Lurker > Suprak the Stud

There are no good ways to "troll" airport security, because they all end with them forcing you to open your cave while they dig around for evidence.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

LeBron looking like Cleveland LeBron right now.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

What a clutch shot by Durant.

And what a surprisingly meh fourth quarter of Kobe. I guess he was due one.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I agree and I am not bitter about anything. I've just been watching them for these playoffs and I've grown to hate them. Their team seems to be full of tools, including Smith. And of course Torres is on their team, who is the scummiest player in the league.

Haha glad it isn't only me! I was afraid I was letting my anger after they tried to end Hossa's career blind me.

One game away from the sweep aw yeah.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Martin Hanzal has been suspended one game for his hit from behind on Dustin Brown.

Good. I've seen several playoff games this year when players on the Coyotes were clearly just trying to injure someone. Awful team to get this far, and I hope the Kings sweep them.

And yes, I am just bitter they crushed the Blackhawks.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Rapunzel

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Despite the fact that this is an utter blowout, it is still significantly more fun to watch than the mess that was played before it.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

*kicks down door*

"HEY TAKE ME UP TO YOUR SECRET SAFE IN THE ATTIC THAT NO RANDOM PERSON WOULD KNOW ABOUT!"

"...Gary?"

"...welp."

This is the only way this possibly could have happened that would make any sense.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Man, can anyone play a series in the East without suffering an injury. I still like the Heat in 5, but the probable Celtics/Heat series just got a lot more competitive if Bosh can't get back.

I still think Lebron and Wade are absurdly good enough to at least get them to the finals.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I'm not saying the games won't be close or anything, but I could see all of them ending in around five. The Lakers/Thunder game looks to me to be the most exciting matchup, but I just think the Thunder are way too deep unless Gasol/Bynum play out of their minds (Kobe will regardless, but I doubt it will be enough).

Again, I could be wrong. I thought the Hawks had a legit shot to take out Boston, so obviously my predix aren't perfect. But if I had to guess:

Celtics in 5
Heat in 4
Spurs in 5
Thunder in 6

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Next round will be a coaching chess match between Gregg Popovich and Vinny Del Negro.

Haha, I hadn't even thought about that. This is one of the best in the league going against one of the worst. I really liked watching the Clippers this year, but I'd be surprised if the series goes more than five games.

And speaking of series not going more than five games, the Heat just had one of their worst performances in the playoffs and did most of it without Bosh, and still won by 10. I feel like none of these second round series will be that competitive, but I am looking forward to the matches after that.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Anyway, Rose 2 years in a row carried his team of NOTHINGS to the best record. He is damn deserving of the award. He defines VALUABLE.

Rose missed like 30 games this season. It is true they are significantly better with him than without (Eastern Conference finals last year vs. first round loss to a bad Philly team this year, with basically the same team), but Noah, Gibson, and Deng are all good players, and even Boozer, Korver, and Hamilton had their stretches. Plus, Lebron had one of the most ridiculous seasons ever from a statistical standpoint. No way Rose deserved it more this year.

Now, I do think he deserved it last year, but I have a hard time giving it to a player when he misses like half the season.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I sort of agree with that sentiment, but I don't let it bother me as much as some people.

The problem with the NBA is due to some of the rules, and how hard it is to see them in real time (combined with some flopping and acting), is that the refs end up having the greatest effect on the actual result of the game out of the big four sports. I think baseball is arguably close (balls and strikes literally being called on every pitch), but it think I've seen calls entirely blow the game for one team more in the NBA than in other sports.

Of course, I could be wrong as I have no evidence to back up my claim.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

More tonight!

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

You seriously can't believe a single thing that Romney says. He's probably one of the biggest liars to get the presidential nomination.

Clinton? Nixon?

You gotta realize that the pool of "politicians that were huge liars" goes really, really deep.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I'd say there's also a nonnegligible group of people who support gay marriage (as in they want it to be available on an abstract level, or would prefer to live in a society that allowed it- perhaps because they are gay themselves) but feel they are obligated not to vote for it because the act of voting for it would be sinful.

Hm. That is an interesting point I hadn't even really considered. I had seen polls where there is actually a decent amount of some religious individuals (notably Catholics, if I remember) that said they supported same sex marriage. However, whether or not they support it AND would vote to enact it are two different things.

I wonder if a poll has ever been conducted that way? I shall have to go look.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I still like The Office. It has its moments. The only character that needs to go is Robert California because he's been funny like.. once. I'm sure it'll find its way a bit more in its second season without Carell.

I completely agree. I actually though if you ignore California, this season was probably better than the last couple.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/10/if-national-polls-show-support-for-gay-marriage-why-does-it-keep-losing-in-state-votes/

Interesting article on what we were just talking about.

