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Mistä mahtaisin löytää lähimmän kylpyhuoneen? in General
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 written Thursday, July 22 2004 21:10 Profile #24
Very interesting indeed.

Aran, what Demonslayer said in Spanish may better be something that you shall never know.
Perhaps it is something that I shall never say.

If he can kill demons, what can he do about poor blind smurai clowns?

But. I shall risk it if only to end your doubts. If I die, remember me. . . okay may not. Just do not do release bodily wastes upon my tomb.

Here it is.

Prepare your young heart, my friend.

"Quiero verlo desnudo"

Means:

"I want to see him naked."

Adios Mundo Cruel!

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
AGE? HOW OLD ARE WE? in General
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 written Thursday, July 22 2004 21:04 Profile #108
Stug: I called you by your real name in a previous post. Sorry if that was inadecuate. I know better now.

Life. Hmmm. "Logical Song." Supertramp

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"I like traffic lights, but not when they are red." [Abridged] Monty Python Song.
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
What if Batman and Captain America Fought? in General
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 written Thursday, July 22 2004 20:55 Profile #34
Christ vs. Neo: This one is not really a matter of who dies first. It is a matter of who's message is most misunderstood after he is dead, it is also a matter of who inspires more death and destruction through the use of his, already misunderstood message, in order to gather the greater power unto a group of people, or in order to show that the misunderstood message that a group harbors is, really, greater and more powerful than the other group's, whose message is also misunderstood.
In order for us to see this result, a few thousand years need to pass and we shall see.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Lets talk politics! in General
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 written Thursday, July 22 2004 20:48 Profile #17
Imban: Thank you.

A man, long time ago in a place far far away from where I sit once said these words: "Give me liberty or give me death!" I wonder where did that message go?

In that same place, a group of men sat down and wrote one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring documents in the entire history of this schizophenic race we once had the galls to call "homo sapiens" (some like to keep that tradition, thank fu lee). The first words of that document are more important than any light someone may have created at the beginning. Because the light these people created (though many have tried to obfuscate) conceptually, is the light that truly shines, and hopefully one day will shine upon all of us, equally and resolutely.

For every person who has ever given his or her life so that we can sit in front of our computers right now and write whatever we please to write about. Because of those people there is in our minds and beings the concept, the notion, the feeling the KNOWLEDGE that we are all above and beyond anything else individuals with the right and the need for that inviduality to be respected and to be paumpered and to be used and propelled into whatever realm, into whatever niche it is needed in order to--because we are all yes free, yes different, but pray notice, all symbiotic parasites of the world--fulfill its duty for one and for all. To all those people who died so we could be here today, to all those people who died so we could stand upon their shoulders and scream to the top of our lungs, to all those people who prevented us from becoming a race of slaves, a race of nobodies forgotten and buried and doing what the all mighty ruler of all of us told us to do. To all those people we ought to give them our appreciation and our respect but also carry on with their work so that, in truth, we do not become nothing more and nothing less than a pitiful version of a dastardly absymal landscape of mindless zombies.

That is my view of politics.

"Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment, and will die here like rotten cabbages."--Number 6.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
down with the world of avernum in General
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 written Thursday, July 22 2004 20:24 Profile #28
Xan: I am not surprised Jonny scared you as a kid. It was very intense show. As adults (hey! okay. as people a little older, better?) we may laugh, but man. It was intense.

FBM: Haven't seen the newish Astro Boy, the old one was very reminiscent of old B&W Disney cartoons, Ub Iwerks and, of course, it was still very definite Japanese anime in style.
Glad you like B.S. (Banana Splits, not the bull. . .) I still find myself singing that song from time to time.

Nicothedes: Dang. Can't read the comic book, they are a rarity in this neck of the woods. I miss so much reading and collecting them. But having elected a dead cat as a president sounds too good. I shall write it down in the list of comics I'm gonna buy when and if I'm in the States again.

He-Man. Heh.

