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Nethergate? in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Friday, January 16 2004 08:59 Profile Homepage #8
I happen to have a special fondness for Nethergate. Then again, I also make conspicuous note of the people who have bashed it so far in this topic consider Geneforge the best thing since the Baby Jesus on sliced bread; I found it to play a lot like a kludgy Fallout with Pokémon, so you have to take opinions as they are.

I'd get it if I were you.

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
An RP in the World of Avernum in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Thursday, January 15 2004 22:44 Profile Homepage #255
Emperor Hugo had been well-known for his composture as Emperor, even in hard times. Now was one of the hardest. After a string of unprintable bons mots, he fixed his gaze at Karadas. The old rival jerked back a bit; the glare carried a sort of desperately shed invincibility. "I am going to kill them," he says, the most lucid thing he's said since he heard the news. "I am going to kill them all with my bare goddamn hands. I'm going to have every last Populist we catch bled from the knees. Karadas, get my internal advisor."

Karadas nodded numbly, and pulled a half-bald, pudgy nobleman into the room. "Jothal, how the hell could this happen?"
"What do you mean, sir?"

Emperor Hugo proceeds to smash the advisor's neck with his elbow. The beauraucrat, trying to shriek but managing only a strangled grunt, is thrown to the floor. The Emperor draws his sword and begins stabbing. "Traitor! Incompetent! Traitor! Incompetent! Traitor! Incompetent!" The words blend together in the whistling, cackling shriek the Emperor gives out. The choking screams and wails stop after the fifth blow or so. He continues ripping the advisor apart for some time.

"Hugo!"

Emperor Hugo looks at his old rival with a mixture of hardwired lucidity and base fury. "What?"

"He's dead. What the hell was that for?"

"I'll tell you what it's for -- he was going to lie to me. Jothal always resented me, but he got right to whatever he thought the problem was. He didn't; he either didn't know enough to deserve to live, much less be an Imperial advisor, or he knew too much." Hugo smiles broadly. "I've got a plan, I think."
"What plan would that be?"
"Have them send out more diplomats to Warderson and the SAFT's leader. Tell them that my demands still stand, despite the number of ships I have being tragically reduced from seven to five."

Karadas stares at him numbly. "Five? We only have one, sir."
"That's where you're wrong!" The Emperor lets out a terrifying, baying laugh. "Those bastards hit the big ships, but there's still little ones. I'll be damned if there aren't little ones. The Populists need to pay, yes, yes they do. We're going to make them pay, you and I, like we did out over the hills."

"Eh, what do you mean?"

"What we did was small bread back then. Bushwhacking. Guerilla work. Now we're going to kill their chief ally. We're going to kill Jehann Sol and parade through the streets of Imperius with his Godforsaken head on a pike!" The Emperor gives out another one of those cackling laughs. Karadas fights back a shudder. "We're going to catch him when he does one of his little heroic rides into battle. His aristocratic proponents enjoy that pomp-and-circumstance nonsense, but we need to show them that we have no use for it, and that traitors to the Empire will SUFFER!" The last word he bellows out for all the world to hear.

"The catapults! We'll be leading whatever the Populists and their bootlickers haven't taken from us, along with all the catapults we can spare, and we're going to crush the Solarans! Crush them and grind our boots on their godforsaken ashes!"

"V... very well, sir."

"You are dismissed, Karadas. You have orders. You will have more. Goodbye."

The Emperor goes from abjectly mad to perfectly lucid in one sentence, and sits back at his throne, still soaked in the blood of one of his advisors.

[ Thursday, January 15, 2004 22:47: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

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¡Viva Chile!
¡Viva el Pueblo!
¡Vivan los Trabajadores!
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
What does THAT make me?! in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Wednesday, January 14 2004 13:07 Profile Homepage #3
Government corruption is an awful thing, but if you're going into the RCMP for idealistic reasons, you're probably not going to be a victim of it.
Generally, there are two sorts of people who go into government service:
1. People with a genuine calling for maintaining order, serving the government, &c. These sort of people are generally the most agreeable, as they tend to go after crime more and people less.
2. People who want to feel big. A lot of these people end up not making the grade and become overinflated security guards; those who pass into service work are miserable to run into, having an awful attitude and a superiority complex. They're where a lot of the corruption and violence tend to come from.

I wouldn't worry about doing anything wrong by doing this; if you're worried about doing it, you're almost definitely not the sort of person who would. It's the sort of person who basically gets pumped because they get to boss people around that turn to that sort of thing.