Interesting because it comes from a conservative source, and says pretty much the same thing I did.

Now, there is the possibility that individuals who in their youth supported gay marriage will end up against it in their older age, but considering the drop you see across the board each time a generation is replaced, I sort of doubt that. I've been wrong in the past though.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

National polls on gay marriage have proven worthless literally every time it comes up.

For example, do you really think the nation on average is as liberal as Maine and California? Most definitely not-- and those two states passed popular referenda banning gay marriage (CA did it twice).

You need to analyze the metadata and then you would find that the difference between presidential polling and these gay marriage polls is that the gay marriage polls do not select for "likely voters". You can argue all you want against the trend, but just by analyzing the polling results by age, you can see that there is a significant generational difference in the opinion of gay marriage.

Old people vote. Young people don't. That is why gay marriage laws will continue to be voted down until this crop of old people die off.

But even still, focusing on this would be a complete waste of time considering you could actually be using your time to focus on the economy.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

What if the answer isn't aliens?

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I think wasting time attacking Obama on gay marriage would be a waste of time for the Republicans, especially considering trends on the opinion of gay marriage.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/support-for-gay-marriage-outweighs-opposition-in-polls/#more-30767

Now, it is entirely possible (and likely) that people who are against gay marriage are more likely to turn out and vote (especially considering the widely varying view of gay marriage based on age and how elderly are more likely to vote than teenagers or individuals in their twenties). But with the multitude of actual issues republicans could attack him on, wasting time on this almost seems like falling for a trap.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

yeah cause nobody has ever picked on a gay kid in high school because he was gay even though he wasn't out of the closet yet

this part is stupid

Look, if you feel comfortable ascribing motives to individuals based on absolutely nothing, then be my guest. I'm not saying this never happens, but, at least in the story, there is nothing to indicate this is the case yet. The dudes that are ratting him out specifically say he did it because he didn't like the kid's hair. What reason would they have for:

1) Bringing up the fact that Romney assaulted someone in high school
2) Protecting Romney by not mentioning the fact that it was also basically a hate crime

Like I said, this definitely wasn't a good thing to do and, yes, gay kids are unfairly bullied in high school even if they aren't officially out yet. I tend to not ascribe awful motives to people unless presented with substantial evidence to do so, but maybe I'm crazy.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Errr...yeah, it is dumb that Republicans brought up things Obama did when he was in his teens.

That doesn't mean that this also isn't dumb. Yeah, this makes young Romney sound like a bit of a jerk, but who didn't do something unnecessarily jerky when they were in their teens?

Plus, the kid wasn't out of the closet at the time of the incident. Romney just didn't like his face.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I love that whoever wins this series basically has a bye next round.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Considering the fact that the big three missed a combined 30 games in a shortness 66 game season, I'd say they were hit by injuries as well.

That's a bit deceptive, as the Heat coach was actually smart and sat his players in some games down the stretch so they weren't tired/hurt for the playoffs. Bulls got the number one overall seed because none of the other teams (Spurs, Heat, Thunder) were really trying to get it. So...uh, congrats Thibs?

And while Deng was meh this whole season, it had a lot to do with his wrist. He was never really the same after the injury, and played in a lot of games he shouldn't have because they couldn't afford to have both him and Rose sitting.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Anybody saying Parks and Rec looks bad need to actually watch it.

It's so good.

Also, Ron Swanson.

Honestly, this. If Ron Swanson isn't one of your favorite sitcom characters, you probably only watched the horrible first season.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Summary: Sakamochi explains the rules of the game to the students he hasn't freaked out on and killed yet. Basically, the students need to kill each other, and there are no rules, like Fight Club. Well, there is one rule, which is they have to kill each other. Try to escape by sea? They kill you. Stay in the forbidden zones, which are locations they keep adding to stop students from hiding in one spot? They kill you. Students band together, and refuse to kill each other? Well then they kill everyone. Shuya swears he will kill Sakamochi, which I can only assume would go over about as well as Yopoopoki's attempt.

Comments on rankings and other random musings:
1) No movement this chapter, as no students were introduced or said anything or did anything besides bleed all over the floor.

2) Fumiyo is revealed to be the nurse's assistant. This is the only bit of characterization she will get for the entire book, and it came after she was already dead. But at least we found out the corpse knew something about medicine. This will affect her rankings if she ever comes back from the dead.

