fakeitormakeit2

So I haven't played since about before the New Year and I'm considering playing again. Any watershed updates? Appreciated, thanks in advance.

I just finished reading The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know by Gelvin. He's probably the most impartial American scholar on the Middle East. I didn't learn anything substantial from this particular book, but it was refreshing as it was essentially a concise summary of all events necessary to understand the current status of the Middle East. This book was also extremely up-to-date, as I'm pretty sure it was released this month. Now I'd like to focus on finishing Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room which I never finished. It's an interesting read about the events of the Enron scandal.

People who keep "inadvertently" grinding up against you on a packed subway.

Well then, it appears I am a douche. My apologies to Azvareth, I was wrongfully assuming things. And xVertigo, I didn't think you were referring to my piece; I just feel artistic context is essential to the work itself, be it a tattoo or a sculpture [but I think that's just my personal preference].

In response to Christian fundamentalism (although I'd assume you are more than likely referring more so to literalism), I would just like to mention that I particularly feel it stems from an inability to properly read a text (in this case, the books of the Bible) in its proper context. There are certain cultural and linguistic weights attached to each book of the Bible and it has taken years upon years of textual and source criticism, as well as historical knowledge, to even break the surface. Fundamentalism arrises out of the idea that one can simply pick up the Bible and read it and do as it says literally. The Bible is not one work nor is it written as an easy-to-use instruction manual; it's not even all in the same language (and even within that, the original language of some sections is debated). An example I like to use that is susceptible to idiotic religiosity without proper context is the "number of the beast" found in Revelation. It is translated as 666, but it is actually [in Greek and Aramaic sources alike] numerical values when translated to their alphabetic equivalents spell cognates of Nero Caesar; an Aramaic source of Revelation even completely omits 666 and means Nero by name. Scholars widely agree that Revelation is a historical book written in cryptic criticism of how Nero was a jerk (which also explains the beast) rather than a book prophesying eventual earthly destruction. Another example is Jesus's turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, etc. These phrases taken alone seem extremely passive and weak, whereas in the context of 30CE Palestine they make a lot more sense. Turn the other cheek is a sassy nonviolent response, as it makes your face only able to be hit by either your enemy's left hand or the backhand of their right, which both would have resulted in their fining and social ridicule if they're your peer. In terms of going the extra mile, Roman soldiers were only permitted to press inhabitants of provinces into service of carrying their equipment to the next milestone; if they forced you to carry it for more than one, they'd be fined for breaking the law. Keep in mind a lot of the stories told by the Gospel writers are probably clever retroactively applied stories, so they've had time to think them out. That means there is specific numerology and symbology where things are seemingly nonsensical. If you pay attention to the Last Supper, Jesus specifically blesses three cups but does not finish his fourth; any orthopractic Jew or Biblical scholar can identify this is referencing the four cups used at Passover and there's a specifically symbolic omission of the fourth cup because Jesus is suppose to implicitly be the fourth. There are countless other examples in the NT; the Biblical books require particular scholarly inspection to understand, and when they're just read like a novel it is obviously misconstrued by literalists. Often the Bible is just assumed to be some silly religious work without even being read (forget about being properly read). Even to an atheist, as a literary work the symbolism and cultural references, if the cultural context is understood, is highly fascinating on the level of literary studies. Of course, every Christian is incapable of studying the Bible in depth, so they must rely on what textual scholars conclude. Religion, without proper textual and theological understanding, is worthless ritual; that's basically what literalists have. I've also noticed, many Christians lose their faith when they realize much of the Bible can actually be rationalize as retrospective account and is not God prophesying. However, someone keeps asking what the "Christian moderate" is and not to play the semantics game but that's an extremely vague term. Define for me the beliefs of the moderate conservative, I'm sure your definition will vary from everyone else's.

