8.9 magnitude earthquake near Japan, enormous tsunami hitting surrounding areas

[LittleFuzzy]

I think too many of you are beating up on Being, who's been fairly consistent.

Yes, he and OG got a bug up their butts some months ago and have been banging on about it at every opportunity since. We've all noticed Dread's changes, we've all commented on them to at least a small degree, and most of us have either let it go or have figured out the horse is dead and does not need additional flogging. The only purpose of their harassment at this point is to fill the void left by Tear's latest withdrawal, a void I think is best left unfilled. Being isn't asking anything, he's trying to create the new forum feud.

[GGT]

So consistent idiocy is okay, and should go unchallenged, simply because it is consistent?

Not really what I said. Any veteran poster here who shows a distinct change in opinion or principle should be questioned. Dread shouldn't be exempt.

Most people change or "massage" their political positions as they age and mature, based on life experiences. That's not unusual. What does look unusual, or even aberrant, is a rapid shift in principle. Dread is the main example this way. Plenty of people have noticed, not just Being. So don't beat up on Being for noticing.

Better yet to ask Dread why or when he seems to look like a stranger to many people here. Many times I've read his posts and thought to myself....is that Dread? When did he change so much, or did I just not notice a gradual shift? That doesn't sound like Dread, does he have an alt? Did I ever really "know" Dread, or was he too busy being Gentry? Is this just a game?

[Being]

This has nothing to do with a feud other than defending my condemnation of the vulgarity of Dread commenting, in a thread about as dire as we've had on the topic of human suffering no less, on how he is attempting to capitalize on the situation.

[GGT]

Yes, he and OG got a bug up their butts some months ago and have been banging on about it at every opportunity since. We've all noticed Dread's changes, we've all commented on them to at least a small degree, and most of us have either let it go or have figured out the horse is dead and does not need additional flogging. The only purpose of their harassment at this point is to fill the void left by Tear's latest withdrawal, a void I think is best left unfilled. Being isn't asking anything, he's trying to create the new forum feud.

Whoa, really? If that's "harassment" then I've been harassed, too.

You've gotta admit, Fuzzy, that letting go of someone's changes or flogging them to death doesn't really explain those changes. I don't think it's filling Tear's void or trying to create a new forum feud. I really, truly don't. Dread has had a long history and distinct position here, with plenty of respect. That he sounds like a stranger to many of us can be a hard adjustment. Don't you agree?

[GGT]

So consistent idiocy is okay, and should go unchallenged, simply because it is consistent?

Is there an echo in here?

[Illusions]

That he sounds like a stranger to many of us can be a hard adjustment.

I'm uncertain or what surprising or dramatic change has occurred here with Dread to make it seem like he has taken on a different personality. He has abruptly changed, but its more like his positions are the same ones he's held before, just dialed up more on the unempathetic or republican scale.

I also don't know why a change in someone's opinion automatically makes their actions a subject of question or implied-wrongness. If all of a sudden Lewk believed in evolution, would that make evolution wrong? No it would not. So a change in Dread's position does not inherently make his actions, investing in stocks, wrong.

[Being]

I'm uncertain or what surprising or dramatic change has occurred here with Dread to make it seem like he has taken on a different personality. He has abruptly changed, but its more like his positions are the same ones he's held before, just dialed up more on the unempathetic or republican scale.

I also don't know why a change in someone's opinion automatically makes their actions a subject of question or implied-wrongness. If all of a sudden Lewk believed in evolution, would that make evolution wrong? No it would not. So a change in Dread's position does not inherently make his actions, investing in stocks, wrong.

For the hearing-impaired among us, Dread was never accused of doing anything wrong by making investments. He was called for bragging about it in the very thread that laments the human suffering that has given him this opportunity.

[GGT]

I'm uncertain or what surprising or dramatic change has occurred here with Dread to make it seem like he has taken on a different personality. He has abruptly changed, but its more like his positions are the same ones he's held before, just dialed up more on the unempathetic or republican scale.

