Retribution

[size=1]Semjaza just spoke a good deal of wisdom there. But for some reason, I'm going to talk about genre... heh. Specifically, I'd like to talk about rap vs hip-hop. It's a saddening trend that everyone considers them equivalent, and thus hate them both. It bothers me that people lump them all together, consider the artists untalented, and the music as a whole garbage. Granted, you don't have to like it, but at least see the artistry involved? My point here is that rap is the worst music today. Music that glorifies homophobia, senseless violence, buying caddies instead of saving. Music that preaches mysogyny and materialism. Generally, this is the stuff you hear on the radio. You do find a few gems here and there, though... like Common and Kanye. Hip-hop doesn't really glorify anything. I consider it more a chronicling of life. Usually this life is an impoverished, inner-city life, and the music exposes all those blemishes. It's thoughtful and much more pensive than its belligerent counterpart [rap]. *hops off the soap box*[/size]

[size=1]You know that massive tsunami that swept across South Asia a few years ago? They still haven't recovered from that in many places...[/size]

[size=1]OOC: Again, this event is authorized by The Boss. Please note that the Battle of Yonkers is a [i]major turning point[/i] in our battle against the zombies. This is a massive human defeat. If you are confused about my references, check Google Maps. [b][size=2]November 29, 2007[/size] [i]8:40 PM EST[/i][/b] The pen is shaking in my hand as I write this entry. Sorry in advance if it’s disjointed. A lot has happened since I last wrote. Where do I begin? Manhattan. The quarantine was deemed to be far too unstable in Washington Heights, so in a joint effort coordinated by the Military Police and US Marines, [u]all were killed who lived north of 150th street.[/u] The death toll is estimated at 200,000. Mass air strikes, ground forces murdered all who survived the initial bombing. Footage of children crying, then being gunned down… a pregnant woman begging for her life before a bullet was put into her head… we have truly lost all humanity on this island. This is only the beginning. I want to throw up. I’m only writing now to document. The zombies have, for one reason or another, massed at White Plains. For those who don’t know NY geography, White Plains is more or less suburban and maybe 8 miles north of the Bronx. And when I say they’ve massed, I mean their numbers are in the hundreds of thousands, possibly a million. Everyone (across the nation) is glued to their TV, watching the news cover the mob descend upon us south. The military is planning to stop their advance at Yonkers and I hope to god they can actually do something against them. I feel like I’m being fed propaganda… all you see are the magnificent barricades, the heavy artillery being wheeled into place, the aircraft carriers pulling into position along the peninsula. But deep inside, I am truly afraid for my life. I’m afraid the greatest military in the world will falter and we will be doomed to die. The city is on fire. Almost total anarchy… and I mean that in every sense of the word. Classes at Columbia have been indefinitely suspended. Uncontrollable looting, massive orgies in the street (and I have no idea if it’s consensual or not), random homicides. People are living it up in every way possible, because this is the fucking end of the road, folks. I’m packing clothes and necessities into a small bag. Who knows when I’ll need to leave? [b][size=2]November 30, 2007[/size] [i]2:09 AM EST[/i][/b] The Battle of Yonkers has finally started. I can hear the explosions in the distance, and it truly feels like the world is collapsing around me. Media coverage has been extensive, and everyone’s watching it. Power to the Upper East Side has been lost, so I guess they’re [metaphorically and literally] in the dark. Things don’t look good… the military has been keeping them at bay with every weapon known to man, but they just keep coming… bodies walking over top of bodies… the surge can’t be stopped. They’re only miles away now. [b][size=2]November 30, 2007[/size] [i]5:35 AM EST[/i][/b] Absolute horror. The unthinkable has happened. Our military has been routed at Yonkers, and the zombie horde has crossed the George Washington Bridge. Hundreds of thousands of them pouring into NYC. I’m going to die. Power has been lost to the whole of upper Manhattan. People flee this island in whatever refuse they can rig together, but the vast majority of us remain. I called my family on my cellphone [choking back the tears] to tell them how much I loved them, and that I probably would not live. Most of Columbia has broken down into lawlessness, and I’m as much afraid of my fellow man as I am of the zombies. Looters and groups [tribes?] of people are banding together. [strike]Maybe I should join one for safety.[/strike] Not certain of how much longer this location will be safe. I think I will be headed south today as soon as I can raid the dining hall for a meal and get some of my friends together to form a group. To anyone who reads this in the future: I’m not certain how much longer I will keep this journal. Survival is taking priority, and any moment I’m not asleep I must be on guard.[/size]

