random n00b

So, what you're saying is that individual rights should mean nothing if the state believes there's some random good reason to step on them. Woohoo! I like the way you think. The difference between all those and this particular case is that the parents were potentially raising a future nazi, but no action had been taken that affected OTHER people YET. That's where the state stops working towards egalitarianism and becomes Thinkpol. Your willingness to have your criterion replaced by whatever society deems "correct" at any given time isn't shared by everyone, fortunately. Wrong. It's based upon two idealistic dogmas, both closely related. First, the idea that the state can do whatever it sees fit to pursue a policy of absolute "equality", which in turn, is only possible if the Rule of Law stops applying to it - this potentially renders every other single individual freedom meaningless. That's why we have a system, you know? To avoid individual (and collective) excesses. The second idea is that the state must do whatever it takes to ensure social equality, for everyone, at any cost. That simply doesn't work, it's Utopia. If a balance between welfare and individual freedoms is to be had, inequalities will always exist. Yes, it's a shame that some children will have to grow up under terrible but law-abiding parents, but no system is perfect and it ultimately comes down to the proverbial lesser of two evils. THAT is rational, refusing to accept the shortcomings of an imperfect system and aim for the unattainable is NOT. That's all good however since all attempts to apply those ideas to the real world have been met with outstanding success, right?

The Constitution is the only one that has any enforceability value locally. National Sovereignty. By that rationale, you can also lose your right to live, since cops can gun you down. Flimsy. The fact that a right isn't a fundamental human right does not give the state carte blanche to violate it arbitrarily, which is the concept that you don't seem to grasp. Keep the emotionally-charged blather out of this, please. There's a reason why the state must circumscribe its actions to what is prescribed by law. No amount of appeals to emotion justify an exception to this rule. "Being terrible parents" isn't a crime by itself.

Hahaha. Are you familiar with the concept of "Rule of Law"? The state can't act in excess of legislation in any case. The right to breathe isn't mentioned specifically in the Constitution, either. That means **** and has zero to do with this. Should parents be made to submit to adoption screenings and in the case of failure, have their children taken away?

And yet, correlation does not imply causation.

When the state starts telling people what they can and what they can't teach to their children, it is a Bad Thing.

In a world where the quantity/quality of your marketing is as important as the quality of the product you're selling (if not more), that simply doesn't work. Such as?

I'm going to quote myself from the other thread - I'm just that lazy. Wow, I hadn't read that at first. Anyway, in this case it's not only the industry being greedy that pisses me off, that's to be expected. It's the mindboggling decisions made by jurists. "Viacom also requested YouTube's source code, the code for identifying repeat copyright infringement uploads, copies of all videos marked private, and Google's advertising database schema." It was denied. But I think there's something definitely wrong with a system that allows them to request to violate privacy in such a scale and in a systematic manner. That's the kind of thing that encourages me to download stuff illegally, even if I have no intention of watching/playing/listening to it. Great job.

lol n00bs Until you have fired a nuke-tipped 155mm howitzer, you haven't been shooting.

Wow, I hadn't read that at first. Anyway, in this case it's not only the industry being greedy that pisses me off, that's to be expected. It's the mindboggling decisions made by jurists. "Viacom also requested YouTube's source code, the code for identifying repeat copyright infringement uploads, copies of all videos marked private, and Google's advertising database schema." It was denied. But I think there's something definitely wrong with a system that allows them to request to violate privacy in such a scale and in a systematic manner. That's the kind of thing that encourages me to download stuff illegally, even if I have no intention of watching/playing/listening to it. Great job.

That's interesting. I'm not sure if that can be so clearly established as the cause for the gains of Linux, however. Mac, I'm not really up to date to comment.

Hey, nice! I quite liked the BG1NPC pack, so I'll definitely give this one a go.

With the advent of USB input devices, that is not the case anymore. I play ssf2t (best 2d fighting game EVER) quite a bit on the PC with a PS2 controller this way. And, for FPSs, I guess it's a matter of what you are used to. I remember the first time I had to use a mouse to control a FPS, it didn't come quite naturally. Of course, what dev wants to stamp "THIS GAME REQUIRES A GAMEPAD" on their PC game? O noes! It'll throw casual gamers off!

That sounds dangerously like somebody who has narcissism, antisocial personality disorder or generic 'psychopathy'... though I suppose such personality disorders would likely be all but required to score 'evil' on such a test. So all moral relativists are messed up in the head, then? Interesting theory, professor. Somehow, the value of a test such as this as a diagnosis tool doesn't quite convince me.

You offend me good sir!

Certainly not love and peace. These fellows were in power: Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Franco. Hindsight FTW

No, no. Those are natural scores, before level or race modifiers apply. It's intentional, given how stats are calculated. The test also seems to have a something of a bias towards certain classes. Lots of casters, but did anyone get monk or barbarian? Yeah, I meant you had actually been modest... I guess that didn't come off as I intended.

Wouldn't be surprised if they ended up porting it to the 360...

Again, when said "hunting rifle" could be used to shoot down aircraft, the difference becomes less and less substantial. Aside from gun fairs in the US, doesn't that comment apply just as well to American gun culture? I wouldn't know since I've not lived there, but from what folks say, it's not as rampant as us Euro Commies (have been led to) believe.

Haha, yeah. Some probably took the "don't be modest" line in the FAQ a tad too literally. INT 18 being upper ~1% or more, DEX 18 being olympic athlete-level agility and coordination, etc. These ARE heroic stats, after all, though. It's your "4d6 self". I don't understand the rationale behind allowing natural values of 19-20, though. ...and then some folks obviously didn't read that line at all.

Operation Flashpoint, SWAT, R6, etc... All you really need is a good set of tools to control and order your squaddies around. Perspective is irrelevant - unless what you want is not squadmates, but multiple *player* characters.

I hate dubbing. Not only you don't get to appreciate the original actor's inflections and skill, also a lot of "cultural" stuff is lost, and replaced by stuff that sometimes makes very little sense if at all. In my eyes, it's quite disrespectful to the original work. Not to mention, here in Spain it was used as a tool of censorship during the dictatorship period. Nobody I know would be willing to give up dubbing, the lazy asses. Suckage. I don't know if I expect immigrants to become undistinguishable with natives, but I sure as hell expect them not to force *their* customs and way of life on ours. Of course, this leads to lack of integration, ghetto creation and all-around tensions. And of course, lots of accusations of racism and xenophobia flying around.

Ya, well. Sharp wit just don't cut it sometimes.

Age? Yes. From the FAQ: "8. How does the survey determine my level? Level is based purely on the age range and level of life experience (last two questions)."

That probably means I can't cast fo shizzle. It's no wonder that no matter how madly I gesture at people, my magic missile keeps fizzling. Wait, Gorth got 20 INT? Isn't 18 max for humans? OMG HAX Funny li'l quiz.