|
Post by Gene on Jul 21, 2016 20:53:13 GMT -5
My heart is grieved tonight as news of yet another shooting of an unarmed black man came out of North Miami today. The victim is a therapist who had entered the street to help one of his patients, a 23 year-old autistic man who was holding a toy truck that had been identified in a 911 call as a gun. The therapist, thankfully only shot in the leg and minorly injured, was on the ground with his hands up and complying with all of the police's orders when he was fired upon. When he asked why the cop shot him, the cop replied "I don't know". Please pray for a change in this nation so that events like this stop happening and that healing can begin. I'm honestly out of things to say about these shootings. It turns my stomach to hear that the therapist was shot because the cop was aiming for the patient and missed. We just have to do better and make sure that the voices with something positive to add are louder than the others.
|
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,695
|
Post by Confessor on Jul 21, 2016 22:18:07 GMT -5
Why when doing an unrelated google image search am I just now finding out there was a Jonah Hex movie? How did that pass under my radar? Stay away from it! Far away. Hide yourself.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 21, 2016 22:24:00 GMT -5
My heart is grieved tonight as news of yet another shooting of an unarmed black man came out of North Miami today. The victim is a therapist who had entered the street to help one of his patients, a 23 year-old autistic man who was holding a toy truck that had been identified in a 911 call as a gun. The therapist, thankfully only shot in the leg and minorly injured, was on the ground with his hands up and complying with all of the police's orders when he was fired upon. When he asked why the cop shot him, the cop replied "I don't know". Please pray for a change in this nation so that events like this stop happening and that healing can begin. I'm honestly out of things to say about these shootings. It turns my stomach to hear that the therapist was shot because the cop was aiming for the patient and missed. We just have to do better and make sure that the voices with something positive to add are louder than the others. I don't believe for a second that the cop was aiming for the patient and missed.
|
|
|
Post by Gene on Jul 21, 2016 22:41:34 GMT -5
I'm honestly out of things to say about these shootings. It turns my stomach to hear that the therapist was shot because the cop was aiming for the patient and missed. We just have to do better and make sure that the voices with something positive to add are louder than the others. I don't believe for a second that the cop was aiming for the patient and missed. I don't think anyone does, really.
|
|
|
Post by BigPapaJoe on Jul 22, 2016 1:19:57 GMT -5
So I've been in Macau a few days. I was in Hong Kong yesterday just for the heck of it. My wife was free and asked if I wanted to go. I said sure. I had been there before, but when we got there it didn't take long to remember why I'm not a huge fan of cosmopolitans. There are pluses and minuses of course. I just feel like a lot of the time the cons stick out more. Maybe it depends on the city. I remember living in San Francisco for a few years while I was in college and it gets old quick. The city is dirty, expensive, full of crazies, full of homeless, parking is a complete bitch, it's crowded in a lot of areas, public transportation is a nightmare, and someone is always getting hurt or worse every single day. The San Francisco weather is not that bad compared to a lot of other places though. We didn't get snow so that was a bonus. I remember going to Tokyo and it was a lot better of an overall experience I'll say that. It was cleaner, the people seemed very friendly if you needed help, and it was immensely quieter. Different cultures bring different aspects of course. I never lived in Tokyo though, so that's a key difference. I've only visited twice. I'm sure if I did live there I'd find things I'd have to start to tolerate.
Of course the one thing cities do have in spades are things to do. Whether it's shopping, meet ups, dining, public parks and recreation, events, festivals, clubs, there is always something happening. Just depends if it's worth the trade off for some. Living in Redwood City the last three plus years before I moved overseas, did get boring at times. Part of that is my fault of course as I didn't branch out as much as I should have. The bay area has loads of things to do whether you live in a place like San Francisco or not as it's close to other smaller town "cities", which are in turn all around the three major cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose.
I am curious how my visit to Taipei will go once I get the chance.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Jul 22, 2016 7:52:41 GMT -5
So I've been in Macau a few days. I was in Hong Kong yesterday just for the heck of it. My wife was free and asked if I wanted to go. I said sure. I had been there before, but when we got there it didn't take long to remember why I'm not a huge fan of cosmopolitans. There are pluses and minuses of course. I just feel like a lot of the time the cons stick out more. Maybe it depends on the city. I remember living in San Francisco for a few years while I was in college and it gets old quick. The city is dirty, expensive, full of crazies, full of homeless, parking is a complete bitch, it's crowded in a lot of areas, public transportation is a nightmare, and someone is always getting hurt or worse every single day. The San Francisco weather is not that bad compared to a lot of other places though. We didn't get snow so that was a bonus. I remember going to Tokyo and it was a lot better of an overall experience I'll say that. It was cleaner, the people seemed very friendly if you needed help, and it was immensely quieter. Different cultures bring different aspects of course. I never lived in Tokyo though, so that's a key difference. I've only visited twice. I'm sure if I did live there I'd find things I'd have to start to tolerate. Of course the one thing cities do have in spades are things to do. Whether it's shopping, meet ups, dining, public parks and recreation, events, festivals, clubs, there is always something happening. Just depends if it's worth the trade off for some. Living in Redwood City the last three plus years before I moved overseas, did get boring at times. Part of that is my fault of course as I didn't branch out as much as I should have. The bay area has loads of things to do whether you live in a place like San Francisco or not as it's close to other smaller town "cities", which are in turn all around the three major cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. I am curious how my visit to Taipei will go once I get the chance. I find this so fascinating . I've never lived anywhere but NY.
