Lurker > SHRlKE

Did I miss anything new?

Saw X was crap btw.

What?

17 years seems a long time to not hold any.

GS is great. Id love a remake.

Great video here on reviewing the game for anyone who hasnt played it before.

https://youtu.be/W1UhbqDJSE4?si=RT-eSR9rYWQ7PAyW

Yeah thats why I liked it so much. At first glance it seems have but its not too bad. The idea of 9 mini puzzles is pretty cool I thought.

I enjoyed it. Its certainly fell along way since the early days but its still good fun. I didnt really feel that squeamish at many of the traps. The women cutting her leg off just looked silly like she was doing a dance lmao. The brain one was great though.

Are you a Christian?

ClayGuida posted...

https://twitter.com/MalcolmNance/status/1711123881656733923

Seems scary.

If you were a Christian youd certainly be feeling were seeing some of the things depicted in revelations coming to fruition before our eyes.

Right I need to go out for dinner with my wife. Will check back on here tomorrow if there are any good posts that come up. Have a good evening y'all.

Shadow_Don posted...

We absolutely do know about the long term efficacy of the vaccine. Its literally saved millions of lives.

Yes but we also know we need boosters to keep up the protection and the vaccine needs to be modified to take into account new variants. It would also be great if we can increase the protection from catching Covid in the first place with the vaccine which has already been discussed in this topic.

I think from the vaccine point of view specifically in my post. What you said is also true obviously.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I'm from the UK. We are getting there but thankfully we aren't quite up to speed with the US in terms of the crazies so maybe that factors into my interpretation as well. Also when I've had legit questions I know I've had abuse sent my way and felt frustrated at getting nowhere so maybe I'm biased in that regard as well. You are probably right. I probably need sometime away to think. Which is great as me and the wife are about to go out for dinner!

Shadow_Don posted...

The venn diagram here is almost a circle.

Is it possible that there exists someone who is skeptical of the vaccine but make good decisions in all other aspects of health and takes all other covid precautions very seriously? Sure. But this is such an extreme outlier its just not worth considering when talking about vaccination strategy.

I'm not even necessarily talking people that are skeptical of the vaccine. They way some people go on any sort of questioning of the vaccine makes you anti vax and deserving of ridicule \ abuse despite the fact it's already been stated in this topic there are things we still don't know about the long term efficacy of it.

People need to take the vaccine there are still enough obvious benefits to doing so but without looking into the efficacy of the current vaccine we can't improve it and make sure we learn for the next pandemic so things to make our response then even better.

Psuedo_Audacity posted...

How do you know Russians don't support the government?

Do you just intuit, or are there things the you see that tell you as much? Do those things exist in the case of Palestine? Is there a record of Palestinians being disappeared after verbal opposition to the government? Is there a record of Hamas shutting down protests with heavy handed violence? Are there polls that show something ridiculous like 90-100% support, which statistically is just unreasonable?

What I think about Russia and their Government doesn't really come into this. It's not for me to use my own opinions to help you answer the question. I'm asking you to answer the question with your own thoughts.

Shadow_Don posted...

It's not that we shouldn't engage with them anymore, its that you're aren't going to convince them with scientific facts and evidence.

The only way to stop this is to get them the fuck away from their misinformation bubble. They mostly need psychiatric help much in the same way cult members do.

I do agree completely. Some people really are that far gone they need more help than a simple discussion can solve.

I think where we might disagree to which the proportion of people question vaccines are "too far gone" and which are just genuinely asking questions.

Can we at least agree not everyone who questions the vaccine is a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist?

Ruvan22 posted...

Doesn't that lead to "See I knew it - you don't have an answer, the vaccine really IS a hoax!!"?

It's not your responsibility to answer everyone's question or respond to every post you disagree with. I'm not suggesting that. But if you aren't going to respond to their question just don't respond at all rather than abusing them. I don't see how that helps anyone.

hockeybub89 posted...

I'm sorry if it was wrong. But I have seen such posts that seem to imply what I mentioned.

You literally quoted the post in question

Psuedo_Audacity posted...

But in other right-wing authoritarian regimes, there are always cracks in the support that give an indication that it's coerced.

Like what exactly?

This was actually featured on CTC last night. I really enjoyed it so wanted to share. The rules are a bit of a mind fuck so if you are confused you can see Simon go over the ruleset here: https://youtu.be/flu5Gccx8gY?t=306

Puzzle Name: House Par(i)ty
Type: Parity Party
Link: https://app.crackingthecryptic.com/sudoku/FRph2b4g2g

Rules:

• Clues outside the grid are Parity Party clues and give the sum of the digits up to and including the first even digit or up to and including the first odd digit from that side. Single digit clues might give the first digit only. (i.e. a 7 clue could mean the first cell seen contains a 7, the first two cells contain an even and an odd that sum to 7, or the first two cells have a 24 pair and the third cell contains a 1.) Digits within cages cannot repeat, and sum to the small number shown. This puzzle is solved in two stages:
• Stage 1: Each 3x3 box is solved independently as a 3x3 mean mini. (ie each box uses exactly three digits from 1-9 without repeating in the rows or columns of that box.) Outside clues are for the first box seen in this stage (ie they work for the box next to the clue).
• Stage 2: Delete all digits except for the central cell of each 3x3 box. then solve the puzzle as a regular 9x9 sudoku using the remaining digits as givens. Outside clues can now see further than just the first box seen.

