FORUM COMMUNITY OMNIBUS AMA THREAD

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Would you call yourself an adult?

This is definitely an odd one.

How well has your community recovered from the Sandy Hook tragedy? Did it change people's views about gun ownership or make them, in some way, more religious or politically or socially active? How did coping with that great loss affect your neighbors and their relationships with one another?

This one's a little better.

I think that, to an extent, it did change people's views about gun ownership if not simply motivate progressive-minded folks in my town to speak up.  Newtown is a relatively small, wealthy, Catholic, conservative pocket of the state that votes Democrat in the right conditions.  Now we have Sandy Hook Promise and other pro-gun control groups that started in or were partly inspired by Newtown.  Like all groups, they have their share of outside influence and whatnot, but the support the town got from other states and countries was insurmountable.  Folks were literally giving away stuffed animals and blankets because there were too many for the town to store and almost every shop in town was covered in letters and drawings from children over the two months following the incident.  It's quite a surreal feeling and not many people get to experience it.

A year and a half later, things are more or less the way things used to be, although there is of course an underlying feel of solidarity that lives to this day.  (The atmosphere is more or less the same in neighboring Monroe which looks completely like Newtown.)  The town was basically just a mark on the map until the shooting happened, so we've taken it to heart.  There's a memorial underway and I think the new elementary school was completed (I don't keep up on local stuff as much as I should), but those things tend to mean more to the people who actually experienced the tragedy than anyone else.  Newtown is not a tourist site nor does anybody want it to be.

Did you survive the Avada Kedavra curse? Because you're drop dead gorgeous

I'm flattered.

Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?

Funny you should mention that.  The turkeys have been out almost daily in the last month, though that's mostly thanks to my neighbors (mostly the wife) who've taken up a hobby to feed them.  Definitely one of the things I'm going to miss when I leave in a few weeks.

[SWE]

What are your particular religious views

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

What are your particular religious views

I'll answer this one just 'cause.

UCC Congregationalist with Wesleyan traditions.  I'm officially UCC but I consider myself a Methodist just as much in spite of never being baptized one... or stepping foot into a UMC service.

[Dr. Cynic]

It's not something I spend a lot of time thinking about, though I wouldn't recommend it. That said, my great-great-grandparents Samuel Fugler and Martha Williams were cousins (in some way, I don't remember exactly)... I turned out fine more than 100 years later, so I suppose things worked out okay.

[Хahar 🤔]

What is your opinion of modern democratic party and its future? Is there any candidate you'd find palatable for 2016?

sawx talks a lot about the Party of Macklemore, and I think that's a legitimate concern. To the extent that the party is willing to ignore actual social issues for cultural concerns, it is a problem and needs to be stopped. That said, Republicans won't be occupying the left any time soon, so the Democrats will have to remain the part of the left whether they want to or not.

I'd be enthusiastic about Bernie Sanders, but really I'll vote for whoever the Democrats nominate, as long as it's not Andrew Cuomo. I would not vote for Andrew Cuomo.

Despite your strong opinions, you've never struck me as an activist, which I've always felt is similar to me. Are there any issues you feel strongly about to rally and be a "typical college liberal" for?

I think I would be more interested and involved if I were at, say, Berkeley. Where I am there's not really a whole lot of impetus to get involved unless you seek it out, which I haven't. The issue I care about the most at this point is probably immigration, but there's not a whole lot that can be done in that regard.

Bay Area sports are undergoing a renaissance, with every team except the Raiders being relevant in the playoff picture. What are your feelings on this, given the dark days of our adolescence when the only  consistently decent team was the Sharks?

Sometimes I complain about how much I care now, since it ruins my whole week when the 49ers lose nowadays, but if you had told me ten years ago that things would be like this, I don't think I would even have been able to comprehend my good fortune. It's amazing and I'm thrilled that things have turned out the way they have.