3) I have a new theory about Shogo, but I don't have much to substantiate it yet. I originally thought he was the guy who hacked the computer (possibly), but after thinking about it more, I am guessing he was actually in one of these programs before. It would explain both: 1) all of his scars and 2) why he had to transfer into their class after being in the hospital for several months. Boom. Case closed. Unless I end up being wrong, in which case he was the guy who hacked into the computer.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

After 5 Ranking:
40. Kyoichi Motobuchi
39. Yoshio Akamatsu
38. Yuka Nakagawa
37. Keita Iijima
36. Mizuho Inada
35. Toshinori Oda
34. Kaori Minami
33. Mayumi Tendo
32. Yuko Sakaki
31. Kayoko Kotohiki
30. Yumiko Kusaka
29. Megumi Eto
28. Yoji Kuramoto
27. Yuichiro Takiguchi
26. Takako Chigusa
25. Yukiko Kitano
24. Hiroshi Kuronaga
23. Sho Tsukioka
22. Yutaka Seto
21. Chisato Matsui
20. Satomi Noda
19. Izumi Kanai
18. Hiroki Sugimura
17. Yoshimi Yahagi
16. Hirono Shimizu
15. Mitsuru Numai
14. Tatsumichi Oki
13. Kazushi Niida
12. Haruka Tanizawa
11. Kazuhiko Yamamoto
10. Sakura Ogawa
9. Noriko Nakagawa
8. Tadakatsu Hatagami
7. Ryuhei Sasagawa
6. Yukie Utsumi
5. Mitsuko Souma
4. Shogo Kawada
3. Shinji Mimura
2. Kazou Kiriyama
1. Shuya Nanahara

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I took it as Person A saying "gay marriage is ruining the sanctity of marriage" and person B goes "Straight people are already doing that" which is tu quoque

That still isn't tu quoque.

I mean, it literally means "you as well". The people would have to be linking to wikipedia articles of the people saying "marriage is a sacred institution" who are, at the same time, the people they are debating. Otherwise that isn't tu quoque.

Like if Rush Limbaugh said "marriage is sacred" and you said "you've been married three times, you hypocritical inflatable balloon", then that would be tu quoque. By posting articles of straight people that have ruined marriage, people aren't going "this argument needs to be discarded because of the person making it", and instead are making the point "these straight people have already ruined the sanctity of marriage, therefore it has none."

It means that:
1) Person A is making an argument
2) Person A is guilty of doing something they are arguing against
3) The argument itself is dismissed, instead of the person making the argument.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Cliffe
Keibler

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Tu quoque

I'm not taking a side here, just pointing out the logical fallacy.

I also refuse to take a side in an internetz argument, but this isn't an example of tu quoque.

If person A went "Gay marriage is ruining marriage" and person B went "but you were just divorced!", then that counts. If person A goes "gay marriage is ruining the sanctity of marriage" and person B goes "marriage has no inherent sanctity, and here are some examples of that" that is not an example of tu quoque.

A subtle distinction, but that is how I learned it.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I realize I am not innocent in this, but, in my defense, I am a jerk.

There is more, but I don't feel like censoring it for safeties sake.

He does go to a translating website to try and start talking to me in Russian though.

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

I don't know what is and isn't supposed to be censored, so I just censored everything that was even mildly inappropriate.

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Stranger: hey

You: hi

Stranger: asl?

You: 17 f russia

You: for you?

You: asl?

Stranger: 16 m usa

Stranger: u *****?

You: i am of hornless

You: what is meaning?

You: forgives, english not best

Stranger: are u sexually aroused?

You: sexually aroused?

You: i am female

Stranger: (explicit statement inquiring as the excitement status of female body part)?

You: nipples are here, yes

Stranger: is ur ****** ###? (this word was spelled wrong, btw)

You: it is snow

You: is ur virginia wet?

Stranger: i dont have one

You: no virginia?

You: i taught two virginias in usa

Stranger: not virginia ****** (spelled right this time)

You: oh excuse me

You: i thought virginia

Stranger: its ok

You: is ur ****** ### than?

Stranger: i dont have one im a guy

You: my friend go west ****** for vacation and say very wet. always rain.

Stranger: the thing inbetween ur legs

You: oh my blargenskiel

Stranger: what?

You: blargenskiel?

You: i do not know word

You: it mean

You: like american underwears?

Stranger: what does it mean?

Stranger: what goes in underwears

You: it only wet when scared

Stranger: do u touch it?

You: wet underwears?

You: no not usual

You: is this custom in usa?

Stranger: what does it cover?

Stranger: ur privet parts

Stranger: (explicit asking me if I would do something to my something; with fingers spelled as fingures)

You: i do not know meaning

You: fingures?

You: is for eating?

Stranger: they are on ur hand

You: eat my hand?

