I only found out about this tonight due to a link going around on facebook. It's essentially Civil War going on in Ukraine.

http://www.slideshare.net/NazarBartosik/what-is-really-happening-in-ukraine

The above link is a slideshow. Most the images in the slideshow are tame to mildly violent (beat up persons). The links IN the images, however, have disturbing video and heart-wrenching pleas for help from the citizens.

This is my only source of info (that seems legitimate, based on the videos I clicked on), so my opinion is biased, heavily in favor of the people. Anyone have any opinions? Should USA and other countries help them or leave them to work on their problems on their own?

I know exactly how you feel, it's why I don't post that much in general; I just kept getting frustrated at the blatant disregard for the rules.

Back when I did compete, I used to report things constantly whenever I saw someone spamming or cheating in other ways (quoting really long things WAY too often, plagiarism, using the "fun" forums way too often for posts, manually posting a signature in a post every time for extra words), but they didn't get resolved very much. Mind, this was a year or two ago, but it was enough to just turn me off. I also did not like what the competition was turning me into; felt like I was playing mini-mod.

I don't think it is worth quitting vizzed over, however, as there still can be interesting threads to be read and replied to, but I understand giving up on the competition. Bummed me out after making sure every post I did had meaning, posting in all the threads that I could find interest in, then getting beat out by some jerk with stupid posts or one that you could tell did not even read the topic.

I wouldn't be surprised if the ex-cop had some sort of trauma from his years on the force, causing his horrible lapse in judgement. I don't think it's a matter of tightening gun control here, this was just an individual who had some sort of instability.

Don't know how retired or ex-cops are handled in the force, but I'd recommend a psyche evaluation when they are done with their service since it can be a mentally draining/wrecking job. Maybe also when entering a facility, a gun owner should have to let the staff know they are entering with a gun and show their permit/license.

In any case, this was a horrible incident, and I wish the family the best in trying to recover.

I think it is ridiculous that people want to bring Brian back.

Whether or not the decision was right, the problem is that they have killed him off already. If they bring him back now, it cheapens Brian's death, death as a whole, and makes the show even more ridiculous (and not in the good, funny way).

The people with the petitions to bring Brian back just astounded me; it's a CARTOON dog. It's okay to feel hurt or scared about it, but to make a petition to bring him back, to boycott the show, and in some small cases, threaten the show's writers is just... sad actually. Life will go on. Besides, they never said they can't still mention Brian in cut-away gags or flashbacks. It's not like the voice actor left the show, so he can come back in a way, just likely won't be participating in main storylines (unless episode is a complete flashback).

I will say that I don't care for them already filling the role of Brian already with a new dog. Personally, I would have preferred if they left Brian's spot empty to force different character interactions with Stewie. That said, I'm willing to give Vinnie a chance, just I know it's going to go back to the pairing of Stewie and [dog].

The overreactions of Brian's death just proves Fry's (Futurama) assessment of TV audiences.
"TV audiences don't want anything original. They wanna see the same thing they've seen a thousand times before."
"Clever things make people feel stupid, and unexpected things make them feel scared."

Also, many people believe they will be bringing Brian back on December 15th due to an episode synopsis of the Christmas episode involving Stewie getting what he really wants for Christmas. I really hope it's just Brian coming from heaven or something just saying one last goodbye to Stewie (at MOST) than his revival.

I like the Simpsons more because it's more of a comforting show to me. Family Guy tends to be funnier, however, but the show pisses me off at times while also making me laugh. Simpsons rarely anger me.

It actually makes sense for the writers to kill off Brian in Family Guy given the choice of them all.

Peter, whether you like it or not, IS the star of the show. Personally, I don't like him that much as over the years he has gotten more annoying than funny, but killing him off would kill the series.

Lois runs that house, so the family would be thrown in disarray if she died. (Plus they played with this idea in a previous episode already, to kill her off now would be repetitive) Plus, it's the only main role the voice actress does, the rest are bit parts. Firing her after so long seems weird.

Meg and Chris, while both not the most interesting characters on the show, make perfect filler types. And just like Lois's voice actress, the voices and Chris and Meg also only have those as their main roles, so unless they wanted to fire them, it was best to leave them in. As a side note, I actually think they have an interesting dynamic that has yet to be explored.

Stewie could have worked as being killed off since his voice actor is the same as Peter and Brian, and it would have made for good drama for a family to lose a baby. However, Stewie is the one who can make all the alternate reality-like episodes happen since he's the only one with the know how. If they killed him off, the writers would be unable to make room for those type of episodes (excluding drug induced euphorias I suppose).

