Tolya Ugajin
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Posts posted by Tolya Ugajin
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I'll be watching the last 2 episodes of season six of Star Trek Deep Space 9.
Can't wait to get to Voyager. I stopped watching it before Janeway went all genocidal on the Borg.
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48 minutes ago, Akane Nacht said:
Singapore 🌴
One of our sales guys who did a lot of international travel once told me that in Singapore children are legally obligated to support their elderly parents. Is this correct?
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5 minutes ago, Akane Nacht said:
Life expectancy where I live is creeping into the 80s (even 90s-100s age band are growing), so the Govt decided to make us all buy mandatory life annuities at age 55, using our personal "pension" accounts that we add to while working (these accounts are also used to buy housing and pay medical expenses, so it's not just pension). Not a bad idea actually.
Where is this? That's an interesting approach.
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2 hours ago, Lyssa Greymoon said:
It might be worth $50 to change someone else's name.
Hmmmmmm
I'd pay 10 times that if I could change other people's names, IF I could be there to see their outrage when they log in.
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3 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:
Rather than complaining about costs, I'm thinking this thread should take a new direction. And that is, "What Goofy New Names Can YOU Think Up?"
LL has already told us they won't go for Boaty McBoatface. So...
If there's a Hutch, you could be AvatarskyAnd Hutch.
Who's next?
/me plops down his $40
"Seamus Zoltan Khan, if you please".
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30 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:
Ohhhh, this is far too complicated, Molly!
I am Lawfully Good.
Tolya is Chaotically Evil.
Everything else follows from that.
Any questions?
ROFLMAOTIPMP!
Actually, when it comes to politics, I'm much more inclined towards Lawful Neutral. Laws and policies should generally not be interested in "good vs. evil" since laws should be as limited as possible for a functional republic. Lawful good people tend to think that they can legislate paradise and for everyone to be nice to each other - and at some point people should grow out of that fantasy 😛 Laws should be enforced strictly, else why bother having them? Hence, I'm all for a large increase in legal immigration (because it's a net benefit for the country) but I'm also for border minefields (fences and walls are for amateurs) to ensure people are coming here in a controlled, legal manner.
Before people start screeching, I'm 99% joking about the minefield.
In my personal life, I'm more neutral good, with a slight chatoic bent. I'm not good at following other peoples' rules, but I'm generally nice and helpful, and I have a lot of empathy for people who are truly in a bad way.
Besides, you can't build a true global empire on chaotic evil.
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3 hours ago, Storm Clarence said:
Since you guys brought it up. And this turned into another hate thread . . .
As the Brits like to say: in it for a penny, in it for a pound.
MAGA 2020.
I think it's "Keep America Great" this time around, although "KAG" doesn't work nearly as well as "MAGA".
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2 hours ago, Mollymews said:
a lot of good stuff
Excellent points, although you missed one of the biggest if not THE biggest problem with social security today. When it was originally implemented, the retirement age for SS was actually older than the average life expectancy. In other words, it was designed for the average person to pay in their entire working life, and then conveniently die before collecting much in terms of benefits. Today, the median retirement age is 62, a full 5 years before full retirement age (that's a simplification, since we're in the midst of SS retirement age increasing to 67) while the average life expectancy is almost 79. Simply put, the system was not designed to pay benefits for such a long period relative to years spent collecting taxes.
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How much land and how many prims?
Brevity is a good idea, by the way 😛
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6 minutes ago, Orwar said:
... Well, thank you forum, for eating my post when there were new replies and I tried to refresh. Grr!
But, in spite of this, a meh day that turned into a good day, turned into a great day - and now into an excellent day. After the interview and shoot was completed, I had someone show me some absolutely magical things that I never knew about in SL - and then I nabbed myself a new home; a Victorian Linden home!
/me pours Orwar two fingers from his bottle of rum. "Cheers and congrats!"
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11 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:
/me nods. I learned about ten years ago to avoid Prok's threads, or not to take them too seriously. Wish I could share your rum!
You know, I just had a wonderful idea. Maybe when a budding flame war has started (and I'm guilty of this myself) cooler heads should encourage them to take it inworld, same as inworld we'd insist it be taken out of group chat to private.
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18 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:
Not specifically. There's brewhahas in two of her OPs (surprise surprise) but maybe I was confusing that with the brewhaha that is going on in the election thread. At any ways, I just hope to keep this thread flame / political free. I know, I'm a wild-eyed optimist. I'm not telling you don't. Just asking, politely, please.
/me backs out of Prok's thread on share being taken out of viewer...and realizes nothing has changed in the Forums since his last regular attendance 5-6 years ago. Grabs the bottle of rum from the bartender and goes to the corner to just shake his head and sigh.
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3 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:
You plan on growing up? :::looks worried:::
:::appreciates the hug:::
Well, I'm 52, so sooner or later I probably should. Since I can't pull off Clooney or Connery in looks, I guess I gotta aspire to be Jack.