Eldiran: P.R as the final boss of an scenario?! You jest! Still just to see something like that in the "flesh". . .

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Vlish & Illithid in General
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 written Thursday, July 22 2004 20:17 Profile #5
And Illithid brain in a Mi-Go braincase.

Enjoy the mental image.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
down with the world of avernum in General
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 written Wednesday, July 21 2004 07:14 Profile #22
Astro Boy can be more than a little difficult. It's old (50's).

It's a shame that no one shows Jonny Quest anymore.
Not even Cartoon Network or Boomerang?

Anyway, never saw Bagpuss. They never showed that one in this neck of the woods.
Wacky Races was neat.

I bet there aren't many fans of Banana Splits, though.

Salud!

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Help me! in Geneforge Series
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 written Wednesday, July 21 2004 06:58 Profile #1
Hi!

You can find the purified essence in Sharon's grove. You'll have to finish a quest for her, then she'll give you a bracelet and access to her grove.
There you'll fight a series of battles, each progressively tougher.
The last one is a toughie. Save. Be prepared.
After that you'll get the essence.

As for your second question. There are a few cannisters. I remember one was in the Radiant College, but not quite where exactly. Sorry.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Help me! in Geneforge 2
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 written Wednesday, July 21 2004 06:58 Profile #1
Hi!

You can find the purified essence in Sharon's grove. You'll have to finish a quest for her, then she'll give you a bracelet and access to her grove.
There you'll fight a series of battles, each progressively tougher.
The last one is a toughie. Save. Be prepared.
After that you'll get the essence.

As for your second question. There are a few cannisters. I remember one was in the Radiant College, but not quite where exactly. Sorry.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
What if Batman and Captain America Fought? in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 21:01 Profile #32
Alas, Andrea, I remember reading that and hating it.
I refer to when she died back in the late 90's. But Spidey has gotten such a rehash since then that I don't know what's going on now.
Besides, living in exile (pun not indended) hasn't given me the opportunity to read a comic book for four years. Talking about withdrawal symptons.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
The trouble with democracy is every idiot gets a vote. in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 20:57 Profile #26
Blaspheme: Ideally, at least for me, if you got injured in an accident the government would pay for the bills.
I think a government should protect its people, offering welfare and social security.
This doesn't happen in too many places, though.

Not surprised that you get a lot of foreigners looking for drugs. Here our problem with drugs is that Venezuela is a port of call for that. Actually, it would be better if I just said that we are the link between South America and the rest of the world. A lot of drug traffic comes through here, though we don't have drug plantations like our neighbor Colombia where they have a bigger problem.

The net does indeed offer a good opportunity for the sharing of ideas, sometimes it's necessary to waddle through a lot of muck, but it's worth the while.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Signatures... in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 20:44 Profile #52
A breath of fresh air.
Good to see that for every crazy "_____________"who decides to start a thread where Erika is insulted in ways better left unsaid one can find a thread where one can read something like what I've just read in this thread I was reading until just almost now before when I decided to post this.
Thank you.
I wish I knew other languages, many other languages, so I could read those I admire in the tongue that was native to them.

Anyone here familiar with Neurolinguistic Programming?

Take care of yourself in the process while it is being processed by the processed.

[ Tuesday, July 20, 2004 20:46: Message edited by: Pandolfo the Pugilist of Ooze ]

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
The trouble with democracy is every idiot gets a vote. in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 20:25 Profile #24
Blaspheme: Thanks for the data, man.
I'm glad to see that the Maoist ways are dying. I hope that China wakes up completely from its slumber, and I don't mean this from a solely economic point of view, but from an all-encompassing one.
I hope you all embrace the right to vote and choose what political system you want.
Hopefully such political system will be able to provide a continuous progress for your people (social/economical/cultural, etc), and with such an enormous population that is something that will indeed take time and the continual effort of consecutive governments.
BTW, don't worry about your English, man. It's fine.
Besides, you should see the English of some of the people in this forum, and some of them are English-speaking folks!

