ThunderPeel2001

Here's a recent photo of me... ...deep in contemplation.

How does all of this work? Emails?

Haha. I guess so. Still I like to know I've "completed" a section before moving on... but you're right: It could be much worse!

It looks like if you play the game well enough you can unlock all of the upgrades anyway? Still loving just how slick this game is. It's feels like a great primer for the Batman canon. I'd never even heard of Bane or Harley Quinn before this, but now I feel I'm getting all the basic information I need to appreciate their characters. A nice bonus! One slightly annoying thing: You can't get all the Riddler things on your first time through a section, you've got to go back once you've unlocked new gadgets.

Right, and culturally there is a sense or belief that there are major differences between an African and a European, and that those differences are more profound than say something like, eye colour or height or skin colour, and, most importantly, that this belief has some science to back it up. Which is incorrect. The above thinking has lead to racist beliefs being justified in many people's minds, for example, the Nazi belief of a "master race". Or, on a larger scale, that people themselves can be judged by these differences. As Dan says, education can be used to dispel these myths, so at least people are aware that these so-called "obvious" divisions are as only equally significant as blonde hair or being tall and thin. Thus using such beliefs to pre-judge someone becomes obviously rather silly. (Of course, if someone wants to hold onto those beliefs, they can and will, but hopefully through education they'll at least be aware that science doesn't see the same divisions their eyes do, and thus the word "race" in a human context is pretty much meaningless.)

Correctly using the word "race" has got nothing to do with historical connotations, it's just science. As I say, it's become a very confusing word. Given what we know now, it's just good to be aware that talking about the African "race" and the European "race" is technically like talking about the British "race" or the "brown haired" race. As Dan pointed out, there are more genetic differences between two people from two different African nations than there are between an African and a European -- yet (presumably) because of how visually orientated human beings are, we look at skin colour and other visual cues, and consider those things significant. To reiterate, it's not about being opinionated in a way that is different from me, it's just about understanding how relevant/irrelevant race actually is.

Her Wolf O'Donnell costume is pretty amazing, too. (Although I have no real conception of who that is.) http://furincosplay.blogspot.com/2011/07/wolf-odonnell.html

Every "difference" you've described is purely physical. It's no different than saying blonde haired people are more prone to sub-burn or red haired people are more likely to have freckles. In other words the differences are meaningless, and are no basis for any real or important distinction. For some reason modern society has latched on to skin colour or ethnicity to describe "race", when really, as Dan points out, science tells us that these definitions are not reflected genetically. As I said before, "race" is one of the most misused and misunderstood words around.

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The differences you describe do not amount to a sub-species. Just because there are visual differences due to genetic heredity does not equal a "race". Or rather, it does, but only in the same way that red haired people are a race, or that British people are a race. In other words, it's meaningless.

Thanks, Kroms. I feel like a big pussy, but it was very disconcerting to see my high street being damaged like that. It's hard to explain. Even though I wasn't in direct danger, it still freaked me out quite a bit. Anyways, it seems like it's all blown over now.

Indeed, anti-depressants + therapy has shown to be the most successful treatment. Top tips: It's normal for side-effects (if you get any) to subside after a few weeks. And when you decide to stop taking tablets, don't go cold turkey. Taper off in order to reduce the same or worse side-effects.

I share those sentiments. When I'm feeling happy, the universe is an amazing thing, but when I feel depressed/anxious (as has been sparked by these silly riots, and by recent bouts of loneliness) it starts looking scary again. Keep in there

http://photoshoplooter.tumblr.com/

Very well put Also very sad to hear Boris Johnson's attempt to prevent any attempts at looking at government decisions as a possible factor. Yeah, that's right Boris, trying to learn why we're suddenly having the worst riots in 30 years is a silly thing. Let's ignore the cause and just focus on the problem... Ugh.

A teensy bit negative there Here's another photo I took, from today. The police had cordoned off the street in four directions (where all the looting had taken place). In the distance you can see the burnt out remains of the shop and flat I mentioned before. Yet despite all this, the atmosphere was one of positivity and togetherness. It was heart-warming to see stop many people with brooms out there, coming to help clean up our streets from all over London.

Yep, I think that's right. Hopefully the pressure valve has been released now. I can't imagine it continuing tonight.

Well in the cold light of day, people are asking more questions about "why", and I have to agree that it is a bit simplistic to say it's "mindless" (not singling you out, Rodi, it's what I wrote, too). It was certainly opportunistic, but I suppose there has to be a reason the thought it was OK do this to their own communities. I was listening to some riot expert/professory type and he was saying that there had to be underlying reasons, as the people who did what they did, did so with full awareness. What made them think it was OK? What made them not care about the police? Not care about their own community? I worry that there's a sad message beneath all of this: The Government having cut too deeply into these peoples' lives through public services, and ended up making them feel no longer part of their community, their city, without any propects. Some might say that's liberal-minded nonsense, and I don't have a lot to counter that, but I did hear that the areas that got hit have 30% youth unemployment. I can certainly understand that if you feel you've not future, you've got nothing to lose, so why not just say, "fuck it". Nobody else cares about you, right? Anyways, it's all a bit scary and upsetting. Especially with having happened right outside my front door. Here's some photos I took last night as things were still going on. I think every shop in the high street had broken windows, and you could watch opportunists nipping into them. The police arrived but did nothing, being massively under-prepared. Shortly after I left the looters set fire to a local shop with flats above it (possibly by accident, I don't know).

It's really not good. There's no reason behind this, just mindless frustration being taken out on local shop owners. I literally watched from 20 feet away as a group of five or six hooded youths decided to smash and ransack our locally owned corner shop. People were just walking past, some were looters, and so walked in, too. Through the broken window I stood and watched as they smashed this little store to bits, looking for money. Eventually people came out, carrying bags of booze. One of the opportunist looters said to me, bottles of whiskey in hand, "go grab yourself a drink!". I looked at him, not wanting a confrontation, but not about to go and start looting. "Did you break that window?", he asked. I shook my head, "So go and grab some booze", he rationalized. A few minutes after getting home, the news said that two shops had been set fire to. At least one of them with flats with people living above them. With the city in chaos there wasn't any fire trucks available, even though we live right next to a station. According to the news, they eventually they came. Hopefully nobody was hurt. In all my local high street has been totally ransacked. Almost every shop having been broken into and damaged in some way. Even Clinton Cards, FFS (who they hell goes looting for greeting cards and party balloons?). It's a horrible mess. The whole thing has led to more copycat riots across the country, so it's not even localised to London anymore. This is what I wanted to yell: http://www.twitvid.com/4JTZH

So right outside where I live is one of the centres of the riots here in London. I went out into it and took some photos. Yes, that was a bit silly. I'm all safe, but a little shocked.

I still don't understand. Cultural definitions exist, and they're studying the history of a given culture. It's no different than studying Jewish History or American History, for that matter. Biology isn't relevant at all. Something like that

African-American studies is about the history and culture of African-Americans...? You're confusing me, subbes!

Sure, that's why I said culturally. There's no reliable scientific backing "races" even existing.

Hmm. I feel troubled by this. What do you mean? The word "race" is overused and pretty much meaningless. British people are a race. People with freckles are a race. To put it another way: Any people connected by genetically transferable traits are a race (this is the definition of the word). The difference between someone from an African ancestors and a European ancestors is as biologically significant as hair colour. If you mean cultural differences, then of course, but I don't know what you mean by differences in "race" as race doesn't really exist (and people tend to get hung up on skin colour as "proof" of a different race -- presumably because humans are very visually orientated). I think race must be one of the most misunderstood words around.

I just renamed it after I downloaded it so I'd know what it was later.