You: no not usual

Stranger: no no no

You: we eat cows

You: are my favorites

Stranger: take ur hand and put it in ur underwear

You: ok i guess

You: hold on let me get it

You: it in other room

Stranger: send me a picture of it

You: k im baaackt

Stranger: did u do it?

You: i gots underwearsr onb each handd

You: hards to typper

Stranger: no the ones u are wearing stick ur hand in those while u are still wearing them

You: youu usa havre werid custtoms

Stranger: just try it

You: just try it what

You: i took off hand underwears

You: not easy to type with forgives me please

Stranger: to put ur hand in ur pants

Stranger: inbetween ur legs

You: oh pants?

You: k i be back

You: pants in other room too

Stranger: no no

Stranger: no

Stranger: no

Stranger: no

Stranger: no

You: asdfdsafojihv saihrde8i

Stranger: what?

You: gtyy use sewfvhik

Stranger: take the pants off ur hands

You: sorry how to type with pants on hands?

You: is mysterious to me

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Woops? More like prophet.

Haha I forgot about that after I moved him up to number 2! Also displaying my prophetness: my completely random rankings had Fumiyo only two spots higher than she actually ended up.

More coming soon, as I just read another chapter.

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Summary: Yopoopoki? YOPOOPOKI?! YOOOOOPOOOOOOOOOPOOOOOOKI!!!!!

...oh and some chick named Fumiyo got it too.

Comments on rankings and other random musings:
1) "Woops." So, I guy I had projected to finish second overall ends up in dead last after he freaks out when Teacher McNoKnees admits to having had his way with the woman at the orphanage. The good news about this is that I literally cannot do any worse, unless Kyoichi, Yoshio, or Yoshimi end up winning the whole thing. In my defense, I was assuming the entire field would make it to battle before the killings started. The great news is that I no longer have to type out "Yopoopoki" every time I want to post a new list. I'll be omitting the dead character for now on, unless a new dead person is added to the list.

2) Great way to give a "no one is safe" vibe by immediately killing off the best friend character. I had assumed he had a pass to the final ten, at least, the way they were building him up. I mean, the friends with a well established backstory are given a pass in these sorts of books, it would be like if they just went and wounded the main female love interest off the bat and oh wait I should have read the next two paragraphs.

3) Noriko also tumbles some in my projections. She might be able to bounce back from this, but right now I'm assuming "person with two functioning legs" will be able to defeat "person with one functioning leg".

4) Shinji going boss mode by saving Noriko and Shuya from getting themselves killed as well. I've moved him up to take Yopoopoki's place as bestest buddy. Although, considering how it went for the last guy to hold that title, perhaps I should have moved him in the other direction.

5) It was a "Yoshi" based name massacre this chapter, as Fumiyo Fujiyoshi got a knife through the center of the head just for whispering. I dunno how or why this happened, because the all torso teacher didn't kill Yopoopoki right away when he was screaming about murdering the government and buying apple pies. But Fumiyo gets a knife to the temple because she wanted to borrow Yukie's pencil? Yeah, that seems fair.

6) Someone needs to off this teacher before he becomes any more comically evil. They'll have to be careful though, because apparently his leg deformities forced him to hone his knife throwing ability to an art.

7) GETTING GOOD HYPE HYPE HYPE

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Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

After 4 Rankings:
42. Yopoopoki Kuninobu (24, 2, 2, 2, 2, 42)
41. Fumiyo Fujiyoshi (39, 35, 35, 35, 35, 41)
40. Kyoichi Motobuchi
39. Yoshio Akamatsu
38. Yuka Nakagawa
37. Keita Iijima
36. Mizuho Inada
35. Toshinori Oda
34. Kaori Minami
33. Mayumi Tendo
32. Yuko Sakaki
31. Kayoko Kotohiki
30. Yumiko Kusaka
29. Megumi Eto
28. Yoji Kuramoto
27. Yuichiro Takiguchi
26. Takako Chigusa
25. Yukiko Kitano
24. Hiroshi Kuronaga
23. Sho Tsukioka
22. Yutaka Seto
21. Chisato Matsui
20. Satomi Noda
19. Izumi Kanai
18. Hiroki Sugimura
17. Yoshimi Yahagi
16. Hirono Shimizu
15. Mitsuru Numai
14. Tatsumichi Oki
13. Kazushi Niida
12. Haruka Tanizawa
11. Kazuhiko Yamamoto
10. Sakura Ogawa
9. Noriko Nakagawa
8. Tadakatsu Hatagami
7. Ryuhei Sasagawa
6. Yukie Utsumi
5. Mitsuko Souma
4. Shogo Kawada
3. Shinji Mimura
2. Kazou Kiriyama
1. Shuya Nanahara

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Summary: Apparently, these children already knew the of the existence of the program, the fact that it targeted kids their age, and were still incredibly confused when they woke up on a strange island with metal collars around their necks. I'm considering altering my rankings so that they all die at the same time of starvation when they can't figure out how to work the doorknob out of the room. When the arms for legs teacher can't get the kids to believe that they are actually in the program, he has soldiers bring in the corpse of their dead teacher. When they all start freaking out, they shoot the corpse again, because apparently what they were truly afraid of was that he might be a zombie.

