Guard Dog

I just can't tell if this guy is for real or just trolling.

Happy Birthday Krookie. That new BG is OK I guess. It's nice to get a new look but... playing old games is like visiting old friends. I'm not getting the warm fuzzies from this.

Some folks will eat anything, even each other: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2243169/Two-fishermen-suspected-resorting-cannibalism-getting-lost-trip-Siberia.html

Holy... freaking... cow.... how is it I was unaware of the existence of an enhanced version of Baldur's Gate????? How long has this been around? I rely on you guys to keep me informed about important stuff like this and now, except JFSOCC, you have all dropped the ball! Can the PC be exported to BG2? Wait... is there an enhanced BG2??? Oh please say yes! Wait... are there any other enhanced infinity games???? Torment? Is there a Torment version???? Oh please say yes! I'll see you guys later, I'm going to be busy for the next few days!

What a bummer of a run of bad luck Enoch. Hopefully they will both be back on their feet real soon. It is very cool that you are able to help them. If you were farther away it would be a lot harder.

Been VERY busy lately. Our company bid on a new contract with Raddcomm Inc to design public WIFI access points and network backhaul in 117 Simon Malls throughout the US. We spent weeks preparing the bids. We just found out today our bid was accepted. This is HUGE. Not only will it keep us busy for the next two years but if we can complete it on time and under budget our company moves out of the start up phase and gains financial stability and most importantly market credibility. It's been a long year with many sleepless nights and living in bad motel rooms (in some cases in dangerous places) but right now it was TOTALLY worth it! I can't wait for January to get here now.

Fighting Israel is good business for Hamas. As long as they keep it up the money keeps flowing in from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and elsewhere. The leaders are all wealthy men living in Egypt and they have no intention of strapping on bombs themselves and certainly have little to fear from military reprisals. It's sad in many ways. The true believers are just pawns who have been manipulated. Like most of you I can certainly sympathize with the Palestinians. The creation of the state of Israel was an act of tremendous hubris by the UN. However, it is sixty five years done and cannot be undone. Blowing up busloads of innocent people isn't going to change that and the combined might of all the middle east can't defeat them. And so far the Palestinians have rejected every peace overture for the simple reason that terrorism is a business. The day it stops the money stops. So it never will stop.

There's a lot of older guys there, widowers mainly. A few like me who are divorced. I just like to hang out and tell lies and swap stories with them. It's pleasant company all in all. The reason the younger guys don't come much is that they all have families they spend time with.

I second what Bruce posted. Don't insult Cant by labeling his humility and self deprecating humor as shame. It's not. Far from it. Suggesting he is afraid of anyone on this board is just laughable on it's face.

I just got home. I went to dinner at the VFW. It was nice. Informal. Plus I can bring my dog. Gotta love that. I'm the youngest one there on a regular basis. We have some Iraq & Afghanistan vets too but they don't come around much.

Help me please! I'm playing Dragon Age Origins and... I... can't seem... to break... away from it. Once I pass out from exhaustion someone please come over and uninstall this thing. Free me!

Heh, I think I was the one that derailed it! Let's face it. Why do men work out? It's not to impress the other men. Unless that is your persuasion, then it is for the same reasons!

I've got nowhere to be today. A few friends have invited me to their dinners which is nice but I'd just feel like I was intruding. I'm thinking of going to the VFW, there are a lot of members are getting together for dinner over there. Wherever you go I hope everyone enjoys it and has a happy one!

