DCSaints_fan

On 1/24/2017 at 10:57 AM, Ludomaniac said:

How exactly did the first order rise to power anyway?  You would think the governing body of the galaxy would be keeping close watch on those types of factions

I thought the First Order was just a rebranding of the Empire.   Which kind of makes sense if you lose a war.   Kind of like how Germany used to be known as Prussia, or the breakup of the Soviet Union 

On 2/4/2017 at 4:48 AM, Mr. Sinister said:

Pretty much every scene felt like deja vu

Which is why I liked Finn more than any other character.   He was the only character that wasn't just a rehash character from previous movies.  My pet theory is he was fanservice to Kyle Kataran (or possibly Crix Nadine, who was also an imperial defector but had a really minor role in the movies)

Rogue One's characters on the other hand, mostly stunk.  Except for Churri (sp?) and his wingman whose name I can't remember, who didn't even get that much screen time but were far more interesting than the "main" characters.  

On 11/6/2016 at 1:07 AM, FrFan said:

GB is among USA's top 10 largest trading partner, so it is going to hurt the US economy. USA will also lose a "voice" within the EU since UK has always been a strong partner in terms of influence. I believe if the pound keeps on dropping, the US dollar will keep on rising and ultimately it will impact the US economy. The Fed tried multiple times to raise the interest rate, but failed to do so because of the market uncertainties.

I don't think it matters one way or another.   Nothing is going to prevent the US and UK from trading with one another after the Brexit. 

A stronger dollar vs the pound is just going to mean the UKs exports will be cheaper for US customers, while US exports will be more expensive for those in the UK.   Of course this is going to hurt companies who export to the UK, but don't really consume UK goods (for example, Apple).  However, it helps companies and individuals who do alot of importing from the UK, but little of any exporting to the UK.   Offhand, I can't think of any companies like this, but according to US census, these do exist to the tune of $57 billion per year (vs $56 billion for exports) https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/top/top1512yr.html, so its probably a wash

As for the UK's "voice" in the EU, can you give an example where it has advanced US interests in the EU?   I can give at least one non-example, with the that GMOs, which the UK seems about as opposed as most other EU countries

On 11/3/2016 at 11:03 AM, nonniey said:

Well to be honest it is troubling and very reflective of how the EU operates and reflects how anti-democratic Europe is becoming. Was it not Parliament that gave the decision to the voters?  If the vote doesn't go the way those in power want it to go the solution is to just ignore it and carry on.

The referedum was never binding.  Even if it was, the court is now basically saying, that Parliament can't be bound by anyone (even itself), so it would be moot.

Finished Luke Cage this weekend.   Great acting.  I thought the plot was a bit flimsy.  Cottonmonth didn't do it for me as a villain.   He was just your everday two bit ganster, granted a successful one.   

Another problem is that Cage's opponents were zero match for him, because of his superpowers.  Except

Daredevil is the best of the Netflix Marvel series because of its villains, although Cage may have slightly better supporting roles.

Honestly I don't want to see Daredevil or Punisher "team up" Luke Cage / Jessica Jones.  He would have nothing to do.  Part of the reason why I didn't like Batman vs. Superman, not to the mention Flash/Arrow crossovers

This would be like Ovechkin joining the Penguins

https://twitter.com/BreakingNews/status/747291393266114560

Maybe he can immigrate to the US and join our team :-)

Why wouldn't Britain and honestly Germany not want to leave the EU. All they have become is a safety net for all these other countries who are just awful economically.

The Euro is good for German exporters.  Maybe not so good (long term) for Germany/EU bankers :-)

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/ben-bernanke/posts/2015/04/03-germany-trade-surplus-problem

I came across a pretty rational case for Brexit here

There is also 'Brexit - the movie' although that is a bit more sensationalistic.

Haven't found anything comparable for the 'Remain' side.  

What is the difference between the UK, Great Britain, and England? I thought I knew but the way the news is thinking im n other so sure. And how would London break of? Isn't it a city in a country like New York city in the US?

Best, funniest and quickest explanation of the UK:

Imagine if we had a group of United States where the HQ was somewhere in the mid-atlantic making the rules for all these states. 

Who get representation in the legislature, which actually serves a role beyond simply 'advisory' (well, except D.C.).  And who can vote for the President 

For those in the US who think those who voted for Brexit are foolis: how would you like a "North American Union", headquartered in say, Ontario, run by unelected bureaucrats that can effectively make US law?  

I swear by brining chicken.   I've tried it a couple times where I've not brined, and the brined is vastly superior.   Whenever I eat chicken at someone elses place, who 95% of them don't brine, it tastes bland and woody and I secrely think to myself my chicken kicks their butt six ways from Sunday.

