Walsingham

I'm sure ther are many psych analyses of the two murderers out there, but the one I know best is from The Jigsaw Man. Unfortuantely I've leant my copy away so I can't look up his analysis. But yes, from memory, there was a background of abuse and neglect and a long history of various authorities knowing these kids wouldn't turn out well. But to my way of thinking that's a separate if important issue. Not nearly enough preventive action is taken to break cycles of bonkers families. Failure repeats itself far more reliably than success. But I think a tremendous amount could be done and should be done at earlier ages with intensive playgroups etc. But this does not detract from the enormity of their crime nor from the fact that they clearly knew what they were doing was wrong. They removed the boy to a secluded spot, they lied to passers by, they had no natural incentive to want the boy in their company, and finally and most seriously they (apparently) deliberately tried to have his body run over by a train (and it was) to disguise the cause of death. It was a prolonged attack, and cannot possibly have occurred without the victim making very clear how distressed he was. Does that make them evil, per se? I honestly don't know. But I do believe that such a degree of disfunctino, whatever its deeper nature, is something we should be protected from by any and all means.

Precisely. Sure you can bury an AKM in sand, dig it up and fire it, but who the hell would do that on purpose besides a terrorist? If i were going to own a gun, and I'm unlikely to while I live in the UK, it would be either a sawnoff shotgun for cost or this SMG for sheer engineering coolness. I just like good engineering. Plus I have no issues with maintaining precision kit. I found cleaning the SA80 quite relaxing. Like brushing your teeth.

I guess I have mentioned this before, but when my uncle was at school he broke all the fingers in his hand on purpose to avoid playing rugby because he figured it would be less painful and dangerous. So did several other boys.

Did that cooking off problem only happen on full auto? Because the British army basically only uses single shot anyway, except for urban fighting. I know I'd sure as hell prefer to carry caseless ammo. Thinks: I wonder if Afghan will eventually have an entire geological strata comprised entirely of brass shell casings?

Thank god we never had one of those in America.

I honestly wonder how many proper nutters these quango-fairies have actually met. By teh sound of the article I linked to the Commons felt she had no proper experience of anything besides serving on committees. This has been mentioned before in many places but we actually have several quangocrats on more money than the Prime Minister! What do we actually get for it? Half-arsed rambling about vague principles. If, as has been suggested, people like Maggie are supposed to deliver value by leadership and inspiration they need to be remarkable and well rounded people who can command respect not party dimwits. Also, while you are corrrect to say she felt that the children should be dealt with in a secure environment I think it's mental to suggest they can be cured. Cured by what exactly? And to what degree of safety for the public? No-one would accept a bomb as being defused if a method had been applied to it with such a poor success rate. The government - not just this administration - deliberately fudges the reoffending rates because it simply doesn't want to pay for care, and instead we play Russian roulette every day. I was reminded that I had formed the foundations of this opinion while talking to a man who was retiring from the business of providing specialist security services to 'manage' individuals who the _police_ felt were too dangerous and unpredictable to approach. He simply couldn't face having his family living in a n area where he knew so many former murderers rapists etc out on license. He knew there would be others where he moved to, but he felt it wouldn't be so bad if he didn't see them so often. He told me all this with a bandage on his head where he'd been stabbed that afternoon.

I'm confused as to why your full suit of platemail is more gay than a man wearing just a towel.

I applaud the SSI link, but shudder at the thought of archers firing over strategic distances. I already have conniptions over cavalry moving at really fast strategic speed. It's not tactical speed that governs these things it's logistics you wankers! If anything ALL units should have attached logistics which can be upgraded separately as tech becomes available. Viz British riflemen who moved slower than zulu tribesmen, and German ww2 armies which were using teh same tactical assets as the allies but had no decent logistics.

Maybe it's too soon to replay? Or it just that you know the optimal tactics by now? If not you could always aim to not just win but cut the total time for fights by upping your game.

Me = retard.

Hey, you're right!Women for NPP! Women for NPP! NPP?

