LadyCrimson

Oh, forgot...a high INT is a must if you want to have the most skill points per lvl up that you can...(for Kotor2...I dunno about Kotor1...)...a 16 would max it out I think? Someone remember better than me? If you have a low INT you won't get as many skill points per level. Depends on how important that is to you, tho.

I have no idea how accurate the gamefaq walkthu is in this area, but it states: Charisma Bonus to Force Powers (the same as Wisdom, and they stack), improves abilities with opposite aligned force powers (reduces cost), bonus to skill (Persuasion) and probably dialogue options, but I can't prove it. Decent to have, but again, you don't need it as much as you need other things at level one. I'd take a 10 here as well. Counterpoint: Charisma also adds a significant bonus to your allies "To Hit" rating, about twice your Charisma modifier. Also it reduces the costs in casting Force Powers opposed to your own alignment. Useful if you want a Light Sided Consular who can use Force Lightning. Thus I assume it would affect some NPC dealings, but in a roundabout way. I remember after a long while I started hiking Char. a lot, because I noticed it seemed to effect something that I personally desired - unfortunately, I don't remember what it was. P.S. It might be that I noticed a bigger effect on force powers (including Persuade) with Char. over Wisdom (on normal difficulty)...IIRC I usually started my Sentinels with 10 in wisdom and dex. It harmed them not at all in the long run.

What Di said about draft etc, I agree with also. In terms of the voluntary aspect - there's more social training (or whatever) that encourages males vs. females and thus (so far) less females have a desire to be career military (or any military...). But if a gal wants to, signs up, and passes all the training/tests/whatever (and then there's combat during her service), she should be allowed, most certainly. It's like in LoTR films, where that lady says in reference to the hobbit, 'why should he not be allowed to fight for/with his friends/cause also?' (I'm paraphrasing...)

Cool down...yes...go backwards...unlikely. I think where I live, gas has gone up much less, percentage wise, than houses, over the past couple decades. Could be wrong tho, I'm no statistic dynamo. I guess I'm one of the few who just doesn't see rising gas prices, for the average modern consumer, to be that big of a deal. Sucks to pay more, but everything costs more over time, not just gas.

Chris Farley can be funny, but that sig wasn't... :D

I'm more concerned with rising, over-inflated home prices than rising gas prices, myself. But that is an interesting way to help an area combat/delay gas price-hike adjustment periods for those who really need it - er...or those who hear about it first, anyway. heh

That's Entertainment. I'm not a HUGE fan of the old musicals but I do love the dance sequences from those films.

Sci-Fi's original pic AI Assualt, last night. Terrible movie, like most of their movies, but hey, it had Sulu, Worf, and the Voyager holo-doctor in it, so I had to watch it. LOL

No, I don't look down on such folk.

Never used Opera. I like my Firefox (currently I only use Adblock). It loads fast and speedy for me. I hate IE and have ever since I first built a Windows system and discovered it existed. I love that little video, very cute and funny. :D

Kong - I'm going to largely agree (I think, from what I read) with meta on this one. Some nice effects but too long with very shallow characterization, etc. The first 1/3 I was falling asleep. The 2nd 3rd I was mostly laughing my arse off at some of the preposterous scenarios - not always in a bad/this sucks way, but I'm not entirely sure if I was supposed to be laughing at all. Example: The entire fight between Kong and the 3 t-rexes. Was that played for comedy? Oh man, when they were all tangled in the vines and stuff, I burst out with giggles and didn't stop for about 5 minutes. Same with all the ape+woman bonding. Hahaha!!! The last section of the film was ok, great effects and all, but I was not emotionally drawn into the 'drama'. Jack has fun playing his somewhat unlikable character...the boat captain was a hunky dude, rawr...although I also thought it was rather too convienent that he kept coming to the rescue, out of nowhere. To me Kong is a bit like that Helen Hunt tornado movie years ago - or Jurassic Park (but Jurassic is better...), or ID4 - all big spectacle to ooh and ahh and giggle at, but nothing else. Which isn't neccesarily bad...it's kinda funny to watch once you get past the tepid start. But it's not a shining Peter moment.

Groupies. :D

Memoirs of a Geisha - Fairly decent, pretty, and Ken Watanabe was sexy as always. I didn't like the all-English tho - it just felt out of place hearing them speak English. I much prefer subtitles for period movies like that. Not as good as some other Asian period films but not bad. Haven't read the book.

I was in the mood for just plain murder and bloodletting, so I rented Hostel, knowing full well it's not supposed to be a 'good' movie (altho, some people think Texas Chainsaw is a masterpiece, which I disagree with....). But I figured, there'd be tons of gore at least, or something. So I sat down with my roast beef sandwich and watched it, ready to heckle at the screen or be grossed out. It seemed like there were more breasts in the first 20 minutes of the film than from every Playboy centerfold from the dawn of time combined, and by the time they got to the 'ewwww' scenes....well, let's just say the first Saw did a better job on that part. Not recommended.

