High Fashion in the Uncanny Valley

Juergen Teller, Bruce Weber, Tetsuya Nomura

It's a case of art imitating life imitating art. Luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton's latest celebrity model isn't, strictly speaking, a real person: She's a computer-generated video game character from the popular Final Fantasy series.

Vuitton's current digital "it girl" is Lightning, a warrior who has traded in her gunblade for designer merchandise—at least temporarily. On the ad pages of a recent Vanity Fair, Lightning can be seen sporting her trademark pink hair and brandishing a metallic leather handbag. The clothes and purse look ordinary, but her skin is smoother than that of even the most excruciatingly photoshopped human woman. Lightning dwells in the uncanny valley; she is real enough to pass as a model, but her dead eyes and perfectly regular features create a subtle sense of unease.

Final Fantasy artist and designer Tetsuya Nomura assisted with Lightning's design for the advertisement campaign, ensuring that she remains true to her game self. The campaign has been received positively by critics: The Independent's Alexander Fury hailed the advertisements as "refreshing" and "noteworthy."

"They feel new, exciting, even a little unsettling," he wrote. "It's all a bit sci-fi, a bit AI, to have computer-generated images modeling our fashion."

Comments

[thrakkorzog]

This is why even the geeks pick on the fashion designers. “Hey let’s design a fashion show around that chick all the nerds love. No, not Tifa, she has tits the size of her head. No not Aeris, she’s way too virginal, and it’s kind of a downer. Let’s just just center it around the most generic Final Fantasy character possible.”

[thrakkorzog]

I mean god forbid we have have a fashion model that looks like an approximation of a real woman.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

It’s literally the female version of Cloud.

[LauraFerguson]

Anybody can earn 250$+ daily… You can earn from 10000-15000 a month or even more if you work as a full time job…It’s easy, just follow instructions on this page, read it carefully from start to finish… It’s a flexible job but a good eaning opportunity.. go to this site home tab for more detail…
Go this Website… http://www.earnmore9.com

[GamerFromJump]

I think it’s funny that the article implies that fashion models aren’t dead-eyed approximations of humanity.

[EmilyBell]

Start making more money weekly. This is a valuable part time work for everyone. The best part work from comfort of your house and get paid from $12k each week.Start today and have your first cash at the end of this week. For more details Check this Website…
For more details visit at.________________ http://www.earnmore9.com

[Ted S.]

The fat activists will protest that Louis Vuitton didn’t use a more full-figured model like, say, Ms. Pac-Man.

[thrakkorzog]

To be fair, I would have a lot more respect for the designers if they brought in Quina to model their dresses.

[thrakkorzog]

C’mon if you want to be transgressive don’t half ass it.

[Lee G]

What’s the overlap between FF players and potential Louis Vuitton customers?

Garth probably doesn’t need a new handbag to go with his Jolt Cola tshirt.

[RBS]

Right, but Garth’s wife might need something to make up for all the lost time.

[Mr Lizard]

You know who else wanted to make up for lost time?…

[thrakkorzog]

Christopher Reeve? Somewhere in Time?

[Atanarjuat]

Steve Miller?

[Arn0]

“What’s the overlap between FF players and potential Louis Vuitton customers?”

Japanese with bad taste ?

[RBS]

640 comments on the driverless car thread?

[thrakkorzog]

Check the timestamp. They dropped the driverless carthread, then nothing else for almost 24 hours.

[Hamster of Doom]

Bailey hasn’t seen this much action from us in at least a year.

[thrakkorzog]

Sharks gotta swim, commenters gotta comment.

[lap83]

Will these euphemisms never end?

[lap83]

Will these euphemisms never end?

[lap83]

Or the squirrels

[Ken Shultz]

I’m surprised we ranked another post today!

Maybe if we’re real good, we’ll get another post on Monday.

[thrakkorzog]

Man, those euphemisms are getting really esoteric.

[Agammamon]

Birthday post!

[pan fried wylie]

This is the signal that rendered porn will soon take over the market.

[Suthenboy]

So, faker than ever?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Barely Real!

[Atanarjuat]

Who needs porn when you have a real girlfriend?

[Adans smith]

No matter how hot a women is,there’s a guy some where that’s tired of fucking her.

[Hamster of Doom]

… her dead eyes and perfectly regular features create a subtle sense of unease.

I see they’re going for a realistic representation of fashion models, at least.

