Walsingham

Got bought tapas lunch by an ex employee. Very nice.

You mean independence from Britain and alliance with France?

Where the hell did I say that? You meet a lot of different people on the bus, also when you move to an apartment you can take a good look aroudnt he neighborhood. Where I live it is in the Historical district of the town and they have a neighborhood society that one can join up and be a part of the community. Just because you live outside the dorms doesn't mean you are cutoff from people. Well I can only speak from experience, but having been to uni twice, and having had a lot to do with students (i.e. dating them) I can say that lioving out and bussing in is an almost surefire way to miss out on a lot. Much better to live in, however much it sucks. It's like being a boarding pupil at school. It sounds awful, but you never get fully immersed otherwise.

My Name is Earl. Heroes.

I just hope that in time more politicians will come out. We have had a rash of them here in the UK, and when a whole bunch break cover at once eventually we had to stop giggling like panicky public schoolboys and accept it. As for solicitation, vice crimes are always difficult, but I think after the highly stylised manoeuvring it was pretty clear. For record I see no reason why persosn of any sexuality should not engage in consensual behaviour of any kind. What I object to is them using a public convenience for that purpose. You don't find people trying to play chess in public toilets why should you expect them to do anything else there? In parts of London, Brighton, and other major cities you simply can't use a urinal for persons propositioning you. I don't mind telling you it upsets one's aim, and leads to all kinds of mess!

Is that... a rat-on-a-stick?

I figured it did, since it will be partially canon at that stage, and moreover will affect the marketing of the game. BUt if you chaps don't want this moved I shall bow to your wishes.

I didn't have a car in college, leading to a great many sprints to get work in on time, and the famous cry "I should have joined the Army. There'd have been less running to do."

Always good to see moral crusaders exposed when they deserve it. Less pleased to see homosexuality viewed as the great issue. There are senators colluding in billions of dollars of corruption, but the press fobs us off with this sort of nonsense.

I miss the x-files.

Assuming no-one objects I'm going to move this to the Aliens game section.

True. Damn but these bastards make me ill.

I assume you chaps have considered asking your local rotarians or businesses for contributions on your books? If you have any cool ambitions after college you can add those to your begging letters. It can only cost you a few stamps!

I kind of see your point, taks. But having a written document doesn't hurt. I mean I have clients who are well known to me, and so are all our expectations. But a written contract reminds everyone what those expectations are, and allows us to point at them in the event of a slide of standards. On the subject of franc tireurs I'm no lawyer but reading the convention it seems to me that irregulars are protected even without being signatories provided they are acting in defence of their own territory (particularly in the event of an illegal invasion*). However, what is absolutely clear is that the irregulars must 'act within the laws of war'. This means they must accord rights of surrender, and not abuse captives. Given that Al Qaeda cells routinely abduct, torture, and murder captives for the purpose of home movies, it would seem they are voluntarily renouncing the protection of the convention. In all, I'm beginning to think that the convention is actually very useful, in elucidating these points. What is obsolete is the public understanding of the convention, and matters military in general. Incidentally I consider this all releveant as a critique of the AG's statements and opinions. What worries me now is who will GWB in his dingbat end of second term foist on the American people? *I don't consider Iraq or Afghanistan illegal invasions, but many do, so the point is moot.

Way to suck the joy out of life, Hades. Your advice to a new college student is to avoid interaction with his peers and take the bus to campus? Why not just come out and say "try to be that weird guy nobody has met outside of class who runs off mumbling something about a bus schedule every time anyone tries to talk to him"? I was going to say the same thing. This links to the single most important rule: Try stuff. Especially stupid stuff.

I could use some more elaboration of this point about habeus corpus. I thought that was just us and the Magna Carta. To shift my statement on the Geneva conventions, iirc we already established they only apply to co-signatories, and persons who uphold that signed commitment. As such they are not obsolete, they are just not relevant to guerrilla warfare. The question of guerrila warfare split the conference. Were partisans to be accorded the same rights as regular combatants, or were they to be treated as 'franc-tireurs'* and summarily executed. * I wonder if this could be the real origin of the word terrorist?

Definitely chooose something with process skills, rather than general smarts skills. This means engineering, experimental sciences, operational analysis, etc, rather than advertising or English. These skills have to be learned a certain way and drummed in. Which makes them cash valuable. Having said that you should also try to accrue smarts skills, just in your free time. I suggest you put your pants on over your trousers and fight crime.

Colrom has two good points. However i would disagree with his first, that it is irresponsible to chase specific individuals who have not yet committed a crime. In the case of Kentucky Fried Qaeda franchises 99% of operatives are not prior actors. If we want to avoid casualties in the first place we need systems like this or the old TIGERWATCH system (in the UK). In any event, it is an offence under law in the normal way to plan or participate in terrorist activity. If these men are suspected of same then they have committed an offence. It is perfectly legal to run them down for an interview and investigation. Having said this taking the whole system view I agree with Colrom's point about needing to improve disaster and emergency response. Katrina exposed how blurry authority, differing priorities, and un-networked information can cripple effective response. Mitigation is crucial in resilience. Note also the recent attack on a train in Eastern Russia which killed many people. Public transport remains a clear target to satisfy Al Qaeda's desire for blood.

Baley - Rebuttal: "Momma's Gotta Die Tonight" Body Count, Body Count

I agree with Sand agreeing with Meshie.

In order: 1. Purchase one bottle of tequila and a small paper hat 2. Purchase box 3. Cut hole in box 4. Place your junk in the box 5. Announce party at your place 6. Drink tequila 7. Free your mind

I don't think they take versus movies far enough. I'd like to see Potter vs Anakin.

I don't think it's that unfair. The Convention is designed for wars between states. Wars these days are between states and non-state actors.

The Dutch apparently were very unsurprised about the business with Vader and Luke since Vader means father in Dutch. One of the weirdest things about Thailand is that no-one took part in the Star Wars initial phenomenon. They were in the middle of a coup in 1977 when the first film stormed the world.