The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

...while it's not been proven that Wi-Fi causes brain cancer, it is known that some individuals are physically affected by sources of EM radiation— a phenomenon known as 'Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity' (EMH). I recall the case of an office worker who had a microwave antenna bolted outside his office window; after several years of working there, he got head-splitting migraines whenever he was exposed to a strong EM field. The poor man couldn't even keep a radio running in the background because it felt like he was itching all over.

... in accordance with their clear dedication to the weight of scientific evidence, they have now entirely reversed their message and are firmly (if not enthusiastically) stating that no, vaccines don't cause autism, and that there's no evidence they're bad and lots that they're good?

No? ... no?

(For my money, the best part of the story is that they're investigating what went wrong, because the initial reports they heard suggested there was a link. Because that's how science works, right? The vague ideas you draw after a week always pan out into solid data three years down the line? Right? Right?!?!?)

hS

I am happy to report that "SafeMinds", the anti-vaccine activists, funded a study to prove their point. With them giving the money, the research was supposed to be free of any sort of manipulation and corruption...
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It backfired at them spectacularly, as the research showed a link between autism and vaccines does not exist.

"My credentials, Mr. Dandelion." She said, showing it to him.

"Firstly, how can we be sure that you're a real agent?"

You terrible piece of literature you. I can not listen to it now but I am betting the 'hentai' chapters where hard to get through.

"I wouldn't call myself an expert on this stuff," Levy said. "But I can help."

"We asked for 'spookiness' and not for 'fight for your life. I thought this was supposed to be a cheap horror setup."

"I'm sorry, what?" said Agent Becker as he peeped over the barricade. "Do you guys know something?"

"Only that we're being chased after by this weird entity that is trying to kill or assimilate us into the Borg consciousness or something!" said the Guardsman in a maniacally happy tone. "Said something about us being the 'game masters' or something of the sort. Well, I say that I want more spooky and less kill-y. Is that possible or...?"

Naya looked at her partner. Though her face was obstructed by an opaque visor, the Time Lord knew she had just rolled her eyes at him. "Are you seriously making demands to the Suvian whatchamacallit that's hunting us right now?"

"Well, it's worth a shot, innit? 'sides, you just said something about this being a cheap horror setup."

"...fine., point taken."

In that selfsame tweet, I might add, that it was "Animals representing Hillary Clinton". I'd like to point out that there is a federal investigation into the matter and, while it is ongoing, so far there have been no links uncovered to Hillary Clinton or her party. That the perpetrators don't like Donald Trump is not grounds for suggesting, quite dangerously, that Clinton's supporters are behind this; despising Donald Trump merely indicates higher brain function rather than outright political affiliation.

Look, however understandable I might personally find flinging a Molotov at a building connected to both a racist tangerine with some roadkill spaghetti on top AND a man who stole money from disaster relief programs to pay for a ridiculous transphobic "bathroom bill" (Pat McCrory, as any fule kno), this isn't the way forward. The Democrats have the presidential election in the bag, the Republicans are having to retool their entire strategy in order to get the GOP faithful to vote down-ticket (weeks before an election and after early voting has started), and so I consider it entirely unnecessary and completely stupid, regardless of the fact that nobody was hurt in the incident. All this does is fuel Trump's ramblings about a vast, unknowable conspiracy arrayed against him and Real America(TM) and play into his narratives surrounding the rigging of this election. This will make Trump-supporting "poll-watchers" (read: bloated, grubby little fascists) feel entirely justified in engaging in voter intimidation - and since this is American fascism we're talking about, the Trumpists are going to show up armed to the teeth.

This was a stupid, violent act and I hope that the people behind it are brought to justice. I also hope that this doesn't get in the way of people realizing that a Trump presidency is far more dangerous than any of the alternatives. Yes, including Gary Johnston and Jill Stein; they're both too stupid to be President, though for entirely different reasons (Jill thinks vaccines cause autism and Wi-Fi causes brain cancer, Gaz doesn't think... at all, as far as I've been able to make out).

The man waved his arms even faster. "Look out, you've got some evil magic chains around you now!"

