Profile for Thuryl

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Field	Value
Displayed name	Thuryl
Member number	869
Title	...b10010b...
Postcount	9973
Homepage	http://thuryl.desperance.net/blades.html
Registered	Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00

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Author	Recent posts
Locking in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Wednesday, January 9 2008 04:32 Profile Homepage #69 quote: Originally written by Synergy: Many people, religious or otherwise, have taken issue with some of Darwin's tenets, and I think rightly so. I take issue with what I believe is an outright lie that has plagued us, espoused especially by Darwin: that life thrives on competition, survival of the fittest. Please try not to put words into old Chuck Darwin's mouth. True enough, life doesn't "thrive" on competition: quite the opposite. In most places and at most times, life doesn't "thrive" at all. In fact, it barely gets by. This is why competition occurs in the first place: not every organism can reproduce as much as it could under conditions of unlimited resources, and so those organisms which are most effective at acquiring, using and defending a share of the available resources will be most likely to reproduce. quote: Our own bodies show how false that is in principle. If your cells within were in competition with each other, how well would you function? In fact, when that happens, we call it cancer. Actually, I'd say the fact that cancer occurs, and that if you live long enough it's the thing that's most likely to kill you, shows how true it is that competition is an unavoidable fact of life. Darwinian theory can be and has been applied to cancer cells, and it predicts more or less exactly what we observe: that no matter how disadvantageous it is to the organism as a whole, if a cell arises with the right set of mutations to allow it to reproduce unchecked, it will do so. You can't wish cancer out of existence by pretending you live in a world of happy fuzzy hopping bunnies that spend all day hugging each other. The only thing that prevents cancer from overwhelming everybody all the time is the immune system. The cells of the immune system, of course, also compete among themselves in a Darwinian struggle that's just as brutal as any cancer: white blood cells that can recognise antigens present in the environment survive and proliferate to millions of times their original number, while those that can't recognise antigens die out, leaving no descendants. If this is what you call "cooperation", keep in mind that it's a cooperation built on 99% of every generation dying out while a tiny minority survive and reproduce explosively. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Running in windowed mode in Nethergate
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 8 2008 23:56 Profile Homepage #1 SW's newer games won't run in a window. Sorry. :( I mean, you could force it to run in a window by running it in a virtual machine that runs in a window, like Parallels Workstation (Parallels Desktop on a Mac, or PearPC if you want a Mac virtual machine), but that seems like a lot of effort for little gain. Hey, are you the same The Lone Badger from SA? [ Wednesday, January 09, 2008 00:01: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Locking in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 8 2008 23:38 Profile Homepage #67 quote: Originally written by Stillness: And complexity relates to information. That can be measured somewhat objectively. I just don't know how to do it. My argument never involved a quantitative measure of complexity though. That's way over my head. Okay, so if you admit you don't understand how information (in a very narrow, technical sense that only has a little to do with the common understanding of the word "information") is measured (and if you don't understand how it's measured, then chances are you also don't understand what the result of the measurement means), why take the word of the tiny minority of scientists who agree with you over the vast majority who disagree? If you don't understand the issues involved, you can only argue from authority, and authority is overwhelmingly against you here. Pop quiz for you. Which has more information in the technical sense of the word: a random sequence of 1024 binary digits, or 1024 binary digits that form the ASCII code representation of a short poem? [ Tuesday, January 08, 2008 23:44: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Locking in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 8 2008 21:42 Profile Homepage #58 Guys, you know that Stillness is actually an advanced artificial intelligence created by Pat Robertson to waste the time of evolutionists, right? Why are you still bothering to argue with him? -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Avernum Poll in Avernum 4
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 8 2008 18:56 Profile Homepage #22 [ Tuesday, January 08, 2008 18:56: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Avernum Poll in Avernum 4
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 8 2008 18:55 Profile Homepage #21 quote: Originally written by Starman1985: I've been fighting with Iffy for as long as I remember and I'm not trying to use him to bail my butt out but mroe saying that half the things you don't like that I say I'm saying to either piss off Iffy or Fight with him in some way. Has it occurred to you that maybe you both suck? -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Weird creations??? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 8 2008 16:07 Profile Homepage #35 Be careful about using the clearthisarea cheat, and also about using the exitzone cheat in areas you haven't cleared. It can lead to weird glitches. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Debateable Question in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, January 7 2008 19:34 Profile Homepage #31 This is worse than the melon sex topic. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Illia safehouse? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, January 7 2008 00:34 Profile Homepage #1 1) It's in the far southwest corner of Illya Province. Just keep heading west and you'll find it. 2) Order what? A side of fries? -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
What is .sit? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, January 6 2008 20:50 Profile Homepage #2 Stuffit is horrible adware now. Use The Unarchiver instead. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Avernum or Nethergate? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, January 6 2008 20:49 Profile Homepage #16 quote: Originally written by The Ratt: I have actually not tried A1-3, but I have tried BoA and N:G. Nether: Gate? :confused: -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why do javelins go away? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, January 6 2008 20:48 Profile Homepage #1 Historically, javelins were designed to break when they hit something so that your enemy couldn't throw them back at you. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Avernum Poll in Avernum 4
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, January 6 2008 18:02 Profile Homepage #3 quote: Originally written by It hates Iffy: Okay, so why does the poll need a description? All you have to do is answer the questions. Um, it would be good if you at least had an informative topic title so we know whether to bother clicking on the topic in order to answer the questions. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
