Tolya Ugajin
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Posts posted by Tolya Ugajin
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2 hours ago, Aethelwine said:
Well too much wrongness here to comment on properly, but the big claim about numbers is wildly inaccurate. The number of police killings of blacks in the USA over the last 5 years is in excess of 7000 people. The largest number I can see for those killed during recent protests is 20. Of those 20 some were killed by police, some by provocateurs, some of looters not necessarily associated with the protests.
Would you care to provide some sort of reliable link for that claim of 7,000? The data I can find puts that number in the 200 range annually, (the number of whites killed being consistently around double that) so about 1/6 of what you claim, and your number is in excess of the total number killed by police during that period The vast majority of those appear to be of armed suspects, as the number of deaths of unarmed African Americans annually is between 10 and 20 (with Whites again about double that).
There are certainly issues with data on this subject, as police departments are not required to gather and report such data in any consistent manner, which is frankly ridiculous. However, it seems unlikely that would explain such a disparity with your number. There are also studies out there that call into question the narrative that this is a racial issue with cops (one shows Black suspects are more likely to be killed by Black or Hispanic cops than by White cops, for instance, others that link the greater per capita rate of Blacks killed by cops to the higher percentage of violent offenders that are Black, etc.)
Now, I realize several people will, the moment they read the first paragraph, immediately start typing their histrionic replies of righteous outrage, so let me just list my humble suggestion for curbing police murdering citizens:
- Make unjustifiable killing by a cop a federal crime
- Require that FBI field offices investigate all killings by police (combined with 1, this would make covering up in a police shooting, such as convent turning off of body cams, a federal crime)
- Dismantle police unions (which are a huge part of the reason bad cops keep getting put back on the street)
- Murder 1 by cop = death penalty (federal). Murder 2 = life in prison, no parole
You can't legislate racism away, and you can't get 50 states and countless municipalities to all get on the same playbook, so make it a federal issue, and enough of this "cops policing themselves" BS. Knowing the FBI is coming for you with a needle and a dirt nap will either get cops to behave or, even more likely, get the corrupt ones out of policing (one way or another). Trump claims he's against police murders, the Dems claim they are, the GOP claims they are, all they have to do is flip off the police unions and come together for legislation and screw the endorsements and campaign donations.
But, they won't, because this isn't about race or justice to them, it's about politics.
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For action type fiction, I'm a big Vince Flynn and Brad Thor fan, 15+ books by each for their main characters, perfect for binge reading. If you'd like something a bit more unusual, check out Trevanian (Rodney William Whitaker's pen name). Shibumi and The Main are especially good.
I read an inordinate amount of history as well. Adrian Goldsworthy is a modern Gibbon when it comes to the Roman era, and Michael Grant covers the Greek era very well (he does some Roman as well, but not nearly as well as Goldsworthy). If you like a bit more social commentary with your history, Mary Beard is good. If you'd like something a bit more expansive in scope that gives some very interesting insight into how history has shaped the relationships between East and West, Silk Roads is a great read.
In the mood for binge reading fantasy? Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series will keep you busy for a few weeks (although be prepared to be incredibly let down by the ending, since this is another case where an author died before finishing and the ending written by someone else was terrible). Stephen R Donaldson is another good one, with extremely interesting characters (the first Thomas Covenant trilogy and the Mordant's Need books are my favorites).
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13 hours ago, Gatogateau said:
I like posting as the cat, so I don't count. Well, Seicher doesn't either, being an adult is a claim to which I've never boasted. I'm never really terribly sure if I'm one of the meanies for the bench or not (and I'm absolutely sure I am to a handful of people but its mutual, so...meh...its the others I wonder about ... but I tend to be paranoid). I *kinda* get where you're going with this thread and kinda not. I do think the Forum has been a bit of a **** show for the past few months. More than usual. There are always kerfuffles in the Forum no matter when. Always. There can be the random epic thread. But since lockdown? Looney Tunes. Like the "Feelings" thread that was generally a bright spot for some, flaming **** show.
I think the moderation has been good at times and horrific at times. That hasn't helped.
I'm not sure what you're on about with the photo threadS. I stopped going to one, for various stated reasons and haven't been back to even read. Other photo threads seem ok? The one I follow, not super closely (I should), seems to be doing ok.
New posters are a good idea in theory. We've had an influx of dubious ones and an awful lot of maybe people using multiple accounts, not to a good result.
Dunno. I'm not an adult of any species, so I guess I shouldn't even be posting here, let alone ramble. :::mopes off to look for a snack:::
If you want a snack, I suggest my back deck. You can join the 2 (that I've seen so far) brand new kittens, bringing to a total of 7 feral cats who are regulars (along with a couple other occasional visitors) begging for food.
