No one really lives close to me, I think.

Get on Skype, Psy. I'm currently playing TDM, which I've been told is the apex of BF experiences.

Quote from: Ginger on June 17, 2016, 12:51:44 PM

Quote from: Tyger on June 17, 2016, 12:45:31 PM

Quote from: Ginger on June 17, 2016, 12:37:12 PM

Quote from: Tyger on June 17, 2016, 12:19:26 PM

Quote from: Ginger on June 17, 2016, 12:15:15 PM

Bang Flee.

gross

Don't knock it 'til you try it, pumpkin.

you can't have sex until your married

Your Pillowpants must be a feisty little devil.

I don't know what that means but I'm just jealous I don't get to bang flee in vegas

Ehm.

Quote from: Flee on June 17, 2016, 10:27:25 AM

Quote from: Mr. Psychologist on June 17, 2016, 10:18:03 AM

Quote from: Flee on June 17, 2016, 09:46:56 AM

Bought a pre-paid card at the store earlier and downloading BF4 now. Any word on when the DLC will be free yet?

Plaaaaaaaaaaaaay with us fleeeeeeee

It's been free throughout the year so far, they offer one up for free every so often but afaik there isn't a set timetable for it.

Which one is free now?

And sure, I'll play with some people. Not typically a fan of the casual BS that is vehicular combat (hate me, I don't care), but I'll probably manage.

As ushan said, none at the moment but some will be free fairly soon I imagine.

The free-lc packs are always available and add three new maps (one is a night-map) but really only the Dragon Valley one is good/worth the DL (Legacy).

Ye, don't worry about the vehicle stuff too much. As an example of last night, we had one round with an infantry group dug in outside the enemy spawn to hold off their tank onslaught whilst Tru and I were cleaning up the map points in an attack chopper. Then there are other maps where it's primarily infantry for the full squad or more.

80% installed LET'S GOOOO

I do believe that a "democratic restoration"--or whatever you want to call it--is one of the genuine benefits of leaving the EU.

It's a fair argument, even though I feel that the "democratic deficit" of the EU has largely been amended and debunked. The brasen appeals to "regain independence, sovereignty and democracy" aside, I think that Britain's membership of the Union will do little to nothing for the improvement of democracy. Looking at the numbers, I don't think there's much ground to claim that the British people have somehow lost out on considerable degrees of democracy because of the EU.

It also means we aren't going to be on the losing side of Council votes so often, especially on foreign policy, development, agriculture and employment law.

That deserves some further details though. Since 1999, the UK government has only voted against adopted EU laws in 2% of all cases. 95% of the times, the UK vote was in line with the outcome and in 3% of cases it chose to abstain. And that alone doesn't really tell the full story either. There's no statistics on how many laws the UK voted against which ended up being shelved, so the actual number of how often the UK's refusal was ignored is probably much lower than the 2% number mentioned earlier.

This also doesn't account for the considerable power of negotiation the UK holds in the discussions concerning these laws and doesn't reflect how often Britain managed to get exactly what it wanted out of the Council. So much about legislative proposals is already discussed and altered before it ever even comes to a vote, so there's no telling how often the UK's diplomatic intervention led to its suggestions being incorporated in the text or how many proposals were abandoned or severely amended before it even came to an actual vote due to British influence. There's been a number of studies on this finding that the UK proved to be very influential in the determination of the agenda, work programmes most legislative works, coming out ahead of Germany and France when looking at how the outcomes of negotiations reflect the original positions of the national governments.

As the simple fact that the UK voted no says nothing about the stage or details of its vote, there's also not much of a conclusion that can be drawn from that alone. It doesn't say whether the UK was against the entire proposal or just a few minor details. More importantly, it doesn't say if this was a vote "at first reading" (which is what it's called when the Council first reviews a legislative proposal) or at a later stage, meaning that it's likely that in a lot of those cases, the UK simply voted against (parts of) the draft version which was then amended to include its complaints in the final version of the text.

Finally, it doesn't say anything about the relative importance of these laws to the UK. Due to how important the UK's input is in the actual trilogues and in-Council discussions, it's very possible that the actual number of votes the British government actually really cared about but still got outvoted on is close to zero and that the cases it lost only concerned matters of limited importance to the UK. And then there's also the fact that there's numerous recorded cases of the government vote to be the opposite of what the UK MEP's decided on, meaning that the number of instances where both the UK government and the British parliamentary representatives both voted no but still got outvoted is considerably lower than the 2% still.

And earlier in 2016, the Council rules were changed so that the UK's influence has increased by about 60% (8% in 2015 to just over 13% in 2016), so that should at least do something to change the recent increase in the UK voting against the majority decision. Which, I mean, isn't great, but your own link confirms that even in these times of tension, the UK still votes along the majority in just about 90% of all cases.

Also, I believe foreign and security affairs, budgetary matters and issues of harmonizing social security and social protection require unanimity to be accepted, so none of those should be able to be passed without the UK's approval. So even if the UK would vote against the majority in these cases (which you said were among the ones the UK is not line with the majority vote most often), it can still force its vote through and veto everything.