Then again, power does corrupt. If you do get into the service, keep a straight head on you and you should do just fine. Even though I've occasionally had an issue with the things the police and FBI and CIA and such do, I don't tend to blame the individuals -- for the most part, they're just doing their job.

(Cue knee-jerk-progressive rigmarole from TM.)

[ Wednesday, January 14, 2004 13:10: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
How many pushups can you do in 2 minutes? in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Wednesday, January 14 2004 13:00 Profile Homepage #31
Come off it, you smug pigplugger.

I don't much know or much care how much I can do physically. I am not renowned for my prowess at weightlifting, I can assure you; my renown comes from other areas.

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
My opinion about SW games... in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Tuesday, January 13 2004 05:02 Profile Homepage #1
Did you register BoE? The default scenarios are not as entertaining as the hundreds of others out there by any means; most people would say it's their favorite SW title.

Also, I'm thoroughly agreed with you; Avernum was the wrong path to take. I don't feel that the graphics or the engine they used were good enough to justify remaking the game, adding only a few new things, and then selling it as a new product.

I, personally, would have paid better to see more of something like Nethergate -- graphics not too great (Exile has never been strong on that), but an original plot and gameplay not harmed by comparison to a game which should be the same thing.

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
An RP in the World of Avernum in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Monday, January 12 2004 20:10 Profile Homepage #250
(Omelette, range isn't the important part. It's somewhat more difficult to set a ship on fire with a fireball than with gallons of napalm; bear in mind that magic is not what it will be in the Imperial heyday.)

Warderson was given a simple response by Emperor Hugo:

"Honored, patriotic Genl. Warderson:
My predecessor died by the hand of the Populists; my forces are being eaten alive by the Solarans, who call themselves loyal but coddle the anarchist monsters in order to kill more of us.
I have come across several advances that do not do me as much good as they could. With your resources, the Solarans and Populists would have no choice but to surrender.
In the name of the future of our glorious nation, help me, and with me, the only men truly loyal to the Empire, and we will rule the world together.
Yours,
Emperor Hugo I"

[ Monday, January 12, 2004 20:12: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

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¡Viva Chile!
¡Viva el Pueblo!
¡Vivan los Trabajadores!
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
An RP in the World of Avernum in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Sunday, January 11 2004 11:49 Profile Homepage #245
"Exalted sir, it has taken us longer than expected, but we have finally rigged the Dorian Kylen, the Imperius, and the Ilai Hugo with a flamelauncher and all the fuel it could use."
"Excellent! Now we can do what Kylen, may the Gods grant him rest, never had the chance to. Summon the SAFT emissary!"
"Yes, exalted sir!"

A harried-looking diplomat who has the air of an old sailor looks at the Kylenian emperor balefully. "Yes, Your Illigitimacy? What can I do for you now?"
Hugo ignores the barb -- spectacularly unusual, the diplomat thinks, and begins to worry. "I am giving the Alliance an ultimatum. Surrender to us immediately, and you will be given full clemency, and the heads of your organization will be given positions at the head of the Imperial Navy if they so desire it, and free rein as they had before the War if they don't. If you decline this unwontedly generous offer or do not make any response to it within two weeks --" (Note here that the diplomat would take about half that long to make the round trip if all went well) "--the Kylenian Empire will sweep the ocean sea clean of your scourge once and for all!"

The diplomat sputters indignantly. "You will show yourself the door, I should hope, and tell your principal of this as soon as possible. One more thing: Whether or not she does accept, you would be best-advised to spend as little time in the Empire's territory as possible. You have insulted the dignity of the rightful Emperor and engineered more intrigue against him, be he myself or my predecessor, than anyone present in your faction."
"I should be glad to take that leave," the diplomat ejaculates at last, and he scampers out of the royal audience hall.

...

"One more thing, Thasius."
"Yes, exalted sir?"
"Is it possible for the SAFT to duplicate the material we're using?"
"Hardly, sir. It took our best chemists a long time to get the mixture right, and I doubt they have any mages better than ours. Even if, under the worst circumstances, they capture one of the battleships -- here I note we have given explicit instructions to the captain of each ship that they are to burn it before such a thing happens -- it would take them long enough to figure it out that they would be doomed long before then."
"Excellent."

...

