Hero

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/julian-assange-case-as-political-vladimir-putin/story-fnd134gw-1226466863042 Are you sure that Assange is off the hook? I did some searching on my own and although I didn't find anything that had been put up since your post what I found seems to indicate that the legal situation has been static for the last few days. I've been arguing that the Swedish rape prosecution is entirely political in nature from the beginning and that it's not only extremely wasteful but bad PR for the US government to press for his extradition and eventual conviction and sentencing. I would be the first to call for a toast if the Swedish or US government decided to show some decency toward the man and let him walk, but either of those cases still seems to be a long way off. Early on this is what Assange proposed, but a Swedish judge ordered that this would be inadequate and he must be brought to Sweden. That's when he started to try to keep a low profile and court foreign governments for protection, and when the European arrest warrant came out. That's why so many people were immediately suspicious of the charges despite the generally positive international reputation of the Swedish justice system, because of the uncharacteristic stringencies taken in relation to the allegations and the irregularities in the process taken to internationalize the case. Sweden wants to press charges alright, but they want to do it the old fashioned way. The prosecution team would come out looking weak if Assange found permanent shelter somewhere after being stuck for this much time under warrant in an EU country. Julian Assange has spent time in the US but he has never been a permanent resident here. If his nationality was with the US instead of Australia, I don't doubt that he would have been extradited a long time ago. It's not like the UK government is less close a partner of the US than Sweden is. As a side note, I think it's very hard to plausibly deny that the timing of the Cablegate media circus played a role in the Swedish prosecutor's decision to pursue the charges. It's also not surprisingly a winning scenario for the US state department if Assange ends up in a Swedish jail. He gets his life ruined in punishment for playing a role in the publication of their secrets while the US government doesn't have to get its hands dirty and therefore doesn't come out looking vindictive or sadistic the way they do with Bradley Manning.

The GBA series is indeed the best... until you see its SNES predecessors. Both collections have their place in a well-rounded strategy game library, but I fail to see how somebody who approaches both with an open mind (keeping in mind that it takes some doing to.get today's average young gamer to do that with a system as comparatively primitive as the SNES) would not spend more time on the SNES games. While they suffered from many problems that were remedied in the GBA iterations, they also operated at a deeper level of complexity, something that should be a major draw for a long-term fan of the series. And I don't say this out of nostalgia: My first exposure to Fire Emblem outside of Super Smash Bros Melee was the GBA series. SNES is more accessible now than ever, in the age of cell phone-based emulators.

Sounds like you've been listening to a lot of hip-hop, or hip-hop influenced tracks and don't like the genre's conventions much so it's soured you on your local radio stations. But the thing about music is that there's just so much of it, especially if you don't limit yourself just to English lyrical music, that it's very difficult to make generalizations like the one you wrote in the topic title. Video game music can be great, but if you limit yourself to it you'll inevitably be missing out. It's all about broadening your horizons. I encourage you to check out the chillout section on jamendo.com to find some great free, downloadable non-lyrical and eclectic tracks. The "Putumayo Presents" albums are also a great way to introduce yourself to some of the best of new genres, check them out too. Maybe it's time to read the rules. Not trying to be condescending, it just sucks to have your posts deleted or messed with because you didn't know what's up.

Part of being a successful internet user is having a thick skin, or knowing how to not take comments personally and avoid unproductive exchanges. If you got caught up in every argument you saw in YouTube comments, you'd never have the time or emotional energy to do anything else. Don't be afraid to state your opinions from time to time, but leave the nitpicking and flame wars to the fat unemployed people posting from a public library or somebody else's basement. Just thumbs up the comments you agree with and thumbs down the comments you dislike, if you feel that strongly about them, maybe flag a comment or two if it's clearly defamatory, and move on.

A few years ago we had a number of 12-year-olds, so I very much doubt you're the youngest here at 14. You're more toward the lower end of the range than the higher end, certainly, but this is not strange at all when you consider how long the Fire Emblem series has been around.

Call me a naysayer, but something tells me that openly creating a second account and posting legal threats against the moderators isn't the best way to contest yesterday's allegedly unmerited ban and permanently restore your access to the forum.

What else would you answer it with, another question? Of course you want to answer straightforward questions like this with statements. Just try to avoid wooden formulations that regurgitate the words of the question like "You should hire me because..." so that your answer sounds natural and sincere.