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Just now, Seicher Rae said:
Not specifically. There's brewhahas in two of her OPs (surprise surprise) but maybe I was confusing that with the brewhaha that is going on in the election thread. At any ways, I just hope to keep this thread flame / political free. I know, I'm a wild-eyed optimist. I'm not telling you don't. Just asking, politely, please.
Prok is a "she"? I guess that could sorta explain some of her...extreme views, but I always figured Prok was a guy.
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6 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:
I mostly like this thread. I'm happy to read how some people are having good days (like Tolya did just above). It makes me smile in RL. Similarly, I'm appreciative that this has given people the opportunity to voice that things aren't going well, and the pain associated with that. Due to the constraints of this forum though, and the less than stellar automatic responses we have, I dunno... (And yes, I realize that usually people use the ♥ button to indicate "I heard you" or support or whatever.) I wrote a mini rant about my situation yesterday and then promptly deleted it because, honestly, I feel like doing an imitation of Jack Nicholson, and yelling, "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!" I don't think I want a ♥ if I say I'm not doing well or why. I don't think my truth is shareable. I feel alienated in a post about feelings? Well, that sucks.
My goal is to be Jack Nicholson when I grow up.
/me gives her a big hug
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3 minutes ago, Seicher Rae said:
Just no. Please. No. Not in this thread. Go to one of Prok's threads, where this is being battled.
Prok has a thread on this? He strikes me as someone who would be happy with a dictatorship.
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On 12/14/2019 at 11:46 AM, Pamela Galli said:
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2. Michelle Goldberg writes in the NYTimes Opinions about Democracy Grief. I have that. It’s not academic — people, children, are suffering and dying. The Constitution is being nullified. The three branches are being dismantled. I could look away, but someone has to look, and I am in a position to, so I will.
Out of curiosity, how is the Constitution being nullified and how are the 3 branches being dismantled?
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On 12/15/2019 at 9:51 AM, eyeye Afterthought said:
Harry Styles. What a fascinating young man he is. I think he looks like a (very) young Axl Rose. Maybe he will be asked to play him in a life story of G n R. I would pay to see that.
Does he have Axl's heroine habit?
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Fine, thanks for asking. Sitting in an airport drinking free booze, waiting for a flight. 6 episodes of Start Trek DS9 loaded on my phone for the flight. Don't have to go back to my office until next year. 89 hours from my girl joining me in RL for the holidays. All in all not bad.
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17 hours ago, Roxy Couturier said:
So, it's been said I have no 'facts'.
Trump on Social Security
https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2019/08/23/trumps-second-term-plan-for-social-security-starve-the-beast/#211c7c7f3794Trump on SSDI, Medicaid and Medicare
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/12/18260271/trump-medicaid-social-security-medicare-budget-cutsTrumps VA spending
https://www.veterans.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2019 budget one pager.pdfSure, there are short term gains, but there will be long term losses if he gains a second term. As explained in the articles, it's an old Repug strategy. Cut taxes to the point where the deficit requires cuts to 'entitlement programs'.
These are four different outlets all reporting virtually the same thing.Let's not forget the cuts to other departments that independently oversee inspections and compliance.
Putting up charts is disingenuous as they fail to show the actual shortfalls. To not equivocate, the budget crisis is a direct result of the tax cuts. Tax cuts that peter out for most Americans except for the ultra rich.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/5/29/18642928/trump-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-analysis
*drops mic*
Putting up charts is "disingenuous"? So, data is disingenuous? Another example of "facts don't matter" thinking.
By the way, all 5 of your links are opinion pieces - they aren't factual, they are guesstimates and suppositions about what Trump and the GOP may be planning to do and arguments over what he SHOULD do. Since there is limited space, let's only take the Forbes piece on Social Security in detail. MY GOD HOW DARE THE GOP TALK ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM!!! THEY WANT TO MURDER GRANDMA!
Not so much. The SSA Trustees have been talking for at least a decade about the need to reform Social Security. Why do we need to reform it? Because it's going broke. Here, read the report:
https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
See, that's not some "journalist" trying to fill space. That's information right from the agency that handles the money coming in and going out. The fact is, SS is going broke because there are too many people collecting benefits relative to the number of working Americans paying social security taxes. It's not Trump's fault, it's not Reagan's fault. One could blame Obama for it going broke 2 years earlier than it would have otherwise (due to his SS payroll tax "holiday" after the recession), but that just sped it up a bit. It's actually a design flaw (how the program is funded) coupled with changing population growth.
You want to blame tax cuts for everything. Well, the Trustees have been saying this for a long time, and, guess what, SS is NOT funded by anything to do with Trump's tax cuts. It's funded by a tax on payroll, and those have been going...UP. In fact, " The Trustees project that the combined trust funds will be depleted in 2035, one year later than projected in last year’s report." So, apparently the situation has IMPROVED under Trump. Gee, who woulda thought? Certainly nobody who relies on Vox.
ETA: Left this out. We can argue over HOW to reform SS, and you can dig around on SSA.gov to see projections of various proposals they have been asked to evaluate. But, the need to reform it should be patently clear, and trying to blame any particular president for the problem is ridiculous. Personally, I prefer eliminating the earnings cap coupled with implementing "chained" CPI on benefits growth.