[ Sunday, January 11, 2004 11:51: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

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¡Viva Chile!
¡Viva el Pueblo!
¡Vivan los Trabajadores!
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Free Will in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Sunday, January 11 2004 02:02 Profile Homepage #29
El primero de la estirpe está amarrado en un árbol y al último se lo están comiendo las hormigas.

[ Sunday, January 11, 2004 02:13: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
An RP in the World of Avernum in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Saturday, January 10 2004 18:22 Profile Homepage #241
"So how did you say this chemical works, again?"
"Well, according to the reports, it latches onto moisture, burning most intensely using that moisture as a fuel. Human skin being rather moist, it is particularly effective against it."
"Hm. So far as I can see, there'd be no call for using it extensively except after rain or snow."
"Extensively, no. But it will make a welcome addition to our forces."

General Hugo blinks. Then he inclines his head and blinks again, longer this time. "My god," he says -- a lapse, being as how no proper Emperor can hold too much henotheistic sentiment -- "what about the Navy?"

The mage's mouth opens a little. "The navy. My god, exalted sir, that's one I hadn't thought of. I don't think it's one they'd thought of, either -- all of their schematics involve putting it in jars or canisters. But what if we could mount it in a hose and --"
There is a brief silence. "Oh my god, exalted sir -- do you realize what we've stumbled into?"
"Victory," the ex-general says airily.

...

Meanwhile, the Kylenian army has continued to strike harder and harder blows against the Populists; the line of the levee army in Solaran territory has set in for a hard fight, having already sent the Solarans' southern flank into unassuageable chaos; where the Kylenians don't field significant and threatening guerillas, the Populists do...

...

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¡Viva Chile!
¡Viva el Pueblo!
¡Vivan los Trabajadores!
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Excuse me, there's a fyora in my soup in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Saturday, January 10 2004 11:57 Profile Homepage #22
As I said, I shoot it and Zapruder films it.

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Here We Go Again (Political Compass) in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Friday, January 9 2004 20:44 Profile Homepage #51
quote:
Originally written by Sir David:

I'd finish that off, but I don't think ef would be too happy...

Is racism agaisnt Mexicans really that much of any issue? I don't mean that in a derogatory way, I'm just wondering. There are very few Mexicans where I live, so maybe I just haven't had a chance to see the problem... but I've heard more than a few racist remarks about Jews, and about African Americans, but none about Mexicans. Maybe New York is just different...
A little. There aren't a lot of blacks, European immigrants, or Asians to speak of in the southwest (well, plenty of Asians, I guess), so the hated group of choice'd be Mexicans here.


I beg to differ on the "nice to people" part, but that's really beside the point; I wasn't just talking about you.
Hey, there's a difference between acrid sarcasm and genuine mean-spiritedness :P

And yes, that has struck me; Bush had the right general idea, I think, but no idea how to go about doing it right.
I don't think that he had the right idea in mind; this was another, albeit more resource-grubbing, exercise in 'kill the bastards!'. Bush burned a lot of bridges for someone who had any concern about the welfare of the people of Iraq.

I'm a bit more optimistic than you, though; it hasn't been a year yet, and anyway, things like this take time. The country may not be so democratic now, but that will change; look at German and Japan after WWII.
Germany and Japan were very calm, peaceful occupations. The biggest problem that faced the occupiers came from unruly soldiers as far as violence was concerned; they were there to restore democracy to areas that had been democratic before, too, and not trying to plant just-add-water Jeffersonian Democracy seeds in a country that went from an Ottoman colony to a British one to an illicit kingdom to an even less legitimate despotism. Oh, and there's also the crushing, hate-building 14-year embargo.

I know it's a different situation and all that, but we'll figure it out before too long. Here's the thing: the people don't want a dictator. They have been freed from a dictator and given a chance at a not inconsiderable cost to themselves; they're not just going to give it up.
They'd rather see the country ruled by their dictator than our 'democrats' at this point, mostly because of the extremely heavy-handed tactics we've used and ineptitute in setting up an even-handed government.


[ Friday, January 09, 2004 20:45: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Here We Go Again (Political Compass) in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Friday, January 9 2004 20:04 Profile Homepage #49
quote:
Originally written by Sir David:

quote:
Originally written by Molotov Cocktail Party:

Moderation accomplishes naught but stagnation. Positive change is largely spurred on by those who are radical for their time.
...And negative change. There's nothing wrong with moderation. The slower the change, the easier it is to control. Not that I think nothing should change, or that nothing should change quickly, mind you. You all know that I supported and still support the war in Iraq, which is a quick regime change. But I think people would be nicer to each other and society would be improved if we all drew in to the center a bit.
I'm perfectly nice to people; it's reactionary thinking I can't stand, not the reactionaries themselves. People change.

