Profile for Talent in a Previous Life
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Talent in a Previous Life |
| Member number | 3098 |
| Title | This Side Towards Enemy |
| Postcount | 961 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| What Kinds of Girls do you Like? in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, February 14 2004 03:27
Profile
What's Chick's position on date rape drugs? -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| What kind of RP partners would you like most? in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, February 14 2004 03:25
Profile
Dead ones. EDIT: SOrry, wrong thread. [ Saturday, February 14, 2004 03:26: Message edited by: Distantly Bemused ] -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| It's a small world! in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, February 14 2004 03:24
Profile
I was introduced to the games by a friend and a couple of other friends have played the Avernum games. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Stupid Question-Does anyone like furries? in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Friday, February 13 2004 14:24
Profile
I believe a furry is meant to be recognisably animal but in a form approaching humanoid. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| What Kinds of Girls do you Like? in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Friday, February 13 2004 14:20
Profile
I'd agree with Djur. If your parents or religion want to tell you that you might like to abstain from sex before marriage, that's fine. But a government should, whilst pointing out some of the risks involved in pre-marital sex, tell you the best way to go about it should you make that choice. Since a condom is nearly as good as abstinence (provided it's put on properly) and requires less in the way of willpower, people ought to be educated in how to use them first and foremost. I wouldn't personally go for unprotected pre-marital sex, however. Getting a kid whilst you're still in full-time education is not going to do you any favours and I've got serious concerns about the wisdom of handing on my genes to a child. I find it interesting that a good sense of humour is a near universal requirement. Many adolescent males will admit if you talk to them in groups of other adolescent males that that tends to come second to physical attractiveness (although that's where lust is concerned, whereas you can't really love somebody properly without knowing their personality, love at first sight just being a recommendation from the genitals.) That's not what interests me. It's natural to want to hide your semi-barbaric viewpoint, particularly if you think it'll improve your chances. What I find interesting is the definition of a good sense of humour. It's such a malleable term that you can apply it to most people and if you psyche works like mine, apply it to them in an attempt to convince yourself you're their perfect partner. As per the Ambrose Bierce quotation, cynicism has a slightly more romantic nature below it. I reckon I could fall in love with most women given time and like the vast majority enough to stomach some form of relationship with them. I'm not that judgemental on appearance (although I'm not that keen on bad acne,) as much through self-consciously low standards as general tolerance (since my appearance hovers between haggard and scruffy and my looks are forgettable at best.) When it comes to conversation, I'd consider that any woman sincerely talking on my (half sincere half affected) wavelength to be bordering on mentally ill and a frightening person and I'm a great believer in the power of ulterior motive. To summarise, I'm what you'd class as desperate if I was bothering to look. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| cheerleading in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Thursday, February 12 2004 08:01
Profile
Boxing has rules. It's why there are no longer 60 round bareknuckle fights and both contestants tend to survive. Ever heard of Queensbury rules? -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Siege Warfare in Blades of Avernum | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Wednesday, February 11 2004 08:40
Profile
Plah, you control up to 6 people. Some scenarios have you dealing with the best part of a continent or the fate of a whole world. It's surely not that unreasonable for the designer to decide that some things happen regardless? For myself, I prefer the style where you can only modify outcomes, not completely reserve them. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: Never Proved to Be a Contributory Factor to Stomach Cancer Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Favorite Member in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Wednesday, February 11 2004 08:37
Profile
Alec, purely for the moustache pr0n links. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Stupid, useless, trivial facts. in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Wednesday, February 11 2004 08:33
Profile
