Profile for Synergy
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Synergy |
| Member number | 6292 |
| Title | Shaper |
| Postcount | 2009 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Roar. in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, February 14 2006 17:04
Profile
To summarize: rawr is a rerrotic roar. -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| United States Outsourcing Torture? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, February 14 2006 17:00
Profile
There really is no country to which to escape to be free of something outrageous or unacceptable. It's just trading lots. I think we often do well if we stay in the ring we are given and do our part to combat the attitudes and practices we find so despicable in our own environment. If those who oppose injustice leave, who's left to possibly overturn these things? But I'm with you on the sentiment, Eph. I feel like jettisoning this country with great regularity. I suspect we must have the most surperficial and disconnected society in all of history to date, and it's a frustrating place to live on numerous levels, at the same time it is wonderful on numerous levels. Nothing sickens or concerns me more than a formerly more genteel nation developing justification for torture though. Sure, the CIA and others have been covertly employing it forever, but it feels like something has shifted in this nation and it has become a potential threat any of us could face one day on the wrong side of the law, working to make our "homeland" "secure." I think the attitudes and polarizations and stresses of the general public contribute to this as much as politics. I think we get the politics that reflect our values ultimately. I think we are also not absolved from blame in some way. I think of how the mood of popular music shifted toward anger and disillusionment over a decade ago with the grunge movement which persisted nearly a whole decade. That to me alone should indicate something going on with us and our present zeitgeist if we are paying attention. -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| The Spiderweb Instant Custom Title Generator? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, February 14 2006 16:38
Profile
Kel, ok, accepted. I'm letting it go.To be open though, I don't know how I can believe you do not think poorly of me. It doesn't really make sense according to everything you've otherwise stated. Of course, plenty of people here may or probably do think poorly of me on one count or another, so why should that start bothering me now, after all. And I want to make clear that my main intent to bring this here was because I am a meet personal issues head-on kind of man. Confront and get it over with. I wanted to do that privately in the moment, but wasn't given the option or the invitation to further resolve differences. I don't feel good about things at all leaving relationships and issues otherwise buried. Thank you for the response. P.S. I've been nothing but calm today. It's last night that I was torqued. -------------------- A4 Item Locations A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List The Insidious Infiltrator Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| The Spiderweb Instant Custom Title Generator? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, February 14 2006 13:43
Profile
Well then, I lose, because I'm not built for physical domination. -------------------- A4 Item Locations A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List The Insidious Infiltrator Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| The Spiderweb Instant Custom Title Generator? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, February 14 2006 13:33
Profile
I tried to talk it out with Tom last night, but he refused to do it. His conclusion was that we don't have a conflict to discuss. In one sense, he's right. His method of regarding fellow human beings renders some hopelessly into the idiot category. There's no way I or anyone else is going to change his conclusion, which isn't important, and now I know the truth how he actually regards me, so there really isn't anything more to do or say. It's a philosophical incompatibility regarding how we value other people, but that was obvious to me from early on. -------------------- A4 Item Locations A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List The Insidious Infiltrator Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| The Spiderweb Instant Custom Title Generator? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, February 14 2006 12:06
Profile
It was I myself and not my recent words being called idiotic: “I've been trying to imagine a way to call you an idiot without actually saying something cruel. It's not working.” After all, it’s important to make someone know you think they’re an idiot if you disagree with them, and it’s a logical conclusion that they must be. It’s all the more self-reaffirming for the intellectual superiority of the identifier of idiots. But it isn’t what someone thinks of me that is what bothers me. It’s not being genuine enough to say what you really mean straight out instead of months later when pressed. Tom & I have disagreed on most topics from day one, but I always liked him and respected him and thought we had that kind of mutual friendly jousting regard for each other. I had to press Tom to tell me what was really going on after his initial less than convincing apology. I’m not saying it wasn’t sincere in some way. I am saying I knew there we more lying beneath it, a sense of simmering resentment or irritation that was not being addressed. And so soon enough it came out that I annoy him with my “stupidity” and my “ass-hatted logic” and am an idiot. I do love it when people finally get real and say what they really think. I’ve been doing that from day one around here. A difference between Kel and me is that no matter how much I disagree with someone or his logic, I wouldn’t decide to perceive that as a sign of idiocy. I find that a very snobbish view toward one’s fellow man, and an especially ingenerous attitude coming from a place of no uncertain privilege. To