Also, hasn't it struck you that, if we were going to have a regime change in Iraq, we've gotten off to a piss-poor start? We conquered the country a year ago, and it's still in a state of barely-suppressed holocracy. The US is going to have to leave soon for political reasons; what have we done to Iraq besides ensure that the dictator who replaces Saddam Hussein will support the US and rule a country much poorer than Hussein's.

At least it was a step up from Afghanistan, which is even worse than we left it, mostly because Afghanistan was a Carthage-esque exercise in "Kill the bastards!"

---

Zeviz: I would propose that the test is biased towards the far left because society is biased towards the far left, more or less. Western society is much less tolerant of extreme reactionaries (kill the Jews, the blacks, the mexicans, and so on) than of extreme progressives. The education system is, in part, responsible for this.
The other part is that SW has a liberal bias the size of Seattle, even compared to a relatively liberal-biased Internet. You'll note that scores tend to cluster around -5 and 0; if you were to find a much more conservative community, I'd estimate 'common' would fall between -3 and 2, with a distribution skewed right due to the greater compatibility of extreme negatives with modern life than extreme positives.

Also, bear in mind SW's average age: 'Show me a young conservative and I'll show you a man without a heart', as the beginning of the line goes.

[ Friday, January 09, 2004 20:10: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Here We Go Again (Political Compass) in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Thursday, January 8 2004 20:49 Profile Homepage #39
quote:
Originally written by Haamana the Homicider:

quote:
Originally written by General Secretary Custer:

(My antipode, being strongly positive-positive, would probably be a vicious neo-imperialist, an anti-democrat, and hate blacks and Mexicans openly.)
I noticed you ommitted Asians. Bizzare fetishes...? :P
Whoever said I didn't hate Asians? :P

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Here We Go Again (Political Compass) in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Thursday, January 8 2004 17:11 Profile Homepage #29
Not surprised by RC's scores.
quote:
Originally written by Sir David:

To tell you the truth, I think only a radical rightist or Authoritarian would make it far into the first, second, or fourth quadrant (NE, NW, SE, just in case I've got my quadrants mixed up). I mean, the compass may not be purposely biased towards the bottom left, not purposely, but I don't think it's entirely accurate, either... and I'm not just saying that because of my -4.12...
I think that SW just has an odd overrepresentation of leftists; and to be honest, there's fewer reactionaries because Western society spurns reactionary thought on the level antipodal to what a lot of this board's far left is running on. (My antipode, being strongly positive-positive, would probably be a vicious neo-imperialist, an anti-democrat, and hate blacks and Mexicans openly.)

[ Thursday, January 08, 2004 17:11: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Excuse me, there's a fyora in my soup in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Thursday, January 8 2004 17:07 Profile Homepage #1
Then Alec righteously shot the pseudo-RP, and Zapruder taped the whole mess.

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
An RP in the World of Avernum in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Thursday, January 8 2004 15:45 Profile Homepage #236
"So what is it you say that you've brought me here for?"
Some time had passed since we saw General Hugo crowned Emperor. In that time, there had been a flurry of promotions and firings that Hugo saw as long overdue; based more on merit than Kylen's odd whims, the new appointments have removed a lot of the stinkers from the Kylenian army, and given them a unique, but perhaps too late, tactical advantage.
"Exalted sir, I have been studying on our problem for some time now, and I think I have come up with an answer."
"Yes?" Hugo looked somewhat miffed. The court mage -- who had helped him assassinate Ardek by accident -- knew this. He went right on in his circular path: "Exalted sir, do you happen to know of the Jouven uprising?"
"Yes, yes, of course I do. What does that have to do with anything?"
"The Jouven were a sea people; the Empire was not, for the most part. They knew things about ranged warfare we couldn't even dream of doing now; by all indications, they were far ahead of even my work in magery and ballistics. But I have found something that may be of some interest."
"Hmm?" Hugo's annoyance dropped. Ancient research? My, this would be interesting.
The mage grinned widely. "Sir, we have, ourselves, the catapult; but it is a recent invention. They had it centuries ago, and they have a number of improvements on it."
Hugo's face clouded. He was ready to throw the mage out in the street; five minutes of chatter for incremental improvements? The mage went on, "And we have also found missiles which will... do much for our cause." The clouds left his face. "Please, come out to the courtyard. I have something to show you."

