Stupid Real World Things You Noticed


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NobodysHome wrote:

My "rules of the road" are pretty straightforward across all modes of transportation:

(1) If you make the person who has the right of way hit the brakes or otherwise take evasive action, you're a bad driver (or biker or pedestrian or what-have-you)

Minor quibble: Legally, there is no such thing as "having the right of way." The traffic regulations only spell out who is required to yield, not who "gets" it.


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Sidewalks, especially busy ones, are not necessarily safe places for a bike to ride, depending on how many people and objects are on the sidewalk and the state of disrepair and so forth. in some jurisdictions you're actually supposed to walk your bike when on the sidewalk, not ride it.


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Aniuś the Talewise wrote:
Sidewalks, especially busy ones, are not necessarily safe places for a bike to ride, depending on how many people and objects are on the sidewalk and the state of disrepair and so forth. in some jurisdictions you're actually supposed to walk your bike when on the sidewalk, not ride it.

Sidewalks also don't always exist.


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People who spend hours searching for the cheapest possible xxx they can find, then complain bitterly when it's shoddy and does not last.

NobodysHome's Story Time:

We were on vacation in Europe, and had the fortune to wind up in Piccadilly Circus in London, shopping for tickets for a show. Since we had no idea what we were doing, we got into the shortest line we could see. (If you've never been there, it's a ludicrous assortment of over a dozen ticket stands, all selling tickets to the same exact shows. I have no idea what purpose it serves. But it's there, we wanted to see a show, so...)

After a few minutes, a stereotypical couple came up to us.
"Does this line have the cheapest tickets?"
"Er, what?"
"This line. Does it have the best prices?"
"I don't know. How should I know that?"
"Well, you're in line. Didn't you check the prices before you got in line?"
"Er, no. I'm on vacation. I figure the prices can't be THAT different between all these booths. They're in the same place. If one of them charged too much, no one would go to it."

You'd have thought I spat in his wife's face and then punched her in the gut. He was enraged, and stormed off with his wife, obviously incensed with us.

We got our tickets, went to lunch, and were walking back through the square three hours later. There was the man and his wife. In the same line we'd used.

And all I could feel was pity. There was a man who had lost three hours of his vacation forever. Looking for the "best deal" in a land where no deals are to be found.

How much was three hours of his vacation worth, again?

(And from his obvious unhappiness, I don't think he was 'enjoying the challenge').


thejeff wrote:
Aniuś the Talewise wrote:
Sidewalks, especially busy ones, are not necessarily safe places for a bike to ride, depending on how many people and objects are on the sidewalk and the state of disrepair and so forth. in some jurisdictions you're actually supposed to walk your bike when on the sidewalk, not ride it.
Sidewalks also don't always exist.

My opinion on that is that if there are people on the sidewalk, yes you should get off the bike and walk it. "No bikes on sidewalks" is a stupid law (though that's not an excuse to break it, I would highly support efforts to repeal it), and any bike rider who doesn't get off and walk when pedestrians are in the way deserves the assault charge coming to them.

If there is no sidewalk, walk in the grass.

If there is vehicle traffic, get off the road and ride; if you can't do that, get off and walk the bike.


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Orthos wrote:
thejeff wrote:
Aniuś the Talewise wrote:
Sidewalks, especially busy ones, are not necessarily safe places for a bike to ride, depending on how many people and objects are on the sidewalk and the state of disrepair and so forth. in some jurisdictions you're actually supposed to walk your bike when on the sidewalk, not ride it.
Sidewalks also don't always exist.

My opinion on that is that if there are people on the sidewalk, yes you should get off the bike and walk it. "No bikes on sidewalks" is a stupid law (though that's not an excuse to break it, I would highly support efforts to repeal it), and any bike rider who doesn't get off and walk when pedestrians are in the way deserves the assault charge coming to them.

If there is no sidewalk, walk in the grass.

If there is vehicle traffic, get off the road and ride; if you can't do that, get off and walk the bike.

So road bikes should be banned, basically. You also shouldn't be able to walk anywhere in the winter, except in those places with nice sidewalks. Or at all in places without walkable grass by the roadside.

Currently the law treats bikes as vehicles and puts them in the road.


It's a law I strongly disagree with.


I really don't get the bike hatred. Bikers are far more at risk from drivers than vice versa. Why are we anathema? Even when we try to follow the rules.


Bikes are a road hazard. They are incapable of keeping up with the flow of traffic, obstruct the road, and as you said are a risk by their presence.

At the very least, a cyclist should stop and get off the road until traffic has passed.