Well, if they do, that's their choice and not much anyone can do about it. One can still care about the world at large without expending a lot of personal energy constantly worrying about what we can't change, when there's so many things that we *can* affect which our limited stores of mental energies may be better spent on. I know it's hard to seperate those anxieties at times tho. That I understand. I think you'll find a lot more people feel similarily, at least at one time or another in their lives, than it feels like when we're sitting in our chairs at night, musing on the crappy state of the universe. Feeling helpless always sucks, no matter the cause. Perhaps you could write your own counterpoint of view article/letter and send it to the author in question - never know - he might respond, and your views might change - or his might change, or maybe you'd decide he's not so loathsome after all even if you still disagree. Or you (and the others) can continue to bash him here, which achieves nothing, and probably doesn't even make you feel better...but maybe it does, for you, and in that case, I guess it's kinda like forum-therapy. Anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to start sounding like a mom - people come to forums to get away from such things, right? I sincerely hope you find a way to express and utilize your empathic energy in a manner that makes you feel less helpless than reading other's disagreeable & (unchangeable?) (can't personally influence?) opinions seems to do - and that life doesn't beat that empathy out of you, as it does with so many others. Cheers.

Ah....so you're upset by a principle that he struck a nerve upon somehow. I realize the definitions of arrogant and elitist are slightly different (group vs. self) but in my mind they're not as different as some think. Arrogance & intolerance tends to lead to elitism of one form or another, whether it's "outsider harmless" like shunning family for having certain beliefs, or ends up having world consequences of some kind ala political dictators. I don't see what, in this particular instance, is so upsetting. Do you imagine that a bunch of introverts are going to band together under this author's 'call to arms' and march on the world government and try to 'take over the world' and create some kind of dictatorship? Do you think this writer truly thinks introverts are so much better/intelligent etc. then extroverts, when he apparently fell in love with/lives with an extrovert? I am an extreme introvert and I found the article funny because so many of his little statements I've experienced myself - I once went out with a very extroverted man, and the conflict-situations that arose from that were...amusing. Therefore, I see a lot of the statements that you and others are quoting as examples of "elitist arrogance" as funny, because I have this point of reference and personal viewpoint/reaction from my experiences that makes it so, to me. This, of course, colors my viewpoint towards this article's many outrageous statements as being humourously meant, since I assume he's coming from the same 'page' as myself. While I certainly don't think introverts are oppressed in the same percieved morally unjust sense as when people say "this race is opressed" (and I doubt very much that the author does, either), I do think they are often misunderstood by extroverts and the social world at large. Of course, the reverse is also true - but the article is not about the reverse, it's a tongue-in-cheek single-point of view article, not a balanced debate thesis, like you seem to think it should be. If you research/read everything else this writer has written for more perspective on said author to back your viewpoint of this writer's 'elitist' views, perhaps I'll think your seeming vitrolic antipathy has some credence. Until then, as intelligently argued as your statements are, I still disagree with them. Btw, your specific posts were not the sole focus of my original comments. They were directed at the general disparaging of the article that I saw in this thread.

Well, I'm certainly not saying that everyone should have the same sense of humor....but to me it's like saying Dave Barry is arrogant because of his humor articles on relationships. One can have a basic belief and also be tongue-in-cheek about it. I just don't think it was arrogance...any more than anyone stating their opinions could be called arrogant, since belief in the superiority of one's own point of view can, and will, always be seen as arrogant by someone.

Here....you might want to read the interview with the author about his article. While he does believe introverts are 'misunderstood' and all that, he also says: So I started organizing my thoughts on the subject. Another motivation was, basically, that I thought it would be funny.

Some of you have no sense of humor and take this article way too seriously, methinks.

I really liked this one quote: "I'm okay, you're okay

A long time ago we had some leftover chinese food in cartons...I asked my hubby if it was safe to use the microwave to heat them up, because they had the little metal wire handles. He said "Sure, I've done it lots of times, a little bit of metal like that is ok." So I put the carton in and hit the button, and a few seconds laters sparks were flying inside the microwave and I hit the stop button in a panic. I glared over at my spouse who sheepishly said, "Well, it's never been a problem before..." And not long ago he did the same thing, only this time it flash-fried the top of the microwave blackish & stunk up the kitchen....I cleaned it and it still works, tho. heh

I am....still....playing DungeonKeeper1 now and then. And Casear3. I also created a new Diablo2 account (I let all mine expire close to a year ago or something) and obsessed over it all night, which reminded me how addictive it can be. Gah. Children of the Nile is next on my list of older games to reinstall, because from the looks of things Caesar4 will have a similiar feel, perhaps...and I never did get very far in CofN - just not into the whole Egypt setting, Rome is much more fun.... It was a good game tho, I need to finish it.

As much as I'd like to claim I was 17 in the early 90's, alas, no. Never heard of them.

Who the heck is 'Winger?' <_<

Broken Flowers. It was a lot better than I was expecting, and I was enjoying it quite a bit until....the....very....last....minute. I guess I didn't 'get' it, whatever 'it' was supposed to be, hence the last minute was just too abrupt and WTF?