So while it's true that the UK votes against the majority more often, I think that can just as much be a symptom of more assertiveness towards the EU rather than the country just being outvoted. Especially when considering all of the above, I don't think this does much to disprove how strong of a player the UK still is in Europe.

https://fullfact.org/europe/eu-facts-behind-claims-uk-influence/
https://fullfact.org/europe/british-influence-eu-council-ministers/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-brexit-debate-u-k-s-lack-of-influence-in-eu-is-greatly-exaggerated-1458154337

And I don't really disagree with your final two points on the attitude of certain Remain campaigners (even though I don't think Leave has been any better) and European federalism. But that, to me, is exactly the reason that Remain should be Britain's vote.

No matter how you look at it, the UK will have to follow the EU's suit for a myriad of things. Depending on what it manages to negotiate with the Union, even when it leaves, it is going to have to abide by heaps of EU legislation and initiatives in the areas of the single market, four freedoms, competition, social policy, environmental policy, state aid, transport policy, financial services, indirect taxation, consumer protection and company law. And all of the complaints you and others have about the EU will not stop once the UK leaves. If anything, they will likely just get worse.

The UK is a powerhouse in Europe. It's the counterbalance to France and Germany. It's euroscepticism is healthy for the EU and this entire continent. It has a very considerable degree of influence in a lot of what the EU does and its opinions and complaints are actually given the time of day. Brexit already has sent a very strong signal. This entire campaign and the amount of controversy it has generated has made it very clear that not all countries are happy with the direction the EU is heading in and that some things definitely have to change. But those things are not going to be changed from the outside. I want the UK in the Union not because of its economy or the freedom to visit it whenever I want, but because I think its opposition is healthy and good for the Union. And it has shown that there are some things about the EU that are in need of reform. Because of that, I think that Remain would be the best choice at this point. I think the message has been sent and received. The UK staying would put it in a very strong position to negotiate change, rather than turn the country into a pariah in the eyes of some. It would send a message of hope that it is not too late to improve things and that collaboration through the Union is far from dead. Leaving would not be good for the EU, I think, and would force the UK to deal with the Union equally much but only without having any real influence over what it does. And that's why if I were British, I would vote Remain. The EU has done a lot of good and will continue doing so, but it needs strong voices from within to mend its flaws.

Quote from: Flee on June 17, 2016, 09:53:20 AM

Quote from: Flee on June 17, 2016, 09:49:11 AM

Quote from: Tyger on June 17, 2016, 09:46:34 AM

Quote from: Flee on June 17, 2016, 09:44:10 AM

I thought our NSFW policy was pretty clear. Tag the thread as NSFW or put a warning in the title and then put the link (no embeds) to the site you want in a spoiler. Example:

Title: (NSWF) "Hey look at this!"
Contents:

Spoiler

www.nsfwsite.com

lol that's a real website

"WE SHIP WORLDWIDE"

I'm slightly concerned with some of the things they are selling though. A single "black lion" for $12? "

This doctor designed male enhancement pill promises super stamina, rock hard erections and increased penis size, sexual confidence and ejaculation load. It decreases the occurrence of premature ejaculation and lasts up to 72 hours."

Doesn't sound very, eh, safe.

it's probably a fucking sugar pill or fish oil or something

Or a dangerous mix of certain chemicals. "Rock hard erection" for 72 hours? I better hope not.

Quote from: Flee on June 17, 2016, 09:44:10 AM

I thought our NSFW policy was pretty clear. Tag the thread as NSFW or put a warning in the title and then put the link (no embeds) to the site you want in a spoiler. Example:

Title: (NSWF) "Hey look at this!"
Contents:

Spoiler

www.nsfwsite.com

lol that's a real website

"WE SHIP WORLDWIDE"

Bought a pre-paid card at the store earlier and downloading BF4 now. Any word on when the DLC will be free yet?

If I buy you Overwatch you gotta buy me Overwatch in return.

That's what I was going to say goddammit.

That's good to hear.  Why type of law were you studying again?

ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and IP (Intellectual Property) law.

IT or ICT basically includes everything that has to do with tech. Telecoms, ISP's, privacy/data protection, the internet, cybercrime/cybersecurity, media, human rights in the cybersphere, electronic contracts, e-commerce, the legalities of all kinds of software and hardware, piracy, virtual currencies, anonymity online, the use of drones...

And IP is just intellectual property as you know it. Patents, copyright, trademarks, designs...

I much prefer IT, but IP isn't bad either.

Congrats Flee! You must be feeling a huge amount of relief.


Oh btw you need to watch the conjuring 2 potentially better than the babadook

Yeah, I saw the trailer months ago. Had no idea it was out already until I saw the thread on it. Definitely going to see it.

rarity is cool

Definitely top tier pony. Opal is a good pet as well.

Bachelor's in general law.
Master's (LLM) in criminal law and international and European law.
Advanced Master's (LLM) in IT and IP law.

What did you write it on ?

First one was on the legal statute and protection of open source software in the EU, second one on a privacy-oriented review of the proposed data protection directive for the criminal justice sector.

Great job
Wanna write a thousand word essay on essays?

That's pretty damn meta, an essay on essays. But yeah, my original thesis was close to 25,000 words. Not in the mood for more right now.