[size=1]Dear god, you're all so amazing. Why is all this talent hiding?! [quote name='White'][center][img]http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/2296/obsessioncopyqi2.jpg[/img][/center][/QUOTE] That's my boy! They grow up so fast. *tear*[/size]

[size=1][b][size=2]November 26, 2007[/size] [i]5:00 PM EST[/i][/b] Happy birthday to me. I wonder how much longer I’ll live. [b][size=2]November 27, 2007[/size] [i]4:13 PM EST[/i][/b] Manhattan is holding. Barely. The quarantine falls back about three blocks every day. Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens still clean. Will write more later, at this time cannot talk. I don’t want to die here.[/size]

[size=1]Out of character: This event is authorized by The Boss. [b][size=2]November 14, 2007[/size] [i]2:01 AM EST[/i][/b] Words cannot describe how fucking afraid I am at this moment. Diary, let me explain how much the world has gone to hell. This drug Phalanx, supposedly to keep us free of the virus making people rabid, well, it turns out it was a placebo drug. It does nothing. The government distributed it to everyone and their mother, and it is all for naught. But the consequences of this are pretty catastrophic. The media broke a story that the Manhattan quarantine has been broken because of this ? the medical community thought those on Phalanx were clean, so they allowed them to donate their organs when they died. So they took these tainted organs from donors, and shipped them to Manhattan where they were in demand. The receivers of the bad organs are concentrated in Washington Heights (the very tip of Manhattan). The New York Senate has decided to cut its losses and quarantine everyone north 174th? which is sick if you think about it. Imagine being north of 174th, doomed to eventually die. Which brings me to another absolutely shocking point. They?re zombies. Fucking zombies, like out of a horror flick. The infected are zombies, not ?African rabies? carriers or anything equally racist. It seems as if the world is going to end, as if none of my friends are to be trusted. Every time someone knocks at my dorm door, I wonder if it?s some possessed friend of mine, trying to kill me in the cruelest way possible. I avoid being alone (the girls now walk arm-in-arm with guys, no matter who that guy is, ha!). The hysteria is almost unbearable. I feel like a slave to the world. I call my family multiple times every day to see how they?re faring, as well as the status of DC. The quarantine there is more or less holding, isolated incidents are slowly creeping through the lower income areas where the police response is sluggish. I was never for gun ownership, but the mass-distributed guns seem to be keeping the invasion at bay, which is miraculous. Not a day goes by I?m not worrying for their safety. Hedryn and I, as well as our new Columbia friends are getting seriously close. Nothing bonds humans like conflict and utter fear. If? and I hope never, but if there is a mass-outbreak in Manhattan, it will be a floating coffin and I hope we can stay safe. But for now, this is the safest place to be. One last thing before I go. I?m now switching my diary to paper, and I?m going to be carrying an analog audio recorder with me at all times. The power has been spotty (Manhattan gets a huge amount of power from Northern NJ, which is under heavy stress at the moment), so I never know when my laptop will be charged. I will document my experience of the outbreak in excruciating detail. Humanity must prevail.[/size]

[size=1]Yeah, that will be alright. I encourage you to PM a specific person and ask them if they'd be willing to work in conjunction with you. If you have trouble getting any takers, just contact me and we can work something out.[/size]

