Aristes

I personally have a remarkable lack of concern about gays in the military one way or the other. There are homosexuals in the US military, and they serve bravely and well. The question is, what effect would the full integration have on combat readiness? I don't think a lot, but that's a touchy subject. So, sure, it's perfectly legit to cite the Australian study as long as we don't assume it answers every question about the effect on the US military which, whether you like the US or not, is the most potent in the world. However, I think that the nature of military service varies greatly from country to country. Yes, there are remarkable similarities, but there are also differences. I suspect that homosexuals could be fully integrated into the US military without a problem, but I don't think that the integration in the UK or Australia has a huge bearing on that. On the other hand, I guess it does provide supporting evidence. There is a distinction between race, sex, or other innate qualities and homosexuality, manner of dress, or other chosen activities. Even assuming that homosexuality is a genetic trait, the act of sex is still a decision. As such, I count it as a chosen quality. With that said, there is no equivalency between forcing dress compliance and condoning racial bigotry. You are able to choose how you dress. You can't change your skin color. There is no such thing as "don't ask, don't tell" in regards to hispanic heritage. For all of my internal back and forth on the issue, however, I have two observations about the issues in this thread. 1) I'm not sold either way in terms of how the school should treat cross dressing. 2) I'm very much for fully integrating homosexuals into the military.

Now now, MCs, don't go duking it out. Wait, am I painting a bullseye on my forehead by saying that? Anyhow, I see most of the recent stuff as positive. As usual, I've avoided the links except where folks have sent them to me personally. On the other hand, I do plan on downloading the character generator on the 13th. I can't see how it can be spoilerish and it might really help me glean some info about the game without spoiling the story.

I haven't been up to playing much until recently. The only gaming I've done is facebook stuff and WoW with guildies. I'm feeling pretty damned chipper recently, though, and so I think I might finish off my game of Fallout 2.

I think the latest episode was the weakest, but it was still quite good. I'm surprised that there haven't been more moments of head scratching wonder so far. They've done a good job. I'm curious to see where they go from here and this show has moved to one of the ones I makes sure I watch the week I record it.

Are you saying they don't exist? When people tell me that liberals are the source of all evil and Obama is the anti-christ it leads me to believe they don't exactly have a genius IQ. I'm not saying democrats don't have their share of crazies ("Bush will be dictator for life!" people) but some people definitly are nuts. No, doofus, I'm saying that you don't have to be a right wing nut to think the award is just plain nuts. I know a lot of right wing nuts. I also know a lot of right wing rational people, just like I know lefty nuts and left wing rational people. It's fairly hard to get me personally riled about politics, but I do see a lot of political decisions and either scratch my head or even rail against them. EDIT: And I see Wrathie pretty much answered correctly for me.

I'm not that damned old!

Your point is the strongest for the school, GD. ...And you're right, numbered one, a lot of Americans think first and foremost "does this take away someone's (and therefor my) freedom?" We really do make it all about personal freedom, even when it might not be appropriate. Still, that's pretty much our character, at least for many of us. I do believe the child is merely acting out, which is to say that he really does not have any sort of driving need to dress like a 'girl.' That being the case, I suppose that the school is well within its rights to force compliance. The only confusing question I have is, what constitutes reasonable. I don't think it's as hopeless to define as numbers, but I do agree that it's quite hard to pin down and that what is reasonable does change. For example, what was reasonable in terms of personal attire was quite different when I was going to high school than right now. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that folks like Moose and Guard Dog make a strong case for the school stepping in, not because they want to punish personal expression, but because there is always some tension when our individual freedom comes into conflict with the confines of society.

This is absolutely incredible. It is offensively calculating and political. "Right wing nuts?" What rational person can take this decision seriously?

Hey, I just want some music. The other ideas are good also, but the radio was a lot of fun. I do think that having the "alternative" radio station not being a complete farce would be good also. The enclave thing was just frustrating to me. Maybe a little time consuming to implement in practice, though.

I guess one of my problems with it is that girls don't suffer harrassment for dressing like boys. In fact, I seriously doubt there is any such distinction as a girl dressing like a "boy" in school. The other thing is, where do we draw the line? Is wearing pink okay for a boy but wearing a pink blouse is not? A brief case but not a purse? Yeah, I think the kid is probably acting out, although maybe he does enjoy dressing like a "girl" for its own sake. That still doesn't seem to indicate to me that he should not be allowed to do it. Of course, Moose's point about the fine print makes sense. I don't really think the school is bad inasmuchas they're simply trying to do what they think is best for the student body.