This sort of question can be difficult to answer on the spot if you're not used to questions like it, because it is very open-ended, but if you have a good understanding of the company or organization you are seeking a job with you should be able to formulate a good response. You're lucky to have a list of questions in advance of the interview. Try to think of how you would summarize the ethos of the employees there in a few sentences, and then think of a way to explain how your aspirations with the job and your skillset fit in with that ethos. Explain how what they value is what you have to offer. Maybe you have a passion for helping people and have good people skills so you're a shoe-in for sales or customer service positions, or maybe you're good with technology and have a knack for logical problem-solving so you'd do well at a computer repair business, etc. Also keep in mind that interviewers are looking for sincerity and enthusiasm apart from qualifications, so try your best to project those even if you don't feel them very deeply. Another thing I would recommend if you're not familiar with job interviews and questions like the one you posted is to do some hunting for tips and insider advice on Google. A bit of research and thorough preparation will better equip you to present the best image of yourself that you can and to boost your confidence in the interview itself. The job market is miserable right now, even for teens seeking entry-level positions, so you can't prepare too much. Good luck with getting and keeping the job, and don't be discouraged if you don't!

Welcome to the forums. If you're a sincere Fire Emblem fan, this is the place for you. I would recommend passing on the iPad if you don't already have the full accoutrement of Apple products and lots of investment in iTunes, etc. or you don't usually buy electronics for their value as fashion accessories. I'm not trying to be pejorative, you really can do a lot more with an Android tablet and they're cheaper and encompass a diverse variety of models too. This is bad advice. The saying goes that in college you have to choose between your social life, academics and a full night of sleep. I won't tell you how to make that choice and obviously circumstances vary depending on your courseload and where you are, but never assume you'll have downtime in the thick of your term.

Juigi Kario is a name I recognize, even one I respect a little. I never would have guessed that the man behind the FAQs was the same one that made that video, the YouTube channel earlier in the topic, and the links in the ED article you mentioned. I can see why he didn't last on FESS in spite of his (by no means meager) knowledge and accomplishments. I suppose this is another example of how anybody can be just about anything on the internet.

How does your experience on another forum turning out to be a flop have any bearing on your ability to communicate on this one? Generally speaking, joining a new internet community will always gibe you a clean slate and a new group of people to meet. And if you're into Fire Emblem, this is the place to be. There's no need to feel apprehensive or awkward at all, with the bio and interests you listed there's no doubt you're among your kind. We're always gratified to receive new blood here. There are only a few millions....

Now this one I don't recognize. Anyone care to share the story behind his infamy?

I agree 100%. But that is epic, hahaha.

Haha, I could never forget his unintentionally apt name and his writing style is unmistakable. It's good for laughs, but I'm sure it is sickening to some with all the off-color opinions. If anyone is morbidly fascinated with the fellow like I was for an afternoon a few years back, there's a lot more of his writing and about him on Wikipedia among other sites. It should all be at your fingertips easily enough with Google.

I talk to myself a lot too. The trick is to catch yourself before you say something that would make you sound crazy in front of other people. Video games are a good way to escape from stress without doing anything elaborate or necessarily inconvenient. If you have an Android or iOS mobile device, I highly recommend putting emulators on it and a good selection of your video game "classics" so that you always have discrete access to them. It's the same principle as carrying around some of your favorite songs on your phone. My head feels fuzzy a lot of the time too, but usually there's nothing I can do about that besides drink a cup of coffee so I try to avoid thinking about it too much anymore. One of my ex-girlfriends had bipolar disorder and decided to come off of her medicine for it when I was with her (it made her feel lazy and like all her emotions were dampened.) So I know from second-hand experience that it's not an easy time to go through, but I think if she could manage to get through with her sanity (as much as she had any in the first place!) anyone can.

Welcome to the boards. Your level of Fire Emblem background is the same as or more than a lot of new members here. But you should still definitely check out the other offerings in the series. Many here say the apex of the series was the SNES era. Whatever the case, these games are experiences worth checking out, especially when you consider that they can be found fairly easily online for free and all the information you need to get started and excel in them is on this site. I hope that this community leaves you with a good impression and leads you to find many others like it. The common perception is that internet forums are almost always big wastes of time, but there's a lot of knowledge to be gained just from reading around. Usually memes are only funny in their original context, if then. That's kind of the whole point, when people repeat memes over and over and make wide varieties of permutations on them they become like massive inside jokes, either delightfully ironic or annoying depending on your point of view. Understanding the humor is an endless process since there is so much meme-related content replete with extensive internal references and more is always being produced. It's not worth losing sleep over. H5 isn't so hard that it should give anyone emotional trauma, but you have to play a lot more cautiously than you usually would in a Fire Emblem game. It's a lot slower than normal mode because the enemies don't go down so quickly and all-out aggressive tactics don't work so well but it's the same game and you do the same things. Very humble for someone who types in English like a native speaker. Where are you from, if you don't mind my asking? "Normal" on this site is probably something like 14-30. Not that there aren't a good number of people here older or younger than that. Fire Emblem has been popular (to a degree) in the West for years now. When I was 14 and just getting into Fire Emblem forums I would assume that people were teenagers if they didn't display their age, but that's a bad idea. There are people from all countries and all walks of life here, and that's one of the big draws about this community.

