Allamorph

[FONT=Calibri]Welcome to the [B]Anthology[/B] section of OB, [COLOR="DarkRed"]Alpha[/COLOR]. Unfortunately, even though I feel a thread on Plato would be well-served here, this thread doesn't really provide any actual direction or discussion. About all it prompts is a "yes" or "no", and that's really not worth a thread. If you want to try again, I encourage you to put in some thoughts of your own on him, or possibly ask some questions about him to go along with it. For now, [COLOR="Blue"][B]Thread Closed.[/B][/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]But wouldn't the thread break flow?[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Better yet, who [I]wouldn't[/I] hide from rabid Twilight fans? Them's scary peeps, yo.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]In all fairness, it [I]was[/I] a pretty awful joke. If it were mine, I'd have been satisfied if it fell flat. Or limp, in this case.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Unless they're looking.[/FONT] [CENTER][IMG]http://images.wikia.com/familyguy/images/d/d1/Herbert.JPG[/IMG][/CENTER]

[FONT=Calibri]Yahtzee Croshaw has officially called Dragon Age "...lots of silence and trousers." XD[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Chibi chibi Chabichou.[/FONT]

[font="Arial"][b][center]Antissa[/center][/b][/font] [font=calibri]A chill breeze blew through the city's upper level. From atop her apartment building Isen savored it, face into the crisp wind, letting it bite at her nose and cheeks. The season was changing, and Isen welcomed it the same way as every year: outside on the roof, with a large mug of hot cocoa and milk. Winter was the only season she truly enjoyed. It reminded her of her home before, in the forest taiga and steppes of Asia, when her people's only concerns had been hunting seasons and bickering about humans; before the shinigami had been anything but a passing curiosity; before the vampires had forced them to turn on their own for survival. Before the War. The shinigami had led the fight against the vampires, and Isen knew, as did all of the survivors, that without their strength the outcome would have been far worse. But the shinigami had fought a war of necessity, and very few of them ever saw it as any more than a long and irritating riot control. They possessed a safe retreat which the vampires could not broach, so they were never exposed to atrocities the vampires committed in a vain effort to mimic their spiritly nemeses. They never witnessed those of their own kind bent and broken and destroyed, or returned to the bereaved as time bombs, or loosed upon their former comrades-in-arms as hunters. They didn't have their lands conquered and ravaged, weren't driven into hiding or flight. The black steel of the Jian came close to bringing the horror home to the shinigami. To learn that the only weapons to possess the ability to wound and slay them were forged from the essences of their people was vile enough to shake the strongest spirit. Isen herself had quaked when she had learned this truth. But then the War was all but over, and the horror was tempered by its swift subside. The wolves the vampires had corrupted, breaking them down into mindless killing engines for their hunters' use, but her people were spared the physical nightmare in favor of a worse fate: total subversion. Those the vampires captured were marked in a ritual that sealed away their ability to shapeshift, trapping them as humans and binding them to the vampire who performed the ritual. Then they were tortured, often with magic, until their minds cracked and could be brainwashed. They were allowed to return to fair health and 'escape', and would return to their packs appearing haggard and tattooed but fineâ??until something triggered in their minds and they snapped, turning on friends and family with an unnatural strength and bloodlust. After so long, her people had become wise to the markings and killed any who bore it on sight. It became a matter of honor, and families would demand the Marked be chained until a member could administer the fatal blow themselves. Isen's mother and two blood-fathers had died this way, killed by her oldest sister when she was too young to do so herself. In response the vampires had taken to hiding the bonding seal on various places on the body. For a while that worked, and it wasn't until Isen's sister decided to search the corpse of one of the afflicted cats that the hidden seals were discovered. From that time onward the packs were automatically wary of anyone who had been absent for too long, watching them for signs that they were not themselves. Isen's sister had taken full leadership over several packs by then, and had managed to capture a vampire and wring the details of their loathsome practices out of him before killing him. She had also developed a strong sense for when a packmate was or wasn't afflicted, and when one of Isen's blood brothers had been found to be Marked, it was her sister who encouraged Isen to request his death-blow. Her sister had also been the one who granted the request. After that, she had mentored Isen in detecting the Marked, and the sisters had become a formidable duo among their kind, up until the flight where Isen had met and joined her partner. Playing decoy for her pack, she had stumbled into a brawl between vampires and shinigami, and circumstance had thrown her and Nathan back to back. But her sister had trained her well, and the lessons learned through painful error were not easily forgot, even after many thousand years. Isen had only to look at the emblem on the face of the assassin's familiar to know exactly what it meant: bound to Jian Tsu, second son of Shen Jianguo, one of the most prominent vampire lords throughout the war. The mark was on his face, meaning he had been captured early on in the Jian's endeavors, but even without the visual cue she could still feel the remnants of something wrong lingering around him. Her constant watching had yielded nothing to lend credence to her suspicions, but still she watched, unable to completely give in. Even the assassin's words of assurance couldn't shake the anxiety that lurked in the back of her mind. There was one method she knew would provide her the answer she needed, but.... [b]"Yo."[/b] She turned, startled; her partner was behind her, peering at her while leaning, almost tipping over sideways. [b]"What'cha doin'?"[/b] he prompted. Isen chuckled. [b]"Enjoying the weather,"[/b] she said, turning back around. She sipped from her mug; the drink was lukewarm now, but still rich and soothing. The answer must have satisfied him; Isen felt him plop down on the edge of the roof, next to her legs. [b]"Gain any deep new insights?"[/b] Isen smirked and took another sip. [b]"Yes,"[/b] she said at length. [b]"I think I have."[/b] [b]"Cool,"[/b] said Nathan. He swung his legs from the roof. [b]"...it[i] is[/i] rather nice out."[/b][/font]