[tarran]

But enough about Tiffania Trump.

[straffinrun]

Lightening eh? Benjamin Franklin isn’t going to see electricity flowing down that string.

[Trigger Hippie]

This Father’s Day, we tackle the issues all discerning dads are talking about; fashion, fanboys, and the cultural impact of using plastic, dead eyed models in favor of plastic, dead eyed models. You’re welcome.

Sincerely, Reason.com

[np]

I thought Lightning was a guy in previous games? Nevertheless, would.

And I swear you can always tell if a game is Japanese or Korean by how attractive the females characters are and/or how much revealing clothing they wear. Meet Cindy, your car mechanic in Final Fantasy XV
https://youtu.be/iiqTiE0h4-k?t=6m54s

[thrakkorzog]

Fang and and Vanille were the fan service characters in FF13. Lightning was supposed to be the the grizzled veteran of the group at the ripe old age of 19.

[thrakkorzog]

Ok, I swear I’m not usually this big of a nerd, but I’ve been clearing out my Steam backlog, and that involved finally getting aound to playing through FF13.

[np]

Italy’s Eurosceptic, anti-establishment party candidate winning Rome mayoral race ? exit polls

I don’t understand what she’s saying here, but oh so w00d

[thrakkorzog]

Now why can’t we get some good look looking fascists like that in the US? I mean plenty of guys would pay good money to to have Marine le Pen boots’ stomping on their face.

We’re gonna get either Clinton style fascism or Trump style fascism, but nobody but the most hardcore S&M aficionado wants either of those two stomping on their face.

[Trigger Hippie]

OT: I’m going to the Gulf Coast for vacation in September. While there, I plan on tying in my semi-annual bbq pilgrimage. Looking for good joints to hit up from eastern Louisiana to western Alabama. Any advice on where to go would be greatly appreciated.

[Atanarjuat]

It’s not really a BBQ place so much as just southern/soul food kinda stuff, but I’d recommend Barb’s Country Kitchen in Eufala, AL if you make it that far. Don’t let the appearance fool you.

[thrakkorzog]

I’m fairly certain all decent soul food/BBQ joints kind of look like they couldn’t even afford a food truck.

[AlmightyJB]

Sounds great. My kind of food.

[Trigger Hippie]

Thanks for the tip.

[Hamster of Doom]

That’s what she said.

[Florida Hipster]

Chili’s for their baby back ribs.

[AlmightyJB]

I liked their country fried steak with mp and corn on cop and then they took it off the menu

[Florida Hipster]

I’m going to lose some hipster cred, but I do love their SW egg rolls.

[thrakkorzog]

OK it’s a minor pet peeve of mine, but it’s a chicken fried steak. It is not country fried, it’s a steak that that is prepared the same way as a fried chicken. 5 year old me was able to grasp that a chicken fried steak has no chicken involved. And yes I want to face palm every time I see country fried chicken on a menu, because that is just fried chicken.

[Florida Hipster]

Have a pop/soda/coke/fizz/tonic and relax, friendo.

[thrakkorzog]

There’s a difference between regional variations in dialects, and marketing speak.

[The Hyperbole]

If you ordered fried chicken and got chicken fried chicken, I’d wager you’d be disappointed. The differences are possibly minor but they are distinct dishes. (at least round these here parts)

[thrakkorzog]

It’s a minor difference. It’s like arguing that chicken nuggets are distinct from chicken strips. I mean OK, they are kind of different, but they’re pretty much the the same thing, just sized differently.

[RBS]

Depends on the nugget. Chik-fil-a or McDonald’s?

[thrakkorzog]

I was thinking more Whataburger or Dairy Queen.

[The Hyperbole]

I think a better analogy would be gumbo and jambalaya, they are similar but there are important differences. It doesn’t take a world class palate to tell the difference between a boneless skinless flatten chicken breast cutlet and a nice juicy piece of authentic fried chicken, a thigh if you know what’s what.

[thrakkorzog]

Fair enough, I think we’re kind of arguing over the same point.

[pan fried wylie]

next, we’ll take a steak and prepare it in the fashion of chicken fried chicken, then we’ll take that and double-cook it in the fashion of steak fried chicken fried chicken fried steak, and finally we stuff it all in a turducken before having sex with it.

[Rhywun]

I DON’T LIKE SPAM!

