And in world devouring kraken news...

[Dark Jaguar]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/...seriously/

I'm.... stunned by this. I mean seriously, we all knew the NSA was "evil", but apparently the NSA knows that about itself now. I've never seen a government agency do something so... blatant. What's the next step? Change the uniform so they all have skulls on their chests and change the NSA leader's title to "Grand Overseer Hawk Lord of all Knowledge"? Maybe install a secret bunker full of brains in vats, or maybe a flying hover tank that shoots lasers? The sky is the limit when you design a logo and motto that could have come out of G.I. Joe or James Bond. Heck, even today's James Bond movies wouldn't risk something so laughably ridiculous and overtly evil as a logo like that.

Now to be fair, I suppose the very fact that I can mock this so relentlessly without being hooded and dragged to some internment camp is a point in freedom's favor, but nobody's arguing "put up on a wall" levels of rights violations here.

[Dark Jaguar]

I thought I'd just set this down over here.

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[A Black Falcon]

... Yeah, that logo is somewhat beyond good taste, isn't it. An octopus and "nothing is beyond our reach", really? That's not even self-parody, that's more just bragging about how pervasive their surveillance machine is now...

And on that note, read about how they've even been reading chatlogs in MMOs like WoW and Second Life, looking for terrorists using the games for communication? Yes, really...

[Dark Jaguar]

Not really, I think they're just playing online games and every now and again they kill a rogue and say they stopped a terrorist plot.

[A Black Falcon]

That could be one excuse for it... :)

[Sacred Jellybean]

Damn, you beat me to the punch with that Mitchell & Webb skit.

I suppose the ODNI might as well embrace it. Americans are outragedbut enough to do anything but squawk about it? Is this an actual campaign issue? When was the last time this came up in debate in recent history? The last I remember is the FISA debacle in the 2008 presidental elections, where I think Obama first came out against it, and then in a true Obama fashion, backpedalled. Even then, it was hardly a big sticking point, lost in the noise about the economy and government spending.

Even so, it IS an interesting debate to have, namely privacy vs. security. Most of us wouldn't know about our privacy being invaded and it doesn't impact our lives. Also, I believe we do get actual tangible evidence and targets for terrorist networks. Neither of these things make it right, of course. Perhaps we would be better off removing ourselves from these affairs, than inserting ourselves (and drones) into the foreign fray.

But then, the moment you back down, you'd have the right screaming about how WE'RE COWARDS THAT ARE LITERALLY INVITING SCARY ARABS TO COME BLOW US UP. And we do have our middle east allies to think of. But still, civil liberties are a very basic right that shouldn't be brushed aside. It isn't worth it to sell these out, and the Obama administration is just as cuplable as its predecessor.

It's kind of a pragmatist vs. idealist scenario. I wonder if I'll feel the same way in 5 years.

[Great Rumbler]

At least it wasn't a Japanese satellite, you know what I mean?

[A Black Falcon]

It most definitely should be a campaign issue, and probably is/will be in some state and Congressional elections, but President? Both parties' candidates will almost certainly be in favor of this surveillance, sadly... :(

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeesh GR, Pearl Harbor was over 60 years ago, move ON man! You're starting to sound like Darunia.

Oh and I take back what I said about "put up on a wall" levels of abuse. I forgot about non-Americans under the past few administrations. (Don't we all?)

[Great Rumbler]

Yeesh GR, Pearl Harbor was over 60 years ago, move ON man! You're starting to sound like Darunia.

What in the world are you talking about?

[Dark Jaguar]

Er, the thing you were talking about above?

[Great Rumbler]

[Dark Jaguar]

Is that some sort of anime parody? Like, Magical Girl Pretty Shoot Death Squad vs the space mutants?

[A Black Falcon]

I believe it's actually from a skit in the Daily Show, though I haven't watched it myself.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yes that part I get. I'm just not sure what's so Japanese about an octopus, except that they eat them a lot.

[A Black Falcon]

The Japanese have a longstanding thing for tentacle porn, remember; I imagine that's the joke/reference.