me, that’s the same sort of cold and calculating appraisal of other people that can ultimately justify Final Solutions. I guess commenting on the culture of the west being more head-centered and knowledge-worshipping than valuing other aspects of man’s being or experience amounts to “New Age” buzzwords, but that’s a typical western reaction to any thinking alien to its own knowledge-centric bias. I don’t identify myself as New Age at all, really, but whatever. That Tom can state that I have ”completely false conceptions” of him again seeks to negate that I have any rational powers of perception, intuition, or conclusion after five months of observation. I find that an oddly absolute statement to make considering I’m pretty sure I’ve never said anywhere much of anything of what I think about Tom, and very little to him personally. He did project a fair number of words into my mouth, however, which I neither confirmed nor denied. How am I to perceive an apology as sincere when this sort of wholly negating attitude of my own faculties is handed to me in the same statement? It’s exceedingly condescending and rings hollow. It’s basically, “Hey, sorry you’re an idiot, dude, and can’t see anything clearly for yourself, but I don’t mean anything by calling to your attention that I have determined that you are one.” [ Tuesday, February 14, 2006 12:07: Message edited by: Synergy ] -------------------- A4 Item Locations A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List The Insidious Infiltrator Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Wetting myself... in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Tuesday, February 14 2006 01:20
Profile
Ah, a Renaissance Man. It's nice to hear. -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| The Spiderweb Instant Custom Title Generator? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 23:47
Profile
As Kel has so thoughtfully made clear to me via IM today, he thinks I am an idiot, because he disagrees with me and my logic on nearly everything. Apart from the curious logic of that kind of absolutist thinking aside, it was not enjoyable to learn what lurks behind feigned politeness maintained for months. I'm pretty pissed off about imagining I had something of a friend in Kel who was pretty much the first person I talked with when I came here last year. So, let's just make this public and assume Kel thinks I'm an illogical idiot whenever I post anything, and that can spare him the bother of posing snipey and passive/aggressive remarks in response to mine. I'll offer the same courtesy of ignoring his posts. -------------------- A4 Item Locations A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List The Insidious Infiltrator Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| SupaNik, will you be my valentine? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 17:47
Profile
quote:I personally agree. I am a strong F, yet I do a hella lot of analytical thinking too, so that some people who usually don't know me well yet comment on that aspect. I don't think of T-F as part of the same continuum as it may be presented, but both are independent qualities. One could be high in both, and therefore relate well to a strongly Feeling person or a strong Thinker, but it would chart out as a middle of the axis rating after an MBT test. -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| We Never Stop Stripping in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 17:38
Profile
 -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| SupaNik, will you be my valentine? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 16:59
Profile
Actually, it's something like: Hug the World and Carry a Big Slith Spear. EDIT: And you raise the point of any typing system, which you know at least as well as I do, considering your background in MBT. It's limited and tends to put people into boxes they don't appreciate. MBT uses four axes (that's plural of axis, not weaponry), which intuitively suggests how limited a breakdown it is. It isn't about to get at the nuances of anyone's personality that an 8 axis system might do a bit better, for instance. And there is no system which comes close to truly pinning down inscrutable, irreplaceable, one and only you after all. [ Monday, February 13, 2006 17:06: Message edited by: Synergy ] -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| In the topic of strange spirits... in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 16:29
Profile
May you enjoy your thousandth post day with the ceremonious shattering of a thousand Undead skulls with a thousand hit points worth of your much beloved Divine Retribution. I know that doesn't actually work, but today, for you, it should. Ummm, what kind of dressing would you like on your salad, Sir? EDIT: Oh man, I just missed my 666th post. In the profane name of all that is unholy I had Big Plans for that post, and I wasted it talking about cartoons. :/ POST-EDIT: I did a little something to remedy that. [ Monday, February 13, 2006 16:56: Message edited by: Synergy ] -------------------- A4 Item Locations A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List The Insidious Infiltrator Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| We Never Stop Stripping in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 16:23
Profile
I believe that your observations, Alex, are worthy of a cartoon...don't you? EDIT: In honor of this article number [66] and this post number [666], I conjure The Unholy Hare-kaai of Perpetual Television Advertising to gently and kindly encourage you to comply.  [ Monday, February 13, 2006 18:04: Message edited by: Synergy ] -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Patrick's Tower in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 16:18
Profile
No, but if you go back and look at the link I posted earlier, you can see the math I was using. It was 1.5 x Tool Use rather than .75 x everything else. Your method, is probably the more correct. Does it actually add up to 35 when used that way? EDIT: Holy cow, Stuart, you've been a member since 2002, and THIS was your second post? Umm, honored I am! [ Monday, February 13, 2006 16:41: Message edited by: Synergy ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| SupaNik, will you be my valentine? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 16:15
