The Syndicate

My DnD character died. I'm very sad now.

DrWilgy wrote:My DnD character died. I'm very sad now.

I've never played DnD, but I've watched it a bit and wanted to many times.

Those are sad times right there.

We're finally getting rain for possibly the first time this summer, and it's supposed to storm the whole weekend.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:We're finally getting rain for possibly the first time this summer, and it's supposed to storm the whole weekend.

Yeah isn't it great?!?!

So a couple of weeks ago there was a heroin bust a mile from my house. Today there is a police standoff just a few houses down from mine.

I'll be refreshing the local news sites on a regular basis this afternoon.

Go out there with your camera phone and get the fresh scoop on the streets.

When I still lived with my dad last year, there was an extremely high end house. Nobody really knew who lived in there though. IT was about 5 blocks away. Come to find out it was a really well disguised drug lab. How do we know? The cops had a hunch and went poking around. Opened a rigged up door, and the entire fucking house exploded. They set that up on purpose for intruders apparently.

The standoff ended long ago. The guy who barricaded himself in his home was a cop who had been sniffed out for stealing jewels and planting them elsewhere to frame a fall guy. He killed himself around 12:45 p.m. but we weren't allowed back into the development until 5-ish. The family and I went out for dinner and skipped all the news people hustling for interviews. He lived around the bend from us, five or six houses away.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index. ... cart_river

Infinite cat loop




It's a series of hairballs

What fucking barbarians

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-t ... un-n419206

S~V~S wrote:What fucking barbarians

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-t ... un-n419206

I wonder whom these "Islamist" terrorists get their American weapons from and why they never attack Israel.

I'd like to learn Hebrew.

In addition to Japanese and Korean.

But I guess I'd have to brush up on my Mother Tongue and dialect first.

I woudlndt' midn learning Hebrew butt I'd reather learn Sanskrit..

Yesterday i was going to the beach for a BBQ, and i stopped at a market not far from the beach. Almost everyone in there was in casual beachwear. On the way out, I saw an older gentleman at one of the registers, and I swear to God, what he made me think of was that that was how Llama would look as an old man.

His grooming was impeccable; his hair & mustache were snow white & neatly groomed. he wore (Pressed!) khakis with dress shoes, a navy blazer & a cravat (!!) on a 90 degree day. But he looked like he would never lose his cool regardless of the weather. His features even had a similar cast to Llamas. The mustache was a major difference; it was neat, but not particularly outstanding as mustaches go, not at all like Llamas. But otherwise...

S~V~S wrote:Yesterday i was going to the beach for a BBQ, and i stopped at a market not far from the beach. Almost everyone in there was in casual beachwear. On the way out, I saw an older gentleman at one of the registers, and I swear to God, what he made me think of was that that was how Llama would look as an old man.

His grooming was impeccable; his hair & mustache were snow white & neatly groomed. he wore (Pressed!) khakis with dress shoes, a navy blazer & a cravat (!!) on a 90 degree day. But he looked like he would never lose his cool regardless of the weather. His features even had a similar cast to Llamas. The mustache was a major difference; it was neat, but not particularly outstanding as mustaches go, not at all like Llamas. But otherwise...

That's so awesome!

A Person wrote:

I'd rather learn the Aleph-Bet by way of Zorn

MovingPictures07 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:Yesterday i was going to the beach for a BBQ, and i stopped at a market not far from the beach. Almost everyone in there was in casual beachwear. On the way out, I saw an older gentleman at one of the registers, and I swear to God, what he made me think of was that that was how Llama would look as an old man.

His grooming was impeccable; his hair & mustache were snow white & neatly groomed. he wore (Pressed!) khakis with dress shoes, a navy blazer & a cravat (!!) on a 90 degree day. But he looked like he would never lose his cool regardless of the weather. His features even had a similar cast to Llamas. The mustache was a major difference; it was neat, but not particularly outstanding as mustaches go, not at all like Llamas. But otherwise...