Notes:

• Please feel free to ask for help or post your solved puzzles in the topic. Please use the spoiler tag appropriately.

Preview:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/6/0/AAfPfjAAE6a0.png

Psuedo_Audacity posted...

What indication is there that you see that the support is coerced? Where are you getting that Hamas was actually illegally placed into power?

Any evidence at all.

They've not had any more elections in 16+ years. While that's not necessarily any proof the last election had issues it certainly does help paint a picture of the sort of "democracy" we're talking about here.

I don't think this is going to cool down anytime soon unfortunately. Netanyahu has faced some troubling with his power in recent years. And while I do think Israel have the right to respond to the recent attack he's going to go all out on the response to play to his base back home.

hockeybub89 posted...

Maybe, people just get tired eventually of responding to "genuine questions" when people have been asking the same questions for years and the answers are widely available and accepted by the experts.

Yes that's a fair point. In that case the best thing to do is just not respond imo. You don't have to respond to every post or question someone has.

hockeybub89 posted...

Now you're pushing the anti-vax narrative that all reasonable questions on the vaccines have been responded to with venom by everyone since day 1, and that people would rather insult than reveal the truth.

You take a post of mine where I was commending the discourse between someone with a genuine question and a well written response and somehow come up with that conclusion?

Shadow_Don posted...

I dont think anyone is keeping it a secret, its genuinely just hard to know right now and it also changes as covid mutates.

And while I appreciate that its worth putting effort into answering the questions of the skeptics I think its also important to remember that their questions have been asked and answered over and over again. They just aren't interested in the answers you give them unless they can weave it into the conspiracy narrative they have already established.

Am I right in reading your post as suggesting the lines have been drawn and anti vax people will always be anti vax and pro vax people will always be pro vax so it's not worth bothering to engage with anti vax people any more?

If I'm misrepresenting your post I apologize. Hence why I'm asking for clarity.

hockeybub89 posted...

How much more education do they need? If they were this ignorant on vaccines pre-COVID, then why can't they just continue deferring to the people more educated than they are on the matter? What actually changed that made laypeople start thinking they are the experts, but only on vaccines?

It's perfectly reasonable to be pro vax before Covid and still have questions on the Covid vaccine when it came out. We've had a few in this very topic about how quickly it was developed that were answered honestly and with respect and the guy accepted the responses. This is how the discourse on vaccines should be.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Then you need to step outside into the real world once in a while because a non insignificant amount of normal rationale people who are pro vax go 0-60 incredibly quickly when faced with anyone who dares ask basic questions and get pigeonholed as being anti-vax just as quickly. Just look at your post #210 as a perfect example.

Hell you immediately responded the way you did in #170 as well which is what started this whole train of posts. Dude said he knew someone who still got covid despite being vacinated and you imediately attacked him for being anti vax when it's entirely possible he was telling the turth. Hell we even had some specific posts where we acknowledged the efficacy of the vaccine in terms of preventing covid wasn't that great but it was still high enough to warrant get the vaccine, especially when you take into account the other great benefits of the vaccine which we've already been over.

Now if he'd have come back and discounted our responses I'd be with you 100% but he didn't so I think you were a bit unfair on him taking that post in isolation.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


The problem here is lumping everyone in the same group. Not everyone who asks questions on the vaccine is a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy nut. Sometimes people ask questions on the vaccine because they WANT to be educated.

While I'm pro vax and encourage everyone to get vaccinated as well as self isolate while infected I can also easily see how someone who has genuine questions on Covid when faced with deflection or abuse for raising queries to further their self knowledge may feel aggrieved or people are hiding things from them when lumped into the same group as said tin foil hat wearing conspiracy nuts.

Shadow_Don posted...

The reason you can't find it is because its probably just not known. Its going to be harder to keep tract of people who catch covid post vaccination because a lot of them probably don't know they have it and don't get tested.

But as you said, even if the number is only 40% then thats still massively important, especially from the macro perspective of stopping the spread.

Yes but it goes back to my original point that for some reason people who are for the vaccine seem to be unwilling to accept this is the case and want to keep it a secret for some reason or deflect when asked.