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Orthos wrote:

Bikes are a road hazard. They are incapable of keeping up with the flow of traffic, obstruct the road, and as you said are a risk by their presence.

At the very least, a cyclist should stop and get off the road until traffic has passed.

In other words - biking on the road is banned.

Except possibly in the most deserted places. Stopping and getting off the bike every time a car is spotted is far riskier than just continuing predictably. And it's not always even possible to get off the road.


Orthos wrote:
thejeff wrote:
Aniuś the Talewise wrote:
Sidewalks, especially busy ones, are not necessarily safe places for a bike to ride, depending on how many people and objects are on the sidewalk and the state of disrepair and so forth. in some jurisdictions you're actually supposed to walk your bike when on the sidewalk, not ride it.
Sidewalks also don't always exist.

My opinion on that is that if there are people on the sidewalk, yes you should get off the bike and walk it. "No bikes on sidewalks" is a stupid law (though that's not an excuse to break it, I would highly support efforts to repeal it), and any bike rider who doesn't get off and walk when pedestrians are in the way deserves the assault charge coming to them.

If there is no sidewalk, walk in the grass.

If there is vehicle traffic, get off the road and ride; if you can't do that, get off and walk the bike.

why get a dog when you can get a bike? They're quieter, don't crap on the rug, and you'll walk them just as much!


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Orthos wrote:

Bikes are a road hazard. They are incapable of keeping up with the flow of traffic, obstruct the road, and as you said are a risk by their presence.

At the very least, a cyclist should stop and get off the road until traffic has passed.

nonsense.

I am capable of going at least 35 on a good bike, or I will be once I lose some weight.

I obstruct the road far less than a truck or even another car. Going around me is simple.

Noone is at risk by my presence. A car can kill me without a blink or even damage to its exterior.

I have gotten oFF the bike in the past when the car drivers have been especially stupid or weird.


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I've never seen a cyclist ever going the same speed as traffic where they're riding. Not once in my life.

Every cyclist I've ever passed has required swerving some into the other lane to pass. That might be because there are no bike lanes where I live though. But even then, their very presence causes every driver's speed to drop, which causes further obstruction.

The risk is to themselves, not to the cars.


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Well-maintained designated bicycle lanes for everyone!!!

Liberty's Edge

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As soon as bicyclists start paying vehicle registrations and mileage taxes.


I'd say that'd have to be a requirement if most places that don't already have those were going to afford to put them in.


Krensky wrote:
As soon as bicyclists start paying vehicle registrations and mileage taxes.

Right after pedestrians pay for shoe impact fees and sidewalk wear-and-tear.


Krensky wrote:
As soon as bicyclists start paying vehicle registrations and mileage taxes.

Which might make sense to pay for bike lanes (though how you'd track mileage taxes, I have no idea). OTOH, every time I ride my bike somewhere instead of driving I'm decreasing wear and tear on the roads. And traffic, reducing if marginally, the need for more lanes and the like.


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Real life conversation my mother had. My mother has multiple sclerosis and arthritis in both knees, so she can't really walk anymore, and has a blue badge to allow her to park in a disabled bay. She had done so to let my stepfather go and do a little shopping, but remained in the car because, before she got a power assisted car seat, getting in and out into a wheel chair was a pain in the posterior. So she's sitting, watching the rain, when suddenly some woman dragging her child bangs on the window. My mother rolls down the window.

Woman: You need to move out of this spot!

Mother: Pardon?

Woman: You need to move! You've made my child walk through the rain!

Mother: I'm sorry, but this is a disabled bay. I'm allowed to park here. I even have a blue badge, thank you.

Woman: Well I always park here! And you can't be that disabled. You look fine.

Mother: How exactly do you tell if someone can't walk while they're sitting down?

Woman: I bet you're just faking so you can get money.

Mother: Well, I'd rather have legs that work.

Woman: Get out of my parking spot!

Mother: Why do you think it's yours? You certainly don't seem disabled.

Woman: So my child doesn't have to walk in the rain!

Mother: You mean the rain you're making them stand in now?

Apparently this went on for some time. The woman even went and got a guard from the store (Dragging her child back into the rain, yes) to tell my mother off. Both scampered when my stepdad returned, since he looks like Santa Clause on steroids. The guard did not escape his wrath, as he went and got the manager, got a formal complaint and got a scolding.

Apparently it's perfectly OK to keep your kid in the rain if it's to whine about them getting wet.


You guys do realize that when bicyclists aren't being dip-s####s cycling in traffic, they are being dip-s####s driving their cars in traffic?

"Smart"-phone addiction is a far greater hazard on the road - if only because of it's seeming ubiquity.


Krensky wrote:
As soon as bicyclists start paying vehicle registrations and mileage taxes.