[quote name='chibi-master']...as long as your girlfriend is okay with it....[/quote] [FONT=Calibri]If she has any say or control in it at all I'd be more than a little worried.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri][quote name='taperson][SIZE="1"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Happy World AIDS Day![/COLOR'][/SIZE][/quote] I think that actually makes me more sad than anything. Thanks, though.[/FONT]

At which point he probably mentioned to the girl that he was experiencing the first condition.

[QUOTE=CaNz]Dividing by zero gives: [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/4/6/9/469c83d5e0959e4caaceea20df153c53.png[/IMG] [/QUOTE] [FONT=Calibri]Fault: division is inverse multiplication, which means you are multiplying by infinity, which is an unknown quantity. Ergo this step is invalid. And I'm already tired of the Christmas radio in stores. :p[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Speaking of YouTube, [CENTER][YOUTUBE="Urban Assault"]Eyu1JrGv0OI[/YOUTUBE][/CENTER] Awesome music from one of the worst games ever made. Go fig'.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]There are few things in this world so vile to me as the smell of Chex Party Mix. What a noxious odor.[/FONT]

[quote name='Korey][COLOR="navy"][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][SIZE="1"]What's [B]allowed to be[/B] the biggest source of entertainment for children? TV. [/SIZE][/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] [FONT=Calibri]Fix'd. Remember that the parent is the one who allows the child to use it in the first place. Television isn't inherently the biggest entertainment source, it just happens to be the easiest choice for a parent to make. [quote name='Korey][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][SIZE="1"][COLOR="navy"]I think that[/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] Please stop using that phrase, it makes you sound like you're afraid of being incorrect. There's nothing wrong with being incorrect at all. [quote name='Korey][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][SIZE="1"][COLOR="navy"]I think that privilege removal, like any form of punishment (to include physical punishment) is a child by child thing and it's up to the parents to instill that sort of morality on their children. You can spank and spank and spank, but if the child doesn't learn anything or correct their behavior, then it just becomes a result of bad behavior that the child has become accustomed to.[/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] Right. And that goes in both directions. Although I'd be more apt to say "instill discipline" than "instill morality", since the point of punishment is to correct behavior so that punishment is no longer necessary. Instilling morality is done by example, not done through duress. Also why my father quit doing it after I was a certain age. The impressionable stage was gone. And I'm reminded of how full-grown elephants can be tethered to a post with a rope that they could easily break, and yet they don't simply because they couldn't break it when they were very young and are conditioned to believe the tether is unbreakable. [quote name='Korey][COLOR="navy"][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][SIZE="1"]Like I said, that's a case by case basis.[/SIZE][/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] I'm going to clarify and say "parent by parent" and not "child by child". [quote name='Korey][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][SIZE="1"][COLOR="Navy"]Using your line of logic (or what I think your logic was), you would say that earning something back inspires people to change their ways so that they can receive privileges back.[/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] Not quite. What it does do is place the onus on the child to impress the parent and convince them of their sincerity. So the parent can either choose to return the removed item when they are convinced, or (if they want to play on the psychology a bit) they can arbitrarily determine a length of time and simply not tell the child they have done so. I can almost tell for certain you would then attempt to ask what would stop the kid from figuring the latter case out if the parent used the same time period each time. The answer would be, uh, don't. [quote name='Korey][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][SIZE="1"][COLOR="Navy"]But the actual sincerity of changing errant behavior is really murky water. What if the child repeats the behavior? Do you take the privilege away [i]again[/i] and use the same method? If so, then what changes occurred the first time?[/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] Name me one aspect of any interpersonal relationship in life that isn't murky water, bucko. The same behavior will most likely occur again. Or are you under the impression that kids are all the time thinking out the long-term results of their actions? :p There's a lack of distinction in your query about "again" as in a simple repeat or "again" as in chronic behavior. Obviously if the behavior is repeated once then the same punishment can be used again, but if it is chronic then the punishment is ineffectual. I expected you to be able to distinguish that for yourself. Also, the same question stands to you. And you realised it with your own argument following, which is good. But by talking about chronic behavior at all we're both obfuscating the issue. The point is what is most effective to curtail behavior [I]before[/I] it becomes chronic, not after. After, you've done screwed up already. [quote name='Korey][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][SIZE="1"][COLOR="Navy"]I think having a predetermined time of taking away the privilege works well because it's a consistent method of enforcing punishment.[/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] So is the other. My main point against the removal thing, again, is that it's most often something that has little meaning and so is more an irritant than a punishment. Then again, if your kid ends up actually distressed that they can't watch television any longer, I'm rather concerned. Speaking of chronic, though, there are two Is in 'privilege', one on either side of the V. I edited, but check yourself. :p[/FONT]