[size=1][b][size=2]September 19, 2007[/size] [i]11:10 PM EST[/i][/b] Remember what I said about setting Hedryn up with a girl? I managed to talk this girl into meeting him yesterday night. They went back to her spot and I didn’t hear from him until about 3:30 AM. I could’ve sworn dude had gotten laid, but get this – they were talking about videogames or some lame shit like that. I should’ve known he wasn’t the type for random hook ups. Shame, really. Things have been scaring the life out of me recently. Most of the world is experiencing small-scale riots, rabid people, and inexplicable homicides. It’s hitting the major population centers hardest. I called up my fam the other day, the situation in DC is airtight, more or less. I’m going to assume it’s because the US doesn’t want the government decapitated, so they’re going through great lengths to be sure nothing goes in or out. And it sounds like Nazi Germany or some shit – they lost freedom of speech and right to assembly last week. Ironically enough, they’re giving guns and ammo away so long as you have a clean record. Manhattan is under similar measures, and I’ll assume it’s only going to get worse. We’ve got the benefit of being on an island, which makes quarantine much easier, and the total halt to transit in and out of here has kept that crazy rioting shit out. Life here continues more or less the same, except with the addition of armed troops at major intersections, regular patrols, and bi-weekly check ups required to be sure we’re all clean from rabies or whatever’s going around. College is finally starting to heat up. I’ve got a four-page paper due by Monday. But more interesting is the social life. Granted, I haven’t had a great deal of time to have one, but after studying and doing my work, I’ve had decent luck with the women here. Sure, they may be desperate (female:male ratio is crazy out of balance), but honestly who cares. At the risk of sounding pompous, I only mess with the cute ones. Thus far, that strategy’s been working. Alright, I’m out. Gotta finish this essay tonight so I can party this weekend.[/size]

[quote name='Clurr'][FONT="Arial"]You guys don't salt watermelon, do you? Because my mom did that the other day and freaked me quite out.[/FONT][/QUOTE] [size=1]Mm, no, but my grandmother did. It looked pretty gross, but supposedly made the watermelon "taste sweeter". Weird. Starfire- Pomegranates really are good. The only part I don't like about them are those pesky seeds you have to keep spitting out, which makes eating an entire pomegranate an all-day affair.[/size]

[quote name='Aaryanna'][COLOR="goldenrod"]The argument that all unborn babies are fully developed life doesn't fly either to those who are pro-choice. Miscarriages as well as other circumstances result in a natural abortion so why is that okay and not murder? There's a big difference between killing indiscriminately when the person in question is separate from the mother. It's not the same at all. You can't take a barely developing fetus out of a woman's body without it dying. It lacks the ability to survive. We're talking about ending potential, not life that posses the ability to survive on it's own. There's no getting around that.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [size=1]Nerdsy put it pretty well, but I'll elaborate. Pro-lifers truly believe that the developing fetus is as human as a newborn infant. For example: both a 5 year old and a 25 year old are human, right? Just because one is further along in development doesn't make one less human than the other. Therefore, it is tantamount to murder. If it's the same as murder, saying that we should respect the woman's right really is a moot point. It's the same as saying we should respect a murder's right to kill. More than anything, I bring up this point not because I agree with it, but because I think it's paramount we understand where they're coming from. This is why the pro-life camp's arguments are so strong -- because they truly believe it is murder, which from that perspective, truly is appalling. Aside from that, I totally agree with your other points.[/size]

[size=1][b][size=2]September 3, 2007[/size] [i]8:11 AM EST[/i][/b] Hey diary, it's Alex again, sorry for neglecting you. I’m typing this while in a lecture (frontiers of science is an absolute bitch that needs to die) – I moved into Columbia in late August. I’ve got so much to tell you about, wow. Let’s start from the beginning of orientation. So orientation week was basically a bunch of partying and meeting cute girls. For instance, last Thursday I hung out with Henna and a group of her friends. Long story short, I ended up at her place (no room mate, haha) and hooked up while drunk. Can’t remember a lot after that point, except that I stumbled out in the morning before she woke up. Don’t judge me, diary, I’m a teenager abusing his newfound freedom – and it just so happens that there’s a lot of hot females here who happen to think I’m somewhat attractive as well. Fun times, diary. Fun times indeed. I was chatting with Hedryn post-classes today about the situation in Manhattan. Get this – Mayor Bloomberg declared a state of emergency and locked down Manhattan. It’s more or less a police state at this point. Due to the rioting nationwide, he’s trying to stop shit from getting out of hand. No one is allowed in or out of Manhattan. Traffic, bridges, subways, nothing leaves or comes in. There’s a 10 o’clock PM curfew. At least there’s no rioting, none of that weird poisoning shit or anything. Wish me luck on the girls. I’m going to try to get Hedryn to join in on the fun, maybe set him up with a cute gal. He’s a really nice guy, I don’t want to set him up with some bimbo. Or do I? Ha.[/size]

