SleepingSilence

What Are You Listening To?

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

A thing that never stopped irritating her; was despite living in a criminally active city, nobody had properly tightened security. A measly fingerprint lock that could be overridden with an 8 digit pass-code that took no time whatsoever cracking from the grease staining the keypad from pressing the correct ones? Are you kidding? Maybe that was just because she was so good at her job, or perhaps everyone’s incompetence assisted in perpetual, productive wrongdoings. Her self-reminded annoyance served as a momentary distraction of thought, necessary to not have apprehension while heading indoors...

It was foolhardy to claim that it was too quiet, but the atmosphere crept along her skin like centipedes crawling up her legs. She was certainly followed, possibly ever since she entered into the alleyway across the street, and into another building closer to simultaneous shootouts changing the late night forecast into a hailstorm of smoke and bullets. Her steps clanged like an iron bar smacking against someone’s back, the clamorous echoing inside only drowned out from her ears approaching the ensuing chaos. Guided by long dim, ceiling lights as she rushed through a lengthy cramped corridor, into a wide open room with slightly brighter ceiling lights causing a green hue, staring down a pair of double translucent glass doors between two sets of staircases leading to the second floor.

Turning her head having that paranoid fear that every moving shadow is a stalker with murderous intent. Catching the glimpse of the object slashing overhead to carve into her left shoulder, cutting the air as she pivoted right to dodge the attack and confront the hostile. A katana held in his left hand. She jumped backward, avoiding the following horizontal mid-slash going right to left. She attempted to pull out her pistol, not enough time, her muscle-bound opponent lunged at her thrusting his blade, as she leapt and rolled out of way. Her opponent quickly facing her standing on all fours, his glowing deep-blue eyes discerning her movement. The dangerous situation slowed to a crawl, something clicked into place her mind like the last piece completing the puzzle.

Her opponent was carrying no visible guns? Holding weapon in one hand, due to the heavy power glove equipped to the other and he had no apparent armor. Besides a potential bulletproof vest underneath his clothing, but he was using visual enhancing equipment. Likely a separate entity from the outdoor firefights, needed to eliminate first and ask questions later. Processed in within a single moment, wiping out her Beretta from her holster and taking aim, the bang echoed, bullet deflecting off the katana with his precise movements rushing at her. Predicting her slim chances firing off a successful shot, she haphazardly half-stuffed her gun back into her holster. Her previous degrading treatment was about pay off; circling past still running on all fours like it was natural. He staggered spinning himself around, reaching down and grabbing inches away from her tail. She swung upright on two legs with a fluid non-stop motion, ascending the west stairs. Her gun falling out of the holster and landing on the fourth step.

Her mistake sunk in her gut as conflicting thoughts screamed at her to run versus retrieving it while having the opportunity. He was already behind her, hastily kicking the Beretta between the cracks going up to the fifth step. She turned and grabbed her opponent’s raised wrist, wrenching it away until the blade scraped the wall. Striking her head with a powerful uppercut; the helmet absorbed the blow, but was knocked clean off and ricocheted off the wall and bounced off the steps onto the ground. Using the glove to reflexively grab her arm, still twisting his wrist as her maw opened wide and lunged forward, sinking her fangs into his arm. Tasting the iron in the blood spurting in her mouth as it gushed from his arm preparing a right hook. Avoiding it by jumping backwards onto the next step, releasing him and grabbing her firearm with the same hand. Watching the glove slam into the wall with a thunderous clang, leaving a sizable indentation as he ripped it back and let out a growl through clenched teeth. She pulled her gun and aimed at his groin, pulling the trigger as his eyes glowed blue again, lowering his arm and directing his katana downward to deflect the bullet into the railing.