If someone criticised the vaccine because they are told it will stop you catching covid but its efficacy is actually only 40% then you cant help them feel like they are having things kept from them. Because they are. It also goes back to the comment someone made earlier about Covid and Polio vaccine being similar when Polio has an efficacy of preventing Polio of 99.9% and if Covid is only 40% I think its disingenuous to compare the two on that front and use Polio as a reason why Covid vaccine is successful at preventing initial infection when the two efficacies are miles apart.

Im glad we agree even 40% is enough to warrant taking covid vaccine especially as its primary benefit is stopping you getting as serious an infection when you do catch it but the deflection seen on the pro vax side can be seen as being proactively evasive which leads to distrust and thats why as I said above its dangerous to hide things because you worry it will get taken out of context because you just give the malicious anti vax people ammunition where they can easily say see they are hiding things from you!!

ClayGuida posted...

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/17/us/politics/gop-governors-vow-to-close-doors-to-syrian-refugees.html

Ask the 25 Republican governors.

I'm asking you.

ClayGuida posted...

The entire Republican party and every red state, as well as a majority of the US population, due to that fear mongering.

What's their rationale?

I've done the first training mission as both characters and I'm not finding too many differences. I want something like the FF16 experience but I'm not sure which of the two characters will give me that.

Cheater87 posted...

Sadly my dad sees Hamas and Palestine as the same, along with Russia and the Russian army.

I think a lot of people on this board do as well tbh In a lot of the UKraine war topics we've had over the last 12 months there is little distinction made between Russian Politics and the Russian Civilians.

SayHeyyShohei posted...

This. Conflating Hamas with Palestine is exactly what Israel wants.

This is why they need new elections ASAP in Palestine. The current government there don't have a mandate imo and they've not had an election since 2006. 17 years ago. Considering 50% of the population is 19 years old and younger it's about time they did.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I believe this kind of thinking is dangerous and perpetrates the us vs them issues you guys have in the US at the moment.

Education is key. It isn't unsurprising that the majority of anti vax states tend to be where education has been decimated over the decades.

Can you please respond to the other points I made in my post though please. And if you are only going to indulge me in responding to any of the rest of my post can it be in regards to the efficacy in Covid vaccines for preventing catching Covid in the first place. I am genuinely struggling to find data on this over the last hour or so. This was a large part of my post and you chose to only concentrate on one part so it would be appreciated if you could on the other areas as well.

potdnewb posted...

the flu vaccine is not an mRNA vaccine

Ah so it isn't. That's for correcting me.

littlebro07 posted...

Can someone ELI5 this whole conflict

Can someone explain 70 years worth of one of the most complicated and nuanced conflicts in human history in a bit size chunk? Nope. I don't think they can.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Are we also going to ignore the fact these covid-19 vaccines were produced at a very expedited rate compared to normal? These things are supposed to take decades. The fact they work at all is impressive.

We have a new flu vaccine every year. My understanding is that there were able to adapt these vaccines to work with Covid which is one of the reasons they were able to get it out of the door so quickly.

I don't disagree with what you are saying. Malicious people do use it as an excuse to push anti-vaxx rhetoric and that is wrong.

But there are also a lot of people who are just simply ignorant and by lumping them all in together you risk alienating people who generally just don't know better and continue the us vs them narrative which isn't helpful in the slightest and pushes them further down the rabbit hole.

Back to the point at hand though I think it's a bit disingenuous to push the point that the Covid vaccine, which isn't marketed as it's primary benefit being preventing you from catching Covid in the first place, is anywhere comparable to something like the Polio vaccine that has a 99.9% efficacy rate at stopping you being affected by Polio.

Out of curiosity what is the efficacy of the Covid vaccine for preventing you from actually catching Covid in the first place? I'm trying to find something from the CDC but it's not easily discovered. I've seen figures ranging from between 40% and 70% reduction in the risk of catching Covid but I'm trying to find a reputable site.

For what it's worth even a 40% reduction in catching Covid makes it a big enough reason to get vaccinated, especially when added to the fact the vaccine also reduces your symptoms so that if you do catch it you are less likely to spread it forwards. But by pillorying anyone that tries to point out that it's not super effective at reducing the chances of catching Covid you don't do anyone any favors.

Ultimately though the biggest thing anyone can do to help reduce the risk to at risk groups is to simply self isolate if they are ill. I'd say this regardless of if you have Covid, the Flu or any sort of contagious disease that can cause harm to at risk people. Just be considerate y'all and stop being a martyr and going to work when ill.

ScazarMeltex posted...

Ok, but do you see how derailing the Israel and Saudi talks still works within the confines of an insurgent campaign? Destabilizing your opponent politically is absolutely a viable goal for insurgency. It's one of the ways you can win, so he's not off base in the way you are claiming.

Yes definitely. I just don't think it's going to help them further their goals in any way whatsoever and makes me question what their goals actually are.

