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Social Degradation and Religious Decay (Split from "Life on Europa") in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Saturday, July 14 2007 07:50 Profile Homepage #79
quote:
Originally written by Stillness:

EDIT: As a side note I just want to add that people aren't really living any longer than in ancient Bible days. The numbers may go up and down depending on culture and era, but it's the same right now as in the days of Moses.
*facepalm*

This seems straightforward enough, and I've never heard otherwise: Life expectancy.

To return to the topic at hand -- longer life clearly is not the only thing behind our divorce rate, though it may be one piece of the puzzle. There are numerous factors, and I suspect the biggest one is quite simply the greater social fluidity of our society, much of which is inherent in having a large, interconnected society with large cities and easy transportation. It's both easier to get married and get divorced now than it once was. Not to mention that in much of history, divorces have either been tightly restricted by church or state, or not conducted in any official, recorded way. So the increase in divorces-per-opportunities is likely much more subdued than the increase in divorces.

I dunno. Perhaps it's because of what I'm exposed to in my work, but I find it hard not to conclude that we as a society have been experiencing a decay in our ability to relate to others in healthy ways.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Social Degradation and Religious Decay (Split from "Life on Europa") in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Saturday, July 14 2007 04:50 Profile Homepage #74
quote:
Originally written by Stillness:

1) Divorce is bad for families.
2) Those that apply western family values have a higher divorce rate than those that strictly follow biblical guidelines.
3) Western values are not as good for families as strictly following biblical guidelines.

And

1) A ‘strong institute of the family’ is good for society.
2) People that strictly follow biblical guidelines for family have a ‘strong institute of the family.’
3) Strictly following biblical guidelines is good for society.
Thanks for delineating your logic, Stillness. I actually agree completely with your second chain, particularly with your disclaimer about different religions, though I would add that like other ways of strengthening family, it does not guarantee strength. But that's a minor quibble.

Your first statement, I think, is completely incorrect. Divorce isn't bad for families. Rather, divorce is a symptom of families that are in bad shape. I'll agree that it's not always a good solution, and in general I would much rather see family dysfunction healed than given up on. I think the divorce rate in the U.S. is deplorable. But the problem isn't divorce; the problem is that people are not building healthy relationships in the first place. And some relationships grow so unhealthy that they can't reasonably be healed. Would you say that terminating a physically abusive relationship is "bad for the family"?

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Scripts in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Saturday, July 14 2007 04:21 Profile Homepage #4
...and the moderators frown on topics whose only impact is to cause fighting. Khyryk, be kind.

About the topic, there's nothing inherently evil about it, but the things you mention have already been discussed in numerous other topics you can find on this board. It would make more sense to post a specific question or request.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Europa, God, and you, or Where it all fits. in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Friday, July 13 2007 15:12 Profile Homepage #35
quote:
Originally written by Frolicking in Postaroni General:

From a utilitarian standpoint that's untrue: time wasted in incorrect faith is useless at best and counts against you in the afterlife at worst. You could be better off as an atheist for optimization.
Alorael's Wager, or If Pascal Was a Munchkin.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Scripts in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Friday, July 13 2007 11:40 Profile Homepage #1
The Nine-Headed Cave Cow frowns upon your syncretistic name. :P

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Battle Discipline Speculation in Avernum 4
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Thursday, July 12 2007 20:25 Profile Homepage #2
i'm in ur playthrough maxing ur skillz
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
For all of you who haven't noticed... in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Thursday, July 12 2007 20:12 Profile Homepage #2
Indeed. I smell much min-maxing analysis.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Social Degradation and Religious Decay (Split from "Life on Europa") in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Thursday, July 12 2007 04:55 Profile Homepage #26
Build me a quote ziggurat, and I will live in it!

I mean a quote ziggurat built in dreams, of course, not a shantytown of mislaid words in a topic destined for doom.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Social Degradation and Religious Decay (Split from "Life on Europa") in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Wednesday, July 11 2007 06:16 Profile Homepage #3
Huh. I guess I really did stop paying attention to current events after high school. Hardwick I know, but I don't remember even hearing about Lawrence. Shame on me!

