What's on your mind?

Nevermind, the conversation went on past me.

Talk down to future 20 year olds? Lol.

kitty has been meowing at me all day.
hes demanding to be petted now

Post Tenebras Lux said:

I don't think terrorists realise how stubborn and resilient British people are.

Third terror attack in months and we're still in high spirits.

18935093_757691327745612_1198004341793882112_n - Streamable

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I'm going to be wearing an anti ISIS shirt every time I'm in central London. I can't say what'll be on the shirt, but you can imagine.

And it isn't "Duck ISIS" it's another word... That rhymes with duck.

Yeah, I've made it obvious enough.

Post Tenebras Lux said:

Yeah I think we're probably one of the best countries for just getting on with it.

Our parents lived through years of Catholic terrorists threatening to bomb us or actually bombing us. Bomb scares and evacuating areas or even shops was pretty common back then. When my parents were in the Army they had to get on their hands and knees and check under their cars for bombs etc.

You just have to get on with it. Not much more you can do otherwise you'll just end up locked indoors all day worrying about things.

I honestly think all of these attacks will calm down over the next decade. We've seen copycat stuff in the past and there's a very real discussion about things like school shooters being plastered all over the media and gaining infamy overnight inspiring others to do it, one has to wonder how much of an effect that's having on attacks like this.

It'll go away, it's just a matter of time.

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In some ways, those attacks were worse. People died by the hundred, regularly. I mean, they even bombed Bognor of all places! Why?! If you're willing to go through the hassle of orchestrating a bombing, then do it somewhere that has an iota of esteem. Not Bognor for goodness sake.

Anyway, despite recent events, I am still extremely proud of our armed forces, intelligence organisations and our police. We can't be rivaled on that. We just need to be monitoring that list more closely than ever now.

Good morning everyone

Post Tenebras Lux said:

Yeah I think we're probably one of the best countries for just getting on with it.

Our parents lived through years of Catholic terrorists threatening to bomb us or actually bombing us. Bomb scares and evacuating areas or even shops was pretty common back then. When my parents were in the Army they had to get on their hands and knees and check under their cars for bombs etc.

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I was just thinking that after watching a Netflix documentary about sexual abuse and murder cover-ups in the Catholic church (and more specifically the Archdiocese of Baltimore), they are about in the same category with ISIS in my mind.

Post Tenebras Lux said:

I honestly think all of these attacks will calm down over the next decade. We've seen copycat stuff in the past and there's a very real discussion about things like school shooters being plastered all over the media and gaining infamy overnight inspiring others to do it, one has to wonder how much of an effect that's having on attacks like this.

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I think it certainly does also have an effect on terrorist attacks like it does with school shooters. Personally, I think the psychological profile of a terrorist is pretty similar to school shooters, and in an article I read about school shooters, it quoted the a Columbine student's journal that compared his plans to the Oklahoma City bombing. Due to the how the media reacted, the shooters got exactly what they wanted: fear and fame.

While it's estimated that mass killings occur on a biweekly basis, only a very small percentage of them are school shootings and terrorist attacks, we never hear about the vast majority of them. The reason why is because they occur in more public places that are supposed to be safe, people are killed are random innocent bystanders. Terrorist attacks and school shootings are planned, orchestrated for months to even years, and not just the violence, but the presentation: what they will see from you, the message, and why. It's psychological warfare, and it works because it plays on the deficiency in our brains to pay a disproportionate amount of attention to threatening events and we always overestimate how likely it is for a random event to happen to us. It also works because terrorists are smart, they understand fear and that humans are wired to pay more attention to fear than any other emotion.

That's what ultimately makes terrorism powerful, it's not that it causes death and destruction, it's that it causes us to respond in fear. It depends on it's victims being too-self absorbed to look at the situation on a population level, and that people will become self-righteous and paranoid, gluing them to the repetitive news coverage. It wants to them to have the irrational belief that "I'm next."

Almost three years ago to the day, I was right in that area in London. My hotel was in Waterloo, I would have heard the sirens from my hotel room if not heard the gunshots. @ReesePiece23 himself said that evening/night that he had friends in the area. That's utlimately where it ends, unless you were one of the people on the bridge or in one of those pubs that night, it's not about you. Yes, we should morn the tragedy, and feel the anger, sadness, and confusion. Then we move on. This not even about religion or country, it's about deranged murderers, the victims, and the first responders.

Terrorism, again, it ultimately a psychological weapon. On the grand scheme of things, bombs do a little, knives do even less. It's the fear, paranoia, blame, and hate that it causes that actually does something, and what it does it create something hideous. These acts only have as much control over them as you let them. It's okay and healthy to feel the emotions, even express them, but not to indulge in them. Don't be corrupted by the fear, the hate, this was a horrific crime, and we already have systems in place to deal with that. The best thing to do is the old British response, keep calm and carry on.

paraphrased from: How Terrorism Works

I hope it rains.

kittysbecute said:

I hope it rains.

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You can have our rain that we had yesterday, although now that I think about it I don't think it will head in your direction. But any rain we get, you can have!

OMM: I'm on a posting spree today. I didn't win "postaholic" three years in a row for nothin'.

OMM: There is a really skinny squirrel in our driveway. He's either the baby and just hasn't gotten a lot to eat or he's on a diet.

Also OMM: Oh nvm I forgot.

There's a massive storm set to hit Cape Town tonight and carry on into tomorrow. So much so that they've taken the unprecedented step of closing all schools (something which no one ever remembers happening before).

It's probably not going to affect me all that much as I'm able to work from home and probably the worst thing that will happen to my house is that my garden furniture will get blown about a bit, but people living in much worse conditions and who still need to be out and about tomorrow could be in for a rough time.

LadyOfMystery said:

OMM: I'm on a posting spree today. I didn't win "postaholic" three years in a row for nothin'.

OMM: There is a really skinny squirrel in our driveway. He's either the baby and just hasn't gotten a lot to eat or he's on a diet.

Also OMM: Oh nvm I forgot.

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I saw a few families of baby ducklings about a week ago.

kittysbecute said:

I saw a few families of baby ducklings about a week ago.

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Awww

Even if I pronounce my kitty's name with a lisp he still replies.

Citanul said:

There's a massive storm set to hit Cape Town tonight and carry on into tomorrow. So much so that they've taken the unprecedented step of closing all schools (something which no one ever remembers happening before).

It's probably not going to affect me all that much as I'm able to work from home and probably the worst thing that will happen to my house is that my garden furniture will get blown about a bit, but people living in much worse conditions and who still need to be out and about tomorrow could be in for a rough time.

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Well, hopefully it will not be as bad as they forecast! I remember one time in college, Houston was supposed to get like 4-6 inches of snow (which is record snow for them), and they closed all of the schools, business closed, and the city effectively shut down because of this storm. Well, all that happening was a light glazing of ice.

kittysbecute said:

I hope it rains.

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We've had enough, you can have some of ours. I think it's rained almost every day for a week now.

kittysbecute said:

I hope it rains.

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Let is rain as much as possible where I live. I do not want to spend another Summer worrying about province-wide wildfires spreading to my town.