[ Tuesday, July 20, 2004 20:26: Message edited by: Pandolfo the Pugilist of Ooze ]

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Paradox Entertainment in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 20:13 Profile #11
Alec and Demonslayer, thanks Guys!
Alec, don't worry about the English version, though I thank you for the warning. Luckily I have a sister living in the states (the lucky one actually fell in love and married a Gringo, which gives one hope!)
Anyway, I avoid Spanish versions like the plague. Games in Spanish are like dubbed movies. Yech.
(I don't get it how Europeans can dub stuff so happily.)
EU II it is. Liked what I read that it's long and sounds complex enough.
Cheers!

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
AGE? HOW OLD ARE WE? in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 20:07 Profile #76
No kidding, Ripper. Which is great, I think. So many of the members here can do quite a few oustanding feats with a computer and a few codes. Makes me feel like a dinosaur, though a happy one to be able to witness and partake in all of this!
And what about sexual liberty?
In my time a second base was like the greatest accomplishment a person could hope to achieve until the mythical promises of college. Granted I grew in a relatively puritan country.
Still in that same country, years later, I taught at a high school and it was freaky. I remained ethical, though. There's a lot to be said against craddle jumping.
Salud!

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"I like traffic lights, but not when they are red." [Abridged] Monty Python Song.
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
down with the world of avernum in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 19:52 Profile #20
Scooby Doo Where Are You? (the first of the Scoobies) was wonderful. The next series was also cool.
I hated the spin-offs, even as a kid.
How about Jonny Quest?
Any of you guys ever saw Superchicken?
And speaking of cartoon but the anime kind, Astro Boy and Mazinger Z any one? (Mazinger was called Tranzor Z in the States. The dubbing and the music were terrible.)

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Signatures... in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 10:54 Profile #46
http://www.jedisparadise.co.uk/childrenstv/Batfink/Batfink3.jpg

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
What if Batman and Captain America Fought? in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 10:32 Profile #29
Sorry Rosy!!! Won't misspell your name again.

Quite correct. Being a butler he has mastered the intractable power of total and complete impassivity.
That in and out of itself will drive anybody wacko if they try to reason with him or coerce him in anyway.
Also, the fact that he has also mastered the rather difficult ability of servicing a man like Master Bruce, well that says a lot.
Plus the fact that his organizing powers must be rather incredible.
Hmmm.
I think you've got a point. Alfred may indeed be the one variable which can always be counted to top the balance in Batman's favor.

I wonder if Aunt May is to Spider-man something akin to what Alfred is to Batman.
Not a direct analogy, of course!

Ta!

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Whats your favorite in The Avernum Trilogy
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 10:25 Profile #11
quote:
BSC wrote:
I'm boring and my post to explain why I am is pointless.
I stop playing and pick another game.
Told you.
quote:
Ferox wrote:
@samurai: keep an eye on your grammer, that post of yours is easily misunderstood.
Where? I mean besides the fact that the structure is not 100% adequate.
Oh misunderstood how? In what way? Bad one? Good one?

1st line: I'm a boring person and my post to explain why that is so is pointless.
I stop playing the game (A3, though it may be assumed any other game as well) and pick another game.
(thus I'm boring compared with some of the others who actually do something in the game itself, this being mostly what this post is about. Since I don't do anything it seems rather pointless to express the fact I don't. Not expressing anything would have been much easier.)
I told you (what I just finished telling you)

Anyway, hope this has clarified things.

Cheers!

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
I was playtesting my scen, and something really cool happend. in Blades of Avernum
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 09:47 Profile #8
I love the way these threads just go bouncing up and down in the most umpredictable way.
TJ--> Erik the Viking. (TR as Erik)

A talking parrot in an scenario. Heh.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
The trouble with democracy is every idiot gets a vote. in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 09:42 Profile #18
Thanks Alec. Glad you liked it.

Blaspheme: I'm glad that at the very least, as you say, the live conditions in China are good. Never been there so I wouldn't know. I've heard too many opinions from different people to start arguing one way or another.

