Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

Occluded Sun · Post by **Occluded Sun** » Fri Jun 03, 2016 8:51 pm

Didn't the political experts also predict that Trump would fall out of the race? The man who's now the presumptive candidate?

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Fri Jun 03, 2016 9:16 pm

Occluded Sun wrote:Didn't the political experts also predict that Trump would fall out of the race? The man who's now the presumptive candidate?

Polls-based models had Trump ahead from very early on, but pretty much everyone expected his standing in the polls to collapse or the field to consolidate around a more "respectable" candidate and leave him in something not unlike Sanders' position. That turned out to be a mistake. This time around, the polls-based models give Clinton a pretty good chance of victory. It will be a close race, because the vast majority of voters are very partisan and as a result it's difficult to have anything but close races, but nonetheless evidence suggests it's Clinton's election to lose and betting against her requires the same sort of "I know better than the numbers" that had everyone wrong about Trump to begin with.

That is a situation subject to change, of course - the general election hasn't even really begun, and there's a lot that could happen to change those polling numbers in the coming months.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:23 pm

Ok, here's something that's been bugging me about Harley Quinn merch, and if there's a real reason, I figure someone here might know it-

Harley's actual motif in comics features three diamonds, themselves arranged such that a fourth diamond would make a diamond of diamonds-

Harley Quinn merch, however, always has a fourth diamond-

Mind you, this is all officially licensed merch, not third parties cashing in on a popular character in a not-copyright-infringing way.

So, is there some kind of reason for this? Or are the products just being designed by lazy fucks who don't know the character's actual motif?

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:25 pm

Probably the latter.
Mix in the fact that the CUSTOMERS don't know and probably would think it to be wrong if they did it correct and complain and there you go.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:50 pm

Prak wrote:Ok, here's something that's been bugging me about Harley Quinn merch, and if there's a real reason, I figure someone here might know it-

Harley's actual motif in comics features three diamonds, themselves arranged such that a fourth diamond would make a diamond of diamonds-

Harley Quinn merch, however, always has a fourth diamond-

Mind you, this is all officially licensed merch, not third parties cashing in on a popular character in a not-copyright-infringing way.

So, is there some kind of reason for this? Or are the products just being designed by lazy fucks who don't know the character's actual motif?

Licensing is expensive. The easiest way for a company to make up the cost of licensing fees is to reduce design costs.

It's similar to how most movie tie-in video games are shitty shovelware.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 2:15 pm

does gog.com not have a wallet functionality, or am i just too stupid to find it again?

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:41 pm

Stahlseele wrote:does gog.com not have a wallet functionality, or am i just too stupid to find it again?

It does not.

And I personally agree with that, because wallet functionality is a terrible thing, though I understand why some might want it.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:16 pm

Thank you.
I for example use pay safe cards for purchases there and this means i have to try and wrangle stuff around to get as close as possible to the ammount of money the psc is good for with my purchase so as to minimize loss <.<
with a wallet, i would deposit the monies into the wallet from the psc and then buy stuff as they catch my fancy and still have some left in my virtual wallet there to use for other stuff and not simply lose it . .

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:24 pm

Can't you use PayPal?

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Jun 12, 2016 11:34 pm

No.
I tried to register an account with them.
They sent my a smallish ammount of money and asked me to tell them that ammount on their webpage but did not accept the ammount i entered.
And since then they keep asking for that ammount and saying i can't make a new account because an account with that bank account is already in their database.
And after what i have since heard about paypal from all different kinds of people, including close aquiantances, i also don't want to have anything to do with them anymore as well.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 11:57 pm

Is there any particular reason that Obama couldn't enact gun control through an executive order? I get that there are consequences to consider if he did, but he could, right?

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:20 am

Prak wrote:Is there any particular reason that Obama couldn't enact gun control through an executive order? I get that there are consequences to consider if he did, but he could, right?

Executive orders only apply to the executive branch. He could prohibit federal employees from carrying guns while on the job, but that's about it.
So it would only work if he wants to disarm federal law enforcement agencies and no one else.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:25 am

Stahlseele wrote:No.
I tried to register an account with them.
They sent my a smallish ammount of money and asked me to tell them that ammount on their webpage but did not accept the ammount i entered.
And since then they keep asking for that ammount and saying i can't make a new account because an account with that bank account is already in their database.
And after what i have since heard about paypal from all different kinds of people, including close aquiantances, i also don't want to have anything to do with them anymore as well.

Paypal has always been good to me. You might want to try calling their customer service. I've found them to be very helpful.

Anyway, your best bet is probably to just pay with your normal bank debit card. GOG doesn't store any payment information, so there is very little chance that your card number would be stolen.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 4:26 pm

With my bank account, it is impossible to make any purchases with the card itself.
So, no other way for me then huh?
OK, thanks, good to know anway.

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 7:35 pm

It sounds like you only have an ATM card. I don't know what the state of German consumer banking is, but an American in your position would be well-served by checking to see if his bank really didn't have a debit card available. It is exceedingly common, these days.

