General News Thread

[just Beamu]

Also, the next time you imply that I'm stupid, GayBeamu, we will have a problem. I would never start anything, just know that you're making an enemy for an incredibly idiotic reason.

went a bit farther than implying

[Draconic]

Why do you people insist on insulting me? Seriously. Do I have donkey ears or something?

[SeiKeo]

went a bit farther than implying

Please don't post here at all if you're going to spend 90% of your time getting into your dump slapfight

[Draconic]

Am I somehow trolling without realizing it?

At the very least, I know that you care about my opinion. Otherwise you wouldn't bother attacking me for it. Which is strange, considering we share the same one!
The only real difference here is that I'm a newer face.

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you Seikeo. And I'll readily acknowledge that I'm far from blameless here too.

[2Bad]

my kingdom for the FSB agent

[Seika]

Basically, to make a relevant example, mAc is angry at the GoP establishment for making years of promises on certain issues which were never actualised. And brexit happens because every single guy with some clout in the UK has been saying for decades that Europe is the devil and the UK is being held prisoner. And, guess what, political systems do actually get legitimatised "just from words."

Since Strife hasn't taken this up, I will, for all that we eventually disagree on the actual question of Europe.

At this point you're taking your "the British establishment hates Europe" thing too far. New Labour were unabashedly pro-Europe and even pro-Euro for a long time: the latter was one of few things I remember coming close to touching their popularity during Blair's first term. And there's no way to arguing that New Labour went unsupported by the establishment in lots of ways, especially the media. Major newspapers ranging from The Sun to The Times to The Economist came out for them at successive elections. One of Brown's notable election gaffes was to (probably rightly) call a Rotherham granny complaining about Eastern European immigration bigoted.

If Euroscepticism has become de rigeur, if even defences of it have to be qualified, then it's not because that's been totally drummed into us ex nihilo. It's because there's an original and genuine feeling of wariness and disconnexion, which the media have far more been made to reflect than they've induced themselves. Perhaps it's fuelled by a misguided sense of British exceptionalism, or self-importance, or nationalism, or whatever. Perhaps it's not well-founded or rational (though the Greek crisis in the wake of the recession provoked much smugness in various quarters about our electorate's continuously sceptical approach to the Euro). But you can't just keep repeating this idea that we'd all be in love with the obvious wonders of Europe if we just hadn't been subjected to brainwashing. It's just not the case.

[2Bad]

ah, the south

[Strife ❤️]

[Rafflesiac]

Well maybe Carson but he's black so he had no chance.

I'm still amazed how thoroughly he managed to utterly disappoint me.

[mewarmo990]

I just got my mail-in ballot today. wow that's a lot of referendums

guess I'll be buying ammo online from out of state from now on.

[asterism42]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37654666

In which snake oil is sold

[Skull]

"Thailand's Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn wants his coronation held off for at least a year, government officials say."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37670834

"China is to launch two men into orbit on Monday morning as it continues to develop its ability to explore space."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-37670842

"Angry Haitians looted aid trucks as the UN secretary general visited parts of the country hit by Hurricane Matthew, which killed 900 people."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-37670313

[Polly]

School Wars, Episode VII: The University Awakens

Continuing from the previous episode, the Dean of my school had been forced by the University Chancellor and the Senate to retire.

And yet, the situation has not improved one bit. The Chancellor replaced the old Dean with the man's former right-hand as the temporary Dean. AND, against the both University and Faculty law, the Senate removed all the former vice-deans and installed new ones, people loyal to the new temp-dean and the Chancellor Boras.

The new Dean's Collegium, forced upon the Faculty against the law, continues to refuse to let student representatives attend and participate in Faculty Council meetings. This, by the Faculty and University law, makes any such meeting null and void, and yet the Chancellor's puppets insist on breaking the law to enforce his will.
This is not a mere show of force - the Chancellor is tied to his home Faculty, and needs the Faculty Council to extend his tenure this year so he can continue to be the University Chancellor.
Current Faculty Council is hostile to Chancellor Boras and his few supporters, hence them doing anything in their power to bypass the rules.

