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US Conflict Avatars in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, April 17 2006 07:25 Profile #38
IMAGE(http://www.cheapermedicine.com/meds/images/Darvocet.jpg)

[ Wednesday, April 19, 2006 10:32: Message edited by: Strontium ]

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
US Conflict Avatars in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, April 17 2006 07:02 Profile #37
I'm up for in.

But, I wish to comment on an earlier post too...
quote:
...US has not actually fought any war directly with Canada
.

While this is technically true as Canada did not exist as a nation during the War of 1812, much of the defense of Canada against American invasion was provided by Canadian Militia and the war served to unite Canada and is an important event in the Canadian psyche (a watershed moment if you will).

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Death to All Merchants in Blades of Avernum
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, April 17 2006 06:46 Profile #14
quote:
No, i tpye quickly and don't have the pateicne to crect evry msitake ( )

wat a lod of horssh*** ervyone has time to crrect errrs its just polit talk i got no patents fer u

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Guaranteed results!! in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, April 17 2006 06:10 Profile #66
OK, like where are all the lawful characters? I knew it was a scurvy bunch that populated these boards but really now.
I particularly like my "bard" score. Gonna go sing in the shower as celebration.

Lawful Good Human Fighter Monk

Alignment:
Lawful Good characters are the epitome of all that is just and good. They believe in order and governments that work for the benefit of all, and generally do not mind doing direct work to further their beliefs.

Race:
Humans are the 'average' race. They have the shortest life spans, and because of this, they tend to avoid the racial prejudices that other races are known for. They are also very curious and tend to live 'for the moment'.

Primary Class:
Fighters are the warriors. They use weapons to accomplish their goals. This isn't to say that they aren't intelligent, but that they do, in fact, believe that violence is frequently the answer.

Secondary Class:
Monks dedicate themselves to persoanl perfection throughmeditating and study. They distill the essence of thier selves into powerful abilities and feats. They are spiritual without holding to a diety and have faith in the order of things.

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Law and Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Neutral - XXXXXXXX (8)
Chaos --- XXXXXX (6)

Good and Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXX (8)
Neutral - XXX (3)
Evil ---- XX (2)

Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Half-Elf - XXXX (4)
Elf ------ X (1)
Gnome ---- XX (2)
Halfling - XXXXXXXX (8)
Dwarf ---- XXXXX (5)
Half-Orc - XXXXXXXX (8)

Class:
Fighter -- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Barbarian -XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Ranger --- XXXXXX (6)
Monk ----- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Paladin -- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Cleric --- XXXXXXXX (8)
Mage ----- XXXXX (5)
Druid ---- XXXX (4)
Thief ---- (0)
Bard ----- XXXX (4)

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Are fantasy RPGs inherently conservative? in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Thursday, April 13 2006 05:09 Profile #38
Kuranes:
quote:
For the purpose of the debate, I suppose we can take "American left wing" to mean the closest American equivalent to a left wing.

Which is a joke when compared to any other country, of course.
a canadian friend of mine studied at penn state, where he had the audacity to defend universal medicare and was promptly labelled a communist. in canada he votes for conservative/reform parties and is a strong proponent of market forces. the american left wing is every other countries right wing (liberal extension of thought not to be directly applied)

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Which spiderweb software game is best? in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Wednesday, April 12 2006 07:07 Profile #33
the Avernum/Exile debate reminds me of previous debates. It seems those that started with Exile continue to prefer it while those that started with Avernum prefer it. I am in the latter camp. Played A1 and A2 then tried Exile and chose to stay with the comfort of Avernum. I much prefer the graphics and final appearance and for me that is an important element to the story being told. BoE does have some nice scenarios but I won't be returning any time soon.

[ Wednesday, April 12, 2006 07:08: Message edited by: Kurchatovium ]

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
What is the best spell? in Avernum 4
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, April 10 2006 12:13 Profile #25
quote:
Don't get him started again...
But why not?

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
What is the best spell? in Avernum 4
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, April 10 2006 08:10 Profile #23
Personally I like slow. Why wasn't it included?

