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What feature that the Avernum series lacked would you most like to see in BoA? in Blades of Avernum
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Tuesday, April 29 2003 03:37 Profile Homepage #39
And I'd go in the opposite direction and say that having monsters with unknown stats increases the challenge. At the very least the designer should be able to choose which information to show and which not to.

—Alorael, who would rather learn by being mangled than learn because of a spell that says everything about a monster. At least abilities should be hidden!
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Crossfire in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, April 28 2003 17:13 Profile Homepage #91
quote:
Originally posted by iDavid:
What's wrong with that, Alorael? Unless you smoke into a can and then seal it right after withdrawing the ciggarette, the smoke gets into the air. It may not affect an asthmetic immediately, but think of how many billions of cigarettes are smoked each day; the smoke is in the air, etc. And anyway, "in private" can mean in the presense of your own children, as long as they are inside your house. The children have no say over it, and it's very harmful to them.
All the smoke from all the cigarettes in the world for a day probably doesn't match the air pollution of an hour of NYC traffic. I certainly know that I have trouble breathing in many cities, but a moderate distance between me and a smoker will solve any cigarette-induced asthma. I agree about the risk to children, but I don't know if it's fair for marijuana to be legalized and then made too difficult to use.

?Alorael, who could see a number of solutions, the best of which is to try to turn marijuana into a non-smoked drug. It would be interesting to see how much of the fun is in the drug and how much is in the smoking...
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Oh man...CHECK YOUR PRIVATE MESSAGES, PEOPLE! in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, April 28 2003 14:55 Profile Homepage #27
Ah, but the Polaris Conspiracy is still alive and well. You won't know what it is plotting until it is too late or some of the conspirators join opposed plotters in other dark, smoke-filled rooms.

—Alorael, who is actually not part of the Polaris Conspiracy. He's just always happy to put in a word for doom, gloom, and convoluted plots and conspiracy theories.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Gah in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, April 28 2003 14:47 Profile Homepage #54
Yes, he is. He's a militant Mac user, and proud of it.

—Alorael, who can out-David Sir David any day. Trust him on this one.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Palm Sunday in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, April 28 2003 14:40 Profile Homepage #65
Actually, David, Christianity has meant a number of things over the centuries. There are those who believe Jesus was God on Earth, those who believe he was the son of God and wholly divine, those who think he was partially divine and partially human, and those who think he was a human created by God as the messiah. If you take the last view, the inherent imperfection of humans gives you some leeway in interpreting for yourself.

—Alorael, who would like to point out that one of the Ten Commandments is impossible to follow. "Thou shalt not covet," number 10, limits your mind. That's pretty much impossible, since jealousy is a biologically-implanted imperative. Even if you don't believe in evolution, it's hard to say that you could completely free yourself from wanting anything.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
No Taxes! in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Monday, April 28 2003 13:34 Profile Homepage #1
The devaluing of the currency would either result in a barter economy and the collapse of the government or a revolution in which a more sane government would be put in place.

—Alorael, who would rather have higher taxes, not none at all.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Crossfire in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, April 27 2003 16:26 Profile Homepage #76
I think suicide should be legal too...

Anyway, I agree absolutely that smoking harms not just the smoker but anyone who is around. I'm also an asthmatic, and I can say that dealing with even the amount of cigarette smoke in America is hard, let alone the amount in Europe. I say all smoking should be illegal in public, where it's a danger to everybody. In private, what difference does it make?

Drugs are definitely unhealthy, but marijuana is not even as bad as alcohol. In fact, I don't think it caues any proven long-term problems other than those related to smoking. If it were turned into another form, it would be a nice way to get slightly high without terrible consequences. What's wrong with that?