Profile
Pheremones, in my thinking, is another of those chicken or the egg questions. Do certain pheremones trigger because of other aspects of attraction already occuring, or do pheremones cause attraction first? Anyone acquainted with me can probably predict which I lean to, and I believe they certainly factor in either way. Enraged Slith’s words make me think how beneath the bluster, bravado, and conceit of the typical young person lies a well of insecurity. Even stripping away cultural and gender differences, I think what we as humans crave on the deepest level is for someone to love and embrace us as we are, to acknowledge our intrinsic value, and to find something admirable and viable about who and what we are right now, not based on some outer, fickle, temporal, societal standard. Our desiring after those who represent nearly impossible ideals might simply betray how little this basic need is getting fulfilled in our relationships,whether romantic or otherwise. Yeah, Jessica Simpson has pretty brown eyes (well, I think that’s her best feature), but what makes her beautiful is a certain sweetness and genuineness about her. There is not much air of artifice or judgement. You can find that in some people no matter how they look, and it always makes them a lot more attractive. Popular media do have this uniquely streamlined way of making us feel inadequate or like we are missing out on something, do they not? Eh, it's all an illusion anyway. Smoke and mirrors. Makeup and lighting. Digital leg elongation and blemish elimination. Cardboard archetypes and embodied myths on the little or big screen. Being a famous actor is a pretty miserable life in many ways, and I wouldn't want it. I'd take the money; someone else can have the fame. Still, there is clearly something universally and enduringly compelling to humanity in its drive to remind itself through myth and ideal of the noble heights to which it may aspire. The Hero. The Sage. The Lover. And so forth. I think one of the big obvious simple secrets to life is finding one's own security in being genuinely who you are and being willing to truly own, embrace, and celebrate that. This means also being fine with everything you are not, because none of us is everything or anything close to it. But most assuredly, what is within each of us as potential, if not yet expression, is sufficient and worthy. It is enough. We cheat ourselves by doubting what we are and not utilizing it—instead trying to force ourselves uncomfortably into the molds of others or impossible ideals. If I knew you, Sir Slith, I'd soon be able to point out things which make you exceptional and unique in yourself, and I'd be inclined to say so. I don't see the profit in comparing ourselves with any other, because we aren't built to fill any other shoes. We can compare with the us we aren't being or realizing yet. That's the only real shortchanging...selling ourselves short of ourselves, maybe even by wishing to be someone we are not meant to be and don't need to be. It’s interesting that you said you are bad with the ladies and that, “I somehow have the curse of attracting all the women I don't feel any sort of attraction towards.” While this may not be gratifying to you, it does suggest that you are doing something right, to be that attractive to some. There is something in you attractive to these girls. Is their appreciation of you worth less than that of others? Do you disagree with their conclusion about your attractiveness? The bottom line for attractiveness (at least to the sort of people I think it would be healthy to attract): Genuineness (Don’t play a role for anyone. Be who you really are at heart.) Confidence (in who you are just as you are) Warmth and acceptance towards others (even despite themselves if necessary.) -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| SupaNik, will you be my valentine? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 15:04
Profile
Yet, amazingly enough, the stock you put or do not put into anything has nothing to do with whether or not it is at all relevant or useful. But, meh, nevermind. For instance, I suggest that my F conflicts strongly with your T, and perhaps my N with your S, the latter being less certain without knowing you face to face. [ Monday, February 13, 2006 15:12: Message edited by: Synergy ] -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Hanged? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 14:40
Profile
I believe the most effective way to alter the behavior and perspectives and attitudes of the many over time is to demonstrate that which is true and which works. If America demonstrated the heart of the message of the Christianity it largely arose out of, it might have had much more positive influence in the world, even shifting religious/spiritual preference in other nations, rather than making itself the odious, mercenary, elitist,and self-righteous nation it is largely perceived as being today. On an individual level, we can live and demonstrate the high ground. This really does affect and can ultimately change other people within our sphere of influence. It has to be genuine. Works for the same reason why love, smiles, and laughter can be contagious. People emulate that which they admire and seems desirable. -------------------- A4 Item Locations A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List The Insidious Infiltrator Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| SupaNik, will you be my valentine? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 14:20
Profile