[quote name='Sangome;][FONT="Microsoft Sans Serif"][SIZE="1"]I do think it should be saved as a last resort, though, and anything above the butt is leery. I [I]especially[/I] disapprove of smacking a kid in the face.[/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] [FONT=Calibri]Right, the sticking point always comes down to this. Most opponents point to people who have no concept of moderation and good judgment in execution of this type of punishment, and so abuse it (and by proxy, possibly, the child) and render it useless and broken. For instance, my father (whom I deeply respect) administered corporal punishment to me now and again, but it was highly infrequent, and I never remember receiving more than three whacks. (Not lashes, either. Whacks. They might have felt like lashes at the time, but six- and seven- an eight-year-old kids are slightly more sensitive to such things.) Most often it was the [I]mention[/I] of said punishment that got us in line, both because we knew it hurt [I]and[/I] we knew he'd do it. But he rarely did it. [quote name='Korey][FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"][SIZE="1"][COLOR="Navy"]For instance, if you take away TV for a month every time for a punishment for behavior, then it's easy to discipline the child.[/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] Only if the child has developed some sort of attachment to the television. Or game systems, for that matter. My mother tried those sorts of things with me when I was in middle school and quickly gave it up because I didn't care. It's one fracking game system, I can do other things. Like read books. Or go outside. I tend to disagree with "privilege removal" mostly on the basis that the things that are removed aren't seen as privileges and most often just make the kid angst. [INDENT](See [COLOR=DarkRed]chibi-master[/COLOR]'s remarks about losing the computer. Though it was rather an unjustified reason to begin with as far as I'm concerned, it obviously did nothing to 'correct' the 'errant behavior', and so was completely ineffectual. I could say the same for a number of my friends in middle and high school who got their phones or games or cars taken away for some tommyrot or other and didn't learn anything.)[/INDENT] The point mostly is that these privileges aren't actually removed. They're simply retracted momentarily, and no emphasis is put on getting it back because all that's required to get it back is a time limit. Think: when you lose someone's trust, you have to earn it back. When you lose your phone, it comes back after a month. Does the second case inspire any form of behavior modification? Any at all? If such tactics are to be effective, then, the time limit can't be pre-known. Knowing how long a thing is gone just turns the punishment into a waiting game; if instead the child has to earn back the privilege through their behavior or performance, then you can see first if it matters to them and second if they want to get it back badly enough to change. [QUOTE=SigillumDiaboli]I would say if it were an extreme situation, such as the kid had a gun, then yes, use the force that is necessary to get the situation in control. But if it is a little issue, then no.[/QUOTE] The greater issue here (at least to me) is whether the police even needed to be involved in the first place. Way I figure it, the officer acted within his bounds, and his boundaries are really close. But what kind of mother calls the police on her own daughter for throwing a tantrum over a shower? You ask me, taking her to a youth shelter was a good move. Although telling her she was going to jail is a bit more debatable.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Ahh, but, see, that'll get Child Services called on you nowadays, for abuse. A parent who tells their kid "If you don't stop I'll call the police on you," probably didn't bother instilling a whole lot of good sense into their kid in the first place, and by now has almost no control over them.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Also consider that the mother called the police [I]and[/I] told the man who responded to use a taser simply because her child was throwing a fit.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Given how bound officers are anyway when it comes to these situations, I'm not bothered by [I]this situation[/I], which is what I think we should discuss before going to the general case. Also take note that (per the article) the officer was mindful of the duration of the stun. If the kid had a gun (which is really kind of a o O situation to bring up), then the officer still wouldn't have been able to use the taser unless actually fired upon, as far as I am familiar.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Which is why I prefer being rogue. That and the Council is just too doggone stuffy for my tastes.[/FONT]

[quote name='taperson;][SIZE="1"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]You should try a BLT, sans the tomato, with peanut butter. Mmmmm, so good.[/COLOR'][/SIZE][/quote] [FONT=Calibri]Party at my place. BYOBLPB.[/FONT]

[CENTER] [IMG]http://totallylookslike.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/my-fetus-totally-looks-like-the-emperor.jpg[/IMG] [/CENTER]

[quote name='CaNz']i second the notion.... and am appauled at how many terrorists are on OB[/quote] [FONT=Calibri][URL="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=57211"][COLOR="Blue"]Quite so[/COLOR][/URL].[/FONT]

[quote name='Stephanie][size=1']Jigglyness is teh shizz.[/size][/quote] [FONT=Calibri][I]*points to signature*[/I][/FONT]