“That’s what I thought. When you rely on the equipment for battle, you lose.” Promptly kicking the katana from his grasp, clattering to floor beneath with his careless foot movements knocking it aside to dodge another shot aimed at his shoulder. Swatting the gun out of her hand, feeling like he broke her hand with the sheer veracity of his swing. The gun tumbled down the stairs just above the first step. She countered with a flurry of blows as he closely shielded his head with crossed arms. He glanced below at his weapon, thinking for a split-second about recovering it, an involuntary distraction invading the mind. Letting her tightly grip the railing by the wall with her hands and jump up, swiftly plunging both legs into his stomach. His last ditch effort to reach out and grab her failed, shoved backward, skidding his back into the steps in his descent before his skull made acquaintance with the tile. She dived off the steps as he pushed against the floor to sit up, connecting with his solar plexus, keeping him flattened and causing him to sharply gasp, kicking the Beretta by his feet behind the stairs.

“I don’t need my guns for this.” She pounced down her hands landing against her shoulders.

“Get off, beast! I said get off!” His voice was deep as an ocean, but his wave of demands reflected a glimmer of weakness, she couldn’t help but think they were pitiful to have as last words. He reached up to grab his sides to throw her off, but he was too late. The shocked stare in his eyes, seeing the saliva dripping from her jaw onto his lips. The sound of a crunch was followed by a scream, he writhed and squirmed on the ground vainly attempting to get her off. She spit out the flesh and blood ripped from his face, taking several ineffectual blows to the face with his bare fist. Sinking her jaws into his neck, just as he gripped the back of her head with his glove, immediately weakening his grip. Pulling her head away, only yanking the collar off her neck. His stunned body unable to react to her fists smashing his face repeatedly, until covered in her opponents blood. Finally, he stopped thrashing about like a beached trout.

No such luck. She found nothing while patting him down. Pulling herself up and pulled off his shirt, wiping her face and hands and tossing it on top his mangled face. Coming to realize how fast her heart was pumping letting her adrenaline was wane, as she took a minute and a half to catch her breathe.

“Hm - I was right about the vest too.” Scarlett thoughtlessly picked up the broken collar from between his limp fingers, but tossed it away. Putting her helmet back on, then retrieving both her Beretta’s which she inspected before returning them to her holsters and shrugged. “Least my equipment wasn’t damaged.”

This final mission wasn’t off to the best start; one body dropped, just to head out into more danger and being nowhere closer to discovering anything worthwhile to locating the lieutenant. Plus, she could really use some booze to wash the bad taste from her mouth...

The Political Thread

I never said negative, I said I wanted to discuss it. So this whole post doesn't apply to me.

@Dynamo Frokane

Then please, clarify your stance. Discussion can't actually take place, if both sides don't understand their position after all.

The Political Thread

@Dynamo Frokane

If a site has correct information, and it cannot even be refuted by the opposition in anyway, how negative is left leaning or right leaning, or whatever leaning content? Didn't quite get that explained to me...

And let me be clear, it needs to be refuted, or it's not a legitimate argument.

The Political Thread

I absolutely love how you unironically linked to conservapedia and newcriterion. Then you complain when people call out your sources as being extremely biased and/or opinion pieces by conservative writers. I mean, really dude, you're setting yourself up and destroying your own credibility when you do this shit, it's funny. It's also very telling that the conservapedia page is like 70% devoted to controversies, lmao. Totes a legit source. And didn't you criticize me when I linked to a wikipedia article defining social democracy? H I L A R I O U S. Wikipedia = bad and easily manipulated, conservapedia = totes legit and trustworthy. Get real.

@Pepperm1nts

That was a very civil way to counter a single point I made...

Oh wait.

Maybe, you should check that before you fling accusations, like a monkey flings their shit. The answer is no. I didn't attack you for simply using a source that I disagreed with. I asked you a personal question on what you believed something was, and you gave me a wikipedia article. Which didn't actually fully answer my question. So I commented on that fact, and made a sarcastic remark about wiki-pages being wrong sometimes.

Maybe if you could actually use those cogs, supposed to be in your brain and not squarely in your ass. You'd notice I replied to a wikipage which I -didn't- make a negative note of, because it was actually relevant to the conversation.

But sure, if I thought for a second any one who thought that was witty, was remotely intelligent enough to debate my sources points. I'd care more about using different articles. You make it incredibly difficult to speak this cordially and not directly insult you, but you do a well enough job embarrassing yourself. ^_^

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

@Terminal I'll just make it easier on y'all, and be nearby but my character will find themselves fighting off a separate party that happened to be in the area. So if we decide to connect after the firefight somehow, it won't be challenging. But Harb's and your scenario doesn't have to worry about its connection with mine. Aside from the fact, that they're approximate distances.

