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__THISRES__81653.jpg "Fly... by °Phill 2 months 1 week ago")
^nat
This wallpaper captures the urban essence that proliferated the art of Ghost in the Shell in every incarnation of the series. Phill does an amazing job of capturing a moment of surrealism.
While there are a few, stray building angles and shadows, you find that your eye forgives the minor details and instead focuses on the overall scene that is larger than life, with lights trailing off into infinity.
While there are a few, stray building angles and shadows, you find that your eye forgives the minor details and instead focuses on the overall scene that is larger than life, with lights trailing off into infinity.
ShoutBox
~BlueShadowX700
3 minutes ago
Azrai! it's not "master" but, MONSTER! ^^ @dandoan: nah... common people commits mistake... ^^
~amerie1994
4 minutes ago
Lol Smart Cookie *Bites Dandoan*
~Dandoan
10 minutes ago
...Ah... X_X Guess who's not a smart cookie today? --->ME<--- Thanks guys :)
~azrai
13 minutes ago
ROF, whee~
~BlueShadowX700
15 minutes ago
So, dandoan is trying to post in groups eh. *sigh* be a member first before posting... Gee...
~azrai
16 minutes ago
... >.> coffee... okay i'll accept it >XD i'm Coffee MAster >XD
°akiranyo
17 minutes ago
Dandoan: some treads in groups reqires membership ;3
~win490
18 minutes ago
Good
~BlueShadowX700
19 minutes ago
Huh?1 
~Dandoan
20 minutes ago
So I finally find a forum thread that I wanna post at and it won't let me. It'll let electricbunny post a few minutes ago but for me? Oh no... This system has a personal vendetta against me. Make an anime on that! Computers against one man.. I'd watch
School?
3 years 2 months ago
"I am dieing for college to start already. My parents have been annoying me for the past couple weeks and I just need to be able to get out on my own."View
Metal?!
3 years 2 months ago
"I love all types of metal. A couple of years back I didn't really like it but like last year I started listening to it again cause of a friend of mine and I just fell in love with it. One of my favorite bands by far is Atreyu. I also really like Slipknot. Anwyays this thread is great, I'm gonna have to check out some of the other bands you guys have mentioned :D."View
Your Nationality
3 years 2 months ago
"I'm a Venezuelan-American, meaning my parents were both born and raised in Venezuela but I myself was born in the States."View
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
3 years 2 months ago
"Firstly, I would like to say that when I first started reading this thread I didn't want to reply for several reasons, but as of this current moment I cannot sit idly by while several fallacies are spoken as if they were truth. Now I shall make my comments.If the atomic bombs had not been dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki 10x as many people would have perished in the invasions of mainland Japan, not 5x as many. "On June 18, 1945, Admiral Leahy pointed out that, if the "Olympic" invasion force took casualties at the same rate as Okinawa, that could mean 268,000 casualties (about 50,000 dead) on Kyushu. It nonetheless appears likely that post-war estimates of a half million American deaths were too high, but many tens of thousands of dead were a real possibility." (from: link). MAD (or mutually assured destruction) is not a bad thing because it deters out-right attacks against us by some nation who decides to develop its own devices.
There would have been no possibility to negotiate to end the loss of life simply because Japan would have most likely continued kamikazeing until they were all dead. Are you aware of the Bushido Code? If you are not this is the definition of what it is: ??Bushido, literally translated "Way of the Warrior," developed in Japan between the Heian and Tokugawa Ages (9th-12th century). It was a code and way of life for Samurai, a class of warriors similar to the medieval knights of Europe. It was influenced by Zen and Confucianism, two different schools of thought of those periods. Bushido is not unlike the chivalry and codes of the European knights. "It puts emphasis on loyalty, self sacrifice, justice, sense of shame, refined manners, purity, modesty, frugality, martial spirit, honor and affection.? "Bushido ethics enjoyed a revival during World War II as a way to build up Japanese fighting spirit. It was particularly reinforced among the fighting forces as a means of portraying the value of self-sacrifice and loyalty, and culminated with the self-sacrifice of the kamikaze pilots." ( link)
The only reason that the Japanese turned to the Russians in the first place was because they believed the Russians were the ones who could protect them from the powerful weapons the US had. I once read that we had given the Japanese advance warning about these terrible new weapons and that U.S had dropped flyers over the mainland advertising the fact so that the people could read about it and assemble in protest of the government, seeking protection from these new weapons.
The U.S only actually had two atomic bombs and it would not have been able to keep bombing them as the ??bombs were being constructed? for the simple reason that it would have taken years. The process for refining the plutonium needed for the second bomb and all potential subsequent derivates was and is a time and cost inefficient process; morever, the U.S did not have enough uranium 239 in stock and that is something which is extremely difficult to find.
