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Displayed name	Custer
Member number	3151
Title	Bob's Big Date
Postcount	2367
Homepage	http://desperance.net
Registered	Friday, June 27 2003 07:00

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Why does Jeff have a bad rep? in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Friday, September 24 2004 14:46 Profile Homepage #12 quote: Originally written by Archmagi Micael: The general feeling of these boards are that Jeff is a loser, comes from the BoE designers, who don't like him for not upgrading BoE, and the fact that if anyone DOES want to say anything good about Jeff, they don't dare, since most of the mods are with the BoE designers. - Archmagi Micael I am going to keep this quote around for five years from now so I can whip it out when Jeff's current golden boy has fallen into the same gutter he kicked BoE into. BoE is readily the best RPG-making game out there, and I will stick by that steadfastly. Easy to use, with a sort of 2d retro charm which it and the Exiles have made their own. Jeff Vogel did not do a perfect job of it. That is why he patched it twice or so and then ignored it from then on out. He then proceeded to sit on community efforts and offers to fix problems, junior programmers who offered to fix the various evil bugs that still plague BoE. Avernum is now his cash cow, and probably a damned easy one, too. They were direct conversions of the Exiles, with only a very few changes made. And people lapped them right up. Nowadays every idiot around says that Exile is too primitive, ugly, whatever, and that people should play Avernum instead. Avernum shows that his games are not unlike any other RPGs on the market because he wants them to be, but because he couldn't do any better. He wants to make NWN. He wants to be EA. He just doesn't have the means. The heart is not there. Then came Blades of Avernum. The BoE designing community had been laboring for years around Jeff's mistakes in BoE, and had turned the scenario into a well-crafted art form. A language all its own, with its old masters and new. They petitioned for changes. Jeff Vogel proceeded to behave as if he had read about RPGs in a Japanese magazine. He said he wanted to make sure any strategy worked, so the ability to change around spells or add new ones would be unfair. Making tweaks to the damage system or adding physical resistance would be unfair. 'If I want to hack through a scenario with a Conan character, I should be able to.' It showed that not only had Vogel not listened, he hadn't even played any BoE scenarios of merit. He was used to dealing with an inferior design community; Tatterdemalion et al. were inferior to Exile in programming, story, and length. 'At The Gallows' would be an addition the Exile trilogy would be flattered to have. Jeff Vogel does not know this. Nor, by any indications, does he care. He proceeded to inform BoE designers that they were not considered paying customers. And whenever he received mail from PAYING CUSTOMERS, they told him about how fun the hack&slash was in Exile. So he was listening to PAYING CUSTOMERS. This is a man who wrote into the BoA readme that it would be possible to create a fun scenario without scripts. You say big companies don't care about their customers like that? Bull. EA is one big company, and they are to big companies as Jeff is to indie designers. Paradox is reasonably big and they regularly collaborate with committees of concerned players and designers to improve their games. They consider it a community service. They're still putting out patches for Europa Universalis II, which was made years and years ago. The latest one was only a couple of months ago, in fact. Firaxis? Regular chats with their players. They don't fart unless their players tell them that's what they want. That is what makes Sid Meier great; yeah, he has a pretty good grasp of what works in a game and what doesn't, but he got that through listening to what people want instead of telling them what they want. In 2003, Jeff Vogel told the BoE design community what they wanted. These are the people who helped BoE become what it is. If they were not present, BoE's sales would be 10% of what they are. He treated the designers who disagreed with his decrees as something besides paying customers. Maybe if he cared more, he would be more beloved in the community. Maybe if he listened more, the love-hate complex would stop and he'd be the superhero he was to us when BoE was new. Maybe he's too busy with Geneforge 3. We'll probably never know. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Non-SW game recommendations in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Friday, September 24 2004 14:22 Profile Homepage #7 BtI's recommendation, with the caveat: they all have steep learning curves. Takes about 6 mo. to get the first one fully, and all of the others have similar elements but different fundamentals. If he's going there for military reasons, they're far too engrossing. Fallout 1 and 2, but run them by him first. If he dislikes RPGs in a well-informed way, that's well and good, but sometimes people just form stereotypes about an entire genre of games just because of the incomprehensible, unmanful crap that the Japanese spew out of every orifice. In Final Fantasy 7, you get a big weepy scene about the main character's crush dying at the end through a plot device. In Fallout 1 and 2, if you like, you can mow down entire cities with a gatling gun. Between the two, I certainly know which I prefer. Sid Meier's titles come highly recommended: Civ II Multiplayer Gold Edition, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Civ III (get the Complete edition, not Play the World under any circumstances -- and Conquests is only an expansion set). Pirates, if it's out by then and doesn't eat as much space as DooM. Imperialism would, were it only made by Paradox, be Paradox's answer to a beer-and-pretzels game. It has a very involved economic, military, and diplomatic model that takes a good, solid week to get familiarized with, but it's not nearly as bad in that regard as EU2, Vicky, HoI, et al. A sort of cross between Civ-esque historical mindlessness and Paradox-esque juggling of 300 things at once. It's also free at the Underdogs, albeit a big download. RTSes: Starcraft/Brood War is recommended, Warcraft I and II/Tides of Darkness also (for retro value), Warcraft III no (it would run like garbage on a laptop), AoE and AoE2 (both with expansion sets if possible), not AoM because it slows a bit even on my home machine. Can't say much about Red Alert, except that I pirated Red Alert II (not the expansion set) and it's good, mindless fun. Ask someone who knows the series what to get and what not to bother with. Master of Orion II. I hear I is okay, and III sucks. Check on that, I've never played either, but MOO2 is grand. If you're getting into old-school shooters, Heretic comes highly recommended along with Doom. The sequels, incl. Hexen, are variably too puzzle-heavy and just rubbish, so don't bother there. The expansion set is neat, but a rare find. Never played Quake (I'm the only one below the age of 25 who can honestly say that and is not in, say, Mali). City-builders are nice; I hear you can get Caesar III, Pharaoh/Cleopatra, Zeus/Poseidon, and Emperor in a bundle nowadays, all by Impressions. If anyone besides Impressions has done a truly worthwhile city-builder, I do not know about it. Conquest of the New World: Free on the Underdogs, and sorta transcends genre. Sorta city-building, sorta resource-managing, sorta empire-building, a little bit of everything and all of it pretty nifty. Call to Power: another empire-builder. This one is sorta hit and miss; some people loved it, some people hated it. I'm among the former camp. Don't bother with the sequel. Patch it and it's golden, I swear. These are all recommended with minimal Internet contact in mind; only one or two I've played online, if any such capability exists. Since he will be in Afghanistan, I rather doubt he'll be able to get a good connection. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. There's a LOT of neat stuff at The Underdogs, so start there. Hope this all helps! PS. Crusader Kings: No. Don't get it until it's only available through backchannels. It suffers from First Year Paradox Game Syndrome; before the company and the community collaborate a bit on fixing it, it's a more-or-less worthless mess. By 2007, it'll be an excellent and entertaining title of the quality we associate with EU2 and HoI, but right now it's as messy and unwholesome as the former two were when they were first released. [ Friday, September 24, 2004 14:27: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Europe car-free day in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Thursday, September 23 2004 17:36 Profile Homepage #17 Moron: quote: Originally written by FatBatMonkey: Benjamin Disraeli became Prime Minister in 1868. The first official Prime Minister in England was Sir Robert Walpole, in 1721. He was also a Whig. Though he was only really, in power terms, first lord of the treasury, in a government dominated by James Stanhope and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland. Uh, the position of 'Prime Minister' did not become legally standard until Disraeli. Walpole as the first PM is revisionist, he was merely the first to hold what would become the PMship. This would be like calling various pre-revolutionary American governors representatives of the early US. It was indeed under Pitt the Elder's first time as Prime Minister, that the Monarchal power started to wane with Pitt having nearly complete control over the Fleet and the British army at one point in his service. Exception, not the rule. At some points, strong ministers did exist -- they did in all countries. Didn't make them democratic, just made it a time of emergency. You'll note I said 'doctrinal', implying that at some point the idea that the monarch is never superior to the parliament came into fashion. I maintain your examples are far too early -- the executive power of the Monarch would not become effectively feckless until Elizabeth II, for God's sake. It is generally considered that true ministerial independence was gained around the time of the later terms of Gladstone, Disraeli and Salisbury. It was definitively confirmed by the time that Asquith's term had ended. Again: this is almost a century after the instutition of the Constitution, and ~60 years after