I've no problem with that, as long as your insurance covers my repairs and injuries when you hit me with your car.


Orthos wrote:

I've never seen a cyclist ever going the same speed as traffic where they're riding. Not once in my life.

Every cyclist I've ever passed has required swerving some into the other lane to pass. That might be because there are no bike lanes where I live though. But even then, their very presence causes every driver's speed to drop, which causes further obstruction.

The risk is to themselves, not to the cars.

Come around my way you'll see things differently.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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I remember when this thread wasn't like four pages of traffic and army arguments.


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Can someone say something on par with JonGarrett story to divert the thread from the bicycle/car trashing. Or at least give us some other kind of road rage examples unrelated to bicycle/car road war?


Drejk wrote:
Or at least give us some other kind of road rage examples unrelated to bicycle/car road war?

Well I hit a pothole yesterday and was particularly miffed....


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Around 4 pm i'm exhausted so I decide to take a little nap.

I wake up around 10 pm.


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Drejk wrote:
Can someone say something on par with JonGarrett story to divert the thread from the bicycle/car trashing. Or at least give us some other kind of road rage examples unrelated to bicycle/car road war?

In college I was crossing at a corner. Someone in a BMW bumped me, not hard enough to knock me over, but it was more than a tap.

I put a nice dent in in the hood of his car with an OG SMASH punch

Gets out of car "YOU SMASHED MY #()$)#($ing car" pause.

Pause Pause. Pause. Looks at hood

"You smashed my car"

Gets back in car in a hurry.


Drejk wrote:
Can someone say something on par with JonGarrett story to divert the thread from the bicycle/car trashing. Or at least give us some other kind of road rage examples unrelated to bicycle/car road war?

fires nyc bike cannon


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So near where I live, the major intersection closest to me, in fact, there is a "No U-Turn" sign on the Eastbound lanes.

The reason for this is that the Southbound lanes have a right turn lane that is full-stop for only two 3-hour stretches a day. The rest of the day it is yield-only. You don't need to stop, but you should slow down and yield for pedestrians looking to cross.

Further, the Westbound lanes one would theoretically U-turn into are not wide enough for a safe U-turn.

The area is marked with four - count them! - "No U-Turn" signs.

At least once every day, usually in the morning but frequently at night, some driver gets the clever idea of trying to take that U-turn.

And at least once a week, there's a near-collision there. And usually the person making the illegal turn is the one who takes offense. They know they're breaking the rules. They know there's no legal U-turn there, but they still get upset.

Once, the guy who nearly t-boned into my driver's side door started yelling at me that I should look out, and that he should call the police. I calmly and politely rolled down my window and asked him if he'd like me to clean his windshield for him before he called the police.

He asked me what I meant. I pointed at the signs and said "well, you might want to explain to the officer how I'm somehow at fault for you not seeing the FOUR no U-turn signs."

He turned beet red and got back in his car.


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Roundabouts in my hometown, in northern Indiana.

- My hometown (which I moved away from a few months ago) is planning on putting in a roundabout on an intersection right next to a hospital. Because... you know... ambulance's need a challenge.

- Mother's boss told me a story about how a friend of his called him while driving. Said he was in a roundabout, and had been for the last 30 minutes to an hour. Then he said he didn't know how to get out of it. Mother's boss had to tell him how to get out of the roundabout. It took only one sentence.


one time there was a big steel ladder lying in the middle of the lane on the highway.

what if you were blocked on the side from being able to merge out of that lane in time to avoid the ladder? What then?


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Third Mind wrote:
- Mother's boss told me a story about how a friend of his called him while driving. Said he was in a roundabout, and had been for the last 30 minutes to an hour. Then he said he didn't know how to get out of it. Mother's boss had to tell him how to get out of the roundabout. It took only one sentence.

Big Ben! Parliament! Again.


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Aniuś the Talewise wrote:

one time there was a big steel ladder lying in the middle of the lane on the highway.

what if you were blocked on the side from being able to merge out of that lane in time to avoid the ladder? What then?

Bud ump a dump dump dump buduupmpdumpdump dump dump


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I try not to get mad at the stupid shit people do when driving or bike riding or anything, after all they're stupid and I'm not :-)

Of course if another a@!~~+& motherf!~%er cuts me off again I'm going to pull their larynx out of their goddamn f~&&ing shithole!!!!

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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Guy prepares to run game for a new group he's never played with.

Guy reviews characters prior to any actual gameplay.

Guy concludes players have zero interest in any story-related aspects of the gaming experience.