---

Hugo looked on the device with blank shock. This was a catapult? It had a faintly alien, demonic air to it -- an intimidatingly powerful air, as a matter of fact. The catapult next to it looked primitive and rough-hewn. It occurred to him that the contrast might have been merely aesthetic. "We have two equally skilled catapult crews prepared for this demonstration, along with a field of targets. First, the accuracy demonstration." The mage pointed to the north field, which contained two man-sized targets. "Each catapult will pull off five shots; the new weapon will fire red stones, the old one blue." The demonstration lasted a while; two red, large red stones had hit bullseyes, and two near-misses were red, compared to a single near-miss.
The next demonstration was rate of fire. The new catapult worked effortlessly and quickly, throwing out about three times as many shots in three hours as the other. (Part of this was due to the fact that the strain caused the other machine to break down horribly; the other part is that, even in its prime, the old catapult worked about half as fast as the new one.)
Then came the power demonstration. The old catapult took down a wall in five shots; the new one took it down in two. Reparability: the new machine could be repaired faster by fewer, less experienced tinkerers. Durability: The new machine could take much more damage. Transportability: the new machine was only slightly heavier, and could be dissassembled and reassembled in working order relatively quickly.

And then came the new ammunition. The mage fixed a special hook on the firing cord, then carefully set a bundle of sealed clay jars into the weapon.

The jars, held together by a string cut at a certain angle (the mage assured the increasingly excited Hugo that the string could be cut in such a way that the jars had different range, spread, and tactical use), came apart in midair, and scattered towards the ground. Hugo frowned a little -- what was the use of peppering a wall with small stones when you could do just as well with a big one?

Then the jars crashed into the ground and caught fire. Hugo reared back in shock to see the field before him burst into flames in a dozen places. He ordered a bucket brigade. The mage shouted, "No! That'll just fan the flames on!" -- and a firebreak was quickly thrown up.

---

The next day, there was a broad patch of scorched earth outside a seemingly unimportant hamlet in Kylenian territory, and the mages of Hugo's faction were working on an army's worth of the new invention...

[ Thursday, January 08, 2004 15:46: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

--------------------
¡Viva Chile!
¡Viva el Pueblo!
¡Vivan los Trabajadores!
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Here We Go Again (Political Compass) in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Thursday, January 8 2004 14:28 Profile Homepage #25
Stalin. ^_^

Well, I'm surprised at a few scores here -- not surprised to find that some of the people I come to arguement with most heartily seem to be the people who are closest to my own political alignment.
And yes, I was completely honest in my views when I took this test; I wasn't just feeding it leftist answers to look cool :P

I'm moderately surprised to find that I'm not the farthest out in left field here, but then again, I always was something of a pragmatist, and the farther out you get, the dirtier a word 'pragmatist' becomes.

[ Thursday, January 08, 2004 14:32: Message edited by: General Secretary Custer ]

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Here We Go Again (Political Compass) in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Thursday, January 8 2004 06:36 Profile Homepage #6
quote:
Originally written by Sir David:

I'm drifting to the northwest corner, I think... still close to the center, though... I'll take it later...
Congrats, Sir David: You are becoming Stalin. :P

Economic Left/Right: -8.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -9.18

As usual, I'm farther out than anyone on the graph :P

(Brief chart summary:
Authoritarian left (-, +) can basically go from authoritarians on the economic left -- some Democrats, some Republicans, I think -- to Stalinists (ex. Stalin);
Authoritarian right (+, +) can basically go from moderate Republicans to laissez-faire dictators (ex. Pinochet);
Libertarian left (-, -) can basically go from moderate Democrats to democratic socialists (ex... Debs? Not a lot of them in mainstream politics)
Libertarian right (+, -) can basically go from moderate Republicans and Democrats to extreme modern Libertarians (e.g. Rand).
You can see where I stand.)

[ Thursday, January 08, 2004 06:40: Message edited by: USA-se Xenerali-veiratu CUSITURA ]

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
How many pushups can you do in 2 minutes? in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Wednesday, January 7 2004 19:35 Profile Homepage #4
I would give you an answer, but honestly, Push-Ups are just not my scene. Nothing like the smooth, smooth feel of a Firecracker.