Comments on rankings and other random musings:
1) I now moved Kyoichi below the fat kid for last place after he had an outburst telling the teacher he was too important to be there. He gets laughed at by the teacher, and all of the other kids secretly marked him as the first guy they should off. Probably not a good idea to start off a death match by loudly announcing to everyone how they were all unimportant in comparison to him, and he made things worse when he went on to tell everyone how they also smelled worse and had uglier mothers.

2) Wait, so the characters in this book knew that every year 50 classes their age were culled from the population and forced to fight to the death? And that every other year, their district was selected, and that the previous year no one from their district was chosen? And that they were all getting on a bus, together, for a random by no means suspicious field trip? I cannot put into words how dumb they and all their parents were. This is, for sure, the time you decide to play sick and not go on the trip. Shuya seems surprised that Kazou even showed up, which suggests to me it wasn't even mandatory. If I was in their shoes, that entire year I would only move by shimmying down the hallway with my back against the wall, and each day after class was over I would jump through the window and sprint home as fast as I could. How was every student not having a panic attack every day in every class knowing it was the year they could get picked?

3) Furthermore, their old teacher is clearly in the wrong line of work. If it is customary for the teacher to get killed along with the class, I think that would be a hard job to fill. I'd take my chances being homeless, thanks.

4) The depiction of the previous winner having lost their mind was a nice touch. It always bothered me a bit in the Hunger Games how all the past winners were pretty cool with having murdered some other kid.

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

After Chapter 3:
42. Kyoichi Motobuchi
41. Yoshio Akamatsu
40. Yuka Nakagawa
39. Keita Iijima
38. Mizuho Inada
37. Toshinori Oda
36. Kaori Minami
35. Fumiyo Fujiyoshi
34. Mayumi Tendo
33. Yuko Sakaki
32. Kayoko Kotohiki
31. Yumiko Kusaka
30. Megumi Eto
29. Yoji Kuramoto
28. Yuichiro Takiguchi
27. Takako Chigusa
26. Yukiko Kitano
25. Hiroshi Kuronaga
24. Sho Tsukioka
23. Yutaka Seto
22. Chisato Matsui
21. Satomi Noda
20. Izumi Kanai
19. Hiroki Sugimura
18. Yoshimi Yahagi
17. Hirono Shimizu
16. Mitsuru Numai
15. Tatsumichi Oki
14. Kazushi Niida
13. Haruka Tanizawa
12. Kazuhiko Yamamoto
11. Sakura Ogawa
10. Tadakatsu Hatagami
9. Ryuhei Sasagawa
8. Yukie Utsumi
7. Mitsuko Souma
6. Shinji Mimura
5. Noriko Nakagawa
4. Shogo Kawada
3. Kazou Kiriyama
2. Yopoopoki Kuninobu
1. Shuya Nanahara

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Summary: The man with the legs that confuse Shuya keeps on talking, and introduces himself as the new teacher. Yukie, apparently unaware of the fact that they are all wearing collars demands an explanation as to what is going on, and the other students begin yelling random thinks like "did we all fall asleep", "who is this guy", and "can I kill that fat kid yet?" Shuya keeps up his job of slowly scanning his surroundings, and finds that Kazou, Shogo, and Mitsuko are handling the situation like bosses. The teacher tells them to shut their yaps, and tells them they are all there to kill each other (which no one yells at), because they have been selected for the program (which someone does yell at). Chapter ends right there after about two pages, giving me concern the author is unaware of how to properly use chapters.

Comments on rankings and other random musings:
1) The big mover this time around is Mitsuko, who was previously introduced as the leader of a gang of female hoodlums. Shuya didn't have much to say beyond that, and I had assumed a gang of 15 year old girls doesn't really do much other than each others hair and saying snide things about other girls to give them eating disorders. I was mistaken. Mitsuko is completely unphased by their sudden kidnapping (like Shogo and Kazou), leading me to believe she has either been kidnapped before or was secretly waiting for a time where she could murder the rest of her classmates. She also has a couple of underlings at her disposal, who are almost certain to die before she does. Moved up to a top ten finish for sure.