|
|
|
Post by BigPapaJoe on Jul 22, 2016 9:06:16 GMT -5
Something else happened when I arrived in Macau about a week ago. Something I wasn't sure how to share, because it was a little strange of an experience for me myself. On the flight coming over there was this man that sat across from me in another seating section. He was a white male, with short curly blonde hair on top, looked about 30 something, around 5'10". Didn't notice him much during the 14 hours other than him being asleep. Afterward when we land me, my wife, and my extended family are waiting in Hong Kong airport for the corresponding ferry to take us to Macau. At that point the stranger is there as well. This isn't uncommon as some of the people that arrived in Hong Kong on our flight would naturally being taking a ferry over to Macau. This person then decides to make conversation with me and my wife saying that he saw us on the same flight. We remember and then strike up a little conversation. Which then carries over to the ferry when we decide to sit next to each other.
The man tells me he's works in finance as a vice president of a company and essentially travels every week to different places as a hobby. He's originally from Russia, but grew up in Israel during a major part of his youth. He served some time in the Israeli military before going to grad school at Harvard. He makes his living in Boston, but travels every week "just because". He's only 30 with no strings attached and genuinely seems like a nice guy. You know how I had been talking about the green grass recently? Well this person was the green grass personified literally before my eyes. He seemed to have the life that I'm sure a lot of people would love to have. A lot of guys anyway. It almost sounded too good to be true though, and at first in the back of my mind I was wondering who I was really dealing with here. He decided to make a detour to Macau because he had some time and wanted to explore. He had heard of Macau's existence only because it was referenced in a James Bond film. So he decided to spend a day there upon landing in Hong Kong airport. Our conversation goes along well and we decide that if we have time we can hang out the next day. My wife being a Macau native thinks it would be a good idea if we all go to dim sum the next morning so that we can showcase some nice Cantonese cuisine. We also bring along another friend of ours, a girl who is also native to Macau. So it's the four of us the next morning at dim sum, and he tells us all about how he spent the evening exploring Macau and taking photos. Even in the blistering heat and humidity he enjoyed himself. Also, the more photos I see of his past escapades, the more I'm convinced this jack is the real deal and just living a nice fantasy life. My feeling of apprehension begins to dissipate.
We have some time before his ferry leaves back to Hong Kong, so our other friend that can drive in Macau takes us to the adjacent island across the bridge called Coloane. The plan is to see the panda exhibit which is actually close to the residence I'll be living at soon. So we attend the exhibit which in my opinion was a little disappointing as the panda we saw simply slept, which isn't surprising of course. As I get older I'm starting to discover I'm having a lot more mixed feelings regarding zoos and other facilities with animals in captivity. However that's a discussion for another time. Anyways, after that we had back to the ferry terminal. On the way the stranger (only still saying that for internet anonymity purposes) tells us more about his heritage. About his time in the military and how he was involved in two wars. Including invading Lebanon in 2006. He was a sniper and I believe unfortunately had to take the lives of maybe more than a few people. I didn't ask for details, and he certainly didn't glorify anything he shared. Nor did he find an opportunity to tell us just because. It was due to me and my wife simply asking more about where he has been at in life that the talk of his military past soaked through. He made it out of the military in decent shape overall, but he had some shrapnel in his shoulder and also can't hear in his left ear now. When I was being told this I started to clam up, just because as an American I was completely oblivious, and still am to politics surrounding that part of the world. In 2006 while I was working my second job at REI, playing video games, and watching the 49ers lose this person was in armed conflict. I wasn't sure how to react. I didn't even know about relations regarding the US and Israel. Or Lebanon. How would a more educated person react to what I was hearing? Perhaps it was best I didn't know anything and just be content with my uneducated self. It was a weird experience that I don't remember ever having with someone else.
Still, me and my wife both made a good friend. He regularly posts his adventures on Facebook. He told us he plans to go scuba diving in Australia next week. That's one of his hobbies. I'm sure he'll have a good time. The funny thing is that he kept saying I was lucky one and that he was jealous of my situation. I could only smirk and chuckle along saying something like "yeah sure, I'm the lucky one". It was almost like the green grass was trying to be sympathetic to my situation. Next week he'll be on some other continent partying it up, deep sea diving, and probably hooking up with some girl scratching another notch on his belt. Then he'll return to Boston, and do the same thing again a few days later in a new country. But I'm the lucky one. Har, har, har, har.