:::grabs a plastic grocery bag and stomps off to pick up a week's worth of cat food cans cluttering the deck while wondering when Chewie will get here with the next 48 pounds of dry cat food for these pests:::
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17 hours ago, Orwar said:
So it has been quite the awkward atmosphere on the forums over the past few weeks, and whilst the moderators used to be quite quick with putting down derailed threads or putting meanies on the bench, things right now just seem to keep on going. Are the moderators okay? We miss you. Please come back - we'll behave (occasionally, at least)!
In all seriousness though, plenty of people I've spoken to are taking a sabbatical from the forums, or minimize their presence due to being ran off by being flamed. We really could use someone to pinch our ears every now and then - myself included - to get the forums back to its usual self again. One would think that with the pandemic going on, we'd see an increase of active participants, instead we appear to see an increase of activity from certain participants, and fewer people actually wanting to participate. Everything gets derailed and set on fire, even threads meant for people to share their feelings get so out of hand that they get closed, and the picture threads I've almost stopped looking at or participating in because of the annoying spamming of re-posts and selectively sycophantic behaviour which has already merited warning of closure of those threads, is now rampant.
Also, overtly sexualised, apparently under-aged avatars appearing in photos. That used to be frowned upon. And politics. There's been a lot of that lately, and the personal attacks that come with it.
Please come back. I may even bake you some cookies if you do!*
*or, you know, steal them from a girl scout and present them to you - but still, cookies!
Personally, I've cut down my own presence here because of the behavior you cite. I'm tired of getting into back and forths with people who insist on misrepresenting what I say and cannot be bothered to consider any viewpoint beyond their own without claiming the other person is evil in some way, while others go out of their way to find outrage in the stupidest things. A couple weeks ago I stumbled across my old Wii and have been playing it a lot rather than spending time in here, coinciding with the period you're saying things have been awkward, so I guess I'm happy the awkwardness isn't me.
Still, I don't think it's a moderator issue. It's a people issue. Too many people so angry with the world that, probably to protect their psyches, retreat into a siege mindset rather than an explorative one.
But, I'll gladly eat your cookies.
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It's been a while, but I've had similar issues. When I've reached out to LL for clarification on just exactly what is the problem, I've received no answers.
Apparently Clueless Linden (my favorite Linden) assumes the only "fantasy" in SL is fantasies of oversized phalluses used in highly improbable coital acts, and we sure wouldn't want the kiddies to potentially be exposed to such things. That's what the internet is for, after all. Better that we make it hard for someone to host a fantasy character dance event than risk unsupervised children getting their exposure to naughtiness from anything but pronhub.
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Since I rarely leave my own sim any more, and because I get quite enough of RL in RL without bringing it into SL, no.
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My current pet peeve is white people who take advantage of riots in order to loot something as ridiculous as legos. Add this guy to the list of people to be sent up on a SpaceX rocket and ejected out an airlock.
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14 hours ago, Beth Macbain said:
Alarm bells start going off for me when anyone feels like they have to say they’re proud of their race.
I’ll explain more tomorrow if need be as to why that sets of the alarms for me. Right now I’m turning my attention to the cops in my city firing tear gas at protesters. Two people have been shot. I can hear the flash bangs from my house. And now we seem to have our first fire. 😢
Not completely apropos for the current situation, but I always liked this song.
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6 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:
You’re right. Went back to see how this got revived.
The timing is questionable and I’m suspicious of the motives behind someone going back two years to find a thread about racism and bringing it back to life with an inflammatory post then disappearing.
Curious - what did you find inflammatory about Swansong's post? I get the timing part with the current situation in Minneapolis and the Georgia murder, but there is nothing about the post to indicate he/she is racist or even from what country or race he/she is. It seems like multiple steps of assumption to read ill-intent into it, but I'm not always the brightest bulb on the tree.
I didn't even realize this was an old thread, but when I read the most recent page it seemed interesting and actually read it all the way through.
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9 minutes ago, Rhun DeCuir said:
Best not tease the Lindens. They have formidable powers. You could end up in the Cornfield. (It's a good thing, Anthony.)
Pffft if I had any sense I'd decommission Tolya altogether. Other than a bit of non-transferrable art I occasionally rez, his sole remaining utility is the Forum, and it's highly debatable as to whether that is a of positive or negative net value.
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On 6/12/2018 at 9:49 AM, Dakota Linden said:
Greetings all!
1. Profanity is NOT appropriate on the forums. Trying to get around that policy by masking the words with *** or any other similar alterations doesn't change the fact that you ARE posting a profanity. I have edited the posts that contained the profanity in order to preserve the conversation. If you do it again, I will have no choice but to start handing out warnings or suspensions.