I know I'll probably regret posting this, but I'm just kind of confused as to how I feel about this story. On one hand, I think the school has a point in that it's probably disruptive. On the other hand, my sense of personal freedom inclines me to think that the boy should be allowed to dress as he desires as long as he conforms to basic and common sense guidelines, such as not running around the school nude etc. http://news.aol.com/article/georgia-school...scobar%2F707800

You know, I was fairly sceptical of LOST when I first saw it also, but it has its good points. First of all, while I get really tired of some of the shennanigans, in particular with weird story curves and distracting mental games and the like, some of the LOST episodes are the best tv I've ever seen. The drinking game is probably one of my favorite tv experiences. I know there is an element of subjective taste involved, but technically LOST does some really innovative things with some of the scenes. For example, the flash forward at the end of... season 4? Well, that flash forward was extremely well done and it's hard to pull off a flash forward in a tv episode. Most don't even try. To be honest, I enjoy Fringe, Flash Forward, and LOST altogether. I think Flash Forward caught my attention best right out of the box, but there's something good about each of them. Even Fringe has really grown on me. It had a shaky start, but I think they've done a great job developing the show. The story is disjointed, but it's really meant to be more of an X-files sort of show as opposed to one strong central theme, which is how I see Flash Forward and LOST. I find it interesting that Flash Forward will only have 12 episodes each season. I didn't even know that until I saw your post, Krez. It has done a great job. Just enough of silly mind games like LOST to pique my interest, but not so many or over the top to be distracting. The end of the second episode with Charlie giving just that little detail about her vision literally caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end, which was cool. ...And then I laughed at myself about it, which was even better.

I actually think Killian has a point in that, assuming he's right about the PC team being done, Bioware couldn't really do new things with the content. If they created new content at that point, it would probably have screwed up the QA timeline for what they already had done. I'm not a big fan of DLC. I had a great time with FO3, but I didn't buy any of the DLC. On the other hand, I figure businesses will try different things to make money. I don't have any doubt that DLC will remain popular. I'm just hoping for the least offensive manifestation of DLC possible, which means honest to goodness addon packs and not $1 horse armor or PCs that are completely nerfed unless the consumer spends cash for basic goodies. Really, DLC doesn't strike me as any more of a gimmick than pre-order specials or collector's editions.

I finished the last of my Penicillin this morning. That's been 2k mg a day for the last ten days. Woo Hoo! I can actually try that cognac and tea now also if I wanted. Seriously, though, I should document my experiences in the Standardized Health care thread, the good, the bad, and the ugly. For instance, my doctor actually made personal phone calls to me twice on her day off to see how I was doing, which I thought was cool. On the other hand, it's cheaper to go to Urgent Care than the Emergency room so my innate cheapness overruled my pain avoidance and so I spent an additional night in relentless pain for no reason, especially since Urgent Care did a test and shipped me immediately off to the emergency room anyhow. haha Altogether, the experience reinforces my feelings that I love my health care coverage. Especially since I had very minor out of pocket expenses. To be candid, however, I think that a couple of my experiences actually help argue for the standardized care. I'm not for it, but fair is fair. As for you, Hurlie, I wish I had gone to the emergency room when I first felt sick and been told that I only had gas than to wait like I did like a damned fool and end up having my appendix burst. Let me tell you, the pain of the operation was nothing compared to the agony I was in by the time I finally threw in the towel and went to urgent care.

I'm actually much more optimistic about FF than Fringe. LOST is a bit much for me, really. I do think it's over-rated, but it's still quite fun to kabitz about it with diehard fans.

Good Lord, you sold your firearms, Aram? ...And you're a reverend? Holy cow, man! Maybe Gftd is right about the apocalypse thing.

First time I've poked my head into the DA:O thread in about a month and this is what I see. Great job, MaCa! Huzzah! Now that AP has been put on indefinite hold, I'm even more stoked for DA. My only question is, they must be pretty sure of their progress QA-wise to say that you'll be able to use the character you create in the finished product. It must be getting pretty damned near completion at this point.