That's so awesome!

Future me says hi and asks that you not tell too many people about the existence of time travel technology.

thellama73 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:Yesterday i was going to the beach for a BBQ, and i stopped at a market not far from the beach. Almost everyone in there was in casual beachwear. On the way out, I saw an older gentleman at one of the registers, and I swear to God, what he made me think of was that that was how Llama would look as an old man.

His grooming was impeccable; his hair & mustache were snow white & neatly groomed. he wore (Pressed!) khakis with dress shoes, a navy blazer & a cravat (!!) on a 90 degree day. But he looked like he would never lose his cool regardless of the weather. His features even had a similar cast to Llamas. The mustache was a major difference; it was neat, but not particularly outstanding as mustaches go, not at all like Llamas. But otherwise...

That's so awesome!

Future me says hi and asks that you not tell too many people about the existence of time travel technology.

it really was awesome!

I know "soignee" is a word generally applied to women, but he was the male equivalent of that. Very elegant and put together on a very hot day.

Vompatti wrote:I woudlndt' midn learning Hebrew butt I'd reather learn Sanskrit..

Shalom! Your avatar's cute. I think I've told you before. Either that, or I said it to the Ice Bear.

I took a little of Japanese in university, which was probably easier to pick up since I already knew Mandarin. I heard somewhere about how certain languages are categorized (Mandarin, Japanese / Hebrew, Arabic / German, English) which makes related languages easier to pick up but not sure if it's true for all.

A Person wrote:

I came across this video a few weeks ago. After my first trial lesson in Hebrew, I just might be able to pick up this song.

Rāgas and maqamat, everyone.

Kevin Anderson defeating Murray today was just so awesome.

I tried to learn spanish in high school but i fucking despised my teacher and dropped it.

I've been avoiding learning moonspeak(japanese) because I dont want to be the weeaboo who only learned the language because he watches a lot of anime. Which is technically a valid reason to learn the language. Sometimes stuff hasnt been translated but you want to watch it anyway.

Actually kinda surprised I can only speak one language. After hearing so many words and different combinations of how things are said, I pick up pronounciation of other languages extremely fast. Mainly Spanish, Japanese**, and French. I just cant speak any of them. And I hear Rosetta Stone is garbage so I aint doing that.

**I can only do this one if it's in romaji. English letters with japanese soundings. Whoever came up with that one is a genius

XthAtGAm3RGuYX wrote:I tried to learn spanish in high school but i fucking despised my teacher and dropped it.

I've been avoiding learning moonspeak(japanese) because I dont want to be the weeaboo who only learned the language because he watches a lot of anime. Which is technically a valid reason to learn the language. Sometimes stuff hasnt been translated but you want to watch it anyway.

Actually kinda surprised I can only speak one language. After hearing so many words and different combinations of how things are said, I pick up pronounciation of other languages extremely fast. Mainly Spanish, Japanese**, and French. I just cant speak any of them. And I hear Rosetta Stone is garbage so I aint doing that.

**I can only do this one if it's in romaji. English letters with japanese soundings. Whoever came up with that one is a genius

Do you watch anime in Japanese or English? I try to avoid dubs because....just because the Japanese original voice-overs are better. If you're really interested, I don't see why you shouldn't pick up Japanese. I first got interested in other languages besides my basic ones due to interest in fictional characters and cultures. You can practise while watching anime or dramas. It's amazing how much you can pick up watching stuff in the original language and reading English subs.

(Of course. If you have no place to practise the language, you lose it pretty fast. )

Fun fact. I once forgot how to pen "flower" in hiragana during an exam, so I wrote down the Chinese character for it. which thankfully existed in Kanji so the teacher gave me the mark. Didn't work so well when I tried the same method of substituting Chinese characters for other words.

冷たい飲み物をください。

Vompatti wrote:冷たい飲み物をください。

Get your own bro.

some dubs are better than subs, but generally that is not the case.

