So a friend sent me this the other day asking the perfectly logical question "Whaa...?" To which my response was "Derp."
It appears to be traditional Chinese, and appears to be about the Christmas story so one would guess that it's a Sunday school flyer except for the little matter of Pinky Pie there glaring at the savior....
Dominica is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles, variously described as the Northernmost of the Windward islands or Southernmost of the Leeward Islands. The first British Colony governed by a majority black Legislature (in 1838 ), it was granted full independence in the 1970's.
Dominica boasts the second largest hot spring in the world, Boiling Lake. This was only discovered in 1878, because,the island is rugged enough that despite its small size and having been visited on Columbus's second voyage and colonized soon after, parts were not fully explored for centuries One happy result is that Dominica is home to one of the few remaining populations of of the Carib People, with 3,000 on a small self governing reservation that was established on the northeast coast in 1901. The island's vegitation ranges from lush jungles to xeric
Dominica lacks a good natural harbor but its position at the juncture of the Leeward and Windward chains makes it a fairly strategic location. This is of particular interest now that the Chinese have bought the isla...
....Wait WHAT!
Dominica and China have signed a new 300 million dollars cooperation
agreement that includes the construction of a hotel, construction of an
international airport and building a new hospital. The sum involved is
equivalent to a third of the small Caribbean island GDP, which could
mean Beijing virtually is 'purchasing' the small territory.
China's military might relative to us is not great with two major exceptions, their vast army and their nuclear arsenal. Their army is located on the other side of the world with no real way to threaten anyone outside of Asia. Their nuclear arsenal is nowhere near as big as the US or Russia and they lack delivery systems...only about 80-150 warheads can reach USA (up from 20-30 last year thanks to their SSBNs). Depending on yield though, that might represent 20-80 of our cities pulverized and their citizens killed or rendered destitute...a fairly consequential capability. This could become more worrisome if staging areas were available on our doorstep.
The prospect of a million or so troops launching an attack from various of our Central American or Caribbean neighbors, and/or Chinese fighter planes delivering airstrikes that might include nukes, is, of course, laughable now, but China thinks very long term. If current trends continue, 20 years down the road, it might be rather less funny.
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While France claimed Dominica in the 1630s, they didn't actually colonize it for another century - mostly because the locals were fairly hard-assed and the terrain was difficult, without any notable gold deposits, and steep slopes not particularly suitable for sugar cultivation. It went two hundred years in one of the most hotly contested colonial viper pits in the early modern world without being seized by Europeans.
Don't quote me on this, because I'm not a sailor, but I get the impression their ports and harbors aren't especially useful, either. The island lies square in the middle of hurricane alley, and is very vulnerable to extreme weather, getting raked over by large, destructive cyclones every couple years on average. It is poor as hell and lacking in natural resources.
In short, Chinese neo-colonization of such a place makes them look even more than ever, like a new Second Reich - irredentist, militarized, pugnacious, expansionist-minded, diplomatically immature, and hellbound for a destructive confrontation with the world.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Mon Dec 16 18:51:41 2013 (jwKxK)
"otherkin" is a fannish name for things like elves, fairies, vampires, lycanthropes, and similar mythical beings who look similar to humans but aren't really. According to the Urban Dictionary:
Otherkin are a fringe group of human society who, for one reason or another, believe themselves to be the reincarnation of mythic creatures, typically elves, though others include dragons, demons, vampires, ogres, deities, and so on. Related groups include therianthropes, who believe themselves reincarnations of animal souls, and otakin/otakukin, people who think they are reincarnations of fictitious characters from Japanese anime, manga, and video games.
Otherkin often find themselves the subject of ridicule. In the majority of cases, it is because their beliefs fly in the face of rational, critical thinking and tend to fall apart very quickly under hard scrutiny. One of the most common beliefs is of an Elven Holocaust in which humankind supposedly wiped the elves from the Earth, despite the fact that no such evidence, archaeological or otherwise, exists anywhere in the geologic record either for the supposed holocaust, let alone the existence of elves.
Other aspects common to Otherkin belief include a sense of superiority over their fellow human beings. This takes a variety of forms, such as a tendency to ascribe positive aspects of the human personality as something only unique to Otherkin. "Mundanes", the rest of humanity who do not share their beliefs or are simply unaware of them, are looked down upon as inferior brutes.
Otherkin often exhibit certain personality traits common to dissociative disorders and manic depression. This includes what are known as grandiose, persecutory, and religious delusions.
