Walsingham

Most diseases only kill about 70% of the existing population, then the density gets too low, and those with immunity survive. Don't forget that rats beneath many UK cities still carry _the_ plague bacillus. I feel I should add that I'm all for keeping animals. I don't simply say nuts to them. I think tigers and rhinos and platypi are inspirational. Moreover I have friends who work as game rangers and they routinely shoot people to protect the animals. I have no problem with that. However, as a general rule I believe in the paramount importance of the Human race.

"They have M-16s and are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will," Kathleen Blanco said. Er... excuse me while I wet myself with glee. I'd rather have 300 'logistics-tested' men than 300 'battle-tested'.

I don't agree that freedom of speech is an absolute. What about incitement to riot? What about getting in a pulpit and demanding the extermination of another 'race'? Freedom of speech is not an end in itself. It is a means to the end of securing a just society in which basic human rights are respected. It is prized where it permits persons to complain when their rights are abused. It is (IMO) correctly reviled where it permits persons to call for the the abuse of those rights. One can argue that where views are particularly repellent tehn they will be mocked and disregarded without the assistance of the law. But as we have found in the UK, with our dissident Muslim preachers this is not necessarily the case. Moreover there is the arguement that the ostensible victims of such abuse should have no obligation to suffer the anxiety and offence of such attacks.

If we foreigners think we can just laugh this one out we should bear in mind a couple of facts: 1) A lack of foreign assistance could sour domestic US attitudes to the 'outside' world. 2) The affected states contain several refineries. High gas prices and shortages thus resulting will affect the US economy. When the US economy sniffles, we get shivers. 3) Louisiana is a transhipment point for much of the USA's grain and other exports. Harvest begins in a couple of weeks. 4) With SA down, we may have to start reviewing our own Hentai dating games. We need to act swiftly and decisively. I vote for sending in bands of chirpy ****neys to infuse the yanks with Blitz spirit.

The environments in NWN seem so flat, though. And repetitive. Or have I simply been biased by the official campaign?

No gradations? You kill millions of bacteria every time you wash your hair! Or is it only multi-cellular organisms?

Sad story.

The 5th Element was one of of my top 3 best movies ever. Speaking of fast moving zombies, the sequel to 28 Days Later is set for filming next year. Should be good.

You could have zombies, but filming on flooded sets would be hugely expensive and irritating. And it's Hobbes who felt we were naturally anarchic savages.

I currently have access to editors for Arcanum, NWN, and Morrowind. I am no computer programmer. I want to know which of these editors is the best, in your opinion, to learn. And if anyone would be interested in a small joint project. possibly a tavern, military outpost, or brothel.

Yes, blunt weapons are essential. Unless they are zombies, I think. Fire probably works. Go out and rent Army of Darkness. It probably won't help, but it has Bruce Campbell.

Anyone who feels humanity is worthless, and is a human themselves is ipso facto worthless by their own arguement. I therefore have no compunction in ignoring said arguement.

If Greece gave you everything, how come you're so unhip to long lunches and homosexuality? :D Seriously though, Uncle sam has done more than his fair share for freedom. Not uniformly, I'll grant you, but more than most. I mean consider the competition among nations of comparable power - Britain, France, Russia, China to name a few.

Why are we so hung up on the looting? A bunch of people who had been shafted by the hurricane dash out and try to come out ahead by squirreling away a couple of TVs. Big deal. I'm a fairly law-abiding citizen, and even I'd have a crack at it under the same circumstances. BTW, looting of food isn't going to help for long.

*giggles to self* Poke! Pokepoke!

He didn't have any comments about the hurricane. Just a bunch of ranting about medicinal marijuana.

Hold on a minute. Doesn't the very fact that we humans can appreciate and mourn the extinction of another species make us special? As Peter Cook once said "Save the whales! Save the whales? I don't recall any whales rallying round us when our shores were threatened by Nazism." A human life has immense potential. You or I could shape the world, write music to inspire millions, plumb the deepest mysteries of physics, or comprehend reality in totally unexpected ways while simply eating an orange. What can a tiger do? It can be a tiger. Any sense of beauty or majesty only adheres to the damned animal because we say it does.