Heiots wrote:Do you watch anime in Japanese or English? I try to avoid dubs because....just because the Japanese original voice-overs are better. If you're really interested, I don't see why you shouldn't pick up Japanese. I first got interested in other languages besides my basic ones due to interest in fictional characters and cultures. You can practise while watching anime or dramas. It's amazing how much you can pick up watching stuff in the original language and reading English subs.

I agree. The original Japanese voices with English subtitles is the method I prefer to watch anime. I'm sure there are some good English dubs for some series, but I won't be going out of my way to find them.

I would like to learn Japanese, but that is a long-term endeavor for me at the moment.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Heiots wrote:Do you watch anime in Japanese or English? I try to avoid dubs because....just because the Japanese original voice-overs are better. If you're really interested, I don't see why you shouldn't pick up Japanese. I first got interested in other languages besides my basic ones due to interest in fictional characters and cultures. You can practise while watching anime or dramas. It's amazing how much you can pick up watching stuff in the original language and reading English subs.

I agree. The original Japanese voices with English subtitles is the method I prefer to watch anime. I'm sure there are some good English dubs for some series, but I won't be going out of my way to find them.

I would like to learn Japanese, but that is a long-term endeavor for me at the moment.

I'll watch panty and stocking, DBZ, and FMA in english. Everything else sub'd. If english dubbers were to take more liberties in translation, I would probably enjoy them more.

I know very little Japanese. I know basics that you get from watching anime and I also know what I need so that I can communicate with my fams.

Only shows I've enjoyed watching dubbed are Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, and Ghost in The Shell. Besides that nothing else comes to mind. I'm a fast reader so I've never taken issue with watching subbed shows otherwise.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:I would like to learn Japanese, but that is a long-term endeavor for me at the moment.

We should race and see who picks up a new language faster. Hebrew for me, and Japanese for you.

I bet on Heiots.

Golden wrote:I bet on Heiots.

I hope your trip's going well.

I started memorizing the Hebrew alphabet this week. (See chicken scratch below.) I've never realized how a language is easier to learn when you have an alphabet to assist you. Once you've got the alphabet in your head, you can pronounce almost any word right. Probably explains why I took to English faster than Mandarin!

ETA: I'm not sure I consider myself an anime fan. The only ones I've watched are the Studio Ghibli productions, Cardcaptor Sakura and Pokemon growing up, and random series like Fruit Basket and Ouran High School Host Club (which I don't think guys would watch).

Golden wrote:I bet on Heiots.

Me too.

As fun as that sounds, I know I would not win such a race, so I will go ahead and concede.

XthAtGAm3RGuYX wrote:Only shows I've enjoyed watching dubbed are Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, and Ghost in The Shell. Besides that nothing else comes to mind. I'm a fast reader so I've never taken issue with watching subbed shows otherwise.

A couple I'd add to that list are Baccano! and Black Lagoon, but yeah it's not a big list.

How many of you remember where you were on September 11th, 2001? Obviously those of your from outside of the USA may not have the details cemented in your brain like we Americans do but I'm curious to hear from everyone.

I was in 2nd period study hall of my senior year of high school. By the time they announced it on the PA system, both planes had hit, so all we saw were the countless replays of the two strikes. At close to the end of study hall, the Pentagon was hit. My 3rd period class was biology. We were supposed to be working in our lab groups on prepping to dissect pigs but our focus was split between that and the TV. We saw both towers fall and then school administrators told all teachers to turn off the classroom TV sets. The next day they had turned off the cable so no one could watch anything- not even the morning Channel 1 broadcast during homeroom.

I think the plane that hit in Somerset County happened between periods. The news focused so much on the other three planes though that it's easy to lose track of that part of the timeline.

I'm not sure at what age to tell my kids about that day. At 17, I was old enough to understand everything despite how crazy it all looked and seemed at the time. One image I'll never be able to let go of is the jumpers. It sent chills up my spine then and it still does.