Hey, Slug, Just ask her out to something neutral like coffee or something. Easy, noncommittal, and if things go well, you could ask for something more substantial like dinner and a movie or whatnot. Always worked for me, even though I was never actually trying to date (being married). Go for it, dude! Seriously, as long as you don't completely throw yourself out there, it shouldn't be too awkward. Of course, eventually you'll have to take a real chance and ask her out on a genyoueyen date. As for myself, after my burst appendix and a subsequent super strain of strep, I'm told I should be more or less back to normal in about a month. Last night was the first night I had a more or less unbroken night of sleep in over a month and today I actually feel well enough to do some laundry. Poor me. I've been a sick, sick man.

lol That was terrible. I think I may be scarred for life!

I don't care about a potential savings of some 5 bucks or so. If I have to spend more than a half hour or so looking for prices, most of the time it wasn't worth the delay anyhow. If you add in actually visiting RL storefronts, forget it. Like it's worth my time to drive to several stores pricing something. As long as the price falls within the reasonable zone, I don't care. On the other hand, I do sometimes pick up games if there's a good deal. Like Dark Corners when Wrath made that thread a while back. However, I rarely pre-order these days. I dither so much about buying new games over the past few years that I don't like to order or purchase one unless I know I'm going to have time to use it. ...And my life is so hectic that I really don't usually know if I'll have the opportunity to play a game month to month. I don't plan on pre-ordering AP. I'm looking forward to the release, but it's doesn't matter to me personally if it comes out in October of this year or next. Sure, I'd like Obsidian to do well, but that sort of stuff is out of my hands anyhow. All I can do is purchase the game when it's released and get to it as soon as I can.

I saw the first episode twice. I was too ill to follow it much the first time, but I DVRed the encore showing and I thought it was pretty solid on the second try. I like it more than I did Fringe, and Fringe didn't really catch on for me until midway through season 1. I'm actually not a huge LOST fan, but I do enjoy the show mostly so I can chat with folks about it. This one looks like it will be at least as good for chatting with friends, so I'm happy. Hey, no Kate or Jack is a big plus for me. We need at least a few episodes to get a real feel for the characters, though. It's funny how LOST managed to develop the characters so well over the course of five seasons. I was actually bummed when I think it's a good sign when a tv show actually inspires me to care about the characters or even think about them between showings. We just need time to see if Flash Forward can do the same thing.

This was great. Something to brighten my day, for sure. I especially like the little line right at the end where he says, "I hate grues."

Sadly, I can't participate in the debate, but I'm glad to see you guys are still giving each other hell. For my part, in what is truly a message board irony, about the time that I started in on the discussion here, about 2 weeks ago, my appendix burst. There's a really long and stupid story involved here, but the upshot is, they discovered my appendicitis on Wednesday and took it out in the wee hours of Wednesday night Thursday morning. Pain after the operation, incision and all, is nothing when compared to the suffering before the operation. Anyhow, I just thought I'd check in so folks could get a good laugh at my expense.

I would still have rejected the 40x idea, Theseus. I dislike the idea of someone putting such a cap on folks. However, I would say that I'm not against slapping restrictions on folks who game the system. I mean, there is a system and folks do game it. On the flip side, I would not have gone hostile if I had read 40x. 40k more really did bother me because 40k almost always means the difference between specialized and often expensive training in a profession. Even if the state completely paid for the education of every doctor, that would still be a massive investment of time. So, yeah, I saw 40k and that was a particularly onerous number to me. Oh, and I know the system in England pretty well, so it wasn't an off the cuff remark. I actually even know the arguments between the British and Canadian systems about as well as most laymen, I would think. As for you, Walsh, I'll plead a tummy ache and flee for a bit. Just wanted to make peace with Theseus when I saw what had happened.

So, one man can't make more than 40k a year than the 'common man?' Hey, Theseus, argue for UHC. In America, nothing will galvanize the opposition like your arguments. For what it's worth, I hate the very idea of the Canadian model. I would much rather have the British model, with all its warts, than a government monopoly. And rich Canadians can still come to the United States if they have the money. If they have the money, why shouldn't they? ...And why is it evil for one person to make more than another? If someone takes risks that pan out in a free market system, he makes more money. If someone takes risks that fail, he makes less. Hey, I have an idea, let's legislate that doctors can make no more money than unskilled field labor? We'll have a law that civil engineers can't make more than construction day laborers. ...And then, since no one can make more than another, we'll give the same amount of money to any doctor regardless of his ability. I think using healthcare to lower the denominator is stupid and frightening. I don't think the SCotUS would stand for it. Saying that it's unfair for someone to pay for better healthcare is so wrongminded that I cannot properly express my disdain. The very idea is hateful and I don't think we'll end up there.