[size=1]Oh man, when John pwnd the hell out of DaSilva, my life aquired new meaning. I was at that point an OtakuRanger. Unfortunate, the group was pretty ad hoc and died shortly after. Sometimes I think we should've pushed to make actual contact with the authorities. Speaking of this incident, it still doesn't have an Otakupedia entry. Aside from that, my favorite moment (narcissistic thought it may be) was my turn to typographic art. By doing that, I became more liked and well known. But since becoming a hardass mod, my popularity has taken a serious hit. So I like to look back to the glory days, while simultaneously trying to lighten up around here.[/size]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]Oh right. We'll I guess I'd probably still be against it for the "child's done nothing wrong" line of thought. I know it seems a cop-out Alex but I do genuinely believe that rape abortions shouldn't be special unless the mother is genuinely going to kill or seriously harm herself is she has to carry the child. [/SIZE][/QUOTE] [size=1]See: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Advocate][b]Devil's Advocate[/b][/url]. [QUOTE][SIZE="1"]Dude. Not. Cool.[/SIZE][/QUOTE] Haha, it had to be done.[/size]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]Perhaps it's accepted, but that doesn't make it right. The unborn kids in those cases have done nothing to deserve execution.[/SIZE][/QUOTE] [size=1]Right, well, for the sake of argument, play along. I'm genuinely interested to see what sort conclusions people draw. [QUOTE][size=1]As for your second point, I think it draws back to the "Pregnancy is punishment" thing, but again I'd be against a termination.[/size][/QUOTE] No, I don't think you're understanding. Presumably the woman would want to keep the child but the father would not. What's outstanding about this case is that the man was raped, rather than the other way around. [QUOTE][size=1]Just OOC does rape for males ever occur ? Hetero in this case as it refers to Alex's point.[/SIZE][/QUOTE] [IMG]http://myspace.drewpydraws.com/chicks/WH_fat_girls.jpg[/IMG] You decide.[/size]

[size=1]It's generally accepted that abortion should be allowed for women in cases of rape. Food for thought: Should a man who was raped be allowed to force said woman into abortion?[/size]

[size=1]Cyriel, your HOPE photo is stunning. I'm glad you had your camera on you. And Break, you got skills. Nice. [url=http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/?action=view¤t=DSC_0351.jpg]- Some powerlines I liked.[/url] [url=http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/?action=view¤t=DSC_0197.jpg]- A guy I saw on an NYC street.[/url] [url=http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/?action=view¤t=DSC_0195.jpg]- Distance marker near some train tracks.[/url] [url=http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/?action=view¤t=DSC_0098.jpg]- Paper on a used messageboard.[/url] [url=http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/?action=view¤t=DSC_0071.jpg]- Me, of course, looking rather handsome (as usual).[/url] [url=http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/?action=view¤t=DSC_0011.jpg]- Testing out my Nikon on my brother.[/url] All of these were taken on my beloved (and newly aquired) Nikon D40.[/size]

[size=1]I'm black, therefore: [b]I love watermelon more than any other fruit.[/b] True story. Aside from that, I'm a big fan of pineapple and strawberries. If I'm in the mood for a red delicious apple, those hit the spot. Bananas are fine, so long as I have peanut butter handy. (Did you know they're an excellent source of potassium, which helps prevent cramps?)[/size]

[quote name='liamc2'][FONT="Trebuchet MS"][SIZE="1"]I really don't think anyone could have said it better. We have our views on abortion and when and why it is wrong/why it's not and so on, and the argument seems to go on and around in circles.[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE] [size=1]This doesn't hold up when pro-lifers truly believe that [i]abortion is tantamount to murdering a newborn.[/i] Just saying that "We all have to eventually respect one another's personal freedoms and let them decide," that's equivalent to saying "Let people kill one another indiscriminately [and without prosecution], we all have personal choice." This argument from the pro-choice just doesn't fly.[/size]