Jefferson (first transferral of political power by factional lines). If you think it occurred between the two world wars, then which minister was it under? Because it sure as hell wasn't under Baldwin, Law or MacDonald. I meant between the two men themselves, not between them in time. I am sorry if I mislead you here; they are both the first convenient examples of the PM utilizing real power in international affairs in the name of Britain rather than her monarch. And actually, if you had taken a look at your own constitution recently, you would have seen that by all reasonable rights, the earliest you could argue that America had a true democracy was after the fifteenth amendment. Post-1870. Thank you very much. At which point Indians and Africans had the vote for nearly a century. Point withdrawn, masterful sir. This is a pathetic argument -- by the same, America wasn't a true democracy until the 1920s (women's suffrage), and Britain until later still. Switzerland? Not until 1970. Absurd, of course, but that's what you get for trying to revise historical metersticks in favor of your argument. As for the publicity stunts, they disrupted the status quo. They interrupted the norm. And if you want to be picky, they damn well inconveninced the MPs. You can interrupt the norm dressed in a pink chicken suit on the sidewalk. It isn't going to disrupt traffic or make people in general angry. And the disrupting Parliament thing? They are not thousands of voters. Again, the power of action in the framework of democracy; I am certain that in an undemocratic government, disrupting the lives of ordinary people might lead to change, but in democracy, change must come from mass movements from below. Pissing people off doesn't usually accomplish that. ALEC READ WHAT I SAID. IN ALL BUT THE MOST EXTREME OF CASES. A coup is damn extreme. My example relied on a coup -- I said that you can cause social change by overthrowing the government violently or peacefully and non-disruptively encouraging change. Your points rely on your own argument, and while it is nice to do that, it is against the protocol of debate and logically absurd anyway. And d'you know what? I'm good. I'm damn good. Kneel before me Byzantium, for I am holding a rail-gun. Five times dead before you hit the ground. Kthnx. Clearly there is something about 'undefeatable' that you fail to grasp. [ Thursday, September 23, 2004 17:38: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Europe car-free day in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Thursday, September 23 2004 16:36 Profile Homepage #15 OK, smart guy. When did Disraeli become the first man generally acknowledged to hold the post of PM? Hint: we had had more than 10 Presidents by that point. When did parliamentary rule become supreme over monarchial rule? Hard to place -- the groundwork was under George III and IV, both relatively weak monarchs, but royal supremacy would remain doctrinal well into the 20th century. Somewhere between Lloyd George and Churchill, in fact. The Magna Carta only forfeited rights from the King to the nobles, and was not well-recognized long after it was signed. It also owed to John being a hideous monarch -- and pissing off the aristocrats. No democracy there. One of the biggest historical fallacies out there, in fact. I did not say we were the first democracy -- that title would not go to you either (although the UK did not even resemble a modern democracy until, varying on your standards, the early 19th, late 19th, or early 20th century). Rather Iceland, who, by the time one of your incompetent monarchs signed a contract giving rise to feudalist principles, had been ruled by elected representatives for centuries. America has been a mostly true democracy since the rise of Jefferson, at the beginning of the 19th century -- ten to a hundred and twenty years before Britain, depending again on what meterstick you use. What I claimed is that we have been the longest-running one. If you really mean to argue that Victoria did not interfere with the democratic process over there, you are somehow even more ill-informed than I had previously gauged. Aggressive campaigning, yes, but who did climbing up onto Buckingham Palace as Batman disrupt? Or bursting into Parliament? I said that violent direct action is effective, not necessarily popular. I suppose you believe that all the coups in history are just exceptions, then? To conclude, I am Belisarius; I am undefeatable and engaging me in combat is a sure road to woe. Kneel before Byzantium, barbarian. [ Thursday, September 23, 2004 16:38: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Europe car-free day in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Thursday, September 23 2004 15:57 Profile Homepage #12 Milu: There is a difference between trying to win converts on the street in a non-disruptive way and setting up a roadblock and bantering about like morons. One is constructive and one isn't, and one is disruptive and one isn't. People are generally half-willing to listen. You should make them listen, but not to the point of making them angry at you, which disruptive behavior tends to do. The 'ignorant European' thing was a stereotype, and I'll admit an unfair one, but used as a device to subtly