I think it's the latter Moose. I'm not a big fan of RPGs in any general way. RTS is more to my taste. However I was a huge fan of the Infinity games (BG 1 & 2, IWD, PS:T). Very few RPGs have drawn me in since and the reason really is the story and the interaction with the other characters. I never really bought in to NWN 1 or 2, or even Oblivion or Morrowind for that matter because for the most part the story lines for the game were just not that well done and for the most part you are going through it alone. In NWN your henchmen were not interactive so they were little more than healers/cannon fodder. NWN2 was a little better with this but only two or three of them was interesting or compelling. The rest were sort of vanilla. Oblivion & Morrowind were beautiful to look at but sort of empty too. I have not tried Skyrim yet. It was the same with Fallout 3 & New Vegas. What I loved about BG & BG2 and PS:T was the other party members really felt like real characters. They spoke, interacted, commented on how things were going. It draws you in, gives the illusion they are more than just sprites on your screen. I'm playing through Dragon Age Origins for the first time right now and I'm really into it for that very reason. So I guess my answer is good writing, and good characters. Where you can find them. It's the exception rather than the rule I'm afraid.

Now I bet THAT was awkward!

I've been meeting with my business partners the last few days. There is a thought that we should expand our services by buying or hiring installation and implementation teams but it would really put us out on a limb financially. I'm against going all in so early in the venture. They don't play cards though so they didn't get my reference.

I used to work out at LA Fitness (great place to meet women) regularly until I had a bad car accident a few years ago. Since then I have a little extra hardware in me and just can't take the pounding. So now I rely on working around my place to keep me in shape. Plus I'm smart about what I eat and have really cut back on the booze. Other than that my chainsaw, splitting axe, fence tools, and shovel/rake are my only work out equipment.

I'd stay away from this on Calax. Unless she was on your crew or specifically asked you for help, this situation if fraught with danger for you. And the truth is there is no way to know if she has been harassed or is just looking for a lawsuit. It HAS been known to happen.

There is a place near me that has a "Shipweck Pizza". It has shrimp, scallops, crab, green onions, white sauce (like alfredo but lighter) and cherry tomatoes. Good stuff.

Clearly I've got a lot of catching up to do on this thread but it is looking more and more like Gorth and Enoch are going to be right on where they go with the upcoming mandatory spending cuts. Taxes go up, modest cuts in the rate of spending increase will be agreed upon (and largely ignored after the fact) and spending will increase which utterly ignores the root of the issue. So we kick the can down the road again until the next time the government hits the debt limit. BTW you all do realize the secession petitions were just a little political protest not an actual movement right?

It's cool. I was responding to Wrath of Dagon, not you. Your posts didn't seem worth replying to. I consider you a person. In fact, after this election, I consider you guys people more than ever, because I can see that you are GENUINELY disheartened that Obama won. That's full-blown emotion I can empathise with (even if I support Obama). It's just a shame that the polices you, Mitt, and many Republicans support are cruel and crazy towards other members of your society. That does not make me want to think of you as a loveable rogue - a Republican who's still a nice guy with the best intentions. No, it makes me think of you as somebody selfish with an Ayn Randian outlook on life. Your society is politically polarised for a reason - because one of the major parties, the Republican Party, has lost its marbles. That's not something we'll ever be able to reconcile unless one of us changes. I fundamentally just don't like what the Republican party represents, and I fundamentally don't like people who still support what the Republican party represents. I can't apologise for this, but whether I like you or not does not correlate with whether I consider you a person worthy of respect (to re-iterate: I do). Unfortunately, I don't always succeed at demonstrating this while making my point, which is something I'm working on. I find it simply appalling to dislike someone because their politics are not my politics. It does explain why so many people around the world are killing each other though. I can honestly say I enjoy discussing things with people who don't think like I do and have never held that against them. Now if someone is sour, snarky, sarcastic, arrogant, condescending, I could see disliking them. That whole "not a person" think was from a post you made BTW :http://forums.obsidi...als-discovered/

@ Gorth & Enoch: There is an argument to be made for allowing the sequestration to happen: http://washingtonexaminer.com/give-sequestration-a-chance/article/2509231#.UKBQgYawX5M I doubt they will though. Gorth has the right of it, there will be some tense discussions and horse trading but an accommodation will no doubt be reached. Until the next time we hit the debt limit. Obama hasn't seen fit to have a budget in any of his first four years. That has to stop.