Doesn't it bother you (personally as well as a people) that degree of control?

Has the fact that China is becoming increasingly more and more open to idea of capitalism (filtered of course) made any change in the way the country is run in the last, say 10 years or so?

Cheers!

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Signatures... in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 09:36 Profile #44
say mine out loud. go ahead.

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
War, war, war! in The Exile Trilogy
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 09:33 Profile #89
There are some others who are nigh invulnerable in this world.
A most fearsome army that horses.
A worse enemy than Goblins on Horses.

Outdoor Merchants.
And united their might is even greater.

Oh they won't defeat you by force, you will try to defeat them by force. Heh. Go ahead.

And just wait until they ally with the Special Event denizens.

Then. . .

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Alorael? in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 09:17 Profile #11
Certain constants of the universe must never be tampered with.
Doing so may lead to irreverseible errors, retroactively, in the initial conditions which gave birth to these forums.
The effects. . .
Maybe a good. But the risks. . . do you want to wake up with a petunia head, a gastropod body and an electric eel for a tail. This is a possibility. Others such as the possibility of possessing the body of a sultan with complete access to his private harem. Not a shabby idea--untill one of the many sultan sons kills him a few days later. Oh but what days! What days!
Blaspheme: Scenarios? What do you mean? Writing? I thought. . . well you know, a little cut and paste here and that would be it, right? I haven't seen the editor yet but it seemed to me that was all there was to it. Right?

;)

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
The trouble with democracy is every idiot gets a vote. in General
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 written Tuesday, July 20 2004 00:02 Profile #16
(Quadruple and last one.)
(I think if I stop to think of what I am doing. I feel terrible, but. . . Will never happened again!!!)

Escuelas Bolivarianas: Bolivarian Schools.
Objective: give education to everybody. No matter who you are or how much money you have.
Supposed number of them in existence: Over 3000!

How many actually work? I do not know.

You see, Venezuela is a small country. There are avout 25 million of us. Caracas holds about 8. Maracaibo, the other big city--which happens to be by the lake where our biggest source of oil comes from--holds about 5 or 6. The other cities take care of the rest.
Then there are a bunch of little towns. Very little.
Do the math for those schools. Remember we already had a bunch of them. How many kids do we have?!

Most of these schools are in what we call the Interior (not Caracas) and many in the so called small towns. But are they there? Do they work? Where are they?

Sure you see a couple in the Chains. But that is all! A couple. Once in a while he used to, not anymore, be seen in a Chain blessing the opening of one.
Then he suddenly announces there are 3000.

Oh, and yeah, he announces publicly how there are Cuban teachers in them

Cubans.
We have had a huge immigration of them.
Cuban doctors. Cuban teachers. Cuban military instructors.
Cuban doctors are something else. They go to the slums and take the place of perfectly competent Venezuelan ones.
You have a problem? They give you a napkin a couple of pills.
Thre have been documented cases of kids dying after being treated by them, because why take them to hospitals?
(Would they have survivied otherwise? I don't know)

Oh, and hospitals. I've taught a few doctors. There are no medicines. There is not even money being given to Hospitals for the medicines they need. Horrible. The doctors who have talked to me are horrified. Maybe we are being biased, but I think here there is a line to be drawn.

Universidad Bolivariana: This was another great idea.
(See? His ideas, on paper, are actually good. Which just makes all of this be even more irksome!)
Say you are a student who graduated from high school.
There aren't many universities in this country. Many are private.
The best used to be public, btw. Simon Bolivar has world-wide recognition. Excellent on the fields of engineering. Truly so. The Central University of Venezuela (UCV) was not only awesome, but I heard that it was being considered to be named world patrimony, or whatever the name is in English. Their medical school was top notch. Really.
But you can't make it to them. Poor grades, maybe. Poor as in no money, maybe. (SB and UCV were free, being public. Sorry. Are)
No problem. You go to the Bolivarian University.
Wanna be a doctor? Don't want to spend 10 years or so of your life stuying to become one?
No problem. They give you a degree in four. Oh, and that is that. That is your degree to be a DOCTOR. Four years. You end up like those Cuban doctors.
Yeah. I've heard too. That in Cuba medicine is awesome.
Maybe.
Preventive Medicine, that is.

