Objectively true tbh.

Quake Live would be an excellent suggestion. Rather low population at certain times of the day, but doesn't really matter muchas you can play a game with just a handful (or even just 2) people. Time to kill can be very high and it's an extremely fast game taking a ton of skill.

Some of the pictures it tweeted were still up yesterday. A few of them were very colorful, involving nukes and Donald Trump.

What do you think about the rebuttal, Turkey? This is not an issue I'm particulary engaged with, so I doubt my opinion will be worth much. From what I've heard, I'd definitely say that GMO's can be of great use to us and that the ethical concerns don't hold that much weight, but it does seem that there may be significant risks to them for both the humans who consume them and potentially the environment too.

Quote from: Flee on March 25, 2016, 03:57:29 AM

Studying, unfortunately.

Fack that shit.

Yeah, I hear you. For faculty students here, the two weeks of Easter break are just there to give you time to prepare for your final exams and thesis.

Dark and gritty capeshit is still the best capeshit though.

Geographical location more than anything, I imagine. It's one thing to hide in a truck or jump on a small raft and get to Turkey / Greece from somewhere in the Middle East. Crossing multiple massive continents and the second largest ocean in the world is something else entirely. Those who can make it to the US are probably better off financially, logistically and are likely better informed and/or educated. They are usually there legally after going through the proper channels and an application procedure. Most Muslim immigrants entering the US do so legally and after being admitted by the government. In Europe, there's just thousands upon thousands refugees and immigrants sneaking in illegally or flooding the borders in a desperate attempt to get in at any cost.

It seems likely that the opposite would be true if the situations were reversed and Europe could sit safely on the other side of the world admitting only the desirable workers, while the US would be flooded by refugees and illegals getting in through the "weaker" portions of the nation.

I used to be pretty decent at this game back in the day tbh.

However the fuck I want

Which usually is?

Quote from: Flee on March 23, 2016, 03:09:03 PM

Tbh he probably just got stuck at the rolling boulder in the tutorial again and is trying to save face.

UH, rude?

You know I'm just playing with you. <3

Quote from: Flee on March 23, 2016, 06:39:06 AM

in a Belgian newspaper

Is it a widely circulated paper?

Perhaps the Continental establishment is finally coming out of its masochistic coma.

It's one of the two main "quality" newspapers in Flanders with approximately 400,000 readers, so you could definitely say that.

Pretty good article in a Belgian newspaper that I think many here would agree with. The original is in Dutch and I just ran it through Google Translate, so try not to mind the the shoddy English.

Can we finally wake up?

Most of the Muslim world does not know the separation of church and state. Therefore, we should pay particular attention to Muslims who do thrive in a secular society.

No, the massacre in Brussels is not our fault, as the attacks of November 13 with 130 fatalities in Paris were not those of France. And no, the attacks are not the work of "rogue individuals'. Terrorists are the extreme end of a broader continuum that does not understand or accept that Islam does not dominate society. This is evident from the networks, including in Brussels, providing the killers assistance and shelter.

It is now high time that we stop ourselves constantly of all blame. Certainly, our society has its shortcomings - there are no perfect societies. But errors are being combated and punished. We are not a country of xenophobes.

Second, we must urgently eliminate the disastrous term 'Islamophobia'. In a democratic secular society, any religious or other beliefs can and should be criticized. There is no reason to make an exception for Islam.

There is even less reason to compare the criticism of Islam to racism. Claiming that "the Muslims of today, the Jews of the 30s" are obscene. It is a denial of the Holocaust. The Jews were in a barbaric manner murdered for what they were, not for what they thought or felt. It did not matter whether they were rich or poor, educated or illiterate, religious or agnostic, or even converted to Christianity. They were murdered because they were Jew. Today we have laws against racism and for equal opportunities centers. Where is this new 'persecution'?

Equating criticism of Islam with racism or discrimination of, for example, blacks (or by extension of women or homosexuals), is to say that Islam can not live with freedom of religion, and thus cannot integrated in a secular society.

And that is precisely the message that many Muslims in our countries ingest through their satellite dishes and foreign networks. They are ingrained with hatred against "the Crusaders" and "Zionists", against unbelievers and wrongbelievers. They get the message that a society is either Islamic or wrong. And then you get young people who do not (want to) perform at school because they think it preaches a false doctrine. And who protest when the police arrest a suspected terrorist.

We must fully realize that still most of the Muslim world does not know the concept of separation of religion and state. And that the message of jihad against entering "the enemies of Islam" through a variety of channels, and not in the least through a portion of the refugees from the Middle East.

It is high time that we recognize this, without panic and without fatalism. It is high time we pay much more attention to the many Muslims who do thrive in a secular society, instead of those full of resentment and rancor. But instead, we do the reverse. Ayaan Hirsi Ali had to move to America, Hind Fraihi was ridiculed after its report on Molenbeek (2005). Last week her book and immersion à Molenbeek be published in Paris.

We're not short on warnings and clear signals. Can we finally, please, wake up?

GT is flee4me, add me if you want.

The single worst attack on national soil since World War 2 just took place a few hours ago in two areas I've set foot in dozens of times, less than half an hour from my home. 34 people are dead and a few hundred severely injured, which if altered to accurately represent deaths per capita would equal over a 1000 dead in the US or 200 in France. This is going down in history as a "where were you when..." kind of day that people will never forget and that will definitely and significantly change the country and the EU for years to come. I don't really think any song could accurately describe this.

Quote from: Flee on March 22, 2016, 11:55:08 AM

Quote from: Eliab on March 22, 2016, 11:20:06 AM

I was literally in Brussels not 3 days ago. Holy shit.

I'm there every single day, the metro being 5 minutes from my usual route.. Surreal stuff.

How do you think this will affect Belgian politics?

Hopefully it serves as an impetus for security and intelligence reform.

I imagine it will. The prime minister said the country now has a before and after 22/3, implying it might could be akin to 9/11 for the country. Definitely going to result in some significant changes. I'm also assuming that there's going to be a change in EU and international support. Belgium and especially Flanders are very wealthy, but also very small. In a way, it's kind of unreasonable that a country with a population only slightly higher than just New York City carries the burden of literally being the capital of the EU, the so-called crossroad of Europe and home to a ton of international and European institutions. Those are some of the things that make the country incredibly attractive for these threats while still being responsible for the general security all on its own. It's easy to forget that the UK, Italy and France are all about 6 times larger, Germany 8 times larger and the Netherlands twice as large population-wise. I would not be surprised if security and intelligence measures became more harmonized and centrally funded for the EU as a result of these attacks.