The two DIS Weeds wheeled around to look at the woman.

"Is she one of them?" asked Weed-Thirteen to its colleague.

"No idea," replied Weed-Seventy. "Just... be cautious."

"Well, she's about to get murderlized by the magic chains there," said the man in the power armour. "Sh-shouldn't we do something?"

A scream from the left briefly distracted the agents manning the checkpoint. Weed-Seventy waved in the direction of the noise. "De Grasse, Tacitus, go and investigate that."

"But—"

"We can deal with this. Go and see if it's someone who needs help."

Gaspard looked from the Weeds to the woman and then back at the Weeds. If they wanted to deal with that, they could go on right ahead, he figured. "A-aye, sir. C-come on, T-Tacitus. Let's back away from the oncoming bloodbath."

The Zorua didn't need to be told twice— he practically bolted away from the checkpoint as soon as he could.

"How do I know you're real?" She asked. Ethereal blue chains began circling her feet, wrapping their way up to about Levy's head level, solidifying and turning gold in the process.

I'm glad nobody was hurt.

/OAKDOWN GAINS 1X LASER SHOVEL./

Derik encounters strange, overly-complex machines and machinery throughout the halls. Everywhere he goes, he can hear a faint whirring and clicking.
Spooks probably happen at some point.

That work as a prompt, or the sort you were after? Tried keeping it vague, and all.
I am very interested in seeing how this gets interpreted...

It tilted its head and twitched its pedipalps, which dripped and glistened horribly in the faint lighting. A thin, bony hand, skin tight and coloured like old parchment, dotted and lined with the dusty marks of aeons past, blindly reached out towards the spider. It was a split second of noises - crashing, squelching. A great howl reverberating through the corridor. A horrible, fleshy scent of iron. A huge, hairy blur, clouds of choking dust rolling through the air. Then, the spider dropped the leaking, ripped remains of the arm to the floor. The entity inside the coffin had enough of the situation, and was giving the world the silent treatment.

'Found me in a baaaaaad space, bud.' It skittered closer, eight eyes staring right ahead. There was dust and blood gleaming on its mandibles 'Listen, listen. Listen listen listen. Can you do a favour? Can you do me a favour, bud?'

((Watch as I descend into faux-Lovecrafty purple prose... And, trust me, it's horror. Trust me. Give it a moment.))

Though I won't rule it out. A few allusions here and there, though... Maybe a vaguely clockwork snowflake on my Plort heraldry when I get around to designing it? Hm...

Proof, if any was needed*, that there are awful people on both sides of any debate.

*No proof was needed.

I'm glad no-one was hurt. I hope there's no retaliatory violence.

hS

I don't have the creepiest mindset, but I'll do my best. (I'm also assuming that 'creepy and open-ended' is more interesting to write from than 'AND THEN THERE WERE GUTS AND THEN THERE WAS A SCREAMING MONSTER AND AND'.)

-Every door closes behind him about 8 seconds after he steps through. All of them.

-A room where the lights don't work, and there is something in the middle which he has to work his way past.

-An overhead duct drips with sticky black fluid. There is a ventilation grille a few feet further along.

-A massively scarred figure which precisely mirrors his every move. (Yes, I think I'm ripping off Tomb Raider at this point.)

-A reddish moss covers every surface in the room. It's impossible to tell what all the lumps on the floor are...

-A roomful of bats. Bats everywhere. So many bats. They're all sleeping... for now.

-A perfectly lovely, perfectly empty white room, lit by a fluorescent light that isn't even flickering. The far door stands invitingly open. This is the only room where the door in doesn't shut behind him.

-A list of names pinned to a wall, written in what looks alarmingly like blood, all in different handwriting. Halfway down is his name - in his own hand.

-A rough-cut tunnel enters the corridor on one side, and leaves a little further down on the other. It is pitch black inside.

That the sort of thing you're looking for?

hS

What you do with it is up to you. I admit I would find it absolutely hilarious if people ended up writing stories about a political compass plot with a rough map thrown over it. ^_^

hS

Maz looked up at Yocherry. This was a larger task than it sounded, considering that one Yocherry was worth more than four Maz-es.

