scoobdog

Aliens has standards and shit.

I thought the aliens only abducted red neck chicks.

Don’t think so.

I don’t believe it.

When you first saw her, you got the impression she knew what she was talking about because she was a real confident bullshitter. You rarely saw old timers (people with ‘03 or ‘04) get involved with her posts which struck me as odd. More often than not she was arguing something I either didn’t really care about or didn’t particularly disagree with so it was just a show. It was at least a year before I felt the need to research something because it sounded off.

Possibly. She was frequently wrong as far as I can remember.

I guess the Call of Duty folk are all tapped out?

You know, I don’t think she ever really bothered with me much. But, it was something else seeing her go after people.

Just so.

Got the date wrong dude. And it’s kind of hard to tell what this is even about just from the OP. I’ll give more hints as the week progresses, but a douchy way of saying it is we’re playing a game where you can (mildly) roast your ASMB buddies while playing with other ASMB buddies. I’ll be giving some hints to the first challenge in a day or two so you can start planning.

In a word, it’s “creating.” It’s… Using AI to artistically recreate Washington crossing the Delaware with the IBers and Babblers. Coming up with the perfect menu (four courses, of course) for when Raptorpat invited over Perseus to discuss a plumbing themed amusement park. Recreating a scene from “Heavy Metal Queen” where VT is actually played by Romana. You can look at the tab to the right above and see the last challenge to get an idea. You take on a challenge first with your teammates and then by yourself. The entire UEMB votes on it. If you get enough votes, you move on to the next round. If you don’t, you get voted off.

I chatted with Cowgirl_Ein a lot over the years on AIM. I, uh, actually wrote a poem in her honor when she was first diagnosed.

Working on it.

Yes , we pick teams on June 2. I wanted to give everyone an opportunity join up. I think we have an odd number right now.

Russia isn’t less than a peer, but Putin has made it difficult to separate himself from the state.

09/13/2003 2:10am

Moved to Action out of Prospero. Ended up in Rantsa few years later.

The first season board is called an archive, but it isn’t really. I should change the name so people know they can still post there.

Eh…. I can probably doing something about that.

Totally serious… what would you like to see?

Well, it’s not like you’re giving us anything to work with. Western hegemony is a valid point of discussion, but not if you’re going to say something ridiculously stupid like the inhumane actions of two openly despotic dictators are somehow correlative. But that being said, your debate skills are trash.

The flip side to a charismatic Trump is that his own worst tendencies have allowed him to suppress what would otherwise be charismatic moderate candidates. Arguably, DeSantis is doing what he's doing not so much because he's truly a far right demagog but because he's trying to emulate Trump as best he can. Other moderate Republican stars can see the potential dangers of going up against a riled and uncontrolled based of voters, leaving a collection of has-beens like Nikki Haley and candidates that cause internal conflict in GOP voters like Tim Scott. Whether people want to admit it or not, Biden also has charisma - he's not nearly as unlikeable as his poll numbers might suggest if you go off his one on one interactions with people. His unpopularity is almost completely a function of his policy in a hyper polarized political state.

I'm going to cherry pick this part of your post only to accentuate my point, not to refute what you're saying. Trump isn't likable, but he is charismatic. The problem with charisma is that people expect it means more than it does in terms of interpersonal dynamics. Charisma is one tool in a toolbox; it just happens to be a very useful tool like, metaphorically speaking, a cordless drill/driver. Charisma is in deceptively simple terms, the ability to interface with other people - it can't be defined by any specific mannerism but it can often be identified through those mannerisms. It is most definitely not Emotional Quotient: people with high EQ may or may not be able to interface with people even though the can understand and empathize with them. Most critically, a charismatic person can believe or say whatever he or she wants without necessarily damaging that ability to interface, which means that people who are not particularly intelligent or are just willfully oblivious to the message will still be drawn to the charismatic person. Like that driver/drill, charisma is a very effective tool that can both cause a lot of destruction if misused and be a force if used used for good. Politicians since the dawn of history have often had to rely on charisma to be effective rulers with results that have run the gamut from building empires to causing the collapse of civilizations. A charismatic Ron DeSantis would get women to vote for him even thought he wants to effectively end their rights to their own bodies and could draw in corporate donations while punishing Disney solely for their right to speak. It's all a matter of getting people to respond to you that makes you electable. Odious as he is, Trump gets people to respond to him. DeSantis does not.

It's not.