Walsingham

Surely, if Obsidian got an SW thingy their natural awesomeness would overpower the bearded freakchild that is George Lucas? Feargus would stare him down while Mr Sawyer snuck up behind him with a croquet mallet.

I see what you mean, dottore. Normally I suspect people who are Satanist keep schtumm about it. Although in the case of one memorable interview the guy threw it in my face. His angle was "I can tell you that I'd kill you for no reason without the law, and I can tell you that and you won't do one thing to stop me or kill me. Even though in a natural environment it's precisely what you should do."

That's a really good point, and frankly I don't have an answer. Ultimately, as you say, the subject would need water and glucose. It is possible that the infection takes the form of a bacteria rather than virus, and that the bacteria supplants cellular mitochondria* with itself, producing ATP via some other mechanism, but I don't see how. The only thing I can suggest that would be consistent with my hypothesis is that four alternatives are true: 1. Incubation rates are very slow, leading to a 'trickle' of zombies 2. The inability to take in water underpins the fact that few known outbreaks appear to spread 3. Where normal rabies causes excessive salivation and an inability to eat/drink, coupled with confusion/fear in the presence of food, the z variant does the inverse. If you or I had a parched mouth, and found we could assuage it whenever we buried our face in something (people) then we might well do so. It could also be that the subdermal vesicles produced in smallpox are involved. 4. We may be looking at a far more complex viral hybrid, beyond known technology. *Mitochondria themselves are likely the product of an infection, according to some sources.

I reckon they chased him out for not getting enough Monty Python references.

Keep in mind that your brain itself has no pain receptors. So any damage to it doesn't hurt. I guess because there's so little tissue on your head (outside thebrain) it can't hurt much. Like getting whacked on the point of your elbow.

But Volo, judging by conversations I often impose on people in trains, cafes etc, a lot of people don't think Israel had to respond. Bearing in mind the danger that I am misrepresenting them, I'd say they feel two things: 1. Israel shouldn't exist as a state, so the defence of the state of Israel is moot 2. The Palestinian rockets rarely hit and killed anyone so they should not have been allowed to derail the peace process The former point has more emotional force for most people, and I think it's predicated on an irrelevant approach to the problem; namely that this is going to be resolved in some sort of court, instead of the reality which is it can only move on in indefinite hostility, negotiated settlement or some sort of holocaust. The latter point strikes me as equally ignoring the fundamental issue above. Israel couldn't ignore the rockets and press on with peace talks, because the rockets represented a clear message that peace talks had been rejected in favour of military force. Yuusha? Response?

So, that's what it's like to get shot in the head. Your head goes numb. I have a friend who was carjacked and got shot in the head. I think he said it went numb-ish. He thought he was dead, so he lay still until he got bored and tried to move. Then he managed to get up and walk away. Bullet physics, man.

I think it is quite revealing of their worldview and position. If they were playing for World opinion it would make far more sense to halt the rocket attacks and act all innocent. In the first couple of days even I missed the fact that they were firing rockets [the BBC have beeen shocking skewed on this topic - but keep in mind I don't track it very closely]. If they'd stopped then it could have been even more 'obvious' that Israel are the big bad guys. Instead Hamas et al have continued firing rockets. This is because they have a 100% warfighting strategic attitude, and no operational thinking (like almost all amateurs). They have to continue fighting or their strategic concept is lost. They're like First World War generals. Conversely, the Israelis (who have a superb grasp of operational thinking whatever else you say about them) appear determined to carry out the operational objective of nailing enough Hamas leadership to make them vulnerable domestically. Other groups may or may not rise, but so long as Hamas holds Gaza there can be no peace. This appears to be why they are pushing ahead with ground forces in spite of World opinion. The operational job isn't done yet. Once it is they can pull back, and restart peace initiatives over the next couple of years.

Tarna has a robust sense of humour, Deathscepter. More Prince Philip than the Queen

I see what you mean. A Freudian slip, or a joke, perhaps? The RAF did blow up a lot of Europe. My first reaction was "Woohoo! Ideologicallly crazed college chicks!" Then I realised they'd probably have hairy armpits and smell of newsprint and stale cigarette smoke.