That leaves Brian. In the beginning he was just the guy who told Peter he was stupid and Stewie he was foolish with not too much personality. Later, he became the intellectual of the family (which then gone to his head and became douchey quite often). He soon was partnered with Stewie more than Peter, creating the dynamic duo we all knew. Brian evolved and learned a lot about himself as he was the family's second butt monkey (first being Meg), often criticized about his lifestyle. There probably wasn't much left to develop his character while the rest have more to grow on. With Brian's death, Stewie had to grow.

Personally, I'm not a fan of them replacing Brian, though; it would have been a much more interesting twist to leave the Griffin's petless. It would give Stewie a chance to bond with other members of the family or a person around town. Maybe it could have upped the roles of the rest of the family to make up for the loss.

For instance, if Meg wasn't always the butt monkey, she could make a good straight man (she generally has better common sense, sans her "crazy" episodes). Lois already does this often with Peter, except she's much more nagging. Chris generally is portrayed as dumb, but he has his moments of intelligence and common sense here and there; they could make him grow by becoming a little smarter (or at least, more consistently).

They should not be bringing Brian back to life though; it would make the episode lose all meaning and it was actually quite beautiful. Besides, just because he is dead doesn't mean they will eliminate him completely from cut-aways; they could always have him show up there. The voice actor is still there after all.

I always knew him as Nack the Weasel from Sonic Triple Trouble back when Sonic games were 95% good (instead of the 50% good these days). I always found it odd how they constantly created and dropped characters from the series.

Remember Sally the... I wanna say squirrel, but leader of freedom fighters in cartoons and comics? Suddenly she's gone and replaced with Amy Rose. I think all of the freedom fighters were essentially axed, save for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles (I think they all joined it at one point).

Even just brief mentions of old characters would be nice, they don't necessarily need the spotlight (so their precious Rouge wouldn't lose popularity). I liked Nack the Weasel in Triple rouble (before a kid stole the game from me), and was upset I never got to beat the game. Last time I played as him was in one of the Sonic Drifts. He, along with the others should be brought back, even if just for brief appearances,

On TC, homosexuality is not considered family friendly, unfortunately. You probably won't see homosexual relationships on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network.

They might dance around it, like when a guy comments how another guy is hot, he'll get strange looks at him. Maybe they'll mention it without saying it outright, like saying "Yeah my aunt had a roommate for years. Turned out she was more than a roommate."

Honestly, homosexuality and bisexuality should be introduced in equal amount of heterosexuality. If a show can air a guy kissing a girl, then it should be fine with two girls or two guys kissing. However, most networks that pander to families wish to not cause controversy or upset their idea of "traditional families." Even if they do have maybe one episode of a show that features a homosexual relationship, I have heard they will boost the rating JUST because of it, which is extremely wrong. It gives the message that homosexuals are an inappropriate part of life.

Since homosexuality is in the minority, though, it will probably never be treated equally in the media; tend to only see horrible stereotypes or treated as an exotic commodity. About as bad as saying "hey look! I have a black friend, I'm not racist!"

Looking for a Contrary Shuckle (Hidden ability) or one with shuckle in their Friend safari and don't mind being online for a bit so I can catch one.

I don't know what I can offer, but I have a fair amount of Pokémon, a spiritomb in a friend's safari (if that has any value) or I could breed a Pokémon to a nature you may like as I have most natured-dittos. If there is something else I could do for it, we could discuss the terms.

My friend safari type is electric and I am told that I have Electrike, Emolga, and Luxio. Not much, but I think Luxio is slightly unique.

I think the death row inmates should have a choice, a volunteer program if you will, to become medical test subjects. The benefit for the inmate could be like giving them more comforts before their death date, or just postpone their death date until they are no longer able to help with medical testing. Could also let them die via a deadly testing (if they are willing to do so over lethal injection).

I do not agree with the idea of forcing death row inmates in medical studies though; even if they are vile humans, they are still humans.

Doesn't help that I'm not 100% for the death penalty either, though.

I believe people should be forced to at least RESPECT the pledge of allegiance. Every country has their traditions, the USA has their flag salute. If you are in the United States, you should respect its national custom.

One should not have to say the pledge of allegiance, as not all may believe in its words or hold allegiance elsewhere (which is perfectly fine!). However, I believe it is disrespectful if one cannot simply stand up for the pledge just to show some respect for the country you are currently residing (temporarily or not). It's even worse if one will talk or fiddle around while it is going on; that is showing you don't care for the beliefs of others, and if you don't care to at least respect another's beliefs, why should we respect yours?