In the Potsdam Proclamation the U.S. did indeed want complete surrender, but am I wrong in believing that that is the goal of a war, to completely subjugate your opponent? The U.S also did in fact wait for a response after dropping the first bomb, but the Japanese only believed it had one such weapon and no reply came so the U.S carried out what it had promised. Once they realized there was more than one weapon they immediately assumed there were more than just the two so they decided to answer the terms. The dates of the bombings were August 6th and August 9th, so how is it that August 10th (when you claim the emperor got ??test? results) 2 days after Nagasaki?
If the Japanese had wished to surrender but did not like the terms they should have ceased their hostilities and then tried to negotiate different terms, maybe then there would not have been the need for the two atomic bombs. However since they did not, the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs and only then did Japan decide to surrender. At this time the U.S was basically in control of the negotiations, now why would they have decided to negotiate at the final peace talks and change from Unconditional Surrender to ??acceptable?? Unconditional is basically what Japan gave the U.S. Anyone who knows about negotiating knows that when you have the upper hand you do not try to negotiate for a lower position. Asking for Unconditional surrender was entirely reasonable simple because of the fact that the U.S was attacked viciously and without indication at Pearl Harbor. The main reason the Japanese had not wanted to settle for unconditional surrender in the first place was brought to light by Rear Adm. Zacharias when he stated that there was considerable confusion on the Japanese side with regards to one term of the negotiation; they were unsure of the term "unconditional." Apparently, the word did not translate easily into Japanese and what came across was akin to the enslavement/eradication of the Japanese people. Clearly, this linguistic gap posed a major problem for the negotiation, for how do you negotiate with a collective who believe that their acceptance of your terms means their extermination? Had the problem not been identified and resolved, two things would have happened: 1) The negotiations would have deadlocked and 2) The Japanese would have had renewed vigor in defending their homeland and would have fought harder to protect themselves. Obviously, more loss of life would not have benefited either side, and the White House drafted a statement "assuring the Japanese that 'unconditional surrender does not mean the extermination or enslavement of the Japanese people .'" Nevertheless, the problems did not end with the simple translational problem. After the clarification, until the end of the war, the Japanese were under the impression that the US position of unconditional surrender was just a negotiation starting point, not a hard-line position. What the Japanese failed to realize was that due to the costs endured in the war, the US president, Truman, would have been committing political suicide had he compromised.
I??m sorry, but if I am not mistaken The U.S did apologize about Vietnam and it did in fact do the incursions in Somalia under the banner of UN so if anyone should apologize it should be the UN not the U.S. Had the Somalians simply handed over the warlord there would have not been so much bloodshed. In fact the ones who attacked were the Somalis; U.S troops raided the warlord??s operations and nothing to the civilians. The people decided to attack and they defended themselves. What would you do if you had a gun and were surrounded by drugged up Somalis who wanted to kill you?
While I agree that Iraq is a mistake U.S troops are still there and are getting attacked constantly, so what does the U.S have to apologize for, not dying quietly and pacifistically?
Hiroshima and Nagasaki be that as it may, were a consequence of Japanese actions and their strong belief in the Bushido Code?..not because the U.S wanted to do it. In fact, our Secretary of the Army nearly committed suicide over it and he actually even changed the targets at the last minutes. One of the original targets was Kyoto, that would have been a much larger tragedy. You can not simply destroy a country??s cultural center.
The U.S. only began their blockade of Japan because of what was known of the Japanese atrocities committed in China. Japan only attacked us to try and keep us out of the war.
Bin laden was hiding in Afghanistan under the protection of the countries leader (the Taliban), and that is why the U.S attacked them, not because of his nationality.
And I am sorry but you are mixing up the war in Vietnam and the war in Korea. The U.S went to Vietnam to stop communism not to fight Russia. In Korea the U.S was asked for help and it responded and that is where the U.S engaged in combat with the Russians, not in Vietnam. In Vietnam the French and subsequently the U.S were both asked to help and both nations did their best. The U.S got beat, but it responded to the Vietnamese request for help, the U.S did not invade anyone.