This is the absolute truth.  I wouldn't go as far to say that I'd be out, but he is completely overrated.  He dies like a ****, too.  There's nothing badass about him.

I thought Boba Fett survived the Sarlacac pit...

Benico Del Toro:

I said he'll force choke you, force choke you for real ...

Give me the ****ing droids, you ****sucker, what the ****?

And THAT is what makes Jessica Jones so great. She's a real person.

 

She's flawed, damaged etc.

Only thing I thought that was lame about Jessica Jones is

Shouldn't be too hard to just starve them out

Please tell me the EXACT thing you would propose for a new law that won't infringe on the Constituion (and if you can't/won't, please tell us why it is OK to ignore the Constitution here and not elsewhere).

 

Thanks.

You could argue that existing laws are already unconstitutional and should be struck down.  Why is the Federal government  can prevent private citizens from buying an M249 SAW?  Or tanks with functioning main guns? 

I don't think we can tackle this issue politcally at the moment.   I think we need some good artists (books, films) to tackle this topic to change peoples opinions.  Sort of like what happened with the civil rights movment and the LGBT movement

It's funny how the economic troubles in China upset the stock market so much, when in many ways they will be beneficial to the US as a competitor of China.   In the US, employment has been on a fairly steady upswing, economic growth is good compared to the rest of the developed world, oil and gas remain cheap.  

 

Of course, the interests of American capital and of the American worker are poorly aligned.   

But do we really compete with China more than we depend on China?   The industries in which China is know for, like cheap manufacturing, electornics fabrication and don't really exist much in the US anymore.   And if the Chinese economy goes south, that means increases in prices of goods they produce which the US industries use.   For example, Apple iPhone is manufactured in China by Foxconn.  So increases in production costs in China would be bad for Apple, a US company with a large US workforce

I'm operating under the assumption that, as far as water is concerned, the earth is a closed system. water moves or changes state, but otherwise we don't magically get/lose water?

 

if water is being moved from location to another, in significant quantities, i would think it would have an affect on water temperature? especially if the rate of water temperature change is related to the volume of water we're talking about? if it's not finding its way back to the aquifers, then it must be going to the ocean?

 

i don't know, it's why i was asking

The Water cycle is mostly closed on a small time scale, but not on a geologic one.  Plants (autotrophs) consume water and oxygen to produce sugars/starches (carbohydrates), which in turn get eaten up by heterotrophs  (animals, fungi, etc.), and then expelled as CO2 and H20 But not 100% of autotrophs get consumed, some of them get buried.   So in some respects that water/CO2 is "locked in" to the carbohydrates of the dead autotrophs.   However, this effect is very small and really only apples on a geological time scale (tens of millions of years)

I think there are some complications here with methanogens, etc. so what I wrote here is probaby a grade school simplification, but its the basic idea

Also, at Earth temperatures, water exists in an solid-liquid-gas equilbrium

water vapor <-> water (liquid) <-> ice    

Warming the planet causes the equlibrium to shift towards vapor, cooling it causes it to shift towards ice

Where as CO2 at Earth temperatures and pressures, only exists as a gas.

Water vapor actually contributes to the greenhouse effect more than carbon dioxide.   However, if you could magically pump water vapor into the atmosphere ex nihilo, it would just end up precipitating out as liquid (condensing, i.e, rain) somewhere else, and not effect the climate appreciably.  Whereas with CO2, that doesn't happen because it exists only as a gas and doesn't condensee at Earth temps/pressures.  (Plants of course convert CO2 to sugars, but this takes quite a while to have an effect on CO2 levels)   CO2/Methane driven warming causes the water vapor/liquid/ice equllibrum to shift towards vapor, which amplfies the warming effect of water vapor because it drives more of it to the vapor phase (which is a green house gas).  Which, in turn, heats up the planet and caues more water to evaporate, etc..   This is an example of positive feedback loop, The reason why its not a "runaway" effect, is because, simply the feedback diminishes with each "loop", at least for small concentratons.  However, there is a point where it does become a "runaway" efffect that would boil the oceans off Earth.   However I think this point is beyond several thousands of ppm CO2 and its not really possible to reach anytime soon.   Even so, I'm not eager to find out 700 ppm CO2 Earth would look like in terms of human civilization :-|

He didn't clearly died in the lab, we just supposed he did. I understand he could manage to escape from the alien hug, but surviving a nuclear blast ?!!

Maybe there's a lead refrigerator around somewhere 

Seriously I would love for Hudson to come back, then first time he runs into an alien, he points his gun at it and says 

"Game on!"

In case anyone missed it 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCVhyrgWSBY

I can also remember learning to drive at 3

LeBron's going to Cleveland

 

If that happened, I would head to emergency room as a precautionary move, just in case I risked I dying of laughter