[Hamster of Doom]

next, we’ll take a steak and prepare it in the fashion of chicken fried chicken, then we’ll take that and double-cook it in the fashion of steak fried chicken fried chicken fried steak, and finally we stuff it all in a turducken before having sex with it.

*make notes*

This qualifies as being threatened with a good time.

[AlmightyJB]

My pet peeve is when I see a toddler still in diapers holding a 2000 degree sparkler at a July 4th celebration.

[OneOut]

Chili’s for a bbq tour ?

You poor poor man.

My heart goes out to you and your life of depravity.

[RBS]

Isn’t Alabama where they put that white sauce abomination on their bbq?

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah, Big Bob Gibson dunks a whole smoked chicken into a mayo based sauce. I have the recipe but have yet to try it.

[Trigger Hippie]

Yeah, that’s not going to fly. Aside from adding a very small glob of mayo to raw hamburger meat before grilling I don’t touch the stuff. Certainly don’t want it as the base for a sauce.

[OneOut]

Your journey will be unfulfilled unless you visit Killen’s in Pearland Tx. Pearland is a bedroom community of Houston and is about 20 miles south of downtown Houston.

Recently named best brisket in the US by some annual BBQ group it is simply the best I have ever had in 59 years of both cooking and eating bbq.

They serve a beef rib that you will relish as you gnaw on the bone with juice running down your face as you growl at anyone who dares come too close to your bone.

[Slammer]

Would. Except for the man-hands and the Exorcist neck.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Same.

[DEG]

Automotive Hall of Shame

Ralph Nader ? the mortal enemy of everything on four wheels and everyone behind the wheel ? just got inducted into the? Automotive Hall of Fame.

“We are pleased to induct four individuals (the others are Carl Benz’s wife, former Ford CEO Alan Mullally and legendary engineer Roy Lunn) whose entrepreneurial spirit helped create today’s global automotive industry,” announced Hall of Fame President William Chapin. “Each made their unique vision a reality through tenacity, creativity and forward thinking, traits that still drive the auto industry evolution today.”

[Cyto]

So I made a mistake this morning. I ventured over to HuffPo to see what they are up to. Well, they are on the “Orlando shooter guy wasn’t a radical Muslim and isn’t into ISIS stuff at all” message. Gun rights and Anti-Gay conservatives are to blame. So I couldn’t help myself. I wandered into the comments. Unsurprisingly, they are all on board. Then there was this:

freetrump sings freedumber ? 11 hours ago
yep….
obama is responsible because he didnt say “radical islam”
liberals are responsible because we tolerate “radical islam”
islam is responsible for being “radical islam”
immigration is responsible for bringing in “radical islam”

the only group not responsible is conservatives for endless discrimination against “radical islam”
and the nra, because if they dont arm “radical islam”, someone will or they will just use an ax or a sword

Sooooo…… endless discrimination against (scare quotes) Radical Isam (scare quotes).

I just can’t even with these people. Can you even with these people? Because I can’t even.

[RAHeinlein]

Loretta Lynch is making the Sunday AM circuit right now with essentially the same rhetoric and outlining the plan to maximize ability to “block” gun sales at the source, and eliminate due process so law enforcement has maximum flexibility.

[Atanarjuat]

You should just troll them by doubling down on their arguments and see how many people you can get to agree with you.

“Violence in the name of Islam? That only happens in the deranged minds of the Trumpheads, amiright?”

“Conservatives try to blame these shootings on minorities and immigrants when clearly they’re the fault of guns.”

Etc.

[Suthenboy]

The whole point of progressive/socialist brainwashing is to fill people’s heads with scrambled shit so that they cant defend themselves. What you are seeing there is the result.

It is no accident that muslims are streaming into europe now, when it is populated by useful idiots.

[Suthenboy]

Wow. That is the first time I have looked at their site in a couple of years. They didn’t used to be that bad, did they? They are full-on proggy, tossed the mask away.

Again, scrambled shit for brains.

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah, they’ve always been a derpfest. Difference may be that it used to be more articles from irrelevant old leftest farts. They probably have more braindead millinneal tripe now. I was banned along time ago.

[GILMORE?]

“What Parents of Straight Kids Will Never Understand About Orlando”

I’m sharing this even though none of you cisheterocaucasoids have even the remotest capacity to feel real emotions.

[AlmightyJB]

“even the remotest capacity to feel real emotions.”