On the other hand, the corollary to that is that all the teams I hate are good, too. The Seahawks and Kings both won titles, the Dodgers are the favorites to win the National League, and I'm terrified of the Clippers. If that's what it takes to see my own teams be successful, I'll take it, but it does make things a little bit less fun.

Now, if the Warriors would just do the obvious and trade Klay Thompson for Kevin Love, we'd be set.

Have you met someone taller than me?

Last year I watched a Florida State team with three seven-footers lose at Maryland. Does that count? If not, no.

What's been going on with Russian gymnastics since, say, last fall? I completely stopped following.

It's been a mess. Romania won the team title at the European Championships this year. There's no particular shame in that, since Larisa Iordache is the best gymnast in Europe and the Romanians would be serious contenders for the best in the world if they could do anything on the uneven bars at all. The problem is that Russia finished third, behind not just Romania but also Great Britain.

Russia finished in third place with a team of Mustafina, Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya, Spiridonova, and Rodionova, which explains the issues at hand. Afanasyeva was injured, Komova was injured, Paseka was injured, Grishina was injured, and Shelgunova was injured. At this point Komova's had basically no competition for the last two years and it's hard to imagine her ever being one of the best gymnasts in the world again. Even Mustafina was dealing with ankle issues. Russia has had to deal with a lot of bad luck, but as long as the program continues to have no depth it'll be very susceptible to fits of bad luck.

[Simfan34]

What is your opinion of modern democratic party and its future? Is there any candidate you'd find palatable for 2016?

sawx talks a lot about the Party of Macklemore, and I think that's a legitimate concern. To the extent that the party is willing to ignore actual social issues for cultural concerns, it is a problem and needs to be stopped. That said, Republicans won't be occupying the left any time soon, so the Democrats will have to remain the part of the left whether they want to or not.

This is actually an interesting point and I'm glad people are observing it. As for the Republicans, that might be true, but it doesn't mean they won't try.

Well I have a question, too- what was being on the football team like? I still can't wrap my head around that. Not in a bad way, no, but I just can't see it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

How would you describe your ideology these days? Is it still evolving, and if so, in which direction?

[Antonio the Sixth]

How would a political party win your vote in a positive sense other than by appealing to you specifically as a social democrat?

To be honest, it doesn't take much for a party to win my vote. I always think of my electoral decisions in relative and practical sense: which party, among those with a reasonable chance of winning power, could enact policies I'm more favorable/less opposed to? Or alternatively, which party with a serious chance of gaining representation could push for ideas and principles closer to mine? I have more or less given up the hope to be attracted positively to a party based on its political views or its platform, although this still occasionally happens. What I value most in a progressive party is its ability to reclaim ideas/proposals/debates that the left is typically too afraid or conformist to take up, and to do so in a form that is articulate and understanding of the complexities of modern world, rather than with a populistic and simplistic tone. In short, what I find absolutely necessary is to develop a serious challenge to the neoliberal consensus that pervades modern political discourse - serious in that it is more than angry rants about how everything is so unfair or a rehashing of pseudomarxist blabber.

[Sopranos Republican]

Should 20rp12 come back?

I believe 20RP12 should, as the cool kids would say: "stop being a bitch," and come back. While he certainly had his bad moments, (and I mean BAD moments) I still believe his love of sports and other non-political related topics is an extremely valuable commodity. 

[beaver2.0]

OK.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Who are you?

[Hash]

Have you ever heard of Afrikaners?

No, I have never heard of such people. Who are they?

Do you prefer hashish or Vegemite?

I've actually never tried either nor do I feel a particularly pressing urge to. I suppose I'd prefer the latter.

If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it, do you clap your hands, stamp your feet, nod your head or do all three? Maps if possible.

I make maps when I'm happy and I really want to show it. Doing any of the other three options would make me seem like a crazy person (which I kind of am, but I digress).

Are you using the Confundus charm, or are you naturally this mind blowing?

To quote a girl back from high school in my yearbook who may or may not have had a crush on me (but we'll never know), I am "naturally brilliant".