You are welcome to not like something, but at least be kind to others that may have a differing belief. I'm not even very patriotic, but I do believe in showing respect to the country that raised me, even if I have quite a few grievances. I could be a lot worse off.

It should be taught under the provision that it is just one theory and therefore should not be considered the proof of God not existing or going against one's religion.

In my high school, we were taught the three evolutions of how humans came to exist:
-Scientific Theory: The Theory of Evolution
-Biblical Theory: A higher being placed us there
-Hybrid Theory: A higher being started us off and then evolution came to be (thanks to the higher being)

Teachers told us it is a choice to choose what to believe in, but we that we'd have to understand how each theory works for a test still. They mainly taught evolution, and brushed over religious aspects as it wasn't their place to teach a religion. I think my school handled this well, as it did not say anyone was wrong but kept the student informed of what is in the scientific community. I forget if people were also allowed to opt out of it or not, though...

I would be fine with marijuana being legalized as long as it is given restrictions and penalties similar to alcohol.

-One would need to be of a certain age to purchase it (exception in prescriptions)
-Driving under the influence of marijuana would result in similar penalties as driving while intoxicated.
-Not allowed to smoke up in public (similar to not allowed to drink in public; only in bars, at home, or designated areas).
-Perhaps even limit how much one could purchase per month; they are doing that with some over-the-counter medications since they can become addictive or made into more harmful drugs
-Should also be illegal to give/sell marijuana to those who are forbidden to have (namely minors, but also wherever it may apply such as abusers of the drug).

When I was younger, it was easy to get your hands on weed. My best friend of the time had several connections and offered it to me often. I refused because I was too nervous about it hurting my health at the time, but these days, I have realized it's not that harmful. I drink alcohol once in a blue moon, and that is known to have harmful effects. They may as well legalize marijuana.

I have a question for both of you that may be a bit tough...

If you never had found God through Christianity, what other religion or religious belief do you think you would be? And I don't mean another sector of Christianity like Baptist or Methodist.

Another way of putting this question, what other religion could you see yourself getting into had you not gotten into Christianity?

Respect is earned, and not given.I judge mods (and staff) harsher than normal users as they are supposed to be setting a good example.

That does not mean I cannot appreciate the hard work for a volunteer position, however. In fact, I think moderation issues have gotten better lately than since a few months ago. Might be due to less activity, I'm not quite sure, but I have seen less problem posters and swift action taken when problems with users occur.

Kudos to those who have been making the forum a clean, fun place and setting a good example. Just remember the moderators are humans like you and I; they make mistakes and are not "better" than you or I.

I think that it is amazing! I been waiting for us to go on another planet! I do agree with Gee, though; I would NOT want to volunteer for that trip. I would be too worried about keeping my sanity out there... Would have to bring a LOT of reading material. Would there be enough energy to bring some video games or would it drain too much from the ship? Contact with Earth would probably be slow as well. If the journey were only a few months away, it might be not so bad, but a few years to go there and back again just sounds painfully lonely and/or boring.

While Toad does not have a game that is outright his, he plays the protagonist in a handful of games. Super Mario Bros 2, New Super Mario Bros Wii (two variations of him), and the Wario Woods puzzle game, it is pretty much him (and I think someone else) vs Wario.

Before Toad gets a game, I rather see a game geared to Bowser. No, not Bowser's inside story, as that was more Mario and Luigi with Bowser being the obstacle and ally.

I'd also like to see Daisy and Waluigi be used in a non-sport/party game. Waluigi could be a player 2 for Wario. Daisy has room for a "less girly" female protagonist in games. Both of these characters are not needing to necessarily to star in their own games, just be used for more than party/sport fodder.

VERY happy to see something like this go into effect. Automation making it easier on mods and all, and no one having to be yelled at for sandwich posting. Really needed at those crazy house forums too with some games.

I was thinking of making a suggestion on this myself, where it would penalize you by taking more and more vizz each time you break the rule, but this is much better (and friendlier). Should make post competitions a little nicer too!

earthwarrior :
Satanos answered it pretty much. Once I found the in-game trade for Mewtwo, I started raising him. I beat the Elite 4 with my original team first until Mewtwo was strong enough, then gave Mewtwo Psychic and the three element punches and it could take on the Elite 4 by itself!

To save time, I only carried two other Pokémon so when the hall of fame came up, I did not have to wait an extra 3 Pokémon to go through the sequence, turned battle animations off, and the other two Pokémon carried fly and surf so I could go to the Pokémon league quite quickly.

I also sold all my excess stuff (TMs, healing items I wouldn't use, ethers and such), and took advantage of the Monday morning guy that lets you buy gold related items for less than they sell for when it came up.