I agree with Eclipse. Conventional expressions of racism have been on the decline for a long time in many places but in many others you can't escape it. Racists usually know better than to declare their views openly nowadays but they still occupy many very influential positions. Affirmative action and cultural education are far from excessive when you contrast them with racism's huge cultural inertia.

I agree that it's understandable, but I think you're drawing a false distinction. Any course has the potential to be foundational if you take it with a positive attitude and absorb the information that you cover. Everything that you are supposed to learn in a course is there for a reason and almost all of it will be relevant to your life or to something that you're reading at some point. With the exception of a couple math courses, I would say I've already benefited directly or indirectly from almost everything I learned in my high school classes, and I graduated less than three years ago. And even those math courses are starting to come into play for me this semester, as I get deeper into the computer science program at my college. I already know you're an intelligent person who understands these things, I'm just going after your post to make a point.

I haven't used the program myself, but looking at the website's screenshots page makes me think your criticism may be undeserved. First, the font doesn't seem "funky" at all to me as a student of Chinese and erstwhile Japanese enthusiast of five years ago. It's just a handwritten font. It's a little bit different from the "Gothic" or print fonts that dominate on computers but is important to learn if you ever want to write and read handwritten writing proficiently. Second, the kind of information you seem to think should be on their flashcards is not only unreasonable to expect there but would draw away from the efficiency of the flashcards. There can be many things that add to the context of a character, such as its historic meaning and literary associations, the meaning of its component elements when separated, grammatical exceptions, etc. This kind of information tends to be extensive and relatively complex as well as not crucial to memorize word for word. This is in contrast to being able to produce short definitions of characters, which is critical for reading comprehension. Flashcards are meant to be used for review and to look through a lot of data quickly but thoroughly. That's why they're called "flash"-cards. I think that one of the keys to language learning success is to use all the tools at your disposal. More variety can make the whole process seem less like a long haul and more like a break from your daily routine. Flashcards can be useful, especially for cramming, but in optimal language learning conditions you won't even need them.

Cheating is no substitute for actually understanding the subject material of a test. I would even say it's harder to cheat than it is to learn the material the normal way for the large majority of situations. If you don't understand the answers you are writing down, you probably don't understand the question perfectly either and may very well be writing wrong answers. On top of this, your teacher/professor will likely notice the contradiction if you have long, detailed answers on your tests that bring in information from outside the class but cannot ever answer correctly when called on in class. Cheating is always morally reprehensible on a certain level because you are throwing your classmates under the bus if successful by raising the graders' expectations or influencing the curve. There is no comparison to institutionally approved test-taking privileges enjoyed by students with learning disabilities unless the disadvantage you are compensating for by cheating is professionally diagnosed. I have one of these conditions, and I still almost always choose to not take advantage of any IEP accommodations or to cheat because I don't need it. That said, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to save your grades. But be careful because if you do something stupid the consequences will probably be much, much worse than failing that single test or assignment.

What really gets under my skin is that media outlets controlled by Israel's enemies are getting so much meat out of this story when women in their countries who are judged "promiscuous" by their standards have it 100,000 times harder. The character assassinations against the Israeli government and Israeli society are gaining momentum with every month. If I hadn't lived there for six months as an adult and I still read as much al-Jazeera and left-wing news sources as I do, I would think it was the most backwards, bloodthirsty and racist state in our time rather than one of the most educated, innovative and progressive societies in Asia or indeed the world. The truth is that, at least outside of Palestinian-controlled areas, multiculturalism is strong and people respect others of different backgrounds to a greater degree than I see in the US. If a few non-Arab Israelis hate all Arabs or some Arab Palestinians hate all non-Arab Israelis, they know better than to express this in public in areas where regular law enforcement operates because they will all have to go to work together in the morning. When I was there I hitchhiked a lot, often with Arabs, and I visited Egypt and Jordan and never encountered any hostility toward me, even though I could be identified as a Westerner or Russian with one look because of my fair coloring.