What video gmaes would you like to see made into movies... no Halo! in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Saturday, January 5 2008 20:09 Profile Homepage #62 quote: Originally written by The Ratt: It has come to a general concensus (maybe not) that the most likely setting for G5 will be the Trakovite ending, and unless the movie stray from the game, that would mean the main character for G4 would die at the end. It's possible to get a Trakovite ending and survive, you know. If you're pro-Rebel for the whole game up to the point where you take the Trakovite path at the end, the drakons just exile you to the Forsaken Lands instead of killing you. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Tips.. in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Saturday, January 5 2008 00:06 Profile Homepage #12 quote: Originally written by Azuma: As far as I know..going there is technically called "cheating".. :P Do you consider the High Level Party Maker to be cheating as well? Kelandon has stated that he intends the HLPM to be used in conjunction with the Artifacts Hall to create a balanced party of the appropriate level. Do you really think that if a scenario expects you to start with a level-50 party, it's "cheating" to use the HLPM and AH to get to that level instead of playing through a bunch of scenarios you don't want to play just so that your party is strong enough to survive in the scenario you do want to play? The scenario doesn't care how you got to the level it requires: it only cares that you're at that level. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Question about the sides... in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Friday, January 4 2008 15:57 Profile Homepage #2 It's best to lean toward pro-Shaper in the early game, though. If you're so pro-Rebel that you can't get the main quest the Shapers give you in Chapter 2, the Shaper path will be cut off for the rest of the game. (You don't have to complete the quest for the Shapers, but you do have to get it and report the result.) -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Diplomatic Ending in Avernum 4
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Friday, January 4 2008 05:17 Profile Homepage #7 quote: Originally written by Funkadelic: I was tempted to play again and send her back home, but I just couldn't deal with the possibility of more BoX scenarios made with her as a villian. The good news is that a character in A5 confirms that she's dead, although it's not made clear whether the adventurers killed her or if they simply sent her back to the Vahnatai, who sentenced her to death. For all we know, she might even have been exiled and then committed suicide. [ Friday, January 04, 2008 05:18: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Tips.. in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Friday, January 4 2008 02:42 Profile Homepage #1 Most of the best scenarios are made either for higher-level parties or scenario-specific parties. A Perfect Forest is a good scenario for a level-1 party to start with, though. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Hi in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Thursday, January 3 2008 18:33 Profile Homepage #37 quote: Originally written by Excalibur: "Shove these little boys out the porthole"? Yes, I actually read the tree. If you actually read it, then you'd have noticed that it was a quote from Captain Hook. :V -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Diplomatic Ending in Avernum 4
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Thursday, January 3 2008 16:07 Profile Homepage #4 If you advise her to attack the Empire, Starrus and Ghall-Ihrno are both ticked off at you. If you send her back to the Vahnatai for judgement, Ghall-Ihrno is happy but Starrus is a bit uneasy. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
We are the Sultans of Swing in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Thursday, January 3 2008 05:09 Profile Homepage #6 quote: Originally written by Toenail Returns: I'm no good with album names. Since I download most of my music via an illegal uploader, I can't tell what album it's on. You, uh, might want to reread the CoC there, buddy. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Bipolar in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Wednesday, January 2 2008 11:55 Profile Homepage #132 quote: Originally written by Stillness: T. Rex soft tissue had supposedly survived for tens of millions of years when the max is supposed to be hundreds of thousands for soft tissue. It wasn't "soft tissue" -- it was minute and incomplete traces of collagen, one of the most durable proteins in existence, detected using an extremely sensitive analytical technique. It's still pretty damn impressive, and if I were one of the scientists working on it I'd be looking very hard to rule out any recent contamination of the samples, but it's not entirely beyond the realm of possibility. quote: So what we have is an anomaly that could go either way: (1) A 70 million year old bone with soft tissue or (2) tissue less than a million years old in an animal we thought died millions of years ago. I didn’t even see (2) mentioned, even though dates have had to be changed for all kinds of animals when newer or older remains (or the animal alive and well) are found. Perhaps you'd also like scientists to go looking for plesiosaurs in Loch Ness. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Weird creations??? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 1 2008 21:14 Profile Homepage #1 Get at least 3 points in the appropriate creation skill (such as Create Fyora if you want a Cryoa), then click the little plus sign that appears in the corner of the creation's picture when you go to make a new creation. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Bunch of questions on special skills and stuff. in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 1 2008 04:24 Profile Homepage #1 1) Not sure about this one, but I don't think it's a large bonus. 2) One level of Blademaster skill is equivalent to one level of Melee Weapons or Pole Weapons skill. 3) Same with Sharpshooter. 4) Anatomy only affects melee attacks. 5) Pathfinder skill helps the whole party. 6) Lethal Blow's description is a lie: all it does is give your attacks of doing triple damage to an enemy of lower level than yourself. The skill requirements are so onerous that it's not really worth it, even for high-level parties. 7) It gives a bonus to hit and damage that's apparently equivalent to about one point of Blademaster every 8 levels. It doesn't improve missile attacks. 8) It increases the number of dice rolled to determine damage. Basically, think of it as three levels of Blademaster, only without the bonus to hit (which doesn't really matter, since it's so easy to get your hit rate to 95%). -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Who Killed General? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, December 31 2007 13:40 Profile Homepage #51 I don't know who killed the General forums, but I hear Colonel Sanders killed General Tso. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00

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