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Life on Europa in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Wednesday, July 11 2007 05:18 Profile Homepage #47
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Yes, but it no longer has a legally-mandated racial caste system, nor does it deny women the right to vote (much less to work), and no longer has sodomy laws.
Well, it no longer enforces sodomy laws. It's amazing how many are still on the books, though.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Quick Action? in Avernum 4
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Wednesday, July 11 2007 05:14 Profile Homepage #2
As usual, the Quick Strike description is incorrect.

You get TWO INDEPENDENT chances to get +1 AP, each equal to 5% per point of Quick Strike. So with 5 Quick Strike you have two 25% chances, which means you have about a 43.5% chance of getting at least +1 AP. With 10 Quick Strike you have two 50% chances, or about a 75% chance of getting at least +1, but still only a 25% chance of getting +2. And so on.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Seperated from a loved one. in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Tuesday, July 10 2007 19:26 Profile Homepage #27
quote:
Originally written by Alorael:

I do several people who had "just friends" talks, though. Lo and behold, they're still "just" very good friends...
Did no one else notice this horrible entendre?

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Video Game Addiction in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Monday, July 9 2007 08:10 Profile Homepage #137
quote:
Originally written by Stillness:

And does anyone really feel cool when they drink a pop? I would definitely agree that they are easily influenced if they do. I don't think that's true for everyone or even most people.
Are you really arguing that most people are not easily influencable?

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Project Spiderweb. in Blades of Avernum
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Monday, July 9 2007 04:06 Profile Homepage #95
The possibility of a zombie muffin brings a whole new, disgusting meaning to juju zombie.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
The Forgotten zone in Geneforge Series
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Monday, July 9 2007 04:05 Profile Homepage #47
Also, the two Ornks in charge of everything are named Benjy and Frankie.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Mac Graphics in Blades of Exile
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Saturday, July 7 2007 14:30 Profile Homepage #1
ResEdit won't work on newer systems. You need a newer application, such as ResFool.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Video Game Addiction in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Saturday, July 7 2007 05:24 Profile Homepage #128
quote:
Originally written by Stillness:

The correlation between substance abuse and an "unhealthy attachment" to sex or video games is the behavior of the person. They are similar. That's the usefulness of title's such as "addict." We know what kind of things an addict does and how dangerous addiction can be.
That's the thing, though. There is a correlation and there are similarities, but the correlation is imprecise and the similarities inconsistent. Addiction implies compulsion and, particularly in popular use, inability to quit. Unhealthy attachment could involve those things, but doesn't normally, at least when I hear the phrase.

quote:
A person who is mentally ill through no fault of their own should not be blamed or mistreated. It's different when someone brings it on themselves. Why shouldn't they be blamed for what they've done? That doesn't mean they shouldn't get help. I don't see why they should be excused though.
In theory I agree with you. In practice, this is a very hard line to draw. Suppose somebody lives in an area where heavy drug use is ubiquitous. Suppose their parents encourage them to use. Suppose they were actually introduced to addictive drugs prenatally. Suppose they turn to drugs to cope with sexual abuse. Suppose they just never developed strong coping skills and don't have a supportive social network, and they turn to drugs to cope with less extreme pressures. In which of these cases is it their fault? What about combinations of these factors? It's often hard to tease apart what an somebody really could have done differently, and what was simply a challenge they would inevitably have to face, without outside intervention. Really, who wakes up and says "I want to bring a mental illness on myself today!"

The answer, at least for me, is to talk about responsibility, but not blame. If somebody has ended up in an addictive situation, it's their responsibility to get themself out of it -- nobody else is gonna do it for them, and if they aren't willing to take responsibility for their actions it will never happen. But blame just isn't a useful concept, unless you're looking to belittle somebody.

