<Edit: Flame Bait that I totally typed up and posted before I realized I was being retarded.>

Let's self police here guys. I bear responsibility for going stupidly OT in favor of useless gun control debates but we all know the hammer is coming. I suggest we turn to PM's if you have other issues you want to work out with one another.

Or shooting corpsmen, that seems to be a popular theme.

Nods to Doc.

Let me just post this one single clarification before we move on...



The actual quote is from Benjamin Franklin:

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Everything I know about the Yakuza comes from watching Black Rain and Ichi the Killer. From these two movies are deduce that there are three types of yakuza, the old honorable types who cling to a twisted form of bushido, the young americanized punks, and the crazy guy with retractable razor blades on his heels. Firearms would be moderately effective against such a bladed whirlwind of death range was sufficient to allow one to shoot him because he can close the distance. Nothing else could possibly stop him.

One note in the past the Supreme Court ruled the Cherokee Nation could not be removed from their native lands, ask where the Cherokee are now.

WMS

Fuck me, how'd I miss this argument?

*Actually hurts from laughing*

Next time, someone PM me or something. Sheesh.

I did Peace Corps in the Federated States of Micronesia. Much like Japan it's a homogenious island community. There, even death can be forgiven through social ritual. A local elderly man gave me an example of the time that when he was young he accidentally killed another man in a motor vehicle accident. His family went with him to the family of the victim and begged for forgiveness. Part of the social ritual was that his family was offering the victim's family the chance to kill him to make things even. The elderly man told me that at that time he was totally scared because he didn't know what would happen. But the victim's family chose to simply offer forgiveness.

The society there tries to avoid confrontation and conflict for various reasons, and forgiveness therefore is an important social mechanism.

We Ninja sneaked it past you.

WMS

You and 90% of the board of which I include myself. And you haven't seen Sonatine?!? Gasp! You! Go rent! Now!

Organized criminals are neither as honorable, treacherous, gentle or vicious as films make them seem. They're just like street criminals but with better haircuts and clothes.

hmm, that makes the ponder the concept of honor...

If you want an idea as to where all the money goes, look at this thread on "Things I Learn From My Patients"

My impression of them is a little more positive than that, but I'll grant that it may just be because random street criminals don't have a history of buying people I know a drink for no particular reason and offering to waive the cover charge in the future.

(Also, the "integration into the community" thing is a bigger difference than you might think. I know it's gotten repeated a lot, but at least for me it didn't sink in until I walked by one, so I'll say again: they have public offices.)

~J

Good I hope the Generals and Police Chiefs have the same limited view on this, makes the Surprise much more enjoyable. Same type of point of view that enabled the 911 persons to work their impossible feat. Same thing with the Anthrax attack.

But it seems you talk thru your hat alot, so hopefully they do too.

Wonderful publisher Paladin Press is, along the SDS's publication "How to Turn Your Grocery Store into a Arsenal", and the Barrier Penetration Database.

WMS
Thinker In Multi Dimensional Patterns

To bring things back to my original point, there's absolutely no evidence that the Yakuza would be any "softer" than an equivalent criminal in the USA, and some evidence that they might actually be worse. Certainly, if this reporter came back to the USA for safety, there's nothing to suggest that the Yakuza isn't willing or capable of killing him, his family, and anyone else in the general vicinity.

And to muddle things further: among the Japanese-descended among us, how do you know I'm not Nisei as well?

I seem to recall that when Japan had that huge earthquake a couple years back (a decade?) that the Yak's were one of the first organization to step up with vast sums of money for rescue and rebuilding efforts. Granted, I'm sure they took their cut but that still shows a level of integration with society that is unheard of back in the States.

@Cain= Judging from how quickly my family and friend integrated with American society. You probably can't. At least not as far as language goes, I'm sure if I visited your house I'd probably be able to pick a few things out and be like "Ha! No normal American owns a rice cooker that nice!"

All right, that was personal. And it came after the voluntary moratorium on this derail, so it's also hitting below the belt-- he thinks he can get away with that bit of mental diarrhea, because I won't derail the topic further. So, I'm going to accept the flamebait, and show up this troll for what he is.

In addition to the fact that the 9/11 attackers used perfectly legal box cutters (which I can buy at any Home Depot), you shoot down your own claim that gun ownership is the only way to stand against a government. It's incredibly stupid, not to mention tasteless, to suggest that guns in the hands of terrorists would have made the worst terrorist attacks on US soil any better. In fact, as people here have repeatedly pointed out, legal guns aren't the big issue-- it's illegal guns, the only ones likely to end up in a terrorist's hands.

So, how about you get your head out of your ass, apologize to me and everyone else you insulted by further derailing this thread, and actually stay on topic?

Back on topic:

I actually lost my rice cooker in my divorce.

That is seriously fantastic. I imagine its like that everywhere there though.