[Dark Jaguar]

I've never heard of... uh, that, but it sounds incredibly racist.

[Sacred Jellybean]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_o...man's_Wife

Does this help? Be sure to read the "Influence" section.

...I never want to post erotic tentacle art and ask a person if it helps... ever again.

[Dark Jaguar]

So... if I understand you correctly (sorry didn't really feel like reading the whole thing), that was a parody of some old wood cutting of what appears to be a squid having sex with a medieval Japanese woman? Uh, okay, weird, but still not sure what that has to do with the anime girl being attacked by an octopus, doesn't seem like anything like a "dream" to her anyway. Also, hate to be pedantic, but the logistics are ridiculous :D. I recall this scene from futurama:

<div style="background-color:#000000;width:520px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><iframe src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:arc:video:comedycentral.com:f55284c2-ed00-11e0-aca6-0026b9414f30" width="512" height="288" frameborder="0"></iframe><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.comedycentral.com">Comedy Central</a></b></p></div></div>

[A Black Falcon]

So... if I understand you correctly (sorry didn't really feel like reading the whole thing), that was a parody of some old wood cutting of what appears to be a squid having sex with a medieval Japanese woman? Uh, okay, weird, but still not sure what that has to do with the anime girl being attacked by an octopus, doesn't seem like anything like a "dream" to her anyway. Also, hate to be pedantic, but the logistics are ridiculous :D. I recall this scene from futurama:

It's not just an old woodcarving, it's also a VERY common thing in Japanese hentai (animated porn)... I have no idea why, but it is. Did you read the "influence" section in that article where it pointed this out?

[Great Rumbler]

Japan has weird censorship laws, so they had to do be creative. Hence, women being attacked by "tentacles."

I swear, talking to Deej about anything is like trying to communicate with someone from another planet.

[Dark Jaguar]

"Common"? I have to wonder about that. Porn itself is already pretty niche, much less bizarre "kinks" like these. Sounds to me like someone read about it and it got blown up into some sort of racist stereotype about Japanese people in general. Also, how often do you describe sex as "attacking"? That's kinda creepy.

[A Black Falcon]

"Common"? I have to wonder about that. Porn itself is already pretty niche, much less bizarre "kinks" like these. Sounds to me like someone read about it and it got blown up into some sort of racist stereotype about Japanese people in general.

The Japanese make a lot of porn (live action, animated, drawn... on that last point, every popular anime gets LOTS of fanmade porn mangas (called doujins) that are sold in stores (that specialize in such things and are bought by otaku fans). That wouldn't be legal in the US, but it's allowed in Japan. Not all doujins are porn, of course, but lots are.) Of course otakus are a niche group, though. But even so, we are talking about what it is, so regardless of how "common" it is society-wide, that's beside the point I think.

Also, how often do you describe sex as "attacking"? That's kinda creepy.

Yes it absolutely is. I'm pretty sure that a lot of Japanese porn (in any form) has rape in it, and tentacle stuff is almos4t always that way I think -- I'm sure there is some consensual tentacle sex stuff out there, but the stereotype is the other way around.

And yes, I do think that that's a sign of how far Japan has to go in terms of gender relations -- Japan and South Korea have the biggest pay gaps between men and women of any first-world nations outside of the Middle East, and that their porn is so disturbingly full of rape is yet another sign of their lagging behind on gender, I think. I have no idea why people would want to see that kind of thing... it's pretty messed up. You see hints of this in regular anime too, not only stuff with actual sex in it. I mean, on this point, tentacle scenes are very common in "ecchi" animes; I think that the only real difference between that and the hentai (porn) versions is how far things go. But of course, that kind of anime is only shown in the middle of the night and is just for that definitely niche otaku audience, so it's not something generally popular... I have no idea of what Japanese society as a whole thinks of such things. But manga is popular, and that's how it is there too -- and not just in stuff for guys, either; in gay (yaoi) mangas aimed at female audiences, rape is also apparently extremely, extremely common. Come on Japan, join the modern world sometime... that is not okay.