Also, what is this about just ??happening? to have a base at Pearl? All fleets have a home port because that is where they have to go when they resupply as well as when they are not at war. The U.S had a fleet in the Pacific because of the fact that the Pacific is a border with the U.S. and it was not about to leave the West Coast open to invasion by a foreign fleet. The U.S only cut their routes to try and stop the war with other fleets, they decided to attack one that was minding its own business (the Pacific Fleet). Here are a couple of dates about the blockade and reasons for the blockade, these start in Nov. 1937 and go into 1938:
Nov. 24 - Japan troops landed at Hangshow Bay near Shanghai
* Chinese retreated to Nanking
Dec. 13 - fall of Nanking - 200,000 killed
Dec. 12 - U.S. gunboat Panay attacked by Japan planes
* helping evacuate civilians and Standard Oil tankers from Nanking
* 2 Americans killed, incl San Diego sailor Charles Ensminger
* 3 other American ships attacked; British ambassador's car strafed in Nanking
* newsreel eyewitness evidence
Feb. - Plan Orange revised - blockade of Japan added
(all this information was obtained from history.sandiego.edu)
As you can see the first time the U.S. was attacked by the Japanese was Dec. 12th 1937 while Pearl Harbor was Dec. 7th 1942. The U.S was attacked long before Pearl, so the U.S was in fact not the one who fired the proverbial first shot.
The program of sending weapons to the British was called Lend Lease and it was an agreement which was struck up between the U.K and the U.S, which in fact is not ??biased neutrality.? The deal was that U.S would lease the U.K property which would later be paid for, it was business. And obviously it did not want the U.K to lose because that would mean that Hitler would have controlled everything.
Russia entered the war against Japan and attacked them in China. The fact that the Soviets entered the war and sliced through Japanese forces in China, helped persuade the Japanese that they were out-matched and should reconsider their "do or die" mentality (From the book ??Why Japan Surrendered? by Robert A. Pape)
The U.S did not coax Britain into war, it merely asked them for their help and they agreed.
The U.S was not sucking up to Kuwait it was in fact working with the UN and a coalition in order to liberate an oppressed country which had been invaded by the Iraqis.
How was Afghanistan a scape goat? Bin Laden had his base there, the attack originated from there, the Taliban was protecting him, the U.S asked for his capture and they refused, and the Taliban if I am not mistaken had direct ties to Al Queda??s attack. Also, how did the U.S earn oil from them?
The reason the oil prices go up is because it takes a long time to repair and refurbish the damaged oil wells from when the U.S invaded; furthermore, the U.S can't easily transport it, at least not safely. There is also the need to satisfy the demand for our machines in Iraq, so our oil goes there too. OPEC is also restricting oil at the same time, but in the long-run, econ says that prices will come back down as people will switch into other forms of energy
The reason the U.S doesn??t invade North Korea is because no one wants a nuclear holocaust. So does this not show that the U.S learnt from its mistakes? The U.S learned not to nuke places randomly because of the damage after Hiroshima and Nagasaki so there will be no invasion of North Korea unless it is absolutely imperative.
Excuse me? It does not even come close to surpassing 50% of our GDP. I looked it up through some University Resources and I found out that over the past 15 years the highest it has been is 5%...if you want I can get you a table and everything.
Also what is this about blaming us for the Palestinians? That is a problem between Israel and Palestine the U.S are not pointing weapons or shooting at anyone. Also, what about the Palestinian suicide bombers who are killing all of the innocent Israelis? Just because the U.S supplied something doesn??t mean it was the one who killed. So the battles between the Russians and the Taliban is not our fault. The U.S wanted to oppose Russia but it did not force the Taliban to fight or kill anyone. The U.S was also asked to participate in Kosovo.
As to the Iraqis, they keep attacking U.S troops, so they keep fighting back. If they simply laid down their arms no harm would come.
The U.S has low unemployment and it should be kept like that. The U.S should not be turned into a socialist country. The minute that the GDP is put into unemployment benefits and things of that nature, the motivation for people to get jobs is gone and then we all fall into a moral hazard trap. Like France who provides their citizens with so much money that they have no incentive to get out of unemployment.
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In the future please cite books along with their authors, and websites of repute not websites from random no names whose origins and facts are of dispute. When making claims these things tend to help strengthen an argument.
"
View
slipping on concrete
3 years 2 months ago
"Wow that kid looks like he's in pain o_O"View
prank picture
3 years 2 months ago
"Haha that's great, I woulda been like "oh crap now I gotta get up""View
Harry Potter Anime??
3 years 2 months ago
"Harry Potter as an anime would just out-right fail =/"View
Who is your favourite bleach captain?
3 years 2 months ago
"I'm gonna have to go with Kenpachi cause damn he's just wicked XD"View
Are there any other hip hop heads?
3 years 2 months ago
"I like champloo but I really really really don't like hip-hop... =/"View
Your Nationality
3 years 2 months ago
"I'm a Venezuelan-American ^^. Both my parents are from Venezuela but I was born here in the states."View
who is the best gundam pilot in all gundam shows and movies?
3 years 2 months ago
"I'm gonna have to go with Heero, he'll do anything to complete his mission "View
Full Metal Panic TSR
3 years 2 months ago
"I think it's a great sequel so far cause it incoporates many major genres ^^"View
Hey all
3 years 2 months ago
"Hey guys, just wanted to introduce myself, well hope to see ya around"View