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A lot of them share the Otherkin delusion of being some kind of animal spirit trapped in a human body, hate humanity, and have a persecution complex about it (excuse me, fursecution).
Now it may have started out as an Animation and Comics fandom (I kinda got involved with it in the mid '80's at an Anime club) but I watched it evolve and finally washed my hands of the whole freak show in 2001, so I know of what I speak.
Posted by: Mauser at Sun Dec 15 17:49:44 2013 (TJ7ih)
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Once there were enough people insisting that gender was a social construct, extending it to species was inevitable. I'm sure there's someone on Tumblr right now convinced that rhe is actually a Boulder trapped in a human body, filled with rage about organic privilege and lichen-shaming, and engaged in a mighty flamewar against some piece of Schist.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Mon Dec 16 12:40:04 2013 (+cEg2)
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I ran across the "Otherkin" pages years ago, when I was still cataloguing Every Single Filksong on the internet. The really disturbing bit wasn't the fact that they were delusional; it was that they gave instructions on "how to find your Otherkin self" that were basically a handbook to achieve psychological dissociation and split off a few personalities. Apparently, delusional loves company.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Mon Dec 16 20:59:43 2013 (cvXSV)
Never forget that those who wish to do one harm can be at least as smart as one assumes oneself to be. Furthermore, when they make their move it will often be when and where one feels least threatened.
Last seconds of USS Arizona
It also bears remembering that one should not start a fire one cannot reasonably expect to contain, because winds are fickle and the flames one sets care not who they burn.
1
I figured I'd wait a few days before throwing this out there, even though the sources didn't:
Via Instapundit, from "View from the Porch"
We reduced
Japan to a pile of radioactive smoking rubble in 1,346 days. It's now
Day 1,355 and, despite promises to do likewise to the healthcare system,
they're still working on it. The FDR administration built almost a
hundred working aircraft carriers faster than the Obama administration
has managed to build one working website.
Posted by: Mauser at Wed Dec 11 07:30:11 2013 (TJ7ih)
I am still pretty swamped with cramming for exams, papers and working at UPS during December. I've already worked more overtime this week than I worked straight time last week (admittedly a short week).
In lieu of content here's yet more holiday cheesecake.
Given that there was no love for the G.u.P. girls, we'll try Kannagi.
Of course...I suspect that Steven has simply out-bid me in this regard. (Link totally NSFW!)
...It is a testament to my wasted life that I never knew that about Tuesday.
One of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes takes time to tell us about Cobalt 60:
In 1735 Swedish scientist Eric Brandt determined that the blue tint used in stained glass was a previously unknown element, Cobalt, and not a compound of Bismuth as had been previously supposed. Cobalt is a bluish metal that aside from being quite brittle, has a lot of properties in common with iron. Quite unusually, this includes the fact that it can be magnetized. Cobalt is used for various sensors, and alloys due to its very great temperature stability. Cobalt also has applications in pigments, and lithium ion batteries. However, of primary interest to us today is an unstable isotope of Cobalt, Cobalt 60,
Cobalt 60, is used in food sterilization, radiation therapy and various sensors. It is a powerful gamma emitter with a half life of 5.27 years and is near the top of the IAEA's list of hazardous nuclear wastes. It has been involved in several tragic incidents previously and can be used in a radiological weapon.
Authorities are saying that there is no reason to be alarmed as it is likely that this was a simple theft and the nasty, deadly substance was not intentionally stolen. After all, who in Mexico would want a bunch of materials for a dirty bomb? Indeed, as I typed this news came over the wires that the truck hasd been located abandoned and the container for the cobalt 60 was found nearby so this wouldn't even be a story except for the minor detail that the container for the Co60 was found....empty....yes, empty.
Well then.
UPDATE: The Old Grey Lady is saying that part of the Co60 shipment has been found. Other reports just say the cargo was found. In any event, if the thieves did not have really good radiation suits when they opened the box, they are expected to be dead in 3 days.
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I wonder how much shielding there is on the part that they kept? If there isn't much, then those guys are going to die real soon now. Given that there was a container they didn't keep, that's my bet.
December at UPS and the Final 2 Weeks of the Semester
....combine to thwart my blogging.
I get up for work at midnight....I work till 9ish then go to school, then work on my term paper and cram. Sleep brings the day planner to 31 hours but there's not enough space on the page for that so there may need to be additional adjustments to my schedule.
There's not much to add...except perhaps this... more...