You do realise you can save before any battle and reload, don't you? " <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It's true. If you have slim odds, you can just keep re-running the fight until you win. Another point to bear in mind with tough guys is to take in two ranged weaponeers, and one fast bloke. He runs towards the undead, and lures one ro two towards your weaponeers. They pelt the slow moving undead and stay one step ahead of them. Keep going until dead. A second tactic is to use a stealthed thief to act as a spotter for area damage spells. Hope that helps.

I think it is fair to say we aren't going to shift one another's views today, and have explored our stands quite enough. I propose we move on from this debating point in a gentlemanly fashion.

Riiiight. So the fact that we have actually mastered nature in many respects, are self-aware, empathise with one-another's suffering. Build things visible from space, and may one day spread to other planets ...puts us on the same level as a whelk. I tell you what. Later on I am going to find two ants. I will kill these ants unless you kill yourself. Since you hold human life to be equivalent, surely this is a fair exchange? NOTE: even if you are crazy enough to do this, please don't.

Reveilled, I understood your description better this time. However, in future, having a bullet point summary followed by more detailed descriptions could make it easier on people struggling to catch up with four pages of posts. My view: 1. Two democratically elected houses is daft. Any trend towards electing fascists or others in one house will be replicated in the other. You are simply paying for more staff. 2. Democracy and the right to vote are essential to the preservation of human rights Deprive an individual of the capacity to vote and you deprive them of the capacity to peacefully defend against abuse of their rights and wellbeing. I have said this before and stand by it. HOWEVER 3. Practically speaking I believe that a test for suffrage is good. A universally accessible - if not easy - test of commitment to working with others, and an experience of humility and service, can only have a beneficial effect on those who possess the right to vote. What I do not like is the fact that my friends neighbours' kids routinely smash stuff, smear faces on her door, and they will in six months time be accorded the same weight in deciding the government of this country as I do. Ditto for the rich brat wasters stroking one another's egos in London's bistros. I am not talking about demanding that before people can vote they must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring. Just a year's work in minimal comfort, under supervised discipline doing a bit of hard work or unpleasant tasks.

Yah, OK. Scientific notion for you, hotshot. If Christianity is to blame for people behaving like twits, then why is it people of every religion and stripe have behaved in similar ways? I am also suprised, for a scholar of Christianity that you seem determined to ignore the many wonderful kind and altruistic things that Christians have done.

Classic there, Ender. And you chaps should bear in mind Afghanistan more when discussing Iraq. We haven't coughed up enough of the dough we promised them, but the work there is making steady modest progress. And people I have spoken to out there are hungry, afraid of foreign domination, and scared of violence, but they have hope for teh future. they are determined to move forward and make life better for themselves. And universally they acknowledge it would not be possible to do so if we had not invaded, and if we weren't assisting them, and trying to provide as much security as possible. We're talking about ten years for either country becoming healthy being a bloody miracle, but it will be well worth it. BTW, julianw, if you think it was us who reduced Afghanistan to the bombed-out wasteland it is now you need to check your facts. Two prime suspects to get you started: the Soviet Union, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Volo you're a SCREAM! How do you come up with stuff like that!? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Er.. I believe Montgomery Burns said it first, and best. "Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she's losing. Well I say, hard cheese." -- Mr. Burns And I agree with Eldar. It is not OK to uniformly denigrate a massive religion. Criticise persons who ascribe to the religion because there are bpeople who adhere to it and are vicious, ignorant, and hypocritical and not only are you essentially just criticising vicious brutal ignorant people (not christians), but YOU are almost certainly being a hypocrite. This is about Ma Nature, not your desperate pleas for attention.

Tired. Going to sleep. Apologies for missing extant points. If you want me to get them tomorrow please bullet them for my poor brain.