---

Edit: Bout 500 words in, distractions upon distractions. But will get a post in by tomorrow at the latest.

The Political Thread

@tex

"Noam Chomsky is one of the most well-known contemporary libertarian socialist thinkers."

newcriterion.com/issues/2003/5/the-hy…

conservapedia.com/Noam_Chomsky

"Chomsky denied the Cambodian Genocide, claiming that the killing had been inflated "by a factor of 100."[2][25] He further asserted that the (in reality) 2 to 3 million Cambodians slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1978 were morally comparable to Nazi collaborators during WW2, and that Pol Pot's Cambodia was "comparable to France after liberation [from the Nazis]."[26]"

The association of socialism with libertarianism predates that of capitalism and many anti-authoritarians still decry what they see as a mistaken association of capitalism with libertarianism in the United States.[44] As Noam Chomsky put it, a consistent libertarian "must oppose private ownership of the means of production and wage slavery, which is a component of this system, as incompatible with the principle that labor must be freely undertaken and under the control of the producer".[45]

Yeah, this seems like a, 'a rose by any other name...' situation.

The idea of these two mixing, is a general sense is absurd and impossible. If anyone attacks Libertarian because of it's too optimistic outlook on human behavior. The idea this can happen in any extent, while still somehow completely foregoing all privatization is a crackpot theory at best.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

Well I'll certainly try getting another post up soon. Been pretty busy as of late.

The Political Thread

I have a feeling this will probably be the last time I reply on here, at least with this discussion in mind, because this isn't going anywhere. If there is something specific you wish to go into, we can have that chat on the other political thread instead...

It still applies, because not all aspects of the economy are as free as their international counterparts.

@catchamber

No, you don't seem to get it. You're addressing my point about the article being a failure to prove instants where a place is better by being outdated, but that was all you had when I asked my original question. You haven't provided any other examples, so it no longer applies...if there is a different aspects that proves otherwise, it has yet to be provided. I also don't agree that freedom even has to equate to 'has the best everything', so this entire line of argument won't likely go anywhere.

Advocating a philosophy that advocates for exploiting people will likely cause exploitation, making the idea as dangerous as its believers.

@catchamber

Capitalism doesn't do this. Also, 'believers' of capitalism are anyone who has ever been in a supermarket. I swear this line reads like something you could actually say about socialism or its counterparts and it would prove far more accurate...

Such is interdisciplinary debate.

@catchamber

Without actually clarifying, I honestly question if even you knew exactly what all that word salad was supposed to be saying...

"The aim should be to ensure all have the opportunity to succeed at optimizing their trades without reducing productivity across the board."

Which part of this doesn't make sense?

@catchamber

I've asked (several times now) for a real-world (or at this point, any) example of what you're talking about. Which I've yet to receive, and I don't take "lul, giving a shit" as an example of this ideal in practice.

A and/or B is better than A, B, A and B, or A or B, because you have more options. Which choice is useful in which condition depends on the context. In terms of economics, I think societies should be integrated but independent of each other. It's safer that way for individual societies and the ensemble.

@catchamber

Disregarding that there is two options presented, and the idea of their being more options is redundant. Because the two options are broad. So, are speaking about isolationism and globalism being 'useful in conditions and context'? Because that seems to be what is being answered, though specifically some of it had to do with free trading. If so, it's absurd to say "Sometimes, having no/next to no free trade will prove great for a nation's economy." It's a middle ground you're presenting that shouldn't even exist...

Analysis: Cop out.

Rebuttal: Can you quote the relevant section to prove your point?

@catchamber

I refuse to take anything said seriously, because of arguments like this. (I also kind-of refuse to believe you're actually that misinformed on such a thoroughly dismantled talking point...)

pigsandsheep.org/gun-rights-lesson-74…

The Political Thread

1. But objective and quantifiable values like fiscal debt and energy output are harder to dismiss.

2. You mean to say it applies less, assuming the TC&JA even produces a real GDP growth rate increase. However, GDP/capita and deficits/capita must be compared to assess the bigger picture, alongside other values like assets/capita. Deficits are real things that influence economic behavior, as people believe in their power. Like terrorism, they're used as excuses to strip one's rights. As far as I know, all 3 countries are experiencing deficit/capita growth and rights restrictions, for various reasons in various places at various times.