I also don't know why a change in someone's opinion automatically makes their actions a subject of question or implied-wrongness. If all of a sudden Lewk believed in evolution, would that make evolution wrong? No it would not. So a change in Dread's position does not inherently make his actions, investing in stocks, wrong.

Bringing Lewk into this doesn't explain a damn thing, except that he's just as consistent as Being. While Dread is not, or hasn't been. Maybe it will just take a while for everyone to adjust. We can do that.

[Veldan Rath]

And why does Dread have to be consistent? (Never mind for the last year he's been more money oreinted) For Being's (or anyone else's) sake?

Really?

[Nessus]

And why does Dread have to be consistent? (Never mind for the last year he's been more money oreinted) For Being's (or anyone else's) sake?

Really?

*Flipper theme song*

[Veldan Rath]

My point is that Dread's out look has been evolving/changing for the last couple of years, and we've all seen it.

For some reason GGT thinks it good fodder for Being...I don't see the connect.

[Nessus]

Evolving as the bee into a wasp, yes, that is a good phrase indeed.

Or was it from an ant? Either way.

[Veldan Rath]

Yeah, I did not want to use evolve as that con-notates improvement, and that was not what I was aiming for...but change did not seem correct either.

[Nessus]

I wonder what your definition of improvement is.

[GGT]

*Flipper theme song*

You're the greatest, really.

[GGT]

My point is that Dread's out look has been evolving/changing for the last couple of years, and we've all seen it.

For some reason GGT thinks it good fodder for Being...I don't see the connect.

Oh FFS, I'm just saying that you should give the same amount of "slack" or understanding to Being, as y'all seem willing to give Dread.

[Enoch the Red]

Oh FFS, I'm just saying that you should give the same amount of "slack" or understanding to Being, as y'all seem willing to give Dread.

Do you think that Dread commenting on a phenomena Loki had questions about, and relating his personal experience with it, is somehow wrong? I'm really at a loss as to what Dread said that caused so much offense in this instance. It's not as though he waltzed into the thread and started talking about how much money he had made off of the tragedy. He was specifically addressing something Loki had brought up earlier.

Most people change or "massage" their political positions as they age and mature, based on life experiences. That's not unusual. What does look unusual, or even aberrant, is a rapid shift in principle. Dread is the main example this way. Plenty of people have noticed, not just Being. So don't beat up on Being for noticing.

If Being was noting a shift in Dread's opinions on a subject, that would be one thing. That's simply not what happened. Being was, and is, going out of his way to antagonize Dread.

[GGT]

And what, exactly, are you doing now, Enoch the Red? hmm?

[LittleFuzzy]

You've gotta admit, Fuzzy, that letting go of someone's changes or flogging them to death doesn't really explain those changes.

And Being's posts here *or elsewhere* do not in any way seek an explanation for those changes either.

[Enoch the Red]

And what, exactly, are you doing now, Enoch the Red? hmm?

Trying to figure out what could possibly inspire this kind of reaction from Being, and to a lesser degree yourself based on the content of Dread's posts.

The irony, as others have already pointed out, is that it's hard to come to any conclusion but the fact that Being is using this tragedy to make hay out of a completely harmless comment.

It would seem the importance of elevating discourse is really only a big deal when mud is being thrown in your general direction.

[Ominous Gamer]

[Being]

At the time of the plume's arrival on the shores of the USA, the President has taken his entire family to South America. How confidence inspiring is that?

Radiation Plume Reaches Sacramento, CA

But the Obama administration’s initial reluctance to release its own radiation information and the haphazard way that thereadings came dribbling out of Europe first — not the United States

But on Friday, pressure mounted on the Obama administration to release information it has gathered on the radiation coming from Japan, with six environmental and watchdog groups sending the White House a letter calling for “transparency on the part of the government.”

