Walsingham

I'd disagree about the legislature needing a term limit. All that does is pass on power to the next most permanent office. Viz teh Civil Service in the UK, and the Presidential Advisors in the US. But anyway... We've had a lot of serious discussions already about religion in general. On the specific issue of swearing in, have I understood correctly that the consensus here is that the individual should swear by what they respect.?

:D Very glad to find you all so appreciative.

Mmmm... booze.

I see you have retracted the statement, and I my rebuttal. Which should confuse people. " I am no bible scholar, and somebody appears to have nicked my copy from my desk. But I think you'll find Christianity has plenty of passages not to mention to mention incidents sanctioning killing unbelievers. It's kind of a feature of all premier division religions. It is abhorrent, but it's there. I think the clearest would be in Leviticus (I think) that orders the faithful, on finding a heathen within the walls of a city, to chase them beyond the gates and stone them to death. As for my last point, could you be more specific in your response? I won't learn if you don't tell me what and how I got it wrong.

Thanks, that would keep me busy, but my monitor just fething well crashed out.

Islam can certainly be hard to understand, but i think it often stems more from the rift between European culture and Arab culture that the religion itself. I have met and been variously been inspired/annoyed by Muslims in much the same ways as I do with most cultural groups. I stand (as I think has been made very clear) against Islamic fascism, but not against Islam. As for the statement about 9/11, it's as nonsensical as saying that Britain learned everything it needs to know about Roman Catholicism on 27th August 1979. No religion is that simple, even something as extreme as Aum Shinri Kyo has complexity. And my point about the founding fathers is essentially a ripoff of Warren Ellis/Spider Jerusalem. God forbid that we might have learned something since the ineffable light of truth was granted us by the founders.

How about 'You suck'?

Thanks for that. I'm afraid it looks as if i'll just start over. It would be nearly as bad to start from before the mission anyway. I'd totally agree with you on the argnu beef. But also don't ignore energy cells early on. You can start trading up with only a little seed capital, and they get bought everywhere. My first question, though, is how in the name of unholy christ do you run that many transports? It's all I can do to run three on the go at once! Mind you, I do run courier trips in my little Octopus at the same time. Which ensures pocket money to buy my freighters little upgrades like go faster stripes*. My second question is how do I BUY a damn station? I just recently docked at a shipyard and the bloody things seemed to require a ship stransporter. But they're like 6 million! *Kidding.

I'm thinking of uying a joystick to better enjoy X2 the threat, because I can't very well dogfight using a trackball. Can anyone recommend a good one that won't destroy my bank balance? I can go up to 50 quid without screaming.

Short version: I'm playing x2, the threat, and am on the second mission All advice welcome. I am really getting to love x2, for its freeform nature, and teh combined wheeler dealing while shooting people. Well, I say shooting people. My little m5 seems incapable of doing anything to anyone. My gamma impulse rays appear basically designed for heating MREs and nothing else. I'd also be grateful if someone could tell me how I up teh ante and buy a station. I'm doing pretty well with my trade runs, but the lack of cheap solar power seems to be holding back the galactic economy, making goods too expensive. I think solar power has to be the best way forward. *Top tip: at some point you will be lent a ship to take someone somewhere. Before you had it back, sell the shields, guns, and anything else not nailed down. Claim it got destroyed in a fire fight. This gives you the seed capital to egt on the trading tip immediately.

I'd be far happier seeing rights for sentient robots than I am with 'certain' persons killing humans for animal 'rights'. I don't hold with needless cruelty to animals, but I do understand the distinction. Iain M. Banks ahs some interesting things to say about the rise of the machines in his Culture novels. Which are at the end of the evolution, rather than the crisis crossover point.

Relax, it's just some senator playing up to his extremist supporters. I do find it funny that senators seem to find it difficult to grasp the nature of freedom of religion. If the swearing in is going to mean anything surely it has to be on something the individual takes seriously. As for the counter argument that the founding fathers were christian, this is firstly inaccurate*, and secondly going to lead down some interesting paths. Principally, many of them were slaveowners. Does that mean slavery should be reinstated? * My impression was that while everyone in those days said they were christian, many of the founders were sceptical to say the least.

Best thing for zombies: AS90. It'll flatten them, keep them outside, and even has a kettle, so you can brew up in safety.

I just love the dynamism in this piece. Courtesy of the US National Archives. A treasure trove of cool stuff.

Actually I couldn't disagree more with Astr0. I am friends with, and have interviewed many people fighting the 'War on terror' (they hate saying that btw) and 99% of them are in it because they believe terrorists are just unpopular politicians, hurting people because they can't accept no-one likes them. Can't speak for you yankees, though. :D

Ros' post made me realise that conversely I have stood up for morality at the cost of survival on several occasions as well. I guess that just makes me inconsistent. I think the most extreme example would be when I saw some thugs harassing some utterly inoffensive students and telling them they were scum because they wouldn't fight. I knew I couldn't win a fight with them, but I interposed and said that fighting didn't make you a better man, and that if they felt that way they could begin by beating me up. To this day I don't know what possessed me to do it, but it worked. They didn't like the idea of someone calmly volunteering to be minced. It wasn't part of the script, and it derailed their limited thought process. By the time they'd reoriented, it looked to everyone as if they were scared, so eventually it wound down. Wouldn't recommend it though.

I'd swear on an elephant. Just to be awkward.

I'd be worried that those recidivism rates for paedophilia reflect in part the difficulty of catching the swines in the first place. Bear in mind that is (as usual) the recorded rate. Leaving aside the detailed figures for a second do you think this is the crux of the matter? Innocent lives saved versus innocent lives lost?

I should say that culture makes a massive difference. Attitudes in Thailand among younger women illustrate this very well (although there is massive sex slavery in that country so don't go using it as an excuse). I don't think it's exactly crazy to use a prostitute. In concept I don't see how it's much worse than being, say, a paid drugs guinea pig. Or a customer services monkey.

Thanks for getting some stats on recidivism. Can you get any on the percentages of people wrongfully sent to the gallows? I'd look myself, but you seem more efficient.

My apologies, senor.

I find them depressing. I put in the quotes just to cancel out some of their bad juju.

*Sigh*

Colrom, if it's that cheap you will be making a loss. Because keeping track of ANY cash is expensive. Putting the drugs in a big bucket is cheap and efficient! I know it wouldn't be that straight forward, though... I actually came across the following link while looking up something else. http://www.dea.gov/pubs/history/1999-2003.html Puts the DEA budget ALONE at more than 1.8 billion dollars. I haven't done the maths but i'm guessing you really could give the stuff away for nothing worlwide for the same money.

The first attempt as burning the goat took place tonite! But the damn goat is so well protected that not a single straw was burnt! I don't think you'll be able to even spot (on the live camera that is) where the fire was. One of the red ribbons was slightly damaged, but nothing else. BOO! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Points for attempted crimes!