[News] strange happenings of 2015

[Chuckman]

I don't always sign online petitions. When I do, it's to help stop two women from being gang raped.

Jesus Christ on a cracker.

[Bagheera]

I swear to God I'm not making this shit up.

You aren't making it up, but it sounds like that story's bogus.

[soul.assassin]

When in doubt, I use Snopes to check.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34409635

Leopard has a pot in his head.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34374121?post_id=894750790608969_894750787275636

"US man sets petrol pump alight over spider."

[Lavinius]

Two innocent women in India sentenced to be Gang Raped and paraded around naked for the crimes of their brother.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/villagers-deny-indian-sisters-rape-punishment-claims-10480865.html

It took me a while to understand what was going on here, because it seemed exceedingly bizarre that the sisters of the man are the ones being punished. For the stereotype of "patriarchal misogyny" is that the woman who elopes or is raped is punished, not the man. And yet here it's the other way around. Which is more progressive & feminist, if you think about it.

Also why is Gang Rape capitalized?

I thought India was supposed to be forward thinking!

What, the whole country? Certainly, the Indian government (viz. Honorary Britannians) continues to serve the memes introduced by their imperial forefathers, but the countless unconverted Indian peoples certainly aren't so colonialized!

Not to mention India is a massive country, whose populations has been growing at a ridiculous rate. These sorts of ancient cultures weren't destroyed by the British after they united the country, nor by the British successor government. And for every one that survived, as the population doubles or triples, each one of these Aryan communities doubles or triples! (obvious idealization is obvious)

Edit: I forgot to point out that the bloody story Ray links to considers it dubious! I was going to add that, honest! But even what Bagheera linked doesn't definitively disprove it, so...

[Gob Hobblin]

Depending on where it's happening in India, it could actually be factual: elders in a lot of the outlying villages have ridiculous amounts of power, and tend to apply the law how they feel it should be applied. Combined with a lot of misogyny that's rife throughout the rural area (and definitely in the urban areas), and you have a very bad mixture.

[Chuckman]

I could swear I heard about a different, similar case before.

[BobBQ]

GPR reportedly shows two additional chambers in tomb of Tutankhamun.

Article has now been revised to say they're planning to use GPR on the tomb, which makes this more hype than actual news.

[r1cepurin]

Peeple app planning to launch this November


I'm sorry, but this is a horrible idea. I don't care if anyone tells me I'm paranoid or something, this actually scares me because something like this means that our privacy and individuality can be just taken away from us as a species if this app catches on. It's okay for this sort of thing to be put out for say, a restaurant such as what Yelp does, but these are fucking people. People becoming these products you just rate and comment on is just insane.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I'm sorry, but this is a horrible idea. I don't care if anyone tells me I'm paranoid or something, this actually scares me because something like this means that our privacy and individuality can be just taken away from us as a species if this app catches on. It's okay for this sort of thing to be put out for say, a restaurant such as what Yelp does, but these are fucking people. People becoming these products you just rate and comment on is just insane.

I was under the impression that this product already existed, and that it was called Facebook.

Also, keep in mind that a person cannot be negatively reviewed unless they have an account; while an account can be created on somebody else's behalf, the app will need to have a feature built in that allows people to remove these profiles if they do not wish for one to exist. Combine all that with libel and existing privacy laws, and this app will likely be relatively harmless.

[r1cepurin]

I was under the impression that this product already existed, and that it was called Facebook.

Also, keep in mind that a person cannot be negatively reviewed unless they have an account; while an account can be created on somebody else's behalf, the app will need to have a feature built in that allows people to remove these profiles if they do not wish for one to exist. Combine all that with libel and existing privacy laws, and this app will likely be relatively harmless.

Facebook is different because it doesn't have a distinct rating system as this does.

And besides that, I clearly stated that these will only be valid fears if the app catches on. On the other hand, personal privacy has been pressing for awhile. I mean personally, I'm not as nervous about it as other people could be, but it's scary for anyone who may use it for malicious reasons, since this is literally Yelp for humans. This is sort of why I don't use my real name or info on my facebook as opposed to what is encouraged.

What I was also trying to get at is that, people are people. They are not products, which is an idea that making an app like this helps erase.

[Lavinius]

Obviously not really what I had in mind, but still worth a giggle.

[Ray]

OnlyinFlorida

[Alaska Slim]

Russia conscripts 150,000 into its military.

Uh...

[NemZ]

Well, since the 'no politics' tag hasn't been officially reinstated...

Not for a full-on ground war with ISIS and the inevitable 'peaceful occupation' that will follow it doesn't. Russia has ties to Syria and getting involved in this as an ally of the NATO usual complicates matters with regards to the Ukraine situation and maintaining those trade sanctions.

And why not them? The US certainly isn't going to help any time soon because both sides in that fight are bad news and there's no way Obama wants to undermine his legacy of ending the Bush wars by entering another one in the same region on the way out the door.

[soul.assassin]

In trying to set the hawks loose, he seems to have forgotten one thing: Afghanistan.

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http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/10/gigabytes-of-user-data-from-hack-of-patreon-donations-site-dumped-online
http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/10/highly-personal-data-for-15-million-t-mobile-applicants-stolen-by-hackers/

I bet my left lung they'll use the databases for which to bilk more money from the potential would-be victims, then go out and burn the cash in a one-month orgy in Thailand or the roulette in Monte Carlo.

[Ray]

I'm fairly certain this will be the start of Cold War Part II

[Lavinius]

Take your kids to see Nick Land!
T O P K E K

[chee]

Take your kids to see Nick Land!
T O P K E K

NO DAD I DON'T WANNA RIDE THE MACHINIC DESIRE SCHIZOCOASTER

[Ray]

Will there be an Avatar/Legend of Korra themed land?

If not then I'll pass.

[Mr. Tines]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11906357/Bus-driver-and-motorist-involved-in-bizarre-hour-long-stand-off.html (beware autoplay video)