attack the way that s.t seems to assume that anyone who would oppose disruptive demonstrations for the Right Cause is obviously on the Wrong Side. I assume you are capable of making the distinction between pragmatist disdain and ideological disdain. How do things work in Finland politically? Who holds the power, how do they get it, and who's competing for it? You've piqued my curiosity, and I can honestly say that besides Finland being apparently democratic I know nothing about politics there. [ Thursday, September 23, 2004 16:03: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Europe car-free day in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Thursday, September 23 2004 14:47 Profile Homepage #9 Generally, minorities create their own masses, no matter what kind of aversion they have to them... what would a demonstration be without people? :) Listen to the quiet, subdued voice of logic here: average Swiss person has little interest one way or another in the ecology, and all he or she knows about it that day is that some jerk demonstrating against ecological damage by automobiles made them late to an appointment and they had to reschedule... suppose the election is the next day. Who is going to win that, you or the opponent? Aggressive indirect action never won anything in a civilized society. If you want to affect change, do the Christlike thing and melt quietly into the crowd. Become an avatar of justice, above reproach -- earn respect rather than demanding it. If you insist on aggressive action, try aggressive direct action instead. The group of people demonstrating in the street would have accomplished more handing out fliers or storming Bern with Kalashnikovs. As things stand, your actions were ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst. I am not ecologically ignorant, merely pragmatist; I know what problems cars pose to the environment, but frankly I do not believe the way you are tackling it will work. Any American political science student will tell you the same. Perhaps the fact we have been democratic for far longer than Europe -- and we are far more respectful of democracy and the instutition thereof -- makes us more politically pragmatist, I dunno. It doesn't matter how right you are, it matters who knows you're right and who's willing to vote on it. Get used to the framework of democracy for effecting political change, or you're going to keep wasting your time on silly things like this: a truly European political illiteracy. Cheers! [ Thursday, September 23, 2004 14:48: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Binge Drinking in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Wednesday, September 22 2004 17:47 Profile Homepage #52 quote: Originally written by -DemonslayeR-: I find your lack of knowledge hilarious, despite your already established ignorance. Apparently helping the world make right decisions makes me 'fat' and causes morons to insult ones I hold dear. You've just put yourself on a level similar to that of which you use in every single one of your insults. Congratulations, not many can be so close-minded. Actually, I understand now. You're just upset that others are infinitly more productive in their lives. Well fine then, that's a reasonable cause for blind bigotry. tl, dr (fatty) -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Binge Drinking in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Wednesday, September 22 2004 13:26 Profile Homepage #45 Eh. Bets are on yes. :P -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Binge Drinking in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Wednesday, September 22 2004 11:48 Profile Homepage #43 quote: Originally written by Archmagi Micael: Okay. I think now's the time for a MOD to delete this topic! - Archmagi Micael "You have my permission, knaves, to delete this topic." :D Someone needs to teach you that the thread's originator does not own the thread. Information wants to be free. I would be less irritated if this weren't the third time you shouted 'Mods! Mods!! Delete this topic, I don't want it any more'. Please be less militantly ignorant of usual conduct on the boards. kthxbye PS. By all indications, I am very resistant to medication. I am forced to regularly dose myself with an albuterol inhaler at a dosage which would give a lesser man a minor OD, no painkiller works well for me (although thankfully anaesthetics work as they're supposed to), I have a personal disdain for antibiotics and require three or four pseudoephedrines to put a dent in a congestion problem. I only bust out benadryl if I've had oral exposure to peanuts, in which case I chew one and swish it around (for the record: the taste of unencapsulated benadryl is to anything else I can describe as being suckerpunched is to being shot twice in the gut and left for dead, so this is not stuff to screw with lightly), then chase it with one or two encapsulated and swallowed, a vaporizer dosage of albuterol in saline suspension (high proportion, I'd have to look it up), and if all that doesn't do what ails me, an epi-pen. Ever seen 'Pulp Fiction'? Nothing like that. Epi-pen goes to thigh, seal gets broken forcibly (I forget the exact mechanics), and a thick-gauge needle shoots into a major vein