Walsingham

Wind blew a parts of my freaking house off. There's TV cable spinning around out there like a stripper's nipple tassels.

Okay I need to share this. I'm in the departure lounge at the airport and your comment, even though it may not seem funny, has just caused me to burst into laughter. In fact I found myself laughing out loud for about 30 seconds. People were staring at me and obviously wondering " whats the joke"..but I couldn't help myself Its the way you say things sometimes that I find hilarious, so thanks for the laugh Anyway back to your post, you know we have a way of derailing topics. Its in our genetic nature.

I'm not sure anyone's debating the utility of prisons, or have I missed something?

I just can't imagine how I could have not realised earlier, except maybe it wouldn't have made me so successful at dodging all the rules if I had. I mean I arsed around almost constantly, had a massive laugh and learned all the important things you need to know at that age. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H74ScaTLgiQ Perhaps more responsibly I learned how to talk to authority, organise stuff, be creative, and have a good time. Real life skills. LOL. Reminds me of that Russian joke about the officer cadets. [points for anyone who knows the joke]

I don't know why it popped into my mind. Maybe it's because I'm merrily working away with a good cup of coffee. Self-awareness. I worked damn hard at my postgraduate studies. But as an undergrad I was always turning stuff in late or not at all. etc. etc. I just realised with absolute clarity and certainty that with only one exception I handed stuff in badly or late because turning it in on time and to the desired standard was simply too incredibly boring to contemplate seriously. Given that I seem to have done OK out of it I can't feeling I did precisely the right thing, too. I can't tell you how good that feels.

Nice to see someone no equivocating, Bruce. I utterly blame the 1960s for leaving us so full of self doubt and teenage angst that we refuse to act in our own defence for fear that we are the bad guys. Of course I equally credit the 1960s for helping us to BE the good guys. But if we don't act to defend ourselves against being stolen from, corrupted, and bullied then we won't stay the good guys for very ****ing long.

What like female Chainmail bikini armour? I think there is a thread on this..... There's nothing happy about it if you happen to own nipples. Stuff chafes like you wouldn't believe. So I'm told. ~~~ I think we're straying from the nub of the thing to a degree. Let's simplify terms a bit. ASSUME: 1. Accuracy of judgement 2. Cost effectiveness of administration I say assume because I think this goes beyond these footling skirmishing points. The real clash of concepts occurs because some people just don't have in their hearts to condemn certain crimes at even an abstract level. If I could be reassured that I was incorrect then I think we'd get along a lot better.

Well, it's interesting, anyway.

That's a bit crap, Cal. Sorry to hear that. Could you get a big poster of this set up outside their offices?

I think this is missing the much more important point that you could make kickass nerf guns.

Ugh. I absolutely hated that book. The cover art - yes yes - promised a rich World build coming alive through a fabulous monster hunt. What I got was a lot of disjointed gibberish spread thinly across too many pages. It's one of the few books I have actually thrown away rather than give to a charity shop or keep.

I fully accept your point that the wolf at the door is scarier than the wolf in the woods. But what a fantastic 19th century view of China, and the World in general. They don't live on the Moon, you know? All those things you mention about China... you think they'd wouldn't leak into your life if China's dominance continues to grow? China's already a massive force in Africa and a growing force in the Mideast. I'm equally fascinated at the notion that Chinese determination to subvert and weaken Western governments and industries is almost benign by comparison with our own governments and industries! Such loss of faith is no doubt attributable to the fecal refulgence of our state servants and commercial leaders. But we have democratic recourse and a tradition of reforming such things. They can be improved. By us. If we could be arsed.