Even if your bank (or... credit union, maybe?) does not offer one, you're not without options. There are prepaid cards that you can recharge instead of buying new ones all the time. At a glance, I can find one such example on a wallet service that is explicitly named as a receptacle for the paysafe PINs you already have lying around. There's a ten dollar per year maintenance fee, but then you have an actual card, not some weird proprietary thing.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 12:38 am

Yes, purely ATM Card.
That's the term i was looking for.
And over here, credit and debit cards are not nearly as widespread as over there.
MANY people i know rather deal with cash like in these paysafecards.
The less corps/other people and so on have our personal and or banking data the better.
I even have an anonymous prepaid sim card in my smartphone.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Jul 10, 2016 8:25 pm

Are there any actual prerequisites for the title reverend? Is it reserved for ministers (denomination regardless), or can I just tell people I'd prefer they call me reverend over Mr. since there are no gender neutral honorifics that mainstream people won't laugh at?

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Sun Jul 10, 2016 9:07 pm

Yes. Ordination. You might as well go by Your Eminence.

And I genuinely cannot imagine anybody taking you more seriously as the Reverend Prak than Mx Prak, in which you have the support of the English government, or even Professor Prak, if you're going to just assume unearned credentials.

You could do Msr (Misser); it's close enough to Mssrs to give you some headspace without affiliating it with masculinity outright. You could also use Dom and style yourself "Dominum," employing the conjugation ordinary to neuter objects in that declension.

Or just refuse any kind of prenominal styling, which elides the issue until you're interested in taking it up.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Sun Jul 10, 2016 9:39 pm

Ordination is actually really easy to get if you're willing to go with a shady internet church.

I'm an ordained minister.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Jul 10, 2016 10:01 pm

Yeah, it's more a question of "do I literally have to get ordained, or is this a bullshit 'professional' honorific that no one's going to care about my qualifications for, unlike, say, barrister or doctor."

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 1:33 am

Prak wrote:Yeah, it's more a question of "do I literally have to get ordained, or is this a bullshit 'professional' honorific that no one's going to care about my qualifications for, unlike, say, barrister or doctor."

Both.

You have to get ordained to really earn the title. It is trivially easy to get ordained, you can fill out a certification online and be ordained in Texas. No one will care if you are ordained who matters, because Reverend is a title that just means "guy who claims to know shit he doesn't know" but none of that will change that if you just assume the title, religious people who already hated you for being genderfluid will still hate you and question your credentials.

Mask_De_H · Post by **Mask_De_H** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 1:46 am

I want to know more about these shady online church ordainments.

For...a friend.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 2:25 am

Mask_De_H wrote:I want to know more about these shady online church ordainments.

For...a friend.

I got mine from the Church of Spiritual Humanism, which has the advantage of being compatible with everything because one of its core tenents is that you can practice whatever religion that you want.

Also, getting ordained is free, but that just adds your name to the rolls.You have to pay for an ordination kit to get your certificate.

The BAsic pack is $20 with shipping and includes a certificate, an ID card, and one blank ceremonial certificate of your choice (marriage, baby naming, or affirmation of love).

http://www.spiritualhumanism.org/

Exact marriage laws vary from state to state, and some states don't recognize online or mail order ordinations, so check your local laws. I live in a state that doesn't actually have any requirements, so that helps with the officiating. A cactus could perform a wedding here and it would still be legal. But this is not the case in other states.

Connecticut, for example, doesn't recognize such ordinations and its illegal for someone ordained online to perform a wedding, with a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $500 fine for the minister, on top of the marriage being null and void.

There are, of course, other online ministries that offer free or low-cost ordinations.

The Universal Life Church is the classic, which originally offered mail order ordinations in 1969.

http://www.ulc.org/ordination/
http://www.themonastery.org/ordination

Universal Life Church is also non-denominational and has no tenets. They also hand out Doctorates of Divinity for $33 plus shipping, but I think that's a bit too far.

American Marriage Ministries is a non-denominational church, which again has no tenets, that exists solely to perform weddings.
https://theamm.org/ordination-application/

And there's the Open Ministry, which is about the same.
http://www.open-ministry.org/

If you're looking for something more Christian, there is the Christian National Church. https://www.ministerregistration.org/

But most online ordination mills are run by people who don't care for traditional religion.

There are honestly a lot more. Just google.

What ordination actually means varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In my home state of Georgia, it's unnecessary. You can totally just ordain yourself. There is no legal regulation on who can be a minister.

Connecticut, as mentioned, requires that a minister be a member of a bonafide church and considers such ordinations to be fraudulent.

But many simply require that Ministers be registered with a church, which is where the online ordination mills come in.

Most of them have free ordination and make their money selling the extras, like certificates and stuff.

Here's a navigable list of State laws

https://theamm.org/minister-licensing/

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:33 am

Hmm... I may register my own religion while I'm pursuing this. Because why the fuck not?

edit:

Also,

Kaelik wrote:Reverend is a title that just means "guy who claims to know shit he doesn't know"

Everyone on the internet should be able to use the title Reverend, then.

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 7:18 am

hyzmarca wrote:Ordination is actually really easy to get if you're willing to go with a shady internet church.

I'm an ordained minister.

I am as well from the Universal Life Church.