2. Being the "Thought Police" is a very tenuous position to hold. Racism exists, in many forms, across many cultures and countries, of that there is no question. But trying to lump who or what someone is under the racism (or any other ism) umbrella just because of who/what they are can be an equally distasteful generalization as well.
If a man only dates women, does this make him homophobic?
If a white woman only dates black men, does this make her racist?
If a black man only dates black women, does this make him racist?
If a white man only dates white women, does this make him racist?
If you take pride in who you are, does that make you racist?
I would venture to say that any group that is in some way exclusive is seen as a threat and a bad thing, regardless of why it is exclusive in the first place. Perhaps it would be wise to ask yourself WHY you might feel threatened by others, especially if those others have not actually done anything, other than exist?
There is a HUGE difference between saying you are proud that you are white and going around calling others nasty names just because they are not.
There is a HUGE difference between saying "this is my personal preference" and going around verbally attacking others because their preference is different.
There is a HUGE difference between saying "this is my personal fetish" and going around attacking or harassing others who have a different kink.
With regards to the issue raised in the OP. There is a HUGE difference between saying "this is who I am and I am using song lyrics to reflect that" and "this is who I am, and I am going to attack you because you are not the same".
Unless and until any person uses who and what they are as a reason to attack or harass anyone who isn't the same, leave them alone and let them be.
You cannot control someone's actions, but you can control your own reaction.
I'm sorry, Dakota, but this is the General Discussion Forum. You're not allowed to be completely rational here, especially on a controversial topic. Kindly stop or I'll be forced to report you 😛
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On 6/4/2018 at 4:27 AM, Drake1 Nightfire said:
That would be because of Germanys anti-nazi laws. We believe in a little thing called Freedom of Speech in the US. Aside from a quote from a band in his profile, did he actually say anything racist? Is there really any difference between what this song says and what the Black Power Movement says? Why should he not be proud to be white? I am. None of my ancestors owned slaves, although several of them were slaves. I have Irish Gypsies in my ancestry, do you have any idea how they were treated? At one point in time every race was enslaved by another. Hell, whites were enslaved by other whites, in all but name. The things the English did to the Irish, Scots, Indians, and Chinese were atrocious.
This, this is just words. Harmless ones at that. If you are that offended by lyrics in a profile, you need to get off the internet. And i dont mean you specifically. The general "you."
At one point, the most commonly trades slaves in the Mediterranean basin were, ironically, Slavs, either traded down the Russian rivers to the Black Sea, or via Muslim invasions of Southeastern Europe. Later on, 1/3 of the population of Russia were serfs; the differentiation between slave and serf is mainly semantic.
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On 5/23/2018 at 6:49 AM, Alyona Su said:
This.
In the U.S. (which is where LL is and, presumably this person is) the First Amendment to the Constitution affords the Freedom of Speech. That also means as much as we dislike what other's say or are offended by it is when that amendment comes into full force.
I generally take the side of most people here in denouncing all this. However, let us also be realists here:
- There is no actual racism being expressed unless you insert it by innuendo
- Proclaiming to be part of a group only indicates your support of that groups ideals, whether you share them or not
- Calling together one particular ethnic group is not attacking another
And furthermore, it appears to be some kind of poem. I'm not making excuses or intending to defend this person, I am saying that in the U.S. what this person plops into their profile is protected speech (in the United Staes, at least) and is likely intended to get very discussions, such as this one, rolling (Well, actually intended to offend, but there is no TOS or other laws in any respectable country that give you the "freedom from being offended").
In short, this person appears to just be a troll.
As for deleting what I purchased? That's is context-based - what it actually is and such, though would likely never buy from them again. Here's an example: Have you ever owned anything created by IBM, ever? Did you know they produced the machines that helped the Nazi's manage their extermination efforts during the Holocaust? Just saying, folks.
The First Amendment does not constrain how businesses choose to operate, it constrains how the government operates. As such, it does not apply here. LL can do, or not do, whatever they please with this.
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On 5/23/2018 at 7:54 AM, Phil Deakins said:
I have to comment on that. I just have to
If IBM produced machines for the nazis, knowing that they would be used to assist the extermination of people, then you would have a very good point. But I don't believe for one second, or even for a fraction of a second, that that's what happened, so I have no qualms about owning stuff produced by IBM. I can't even imagine that IBM produced anything for the nazis, but rather that the nazis bought some IBM stuff, just like other businesses did back then. So I don't see that the point you made is any point at all.
You could equally say that such-and-such company produced the computers that were used by whoever to cyber-attack whatever, and question whether or not any of us should be using computers made by that company. It's just as outlandish a thought.