[quote name='Premonition'][COLOR="Navy"]There, you said the statements sounded ridiculous, you never called me ridiculous directly. Now that I'm fine with, it's just Retrbutuion sounded like a jerk to me at the time.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [size=1]I apologize if I sounded like a jerk to you, but to be frank, I will not apologize for what I said. Stereotyping and sweeping generalizations are imprudent and dubious at best. I also wonder how much you actually know about Catholics. Now uh... what were we debating about before this? lol[/size]

[quote name='Premonition'][COLOR="Navy"]I'm pro-choice myslef. But for retri and break. you all knoq about yin and yang right? But did you knoe that the dark side is represented by women, and the light side by men. Interesting if I do say so myself, but I feel that the men should be the dark side.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [size=1]Common misconception: Yin and Yang are good and evil. It's simply untrue. [QUOTE][COLOR="Navy"]Thank god I'm methodist, I can't stand catholics. Oi, they just annoy me. [/COLOR][/QUOTE] You sound ridiculous, just so you know.[/size]

[quote name='Break']It hasn't been with us for very long at all. In religion women were always seen as the tempters, the seducers, etc. Traditionally, women have been considered not as virtuous as men - it was up to men to be the more virtuous of the two to save both from sin.[/QUOTE] [size=1]Not entirely true. Ancient Rome, for instance, had these girls known as Vestal Virgins. They were to remain celibate and maintain the sacred fire of Vesta. There were no male priests in Roman religion (why? there were purer than men...). During the Renaissance, physical beauty was equated with virtue (a throwback to the Greeks). Women were generally thought to be purer of heart than men… hence the phrase “The fairer sex”. These are just some throwaway examples, and if you dig, you’ll see that there was a heavy expectation for them to remain chaste until marriage. [QUOTE]Forget about the child being in the hands of a minor for the second - what about the parent? Are you denouncing any person who makes mistakes...?[/QUOTE] I would assume her position would be to put the child up for adoption.[/size]

[quote name='Jeremiah']The only time that ligthning and fire are clsoe to idolisation in the Bible is when they are used by God to show his power, and are never set up as idols in themselves.[/QUOTE] [size=1]Dude, I was referencing the Greeks and other pagan religions. It?s an example. :p [QUOTE]Anything occuring through nature is God's work. It is his method of implementing these things, that we learn from the sceinces. I believe that God always had a learning curve in mind for humanity, and that he would encourage us to learn, and discover, how he designed things to work on this earth.[/QUOTE] Right, well, I guess that?s your opinion of it. This is a point that cannot be debated because we?re both going off faith. [QUOTE]Take for example the water cycle. The Book of Job records that God draws up the water from the ocean. Now we know that it is through evaporation and condensation that this is achieved. Scientific discoveries are awesome in the sense that, as we advance, we come to a greater understanding of just how God works his "mysterious ways."[/QUOTE] I have other problems with the Book of Job, such as God condoning torture just to spite the Devil. As for the passage, please cite it. The Bible is a heavily figurative book, and I?m skeptical as to whether or not it?s talking about evaporation. I would guess it?s a coincidence, due to the thousands of other inexplicable miracles that happen, most of which defy modern science. [QUOTE]Agree to disagree? To me, the fact that so many cultures have mytholgical stories about dragons indicates to me that such large lizards were living amongst humans. I would say that whole fire-breathing part was the exaggeration of awestruck humans, not fact.[/QUOTE] I don?t think we?ve found fossils of large lizards that are concurrent with humans. But aside from that, almost every group of humans followed a pagan, primal religion that worshipped deities whom they thought responsible for natural phenomena. Explain the significance of that to me. [QUOTE]The Chinese zodiac has a year of the dragon. This is significant because every other creature on the Chinese zodiac is an existing creature with no fantastical qualities whatsoever. Could this hint at the possibility of such a creature existing, at one point in time, concurrently with humans?[/QUOTE] Hindus have an avatar that is part human, part elephant. Could this hint at the possibility of such a creature existing? No? it?s called imagination and sensationalism. [QUOTE]But think about it. Various cultures across the globe have the same flood story, with a few given discrepancies. The three I mentioned all have the central theme of a righteous family and the animals being brought to safety on a boat. Cultures with no familiarity between them concoct the same flood story? It doesn't seem right to me.[/QUOTE] Read my aforementioned point on paganism being more or less universal for quite a while in all corners of the globe. Does this lend credence to the idea that paganism is in fact valid, considering they never interacted with one another? [QUOTE]Yeah I guess. You can look at the scientific discoveries and see a creator in there, but ultimately faith in the creator is just that, and this crucial element is sceintifically impossible to prove/disprove.[/QUOTE] Precisely. Christianity is a faith because you must at some point leave behind science and trust in a higher existence. [QUOTE]I won't quote the material here, but the website carm.org does have a good resource on the creation/evolution debate that supports the creation theory, and there is even a live debate going there concerning the issue. They're better at this than I am, so I'd say it's worth your time to check out their material.[/QUOTE] Next question is? are their conclusions backed by any significant portion of the scientific community? I?m going to hazard a ?no?. [QUOTE]I thought you brought up some good points there, certaintly gave me a few things to think about.[/QUOTE] Glad to hear that. I used to be Christian but left the faith about two years ago. I?ll never say that faith is for the weak, but blind faith certainly is. As long as you question things, think critically about them, and understand what?s going on, you should be fine.[/size]