In brief remarks at the White House on Thursday, President Obama said he knew Americans were worrying about radiation drifting across the Pacific. “So I want to be very clear,” he said. “We do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the United States, whether it’s the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska or U.S. territories.”

Then he promptly gathered up his family and high-tailed it out of the path of the plume. Confidence inspiring? Not really.

[Khendraja'aro]

Which "plume", Being?

a) This is not Czernobyl
b) The distances are vastly different.

[LittleFuzzy]

At the time of the plume's arrival on the shores of the USA, the President has taken his entire family to South America. How confidence inspiring is that?

Radiation Plume Reaches Sacramento, CA

Please tell me you're not actually concerned.

[Dreadnaught]

Well this was an interesting conversation to come back to.

Without letting this stray so far off topic (err, people are welcome to create a "who/what has Dread become" thread elsewhere?), I will address this:

This has nothing to do with a feud other than defending my condemnation of the vulgarity of Dread commenting, in a thread about as dire as we've had on the topic of human suffering no less, on how he is attempting to capitalize on the situation.

Loki posted a link questioning why stocks were going up a few days after they dropped due to this catastrophe. I posted a response basically saying that this wasn't so hard-to-predict and I had even put some money where my mouth was.

I had been watching a few specific stocks for several weeks now. I wanted to buy-in when they lost 3-5% of their current price, when I felt would happen sooner or later (corrections are inevitable). This is exactly what happened, albeit due to unexpected circumstances.

I really wish I knew what they were saying. I don't know, but I suspect if I were in that same spot I would just keep taping because it's not clear I could do anything to improve my survival chances and I would at least want a record on my body or what happened.

[Being]

Please tell me you're not actually concerned.

I am not actually concerned. I'm merely laughing (see the laughy face) at the circumstances of the President saying one day he does not expect blah, blah, blah...and then the next day, as the plume actually reaches our shore, he takes his kids out of school to accompany him on an official trip out of the plume's path.

Khen, the link is there.

[Khendraja'aro]

I am not actually concerned. I'm merely laughing (see the laughy face) at the circumstances of the President saying one day he does not expect blah, blah, blah...and then the next day, as the plume actually reaches our shore, he takes his kids out of school to accompany him on an official trip out of the plume's path.

Khen, the link is there.

And? There is no actual "plume" of any kind. Just a bit of radiation barely above the background noise. Which was only detected due to the high-sensibility detectors intended for atomic bomb tests, otherwise you wouldn't even know about it. The detectors most likely work in conjunction with a mass spectrometer anyway - no way a Geiger counter could find any significant difference (which is supported by your own article as it states that they detected some 131I and 137Ce - which you can only do by mass spec...). In essence, they found a isotope composition a bit different from the usual composition but with NO significant difference to the actual radiation levels.

And promptly make a "radiation plume" out of it.

That's the kind of stuff which makes morons go "ooh, the president fled from the scene!" when there IS NO SCENE.

[Catgrrl]

Also, the President doesn't live on the West Coast so it wouldn't have even been a concern for him in the first place.

[Khendraja'aro]

[Flixy]

Khen, while I that chart is pretty much right, there is debate on the difference between instantaneous and long term exposure, e.g. a registered radiation worker is allowed 50 mSv per year, but if he receives it within an hour that could be a bit more worrying. And the 100 mSv threshold to long term effects is obviously very disputed, it's not known what the risk/dose cure is below there(IIRC it's fairly linear above the threshold), different studies have shown anything from increased ratio to zero. Plus at its peak the damaged reactor released ~400mSv/hour which is really high, as shown by this chart.

Also I thought the yearly limit for radiation workers was 20 mSv, not 50 mSv. I am fairly sure that my limit is 20 mSv, but that might be because I am in the lowest class of registered radiation workers. Now I get a quarterly letter with my badge's dose, which is always zero because I never even wear the damn thing, but with all the regulations I have to have it, and have it measured.