In his Sunday program, Alo! Presidente, a young lady appeared and commented that they had no text books. Chavez was irate (this seemed to come as a surprise to him).

Nothing more has been heard about it.
He opened it. Fanfare and all. And now silence.

Mision Ribas
Mision Robinson.
These were also a great idea.
Basically they were created to finally, once and for all, take care of the problem of illiteracy in this country. Which is huge, by the by.
We heard the announcements. We saw the Chain were he opened them.
And we haven't heard anything else.

Then there was the Road of the Arepa. He would give people money to make their own little Arepa Shop (Arepa is a bit like a muffin. Made with maiz. Very typical. Very yummy)
Yeah a few were opened. But, again, nothing more has been said about them.

Then there was the Road of the Empanada. Ditto. (And empanada is like a gyro, close it completely. Inside you put fish or meat. It is made with. . . oh man what is it? Maiz too?)

Then there was the Mision Barrio Adentro (Mission Inside the Slum) That was supposed to be one where they entered the slums and made sure crime stopped there.

(We average 100 deaths a weekend. Lately, since the President is on campaign not to be revocated, the police has withdrawn the actual numbers. We just don't know.)

There were a few others, I've forgotten them.

Oh, and he promised thousands of houses. He built a few. They were very cool looking. I passed by once a few years ago. Passed again recently. Nothing. Dilapidated most of them.

He speaks. He puts on a Chain or two. Nowadays, almost every day we have a Mini-Chain, an Information Bulletin, where they tell us about this success of the government, or that other one. Always highly localized. Always as if filmed with a zoom. And always, something different (which would be great if all of them were supported accordingly)

Help the masses?
Let me tell you about La Guaira.
That's a city by the sea. Big coastal port. The International Airport/National Airport for Caracas is also there.
Back in 1999 we had huge torrential rains. Awful. Something that apparently happens every 50 years or so.
Floods. Terrible.
Buildings, entire buildings, were washed away.
Thousands lost their houses.
It was a true tragedy, perhaps you saw something in the papers.
Countries all over the world offered to help us.

They sent money.

The US actually sent some highly specialized equipment which would have helped IMMENSELY.
What did this agh (withheld the dreaded word) guy do? HE ORDERED THEM BACK!!!! HE SAID WE DIDN'T NEED HELP FROM THEM!!!!

5 years have gone by. You should take a look.
It was called the Vargas Tragedy because that's the name of the state where la Guaira is.

So much money we have. So much. And he did didly about it.

Eventually they paved the road. They built a house or two. That is all.

Freedom of Speech. Yeah we have that.
He has threatened over and over again with the Mordaza Law (Mordaza is the piece of cloth they put in you mouth so you don't talk. Gag Law, something like that)
Hasn't done so yet. He does it and the mask finally falls down.

The CNE, the National Electorial Center, it was supposed to be formed of 5 people, 2 chavistas, 2 opposition and the head, the president, in-between.
The president. Carrasquero. He will be the next president of the Supreme Court. Just like that. Oh yeah, he is chavista.

The number of traps and decoys and booby traps that have taken place between 2003 and now to get this doggone referendum accepted are too many to list here (be interesting if I could)

We finally, because we had the Carter Center and the OEA and other international observers got the signatures to get it done. Barely. Out of over 6 million who signed, 3700000 were "accepted" Then from those about a million and a half were considered "repairable" which meant you had to go and signed again. Even more obstacles. So many. Finally, with a meagre 100000 surplus we got the number we needed.

Torture: a few people have come out into the opened and confessed to being taken prisoners and tortured. True? Not true?

The Human Rights Watch and other human right movements the world over have issued communiques warning against the blatant disrespect against human rights which take place here. They ought to know.