If anything there are concessions for the Palestinians the Saudis were pushing for which I imagine is now going to be completely off the table so this has actually made things worse for the Palestinians. Not improved their situation or chances of achieving their goals.

I'm not debating against the polio vaccine being a great thing that has prevented the spread of Polio and the horrors catching it can cause. Everyone should take the Polio vaccine because it's been proven over time to be incredibly effective. Like I said it's a semantics argument and I don't see any benefit to the topic of debating it any further that we have.

The point I want to concentrate on and the one that's actually relevant to this topic is that the Covid vaccine doesn't have anywhere near the efficacy at stopping you from catching Covid in the first place. It's primary benefit is to stop you getting as ill if you do catch Covid and reduce symptoms to help reduce the chances of passing it on.

Which is obviously a great thing as well and a good enough reason on it's own merit for taking it.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I'm against anti vax people and the ignorance they spout but is he wrong for suggesting the vaccine doesn't outright prevent you from catching Covid?

It certainly helps reduce the risk of getting a severe case of Covid and if your symptoms are lower you have a lower chance of passing which is obviously a good thing as well to avoid it being passed on to more at risk people. However I don't think it's really fair to suggest it prevents you from catching it 100% nor was it ever marketed as such.

From an official NHS booklet for adults:
https://www.ulh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/COVID-19-vaccination-a-guide-for-adults.pdf

"...some people may still get COVID-19 despite having a vaccination, but this should be less severe."

potdnewb posted...

the polio vaccine has done a great job in preventing polio infections

This might be a semantic thing here tbh. You still get polio it just prevents it taking hold and helps your immune system destroy it almost instantly. I don't think the same is true of Covid. At least not to the same extent but I'm happy (and hope I am) to be proven wrong. There are many examples of people still catching Covid and having symptoms despite being vaccinated which is why the primary benefit has always been to reduce the risk of serious infection from Covid rather than prevent it taking hold in the first place.

You can definitely argue that by not having as severe symptoms you reduce the risk of spreading it on further which is why the whole "I'm young and fit it won't kill me" is such a selfish argument because you can still pass it on to people who are more at risk.

BlockAddition posted...

Nope. Never had a covid vax, and I've never had covid, though people I know who are b00sted to the eyeballs have had covid

I'm assuming you're arguing in good faith for a second.

The primary purpose of the vaccine is to stop you getting as ill if you do catch it. Not to prevent you from catching it in the first place.

FlyEaglesFly24 posted...

And the sad part is, the people of Gaza chose this in 2007.

Maybe they need new elections. No elections in 16 years doesn't sound like a democracy.

UnfairRepresent posted...

Their "endgame" is continued existence and ownership of the Mandatory Palestine area with Israel and Palestine being 2 seperate states.

Israel wants a one state solution were they annex Palestine and own the land. Granting the West Bank's Palestinian population Israeli citizenship while maintaining Israel's current status as a Jewish state with recognized minorities.

Mix in religion and an age old land dispute turns nasty.

Hamas cannot win in a conventional war on any quantifiable level so they resort to terrorism like pretty much every weaker side in a conflict has done since recorded warfare.

Even if you hate Hamas it's crazy to pretend you don't understand what their agenda is. Both Israel and Palestine have been shouting their goals loudly to anyone who will listen.

I'm incredibly sympathetic to the Palestinian plight but even I can admit Israel have the right to retaliate for these recent attacks.

Your other point would be fine if it weren't for the fact there are people within Hamas who have gone on record as saying they wont accept anything other than the complete destruction of Israel.

You're way off beat anyway. The primary motivation for these recent attacks is to derail the ongoing Israel and Saudi Arabia talks.

Fenriswolf posted...

To wreck Biden's attempt to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which would screw Palestine l since under the proposed agreement, Israel only gave their "word" to SA to treat the Palestinians better. Now SA has to deal with a population sympathetic to Palestine, while Bibi's coalition partners don't even want the two state solution.

Boom. Nail on the head.

The recent attacks by Hamas arent due to the well documented poor conditions the Palestinians live in. Its a direct attempt to derail the ongoing talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Palestine hasnt has an election since 2007. They need one desperately.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/7/2/AAfPfjAAE6X4.jpg

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_State_of_Palestine

Why is it so bottom heavy?

This is one of the most heart breaking aspects of the ongoing troubles between Israel and Palestine. The fact that 40% of the population werent even alive to vote during the last election in Palestine which was in 2006.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Palestinian_legislative_election

ClayGuida posted...

But why do they want them all dead over a peaceful resolution?

I'm truly unsure how this is inflammatory to you folk.

what do you mean by resolution? By resolution are you referring to this?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna119351

@clayguida

Do you accept there are some people within Hamas that have on record come out and said they want to see the distruction of Israel as a state?