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austingirl

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Posts posted by austingirl

  1. Bran's character makes no sense to me. I don't see the point of his storyline at all. I thought it would be somewhat relevant during the fight with the NK but even that was dumb. Part of me is hoping there's some big reveal coming up that I'm totally not seeing because it would at least justify all the time they spent developing him as the Three-Eyed Raven. Everyone's fighting the NK and his ass wargs into a bunch of ravens? What?

    Him getting pushed out the window in Ep 1 was his greatest contribution to the storyline.

  2. 6 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

    BY NOW WE’RE all familiar with the battle tactics in Game of Thrones: Confront your enemy head on—usually in some nicely arrayed lines—and hack at them until no one’s left alive or someone has won. It’s a tried-and-true method, with little in the way of actual operational depth. And as Sunday night’s Battle of Winterfell showed, it's particularly ineffective against an endless army of the undead. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

     

     

    https://www.wired.com/story/game-of-thrones-winterfell-battle-tactical-analysis/

    This is awesome. And it seems to get more and more detached and technical as it goes. By the end the author sounds like Alex Honnold critiquing movie climbing scenes.

    Quote

    While unconventional, Arya's attack falls into the clear confines of the allies’ overall objective, and she should be commended for taking the individual initiative to carry out the final plan.

     

  3. 11 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Yes, it's appeals.  They are almost automatic, whereas they are optional in all other cases.

    There is no "beyond a shadow of a doubt," it's just a reasonable doubt.  But that's just the guilt phase.  The punishment or penalty phase, which considers death versus life without parole, and must evaluate whether the defendant represents a future danger to society; only after ruling that "there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society" will the jury choose the sentence itself, by deciding whether there is "sufficient mitigating circumstance or circumstances to warrant that a sentence of life imprisonment without parole rather than a death sentence be imposed"

    It's a complex deal and it has to be.  Because it doesn't get applied just to "open and shut" cases.

    Got it, thank you. 

  4. I'm glad King is dead and I think it's been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he clearly committed the crime he died for, but the Cameron Willingham case is the one that gives me the most pause when I consider whether or not we should have the death penalty. I'm not a lawyer but I've read a lot about that case and it looks to me that there was at least enough evidence to not pass the "beyond a shadow of a doubt" test. I think he was executed by mistake, and that's horrifying.

    What I don't get in cases like King's is why it takes 21 years. He was convicted and sentenced in 1999. Why did it take so long to carry out his sentence? Is it the appeals process? I understand due process and needing to make sure no stone is unturned when facing an irreversible sentence, but what is it that makes these things drag out forever?

  5. 3 hours ago, Chooky said:

    It's impossible for me to support the death penalty after horrifyingly seeing so many people exonerated with the arrival of DNA testing.  But damn if this guy isn't the most highly qualified motherfucker to receive the honor.  That dead-eyed void of a human existence would test the bounds of the most merciful among us.  

    john-william-king-execution-texas-death-

    What you said.

  6. 8 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

    She did.  Worked with Stephey on DWI ads while he was in prison. 

    A long read but worthwhile if time is on your side:  http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/jacqui/jacqui.pdf

     

     

     

     

    I remember reading that article when it first came out. I'd totally forgotten about till now. The description of the tub room gives me chills. In 2014 I was in an accident at Crystal Beach, during which about 3/4 of the skin on my left palm was scraped completely off, along with some skin on my fingers. I was covered in mud from a ditch and had a pretty grody wound on my forehead. They took me to the burn unit at UTMB and to the tub room to clean me up. I'd never thought about what it was called till now, but reading the description, it's definitely what it was. They'd given me two morphine shots in the ER about 30 minutes earlier, and once I was in the room, they gave me a fentanyl "popsicle". Despite all of that, I'm not ashamed to admit that I screamed the entire time they cleaned my hand, somewhere around 30-45 seconds. I couldn't help it. It was the worst pain I've ever felt. They warned me about it beforehand and did it as quickly as possible, but still.

    All this to say I cannot imagine the pain this girl went through. I can't imagine multiplying what I felt when they cleaned that small part of my body. I hope there's a heaven if only to give Jacqui a blissful eternity free of the awfulness of her last 20 years.

  7. On 4/22/2019 at 5:12 PM, RomaVicta said:

    I recall that the national media descended on Jasper expecting (hoping?) to find a 1960s racist town. These killers weren't part of the community. Black and white residents of the town said it wasn't a terrible place for blacks and the races got along well.

    Horrible crime, but Jasper did well for itself in the aftermath.

    When it happened I remember thinking "Jasper? Not Vidor?" Vidor was the place you expected something like that to happen.

    • Like 5
  8. 1 hour ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

    I don't know the circumstances of the incident. 

    Your question is a loaded one. 