and forcibly injects enough adrenaline to give a dead man the shivers for half a day into the cardiovascular system. Epi-pen use is easily the least pleasant thing I can think of, but as a general rule, when you need it, the pain and the electric rush are meaningless. More meaningful are the swelling, the itching, and the panic. Oh, and in my case, the fact that any situation which requires an EP involves puking for the fifth or sixth time in my life (I have an iron esophagus), and thereby exposing my throat, nose, and mouth to both hydrochloric acid and peanut oil. The after-effects involve every major vein in your body being on fire -- after each of the two or three times I've been forced to resort to adrenaline, as well as each of the one or two times I've managed to overdose on albuterol or similar, my neck and legs feel as if they are going to explode from the pressure, and I can feel your heartbeat anywhere on my person. I am probably the only person among my peers that can put a definite finger on the emotions and physical conditions associated with death. Not extreme discomfort, but symptoms which are not painful but strangling and abjectly terrifying, and inevitably fatal barring chemical intervention. Might be an issue of acclimatization, I dunno. [ Wednesday, September 22, 2004 12:09: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
How to raise money? in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Wednesday, September 22 2004 11:46 Profile Homepage #20 quote: Originally written by Bobo Returns: Step 1: Collect Underpants Step 2: ??????????????? Step 3: Profit I love it when people recycle jokes that have been used better and more subtly before, that we may all laugh at them again. Bravo! Bravissimo! -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Europe car-free day in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Wednesday, September 22 2004 11:42 Profile Homepage #4 quote: Originally written by spy.there: Who was celebrating 22th of September? I was at a bicycle-demonstration; we delayed the traffic for about two hours. I drew with chalk huge bikes in the middle of the streets. Next year I might use spray paint - it remains longer :D Part of the permanent adversarial minority, are we? Congrats! You just helped the major corporations stereotype everyone on your side of the argument and contributed to public apathy towards your cause, thereby setting it back by personal action alone at least a few weeks -- in only two hours! Way to go! [ Wednesday, September 22, 2004 11:43: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Binge Drinking in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Tuesday, September 21 2004 18:17 Profile Homepage #22 Uh, rum? I don't drink, to be quite honest. I had a teaspoonful of irish creme at a very young age, a bit of bourboned eggnog a year ago, and for some years during my youth my family dressed up all fancy and then had wine and crackers on a weekly basis. This is owed more to being deeply antisocial than having anything against alchohol. From a scientific perspective, I prefer marijuana anyway. Less addictive and less psychologically and physically damaging. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Peaches and Ice Cream in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Tuesday, September 21 2004 10:07 Profile Homepage #27 Chocolate made from ground cacao seeds. Roughly caffeine-equivalent of two-fisted chugging a pair of full coffee pots, I am told, but also wicked tasty if made right. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Binge Drinking in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Monday, September 20 2004 04:54 Profile Homepage #1 I hate you. When I drink, I somehow hate you more. There you go. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
POV Ray Graphics in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Saturday, September 18 2004 19:33 Profile Homepage #6 Ray-traced graphics are out-of-style, and I'm damn glad about it. They look like serious ass, and that's WOD (as opposed to low-polygon semi-true 3d). But hey, call Jeff two years down the line when he feels like retreading Exile again to milk even more money out of the ignorant masses and you might just have yourself a prospective cusomer. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Sketching interest? in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Saturday, September 18 2004 19:26 Profile Homepage #11 I don't mess with paper and pencil. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Sigh. in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Friday, September 17 2004 09:57 Profile Homepage #11 quote: Originally written by Mind: I decided to become more active on this forum again, and read a random topic. Then I read this discussion: quote: Guys, I was away for a bit, during which they disabled polling. WHY did they do that? I haven't quite managed to piece it together yet from all of the vague mentions to it. You-Know-Who ———— Shut up Shut up Shut up SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP Nobody cares about polls except for gormless neophytes. -------------------- They did it because they wanted to. Or because of hard drive space reasons. Topic locked. Yeah. Sigh. This only confirms my suspicion that this forum is slowly destroying itself and chasing off all its' members. Is this forum really infested by swearing idiots and ruled by mindless tyrants? Threaten to ban me if you want. Ban me if you want. I'm used to both the tyrannous threatment and the idea that there is no democracy in this forum at all. SHOW US YER TITS [ Friday, September 17, 2004 09:57: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Undead Topics Need Loving Too (aka "Give Me Your First-Born") in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Friday, September 17 2004 03:47 Profile Homepage #324 Random crap doesn't make you funny, it makes you retarded. Pass the memo along to your fellow Hitchhiker's fanboys, please. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Undead Topics Need Loving Too (aka "Give Me Your First-Born") in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Thursday, September 16 2004 14:42 Profile Homepage #321 Okay, I consider myself relatively educated as far as philosophy concerned, and whenever something deep came up, the reaction was either 'We are defined by how we perceive the world? No kidding.' or 'You know, it would be nice if you created any kind of logical bridge from point A to point B'. If I wanted obtuse, overwrought, and yet unbelievably banal philosophy, I'd be reading Hume. Your mileage may vary, but probably won't. PS. People who subscribe to philosophies are wankers, one and all. Many of my works are minimalist or reductionist, but I'm not by any stretch of the imagination. PPS. You want me to like your philosophy? I'm game. You make a scenario which connects to humanity, and I'll rate it a 10. I don't want obtuse, foundation-philosophy bull; if I wanted that, I could go track down a textbook. Tell me what makes people human and what unmakes them, not the basic nature of being -- that's Mickey Mouse stuff. [ Thursday, September 16, 2004 14:53: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Undead Topics Need Loving Too (aka "Give Me Your First-Born") in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Thursday, September 16 2004 10:10 Profile Homepage #317 quote: Originally written by Andrea: *Although I'm sure I'd agree, Alec, you're hardly one to talk about lack of substance in scenarios. Which of your scenarios to date haven't* been intended as stylistic jaunts? The difference is that I am not continually attempting to call KOWP better than Jesus. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00**
Undead Topics Need Loving Too (aka "Give Me Your First-Born") in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Wednesday, September 15 2004 18:52 Profile Homepage #314 I loathe Corp because it is all style and no substance. It is like an automobile made of chrome. It doesn't drive -- indeed, Corp. is hardly a scenario by the conventional definition -- but hey, at least it's shiny. Honestly, TM, it's not something to be proud of. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Undead Topics Need Loving Too (aka "Give Me Your First-Born") in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Tuesday, September 14 2004 19:50 Profile Homepage #308 Reverse the R and the P. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Huge images in Richard White Games
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Sunday, September 12 2004 18:09 Profile Homepage #3 Yeah, the dial-up users. Let's all cry a river for the dial-up users. In a day and age when cable costs less in most areas than AOL did 10 years ago, I feel nothing but pity for these poor, neglected cheapskates. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Huge images in Richard White Games
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Sunday, September 12 2004 16:40 Profile Homepage #1 Images do not eat anyone's bandwidth except the host's and that of the reader, BTW. A single image could well take up less HD space or bandwith on SW's part than this entire post. Other than that, yes. -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
How Low Can You Go? Yet another 'I'm Back' topic... in General
Custer Bob's Big Date Member # 3151	written Sunday, September 12 2004 16:35 Profile Homepage #33 That is because any measurements are basically arbitrary w.r.t. real life. Generally it's difficult to get a good, intuitive sense for what '200 pounds' or '200 kilograms' means without either being born into a society which uses one exclusively or spending years and years working almost exclusively with one or the other. I am fully aware that 15,000,000cm = 150,000 m = 150km, but I couldn't tell you if 150km could get me all the way to Los Angeles, or if 150km towards Seattle wouldn't put me in the Pacific Ocean, at least not off the top of my head. Oppose feet and miles, for which I can get a good, concrete sense at a glance -- not only of distance, but of range, travel time, even mileage -- and you can see why I'd be reluctant to use metrics in everyday life. [ Sunday, September 12, 2004 16:36: Message edited by: Fear Uncertainty and Custer ] -------------------- The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest. Posts: 2367 \| Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00

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