Kel, have you ever pinned your Meyers-Briggs type? I could make a couple points based on that personality trait system alone, if you're game. My intention in asking is not for poking fun or undermining anyone in any way. I find various personality typing systems fascinating, often relevant, and sometimes useful. This is not to say I don't also consider them very limited in scope or application. They are approximate tools at best, but useful nonetheless. I also like the Holland Typing System which is related to career aptitudes and often given by career counselors. It is simple, fast, and intuitive. It can be very evocative and directive for understanding the sorts of things with which one naturally thrives. Other systems like the Dominant—Submissive / Friendly—Hostile axis wheel can be very suggestive of who gets along with or is attracted to whom. My perspective is that there are deeper underlying personality traits or states to some systems like these which one could look at just as usefully. (What makes someone "Friendly" vs. "Hostile"?) There is also a difference between initial attraction and long-term projected compatibility, of course. Some people are attracted to the wrong type for them over and over because it is familiar, even if wretchedly so. There is this weird human tendency toward finding security in the famliar. Typical example: a girl endures physical or other abuse growing up and somehow always winds up in abusive romantic relationships as an adult. -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Patrick's Tower in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 14:05
Profile
:confused: Doh! If, after your brain-rejuvenating nap, you care to elaborate on what is confusing you, I am sure there are many fine folk on hand here to help clarify, even if one of those persons is not me! But I will resummarize just a little of what I was saying in case it helps: 1) Your mage couldn't open the level 35 door, because she didn't have her own Tool Use to make her Unlock Doors spell more powerful. 2) Making a mage/thief PC makes the most efficient and effective way to open doors throughout the game. 3) It can be considered worthwhile to sacrifice a bit of mage strength or earlier higher levels in mage and magic skills because priests are better being more powerful than mages, both offensively, and defensively by late in the game. And as an additional thought, you could consider making a second mage if you really like mages, like, say, a nephil archer / mage perhaps. This would give you plenty of mageriffic power to indulge. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Patrick's Tower in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 13:43
Profile
That was thoughtful of you, Klax. Thanks! Making your mage your thief is a worthwhile combination and can work just fine. You can also make a second mage if you really want a truly potent mage. I found my mage/thief to be plenty potent in the late game, even if he was a bit of a glass cannon. A powerful priest is more of an asset than the mage anyway. Divine Retribution is unsurpassed for sheer skull-shattering gratification. If you poke around some more in some of the Party and Trait threads, and the Singleton thread for A4, you'll see some more discussion on different possible mage/thief constructions, etc. Also, you only need 12 Tool Use and around 14-15 Mage Spell levels technically, as equippable items can bring you up to theoptimal 15 TU and 17 Mage Spells. It's really quite pointless to go over 17 Mage Spell levels. Magery and Spellcraft have the exact same improvement in mage magic strength and will surely be cheaper to bump up at that point. [ Monday, February 13, 2006 13:46: Message edited by: Synergy ] -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Patrick's Tower in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 13:37
Profile
My bad...and bad it was. I made a misleap in logic and memory because there was no other apparent reason to me why a mage with 56 door opening points couldn't open a door requiring only 48. And then I mixed the thought with the fact that skill bonuses don't count toward trainable skills. All apologies to the perplexed. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| We Never Stop Stripping in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 13:28
Profile
This WOULD have gone in my Random Observations thread, but now it has to go here. Apparently SOMEBODY got the first thread locked. Never mind that that somebody may have been me. On AOL news today: quote:My loathing of Giant Conglomerate Incorporated American Crap™ knows no bounds. For exactly these sorts of evil reasons. For every tidbit like this that is uncovered, you know there are a half dozen other dirty secrets that are not known. Consumers beware. Think, eat, drink, live outside the box if you value your health, sanity, and integrity. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled deprogramming. [ Monday, February 13, 2006 13:30: Message edited by: Synergy ] -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| SupaNik, will you be my valentine? in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 13:06
Profile
Sigh. I figured as much. -------------------- A4 Items List A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List G4 Insidious Infiltrator NR Items List Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Roar. in General | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 13:01
Profile
This is parallel to the same supposed reason why very religious or moralistic people tend to be so judgemental toward everyone else. They themselves are miserable inflicting themselves with unkeepable and perhaps unnatural laws, so the most gratifying and justifying thing to do is seek to inflict those same miserable rules on anyone else they can. Misery loves company. -------------------- A4 Item Locations A4 Singleton G4 Items List G4 Forging List The Insidious Infiltrator Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |
| Patrick's Tower in Avernum 4 | |
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Shaper
Member # 6292
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written Monday, February 13 2006 12:50
Profile
You think I'm whacked...go check out some of Slartucker's work in the early A4 threads. If you play again, make your mage the one with Tool Use to make most effective door-opening abilities. -------------------- A4 Items • A4 Singleton • G4 Items • G4 Forging • G4 Infiltrator • NR Items • The Lonely Celt Posts: 2009 | Registered: Monday, September 12 2005 07:00 |