Let's go one step further - blaming deficits and budget problems on Trump's budget cuts is an outright lie. You know why? Because federal tax revenues have actually been INCREASING under Trump - projected to go up half a trillion dollars over his 4 year term. Revenues under Obama grew a mere $13B between his last two fiscal years. You can see this from the OMB link I shared earlier, I believe table 1.3 is the revenue, spending, and deficit history. So, if revenue is INCREASING faster than it was, how can tax cuts be to blame?
This all applies to Medicare as well, since it has the same funding mechanism, and it's covered in the same Trustees report.
As far as your VA article - it's people arguing over how much they want to spend. As I showed earlier, Trump's budgets greatly expand VA funding. It's actually one of the fastest growing parts of the budget, so to try and pretend he's cutting it is not just ludicrous, it's delusional.
Facts, Roxy, straight from the source of the data, do not support what you claim.
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9 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:
There's a problem with that comeback, Tolya. ALL the "news" sources today are "highly biased". I have repeatedly seen two different networks report on the exact same event; and yet they put 180 degree different spins on it. And that's the supposed "news" articles, not the "opinion" pieces.
So, the Democrats sneer at Fox News and National Review and dismiss them as "highly biased sources"...while the Republicans do exactly the same with CNN and MSNBC.
Note, I'm not saying you are wrong. "Hard source data" is about the only thing we can rely on these days...and we can't even rely on THAT without carefully checking how that data was obtained, what was left out, and looking for other sneaky numbers manipulation.
The source I used was the ultimate hard source on federal spending - the US Office of Management and Budget. Also, there is also a slight difference between actual data and what is clearly labeled "opinion".
Regarding networks and MSM reporting, you're completely correct - which is why it is important to get your "news" from multiple sources and keep an eye/ear open for signs of bias. I tried to find a link to a great article on spotting bias in reporting, but alas all I could find were links to articles from conservatives ranting about MSNBC and CNN.
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45 minutes ago, Roxy Couturier said:
How wonderful for someone with money. Do you have any idea the legal hoops you have to jump through to get disability on any of those programs you mentioned? SSI disability pretty much requires you to have an attorney, it's that labyrinthine. And you might get it before you die. maybe.
I'm a vet. I get seen by the VA. My costs are going up. I'm not even going to get into the quality of care except to say that after having seen a Doctor at the VA (for something, I'd had before* and had to seek emergency care for mind you) I had to go to an emergency clinic and received better, faster and more comprehensive care.
*The first time because it was a holiday and the VA was closed the second time because after telling the VA Doc exactly what it was I was under-prescribed the necessary antibiotics. I have the luxury.. LUXURY! of being financially stable now and able to afford that emergency care. I weep for my brother and sister soldiers who cannot.
And if you really want to talk about the 'responsibility' of Repug governments, how about importing yourself some of Flint's finest tap water. That's all due to Repug oversight punishing a Democratic stronghold. Stupid is as stupid does.
Oh and as for you last stab in the dark, it's Repug on city, county and state level where I'm at. I'd love to live in any of the Dem controlled urban areas. I do have hope however. The projections are that by either 2020 or 2024, the state will turn blue.
Oh and while I'm at it, let me give you an example of 'voting against your interests'. I work in healthcare. When the state had a Dem Governor, and healthcare for mom and dad was superimportant, A law was made that had a maximum on how many patients per CNA. Well in the years since that number has increased and increased under R lawmakers not-at-all-influenced-by-lobbiests. The state I live in has a huge retired population that vote R. Yet they continue to vote in people that, eventually will make their lives a horror show when they're at their most vulnerable. That's just one small example of voting against your interests.
Here's who's been harmed by Repug policies and 'lawmakers': The young, the old, the sick, the poor, the middle class (whatever is left of them), the LBGTQ community .. you know? I'm finding it hard NOT to find someone harmed by them. But hey, as long as it's someone else and not me, amirite?
Wow. Just, wow.
It must not be THAT hard to get SSDI - the number of recipients grew 25% from 2007 to 2014. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/di_asr/2016/charts-text.html#chart2
I'd love to point out that the VA is the ultimate example of government provided health care, and likely what we'll all end up with under a Dem controlled Congress and White House. Oh, and the spending on VA programs has gone up very quickly (see prior post)
Flint: You want to blame the water in a Democratic controlled city (every mayor since 1975) in a mostly Dem-controlled state on the Republicans? Despite the fact that the $120M to fix it came under Trump?
I'm sorry, there is simply no point in debating politics or policy with someone who argues purely from an individual perspective devoid of facts.
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37 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:
Your responses to hard source data are a couple of opinion pieces from highly biased sources?
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25 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:
?
You mean for the wealthy?
Actually over the last couple years incomes at the bottom end have grown faster than the rich. Oh, and the number of people moving into the upper class is twice that moving into the lower class. The idea that only the wealthy are benefiting is a myth.
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I've always found that pizza and beer cure 90% of all problems