Reading your post makes me concede the fact I spoke too quickly. However, I do think that the personal semiotics is important for a tattoo, although as you mentioned, that's not relevant when it comes to the aesthetic value. I guess personal value is most important in the end because, after all, the person is the one who must wear it. On a side note, not to be pedantic (it might just be because I go to NYU and art is almost unavoidable) but you mentioned not caring why the Starry Night was painted and context, purpose and motivation for a painting are actually extremely interesting aspects. A well-rounded understanding of an artwork brings something from the level of looking aesthetically pleasing at first glance to something that can be truly appreciated (hence as to why certain art historians say you can't even fully appreciate prehistoric art as we lack proper context). @Azvareth's second post, wobbly Catholic cross? That is already an erroneous misinterpretation of the symbology (wobbly, I could care less about because it's the way I'm standing. However, people who conflate terms have a special place in hell in the academic world); don't try to make subtly insulting remarks because I accidentally said something that rubbed you the wrong way with no bad intent. Learn to civilly disagree without snide remarks by reading xVertigo's post.

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I ended up probably spending probably $500 in books on Amazon, but because of my area of study I use a lot of primary source books (The Prince, The Histories, Leviathan, etc.) so singularly they're not that expensive, but 20-30 or so per semester add up. In terms of textbooks, I only had to buy two this semester that I got used on Amazon for like $80 total, and our professor got us a free online version of another. But yes, when other people say textbooks, is that inclusive of books like classical political theory and religious texts, or do they mean it in the strictest sense of a hard covered book that is encyclopedic?

Oh. Silly me. Well, thanks to everyone who helped me out.

So I started A Clockwork Syringe and defeated the Barrelchest follow without anticipating there would be a fight (so I had some HP damage and didn't bring food). Before continuing the quest, I teleported to GE to sell somethings and eat some food. I hate like 10 trout and my HP was still at 620 so I thought maybe trout was for some reason removed from items that heal your HP. So, I ate a few pieces of lobster, same thing. I just ate the lobster and my HP stayed at 620; it didn't even regenerate. I logged in and out thinking maybe that would help and ate some more trout, to no avail. Is this normal to A Clockwork Syringe, and if not what should I do?

^Only a noob if you don't enjoy what you do.

Thanks everyone for your inputs. This seemed to be an a good differing range of opinions, perhaps I should've put this in the questionnaire subforum haha.

I'm curious to ask what is considered a small cash pile, a sizable cash pile and a more wealthy cash pile/bank value. Obviously to some degree the answer is subjective based on relative perspective, but I'm asking for a general, common idea of these ranges. Thank you.

What does the circle around the skill icon at the top of the screen signify? I thought perhaps it represented the percentage of xp til your next level in that respective skill because it fills the more xp you get, but I have 170k to my next level and its full already.

@Crocefisso, I totally agree with what you've said about coffee. My dad is from Rome, and he always rants about how American coffee is not coffee haha. Oh, and I forgot one more thing that really annoys me. Girls who complain that every guy is a jerk, yet they themselves don't act like a lady; if they want a gentleman, they should act accordingly.

People who lack basic etiquette, like people who start eating before everyone has food or guys who are sitting while there are older people without seats.