?Alorael, who hasn't seen the government doing such a good job in preventing marijuana use. Instead, it could just make it safer and healthier. And it would be much cheaper, too. Doesn't that make far more sense?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Palm Sunday in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, April 27 2003 12:21 Profile Homepage #55
No matter how it's transliterated, it's the same in Hebrew and probably in pronunciation. And if matzah where you live is the same as all other matzah I've seen, it can best be described as a large cracker (or cardboard) and badly needs any kind of condiments to make it palatable. And it is impossible to make into a sandwich or anything else because it is so brittle.

—Alorael, who can't say that he is a great fan of matzah. Or couldn't you tell?
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Nethergate No-no? in Tech Support
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, April 27 2003 12:03 Profile Homepage #1
I have no problems downloading. I think your computer hates you.

—Alorael, whose computer hates him as well. It's okay. Every computer goes through the phase sooner or later, and almost half of them get back out of it!
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Crossfire in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, April 27 2003 08:26 Profile Homepage #73
The advantage of legalizing everything is control. The quality and purity of drugs could be regulated if they were produced by companies answerable to all the same authorities that protect consumers. The disadvantage is that legalization is at least tacit acceptance of drugs like PCP, which I'd really rather not have anyone use. But for marijuana and other "light" drugs, the problems with use are far outweighed by the advantages of control.

?Alorael, who does think that the sale of drugs should be very carefully monitored. Even cigarettes and alcohol are treated far too lightly. And all drugs should be limited to certain areas, since they can pose a danger either by affecting the judgement of the user or, if the drug is smoked, the lungs of others.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Palm Sunday in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Sunday, April 27 2003 08:07 Profile Homepage #53
In Hebrew, the holiday's name is Pesach, and it does pretty much translate literally into "pass over." I always think the name is a bit odd, since the actually killing of the firstborn was really only a way to get a point across. The real purpose of the holiday is to celebrate freedom. And it's one of the three major agricultural festivals, but that part has been lost over the years.

—Alorael, who likes Passover as one of the holidays where you're guaranteed a good meal. Then you eat lots of tasteless matzah for a week, but you do get one good feast with family before that.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Palm Sunday in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, April 26 2003 20:53 Profile Homepage #46
Alec also identified himself (more or less) with a particular branch of Christianity that is known for valuing inward reflection as part of the belief that there is something of God in every human being. The emphasis is less on the Bible and Jesus than on the people and the ethical codes that they live by.

And I'd say that if one makes the consumption of large quantities of chocolate a sacred ritual, it can be part of Easter. Just because nobody else celebrates that way or understands doesn't mean that God can't figure it out and appreciate the worship no matter what form it takes. I certainly know that my mind wanders during services, but an informal Passover seder at home can actually keep my attention on the admittedly little religious ceremony my family has.

—Alorael, who also suspects that Alec often enjoys argument for argument's sake. Not that there's anything wrong with that, although two-fisted fury may not exactly fit with pacifism...
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Music... in Blades of Avernum
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, April 26 2003 13:11 Profile Homepage #4
It probably won't be possible to provide your own sounds, though. You'll just have to pick which of the ambient sounds already used in A3, maybe the ones from Geneforge (are there different sounds?), and possibly even some new ones.

—Alorael, who doesn't think he'd want to download scenarios with dozens of megabytes of background music, and Spiderweb probably wouldn't want to have to store them or let people use lots of bandwidth downloading them.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Gah in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, April 26 2003 13:03 Profile Homepage #47
I think the UBB prevents the very simple ways of duplicating a name, like adding a space at the beginning or end, in order to prevent identity theft.

—Alorael, who likes the name iDavid anyway. It's more unique than Sir David and it shows a bit more personality. And it could be turned into a fad like Tims, too! All the Mac users could band together and be iMembers!!!!!!!!!!!¡
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
1,000 in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, April 26 2003 12:58 Profile Homepage #30
For the UBB, at least, it wouldn't be too hard. Get a bunch of volunteers and divide up all the member numbers. There are about 3000 members, and twenty volunteers would only have to add up 22 post counts per day for a week to get the total.

On some other types of boards, this would be much easier.