2) I dropped Sakura and Kazuhiko a couple of spots. I had them fairly high up as I assumed the girlfriend/boyfriend combo platter might team up and protect each other for a while, but neither one was mentioned in the past couple chapters. Besides, I don't know how serious they were about their relationship at the age of 15, but upon further reflection I don't they are to the "I will lay down my life for you" stage of their relationship yet.

3) Shogo smiles when the teacher with appendage legs tells him they are to kill each other. Either his grasp of the language isn't too good, or hes a psychopath. The only question at this point is how many of his fellow students he will slay before the match is over (and how many he already killed by the time the teacher finished his sentence).

4) Kazou is also completely collected, even as his underlings are yelling for his attention. This is the second time he's been shown ignoring them. I suspect he is secretly deaf. I shall keep an eye out for this in the future.

5) Someone yells when he says they are part of the program? But not after he says they are to kill each other? Either they already have knowledge of the program (which would raise more questions) or "program" is code for square dancing. I know that was how I always reacted when we were forced to square dance in gym class

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

After Chapter 2:
42. Yoshio Akamatsu
41. Kyoichi Motobuchi
40. Yuka Nakagawa
39. Keita Iijima
38. Mizuho Inada
37. Toshinori Oda
36. Kaori Minami
35. Fumiyo Fujiyoshi
34. Mayumi Tendo
33. Yuko Sakaki
32. Kayoko Kotohiki
31. Yumiko Kusaka
30. Megumi Eto
29. Yoji Kuramoto
28. Yuichiro Takiguchi
27. Takako Chigusa
26. Yukiko Kitano
25. Hiroshi Kuronaga
24. Sho Tsukioka
23. Yutaka Seto
22. Chisato Matsui
21. Satomi Noda
20. Izumi Kanai
19. Hiroki Sugimura
18. Yoshimi Yahagi
17. Hirono Shimizu
16. Mitsuru Numai
15. Tatsumichi Oki
14. Kazushi Niida
13. Haruka Tanizawa
12. Kazuhiko Yamamoto
11. Sakura Ogawa
10. Tadakatsu Hatagami
9. Ryuhei Sasagawa
8. Yukie Utsumi
7. Mitsuko Souma
6. Shinji Mimura
5. Noriko Nakagawa
4. Shogo Kawada
3. Kazou Kiriyama
2. Yopoopoki Kuninobu
1. Shuya Nanahara

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Chicago isn't as dangerous as country folk make it seem.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/02/16/the-11-most-dangerous-cities

I've lived on the north and south side of Chicago; really any hotel on the north side is incredibly safe and the public transportation here is top notch. There are some areas you definitely want to avoid, but they don't have large hotels located in those parts of the city anyway. You'll be fine.

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Summary: Apparently, the author was working off the effects of sleep gas as well, because Chapter 1 is only a couple of pages long. Not much new happens, other than Shuya is apparently the first person to wake up from the effects of the gas, giving him time to survey the entire room and find out they are in a strange classroom with collars attached to their necks. The new "teacher" comes in and introduces himself, and apparently the dude has abnormally short legs, "as if they served as a mere appendage to his torso." I don't know what this means, because appendage means limb, so if Shuya is questioning why his legs look like they might be limbs, I am starting to worry about what anatomical deformity Shuya might be suffering from that he hasn't revealed yet. This might hurt his ranking in future chapters. The rest of the class wakes up, and the chapter ends before anything interesting can happen.

Comments on rankings and other random musings:
1) The only character I moved was fat Nakagawa, who dropped one spot. No other characters besides Shuya are really mentioned, other than a brief aside that Fats Nakagawa serves as one of the two class clowns with Yutaka. A fat girl who tries to hard to make jokes makes me think of a young Rosie O'Donnell, which makes me believe her classmates will turn on her more easily than the other students.

2) Something else I have been mulling over is the revelation in one of the three prologue chapters that the information to this program has been compromised. As far as I see it, there are three likely candidates so far for the hacking: Shogo, Kazou, or some external force. I can't imagine that the author would mention something like this if it wasn't important to the central plot, so one possibility is that some outside force is trying to stop the programs, starting with this class. Perhaps some sort of rescue might save a handful of kids instead of just one, which would allow love interests to escape together. However, if they were really trying to sabotage the government's programs, they might have wanted to do so BEFORE the kids started killing each other so I don't know how likely of an outcome this will be.

