Walsingham

And you wouldn't be alarmed iof you saw a live grenade on the sidewalk? I think Eddie Izzard summed it up nicely: "Guns don't kill people. People kill people. And so do monkeys, if they have guns."

You should have thought of that in college. Too late now. I wanted 'Horde of rampaging tarrasques! Krie! Krie!' as my appellation.

I'm furious because the real lesson which ought to be drawn from _this particular case_ is being missed. this was a young man who needed help. The system failed to pick up on it, and neither helped him nor imposed any kind of control over him. I guess it makes me extra angry because there is worldwide an almost total absence of mental health care which either cares for the individual or protects society. We've had cases in the UK where men have gone nuts with knives and killed/maimed more than a handful at a time. I'm in favour of gun control more generally not to prevent random fruitloops but to prevent crimes of passion, and a general vigilante mentality that weakens the processes and institutions of law enforcement.

http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?sh...15&start=15 Comment by Tale here, complaining about generic-ness of guns in FPS. I was wondering WHY guns are similar in the far distant galaxy of Booblyboo, and it occurred to me that this is because weapons are essentially the same. They deliver to an object in such a way that the object is incapable of absorbing/transmuting/reflecting the energy. Within those constraints you really have only a finite number of options. 1. A single maximised delivery, optimised for either range, or delivery (sniper or slugger) 2. A wide array attack, either rapidity of the above or a diffused delivery (mahine gun or shotgun) 3. An all round detonation, delivered by hand or secondary force 4. Various armour piercing versions of the above. You can have a wide array of mechanical means of exciting the energy, burt really it always boils down to the above. True or false?

Tigranes will kick butt on teh highest difficulty setting since, if memory serves, he IS Korean.

I just found time to finish Neverwinter Nights 2 original campaign. I have to say that I LIKED the influence system a lot more when I saw what it was leading up to. in retrospect it made a lot of sense throughout the game, and introduced some much needed thinking into my interactions with the other party members. Above all it made me think a lot harder about who my character really liked and believed in. Which is awesome. AWESOME. Other than that I don't think there's much point telling them to be better project managers. It's like telling me to eat more pies. However, kudos for the feedback.

I was curious to find out which creative tasks take the longest to do in making a crpg. I ask because Hellgate London seems to have opted for a 'random encounter generator' for much of the fighting/level design. My first thought was 'ooh how clever', but it seems to annoy a lot of people. Is there scope in a crpg for randomly generated filler, and if so how cunning would it need to be? How about all those random bits of dialogue with incidental characters? Surely there must be dialogue generators out there which coud handle trivial conversations.

Er, yeeees.

Guinness.

I stand corrected. you are right, of course to remind me that some folks have serious unavoidable problems manifesting as awkwardness. On a similar note, and keeping in mind I'm in favour of gun control I was furious to see this incident being used opportunistically as an excuse to beat the drum. I think it's pretty clear that in this instance the failure was in pastoral care and support, not gun control. The boy was clearly capable of committing vilence in other ways, since he had in his possession bomb making manuals.

Samm, you're making a good point when you say that isolation is a problem more than death metal or whatever. However, in my experience - and I'd be interested to hear if anyone agrees - many of those who are isolated are: 1. Pretty inept and selfish to begin with (for reasons beyond me). 2. Exagerrate their awkwardness by listening to music no-one else likes, and indulging in excessive displays of irritation and anger. I'm really just saying that while people around these people have to look to tehir own behaviour a bit, it's not like it's everyone's fault but the munta in the middle. I speak as someone who has had a fair amount to do with teenagers over the years, as a sports coach, employer, and latterly as an Army recruit. But as i say, I'd like to know if anyone agrees.

As fascinating as it is to hear Sand singing the same song yet again, I fail to see the relevance. The failure of Iraq's new genesis is not Islam but a culture of tribalist non-state loyalty. There are several countries making progress within the bounds of Islam, including Malaysia and (in some respects) Iran. The challenge is not changing a culture of religion. the challenge is changing a culture of corruption and individual advancement. A culture which keeps practically the whole of Africa under its heel, and is laying low Russia. On the one hand, such a culture always flourishes during unrest and violence (we had it here in Britain during both wars) but it is also laid down with cultural traditions, stories, institutions, heroes and so on.

It seems that Sand does not merely hold the social opinions of a Dickensian miser, but the sense of humour also. Of course prank calls can be funny. This does not sound very amusing, however. What a waste of so much time and effort.

on all your accounts too! there really should be the forum 'Knights of the Nine" or somthing. top nine posters or top voted posters get a tag like that. You mean a forum with NOTHING but drivel on it? notice the VOTING your favorite poster into one of the spots. I apologise, sir, for not noticing your point. However, I still say the result would be the same.

A lot of interesting points. I'm going to listen for a bit first. However, just a couple: 1. Iraq is not a 'Muslim' country. It's a complex hodgepodge of allegiances and cultures. However, I've heard a lot of people who ought to know saying Iraq is a secular country. They're a brutalised country, but basically secular. The religious extremism is finding its most fertile soil in the disaffected and jobless young men. Thus (and this is no accident) the more the extremists wreck the country the more support they get in their key niche. 2. I think it's nonsensical to say that we have to be either about stopping extremism or prducing a pro-western success story. Firstly the two goals are enabled by almost identical effects in country. Secondly, we never seem to have one goal, but rather a massive mess of competing goals. If we did we have only one goal we might be a lot more effective. 3. I don't think it's at all fair to describe all American wars as a grotesque grinding mess. We could debate plenty of the examples you mention, but Gulf 1/Desert Storm was an absolute triumph demonstrating how incredibly far the Yanks have come since embracing operational manoeuvre and information warfare in the mid '80s. LImited objectives, coalition warfare, and almost staggeringly tiny casualties.

I could see math being used given the right puzzles, like novel cryptography, or that bit in the film Cube.

Is anyone else thinking of Glory in Buffy?

I'd have thought in pen and paper bards could be very efffective and lots more fun than other classes, because you can be much more creative than in a CRPG. As for some dude singing, I agree that a lute seems odd, but think of that scene in Apocalypse Now with the Wagner playing. I bet that was the aircav's bard platoon at work.

The Godfather isn't how the mafia is, anymore than 'Hero' was about how the ancient Chinese were. It's a fantasy talking about what we'd like it to be. EDIT: To be fair we fantasise about lots of stinky things to make them seem better.

I do see what you mean. But given the importance of Iraq to the US on every level I would suggest that other commitments be dramatically reduced. This is crunch time on the centre of gravity for this century. Of course this is a Brit talking, and we're strolling off whistling...

BBC main al-Jazaera BBC mortars Figures on attacks are down. The Iraqi public are losing patience wuth organisations such as the Mehdi army, and staging protests against them. Al Qaeda has been beaten back in Sunni areas due to their high-handedness, and determination to provoke total war and genocide against the Shia. Yet yesterday the Independent newspaper declared this a 'war without end', on its front page. My question is really whether this news changes anyone's opinions here. Is a continuation of effort and ramping up of support capable of rescuing the country, or should the signs of progress be taken as cause to leave? The US is usually accused of reinforcing failure. Will this be a case of abandoning success?

Bioshock, without question.

The hardest thing is probably going to be fighting in no goddamn armour.

It would indeed be a significant challenge. But is it really impossible? to do as well, or better?

I might well prefer gaming on console, but I need a PC for work, and I can't afford both. so it's PC.