humans. We?ve noted that zombies follow noise and movement, so we keep that to a minimum during the day when they can see us. Our barricade is about ten feet high on all sides, but we don?t want to take any chances. A mass-attack means certain death. Survival here is becoming more and more difficult. We have to feed this huge number of people daily, and deal with human waste. Our camp has grown a bit since I last wrote, so this compounds the problem. So far we?ve been trekking a few blocks to piss/shit in the Hudson, and usually get there through the subway tunnels. As for food, we?ve looted a mass amount of nonperishable items from the grocery stores. If we were in the ?burbs, it wouldn?t be enough for such a group, but again, NYC has a massive population, so we can reach far. Diary, I?ll tell you a secret hope I?ve had. Or maybe it?s a vision. I?m envisioning this little encampment linking up with a bunch of others just like us ? others that we haven?t made contact with yet. And once we link up, we can form a coherent resistance against the zombies, maybe clean out the city block by block. And once we carve out a sizeable chunk, we could use terrestrial radio to relay our call for help to Hawaii (which is where our government is, at the moment). I bet they would send us whatever semblance of infrastructure they?ve got if we managed to clean out a lot of the city. I mean, if it were like Topeka or one of those shit southern states like Alabama they?d laugh them out of town. Who really wants to save a bunch of poor bible-thumping semi-racists? But it?s fucking NYC ? (former) financial center of the world. Like a fourth of the nation?s GDP and a tenth of the population is here (or at least it was). No way in fuck they?d hang us out to dry. Granted, I have no idea how much support they?ve actually got. And when we form that coherent resistance, we could push upwards and drive them out. You know, extremely tedious, and we?d probably be under martial law again, but we could actually stand a chance. I know, it?s a long shot. Probably won?t even happen for years, if we last that long. Last thing before I go ? it?s unbearably cold. I forgot how bad a Manhattan winter is. The wind comes right off the water and bitchslaps us in the face. And yeah, I bet you forgot that we have no utilities here. We bundle up in all the blankets we can raid from surrounding apartments and stay indoors as long as we can, but it?s a grinding, aching pain. It wears you down, slowly chokes the life out of you. I wake up every day, put my naked feet on a freezing floor, choke down whatever canned food is available (this morning was diced tomatoes with salt), and eat it unheated. And then you bundle up and talk to people, organize shit, or join a search party and go out in rotations to explore. If you?re unlucky you get stuck with the shift that has to go lug more cans from even further away through steadily colder weather. Everyone?s looking for love here. Seriously intense relationships are being forged in record time (to me, at least). I guess it?s everyone?s desperate desire for companionship, especially since most of us don?t know if our family is still alive. I should probably mention that condoms are in high demand and are constantly being brought back along with the canned food. Basically if you get pregnant, we have to kick you out. You bring a child to the community that can only consume and cannot give back. And you also take away the mother as a contributor to the society as well. God this is so fucked up. My guard shift now, I?ll get back to this later.[/font]

[quote name='Charles']Chibihorsewoman is sort of a dark horse in OtakuBoards history.[/QUOTE] [font=Arial]Haha. Pun intended, amirite? I nominate [b]Boo[/b]. His quirky humor, lighthearted fun, and magnetic personality make him a pleasure to talk to. Boo's high quality contributions to the Art Studio have their own distinctive style, and he's done a huge deal to enrich the activity there in the past. He's stuck around through thick and thin, given us all back-handed compliments (but you gotta love 'em) and smacked common sense into us during debates. This is a man who will be spoken of for ages and ages hence.[/font]

[quote name='AzureWolf'][COLOR=maroon]Tentical hentai isn't JUST a fetish, it's a lifestyle. Show some respect. :-P Geez... kids these days[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [font=Arial]Hahaha, nice. But really, if kids wanted to see porn they wouldn't look at fully or even semi-clothed girls. lolinternets. My parents didn't let me watch anime until it started airing on Kids WB. When I went to rent an anime VHS (gasp) because it was cartoony and cool-looking, my parents totally rejected it. They were like "Those are grown-up cartoons," which is valid I guess, since I was trying to rent some sort of samurai/ninja anime. I think they saw a few more mature shows/movies and assumed that most of the genre was like that. But once DBZ hit WB on sunday mornings, all bets were off. Fun times indeed.[/font]

[quote name='Juuthena'][size=1]Fascinating seeing how much people have changed over a few years ...[/size] [img]http://otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=26334&d=1185336217[/img] [img]http://otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=26335&d=1185336252[/img][img]http://otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=26336&d=1185336262[/img][/QUOTE] [font=Arial]Holy ****, you're back. When was the last we saw/heard from you? Oh, and Sojio, awesome pictures man.[/font]

[quote name='Sandy'][url=http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/SamSandy/?action=view¤t=omakuva9.jpg][U]At the Piccadilly Circus.[/U][/url][/QUOTE] [size=1]Nice bag, where'd you get it / what company makes it? I'm in the market for one. Here's a few more photos of yours truly. :p [url=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/DSC_0071.jpg]- Me, on railroad tracks.[/url] [url=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/n677280824_84095_8961.jpg]- Just before my high school graduation ceremony.[/url] [url=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/n1225200287_30069547_2769.jpg]- Fear my mod-fu, srsly kids.[/url][/size]

[size=1]Real quick -- I was gunning for an overblown version of gangsta rap lyrics here. Of course the entire thing is talking about physically murdering him, so chill lol. And apologies if I went over the limit. His [b]description’s lyin’[/b], not a boss, so how could he [b]equip this nine[/b] or rip a [b]script to lines[/b]? I’m gonna shoot and not [b]miss this time[/b], cut straight and [b]hit this bitch[/b], empty [b]clips on cliques[/b] crushing impact will [b]dissect and split, quick on his hip[/b], ballistics that [b]connect from the click[/b] from the [b]tip of this tech*[/b], [b]spitting death[/b] while [b]slitting his neck[/b]. With a [b]damaged mic[/b] my [b]hand is tight[/b], watch and learn as I [b]brand this tyke[/b]. Got his MaMA in the cut like he [b]planned this fight[/b], still my punches are [b]landing with might[/b], yet he’s [b]demanding his sight[/b] like a delusional blind man you won’t [b]get it back[/b] – your [b]flow is whack[/b], and everyone knows it so why bother [b]grow your sack[/b]? I’ll [b]blow your track[/b] just so you [b]know I’m back[/b], bitch. * tech = tech nine, which is a gun.[/size]