Just as background before I disclose my religious beliefs, I would like to note I've extensively studied religious traditions in college (as it is relevant to my major) from the Quran to the Adi Granth, so I'm a decently versed individual in these matters. I've formally studied theology for the last 6 years. Basically, what I've come to after years of study of my own religious tradition (Syriac/Maronite) and the study of various others is the following (essentially a mix of Origen, Augustine and Teilhard de Chardin): The universe is panentheistic, which makes God essentially everything plus more (i.e. everything resides in God, but God is not synonymous with the universe). Now the universe consists of two distinctions, the essence (the uncreated aspect, God) and the energies (the created aspect, basically everything else). Everything living thing has an amount of this essence (think of it as a soul) contingent upon their complexity of consciousness. This makes all human beings legitimized fragments of God, as it does everything else. Human beings, taking into account free will, have the capacity for good (as they are made from the ultimate good), but they also have the capacity to act in the absence of that good (i.e. evil, but there is no evil. It's like how there's truly no "cold," there's just relatively less heat). Throughout life we collect gnosis (knowledge) which is what distinguishes us from other fragments of essence (and hence one can tell this is a non-incarnating ideology). Because there is no evil, but an absence of good, the compelling reason behind doing good is that it is deontological and ultimately doing what is "ordered" as opposed to "unordered" is what produces lasting fulfillment, whereas selfish deeds in the absence of good produce fleeting happiness and a lack of gnosis. Good deeds and human interaction exhibit a certain resonance between individual essences (love being the highest resonance, although not necessarily erotic love, any form; agape, philia, love for wisdom, ascetic discipline, etc.), whereas the absence of good lacks that. Prayer is the attempted resonance with the essence in God, and God can interact with anything that has essence. When everyone dies, their essence (with their earthly gnosis) returns to the rest of the "free essence" (i.e. God) regardless of earthly behavior (similar to the belief of apocatastasis). Their judgment is essentially self-imposed; if they acted well in their life (collecting gnosis and resonating well with others), this nebulous afterlife will consist of an exchange of gnosis and love, and by extension be paradise. If they constantly acted in a manner that was absent of good, then they will suffer as they are attached to the ultimate "pool" of love for one another and happiness. However, they is always the chance to being penitent and truly reconcile (i.e. this opens the possibility for universal salvation and non-eternal damnation). The implications for life on earth: (1) treat others well, for they share in the essence of God as much as you do regardless of how they act, your actions should be independent from the way others act; no one is inherently evil, (2) forgive and serve unlimitedly (there are no unforgivable offenses); the way you treat others is ultimately the treatment of yourself, (3) life isn't about being perfect, so much as reconciling for mistakes made, (4) suffering is never useless; it's always a learning experience as on the most basic level it results in gnosis, (5) you have to play with the cards you've been dealt; being incline to acting a certain way does not excuse you from acting in a disordered fashion. With that being said, nothing pisses me off more than people who judge others, say others are going to burn in hell, belittle one another and act unforgivingly. Like the biblethumpers who say gays are evil and are going to burn; now I don't believe that gays should get married (I don't think marriage is an inherent right to begin with, but that's entirely another debate and this is only an example) but who is to say, other than God, that a gay person acts any less justly than me? Perhaps this judgmental person will be the one "burning" and the other person will be in a paradisal afterlife; this hypothetical gay person is a person first, sexuality is an incidental characterstic.

A potentially positive topic seems refreshing. I wish Jagex well, seems to be not as bad as before I took a break a few months ago.

And so it begins again.

Thanks ghjkl. and @Sy_Accursed, do you think your condescending response was constructive? Of course I was looking for an opinionated response, someone could've thought every or no update was worth the time; I was getting a general idea. But I doubt someone is going to tell me of a graphics update if they added a new slayer dungeon.

So I've been really busy with college since September and my membership ended so I didn't renew it. I've started playing again because of winter break though. The question: What have I missed since September? What is worthwhile?