After consultation with the classics department, I've received confirmation to my belief that decimation in fact only involves killing one in ten, not leaving one in ten alive. The actual process was that those picked would have to run a gauntlet of their comrades which tended to prove fatal, whilst the survivors would have to make camp separately and lose all privileges until they redeemed themselves in battle. And Alec's belief about European nobility are interesting but as wrong as they've ever been. Going back 7 generations from Diana puts you back to around 1730. At that time, the amount of mixture between the aristocracy and other classes was pretty minimal. Aside from which, the Spencers tended only to marry into families as aristocratic as them and since we were running seriously short of genuine nobility rather than descendants of Charles II's bastard offspring, that means their genetics aren't going to be so widely spread out among the population. It's believed that barring recent immigrants, pretty much all the country is related to each other going back to around 1400. But Britain's always been insular so your theories about Charlemagne are unlikely. Clovis is a rather more likely candidate. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Help a fellow spiderwebber? in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Wednesday, February 11 2004 08:22
Profile
The Quakers I've met are pretty liberal. Haven't met many of them, but during the build up to Iraq, CND was using the local meeting place to store banners and the like. I haven't got that much knowledge about the early history, I'm afraid. I know that they got their name when one of their number was on trial for some religious offence, he told the judge he should "quake before the power of the Lord" - the real name is of course the Society of Friends. I also know that early opposition to their pacifism was quite virulent - just inside Colchester Castle's front gate, there are the remains of a small cell where a young Quaker starved to death during the Civil War rather than serve. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| What do you do when you're bored? :3 in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Tuesday, February 10 2004 10:03
Profile
Tossing fruit at my ceiling, disappearing off into the countryside for three hours at a time, reading books, staring at a wall. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| What Kinds of Girls do you Like? in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Tuesday, February 10 2004 09:55
Profile
Beggars can't be choosers. I'd settle for either being able to find me if not attractive then tolerable, whilst still being sober enough not to throw up over me, or unconscious. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Religion in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Friday, February 6 2004 13:11
Profile
It was meaningless in that you stated it in excess of a dozen things. It was a particularly inept attempt at trolling. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Stupid Question-Does anyone like furries? in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Friday, February 6 2004 13:09
Profile
Does anybody know why they took "Kill them all!" out of the Redux version of Apocalypse Now? That, and the accompanying spiel on where Kurtz thinks the government slipped up, is the climax of the film, I would suggest. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Thursday, February 5 2004 12:08
Profile
If an appropriate sum were to be payed, the country would likely go bankrupt, so I understand. So I don't think that one will fly. Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews ought to be considered separate ethnic groups. But ethnicity was not the reason Jews were persecuted originally (probably in part because many in Europe were no longer descended only from Semites going back a millenium.) Why do I say this? Because in the Middle Ages, there was significant peasant movement. In much of Eastern Europe, peasants moved out in a manner similar to colonisation, resulting in Scottish communities in Great Poland, for example. These were not victims of pogroms. Jews were victimised a) due to religion and b) due to the fact that this forced them to be separate and c) into the career path of usury. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Religion in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Tuesday, February 3 2004 13:42
Profile
Stylistic changes make it almost certain he's not the John who wrote the Gospel and whilst I can't remember my sources, a quick search wasn't able to uncover any major scholars prepared to say the author was likely the Apostle. If you want a deeper look, you might check the links at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/revelation.html -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Hostility, Man! in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Tuesday, February 3 2004 13:37
Profile
What makes you think Saunders doesn't have a mean side? At the end of the day, there's going to be a little hostility. There's not as much as there once was and if it's too much for you to deal with, you're just not desensitised enough to fit in. If you can't deal with some topics, don't read them. If you can't deal with most, find a different messageboard. There aren't huge amounts of hate being flung around here and I don't think it's reasonable to expect those there to change their style, particularly when most new members are mostly interested in the game topic forums. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Religion in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Monday, February 2 2004 12:37
Profile