Countless of TV reporters and other journalists have been accosed, injured, etc, by the NG, the millitary, the police. Many of these incidents have happened during marches, many have been filmed.

It used to be that few countries cared. Now most have noticed, and his image, internationally, as the nice guy he had worked so hard is eroding. Fast.

In March of this year was, perhaps the final drop.
(and with this I promise to end this!)
What precipitated it. . .?
Just another march. (The purpose was to put preasure into the CNE to stop being so damn ludicrous with their slowness and obstacle placement!)
I didn't go, was rp with some friends.
This time the march went into chavista territory.
The way the NG behaved was in a way typical, the works.
But what made this one unique was the blatant and obvious disrespect the showed for civilians. Even worse than before.
Deathtold was small, thank the gods.
Afterwards, at night, neighbors left the buildings and close the streets with burning tires. A night vigil commenced.
I had to stay at my friends house because the residence is self-enclosed and they closed it. People from the slums had come to throw stones and molotovs at us. The Ng wasn't around. They, NG came back later.
At one point during the night, 8ish or so, we went to buy some soda from the drugstore. We got to experience even more tear gas. The NG was throwing it, willy-nilly so the neighbors cooled down. I guess they had to.
That lasted for about a week. A kind of self-imposed and not very kosher strike.
The images that came of that one were the last drop that made many of these human rights movements to finally notice us.

Many of the people who were arrested, and there dozens upon dozens of them, underwent a torture or another. Electricity in their testies, etc.

A man was forced to watch his wife being raped. He was fed hair and had his entire body beaten to a pulp (the autopsy reports showed this)

These events made the EU take more noticed than they previously had.

The US has been anti Chavez for a while.
Rumours speak of below the table dealing between Bush and Chavez. Oil is king. Who knows?

A couple of soldiers were burned alive in a barrack. Their bodies, after a couple of weeks, were allowed to be seen by other doctors.

The mayor of one of the counties here in Caracas was arrested. Because he went to the Cuban embassy to cool down the small group of demonstrators there.

A few of the generals from that Plaza I told you about have been arrested. The Plaza went to be being a simple plaza.

Ever since 2002 I cannot go downtown. You see, I was born here but my parents are Spaniards. I'm whiter than a scared ghost.
But, beyond race. If a moreno goes to the downtown with good clothes he is an oligarch.

This country is divided like it has never been.

There are more annecdotes, but I think this is enough for now.

As for absentism: we used to love voting. 20% was our highest. Not anymore. Maybe because 40 years of mediocrity did their job and people are just sick and tired.

Here are a few links more.
(Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal have published editorials on him.
(The Dayly Journal, an English newspaper here in Venezuela is anti-chavez but not as hard as others.)

This link offers a pro-chavez version of some of the things I've talked about. English

http://uniondelbarrio.org/lvp/newspapers/02/mar01feb03/pg05.html

This one is about the film "The Revolution Would not be Televised" which is highly biased towards the government. Highly so.
Yet, it has won quite a few awards. There you go.

http://www.chavezthefilm.com/

This article is an outsiders view of what's going on:

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1916/19160580.htm

This one is from front line world. A bit of an outsiders view.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/venezuela0803/2.html

This one is a more encyclopedic background. Good resume.

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Hugo%20Chavez

This one is from the website of those millitary people I told took over the plaza. Biased as it can possibly get.

http://www.militaresdemocraticos.com/articulos/en/20030120-04.html

This one is another outsider's view. Deals with the usual.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/26/01/feature3.shtml

This one is from a marxist site.

http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/encounters_with_hugo_chavez.html

And tomorrow I'll see if I can find one of their official sites.

Alec, I hope this has answered some questions.
Many topics I didn't comment on. Commented too much on others. Might have been better to offer links or having written this in a more organized essay form.
Well these very long stream of consciousness quadruple posting was the result.

Anyway.
Good night to those west of me.
Good morning to those east.
Good night.

--------------------
quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00

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