alanschu

And helped finance Japan's recovery to boot!

Ah! That would make sense. But Darth Vader is using the force to push them, so that's why he's not always pushing them!

In the past couple of years, they have discovered HUUUUUUUGE oil reserves in Oil Sands in Alberta. It skyrocketed up Canada's Oil Reserve estimates from like 5 billion barrels in 2003 to 180 billion barrels in 2004. http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/w...ntries-map.html And we just keep finding more and more. We recently found more of the coast of the maritimes, and recent analyses have shown that Alberta's Oil Sands are even more bountiful than before.

Probably. Although there are many more Open Source licenses than GPL: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/

Nope, no speed bonus in enemy territory (this was probably an overkill, but they probably wanted to prevent you from jumping on an enemies rail-line and basically zip around attacking whatever undefended city you choose). The main reason I wouldn't mind the zone of control is that it would make building fortresses actually useful. There's no point in building one unless you have precisely only one tile to get through, because the AI is never going to attack it otherwise. Also, many defensive units are rather poor at attacking, I don't want to have to stop my offensive push because some guy ran between my armies and my defensive armies didn't do anything about it. You don't need overwhelming number, and defense is not hard, I just find it too micromanaging.

There's 30 industrial nations in the world? I'm not so sure. Given the Al-Quaeda links in Afghanistan, I think people would have been going "WTF? You're attacking the wrong people!" I agree that there are some that need to be replaced, and I do agree that it's tricky business and that I don't believe anyone has the right to randomly despose of anyone either. Although it didn't seem to stop the U.S. in certain situations in South America, especially whenever a communist/socialist regime was about to give it a try. Take this from Kissinger: However, you mention a legal right of going into Iraq. I'll admit I don't follow the war too closely, but what is this legal right? I will agree that the UN is pretty ineffective. Although I blame it as much on the creation of permanent Security Council members as much as goofy bureaucracy. While I can understand why the permanent members were created, since the League of Nations was an even bigger joke, their creation has basically stymied the UNs ability to do anything, particularly with that vicious veto. Fortunately prior to the Korean War, the USSR member was not in attendance (I can't remember why, but I believe it was pretty funny), so something could be done about it. Perhaps the permanent members aren't so bad....but I don't like the veto. You could have the entire world be in favour of something, but one country says no? Boo! But it was created because countries are self-serving and would just drop out of the UN if it wasn't working for them...just like the League of Nations. I don't remember the events of Rwanda (I was still quite young at the time....still in High School if I recall, more worried about perfecting my jump shot than anything else ), but why didn't the UN intervene? Was there a goofy veto there? An international governing body is still a long ways off, given that a state still has autonomy over what goes on in its borders. The UN could penalize France, but then France just leaves the UN and tells us to bugger off. The UN does need serious reworking. It's too weak of an entity.

I only recognize Mustafar and Saleucami (assuming Saleucami is where General Greivous disappeared to). What were the other ones?

Yup yup. Are you patched? My AI characters have fetishes for mountains...I assume for it's fat defensive bonuses. They won't touch me if I'm on a mountain though (which I can understand).

I remember watching some video (history of Linux or something), where Open Source actually just means access to the source code to change stuff that you feel needs changing, but not necessarily free (although in most cases it is). I don't remember the guy's name, but he was a chubby guy with a beard and was the one that made the GNU acronym (and was particularly pleased that it was a recursive acronym).

Actually, I think the case I was most thinking of was actually Rwanda. I don't believe anyone sent troops there, despite 100,000s of people dying like hours. I'm just not convinced that the removal of Hussein is simply to remove a dictator causing genocide.

What about other dictators that go unchecked though? Wasn't it like pulling teeth getting the US involved in Kosovo and all that former Yugoslavia stuff?

Something to that effect.

Ooo lee....wakki Chewbacca "At last I have the Mighty Chewbacca" :D

Haha, that's exactly what I got the first time too!

Hey, I was here long before the release of the game too!