I don't think you can say that the Cathar's beliefs were more sophisticated than David's beliefs. Complicated, perhaps, but some restrictions would never have left the 15th century had the Cathars survived. Although having said that, the Waldensians aren't that much changed from their original form, so you never know. Still, David's views are definitely Manichaean. It's a wide swathe going from Albigensians and Cathars in Languedoc, Catalonia and Northern Italy through the Balkans with the Bogumils out into the East. Most sects are now extinct but it was always stronger in the east. I've forgotten most of what I've read about it, but I believe a variant was as strong as Orthodox Christianity in the Eastern Roman Empire at one point. And once you leave the Christian spectrum, there's Manichaean thinking in other religions (I believe the original idea came from Zoroastrianism.) If you're interested, there should be enough keywords in there for you to get something out of Google. There are accurate and inaccurate parts of the bible. For example, I'd consider Chronicles worthless because it's just a rewrite of 2 Samuel and Kings that's more favourable to David and Solomon and hence more suitable for the emerging Jewish nationalism the writers wanted to stress. Then there's the matter that many books supposed to have been written around 1000BC contain words not used until around 650BC (although around 1000BC is unlikely, because whilst the Jews would most likely be familiar with alphabetic systems (since they were a Semitic creation) it wasn't until around then that the Phoenician alphabet was taken.) All well and good, but archaic phrases from centuries before also survive. I read a very convincing argument suggesting that the splitting of Greater Israel into the Judah and Israel was down to something like the Reformation, the Southern variant being more austere. Whilst it's not a foolproof argument, consider that the choice of books of the bible was constrained by several factors. Some, such as Jasher, were lost until quite recently (I'm given to understand that an 8th century copy turned up in Canterbury Cathedral's archives, a relic of a visit to the east by the Archbishop) and have not been reincorporated and I believe others are still missing, then there's the Pseudographica and Apocrypha. And if we turn our attention to the NT it's still more confusing. I'm not so sure Paul would have been such a vital influence on Christianity had Christ lived - I suspect Christ might have taken different lines on some issues to Paul's Pharisaic-influenced thought-patterns. That would completely change the face of the book. Then one must consider the doubtful pedigrees of the other letters. Not forgetting Revelations, either. The book was included by the Council of Nicaea purely because of the mistaken belief that the Apostle John was the John mentioned in the title. In the Orthodox Church, it was forbidden to read it aloud before the fall of Constantinople (considered a sign of the coming apocalypse) and the Copts have wisely never recognised it. Christianity would be a lot saner without it and Hebrews would make a far better conclusion to the tale of evolution from Jewish sect to separate religion. Then there's the New Testament Apocrypha. Plenty of stuff was excluded purely due to being produced too late. Other stuff was lost in persecutions or schisms and many works were not considered for exclusion merely because it was believed they expressed Gnostic points of view. So you can see why a perennial doubter like me, not prepared to say that we can be definite about anything in this universe, who only allows himself to have strong beliefs by deciding that whilst it might be wrong, it's a thing that it's worth being wrong about, would have difficulty convincing myself that the bible is absolute truth. And on another note, I sometimes regret not taking a GCSE in RE. With Classics and History, it would allow me so many more esoteric university courses. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Anti-Americanism in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Monday, February 2 2004 10:00
Profile
Whilst I agree Israel doesn't do the Middle East's stability any good, one can't just sign away Israel's existence. On the one hand, Israel has to be leaned on to agree to a fair policy of partition (which the so-called security fence is not) and the removal of settlements. On the other, concessions towards greater democracy ought to be extracted from the Arab nations. One might argue that this is giving in to terrorism, but that's not a logical argument. As long as there is no Palestinian state, there will be Palestinian suicide bombers. A Palestinian state may not end this, but it should at least substantially reduce terrorism. And terrorism does work. Whilst it must still be condemned, it has to be accepted. Ireland and Israel are but two examples of states established by terrorist campaigns. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Presidential Candidates...? in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Monday, February 2 2004 09:52
Profile
Kucinich 100% Sharpton 99% Kerry 89% Dean 87% Clark 81% Edwards 78% Lieberman 65% Bush 8% Partly I think the Kucinich results are due to this board's political bias. Partly it's because the media isn't interested in covering him as he's the candidate they least want in the White House. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| WTF are we still in Iraq. in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Sunday, February 1 2004 11:49
Profile
