Guard Dog

I'm glad I'm not the only one a little sick of D&D. That is one franchise that needs to be laid to rest as far as CRPGs are concerned. The rules are too restrictive and from what I read WotC is a real crimp on creativity.

I don't know what it changes but if I read it correctly (Enoch is much better qualified to answer this than I am) it simply states that in the event of a disaster where federal aid in invoked the federal government will run the aid effort.

George Strait Cowboys Like Us. HA! I'd bet I'm the first one to post THAT!

I loved the novel version of Shogun. Clavell is a master of the subplot. That miniseries barely scratched the surface of the story.

Yes, but so far constitutional rights have only been suspended in times of crisis, or times of just plain hysteria. What about this war on terror deal then, is that going to go on forever ?. That would make the temporary rollback, which as you say has precedent, be in effect permanent. Actually, IIRC the supreme court ruled ex post facto that Lincoln did not have the authority to do that. You won't be seeing that happen again. Look, I realize Bush is not the best President we've ever had. In fact I would probably classify him in the lower part of the middle. But after next year he will be gone and I think it's obvious he wields little influence over congress now. In 2009 we will have a new President and although I do not know who it will be, I can tell you when their term is up everyone will be happy to see them go. Thats just how it is here.

My opinions on the abilities and abuses of the federal government are well know here, and this does not scare me. As Enoch said, it's much ado about nothing. As for WND, the only good thing about that site is it has a lot of links to great editorials and op-eds but anything it passes off as news should be treated as highly suspect. The guy that runs that site, Joseph Farah is one of those people who run around in a panic seeing menace in every shadow.

That sums it up. But it is not always the case and I think it owes more to what is going on in your life at the time. In 2000 I was dead broke, in a failing career, and going through a nasty divorce (a perfect storm) so any form of escapisim was welcome. Since then things are pretty good and there have been games I've gotten into but not to the exclusion of living life. Calling video games an "addiction" is diagnosing a symptom. The root cause is what the heck else is going on in your life than makes the fantasy better than the reality as Raven put it.

Dogs Don't Bite When a Growl Will Do by Matt Weinstien. Can't honsetly say I'd reccomend it. Way too touchy feely and it over intellectualizes dog behavior. Also bought To Have and Have Not by the master Papa Hemingway. One of the few I have not read.

Excerpt:

Sorry did not see that one! This one can be locked I guess. BTW nice to see your old avatar back Tale. Hated the other one.

Link I'm not familiar with this franchise and it does not sound like something I would buy anyway. But I'm more than a little surprised at this kind of intrusive censorship. Warning labels are all fine and good but a total ban on sale and ownership? WTF?! Meta would no doubt call me down here for employing a slippery slope fallicy but it really is true that once an entity such as the BBFC uses such a heavy handed ruling they ususally find it easier to do next time. And next time the bar will be lower.

Article too big to post. Here are excerpts: LINK! I have stated often enough that the rhetoric behind global warming being man made is a lot of political screed. It is a base and cynical attempt by politicians/ideologues to gain a measure of control over the lives of other human beings (granted a goal of most politicos). Liberal/Socialists like Al Gore state emphatically that the warming trend is man made then attempt to quell debate by waving a hand and saying "the science is settled". No, it certainly is not. Even a few of you on this board respond with those exact same words even when confronted with contradicting facts such as the increase in surface temps on Mars and Venus at roughly the same rate as Earth. I guess it goes to show when logic and political ideology conflict, ideology wins every time.

Here we go again.... It always astonishes me that you can look at Iran and think "Uh-oh if we elect another christian that will happen here" I already know you have no faith in your country, but I am always amazed at how little faith you have in Americans as a people.

I wish I could agree with that. But after hundreds of years of bitter hatred there will only be peace when one or the other is wiped out.

Two other notes. If we were to walk away and allow the country to disintegrate then evey death over there was for nothing. I never believed the invasion was about WMDs. That was a pretext. It was about strategy. It was the US and UK taking a big picture view. Having Iraq Uzbekistan and Afghanistan united and allied against Iran would have surrounded them and made it impossible for them to resist an invasion. That would probably make them more agreeable and make an invasion less likely. The mistake they made was assuming Iran would not realize this or meekly allow it to happen. Instead they are arming and supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq. If I were in charge I'd have scores of OV-10 Broncoes patrolling the Iran Iraq border armed with heat sensors and rockets and on call artillery ready to fire on anything that moves across. But they don't because the do not want to piss someone else off. Sad mistake.