     

    1 hour ago, ajax said:

    You can't be serious with that shit

    I'm asking because in both cases, the girls were drunk beyond the point of being able to evaluate their surroundings and make decisions that would improve their safety. They both got that drunk, I'm guessing, because they thought they would be safe where they were and could do so without worrying about being taken advantage of. Obviously they both were wrong. In the BT case, I heard a lot of "She shouldn't have gotten so drunk she passed out at a party." Well, sure. Samantha Josephson should have checked the license plate of the car before getting in it, but she was likely too incapacitated to think about it. I don't think that makes her any more responsible for what happened to her than the woman Brock Turner raped. They both got shitfaced and made poor choices which, 99% of the time, would not have resulted in them being assaulted. They just sadly happened to be around people who took advantage of them.

  9. 3 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

     YOU and you alone are responsible for your own safety once you're old enough to be out on the street alone. The guy who murdered her is most definitely responsible for murder, but that in no way excuses her irresponsibility for her own safety.

    Accountable, and responsible mean pretty much the same thing in this instance IMO.

    Do you think the girl that Brock Turner raped was responsible for what happened to her?

  10. Just to address the question of responsibility in this situation - Uber wasn't responsible. The girl wasn't responsible.

    The sole responsibility is with guy who decided to let her think she was in an Uber then raped and killed her. 100%.

    I want to be clear because these conversations often go the way of "well, if she hadn't been drinking so much this wouldn't have happened" and so on. And I'm not saying that her alcohol consumption or some other distraction did not contribute to her not paying attention. But she could've gotten into 99.9% of the cars that drove past her that night and she wouldn't have been harmed. 

    I'm sure Uber/Lyft can implement some additional safety features like the ones already mentioned in this thread, and maybe they'll even save some lives. But at the end of the day, this was senseless and random, and even with additional precautions it could've (likely would've, if the killer was sufficiently motivated) ended the same way. 

    On the point about carrying some kind of weapon, I'm a fan of pepper spray. I carry it everywhere for reasons I've explained on other threads. While a CHL is an option, I guess, my thought process was "what can I get that will cause the least harm and be the most effective against an attacker?" Pepper spray works and you don't have to worry about killing anyone.

    • Like 1
  11. The Statesman at one point did a full-page color ad showing her face before and after the accident, side by side. I've never seen anything like it. I like to think that by sharing her story, she saved lives. Hopefully that made her last 20 years more bearable.

  12. Apparently she died of cancer in Guatemala. For those who don't know, she was in a horrific car accident in Austin in 1999, caused by a drunk driver, which resulted in permanent disabilities and disfigurement. The car caught fire before they could get her out.

    She was my age and her accident happened my first semester at UT. I've seen her post-accident face countless times and it still jars me. In the 20 years since the accident, she did a hell of a job raising awareness of the consequences of drunk driving. RIP.

    • Like 6
  13. 59 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

    Next step:  check local TV for warnings and shit in the corner.  I used to love Channel 8 (Spectrum) for weather during an event, best by far.  But I lost it when I chucked Time Warner/Sphinctrum/Charter/Whateverthefuck.

    I also really miss the local 24/7 radar on that thar TV.  Blows not to have it, plus can potentially cost lives.  But whatever, I need 4 Home Shopping channels instead.

    A looooong time ago, we had some major weather event happening and News 8 was live-monitoring it, and in the middle of Burton talking, the station cut away for something non-weather-related. When they came back, he was livid - started addressing the camera and said something like "I canNOT believe this station cut away from this extreme weather event coverage to show [whatever]..." Burton is [was? is he still there?] always so chipper but he totally lost his shit. It was great.

  14. 23 hours ago, phdhorn said:

    Eh, first real spring (typical) severe weather watches for our area.  Being in the "enhanced" portion of the area is a little uncomfortable, but we're on the very southwest chunk of it.  

    Saving a lot of time/writing, where the bad weather happens in situations like this is the small area where the lift/turbulence is worst.  This can be caused by a few things, like the Jet directly overhead of an area, a little isobar "ripple" where 2 air masses provide a lot of lift and cause violent shear (producing large hail and/or tornadoes).  Where this happens is ???? at best along the line.

    That forecast above says the best thing is that the storms will converge, merge, and line up.  Then the hail risk gets to be a little less, and tornadic activity as well.  The most likely problem then is high winds in a straight line.

    Td;dr:  meh, I'll take a look at the radar around 2-3 p.m. tomorrow, then I'll get a good idea of the strength/nature of the development.

    Definitely gonna be bumpy in a lot of parts 'round here especially tomorrow night late (midnight or past), but for the most part just a good dousing rain, lots of electricity, and some wind.  Where the bad stuff is, is going to become more obvious tomorrow afternoon.  But it won't be everywhere, just a few places.  And not sure if Frankie made like 5-6 other videos to DFW, Waco, etc. but Austin isn't really in the center of the bullseye, although we're close.  Worst of it should be NE of us.

    More tomorrow if I'm not drunk.  Or maybe if I am.

    More drunk forecasts/weather analysis, please. For Surly. I still crack up thinking about the one you did during Harvey.

  15. 8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

    My son isn't down there due to a conflicting trip to Dallas, but his soccer club has several tournament matches near Bulverde.  Word is that "tennis ball" is an apt descriptor of the hail.

    Bullet dodged.

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