What do you remember from your time spent living in Saudi Arabia? What was your impression of of the culture, the segments of society to which you were exposed, the weather, the geography, the monarchy, the religious milieu?

I remember a lot of stuff, given that I lived there for 10 years out of my 22-and-counting year life thus far, including most of my 'early formative years'. I always get these questions about KSA and I'm never sure what to answer, mostly because when you live in a place you come to accept its quirks and eccentricities as normal and don't think much of them - and it's only with ex post facto reflection that I can come to realize that the country is a pretty demented and bizarre place. But at the same time I don't regret it and though I'd have good reason to, I don't hate it (and I find myself instinctively defending KSA at times when reading some of the mindless inanities and myths propagated by idiots who have never been there).

I didn't experience much of Saudi culture firsthand, although given the country's bizarre nature, there's little in the way of a unique Saudi culture. I mean, the usual heavily sarcastic joke made by expats is that one comes to 'enjoy the culture' (indicating a total lack thereof in KSA); and most other Arabs tend to look down on Saudis as uncultured desert bedous made rich by oil and now becoming arrogant oil sheikhs. I can recall, positively, camel races (a sport practiced by South Asians, of a very young age, to amuse a crowd of Saudi male dignitaries in comfy chairs) and a camel souq (which is quite interesting).

Eating a typically Saudi meal (kabsa - lamb on rice and vegetables, quite good; served with the dual national drinks of Coke/Pepsi and heavily sugared-up tea) in a tent on the floor is an experience and interesting. The Saudi notion of 'family fun' or 'picnic' is very weird - for poorer families, it can include heading out to the desert and eating picnic on the side of a busy highway!

Then you have stuff like hanging out in the desert with friends (something which most expats completely stopped doing post-May 2003), shopping in a souq (which totally loses its cultural interest because most shops are owned/run by South Asians) and a sh**tload of crazy quirks (the land border being closed 5x a day for prayer, eating in the dark and behind closed doors in a restaurant closed for prayer, confronting the crazy loonies of the religious police, the rampant hypocrisy of the elites wrt alcohol, the old ridiculousness of censorship in foreign books/magazines you bought - with paid goons who used to black out women's legs, PDA, romantic relationships, alcohol etc, the ubiquitousness of random piles of trash and waste in the middle of cities, dealing with the Saudi middle-class' more than relaxed attitude wrt to actually doing work, living out at night, coping with the insanity of Ramadan month, the former habit of customs opening your bags to search for contraband and notably confiscating my baptism VHS because it had a priest in it, the bureaucratic insanity associated with such regimes etc). Also, there's the issue that, after 2003, we lived in a compound and I went to a school which were guarded by the Saudi National Guard - and that by 2007 we had all come to accept that going to school guarded by the military was all quite normal.

The Saudis I recall - they were quite a few (from my dad's coworkers to people at school to normal social interactions and the like) - were all extremely polite and hospitable people, generally nice and decent people (of course, I was a white male). For anecdotal evidence, I can recall all the times we were offered tea by random people, my dad's coworkers - including military officers - being very friendly with me (when I was a kid), the time a uniformed military officer got out of his car to help us fix a blown tire and their overall pleasant demeanor. Or - even more amusing - that time we took some American friends into the desert, and then randomly fell across a random guy on his camel who took me and my friend on a camel ride, followed by a random guy in his SUV coming out and offering us to hold his falcon!

Of course, I didn't pal around with terrorists (although Saudis really are the first victims of terrorism) and there are unpleasant douchebags and bad apples (notably the religious police thugs). I also reiterate how the Saudi elite (and royal family) are the biggest hypocrites when it comes to alcohol and religious orthodoxy in general; the al-Saud family really are a huge bunch of parasites. For the religious milieu, it can be pretty in-your-face, although the religious police thugs actually piss off Saudis much more than expats (to the point where they need to be protected by police since some have been beat up by Saudis). Saudis you know can often try to convert you to Islam by showering you with Qurans in your language. Then there's the issue of praying five times a day, and what that entails.