I think it's aperfectly sensible bet to attribute the phenomenon to a hybrid rabies/smallpox derivative. All the reported symptoms coincide. The benefit of narrowing one's threat horizon is that one can devote more preparation to the most important issues, by taking up slack elsewhere. For example, I can relax the necessity of wearing full CBRN hazmat equipment. Such equipment would directly reduce my ability to move and fight, but would be unavoidable if the contagion were airborne. Thus, by guarding against everything, YOU will be weighed down by crucifixes, wolfsbane, gasmask, chainmail, etc, and get 'eaten'.

It's mostly because the suits at Ziff Davis mishandled the company, or so I heard. Also dead tree gaming press hasn't been doing so well for the last couple of years. I'd cheerfully go for a ban on suits. I exploit the phenomena ruthlessly, but a smart suit does not maketh the man.

Well I'd still argue that Satanism is unhealthy, but I... I concede the point. You've convinced me by your numbers that it was probably interpersonal before religious.

I got invited as a guest to the RAF officer's club in Piccadilly (hid my own ID as I'm not an officer). It's exactly the way you'd imagine. Pictures, medals, marble, hushed servants scurrying around bringing coffee and so forth. I'd be tempted to join the RAF!

You make the fatal error of assuming it will actually be the Z-Virus. What? How is that fatal? I could tell you - but then I'd have to kill you.. Well? What are you waiting for? A gold invitation? Get on with it!

You make the fatal error of assuming it will actually be the Z-Virus. What? How is that fatal?

What you need is someone willing to pose as you for some of the classes. Then they can meet and fall in love with some girl and there will be a madcap farce as you compete to prove you're really you.

PETA do more to discredit animal rights than anything I could do in my whole lifetime. When it comes to anything I can pan-fry with shallots and soy sauce, I'm a goddamned Nazi; if I can kill it before it kills me, then it's going in mah belly.

Nuts things happen in war.

Well, some of us find rabid egomaniacal loathing hilarious. Or am I the only one? On a more serious note, it is too bad a child died and I hope the guy gets what he deserves but since this is the UK I doubt it. The UK doesn't have the death penalty, does it, Walsh? Not for anything except *googles* NOTHING, not even during wartime. Bang go my chances of getting 'Smiling' George Galloway hanged for treason. [note to self: do not read about George Galloway. It only makes you furious.]

I bastardised self-hypnotic techniques I used to beat asthma. You basically do the following 1. Concentrate on relaxing each set of muscles in your body 2. Count down from ten into the condition of focus 3. Focus on nothing except the unmoving concept of something. A drop of water, a sock, a basketball. Think about nothing not directly relevant to the object. 4. Try to stay focussed for ten minutes. At first it was a real struggle. Later it was too easy. I once went in for ten minutes, ignored my alarm, and woke up four hours later in the middle of an enormous thunderstorm. It felt absolutely incredible. But basically, who has four hours to throw away on a single concept?

I love the way his views are portrayed here as being the product of a 'funny sense of humour', rather than rabid egomaniacal loathing.

I don't think it's silly at all (surprise surprise ), precisely because I'm talking principles not instances. If you have proportional rep then inevitably the vast majority of people vote moderate. However, there are always going to be two main moderate parties, each tends to get about half of the large majority, at about 40 percent. The remaining votes get given to greens, communists, bat-huggers etc. Because parliamentary democracy requires a majority in government to function, the large moderate parties HAVE to surrender portions of policy to the fringe parties to build that majority. This more or less functions when nothing much has to get done. But whenever anything contentious arises such majorities go wibbly. This is important, because, as I say, peace is going to take some very robust and determined work by an Israeli government, and I can't see proportional rep providing a govt that can weather such action. BTW, I'm well aware that you shifty Scandinavians probably have proportional rep, but you're weird.

Possible inspiration for The Empire Strikes Back (MST3K style)

"Always cheat others before they can cheat you"? Sounds like it was alive and well. But I concede it's an alternative explanation.