'Um. No? Yes? Um, what?'

'Something seems off,' Yocherry said, looking around, eyebrow raised.

'Yeah, dude?' Maz said, antennae standing with life. 'Like, uh, like it's all, um, I dunno, fake? Like the figment of a, um, delusional imagination, um, brought on by trauma? And then, uh, you're just about to, dude, wake up back home in, um, the Labyrinth and go on with your life?'

'Well-'

'With no talking flowers or humans, or, um, fanfiction, or, um, any of that?' Maz paused. 'No offence.'

'You know, boss,' Yocherry looked down to Maz, eyebrow still raised. 'That was close, but I was thinken more "spooky." Place looks "spooky."'

'Oh. Um. Yeah.' Maz, who had been raised in a damp, claustrophobic cave system, and had lived most of her life eating decaying matter and half-rotten corpses, actually thought it all looked quite charming.

'Pretty spooky, dude.'

I'm a snowflake! Made of brass! In an ocean!
I am extremely excited about this!

Do I have a navy? Do I trade with Tomash (yay, fellow metal island!) and Alleb (I am her closest neighbor)? How do I support myself out here, fishing? How does a snowflake made of brass float? Can it move? What's the Southern Ocean like, anyway? So many questions!

But Shadowrun and, to a much lesser extent, the modern (and past, for that matter) world aren't really fair comparisons to anarcho-capitalism. There are some pretty significant differences, the most relevant being that big corporations like in Shadowrun often gain (or at least maintain) their monopolies through government. Lobbying for excessive fees and regulations that smother new businesses, artificially securing a monopoly on products through intellectual property law, things like that.

The idea of regulation through capitalism is to vote with your wallets, essentially. If a company is doing something immoral you don't forbid them from doing it, you just buy from someone else. If an unscrupulous company isn't sufficiently moral for the buying public, another company with take its place. Competition is everything, and competition favors the business practices that most satisfy the consumer public.

Of course, this is all just my opinion. I don't have data to back it up (not entirely sure how one would gather data on this, either), it's just my interpretation of my own observations. I may be wrong, or I may be right. Or I could be varying degrees of both, draw your own conclusions.

When it comes to violent crime like robbery or murder, the options are pretty much the same as under government: protect yourself and your property to the extent you deem necessary or seek protection from an outside agency. A rather important exception to the "don't compel others by force" rule that I completely forgot to mention is self defence and defence of others. There are even some people who advocate for including prisons in the list of things carried over from government, though how they square that with the whole "right to life, liberty, and property" thing I have absolutely no idea.

Now, as for why I was focusing on consequence through contract when replying to Seafarer, that was simply because they mentioned people doing whatever they wanted without fear of punishment, rather than something specific like in your post (still getting to that, by the way).

And as for the children, that's one of the areas I mentioned where I just don't have an answer. Not a particularly compelling one, anyway.
You could put together community contracts establishing certain moral standards, but unlike with utilities, goods, or services, there's not really much inventive to sign them. You could rely on people being moral enough to refuse service to people who don't treat their children well enough, but that has far too many holes to be anywhere near reliable and does nothing to actually stop it. You could work into a community contract provisions for removing a child from an abusive home (come to think of it, that might be how some people justify the prison system I mentioned. Hmm.), but again, there's no reason to sign it, and if they don't agree it's no different from government. Lastly, you could rely on individuals to act themselves to remove the child, but then they themselves would be initiating force and infringing on the rights of others.
Maybe one of these or other solutions would work, but without data and a whole lot more thought, I just don't know.

And as for a child's ability to give informed consent on things like security, I honestly don't know how to answer that. Maybe someone else does, but I don't. As I mentioned, I'm still learning. Questions like that are why I try not to present anything I say as a certainty.

The thing is, I'm not an anarcho-capitalist because I think it's a perfect system, far from it. I'm an anarcho-capitalist because it's the best alternative to government I've found so far. Maybe there's an answer to your question that squares well enough with my philosophy, maybe there isn't. If there is, I may never find it. All I know is that I cannot countenance statism, and I trust humanity to find alternatives.