The other possibility is that it is someone actually in the class, and my two top candidates right now are Kazou and Shogo. Shogo has the benefits of being pretty much the 15 year old equivalent of Solid Snake, and the fact that he just transferred into the class like a month ago, which times out pretty well to right after the data was compromised. Going against him is the fact he tried to bust open the window on the bus ride over, which seems like he didn't know what was going on and just wanted to escape (unless he just really wanted some fresh air). Similarly, Kazou is portrayed as super mysterious, super awesome, and not afraid to crack some skulls. Also, Shuya is surprised Kazou even showed up because he thought he would just ditch a trivial study trip, which might indicate that he knows something is going on beyond a simple study trip. However, it would be extremely odd that the person hacking the program already happened to be attending the class that was going to be part of it, and then do nothing to warn any of his fellow students. In fact, if he knew what was going on, I would suspect he would just stay off the bus, unless he is a psychopath like crazy, stabby, Shogo. Or maybe nothing is going on, and I read too much into it.

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

After Chapter 1:
42. Yoshio Akamatsu
41. Kyoichi Motobuchi
40. Yuka Nakagawa
39. Keita Iijima
38. Mizuho Inada
37. Toshinori Oda
36. Kaori Minami
35. Fumiyo Fujiyoshi
34. Mayumi Tendo
33. Yuko Sakaki
32. Kayoko Kotohiki
31. Yumiko Kusaka
30. Megumi Eto
29. Sho Tsukioka
28. Yuichiro Takiguchi
27. Hiroshi Kuronaga
26. Yoji Kuramoto
25. Takako Chigusa
24. Yukiko Kitano
23. Yutaka Seto
22. Chisato Matsui
21. Satomi Noda
20. Izumi Kanai
19. Hiroki Sugimura
18. Yoshimi Yahagi
17. Hirono Shimizu
16. Mitsuko Souma
15. Mitsuru Numai
14. Tatsumichi Oki
13. Kazushi Niida
12. Tadakatsu Hatagami
11. Haruka Tanizawa
10. Ryuhei Sasagawa
9. Kazuhiko Yamamoto
8. Sakura Ogawa
7. Yukie Utsumi
6. Shinji Mimura
5. Noriko Nakagawa
4. Shogo Kawada
3. Kazou Kiriyama
2. Yopoopoki Kuninobu
1. Shuya Nanahara

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

7) Main characters buds seem good picks to go far as well. Already had to readjust my thoughts on Yopoopoki, which is a shame because I'm already tired of typing out his name. Childhood friends of main characters at least tend to get far enough to heroically die protecting the main character, so I feel safe putting him at least in the top ten. The bit in the prologue about how in battle royales "sometimes when allies make it to the end, one will just quit so the other can win" leads me to believe he might actually get to the final showdown with Shuya.

8) Other friends will most likely get fairly far as well. Noriko is clearly going to be "DAT GIRL" and will most likely stick around with the rest of the Superfriends and I wouldn't be that surprised if she made it to the end instead of Yopoopoki, since he seems in love with her. I typically don't like the odds of a person who brings cookies to a knife fight, but she is at least endearing herself to some of the other characters who might not be totally useless. She will most likely die when one of the crazy guys attacks her with a lead pipe, and she counters with a scone.

9) Shinji is awesome. I know this because the wonky translation pretty much came out and told me "Shinji is awesome". I predict he finishes top ten.

10) Either Shogo or Kazou will most likely end up being the main "antagonist" from the students. The prohibitive favorite if they weren't characters in a book that the main character is likely to win. Kazou seems like a safer pick between the two, which is why I have him ranked one higher. He is described as strong enough to take on anyone in the class, and even member of the local Yakuza. I don't know how effective a totalitarian regime is if they still have to deal with gang violence, but whatever, Kazou is on the job. He even has his own gang of followers, but he doesn't seem to interested in them. Ryuhei is singled out as the most important of his gang, but only because he ran back to Kazou like a baby when Shogo was mean to him. I don't think that is a good thing.

11) Shogo is a boss. Dude already turned down delicious cookies and tried to bust open a window to escape when everyone else had already passed out like chumps. Apparently he has also been shot twice, if Shuya's description is to be believed. If bullets couldn't take this guy down, I doubt anything else would be strong enough, except for perhaps the power of friendship.

12) Other people introduced were ranked according to how well I thought they'd do in a fight. Athletes ahead of non-athletes. Leaders ahead of non-leaders. And guys who study poetry and make jokes towards the bottom. Although the poetry guy also studies karate, so I bumped him up a little.