Today we celebrate a job well done by my father

[thrakkorzog]

I am confused about this emotion you humans call love. I think I will need a human woman to explain it to me. I am a bit of a slow learner, so it may take 3 or 4 women at the same time to explain it to me. Beep boop.

[Agammamon]

So, I don’t get this – The ‘extreme right white conservatives’, who hate non-whites and teh gheyz, drove Mateen, who’s not white and therefore an object of hate for the ERWC’s, to kill gays (who, at worst in this scenario, are an innocent third party) in furtherance of the agenda of a people who hate him?

Even if you don’t think ‘militant Islam *caused this* (and I think its more along the lines of ‘was used to justify what he wanted to do anyway’) that’s just derp.

[HolgerDanske]

This isn’t a defense of the tabloid, but they did allow at least one article pass through the filter:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..ec19eebbdf

Good link to give to your idiot friends who don’t understand due process (and how it made slaves, gays, etc. equal).

[DEG]

German official says all new cars in Germany need to be emission free by 2030

All new cars registered in Germany need to be emissions free by 2030 at the latest to help meet pollution reduction goals, a deputy minister said.

Germany’s pledge to cut carbon dioxide output by 80 percent to 95 percent by 2050 will be in jeopardy unless the country radically reduces transportation pollution, said Rainer Baake, a deputy economy minister.

Since cars typically have a 20-year lifespan, registrations of new diesel and gasoline cars needs to be cut over the next 15 years, Baake said.

[Hamster of Doom]

Since cars typically have a 20-year lifespan…

Washing machines used to last longer than that.

No judgment. If someone wants to borrow $50,000 at 11% over seven years for a disposable good, I wish them joy of it.

[Animal]

Hell with $50,000. I wrote a $7k check for my pickup nine years ago. I figure I’ll still be driving it nine years from now.

[DEG]

A few years ago I bought a brand new Hyundai Genesis. $33K. MSRP $40K. I wrote a check, no loan. I intend to keep the car until it dies or gets sufficiently close to dying.

Hyundai wants to take on Lexus, Mercedes, and Audi with the Genesis. Right after I bought mine, I went to Mercedes’ web site and priced a Mercedes roughly equivalent in features and size to my Genesis. $55K MSRP. I’d rather spend $22K less on a car than have a prestige badge, unless it’s a Pagoda.

My previous car was a Crown Vic. I bought it new and put 227,600 miles on it over about ten years. I also paid cash for it. I put the price I paid for the Crown Vic into an inflation calculator. The calculator assumed the government gets inflation calculations correct (HAHAHAHAHA!). According to the calculator, I paid less for the Genesis than the Crown Vic.

[thrakkorzog]

To be fair, those old crown vics could part traffic in front of them like Moses with the red sea. I don’t know any modern cars with the same pattern recognition.

[Glide]

I got a new Corolla eight years ago and I’ve put less than 40 thousand miles on it. I plan to drive that damn thing another 20 years if my work situation and corresponding 2 mile commute doesn’t change.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And this is how.

[DEG]

Hehe

[pan fried wylie]

Germany has an excellent, if spartan, railway system. Free Showers at the destination. No Worries.

[DEG]

And the trains run on time! Except around Cologne.

[thrakkorzog]

And as everybody knows, government laws override the laws of physics. He might as well mandate a perpetual motion machine while he’s at it.

[Suthenboy]

By emission-free I assume they mean all electric, which means expending 2 or 3 times the current amount of energy per mile driven.

I wonder how that will work out?

[Florida Hipster]

Fine as long as they don’t ban nuclear power…whoops.

[Sevo]

Suthenboy|6.19.16 @ 10:14AM|#
“By emission-free I assume they mean all electric, which means expending 2 or 3 times the current amount of energy per mile driven.
I wonder how that will work out?”

Remember how the French didn’t kill any Jews in WWII; they shipped ’em to Germany and let the Germans do it for them?
Well, the Germans are going to return the favor and have France produce all the electrons to run the German electric cars! Outsource that pollution!

[Suthenboy]

I dunno, Norway has said the same thing. It looks like a trend. If all the eurotards jump on this wagon…

[thrakkorzog]

I can see some countries like Poland not being a dick to their energy industry. Remember a few years back when California was facing rolling blackouts, and they had to pay exorbitant costs to buy energy from Texas? And then it turned out the electric companies in California had all sorts of shady shit going where they actually made more money not producing electricity.

I’m guessing we’re going to see that happen again in Europe.