That's been theorised for ages, but there's minor matter of the massive lack of evidence. Al-Qaeda isn't a conventional state - it doesn't have the power to singlehandedly destabilise Iraq. Many Muslim extremist groups are not Al-Qaeda. But Muslim extremists are grouped under that general banner. My general understanding of Al-Qaeda is that since its powerbase in Afghanistan was shattered, it hasn't been able to field that many fighters. Rather, its strength is in foreign sleeper cells who will take years to organise a bombing if they do anything at all and who are unlikely to have the capability to keep a campaign of terror going beyond the first bombing. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Religion in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Sunday, February 1 2004 11:40
Profile
I was raised in a vaguely Christian (Anglican) household. My mother attended Church quite a lot, if partly because we were good friends with the vicar at that time. However, there was a degree of doubt. My father was not confirmed until after his fortieth birthday. I was confirmed about four years ago, but since then probably haven't been to Church much more than a dozen times. Partly this was because the vicar went off to become a hospital chaplain and whilst I've no problem with his replacement, there's a sort of informal junta which runs most of the functions which I'm not too keen on. Partly, it was just general doubt. I'm still closer to Christianity than anything else since whilst I can't believe in a supreme being (the world just seems too arbitrary) and the Bible's been fiddled with far too much for me to consider it entirely accurate, I'd consider myself someone attempting to follow Jesus' teachings. Mind you, the blatantly silly religions, such as paganism and the Roman and Greek pantheons, are not worshipped in any great numbers nowaday and I think there's something to be said for the lifestyle any of the major religions exhibit. Although I still think organised religion is a really bad idea. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| What music (if any) are you listening to... in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, January 31 2004 07:04
Profile
Daybreak by the Stone Roses -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Anti-Americanism in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, January 31 2004 06:56
Profile
I visit another board mostly populated by British adolescents of around my age. The type of anti-Americanism Lamorak displays wouldn't be out of place there, although if anything with more ignorance and worse reasons. When I called them out over this, a few had no better reasons than "they're all fat" or "they support Israel." I find it mystifying how much the British left has all the old statements against patriotism but still maintains a Little Englander viewpoint. I won't claim I'm immune either, sadly. Whilst I try to avoid it, I think it's just a national reaction to the realisation we no longer matter that much for ourselves on the world stage. America's done some fantastic things, but that doesn't mean it should be immune from criticism. Anywhere which can achieve such things has a responsibility not to rest on its laurels and where possible to help the rest of the world follow if not in its footsteps (few countries have quite such a good geo-strategic position for peaceful growth or large immigrant population to depend upon) then at least along a similar road. It's not anti-American to believe that many European nations look after their vulnerable better and that the USA could follow their example before. However, if you don't like America for such reasons as Blair's foreign policy, you're missing the point. That's Blair's responsibility. If you think Americans are big-headed and arrogant, I suggest you look closer to home. If you're offended by inaccurate depictions in films mostly aimed at a US market, you probably ought not to take things to seriously. Particularly when we Britons still don't give enough credit to the Poles who cracked the Wehrmacht Enigma in the early 30s or the thousands of Czechs, Poles, Danes, Dutchmen, Belgians, Norwegians, French and every other nationality who flew our fighters and bombers, worked as groundcrew, joined SOE or fought in the British army. And I suspect that a sizeable proportion of Americans accept Kursk and Stalingrad were the crucial battles of WW2 in Europe. Whereas we're still going on about El Alamein, a plan devised by a commander Churchill had just sacked. And if any North Americans are interested, just ask me any night and I'll provide a random list of good reasons to dislike the British. Like capitalism. Because Adam Smith was a Scot, you moronic little man. Oh, and with regard to your last point, I could give a detailed list of occasions when the British demonstrated crippling combat ineptitude. But I'll content myself with mentioning Dresden which is all the more horrifying because Harris meant to do it. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |
| Galactic Core History Contest in General | |
|
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
|
written Saturday, January 31 2004 06:31
Profile
I'd go with that idea. I doubt anybody else will object to getting more votes in. -------------------- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned I'll tell you my story, man Though I wish I'd never been born I'm loose at the seams, I've broken my dreams And my hand it shakes the pen Come on, come on now baby, Let the good times roll again Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00 |