I could source all of my numbers, but you could also go through the trouble of calculating them like I did, as all the data is public.

@catchamber

I mean it doesn't apply. If something is more free because it has less tax that means it isn't more free if there was more tax. That was the base of the article.

Are you saying that national debt can be a major contribute to things like the creation of terrorism? I suppose I just don't see the connection between having debt and not having a free people as a nation. I'm sure there are people with less national debt than the United States but they are nowhere near as free as we are. That's not getting into wealth either, but a wealthy man in Canada has less freedom than a poor man in America because of poor man in America cannot get jailed for speech.

I don't know how much those numbers will particularly help with the foregone conclusion. At least as far as I'm concerned.

Was the productivity gained from the situation's memetic and neurochemical effects greater than the real value of the input? If so, maybe its effects last a long time (i.e. being widely known), but that can lead to less efficient mimicry. If not, then irrational agents acted inefficiently, and wealth disparity forms or wealth is lost. Now compound the disparities and losses from all similar activities, and consider that different, paradoxical, or contradicting views on what capitalism is can inflate such viral economic problems.

A broken window can create jobs but hurt total prosperity, just like taking all the money in the world and lighting it on fire.

@catchamber

"The situation's mimetic and neurochemical effects" I'm just going to assume that this is relating to people kick-starting potato salad, because that was a bit of a word salad...

Can I really blame autocracy/extremism/propaganda for an individual/group failure, when stuff like that can prove lucrative given the appropriate mindset? Yes, yes I can.

@catchamber

I don't think capitalism particularly relates to any of those three things you mentioned. Nor do I think those equate or even that similar.

Understanding others' views, as in everyone, not just consumers.

@catchamber

Do you need to understand everyone's views to make an effective product? What about a niche product where its success is exactly because it doesn't cater to the mainstream? Doesn't the market already do this fairly well? Cater to the consumer base, based on their varied needs.

It's called giving a shit.

@catchamber

Elaborate on the sentence in question. I don't think that has much with care or lack thereof.

A and/or B is better than A or B.

@catchamber

So - A or B is better than A or B...(I can only assume that was meant both is better than one?) Which one of those things would that be? Isolation or Free Trade?

God given right, you say? Can I have nuclear arms, because 2nd amendment? Or will you argue that societies have the right to defend themselves by denying rights, which can be deemed "collectivism > individualism"?

@catchamber

Short answer: Irrelevant Long answer: Read The Federalist Papers.

Let's reread our exchange:
You: "If you acknowledge the latter, what problem do you think a 'mixed-bag system' solution would be useful for?"
Me: "Many problems, because a full toolbelt is better than just a hammer."
You: "I guess I just kind of wish America would do the opposite. Because we're currently pushing to be like everyone else, when everyone else is pushing to be like us. Canada is getting more privatized healthcare. More countries are switching to market/capitalistic economies. I'd rather not have another Obamacare boondoogle."
Me: "This hybridizing is a consequence of globalization, which has proved dangerous in the past if: economies and states are too interdependent, or the applied policies are theoretically practical but not suited to the situation. By granting citizens the authority to choose transactions as they see fit, be they provided by market or state, the whole gets to pick from the best of every world."
You: "But my libertarian digression aside, I don't really understand the idea globalization being too blame for shitty things like Obamacare. I can think of many more examples of why that failed that don't involve anything outside of the United States..."

Are you saying Obamacare is a consequence of globalization or not? Getting mixed signals over here.

@catchamber

I do not believe that word is an accurate representation of why it is a failure. My comments were regarded to how the healthcare system is not a free-market system. And how it is a horrible hybrid of systems, Obamacare being my example. You said there are many things that could improve. Do you have any particular examples of this? Mixed market systems that are not capitalist systems that just happened to have some social elements. An actual mixed political economy?