I have to say that I clean mine with a vacuum after taking advice on here, and apart from the shrieking demons which issue forth fom it, and the fact that neither DVD works any more it's not been a big issue.

What to buy thread. I finally got around to hooking it up, and it seems fine. There is a noticeable shift in speed for browsing, but in terms of other programs accessing it looks all good. A few of questions: 1. Can I compare access speeds directly? Between the new one and my integrated HD? 2. Is there anything I should do to check data integrity or manufacturing flaws before I delete the original files I am now copying? 3. Can I instruct Windows to store stuff like My Documents automatically in the new HD? 4. I assume I can put a partition on this one and have it boot win95, or won't that work as it's USB? If I do will that slow down normal startup because if it does I'll probably just convert an old PC to running games. I'm leaving the OS and program files on the original HD.

Feminists would go crazy.Misonogists would boycott. War would erupt. You're saying we could have a war in which I get to exclusively shoot radical feminists and mysoginist pigs? As GWB once said: Bring it on.

I concur. On consideration I think NPCs should be written with reference to several points: 1. People change across time. Show them changing. 2. People get happy. 3. People get sad. 4. People get angry. [the above are not computing/design intensive to show] 5. People find different things to be exciting, but they always perk up when it happens. Show this. 6. SHOW the relationship an NPC has towards the player through adjusting body language. It's not impossible. Most of the body language is already in the emotes for many games. 7. Everyone has connnection points which anyone can hook up to. Vices, interests, hobbies... even if you don't write it in, think about it. It's how conversations naturally run. ~~ I don't think spending effort on the above would be wasted, since it would cross apply to any RPG project.

Don't make me link that song about boobs. You're probably right. EDIT: In which case surely the generous young ladies deserve the prize?

Whatever else you may say about Israel, it's rare that they are accused of being dumb as posts. There's no point in removing one enemy if 1000 will rise from his ashes. Unless those enemies were really small. And really crap. Sounds like a boss fight. Ahem. On teh other hand I suppose in Iran's case it is conceivable that they might use a nuking to polarise action in the hope of making enemies of their enemies suddenly take action. i'm not saying I rate that as a probability, but it is conceivable.

That sucks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8565619.stm Maggie Atkinson, who is some sort of Quango bandit ushered quietly through the halls of office by Ed Balls against the advice of a parliamentary committee has said that the Bulger killers were too young to know any better. Apparently at such a young age they can still be helped and nurtured. I'm not sure what she thinks they should be nurtured into being. Policemen? Brain surgeons? Now, to some who are too young to know the case or irremediably foreign ths may be all a mystery, so here is a summary of the injuries inflicted on the toddler, Jamie Bulger, who was abducted from his mother in broad daylight at a shopping centre. I have spoilertagged some of it as being particularly disturbing. The description is from the Independent Newspaper. Jamie Bulger was 2 years old. There has never been any suggestion that the boy can have done anything to his attackers to provoke the attack in any way. I think this is interesting from three perspectives. 1. I'm furious and I'm rarely furious. 2. Why in the name of all that's holy are we paying for buffoons to make pronouncements of this sort via public funds? 3. Why is it so hard for some people to grasp that humans are occasionally ****ing evil? Even kids?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...or-just-10.html If it is then I for one would very cheerfully part with 30 quid to have the satisfaction of housing a few homeless people. What the hell is going on? Surely they're worth more than that for firewood!

It's not that I disagree. I just have NO freaking idea what you are saying. It

Exactly. Although given the established precedent of awarding prizes for pure fantasy I think it's rather appropriate. I think I'd honestly now rather have a BAFTA than a Nobel these days.

It's not that I disagree. I just have NO freaking idea what you are saying.

I wouldn't presume to demand a change to the engine, but could we PLEASE bolt on something to represent the damage reactions from the originals? By which I mean if I shoot someone's freaking eyes out with a high powered lasrifle then they STAY FETHING BLIND. They don't become blind for a bit and then get all better. On a similar note I notice that the corpses have dismemberment models, severed arms, legs etc. Surely these could be applied to the living creatures? I dearly want to re-enact the Black Knight sketch from Monty Python with a super mutant.