Enoch, do you really want me to feed you a hyperlink salad? You know I've got them right in my bookmarks. For the sake of discussion will you accept the premise that the current administration is hostile to coal energy? What it will do is drive up costs of electricity production which is passed on to consumers. Not a big deal to the wealthy you might think but it is because it drives up the cost of everything by increasing the cost of doing business, manufacturing, you name it. It hurts the middle class most of all because not only do their electricity bills "necessarily skyrocket" it costs them more to buy food and the other essentials of life, According to the Washington Times in Friday the state of West Virginia is expecting to see a reduction of 8.5% of it's coal energy production due to the retirement of plants that will be too costly to run with the new regulations coming in 2013 to say nothing of any Cap and Trade plans that might arise. Making less of something and artificially driving up the price of it with no viable alternative to switch to is a great way to spur innovation I'll grant you. But in the mean time the consumers are like a nut caught between the hammer and the anvil.

Krezack I'm happy that you're happy with the way things are going in Australia. I don't believe you have ever heard me say a bad word about it. I just don't want to do things that way in my country. I could certainly make some disparaging comments about it based on my own prejudices and preferences but then since I've never been there and know very little about it except what I read in the Sydney MH online or the Herald Sun online from time to time I figure I am not informed enough to comment. Would that others were so wise. But then again what would you care about my opinion. After all you don't consider me a person anyway.

@ Alan: Several of those links are to companies that are downsizing due to mandatory budget cuts that were enacted as part of the last deal to extend the national debt limit. That they are in the situation they are in is the direct result of irresponsible federal government spending during the last ten years but the last four in particular. One of them is from the downsizing and eventual elimination of the US Space program. It is a shame that one of the nations that first pioneered space travel is now turning away from it altogether, at least as a national project. However I must give kudos to the Obama admin for encouraging and facilitating private companies to begin offering routine space lift services. That was well done. In the engineering field it is commonly said that is you are working on a government contract, don't buy a house. They cat cancelled or defunded all the time. It's just the nature of the business. @Nepenthe: None of these layoffs were thrown together in the last four days. I'm quite certain many would have happened anyway and were prepared contingencies from well before the election. However, with regards to regulatory costs the election of Romney might very well have made a difference for many of the folks receiving pink slips. Companies lay off employees to reduce operating costs. If increased regulatory compliance costs make doing business more expensive then the price of goods and products must go up or operations costs must go down. Or both. Overturning Obamacare was a long shot from the get go since it would have required the hat trick of getting the House, Senate and Presidency. The Senate was always a long shot. I did not mean to imply all of these (plus the ones I did not link) are Obama's fault (although some are for sure). It is noteworthy that so many are announced in such a short time following an election however. @Ros: Pursuing green energy is an outstanding goal and certainly on worthy of pursuit but the technology to do it large scale does not exist yet. It is madness to cut off the least expensive and most reliable energy source we do have in the short term because of a benefit we might get in the long term. It's like drilling a hole in the bottom of your lifeboat because you think there might be a ship just over the horizon. As for you second comment, I can't really disagree with you there. @ Kaine: You'll get a laugh out of this: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/peacefully-grant-state-louisiana-withdraw-united-states-america-and-create-its-own-new-government/1wrvtngl @ WoD: Right now I've got all of my money invested in real assets. I strongly recommend you doing the same. Stocks, non asset backed securities, money markets are all subject to wipe out if there are currency devaluations. As Enoch correctly pointed out before it is unlikely that the dollar will collapse because 1) there is nothing to replace it with in the world market right now, 2) It is still the most stable currency. However, if the Obama admin begins more rounds of Quantitative Easing i.e. flushing non-existent money into the economy then it will devaluate. That will be a problem beyond inflation. Actually I should be a fan of Obama's. As soon as it looked likely he was going to win in 2008 I got out of the stock market all together and began buying gold. It was around $800 then. I've kept buying it right up until about two years ago. That has worked out really well.