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Avernum V in Avernum 4
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, April 10 2006 08:04 Profile #216
quote:
Eugh I hated the timed events in Avernum. I want to be able to take as long as I want to explore everywhere.
Notice that I addressed this idea in how the timed event would work. You had a set time to accomplish a task and given different timelines it would afffect the prestige you gain/difficulty of the battle. HOWEVER, after the timed event was copmpleted/failed you were free to return to the territory and explore.

Personally, I liked the timed events Except for the fact that I had to play several times to explore everything.

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Indian Doctor Jailed For Agreeing To Abort Female Fetus in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Wednesday, April 5 2006 10:07 Profile #48
quote:
There's a very interesting assertion that I unfortunately can't find online.
Alorael, I'm not sure if this comment was directed to me and if so, which assertion. I am going to assume it is the following:

Population growth...has more to do with poverty, society and cultural attitudes towards family size and the benefits/costs of having children.

quote:
In the foreword of the Population Policy for South Africa, April 1998, Geraldine J. Fraser-Moleketi, Minister of Welfare and Population Development, states:

“Our country is one of the few countries in the world where the fertility rate has been significantly reduced while the majority of the population has remained poor, which contradicts the belief that the majority of our people are poor because they have too many children.”

The observations derived from the above statement represent a dominant school of thought, which suggests that mitigating population growth in and of itself does not alleviate poverty. Unfortunately, while such school of thought is arguably correct in every respect, the same has diminished the emphasis to mitigate population growth as one of the critical elements in alleviating poverty—particularly with respect to developing economies.
From a book I read,
Zero Population Growth - Philippines
by Manuel Gallego III. I believe extracts can be found on the net.

Statistical data generally reveals that poor, undeveloped nations have large birth rates as well as low survivability (compared to developed nations). As a nation develops the birth rates stay high but the death rates drop (better health care), leading to population expansions. Further development and the birth rate also drops, leading to balanced population (little or zero growth (negative if we are talking about Japan)) This is a very common growth/development model).

With respect to societal and cultural effects on family size, I would argue that the move from agrarian, manual labour based societies (which in part are tied to poverty, lack of education) reduces the need for a large, unskilled labour poor, reducing the need for large families. In addition, with increasing wealth comes the ability of a society to provide a greater social net as well as individual ability to generate savings and plan for the less-productive phase of life. In otherwords, one no longer needs to have children to provide old age security. This is the development process that much of the western world (shall we include Russia?) went through.

With respect to economic matters, greater health care ensures greater rates of survival, limiting the need for multiple children. Economic pressures (cost of educating, feeding children etc) place a negative drag on family size. Think of the effect having a government plan for free education - but only to your first child would have on family size.

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Indian Doctor Jailed For Agreeing To Abort Female Fetus in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Wednesday, April 5 2006 07:51 Profile #40
A couple of people have commented that the ability to abort would do wonders for population growth.

This is false.

Population growth is much more complicated than cheap and easy access to birth control measures such as abortion. In fact, looking at a larger picture, present cost ($, time etc) of abortions make this an inefficient means of controlling population growth (although with the advent of "morning after" pills this is changing).

But, the bigger picture has more to do with poverty, society and cultural attitudes towards family size and the benefits/costs of having children. With this in mind, it is generally much more effective to deal with controlling population growth from a pre-emptive, proactive approach - family planning and reproductive health services, economic incentives, integration into quality of life measures (part of incentives to change attitudinal behaviour).

With respect to abortions, they are currently illegal in the Phillipines (strong Roman Catholic country), yet it is estimated that approximately 400,000 abortions occur annual, with 80,000 women ending up needing medical treatment as a result (2001 data), out of a population of 82 million.

In countries where the reality that abortions will remain illegal (and many developing nations are strongly RC) this is not a population growth control measure but a reaction to unwanted pregnancies - which I repeat are better dealt with by proactive measures.