Firstly, not that Monte will give a hoot, but why are you being so goddamn rude to him? If you chaps put in some of the consideration you seem so keen on you'd find he's a thoughtful guy and has been for the considerable time he's been a forum user. More pertinently Bruce and I diverge on this one, since I can find a LOT to disagree with in AGX-17's argument. Fundamentally I think AGX (Or is that Mr 17?) is treating this - as a great many fine people do - as if it were an abstract exercise. But Monte and I would contend it is completely unlike an exact exercise. Where I'd drag Guard Dog in to join our conceptual posse is to observe that ALL GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY is an imprecise and bloody handed business. Everything from tax collection to state schooling to conventional warfare is a matter of life and death to someone and mistakes get made. My point isn't merely to say "You wrong." My point is whether you apply your rule about no innocent harm consistently within your own position. Would you apply a 'no innocents must get irreversibly harmed' rule across government. Much more importantly: To what extent is state justice implicit in harm to victims?

From El Reg People are missing one important point about the "Liberator" 3D-printed "plastic gun": it isn't any more a gun than any other very short piece of plastic pipe is a "gun". You can take my Liberator ... and shove it Seriously. That's all a Liberator is: a particularly crappy pipe, because it is made of lots of laminated layers in a 3D printer. Attached to the back of the pipe is a needlessly bulky and complicated mechanism allowing you to bang a lump of plastic with a nail in it against the end of the pipe.

ROFL

You ever read Button Man?

I'm just going to put this out there as an argument, see what you think: Isn't there a case for saying that the Law must be respected as an instrument of justice in order to be effective and supported? Speaking personally I get massively old testament on certain issues. Prolonged sadistic criminality on the helpless is not just morally anathema, but it is surely likely to be accompanied by a hefty forensic trail. To nerdtastically appropriate a line from Planescape Torment, I'm not sure we have a right to let certain criminals live once their guilt is ascertained. I would have thought that in such circumstances the incidences are rare enough that the percentage cost issue is moot since it reflects a tiny overall percentage in government budgetary terms. ~ I'm not trying to be horrifically bloodthirsty, by the way. I happen to think this is causing us to examine some interesting questions about governance and justice in general.

It's partly the stable membership, but it's also the age thing I think. Plus - if I may shamelessly flatter all concerned - I think Obsidian games attract a better kind of person as a fan. Mind you, I shouldn't forget that Fionavar and the other mods do a tremendous job enforcing high standards of comportment, which makes it harder for situations to degrade. Hmmm... sounded like a bloody Oscar speech there.

Well, that's why it's a debate, old boy. I'm not sure I approve of the Obama administration treating US citizens on US soil - i.e. the Boston bombers - as enemy combatants. Assuming I've got my facts straight which seems unlikely on general principle. My point was, if you sanction the context then you set a precedent, and in the US that means it's ALL FINE. Right? Look at the RICO statutes and how widely they're used now. Dangerous? - check Clandestine? - check Organized <sic>? - check Influenced from abroad as well as domestically? - check Less politically debatable motives? - check I mean if we are going to start drone-bombing a group and I can only have one, I think we should bump the child torturers up the list. I'm old fashioned. And a bit drunk still from yesterday.

My damned dwarf player is likely to soon be stronger than a sodding troll, though. The real issue is the wounds. Humanoids just don't have the wound soakage you get on a monster.

I thought this merited its own thread, rather than continuing the thread about the child castration cannibal guy. * The question occurred to me while reading about the Boston bombing debate on the BBC The BBC mention that some US commentators want the bombers to be treated as enemy combatants. My question is: why not paedophiles? Paedophiles have a clear agenda, they share advice, and they network and work together to cause horrific injuries and death. Indeed, several orders of magnitude more deaths and injuries than terrorism. Apparently the principle is that if a bad guy is sufficiently bad or somehow well organised then the gloves come off. So, again, my question is: can we detain paedophiles with a streamlined process of law, and or shoot them with unmanned drones? *Incidentally the guy is a British immigrant to the USA, and I feel not enough British people are stating unequivocally that we're against kidnapping, torturing, and eating children.

Just good engineering, really. Just kidding. I get frustrated by it as well. What the feth happened to leadership?

Erm... I love 40K, but aren't most of the 'good guy' decisions anathema to mainstream morality? Exterminatus bombardment, anyone?

Drowsy Emperor should consider Nigeria for his Delta Green campaign. EDIT: MY GOD! Nollywood should totally do a Cthulhu film.