[quote]It's interesting that at some companies a person who works very poorly and irresponsibly can be fired. If the cause is drugs they'll retain him and help him though. I know someone that took advantage of a policy like that. I couldn't believe it.[/quote]The theory behind such policies is presumably that some rehabilitation programs have fairly proven success rates, so if the employee is genuinely invested, after a couple of weeks or months you could have a high-functioning employee again rather than having to train somebody new. I know of no rehabilitation programs for general incompetence ;) .

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
delicious vlish in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Friday, July 6 2007 20:29 Profile Homepage #15
Thanks for advocating the harrassment, belittlement, humiliation, threatening, and embarassment of everyone who isn't a member of these boards.

Seriously, though, personal invective has no place here. I don't care who you're targetting. It's contagious, it threatens to turn these boards into the same cesspit of flames that most internet message boards eventually collapse into, and on my watch, I'll swat it down faster than you can say "Feisty Slap of Pain!"

And that, as they say, is that.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
delicious vlish in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Friday, July 6 2007 19:52 Profile Homepage #13
Suspicious Vlish, please don't make personal attacks.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Transfer characters from one computer to another in Avernum 4
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Friday, July 6 2007 18:18 Profile Homepage #1
Indeed, copy the save files.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Party Composition in Avernum 4
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Friday, July 6 2007 12:05 Profile Homepage #3
One important thing to note is that mage spells and priest spells are equally effective on the offense. Mages have a little more versatility, but a priest doesn't really need a melee backup any more than a mage does, particularly given the strength and ease of using archery as a backup.

It is useful to have at least one strong hand-to-hand fighter to deal with highly resistant enemies like pylons. You can either make him a tank who attracts all the melee attacks (using nephil for the dodge bonus, and edged weapons to use shields) or a focused attacker (using slith for the pole bonus). A slith pole fighter will do upwards of 30% more damage than a nephil fencer (formulaically). Normally that doesn't matter much, but against pylons et al it's quite useful. Either way his role is to protect the spellcasters.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Video Game Addiction in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Thursday, July 5 2007 19:47 Profile Homepage #107
Didn't the UBB already eat this debate? Gevalt.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Video Game Addiction in General
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Thursday, July 5 2007 07:07 Profile Homepage #92
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

quote:
Originally written by Nick Ringer:

I've always believed "you don't know until you try."
I've always thought pretty near the opposite. I've seen enough people drunk to know what it's probably like. It is completely unappealing and repulsive to me. Ergo....
While I too would favor the reverse maxim, your logic here is atrocious. Seeing drunk people tells you a lot about how drunk people tend to act and how they tend to look to others. It tells you absolutely nothing about what the experience of being drunk is like, though.

I never drank (and swore I never would) until I was 22. It was a great decision not to; the people I would have been drinking with in high school or college weren't people I was likely to really have positive experiences with. I don't think I would have handled it well at all. 15-year-old Slarty would call me agist for saying so, but I think age really does make a difference.

Today I still think most people go overboard in their use of drinking. But I also think that, applied with due temperance, drinking can be positive. Certainly the experience of it can be.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Vlish under-rated in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Slarty
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
 written Thursday, July 5 2007 04:49 Profile Homepage #14
quote:
Originally written by Suspicious Vlish:

By the time I've levelled up my cryoa, I can usually create a shiny new cryoa that is exactly the same level, or higher! Or they will be overshadowed by a creation from a higher tier.
This simply is not the case. Although creations do not level up at the overly advantageous rate they did in G3, there are very few levels of Create X skill available -- particularly for a second-level creation like a cryoa, where you already need three to make it -- and equipment that boosts shaping skill is rare. And if you're going to keep your creations around you need to spend skill points on shaping skill BEFORE making them, obviously.

What constitutes the 'shoulder on the curve' for me, anyway, is mental resistance. All the fourth and fifth tier creations have it and the others don't, and it becomes very annoying not to have it later in the game. The problem is that drayks remain the best value for your essence, except for that one flaw.

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Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00

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