I have avoided Iraq threads because they tend to dissolve into partisan bickering about Bush, unlawful war, whose intelligence said what, who had WMDs etc. There are very few military veterans on this board and, of all of them, I think only one other (Giftd1) has served in a combat zone. Odds I will not convince anyone I'm right and I doubt anyone is going to convince me they are right because we have different perspectives. But Wals has hit on an important point here that I wonder why the coalition has not done more to exploit. The Al Qaeda fighters are not Iraqis. To them the lands and buildings are no more than lines on a map. Their desire is to hurt the enemy at any cost. The Sunni insurgency has a different goal, to seize total control of the country. But as Wals correctly points out it will be for naught if the country they seize is a smoking ruin. I agree completely. And it is foolish and reckless in the extreme for "leaders" like US Presidential candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama to suggest the war on terror is nothing but a political slogan. The democratic party would rather lose the war and win the next election than do what must be done now, right or wrong. Thank God Wendell Wilkie and the Republican Party did not behave this way in 1941. History would be very different for many of us. IMHO the war was brilliantly executed. Everything since has been a debacle. It has been that way because the coalition has been unable to accept the realities of the middle east. When the Soviet Union collapsed the counties of eastern Europe transitioned peacefully and enthusiastically to free, parliamentary republics for the most part. It was easy to do because by and large their borders not only marked limits of territory but in most cases encapsulated and separated unique cultures and ethnic identities. And where it did not the counties usually broke up like Czechoslovakia. Iraq did not exist as a country until after WWI when the LON combined three autonomous and culturally distinct regions Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra together. The only reason peace was kept so long is that the cultural hatreds were militarily suppressed by the controlling faction. First the British, then the Hashemites, finally Saddam. The US assumed that once Saddam was overthrown the country would pull itself up and revel in their freedom. We all know now what really happened was chaos as long suppressed ethnic hatred came boiling up. The biggest mistake we have made was to try to keep Iraq whole. It would have been wisest to break it up into three regions and separate these people who would rather die than live together. But we did not for fear of angering Turkey. The other option would be to militarily suppress the Sunnis and Shia's in the same heavy handed manner as past governments. But we did not for fear of angering the UN. Men like Al Sadr should have "disappeared" the moment they began stirring up trouble but they did not for fear of angering the Shia's. We cannot tiptoe through the middle east, being weak and indecisive for fear of pissing some one off. Doing what is right is going to anger someone and you cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs. That appears to be a lesson we are incapable of learning. That facts are, Al Qaeda is there now, a pseudo-civil war is beginning and we must either revisit one of the 3 options I laid out, or tell them all to go to hell and pull out. But before the coalition troops leave I say we give every Shia and Sunni man over 14 a rifle and a full clip. At least that way there will be a lot fewer of them when we have to go back and invade again 10 years from now. That is my $.02

I guess it can happen to anyone. You get so stressed out and crazy you just.... can't.....freaking .....take it any more!

That would be easy for YOU to role play!

Is it just me who has a feeling that there was more to the two Abishai in the bar than meets the eye? It is as if they are there for a different reason than just chit chat, I just never figured out what IIRC they knew TNO from one of his past incarnations. I believe he either talked them into deserting from the war, or helped in return for where to find a passage to Avernus. IIRC. It was something like that. Chris Avellone could answer that if he was willing. Hint Hint...

A sequel? No. That story arc was brought to a logical and satisfying conclusion. All questions asked were answered, there were no loose ends. To revive that story would do it a disservice. However I'd love to see more games in that setting. That will of course not happen. WotC owns the rights and they have retired the material. More is the pity. But if you want to get a little taste and if you own NWN1 check out these two mods on the vault: In The Footsteps of Dante, and The Nature of a Man. It says a lot about Torment that after nearly ten years we are still talking about it. And still wishing newer games would measure up to it. Chris, you should be proud of that!

no, but stupid CDMA phones will continually search for a network and burn themselves out in the process... grrr. razr = crap. taks You could not give me a Motorola phone

Sounds like Moron is using the wrong carrier. If he was with my company he would not need to repeat himself.

One other note. A GSM, TDMA, or AMPS phone sends a signal to it's controlling cell every 3 seconds while it is powered on. So you do not need to use the phone for it to be a potential interference. CDMA does not. But again, it is pretty unlikely it will be a problem.