What did Picard say in that one TNG episode to Riker that one time? "Sometimes, Number One, you just have to bow to the absurd! (lolz)...."
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jul 22, 2016 9:36:31 GMT -5
My heart is grieved tonight as news of yet another shooting of an unarmed black man came out of North Miami today. The victim is a therapist who had entered the street to help one of his patients, a 23 year-old autistic man who was holding a toy truck that had been identified in a 911 call as a gun. The therapist, thankfully only shot in the leg and minorly injured, was on the ground with his hands up and complying with all of the police's orders when he was fired upon. When he asked why the cop shot him, the cop replied "I don't know". Please pray for a change in this nation so that events like this stop happening and that healing can begin. I'm honestly out of things to say about these shootings. It turns my stomach to hear that the therapist was shot because the cop was aiming for the patient and missed. We just have to do better and make sure that the voices with something positive to add are louder than the others. I just read the excuse from the police union on this shooting. The officer thought that the other man had a weapon and was going to harm the therapist, so he opened fire. Couple of problems here: 1. The therapist established right out of the gate that the "weapon" was a toy truck, so there was no reason for the officer to contend it might have been a weapon. 2. If the officer truly was firing at the other man and missed that badly, he needs to be strapped to a desk for the rest of his career, because there is no way someone who shoots that poorly should be on the street with a gun. 3. Because it was established it wasn't a gun, even if the officer thought the autistic man was a threat to the therapist, couldn't he have stopped any potential harm without resorting to his gun? Sleeping on this did nothing for my mood. I'm so saddened this happened and pray that America can figure it out before it's too late to come back from the brink.
|
|
|
Post by Bronze Age Brian on Jul 22, 2016 12:09:56 GMT -5
Took the family to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom last week. They have a new Joker coaster that came out in May that I really wanted to try but it was temporarily closed by the time we got over there to ride it. My eight year old daughter (who has never ridden coasters let alone extreme ones) decided she wanted to go on the Superman ride to the right of Joker, which I was trying to avoid. Not sure if age has something to do with it, I used to love roller coasters but Superman looked way too intense. A guy my age in front of me was absolutely terrified, and once we got up to the ride I was too. The thing fly's by at a speed I've never seen on a coaster. They nailed the speeding bullet part of the ride, it was very intimidating. I survived the ride but had a huge headache after. My daughter loved it. Go figure. As we left the park, the Joker coaster flew by us, indicating it was now open. Ha HA Ha! We got trolled by the Joker. ![](http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx359/graVitii/sixflags_zpskieifvgt.jpg)
|
|
|
Post by impulse on Jul 22, 2016 14:02:02 GMT -5
What I want to know is why does it seem so many officers are starting with lethal force? Why are they not using tasers first and then escalating as needed? Surely there must be some viable non-lethal methods that should be made the standard go-to before running in and shooting. If there is a reason this is not feasible, okay, I would like to hear it, because as it stands it makes no sense to me.
|
|
|
Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jul 22, 2016 15:15:30 GMT -5
So hondobrode ... searching for Travis Charest art today, I find your tumblr page. Nice collection of his art. I have those Wildcats stock card set of that exact art. Amazing how detailed and precise his art is. No wonder it took him a year to do Wildcats/X-Men.
|
|
|
Post by impulse on Jul 24, 2016 14:55:08 GMT -5
Oh, I LOVE Travis Charest, too. He is probably my favorite comic book artist, and you could easily call his work "art" in a more traditional sense, as well. If he is slow it's for a reason.
|
|
|
Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jul 24, 2016 21:33:41 GMT -5
Oh, I LOVE Travis Charest, too. He is probably my favorite comic book artist, and you could easily call his work "art" in a more traditional sense, as well. If he is slow it's for a reason. Since I picked up Wildcats #18 off a spinner rack at a book store he's consciously or subconsciously been my barometer for every one else's art. I just can't help it.
|
|
Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
Posts: 3,924
|
Post by Crimebuster on Jul 24, 2016 22:25:14 GMT -5
Just got back from a trip to NYC. Of course, I visited the really important tourist sites, like this one: That's a bag of Archie back issues I'm hiding behind my back. There's a nice comic shop a few blocks away.
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 24, 2016 22:33:40 GMT -5
Just got back from a trip to NYC. Of course, I visited the really important tourist sites, like this one: That's a bag of Archie back issues I'm hiding behind my back. There's a nice comic shop a few blocks away. Hope you had time to check out Avenger's Mansion and The Baxter Building. And then there's the plaque at the United Nations commemorating the times Magneto and Doctor Doom held ambassadors hostage. Yancy Street was just a few blocks from where your picture was taken
|
|