Meanwhile similar corruption affairs have flared up on another Faculty - that of Textile Technologies and Design, with another potential uprising brewing on the School of Croatian Studies.

Unlawful moves by the Chancellor in dissolving my school's Student Union have also opened a Pandora's box of legal clusterfuck; ten other Faculties of Zagreb University are technically in breach of rules about student representatives quotas, as are a dozen other Faculties across the country.

On Tuesday there will be a major meeting of the Student Assembly, with the main topic of discussion - shall we boycott the school?

Stay tuned.

[Five_X]

School Wars, Episode VII: The University Awakens

Continuing from the previous episode, the Dean of my school had been forced by the University Chancellor and the Senate to retire.

And yet, the situation has not improved one bit. The Chancellor replaced the old Dean with the man's former right-hand as the temporary Dean. AND, against the both University and Faculty law, the Senate removed all the former vice-deans and installed new ones, people loyal to the new temp-dean and the Chancellor Boras.

The new Dean's Collegium, forced upon the Faculty against the law, continues to refuse to let student representatives attend and participate in Faculty Council meetings. This, by the Faculty and University law, makes any such meeting null and void, and yet the Chancellor's puppets insist on breaking the law to enforce his will.
This is not a mere show of force - the Chancellor is tied to his home Faculty, and needs the Faculty Council to extend his tenure this year so he can continue to be the University Chancellor.
Current Faculty Council is hostile to Chancellor Boras and his few supporters, hence them doing anything in their power to bypass the rules.

Meanwhile similar corruption affairs have flared up on another Faculty - that of Textile Technologies and Design, with another potential uprising brewing on the School of Croatian Studies.

Unlawful moves by the Chancellor in dissolving my school's Student Union have also opened a Pandora's box of legal clusterfuck; ten other Faculties of Zagreb University are technically in breach of rules about student representatives quotas, as are a dozen other Faculties across the country.

On Tuesday there will be a major meeting of the Student Assembly, with the main topic of discussion - shall we boycott the school?

Stay tuned.

As interesting as this is to read about, it's ultimately pretty depressing that this is basically putting your (and many others') education on hold. Kind of like what Bridge said, I don't quite get why there's so much petty politics surrounding a university of all things... but maybe I'm uninformed as to what really goes on at universities! And, if I'm remembering right, you also mentioned something about religion in the mix, in the beginning at least.

Could make for an interesting book when all's over with, though.

[Polly]

Money. Lots of it.

There's this little thing that the current Chancellor and his pals embezzled millions upon millions of euros while he was the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and he wants to keep loyal people running to school so no official administrative or judicial process is started.

The other reason is that the Catholic Church loves power and control, and this synergy of their wish to spread into the secular education and the Chancellor's personal interests have created a perfect storm.

[Five_X]

Well, uh, wow.

[Polly]

I mean the Chancellor literally got his title thanks to making a deal with the Church: people from the Faculty of Theology in the Uni Senate would vote for him, if he 'delivers' my school to the Church ( the double-major programme that would benefit students from the FoT, mentioned in one of the earlier episodes ).

Corruption, nepotism, lust for power and prestige, Church spreading it's tentacles into the Uni through shady closed-door meetings, lots of money at stake, students and teachers rising against abuse of power... you have it all.

[Five_X]

I'd say "write a book" again but Dan Brown might get angry at you for trespassing on his turf.

[Tobias]

I'm so unobservant, I didn't realize I had been snake bit.

huh.

im fine, (probably)

but still, how did I miss that.

not sure if general discussion or random thoughts, but whatever. Sue me.

following up on this, in fine, and since I must have had a three foot snake between my legs, I'm also happy it didn't bite me in the balls.

[Mcjon01]

a three foot snake between my legs

Wow, somebody's cocky.