(I've also seen the player-to-player version of this, where you show up to a convention/game day table, lean over to see your neighbor's stats, then say something like "So much for thinking there'll be any actual roleplay in this game.")

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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Some dude: Doing X means you're really being unreasonable.

Me: I don't think there's anything wrong with doing X.

Some dude: Oh, I totally agree, nothing wrong with doing X.

Me: Oh, maybe I misunderstood you then. Carry on.

Some dude: A person really must've missed the boat to actually do X.

Repeat a few times, then:

Me: I'm confused. Whenever you're asked directly about X, you say it's totally legit. But whenever you're discussing X directly, you keep bashing it like somebody would have to be really messed up to do X. You're contradicting yourself, sometimes even from one breath to the next. What gives?

Some dude: What are you talking about? Of course it's fine to do X; I even explicitly said so! Are you not bothering to pay attention to what I'm saying?


Jiggy wrote:

Some dude: Doing X means you're really being unreasonable.

Me: I don't think there's anything wrong with doing X.

Some dude: Oh, I totally agree, nothing wrong with doing X.

Me: Oh, maybe I misunderstood you then. Carry on.

Some dude: A person really must've missed the boat to actually do X.

Repeat a few times, then:

Me: I'm confused. Whenever you're asked directly about X, you say it's totally legit. But whenever you're discussing X directly, you keep bashing it like somebody would have to be really messed up to do X. You're contradicting yourself, sometimes even from one breath to the next. What gives?

Some dude: What are you talking about? Of course it's fine to do X; I even explicitly said so! Are you not bothering to pay attention to what I'm saying?

I am so confused by this.


Jiggy wrote:

Guy prepares to run game for a new group he's never played with.

Guy reviews characters prior to any actual gameplay.

Guy concludes players have zero interest in any story-related aspects of the gaming experience.

(I've also seen the player-to-player version of this, where you show up to a convention/game day table, lean over to see your neighbor's stats, then say something like "So much for thinking there'll be any actual roleplay in this game.")

"....you have a pair of sevens.

"yeah and?

"...but you role play! What the...


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Videos, movies, etc without subtitles.

Why do you hurt me in this way.

If there are no subtitles, I have to make the volume louder, and replay seconds of the video over and over to attempt to understand what was being said. subtitles eliminate my having to do this.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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Aniuś the Talewise wrote:

Videos, movies, etc without subtitles.

Why do you hurt me in this way.

If there are no subtitles, I have to make the volume louder, and replay seconds of the video over and over to attempt to understand what was being said. subtitles eliminate my having to do this.

I'm kinda hit-and-miss with this. Some movies/videos seem impossible to understand, while others are fine even without raising the volume.

Related: movies with massive swings in volume; you turn it up to hear what's going on, then get deafened in the next scene.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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Aniuś the Talewise wrote:
Jiggy wrote:

Some dude: Doing X means you're really being unreasonable.

Me: I don't think there's anything wrong with doing X.

Some dude: Oh, I totally agree, nothing wrong with doing X.

Me: Oh, maybe I misunderstood you then. Carry on.

Some dude: A person really must've missed the boat to actually do X.

Repeat a few times, then:

Me: I'm confused. Whenever you're asked directly about X, you say it's totally legit. But whenever you're discussing X directly, you keep bashing it like somebody would have to be really messed up to do X. You're contradicting yourself, sometimes even from one breath to the next. What gives?

Some dude: What are you talking about? Of course it's fine to do X; I even explicitly said so! Are you not bothering to pay attention to what I'm saying?

I am so confused by this.

I imagine it's a phenomenon similar to how someone can know that racism is bad, but if they drive through a new part of town and all the pedestrians are black they conclude it's a "rough neighborhood" and try to avoid it, and don't even know that's how they came to that conclusion.

EDIT: Or like how there was a study where a man and a woman would have a conversation, and they'd both think the woman did most of the talking, when actually (per the recording) the man did most of the talking.


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At the park where i worked at we had a prison detail. They basically had the same job we did for about 4 hours, then went and hung out at their camp out in the park, hung out, worked out.

They didn't have to work in the rain
They didn't have to work belo 40ish? degrees
Always had lunch on time
has less supervision
And they were too scared to go into certain parts of the woods because of the rattlesnakes.

I often had to ask for a reminder why I couldn't just toss a supervisor through a woodchipper , be convicted, and have it be a move up for me.

A couple of times we were working in a section of the park with a lot of rattlesnakes around. While I don't do it with rattlesnakes, they'd seen me gently pick up very large black rat snakes and put them on my shoulders to move them out of the work area. So I get elected to check the area for snakes.