In the case of the profile, I agree with those who suggest that it's just a statement about the person himself and, as such, is just free speech. If it were a call to action, it would be different, of course, but it doesn't appear to be that, however distasteful it is.
How about Volkswagen, a company literally started to fulfill Hitler's promise of affordable cars for all? Shouldn't driving a "Hitlermobile" (as I've actually heard them called, although not in Germany) be considered offensive?
Of course, like so many such promises (not just by Hitler) it was never fulfilled, but that is why the company was started.
By the way, my question was rhetorical - of course it shouldn't be.
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I don't recall ever hearing a man refer to another man as their "BFF" in RL or SL or any old L. Probably because we see every other male as someone we potentially may need to kill some day, so the second "F" really doesn't apply.
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On 10/8/2019 at 7:55 PM, Lindal Kidd said:
a = g = 9.8 m/sec2
s = 1/2 at**2 ---> t**2 = 2s/a = 2x122.5m/9.8 m/sec2 = 25 sec**2. ---> t= SQRT 25 = 5 sec. (ANSWER to first question)
v = at+v0 = 9.8t = 9.8x5 = 49 m/sec at impact (ANSWER to third question)
horizontal travel is at constant velocity of 10 m/sec for 5 sec, or 50 m. (ANSWER to second question)
ANSWERS to unasked questions:
NO, Justin Bieber will not be able to go out with you after his little cliff adventure.
YES, Justin Bieber has retired from the film industry, due to his untimely demise in a physics experiment.
I tried doing this in my head to check your work and was just about to tell you that you were wrong...but then I remembered the pesky "1/2" in the equation. I can't decide if I want to blame the 30 years since I got my physics degree, or all the alcohol consumed since then
But, then I consoled myself that you forgot to factor in air resistance:
Assuming a spherical 70 kg Bieber projectile, it will actually take 5.355 seconds for the Bieber ball to bounce, landing at 40.32 m/s. He's still dead, and isn't that all that really matters?
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10 hours ago, XW2020 said:
As a father, what's your feeling about educating your kids? Do you have any good ways to interact and teach your kids?
I personally find the SL "parent/child" thing cheesy and mildly demeaning of RL families, although I can understand how those who had a lousy RL upbringing could embrace it. It's just not for me.
RL parenting - all you can do is try and teach them, balance setting expectations and boundaries and holding them accountable when they transgress, encourage them, and make sure they know you love them, and then pray to whatever deity you espouse that they don't get seriously f'd up when they move out and head to college. Because no matter how awesome your spawn is at 18, by 22 their classmates and professors can have undone all your hard work and turned a great kid into something else into a caricature.
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1 hour ago, Talligurl said:
Yes Yes, i have never had any of the sorts of serious issues people talk about. Sure there have been people I had issues with, I block them and move on and forget them.
Life is too short to deal with them in any other manner.
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2 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:
But an untrained amateur making projections using the same information? Solid.
lol it's the best we can do, but unless the underlying data is terribly wrong, it's probably not too far off. I've not seen a single report that puts overall lethality above the 2-3% range, with the bulk of that being fairly old people. It might change with the addition of undernourished people and those without good access to health care in the 3rd world, of course.
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26 minutes ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:
I do not understand this methodology. Is it for all persons or just working age adults? According to JHU, the case-fatality rate in the US for all persons is almost 6%.
Lethality climbs steeply above age 50, but is comparatively flat and low for those younger. Per the data I sent earlier, the fatality rate is about 15% for those age 80 and above, and that age group. But, yes, good data, particularly data that can be sliced and diced to suit, is not exactly easy to find.
And then there's the fact that the "experts" keep changing their minds on pretty much everything they say, so yesterday's data might be inaccurate by tomorrow's standards.
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18 minutes ago, Theresa Tennyson said:
Depends on the size of the outbreak (took me about 30 seconds to find this):
https://vaxopedia.org/2017/07/20/when-measles-epidemics-would-close-schools/
Yes, they'd close during an outbreak, but they wouldn't stay closed indefinitely to prevent a possible outbreak, which is what schools are currently doing.
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4 minutes ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:
Where does that number come from?
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
I took their table about 1/2 way down and applied a weighted average for workforce demographics (the average retirement age in the US is 62, to I took 1/5 of the 60-69 age group). Somewhat crude, but google doesn't cooperate when asked for just working age adults. I have seen no data from any source that would indicate a higher percentage.
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Are You Showing Support for Black Lives Matter in Second Life?
in General Discussion Forum
Posted
They probably "mistake" those two words because they are in fact synonyms, ie. they mean the same thing. How one decides who is stuck into which racial or ethnic group is largely determined by who is creating the government form for it.
You are mistaking "race" for "species". There is indeed only one species of human, homo sapiens.