[quote name='Lunox'][color=dimgray]Also, the whole thing is so sexist. Somehow it's the woman's fault that she got pregnant, not the guy. I hate it when people become blithering idiots about it, saying stuff like "she seduced ___" or whatever, because it's seriously a bunch of BS.[/color][/QUOTE] [size=1]Yeah, it is, I totally agree. But those are the social norms for whatever reason. I know fathers who have given their sons high fives after walking in on them having sex wtih their girlfriend, which says a lot. :p Maybe because women have traditionally been considered the more virtuous and pure of the two sexes? That idea has been with us for quite a while, and I'm assuming this sexism is a manifestation of that expectation for women to be of higher moral fiber than men.[/size]

[quote name='Jeremiah']Now this, I do not understand. Why is it more acceptable to abort a child that, in it's present state looks like a fish, than it is to abort a child that has taken on the more human look? Both have the potential to become human beings, regardless the stage of development, and this is why I view both as bad as each other.[/QUOTE] [size=1]An entity with the potential to become X does not mean it is therefore equal in importance to X. You wouldn’t treat someone with the [i]potential[/i] to become your country’s leader with the same respect as you would the [i]current[/i] leader of your country, would you? Certainly not. [QUOTE]Even without a "sanctity of life" religious conviction, I don't understand why it is accpetable to abort some child's life at all. Ther emust be something I'm missing here.[/QUOTE] In my opinion, there is this balance of power that plays out during a pregnancy. At conception, the zygote has almost no power relative to the mother. But as the pregnancy progresses, the fetus gains importance while the mother’s freedom of choice loses that importance. While that mother’s importance is greater than the fetus, she should have the right for a legal abortion. But once that fetus breaks even and exceeds the mother, there should no longer be a right for legal abortion. I know that’s extremely conceptual, and I personally believe what I outlined above should take into consideration certain developmental landmarks (significant brain activity, for instance). Something I’d like to say in general. I don’t understand people who are pro-life except in cases of rape or incest. It seems to me that if you believe abortion is tantamount to murdering an infant, it should make no difference what the circumstances surround the conditions for pregnancy.[/size]

[size=1]These boards are more liberal than they used to be... I don't think the debate will be that firey this time around. I'm personally pro-choice, but I'm against partial birth abortion. That truly is infanticide in my opinion. The line is pretty blurry between fetus and human baby. I put it somewhere at the end of the second trimester unless the pregnancy will result in the death of both baby and mother. I think that as abortion or prenancy prevention (morning after pill) become less brutal and graphic, the opposition to it will die. The current opposition really feeds off of those terrible images of fetuses with their arms chopped off or whatever, which really sways opinion. Once the shock games are off the table, I don't think people will be as receptive to the message.[/size]