[Sevo]

Suthenboy|6.19.16 @ 11:04AM|#
“…If all the eurotards jump on this wagon…”

Russia will end up owning the lot of ’em when it becomes the only source of electricity…

[Fist of Etiquette]

9:15! Let’s have a great day, everybody!

[Animal]

Would.

[AlmightyJB]

Definitely

http://www.cosplayculture.com/…..x800_0.jpg

[R C Dean]

Holy shit. That’s incredible.

Poking around that site, some real babes. Nice.

[commodious spittoon]

Speaking of…

[straffinrun]

Shizuka does it for me..

[commodious spittoon]

The elephant dance.

[GILMORE?]

Well I’m glad to see they finally let Robby write about something serious for a change.

[Ken Shultz]

If this is going to be the general discussion thread of the day, . . .

One of the things I wish they’d do here at Hit & Run is maybe move away from people’s pet issues or, at least, have someone that covers Wall Street/Econ, someone that does foreign policy, etc. as their pet issues.

Sometimes big stuff happens and it never really gets mentioned while if a feminist at Northwestern says something stupid, you’d think it was the most important thing in the world. (It isn’t.)

Case in point, has there been any post at all about the outright rebellion the Obama Administration is facing over Syria? It’s kind of a big deal.

“Fifty-one State Department diplomats have signed a letter that assails President Obama’s Syria policy?and calls for military strikes and the ouster of dictator Bashar Assad.

This is remarkable. These rebels aren’t the “neocons” of liberal myth. They are career diplomats whose mission is to pursue the peace through diplomacy that Mr. Obama invokes as his highest foreign-policy principle. Yet they are indicting Mr. Obama’s Syrian diplomacy as a strategic and moral failure.”

http://tinyurl.com/jgzvsns

[AlmightyJB]

I would agree. Cato usually does a pretty good job of covering policy issues. Reason seems more of a culture war thing.

[Rhywun]

Millenials aren’t interested in deep thought pieces.

[pan fried wylie]

How do you know, Mr. Smart Guy, have they been polled about it?

[GILMORE?]

Diplomats hate to see presidents actively destroy their credibility.

Every time the US convenes “peace talks” to get a brokered “cease fire” which one side openly violates repeatedly, and the US says nothing?

It means no one will come to the table when some the John-Kerry-du-jour insists it is in the interests of global peace and security.

Whenever the US spends years of time and effort producing a piece of paper like the Iran Deal, and waves it around as though some major accomplishment has been made….. while at the very same time, the other party to that agreement similarly waves the paper around then wipes their ass with it, for all to see?

What do you think the message of that is? You can take the superpower’s money then welsh on the deal without any consequences.

The list goes on. It bears repeating that these diplomats aren’t even particularly hawkish. they aren’t trying to start WWIII. they don’t even want military action that might actually accomplish anything of strategic value. They just want the right “signals” being sent. Because they see their entire diplomatic infrastructure becoming one big joke.

If you don’t really get what i’m talking about, Google “john kerry contradicted” and see how many different scenarios pop up. and note how the contradictions come from both the White House AND his counterparts.

[Ken Shultz]

And Obama’s efforts both with Iran and with Syria are a big joke.

That Russia had to save Obama from embarrassment over Obama’s fake red line threat was bad enough. Meanwhile, Assad still hasn’t given Russia his chemical weapons–and Russia isn’t demanding them.

Yeah, that agreement is a joke.

And, yeah, Obama’s Iran deal is a joke, as well.

I can see what you mean that the diplomatic corp is grasping at any straw to try to save their legitimacy and relevance. I’m sure they look to Kosovo and wish Bill Clinton’s scenario there would play out in Syria.

It really seems to be about avoiding the last failure. We avoided Rwanda because we didn’t want a repeat of Somalia. We acted on behalf of Kosovo against Serbia because we didn’t want a repeat of Rwanda.

I’m sure Obama is reluctant to act in Syria because he doesn’t want a repeat of Iraq and/or Libya.

Anyway, I don’t blame Obama’s lack of action in Syria for the diplomatic corps’ problems. I blame his actions in his feckless agreements with Russia over Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile and his ridiculously bad agreement with Iran. Both of these were sold as attempts to avoid war, but there’s a difference between refusing to invade and total capitulation.

Further evidence that Obama’s good intentions are actually a liability because of his incompetence.