—Alorael, who isn't exactly sure why this would be at all helpful. If it were possible to know the daily posting rate for every day from the beginning of the boards to the present, though, maybe there would be a way to see if closing Misc. really did save bandwidth and if Spiderweb bandwidth usage constantly increases...
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
The meaning of life. in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Saturday, April 26 2003 12:50 Profile Homepage #56
Along with the increase in leisure time, we seem to have lost the ability to spend it in a leisurely way. How many people do you know who don't take weekends off? There may be vacations now, but they're often accompanied by Palm Pilots and portable computers. Yes, we relax more, but strangely many of the advances that should have resulted in less work have had the opposite effect.

—Alorael, who isn't sure if it's more fun to work on a holiday than it is to have no holiday at all. At least you know exactly why you're still out in the fields when you're not supposed to have the day off.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Palm Sunday in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, April 25 2003 18:28 Profile Homepage #39
Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday. It's closer to Thanksgiving in that it is secular but supposedly meaningful. And while many families do celebrate it, many do not.

There are many devout Muslims and Jews in the world, although "many" isn't quite accurate for the latter group, but there are also plenty of very strictly observant Christians. It is the mainstream of American and Western European society that has become much more secular, pretty much regardless of what religion the people might have had previously.

—Alorael, who personally believes that there is no reason to follow all the old rituals when the meaning is lost. If you celebrate Easter with the Easter Bunny, fine; as long as in some way that has meaning to you, it's religious. Religion should be more a personal set of ethics than laws that must be imposed externally.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Somethings very wrong here....... in Tech Support
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, April 25 2003 18:19 Profile Homepage #6
The chances of the hacker being caught are extremely slim, but if the hacker were caught there would be harsher consequences than just board-related. Illegality is more than just a guideline.

—Alorael, who did find the conversations in his inbox fascinating. It's amazing how many times one person will send the same unsubscription email without bothering to read the notices explaining the problem.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Crossfire in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, April 25 2003 12:51 Profile Homepage #50
Oops. I meant X. That was just a Freudian slip after all the plotting... I mean... Never mind!

?Alorael, who will go off into his corner and sullenly drink skribbane. This is opposed to the cheerful skribbane-drinking that would otherwise have taken place.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Crossfire in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, April 25 2003 10:51 Profile Homepage #48
Everything done by everyone is selfish. If you are willing to give up luxury to help those less fortunate than you, fine... but you're getting something out of it. You're paying for the satisfaction of feeling that you are a good person. People who don't feel good when they give simply don't give; they don't want to essentially pay for a service that they don't receive.

?Alorael, who agrees with Khoth. Beyond a certain level of comfort and ability to purchase Spiderweb games, massive amounts of money aren't worth the unhappiness that are sure to be part of the deal. Unless you are working solely to support charitable causes, there's no reason to seek riches if you can't sit back and enjoy them.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Happy Easter. in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, April 25 2003 10:28 Profile Homepage #60
You can't make Jesuses or Jesi out of chocolate. First of all, that's sacrilegious. Second, the plastic industry already has Jesus patented.

—Alorael, who prefers consuming Easter Bunnies feet first over the course of several days. It's all part of the interrogation process to find out where their babies are so he can start breeding them, but so far none have talked.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
The "About us" topic in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Friday, April 25 2003 10:18 Profile Homepage #18
»What is your name?
Alorael. Were you expecting something else?

»What is your quest?
I hope to someday become the leading cause of death among pedestrians, but only because I've already achieved my dream of consuming more skribbane than the rest of the world combined ever has.

»What is your favorite color/colour?
Octarine.

»What is your job (If you are unemployed, what prevents you from having more free time)?
So many pedestrians, so little time. And there are many mysterious gaps in my memory that I attribute to skribbane.

»What are some books you like?
I'll just do this by author: Robert Jordan, Terry Pratchett, Jostein Gaarder, ad infinitum.