The weather is obviously really hot (up to 50c in the summer) but I actually would rather live with Riyadh's dry and boiling hot summers than Ottawa's extreme humidity-heat waves any day. The winter can get cooler, but a pleasant winter's day at 20-25c is great (but desert nights can get very cool). In the summer, you learn to live with the heat, like the Saudis do (by staying indoors and sheltered by AC during the day).

The geography is something you don't think much about, but you need to pause for a moment and realize how spectacular it can be: the vastness of the country, the huge empty spaces, the concentration of urban areas, the vast deserts, the varied desert landscapes. The desert around Riyadh is rocky and mountainous, with few of the usual sand dunes associated with Arabia (I only recall going to a sand dune desert once), but it's quite spectacular in parts (and very boring in other parts, where it's just a flat plateau of lunar-like landscapes). I also strongly advise against adventuring into the desert on your own for obvious reasons; you don't want to end up like the French expats who ventured off the beaten track outside of Mada'in Saleh and got killed my terrorists. Riyadh is quite special, because it's in them middle of the desert originally built around oases and mushroomed out of that beginning in the 1960s-70s, to the point where it's now a huge sprawling mess. Going south from Riyadh towards the military base town of Al-Kharj you can see the very developed artificial agriculture/farms and the advanced irrigation techniques:



And also the fascinating dairy industry (Almarai and Alsafi dairy companies) and their huge complexes and farms in Al-Kharj's region, with cows living in a cool indoor/enclosed area.

I never went to Asir, which is a beautiful and distinctive mountainous (and green) region or Hijaz/Jeddah (besides its airport, which is a monumental sh**thole). It's worth noting, therefore, that KSA is a very diverse country in terms of geography, landscape (both urban and non-urban) and culture. You can go from very traditionalist, poor and homogeneous neighborhoods and small towns to highly modern, Americanized and diverse affluent urban cores - hell, just contrast downtown Riyadh (Olaya) to the old town around Batha (which is officially, or historically, the real downtown Riyadh - just that it's not flashy and American enough now).

 


(Al-Faisaliyah centre, Al-Mamlaka/Kingdom Tower, old Diriy'ah - the first Saudi capital)

[Antonio the Sixth]

How did you ascend to the PASOK leadership, and how were you robbed of it by the usurper Papandreou? We never got the details.

[AelroseB]

Who's your favorite Southern politician?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

How would you describe your ideology these days? Is it still evolving, and if so, in which direction?

It's generally the same, with its core being individualism, though I have gone through some terrible ideologies along the way (bigotry and Objectivism). I am a “small l” libertarian conservative with some populist positions that I have come to accept throughout my life’s limited experiences. For example, I support public healthcare despite it going against my otherwise individualist leaning views. My foreign policy positions are the same for the most part, with my positions on economic issues in general fluctuating from center-right to extreme right to center-right again.

[Antonio the Sixth]

For example, I support public healthcare despite it going against my otherwise individualist leaning views.

Was this shift prompted by a specific event in your life where you personally experienced the benefits of public healthcare or the problems caused by a lack of it?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

lel

Will you ever stop doing that?

I have no plans to do so.

[Antonio the Sixth]

lel

Will you ever stop doing that?

I have no plans to do so.

Are you aware of the degree to which you are being a pain in the ass?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Does your signature intentionally read as though it were written by a third-grader?

[Hatman 🍁]

Who are you voting for on city council?

[RR1997]

I decided to start one of these threads since everyone else is doing them.

[Gass3268]

It's what all the cool kids are doing.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I originally made one of these on Religion & Theology but then deleted it after only one question because I decided it was a dumb trend to jump on.

However it's got to the point where it wouldn't be right for the top poster to not have one. So ask away!

[Hifly]

What does your Christian faith mean to you and does it help guide you in decisions you make in your life?

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Ask me.