[AlmightyJB]

“Obama’s good intentions are actually a liability because of his incompetence.”

This is why I am for limited government

[GILMORE?]

It really seems to be about avoiding the last failure.

I don’t think its that at all. Or, what you’re thinking of as ‘failure’ doesn’t affect the basic issues. Rwanda never mattered to anything other than optically. We had no interests there. Kosovo wasn’t about Rwanda – it was about justifying the existence of NATO and the UN.

Obama’s FP approach is simple, and it was captured neatly in that profile of Ben Rhodes = everything he does is done on a basis of “how does this make me look?” Its not about the facts on the ground or material-changes in relations.

He has zero foreign-policy interests/goals/strategy other than to minimize its influence on his legacy. Focus on stuff that “looks good” but has little substance/risk to them.

Focus on stuff like “historic climate change agreements” with China. Take credit for the inevitable opening-up of Cuba. Make a big deal about things of fairly small-consequence.

Meanwhile, completely ignore Afghanistan, or increased Russian aggression in Europe, or Chinese naval incursions.

There was never any “plan” other than “make sure I am not remembered for “big” problems”.

“Keep them small, and keep pretending that we’re ‘doing something’, but never so much ‘something’ that anyone really knows what that is”

That’s pretty much it. and it works. The biggest penalty it has is on future diplomatic credibility.

[Ken Shultz]

I oppose putting troops on the ground in Syria, but these career diplomats in the State Department are basically calling out Obama for ignoring the suffering of the Syrian people–like Bill Clinton did with Rwanda.

I know who is and who isn’t getting raped on campus this semester is an endless source of fascination for some people, but if the left is starting publicly line up for regime change in Syria, maybe that’s something other people might be interested in, too.

You’d think it’d at least merit a mention.

Right?

[AlmightyJB]

“the left is starting publicly line up for regime change in Syria”

Picking sides in a war between sociopaths is a waste of good American lives. Why is it the job of American mothers to provide canon fodder for Washington?

[Ken Shultz]

Or why is it the job of American mothers to provide cannon fodder for the benefit of Syria?

I can understand the Europeans getting together and doing something–if they’re being overrun with Syrian refugees, and it’s causing the European people all sorts of misery.

They always say they want to preserve the European Union, but every time something bad happens, they look to the United States to do something about it.

There was one statistic in that article that was particularly interesting.

” A Pew Research Center analysis this week says the percentage of the Syrian population displaced from their homes has reached 60%?”unprecedented,” it says, “in recent history for a single country.”

That’s 12 million refugees from Syria alone.

In not sending troops, Obama is probably doing the right thing.

In fighting the same enemy that ISIS is fighting, he’d be doing the controversial thing.

Meanwhile, whomever the next President is may determine whether we send troops and get into a ground war in Syria. If Hillary is more likely to do that than Trump, that’s something we could discuss.

What someone said about Title IX at a university in Nebraska is interesting, too, I guess. If we go to war in Syria, however, half the posts on the site will be about that. I’d rather talk about it now, what with Gary Johnson in the news. Maybe he’s the only anti-Syrian War candidate. Maybe libertarians could score some points with the public that way.

[GILMORE?]

if the left is starting publicly line up for regime change in Syria, maybe that’s something other people might be interested in, too.

Its not “the left”
international relations has little to do with “left/right” in any case. there’s no fundamental difference in how Dems or GOP do foreign policy; it differs qualitatively between every administration, not along some one-dimensional spectrum.

Obama and Clinton have both been stamping their feet and insisting “Assad Must Go” since 2011.

The problem is that when you SAY shit like this, people in the State Dept realize that everyone else in the world watches very carefully to see *what that really means* (even though the US public most certainly does not). And the consequences for US influence can be enormous and last decades.

I doubt China would be playing footsie w/ the US in the South China Sea if they thought our ‘stern condemnations’ and ‘strongly worded letters‘ had any real potential-consequences behind them. China may not even care about these sandbars in the middle of nowhere; they just want to see if they can force the US to do their dirty work of calming their neighbors (Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Philippines) *for them*. Its like training a dog.

[GILMORE?]

I know who is and who isn’t getting raped on campus this semester is an endless source of fascination for some people

SPEAKING OF WHICH!!!

[commodious spittoon]

That is a Trump-worthy sentence of unintentional syntactic circumnavigation.