I was in World History class. I remember little about that day other then when it was announced I didn't realize at the time how serious it was. (mainly because I remember being annoyed at some chick's overthetop reaction.) I don't think we had TV's or anything playing except one in the Gym. I think the teachers mainly wanted us to try to go on with the day. I do remember that I had to go to work still after school and the restaurant I worked at was so slow.

Outside the US people likely will remember it as well. keys and I have had this discussion before and he remembered everything. Perhaps even better then me.

I stayed home sick that day. My mom was at work and called to tell me what happened. I don't think I'll ever forget that phone call. We didn't have TV at the time so I followed along on the radio. I remember feeling scared, confused and alone.

If you take the time zone differences into account, most of Europe was in the early to mid-afternoon hours when it started hitting the fan here. By the time most of the day-shift folk got home from work, there was already plenty of footage compiled for evening broadcasts. I hadn't really thought of that before. Then again, I was "lucky" in that I had access to a TV at school. I know my parents wouldn't have had access to a TV at work. Maybe in the break room but neither of my folks worked jobs where they could huddle around a TV or radio for a few hours as it all played out.

I was working just outside the beltway at the time and planes flew low over us al the time bc of National airport - we saw on the new update the first planes to hit the Twin Towers then heard about the one in PA but when I heard about the one in the Pentagon I immediately dialed my friend Donna's phone but there was no answer.

Donna was at work that morning and the plane that hit the Pentagon came right into the area her office was located. She was killed instantly according to the ME.

Every year I watch her daughter Anastasia grow into the kind of woman her mom would so proud of. She would now have been a Grandma but I am making sure that her grandchildren know exactly who Donna was and what a great lady she was.

This will be the first year that I do not go to the Pentagon. I have had such a hard few years I just couldn't handle seeing the memorial this year. That may be selfish but really cannot be helped.

Turnip Head wrote:I stayed home sick that day. My mom was at work and called to tell me what happened. I don't think I'll ever forget that phone call. We didn't have TV at the time so I followed along on the radio. I remember feeling scared, confused and alone.

I remember being very confused too. It was a total shock and I didn't know how to process it all in real time. Seeing the jumpers is probably what made it sink in. The footage of people fleeing buildings covered in dust and running from the debris clouds is one thing but I think the jumpers gave me a much deeper understanding of the severity of it all. A building is an inanimate thing but seeing real people jump to their death on TV gave it that personal punch that pretty much wrecked me inside for the rest of the day. It was a similar (but probably heavier) feeling to when my sister and I watched footage of the evacuation of Columbine back in 1999. We tuned in not long after getting home from school on the east coast, right as one boy was rescued out of the library window.

Most of you probably have powerful recollections (I'm already beyond sad to hear about Roxy losing her friend), so I'll try to keep my story as humble as it truly is, but I can assure you I still remember the shock of seeing it almost all live on TV.

I was in 6th grade and arrived home from school (must have been those weird years in which school started on the 1st of September here, instead of the 15th), I'd say around 3:30pm (8:30am NY). I didn't turn the TV and landed on CNN until after the first plane hit, but from there onwards I watched everything unfold. I was even alone for a while, my parents came from work an hour or so later. At first, for a second, everyone thought it had to be some kind of TV stunt or trickery, but then it sank how very real it all was. My parents were tired and had to take their usual rest, but I kept watching and even recall waking them up when the second tower collapsed. In retrospect, I'm not sure how good it was for me to (be left to) watch, but that's a different story. The media coverage was pretty much non-stop, not only throughout that day, but for days to come. I didn't see any jumpers (the only image of that I have in my head is from reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud...), like G-Man, but I saw footage of people running from the debris cloud and such.

The day after, everyone in class couldn't focus on any actual lessons. Teachers were either rambling or sighing in disbelief and we were talking with each other about what we did or didn't see. I'm afraid I wouldn't label ourselves as being too well-mannered, rational and empathic debaters - on the contrary, we tend to be very gossipy, conspiracy-addicted or simply loudmouthed; tabloids with "can you see the face of the devil in this plume?!" articles were already running on the second day after the attacks - then again, we were kids, it made a great impression on us and we needed to talk about it.