About "Things I Learn From My Patients": You'd think that... but I really do think that given our fantastically large population and freewheeling nature. Yeah, we're pretty spectacular in the ER. My story involves "Don't try to smoke your crack pipe in front of the security guard who looks and acts like Jean Reno or the 20 year nurse who isn't going to put up with your amateur hour bulllshit. Now drink your goddamn activated charcoal and smile!"


God man, she took the rice cooker? That's fucking low.

Do you still keep your shoes by the door? Do pay for good rice (rather than shitty no name brand rice), could I root through your old receipts and find evidence of the purchase of:

-Kimchi
-Diakon
-natto (sicko)
-Calpis

There are ways my friend. Even as a dirty, know-nothing, white-washed yonsei I have my ways

I'm pretty sure I don't have any Asian (let alone Japanese, a fairly distinct group) ancestry for at least five hundred years, and probably at least a thousand, but I did not cheap out on the rice cooker…

~J

I cook alot of Basmati Rice and Wild Rice at my home. No I am not Asian either, but respect their culture.

WMS

Did you pay more than 100 dollars for your rice cooker? Is the prospect of paying more than 100 dollars for a rice cooker something you write off as "The Cost of Doing Business". Does it have an elephant logo on the front? Can you rice cooker pass a Turing test?
Stereotypes aside, Japanese people (and by extension I think most people of Asian decent) take their rice cooking more seriously than is probably wholly appropriate.

So when doing recon, check the rice cooker, that'll let you know if it's a Yak deep cover plant.

No I did not pay that much. Nordic Ware Rice Cooker less than $10.00, and yes I use a microwave to cook it. But I add peppers (Habs, jalapeno, Serrano, and Bell), sausage(Beef, or Buffalo or Lamb) and a chicken breast. Add freshly ground ginger, paprika and cayenne powders. Put all in at once, and let it cook at low power.

No my rice cooker never got out of grade school.

WMS

Rice sucks!

I want to upgrade my crappy rice cooker and I am possibly as white bread as it gets. ;P

Paladin Press, however, is most wonderful for publishing all of Ashida Kim's books.

Fake Ninja with terribly chosen last name.

Ah, I'm glad you guys introduced me to Bullshido, it's one of my favorite webpages now.

Bullshido is one of the most dynamic sites on the internet, IMO. One of the few places you can get into a good argument and the mods won't jump in and stop the debate.

Something about the layout/format of their forums just rubs me the wrong way. I love what I read there, but I can't stand reading it. I don't know if it's something about the coloring of the background/text, or what, but I just dislike going there (when I should love it).

Well I like them for the excellant wide range of publications not just Martial Arts related ones. Even Ashida Kims, have not yet bought any of those.

WMS

Maaaaaybe…



I see you identified the brand and model as well (no, seriously, it's a Zojirushi, one of their micom fuzzy series. It's in the US though, so I can't tell you what model.)

~J

She got just about everything except my laptop, gaming books, a few knick knacks, and a suitcase full of clothes. I'm still fighting over custody of the cat.

Kimchi and Nattou: I can put it in my mouth and swallow. Which, admittedly, separates me from millions of white boys out there.
Daikon: I generally don't eat much radish.
Calpis: Not so much, but I used to drink Lipovitan on a regular basis, about fifteen years or so ago.
Rice: If the price of rice hadn't shot through the roof recently, and if I had the faintest idea how to cook rice without a rice cooker, I might have the expensive stuff. As it stands, all I can figure out how to cook is minute rice. Not to mention, it's all I can really afford.

So, yeah, a Yakuza hard case who's been here for a bit, could probably be just as assimilated into American culture as your family. That shoots down the theory that he won't be able to get away with it, because he's "out of his element".

These statistics are all incorrect, the middle one absurdly so, but this forum is already way outside of Shadowrun in many places so I will not add anything further.

The price of rice has since dropped. The only reason the price went up is because reporters said 'the price of rice is going up!' so everyone thought they had to buy it right now and demand drove the price up. People have forgotten about it, the price has stabilized.

Related, like a good sarariman, I for one have a 20 pound bag of rice in my pantry with a selection of seasonings. It's right next to my two five-gallon cans of mycoproteins. Rice and potatoes are both very filling and very cheap.

As an aside, can potatoes be grown hydroponically? I know that things like tomatoes grow very well in that environment, same with gourds. If so, one would think that potatoes also would be a major staple of the 2050s (although perhaps a slightly higher price bracket than mycoproteins, but at least comparable to soy).

i dont know, as potato is a root vegetable, like carrot...

Potatoes can indeed be grown hydroponically, yes. I never tried it, though (just stuck to peppers primarily).

~J

Mmm... mycoprotiens. Mmmm...

Really? It's been a while since I've been to an Asian market. Hell, I just moved to this state; I don't even know were a decent Asian market *is*.

Hi guys, me again. That zany guy with the gold text. My general rule of thumb is that if I can't figure out the topic of the thread from the last page, then it's gone past it's shelf life. That's more the case with the last three or so pages.

Cain, good luck with the cat. I wish you the best. Everyone else, good luck with you mycoproteins.

End thread.