Edited comments:

Proper family planning initiaves will also begin to deal with the underlying reasons that lead people to have abortions based on the sex of children. But this is likely a generational change that won't see results overnight. And I note that Kel's initial comments were likely addressing this issue, that the abortion as noted by the BBC wasn't a population control measure but dealing with an unwanted pregnancy due to the sex of the baby - which relates to societal attitudes.

[ Wednesday, April 05, 2006 07:58: Message edited by: Hassium ]

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Avernum V in Avernum 4
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, April 3 2006 12:53 Profile #203
How about you are hired as part of an exploration/settlement mission to new lands. So, you could have tasks such as saving a group of settlers under attack/subduing hostile enemies, exploring and charting new territory (including reporting back on mysterious events) perhaps making first contact and negotiating trade/property treaties.

You could even incorporate some timed missions ala ZKR. But, here I would run the mission so that if you took time to explore an area you might find a powerful weapon or a different explore might uncover a new spell that would aid you on your timed mission. The consequence would be that negative events would be advanced by the time taken to explore (i.e. you must relieve an outpost, part of the outpost is decimated if you choose a sidequest). the side quest might make the mission easier but you would then suffer an experience loss (would not get as much as if you managed to save the whole outpost). After the mission you would be free to retrace your steps and do all the side explores/quests.

You could be required to discover the source of herbs or other medicines.

I think a lot of things could be done with this. Thoughts?

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Modern day classics in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Tuesday, March 28 2006 08:06 Profile #32
quote:
How many of these books are actually from the last 20 years? 20 years isn't a very long time. Things Fall Apart is one of my favorite novels, but it's older, and so is most of the Hitchhiker's Guide series.
Good Point. To nominate a (potential) classic we should be including publishing info. Rybakov's works (as listed earlier) were all published between 1987 and 1997, with the Trilogy being '90, '94, '97.

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Modern day classics in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Tuesday, March 28 2006 07:21 Profile #30
My vote is for Anatoli Rybakov. Russian writer (obviously) most famous for his series detailing life under Stalin (Children of the Arbat, Fear, Dust and Ashes) but also Heavy Sand.

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
I can't sell stuff! in Avernum 4
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, March 27 2006 05:47 Profile #5
and when selling objects that stack it is best to sell when the number of stacked objects exactly yileds 4 coins (or multiples thereof) as this maximizes your potential wealth

example, if you have six thread and sell you will get 4 coins, if you sell 5 thread you get four coins and have a thread left over (to start your next stack with

[ Monday, March 27, 2006 05:48: Message edited by: fartman ]

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
buying skills in Avernum 4
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, March 27 2006 04:28 Profile #11
You can be trained in Silvar even if the shade is not yet dead, it merely has to be absent (it also spends time in Formello). If you portal around it seems to cause the shade to move (random event gets reset?)

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Mmm, Saganaki... Flaming Karma in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Monday, March 27 2006 04:24 Profile #41
To all my favorite people (those of you who din't give me a 1, and maybe even a few who did)thank-you for your support.

In celebration, I will give out 4's to whoever asks, starting with Casual Moose.

And, In even greater celebrationary news I change my moniker to Fartman (Alorael)

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Avernum V in Avernum 4
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Friday, March 24 2006 11:51 Profile #168
I wonder if a simple graphic(S) could be made so that walls don't appear so vertical. Although I play the games to unravel the story, its always been disconcerting to me that the world appears so uniform/straight edged - in a place which spends most of its time being obviously out of whack.

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Mmm, Saganaki... Flaming Karma in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Friday, March 24 2006 09:06 Profile #29
If i rate you a 4 it would move you back to 2.4. Would that would be just plain mean, :mad: or would it be cause for celebration (a high rating)? :confused:

[ Friday, March 24, 2006 09:07: Message edited by: the fatman ]

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
What's your dialect? in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Thursday, March 23 2006 06:49 Profile #54
Vowel mergers/splits:
Yes Rhyme: trap, bath (the vowels, anyway)
Rhyme: father, bother
Yes Identical: cot, caught
Rhyme: foot, goose
Identical: Lennon, Lenin
Identical: pin, pen
Identical: line, loin
Identical: coil, curl
Yes Final vowel of "happy" rhyme with vowel of "meet"

R madness:
Identical: father and farther
Yes Identical: Mary, marry, merry
Rhyme: mirror, nearer
Rhyme: fern, fir, fur
Yes Identical: horse, hoarse

L madness
Rhyme: salary, celery
Identical: fill, feel
Identical: fell, fail
Identical: full, fool

Consonants
Same middle consonant: Singer, finger
Identical: Heat, eat
Identical: Should've, should of (if you were to say "should of")
Yes Identical: Wait, weight
Yes Identical: Wine, whine

Kel, have you been compiling any statistics on this?