I was in second grade, seven years old. Our teacher told us what happened but I was so young and innocent and of course didn't understand how severe it was, and didn't understand that it was an attack.

I had a birthday party planned for that day (my birthday is a month earlier but I think I was sharing the party with another kid and we wanted to wait until everyone was back from summer vacation). Even though we lived an hour north of the city and some of the families were affected (I think one of the kid's moms was actually working near the towers that morning and had to evacuate the area), the party was held. It was at one of those ceramic-painting places, and again of course I barely remember it but every time my mom talks about it she remembers how sitting and painting felt almost therapeutic. We still have the mug I painted in blues and greens to look like Earth. I may not have understood what was going on but even then I hoped for world peace.

I was in 6th grade, and got to school slightly late that day. Soon after I got to school the teacher turned the tv on and all we did in every class was watch the broadcast, and homework was put off until the next day. I was too young to really understand, so I didn't realize the severity of it all until later in life.

I was in Psych class (freshman in college) and I was just shocked. Epi and I were at a private college that was basically in it's own little bubble. There were only a handful of tv's on the whole campus. Several students stood in the student union building for a while and watched.

Elohcin wrote:I was in Psych class (freshman in college) and I was just shocked. Epi and I were at a private college that was basically in it's own little bubble. There were only a handful of tv's on the whole campus. Several students stood in the student union building for a while and watched.

Phil Lee was one of two people on our hall named Phil Lee. One was Russian, one was Filipino. After my 7am psychology class, I went to take a shower, and saw Filipino Phil Lee sitting in the hall, stunned, and going on about "They took down the towers. Wow, they took down the towers."

I figured he was talking about a video game (we could be quite competitive on our hall). I took my shower, dressed, went downstairs, and only then on the big TV saw what he was talking about.

I lived in Montana at the time, but I grew up in New York. I had worked IN NYC for several years, and as of 9/11 my father still did, on Wall Street. not in the towers themselves, but about a block away.

I got phone calls waking me up just in time to turn on CNN &see the second plane smash into the second tower live. It took a few minutes to digest what i had seen. By the time the 4th plane, the one that went down in PA, Flight 93, I thought World War 3 was starting.I spent most of the rest of the day trying to call friends & family in NY. Pretty much all the circuits were down, so it was a long long day. When i finally got through to my brother, who had spoken to my father, I was so relieved.

I knew three people who died, no one I knew very well; my friend Mary Ellens oldest brother, Rocco, was a fireman. I had a huge crush on him in 6th grade. An old friend of my husbands, Hammy, was a banker in one of the towers when the planes hit. The third was this kid I used to baby sit, Paul. He worked in the restaurant in the towers, Windows on the World. I did not find out he had died for a long time though, maybe 2 years. All of those poor people.

I was in 9th grade health class when it happened. I didn't find out about it until I went to my next class, band, where no one even bothered to take their instruments out, and we watched the news on TV in eerie silence. We were kept in that class for longer than usual, then sent home early that day because I suppose they knew nothing would get done, and we were in a county where parents are very involved (to a fault at times) and were freaking out. Not surprisingly, my mom was home from work when I got back. She was concerned about some of her cousins living in NYC, but thankfully, no one that we know of was hurt or killed. My parents were divorced at the time, but my dad came to our house later, and the TV stayed on for the rest of the day, playing and replaying the horror.

I was in 6th grade history class. I remember another teacher coming into the classroom and turning on the TV in the corner to show us what was going on. I found the whole thing confusing. I had no idea what sort of global impact the World Trade Center had or what they were for, so at the time, it just looked to me like a couple of tall buildings getting taken down. It wasn't until the aftermath that I started to get a better idea of what had happened.

OMg, it's socktopi~