Walk around back and forth, covering the whole area.
Guy behind me is walking around and pretty much walking in my footsteps gets the ctchcthcthcthcthcthcth from a rattlesnake.

This happens multiple times.

"What the hell....Do you tell them to do that?


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At the risk of getting this thread locked (though I hope not):

The religions that most espouse charity and being kind to others are generally the same ones that engender radicals who espouse a "kill all others" approach to the universe.

Which is why this particular article amused me immensely.


Jiggy wrote:
Aniuś the Talewise wrote:
Jiggy wrote:

Some dude: Doing X means you're really being unreasonable.

Me: I don't think there's anything wrong with doing X.

Some dude: Oh, I totally agree, nothing wrong with doing X.

Me: Oh, maybe I misunderstood you then. Carry on.

Some dude: A person really must've missed the boat to actually do X.

Repeat a few times, then:

Me: I'm confused. Whenever you're asked directly about X, you say it's totally legit. But whenever you're discussing X directly, you keep bashing it like somebody would have to be really messed up to do X. You're contradicting yourself, sometimes even from one breath to the next. What gives?

Some dude: What are you talking about? Of course it's fine to do X; I even explicitly said so! Are you not bothering to pay attention to what I'm saying?

I am so confused by this.

I imagine it's a phenomenon similar to how someone can know that racism is bad, but if they drive through a new part of town and all the pedestrians are black they conclude it's a "rough neighborhood" and try to avoid it, and don't even know that's how they came to that conclusion.

EDIT: Or like how there was a study where a man and a woman would have a conversation, and they'd both think the woman did most of the talking, when actually (per the recording) the man did most of the talking.

People are pros at cognitive dissonance.


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I'm trapped in a terrible catch-22 that would be entirely avoided if it weren't for the emotionally neglectful behavior of certain people.

Imagine where I would be now if my then-undiagnosed ADHD symptoms were cared for rather than ridiculed, and the conditions for me developing a generalized anxiety disorder and near-all symptoms of PTSD never happened!


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Third Mind wrote:

Roundabouts in my hometown, in northern Indiana.

- My hometown (which I moved away from a few months ago) is planning on putting in a roundabout on an intersection right next to a hospital. Because... you know... ambulance's need a challenge.

Honestly, roundabouts have been nothing but good for us here. They've relieved traffic congestion immensely everywhere they've been installed. For example, when I lived with my parents there was a stoplight on the way home from work that every evening would be backed up for a block or more, sometimes even through the intersection before it. The DAY after the construction that turned that stoplight intersection into a roundabout was complete and traffic there was reopened, everything flowed smoothly through and there hasn't been a jam or backup there in over a year since.

But I do have to agree that putting one near a hospital is a massive bout of bad planning unless it's meant exclusively for incoming civilian traffic and there's a side entrance for emergency vehicles only.


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BigNorseWolf wrote:

At the park where i worked at we had a prison detail. They basically had the same job we did for about 4 hours, then went and hung out at their camp out in the park, hung out, worked out.

They didn't have to work in the rain
They didn't have to work belo 40ish? degrees
Always had lunch on time
has less supervision
And they were too scared to go into certain parts of the woods because of the rattlesnakes.

I often had to ask for a reminder why I couldn't just toss a supervisor through a woodchipper , be convicted, and have it be a move up for me.

A couple of times we were working in a section of the park with a lot of rattlesnakes around. While I don't do it with rattlesnakes, they'd seen me gently pick up very large black rat snakes and put them on my shoulders to move them out of the work area. So I get elected to check the area for snakes.

Walk around back and forth, covering the whole area.
Guy behind me is walking around and pretty much walking in my footsteps gets the ctchcthcthcthcthcthcth from a rattlesnake.

This happens multiple times.

"What the hell....Do you tell them to do that?

Advantage of being closely related to (Really)BigNorseSerpent?

Liberty's Edge

NobodysHome wrote:

At the risk of getting this thread locked (though I hope not):

The religions that most espouse charity and being kind to others are generally the same ones that engender radicals who espouse a "kill all others" approach to the universe.

Which is why this particular article amused me immensely.

Beware the Unitarian Jihad!


NobodysHome wrote:

At the risk of getting this thread locked (though I hope not):

The religions that most espouse charity and being kind to others are generally the same ones that engender radicals who espouse a "kill all others" approach to the universe.

Which is why this particular article amused me immensely.

On a serious and related note, there is an extremist group of Theravada Buddhists who advocate for and commit genocide against the Tamil people.


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I love roundabouts. Often I'll go around a couple of times just to relax and have plenty of time to figure out which exit to use.

I've got no idea how the multilane ones work though. Don't you just get trapped in the inner circle?

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