[ Wednesday, January 07, 2004 19:36: Message edited by: USA-se Xenerali-veiratu CUSITURA ]

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
I wish for you all to pet my fluffy kitten in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Tuesday, January 6 2004 20:58 Profile Homepage #39
IMAGE(http://www.libres.org/francais/universite_d_ete/marche_politique_1994/images/marche_politique_25.jpg)

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
A rumor about me has been brought to my attention... in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Tuesday, January 6 2004 20:28 Profile Homepage #8
What's the problem with furries?

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
BoA Arena? in Blades of Avernum
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Tuesday, January 6 2004 18:14 Profile Homepage #22
The Arena usually has a set of hard and fast rules, with point values and all that. I doubt BoA will change this; you aren't going to see 30000-hp monsters instakilling other 30000-HP monsters any more than you're seeing monsters with splitting or invulnerabi--

oh. :P

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The biggest, the baddest, and the fattest.
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Free Will in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Tuesday, January 6 2004 17:01 Profile Homepage #11
I believe in free will, to a degree, but I'm also something of a determinist. It's my opinion that if we did it all over again, a few things might change; they might have chosen somewhere besides Nuremburg for the trials, and they might have hanged Louis XVI, but ultimately, people's actions only have impacts on their own lives. Rare, very rare, like once-in-human-history rare, is the man who can make a choice which has any difference in the long run.

And in the end, we've only got a 18-billion-year run anyway, right? How long can humanity really survive, much less our fragile society? I'd be surprised if you could see Stalin's face in a museum in 5000 years, a human face in a museum in 500,000 years, and a museum period in 5,000,000.
Humanity is a frail, fragile thing. It'll go on, of course, but we won't recognize it when it does. I think that a more relevant question isn't "Do I have free will?" Whether you do or don't is academic. "Do I matter?" I suppose if you're of the arrogant sort who can't accept that he's in the first, most primitive and disgusting .01% of humanity, you just might.
I could hardly aspire to be Eugene Debs, much less Jesus Christ; how am I supposed to be memorable for more than a few dozen years after I'm gone?

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
Why? in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Tuesday, January 6 2004 06:03 Profile Homepage #73
quote:
Originally written by Militant Vegan:

Plants live, but are not aware, or conscious. Moreover, they have very limited sensory equipment, and no pain receptors. They don't feel anything like pain.

Plus, they're tasty.

Given the choice between an animal, whose experiance of life has a lot in common with mine, and a plant, who isn't alive in the same sense that I'm alive, I'll choose the plant.
Aha, but there's where you have something of a problem: where do you stop defining life as similar to you? Plants are alive, yes, but they're not conscious; neither are eggs or cheese. (If you're against it on the basis of no explotation of animals, I'd be more than happy to point out that chickens would have eggs anyway.) Most fish, conscious or not, are not capable of feeling pain on a level similar to that of intelligent land creatures.
And quite frankly, to say that an animal has a similar life to you is biologically sound but otherwise ridiculous. Cows are stupid, stupid animals, and the same goes for chickens; they feel pain, they bleed, but to say they have a common thread with humans on more than a biological level is preposterous.
I personally happen to fall in more to the exploitation angle (being a good socialist, and also not wanting to tangle with the implication of eggs having anything to do with grown humans); I might be a vegetarian if I thought it would do any good for the animals in question or for humanity as a whole; but overall, people in America are still going to eat twice as much as they need while people in Africa are still going to starve for want of half of it. And one consumer's difference won't change the policies of the meat industry.
I couldn't replace the protein I get from animal products in any case, being virulently allergic to a tremendous number of groundplants, among them peanuts and soy, so being a vegetarian is not a realistic option for me.
(I ought to be outraged at how expensive anything suitable for a vegetarian diet for someone who chokes up and dies due to soy and peanut products is, but to be honest, I'm really not. The conscience-food market is and always will be dominated by the upper-class, who have the money and time to waste frittering away about how horribly we're exploiting animals, and at the same time supporting the exploitation of migrant farm laborers.)

[ Tuesday, January 06, 2004 06:06: Message edited by: USA-se Xenerali-veiratu CUSITURA ]

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In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00
What music (if any) are you listening to... in General
Custer
Bob's Big Date
Member # 3151
 written Monday, January 5 2004 19:58 Profile Homepage #728
H*R sucks ass.
KST.

--------------------
In a word, gay.
--Bob the Impaler
Posts: 2367 | Registered: Friday, June 27 2003 07:00

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