»What are some movies/TV shows you like?
In general, I don't like.

»What are some computer/console games you like?
Spiderweb's games, of course. Other than that, I enjoy Angband, the Final Fantasy games, many variations of solitaire, and whatever shareware I happen to encounter and download.

»What are some bands you like?
Bands, not many. Composers I like include Bach, Telemann, and Vivaldi.

»What are some musical pieces you like?
I don't own many CD's, so most of my listening is from the radio. And I don't pay enough attention to remember which pieces I thought were especially good.

»Who are some of your favorite members on these boards?
I like all the invisible newbies collectively, although individually they vary.

»What do you think various members look like?
I'm sure you're all variations on the E3/BoE townspeople graphics.

»What do you look like?
I look like death warmed over, actually.

»What did you have for lunch last Tuesday?
Judging by the statistics, it was probably a salad.

»What is your age?
Older than the bottom layer of grease on the movie theater floor.

»What is your species?
Take a wild guess. And if you're wrong, I'll get a good laugh out of it.

»What sort of computer do you use?
A Mac G4 Cube

»What plane are you from?
Sorry, I inhabit one-dimensional space. No planes for me. But if I were from a plane, it would definitely be BoEing.

[b]»Are you male, female, or "other."[b]
I'm sorry, is that a question?

»How many holes do you prefer in the ceiling?
Enough to breathe, but not enough to let in the burning light of day.

»When did you last brush your teeth?
Just to give a different answer, I actually got up and brushed my teeth so I could say thirty seconds ago.

»Do you feed lemons to your pet alligator?

No. That's animal cruelty.

»To whom are all your base belong?
I have no base. They were taken by Mao, Cats, Alec, and sundry others.

»What region of the universe are you posting from?
The region under the curve.

»What does (§3·ß)<ETH>/µª=ƒ mean?
I'm sorry, I think it's against my religion to answer.

»What is the appropriate usage of the word "EVOL"?
Judicious and sparing usage

»Did I forget anything?
Probably. But I'm not answering any more!

—Alorael, who doesn't know why he bothers to answer these. There are only so many times one can try to come up with clever responses to odd queries, and this time he definitely failed.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Crossfire in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, April 24 2003 17:00 Profile Homepage #42
I think I've seen reputable studies showing that smoked marijuana is carcinogenic, and one joint is about as bad as a pack of cigarettes. Again, I think this could actually be lowered somewhat by government-imposed standards and filters. Then there's the pesky way THC can be extracted and turned into pills, liquids, or other things without all the inherent problems of inhaling burning glop.

?Alorael, who does think that marijuana use might rise if it were legalized. But cigarette and alcohol use might drop because people would have another drug to use. Granted, that's a stretch, but what's the harm if people decide to risk cancer? As long as there is sufficient education about the harmful effects of marijuana, it's not your problem.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
BoA species in Blades of Avernum
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, April 24 2003 14:32 Profile Homepage #15
Ah, TM? Last time I checked, Rakshasi were rather vaguely portrayed in Avernum. And illithids do not appear at all. A BoA based on your scenarios would be a scary thing...

—Alorael, who doesn't remember anywhere explicitly stating that the vahnatai are stronger. Effective in combat, certainly, but their weapons and style don't quire strength the way a halberd-wielding, heavily-armored human would.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Crossfire in General
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
 written Thursday, April 24 2003 14:20 Profile Homepage #39
Criminalizing marijuana hasn't stopped large numbers of people from smoking it, but it has cost millions of dollars in court fees and prison expenses. Legalizing it would free up more money and even bring in more from sales tax and maybe a special drug tax. And then there could be quality controls and other consumer protection mechanisms and marijuana wouldn't lead to purchase harder drugs from the same dealers.

?Alorael, whose main complaint against marijuana is that it actually does slow reflexes. A few laws against driving while intoxicated with any substance would solve that nicely. And of course the smoking of anything should be illegal in public, but that's a separate issue.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00

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