Does anyone have any advice for getting over this girl I've been with for a couple years? It's a completely out of the ordinary situation and no one relates to me. So I feel like I fell in love with this girl at first sight, her laugh and personality were intoxicating. I needed to find out who she was (which was quite easy, as she was in a clique of girls who I've known the other girls for over 10yrs.). Anyway, after being meek with her for a few months, we finally started getting a bit more serious. For a year and a half after that, everything was perfect between us; we had only fought once or twice and we resolved the issue on the spot. She had been diagnosed with clinical depression, but she was medicated and she said being with me made her feel she never had a problem. Fast forwarding to this year, she had to pick between staying in New York or going to her dream school in Miami, which she got a full ride to. I obviously told her that wasn't even a question and she should go to Florida, which she eventually ended up deciding upon. Her parents divorced and her mother soon after got diagnosed with cancer for the third time, but I was there for her all the time; I helped her father move boxes from their house, and I helped did little chores to help out her mom, I was also there for emotional support. I loved her, in her strengths and her imperfections. She left for Miami as I left for my beach house, and it was a very tear-filled goodbye, with the exchanging of gifts (I gave her a decorated wooden box which I added souvenirs from our adventures, and a letter for each of the last 100days). She spoke to me regularly for a month. Then in September she stopped speaking to me. She blocked me and about 300 other people on Facebook, essentially everyone from where she's from, including childhood friends and high school friends. The only people she left were the siblings of some of her close friends and my best friend (suspicious). She sent me a message a week later saying she loved me and didn't want to see anyone else, she apologized for not speaking to me and said she went to the hospital because she collapsed of dehydration and malnutrition because she wasn't eating because of her depression. I obviously was worried sick. That was last I heard from her from September to December. Nonetheless, I tried calling her daily and sending her a letter every week. until in late-October, my best friend showed me pictures on her Facebook of her with another guy, OBVIOUSLY not "just" friends. She posted all this passive aggressive shit on her Tumblr as well. I was obviously extremely upset and left her a voicemail saying I hoped she was happy with her choices and if we weren't already done, we were done for sure now. I've been really struggling with being without her to say the least and I have a therapist who is absolutely useless. I still can't get my mind off her. Fast-forward to this weekend, I have finals and papers and what not, but instead I wanted to see her because I knew she had come home because she told me when she was coming home in early september. I took a 2hr bus ride from my college to visit. Her family was having a party but she was momentarily out; however, her family invited me in and asked me to stay for dinner (I spoke to her sister at the table and no one knew about our breaking off, she hadn't spoken to her sister since Oct). When she got home, she dragged me out of her house. She started crying about how sorry she was and she couldn't even give me an explanation because she didn't even have one for herself. She said how she is such an evil and horrible person. She apparently ignored not only me, her friends but also her dying mother. She said she was essentially drunk for the last 2months every day and she spent all her savings ($4000) on cigarettes and alcohol. She said the people she had befriended were the type who didn't care if you woke up in the morning. She said how much she missed me and how I deserve so much better. She obviously has problems, so she said she understands if I scream at her and hate her but instead I forgave her and said I'd be there for her forever. She also said that guy meant nothing. Everyone else hates her while she's here, so I thought I would speak to her to keep her company and I still love her, I just want to see her happy. Now she has stopped talking to me once again after I found out that guy in her pictures is actually her new boyfriend that she was cheating on me with. I don't think I can take much more. I don't want to abandon her, but she keeps playing with me like this. All her friends already gave up on her months ago. I just don't know what to do; I still love her. I couldn't even stand to look at another girl for this time apart from her, and I've put so much into her, I don't understand why she would act like this.

Well I have two separate sets of clothes, one at school and then one at home. I try to keep things monochromatic for the most part, it makes things easier. Overall I probably have: -6 Suits -20 Dress Shirts -20 T-Shirts -20 Polos -10 Pairs of Jeans (6 black, 3 gray, 1 white) -15 Scarves -10 Pairs of shoes -15 Nice Sweaters Usually, my outfit for a normal day is just jeans with a sweater over a polo or dress shirt and a scarf. Not a fan of t-shirts.

Talk to an admin. That does nothing. That's why I now use an account called fakeitormakeit2. There hasn't been a time that an admin couldn't help me out. Maybe you're doing it wrong. That's a very fitting response from someone like you.

I guess just because a soldier is the representative of the force of a country, that automatically legitimatizes their violence? And whoever said my comment was antisemitic, first I'm a Semite, and I am not self-hating. Secondly, the point of my comment was entirely the opposite, I said Arabs do not have a problem with Jews, that is not the issue at all and whoever makes that the issue is an idiot. Jews lived peacefully in Arab countries along side Arabs, which my grandparents would openly say. The issue is a bunch of Westerners who invaded and laid claim to land that did not belong to them, that's what Arabs resent. The religion of the occupying people is incidental to the resentment.