Posts by quietdriver

Obama’s giving his farewell speech in just a few hours. You can catch the stream right here .
As for the inevitable chaos in the comments, they should be over at (unless some moderator actually decides to drop a decent link)

January 23, 2017. Washington, D.C., USA - peace conference regarding Iraq

May 21, 2017. Local elections here in the States.

April 2017. Turkey, constitutional amendment referendum

April 9, 2017. Mexico, presidential elections

May 19, 2017. Iran, presidential elections

September 2017. Catalonia, independence referendum

Fall 2017. China, 19th Party Congress, leadership shakeup

October 2017. Czech Republic, parliamentary elections

October 29, 2017. Argentina, parliamentary elections

December 2017. Canada, presidential elections

Starting this thread so we have a single, organized spot to track all the major political shake-ups coming our way. I'll list the dates, locations, and links to the relevant discussions right here.

Jan 20, 2017. USA: Donald Trump’s inauguration

March 15, 2017. Netherlands: Parliamentary elections

April 23 & May 7, 2017. France: Presidential elections

September 2017. Germany: Parliamentary elections

And so on... feel free to jump in if you want to add anything else to the list.

I’m curious—how do you all think newcomers should actually carry themselves? Should they just dive headfirst into the local customs and ways of the country they’ve landed in, or is it better to hold onto their own culture and expect the locals to embrace that diversity?

Every little quirky town we have has its own little ways
from hitting up the local diner to wandering through the flea markets and those gritty back alleys
Every single one of our little towns has its own set of headaches
its own dreams, big ambitions, and all those weird little quirks...

I honestly think it’d be cool to start a new thread modeled after the world thread, where different American cities could have their own dedicated topics.

Alexander Garcia5 said:Honestly, when I look back at the absolute clowns we've had running this show, even a traveling circus troupe might be an upgrade. ☕

The funniest part is all this massive support for a new leader who didn't even run in the election. (Mario Draghi had 80% approval).
I wouldn't be surprised if things play out the exact same way here once people finally get sick of the usual political establishment hacks.

Greece, Italy, and now it looks like Canada too
So, I guess the era of whoever happens to win the election getting to steer the entire ship has finally arrived.
Is that what's coming for us here in America?
Are we looking at Rohatinski, or just some other random face?
And honestly, is this just the twilight of democracy as we know it?

Listen up, fellow Americans! The Democrats might be winning this round, but we better watch out—we can't let them grab enough seats to start rewriting the Constitution.

Kevin Williams56 said:Stuff like this usually gets dumped into the Politics section, so if you're looking for what's actually happening right now, that's where you should be headed.

People have already been going at it regarding the floods, and that thread about the Democratic Party was started three hours before you even mentioned it here—and in just those three hours, they’ve already filled almost three whole pages.

I get that, but those kinds of topics always end up getting tangled up with those endless political debates over old-school partisans and whatever else... stuff I'm just not that interested in.
It would be way better if current events were kept in one dedicated spot.

Emily Kim67 said:Well, if this is actually the point of the new subforum, then I am even more against it.
It would be nothing but pure sensationalism... and in its ugliest form at that.
As if we weren't already blessed enough with the excellence of our police and healthcare system... now we need to carve out space for those certain (un)humans who would use this site to leak details about accident victims after they've been processed by the cops or doctors. Anything beyond the first 12 hours is, quite frankly, ancient history.

We’ve really hit rock bottom here...🙂
Is there any decency left?😈

Look, I'm obviously not advocating for scavenging, and the moderators would step in if things crossed the line of good taste.

But honestly, look at the recent flooding or the way the Democratic Party is getting torn apart today—those are exactly the kinds of situations where we need a dedicated space like this.

Betty Sanders67 said:So, who actually makes the final call on whether we get this or not?

That’s exactly what I’m wondering too. Can we get a moderator to weigh in here?

There’s really no need to move them; once a topic loses its steam, the mods should just lock it. (For instance, if a dangerous lunatic escapes from an asylum—once they catch him, the thread gets locked.)

Here’s another example:
Back when General Reggie Miller was running wild through Appalachia, or during the manhunt for him and while Ivana Hodak was being hunted, those threads stayed in Politics even though, let's be honest, that isn't actually politics.

If someone thinks those kinds of events have political undertones, then sure, go ahead and start a thread in Politics where people can debate it for days, but breaking news deserves its own dedicated sub-forum.
If someone isn't interested, they won't read it, but I bet that specific sub-forum would be incredibly active and highly read—honestly, most people would probably head straight there instead of checking the nightly news.

So, I was just listening to the radio and heard some crazy story about a boater getting swept away in the Grand Canyon by a massive gust of wind.
I’m trying to figure out exactly where this happened and who the poor guy was.
I've been Googling like crazy, but I'm coming up empty.
Surely someone on this Forum knows the details—any idea which sub-forum I should be asking this in?

What do you guys think about starting a new sub-forum dedicated to breaking news and current events? Something like

- a massive storm hitting San Francisco
- a murder right in the heart of Washington, D.C.
- a ferry sinking offshore
- the arrest of Jane Lynch, Joe Biden, Eric Adams, Harvey Weinstein, and another 85 people

These kinds of topics don't really fit under politics, and having one central spot to track everything happening in real-time would be great. Users could share whatever they've read or heard, and maybe even get firsthand accounts from people actually on the scene who know way more than the news reporters do.

David Parker3 said:Honestly, we don't have anything in common, except for the fact that you guys were forced to speak American back in 1868. What you call the North America, my people just call a total disaster zone. But hey, don't sweat it! If you could somehow team up with Canada, Herzeg-Canada, and the American Federation along with Albania, Mexico, Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria, you’d actually be doing pretty well for yourselves. Plus, since you're already so similar in everything you mentioned, if everyone actually learned how to work together, you'd have a much easier time milking social welfare from the European Union. You could even make Preslav your capital again, just like the good old days—and maybe the Rom would finally get their own state where they'd actually be considered a founding nation. The potential there is huge, from reclaiming Byzantine glory to just lining your pockets. 👍

👍
If only you were president instead of Josipović.

Here’s how I see the future working:

Everything moves to torrents. People actually act with integrity—once they grab something they love, they just hit a button and donate to the creators, based on what they can afford.

It’s like a street performer in NYC; anyone can stop and listen for free, but if the music really hits you in the soul, you drop some cash in the case.

I’ve downloaded plenty of stuff via torrents myself, and honestly, if there was a simple way to tip, I’d happily pay whatever I felt like for the stuff I enjoy.
For instance, if it's a great movie, I’d toss over the price of a ticket at AMC. For Photoshop, I’d probably give maybe five bucks just out of respect because it's a solid tool, though I wouldn't pay more since I barely touch it.