Interesting to note that variations in pronunciation are acceptable but variations in text are less so. Read an intersting comment by ? (name eludes me - a former professional basketball coach), who considered it a shame that America teaches one standardized shot rather than taking an athlete and ensuring that the shot is consistent (even if it includes idiosycracies). He thought it took away from the attractiveness of the game.

For me, speech is oral communication and tone, pronunciation etc all add to the beauty of it.

Written word, being a less direct form of communication, needs more formality to ensure precision of communication?

I also note that spelling variations are more acceptable than grammar (graemlins/gremlins).

Comments anyone?

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Mmm, Saganaki... Flaming Karma in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Thursday, March 23 2006 06:05 Profile #26
Originally from AlO RLY?
quote:
Since I look at my number of karma votes every day in passing while changing my PDN, I noticed that I have one more. I'll assume that it's from Fartman. It didn't actually change my karma, however.
Its Fatman not fartman (obscure? movie reference)

And the reality is I've only ever voted for two people (Kel and TM), neither was a 1 and it was really early on in my posting career.

If I was to be fair, You wouldn't deserve a 1 either (what have you done that is really offensive?)

Oops, it's *I and not Kel that I rated.

[ Thursday, March 23, 2006 06:11: Message edited by: the fatman ]

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Project GFT Start! in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Wednesday, March 22 2006 13:57 Profile #43
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally written by the fatman:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trying don't hurt anyone, right?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That was a painful read (not, understood you perfectly).

If I were you I'd look out for the language police on this one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The use of the word "not" refers to the sentence previously. Or, to wit, That it was an easy read. I was poking fun at those who constantly correct grammar/spelling in these posts.

quote:
He is Italian. Says so in his sig and his location.
You try speaking Italian without a few gramatical errors.
My second comment (...grammar police...) is not intended to imply that I am a grammar policeman and that I will try to correct the error of his ways. Rather, it is to be on the lookout for others on this board who will do the same.

It wouldn't bother me if a person of Ivy League education used the same term.

If you review my posts, I am consistently poking fun at those who insist on grammatical correctness/proper spelling.

I would like to urge everyone interested in language and especially those who feel compelled to promote some ideal of usage to remember that with regard to language use, it can only be convention. The nature of language prevents it from ever being more than that.

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Project GFT Start! in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:48 Profile #37
quote:
Trying don't hurt anyone, right?
That was a painful read (not, understood you perfectly).

If I were you I'd look out for the language police on this one.

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Project GFT Start! in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:42 Profile #35
quote:
Have we descended into nerdism to the point where delta-spelling and delta-grammar must be charted against the decade? For shame. And to think all this came from Aran correctly pointing out that Thralni, by virtue of attempting to learn a foreign language, had made an error.
I would like to urge everyone interested in language and especially those who feel compelled to promote some ideal of usage to remember that with regard to language use, it can only be convention. The nature of language prevents it from ever being more than that.

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Project GFT Start! in General
moonear
Infiltrator
Member # 5410
 written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:35 Profile #33
In a study by Donlad Brenneis and Ronald K S Macaulay on the use of various phonetic combinations over a period of ten years the rate of change was found to be between (much less than) 0.01% to 0.18%, per year.

Your patently false comment is, patently ridiculous.

quote:
What is it with native speakers correcting others without knowing the rules of their own language.
I stand corrected.

[ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 11:37: Message edited by: the fatman ]

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"Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things."

"You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares."
Posts: 687 | Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00

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