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Prediction Rationale, and Other Random Musings (Chapter 0):
Summary: Shuya takes time to introduce as many characters as he can locate on the bus, and Suprak promptly forgets all but a few. A girl, Norkio, offers him and his best friend (the Yopoopoki guy) some cookies, and Yopoopoki clearly wants to bang her. Some kid next to them (who Shuya describes like a mix between James Dean, Ivan Drago, and Mr. Zsasz) refuses the cookies. His name is Shogo, and I made sure to make a note of it so I can remember the name of the guy killing everyone. Some sort of gas fills the bus the kids were all on, and everyone falls asleep, even Shogo after he tries to bust open a window with his bear hands, but he was too tired from ripping phone books in half. Parents are notified, and some are shot. BOOK STARTS OUT GOOD ALREADY.

1) Wait, why was this called chapter zero? I question the logic behind having an introductory chapter, a prologue, and a chapter zero.

2) If you weren't mentioned already in the book, I apologize for the quick, off screen death you will be suffering within the next fifty pages. The book went out of its way to have Shuya make eye contact with every single person around him, even if it was just to say "this kid is a fat loser and nobody likes him." If the author didn't feel like you were worth more characterization than random fat kid, you're out of luck. All of these people are now at the bottom, ranked randomly by whatever random criteria I felt like.

3) There were a couple of exceptions. Yoshio is pointed out as the fat kid that no one likes, which is worse than being ignored. You're about to be thrown into an arena where other kids are going to try and kill you, and they've already practiced on you for the past 15 years of your life without the incentive. For all I know at this point, this battle is being staged by Yoshio's classmates strictly to kill him.

4) Another character, Kyoichi, gets a brief mention as being especially studious and not sleeping a lot. I'm sure doing physics while you're drowzy will help a lot in a deathmatch POINDEXTER. I predict he will be killed in the midst of trying to take notes on where for a lesson that no one else is attending.

5) Yuka Nakagawa is not a sister of Noriko, and has already been referred to as "the fat Nakagawa." When there are only two people with the same last name, and what distinguishes you from the other one is childhood diabetes, I cannot fathom any situation in which you win. She will be the only character to die of natural causes.

6) Shuya being the main character clearly makes him the favorite to win. I am a bit worried the fact that he needs to remind himself of all the distinguishing characteristics of his classmates on a bus ride suggests he is already suffering from some sort of head injury. The only thing he has going against him is that in the time it takes him to slowly scan his surroundings and introduce everyone to himself again, one of the other characters not required to explain things to the audience will just run up and stab him.

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Finished Chapter 0! Predix adjustment time.

After 0
42. Yoshio Akamatsu
41. Kyoichi Motobuchi
40. Keita Iijima
39. Yuka Nakagawa
38. Mizuho Inada
37. Toshinori Oda
36. Kaori Minami
35. Fumiyo Fujiyoshi
34. Mayumi Tendo
33. Yuko Sakaki
32. Kayoko Kotohiki
31. Yumiko Kusaka
30. Megumi Eto
29. Sho Tsukioka
28. Yuichiro Takiguchi
27. Hiroshi Kuronaga
26. Yoji Kuramoto
25. Takako Chigusa
24. Yukiko Kitano
23. Yutaka Seto
22. Chisato Matsui
21. Satomi Noda
20. Izumi Kanai
19. Hiroki Sugimura
18. Yoshimi Yahagi
17. Hirono Shimizu
16. Mitsuko Souma
15. Mitsuru Numai
14. Tatsumichi Oki
13. Kazushi Niida
12. Tadakatsu Hatagami
11. Haruka Tanizawa
10. Ryuhei Sasagawa
9. Kazuhiko Yamamoto
8. Sakura Ogawa
7. Yukie Utsumi
6. Shinji Mimura
5. Noriko Nakagawa
4. Shogo Kawada
3. Kazou Kiriyama
2. Yopoopoki Kuninobu
1. Shuya Nanahara

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Well, spoiling the second and third book would spoil the first as well, so I shall still abstain.

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Dp, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire are surprisingly good. I think you'll enjoy them. Mockingjay...well you'll see when you get there.

I liked Hunger Games, although I had a few minor quibbles here and there.

I did not enjoy the other two books that much at all. But I won't say anything else so as to not spoil anything!

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."

Haha, I like your completely ignorant character rankings. Some interesting stuff there, although I don't want to comment any further and possibly give even the slightest of spoilers.

THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE PEOPLE.

See, hinting that I might have messed something up entirely based on my completely random ranking system without naming anything specific about who or what I might be wrong on. A+ response would read again.


Also, Shogo will be much more cool than your number 19 suggests; trust me.

This is how it is NOT done. From this post alone, I am already able to conclude that Shogo is going to make at least a decent run at things. Don't do this. Don't hint at anything in the future. Or so much strangling.

Luckily, I'm almost done with Chapter 0 and have already deduced this much for myself.

BUT YOU'RE ON NOTICE.

--
Moops?
"I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."