I like Empire Strikes Back the best. Then probably a tie between Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi. I like Return of the Jedi because I just like Luke....he's grown up, become strong in the force, and I love his plan and execution of Han Solo's rescue. Revenge of the Sith is good because Ewan McGregor rocks the kazbah, Anakin after he becomes Vader is cool, and it was great to see Yoda, and recognize just how strong he is with the Force (I mean, feeling Jedi dying across the galaxy...dude must be pretty in tune with it). Then probably A New Hope. I still get goose bumps (I seriously am getting them right now just thinking about it) during the final trench run when it's just Luke, and he's lost R2....and suddenly "I have you now!" becomes 'Yeeeehawww.' Everyone's like WTF, and suddenly "You're all clear kid, now lets blow this thing and go home. Then the music...dun, dun, dun dun dun, DUN...........KABOOOOOM! Whew, I love it. The ending of Star Wars, despite it's being pretty dated, is a fun, tense experience. "The Death Star has cleared the planet....the Death Star has Cleared the planet." "You may fire when ready." Finally, I used to hold Episode 2 in higher regard, but I just recently watched it, so I'm not sure which I dislike more, Episode 1 or Episode 2. Any Obi-Wan part in Episode 2 is (See above for Ewan McGregor comment), but any Anakin/Padme stuff is "ugh." Rolling in the hill...yeesh. Although once they're on Genosis, things are better and for the most part I don't mind the movie. Episode 1 on the other hand, has Jedi whooping-ass at the beginning...always fun. But then....enter the Jar-Jar. Combining him with Anakin ("Yipeee" ugh), and the movie is sometimes quite difficult to watch The podrace, while cool in the theaters, really drags on for a long time IMO. However, Duel of Fates is the best Star Wars track (followed by 1a: Imperial March) IMO, and the lightsaber fight against Maul is the best of the movies IMO (It probably gets bonus points since Duel of Fates is playing at the same time :D). I liked Maul's fight because it wasn't excessively acrobatic like Sidious flipping around or anything crazy in Episode 3. Although I am rather glad Anakin/Obi-Wan fight wasn't anything extreme like that either. I also liked Maul's fights because there wasn't 1000 cuts in them (which seem to be the defacto way of showing the "chaos" of a fight these days....close quarter camera use with a billion cuts so that you really don't have any idea what's going on). There were many wide-angle shots, and you could see the fight While both movies have "decent" endings, I'll give Episode 2 the nod since I find Anakin/Padme less annoying than Jar-Jar/Anny...plus the Anakin saving the day in Episode 1 was a little stretched IMO.

Yeah, don't you have to be a real religion? I took a course on non-criminal deviance at University, and part of what we studied was Scientology. I don't remember the details, but I remember it being pretty absurd and damned hilarious how it came to be.

Fair enough....but was the current US/Iraq war necessary? It seemed to me the Bush family still had a bone to pick with Saddam. He should capitilize America, but America technically is not a country, but a land mass classified as two different continents (North America and South America). If you want to be really picky, look at the name of your country. It's called the United States of America But but but, most people I have......etc. I was under the impression that most of the developed nations consider the U.S. to be arrogant. How come I always hear testimonials about U.S. citizens putting Canadian flags and stuff on their gear when travelling abroad? To play the anecodotal evidence game, family members were recognized and praised for being Canadian. Maybe Canada is the best? :D j/k I suppose I am proud of my country, but I don't hold any extreme Nationalism. I think having too much Nationalism is a bad thing, and helps perpetuate elitism. On to the Democracy debate....how did the U.S. decide to adopt their legislative assembly? I would guess (i.e. I am just shooting in the dark here) that it would probably be reflective of whatever was going on in Britain since that's what they'd be most familiar with. And when did Great Britain begin it's democratic ways. I mean, the Magna Carta was signed waaaaaaaaay back in like 1217 or something, and seems to have laid the foundation for democracy by guaranteeing the rights of man, and making the King an equal among men (that is, if by "man" you mean "white guy with money that owns land").

That was actually the suggestion I was thinking on making. I haven't had a chance to try it out since I've been quite busy with work (and forum whoring).

I wonder if they just found the old thread and said "Cool, next week then!" :D

Agreed. Up until the ending though I actually enjoyed the movie.

Well, they have known of the Sith. They probably made an erroneous mistake of thinking they were extinct. Given that Plageuis could prevent death, who knows how long he was alive...or Palpatine really for that matter.

I liked it. I thought the ending was a little rushed and weak though.

Well, they did mention a desire for a stronger female lead. Plus, I don't think she's under contract, so it's not "firing," it just not rehiring

I doubt that. None of the Jedi had ever heard of him. He's a Sith who pressumably killed his master to get where he was and he puts himself in a position where his apprentice can sneak up on him in his sleep ? I find that really hard to buy. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, you don't know if none of the Jedi had heard of him. He also didn't sound like one of those maniacal Sith that kill things for the sake of killing things. For all we know, his master died of natural causes