[GILMORE?]

i am humbled by your magnanimous estimation of my abbreviated interjection

[commodious spittoon]

The first line of that article. They’ve changed is since, but it was a thing of beauty.

[GILMORE?]

Football player found guilty of orchestrating 30-minute assault passed out condoms to teammates, giggled as they inserted water bottle inside girl he was dating, and sent video to friends

then they say that he was actually convicted of rape. (technically ‘5 counts aggravated rape’)

“He brought her there, he served her up to three strangers; for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter, it’s that he did it,” Norman added.

Before ending her closing arguments, Norman played the 49 second video clip Vandenburg shot on his iPhone, showing the victim being raped by other former Vanderbilt football players.

I’m not super-hip to criminal law. Is there no “conspiracy to commit rape”? If he never actually did the deed, but simply ‘abetted it’, is it really the same crime?

in any case…. just another case-study in “what juries determine” for all those people still whining about the miscarriage of the Gawker case. I doubt Ken White will pen a navel-gazing essay about why the jury decision here is a great threat to liberty.

[AlmightyJB]

It’s disgusting that no one says stop.

[Suthenboy]

Someone please outline for me what Obumbles would do differently if he were deliberately trying to fuck things up.

[lap83]

golf less and preside more?

[commodious spittoon]

Everyone knows Tracer is the digital it-girl.

[Ken Shultz]

When you assassinate a robot, what, is there no backup service in that universe? I mean, if you’re the head robot, and nobody’s backing up your software periodically, then you need to fire your IT guy.

[commodious spittoon]

Would deleting your em be homicide or suicide? Would backing up an em be cloning or giving birth or kidnapping? Would IT personnel who fail to maintain an em server be guilty of genocide?

[thrakkorzog]

Not really, the back story is that there was robot revolt, and the humans won. Some of the surviving robots, once freed from the ‘kill all humans’ hive mind started preaching for coexistence with humans. So the leader of the coexistence robots got assassinated without any backup.

[Ken Shultz]

Why wasn’t he backed up?

I backed up my Apple IIe on floppies in 1985.

How smart can a robot be that doesn’t get himself backed up?

[thrakkorzog]

That’s because noobs whine about Bastions and Toblerones, the pros bitch about good Tracers.

[Hyperion]

Damn computer game models will send our kids to hell!

I really do not like JRPGs, at all. They’re silly.

[commodious spittoon]

Play a real RPG.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

You know what else is silly?

[GILMORE?]

This guy?

[Heroic Mulatto]

That’s a shame, because Earthbound/Mother 2 is the best game ever created.

[Hamster of Doom]

DIE IN IMMORTAL FLAME, INFIDEL

[Sign out Account Details]

my friend’s mom makes $73 hourly on the laptop . She has been out of a job for 6 months but last month her pay was $18731 just working on the laptop for a few hours…..

Open This LinkFor More InFormation..

???????

http://www.Reportmax20.com

[heidicarson]

my roomate’s step-mother makes 60 each hour on the internet and she has been out of work for seven months but last month her check was 14489 just working on the internet for 5 hours a day, look at ..
Read more on this web site..

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.maxincome20.com

[xoroposuba]

I’m making over $9k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do…. Go to tech tab for work detail..

CLICK THIS LINK=====>> http://www.earnmax6.com/

[ruthallen4682]

before I saw the bank draft which had said $9426 , I didnt believe that…my… brother woz like actualy earning money part-time at there labtop. . there uncles cousin has done this 4 less than fifteen months and by now repaid the dept on there place and got a great new Mini Cooper . read the full info here …

Clik This Link inYour Browser??

? ? ? ? http://www.selfcash10.com

[ruthallen4682]

before I saw the bank draft which had said $9426 , I didnt believe that…my… brother woz like actualy earning money part-time at there labtop. . there uncles cousin has done this 4 less than fifteen months and by now repaid the dept on there place and got a great new Mini Cooper . read the full info here …

Clik This Link inYour Browser??

? ? ? ? http://www.selfcash10.com

[ammythomos8246]

uptil I saw the bank draft four $8760 , I be certain …that…my sister woz actually bringing in money part time from there labtop. . there neighbour had bean doing this 4 only about eighteen months and resently cleard the depts on there home and bourt a top of the range Chrysler ….

Clik This Link inYour Browser….

? ? ? ? http://www.Reportmax20.com

[DEG]

I like Eric Peters Autos.

looks around furtively

I found it via lewrockwell.com.