taks

escape. which is enhanced when my suspension of disbelief is upheld. taks

rarely is a 76 only a C. most teachers actually break students' grades into blocks, assigning letter grades based on what turns out to be fairly natural breaks in performance. i got a D in a class once with a 69, but had an A going into the final with a 74 (of course, that teacher was a bastard, but that's another story). taks

the bush administration, nor any administration for that matter, does not have any impact on the religion/state separation issue. for that matter, bush has not passed any laws that promote any religion (nor can he since he doesn't write them), so your statement is without merit. additionally, the establishment clause is particularly directed at congress, not the president. i agree, however, that even the president should not make an attempt at favoring one religion over another. taks

btw, the point of the establishment clause has been misconstrued by everyone that ever had an axe to grind with the concept of government and religion coexisting. the _intent_ of the clause, which was one of the key ideas in the founding of our nation, was that the US would never have a state religion such as the countries our founders came from. i.e., the intent of the establishment cause was to prevent the country from telling everyone that the official religion was catholic, or lutheran, etc. taks

uh, sorry, but no. the actual clause is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." two problems with your statement... first, adding the words "under god" to an anthem hardly constitutes a law. nobody is required to say them, and the supreme court has upheld that fact. second, "an establishment" would be a church, or some other religious entity, which even this "legislation" does not offer any promotion of. now, if they had put in legislation that said "you must worship god," then yes, it would have been a law and it would likewise be unconstitutional. taks

the overall concept of christianity does not necessarily need to hinge on whether there exists some physical form of the man himself anyway. the new testament did not exist till several hundred years after christ's death (and supposed resurrection), and there's no reason it cannot be reinterpreted to mean that his physical form remained on earth. likewise the potential discovery of aliens, for example, which can easily be reinterpreted to mean we all are simply part of a larger group of "god's people." he (uh, god) never strictly said there weren't others out there for that matter. it's just read that way. it would make sense that were there to be a god, he'd probably not spend a lot of time explaining to folks about life on other planets when they don't even understand the concept of other planets to begin with. heck, the concept of other planets was originally challenged on religious grounds. taks

I doubt the atmosphere IWD's prerendered background provided could easily be matched by NWN's 3d engine. To me, those were half of the fun. they were like 90% of the grief for the artists, however. i read a post regarding the method they used to burn the images in the IE games and it was painstaking to say the least. taks

i've read that elminster's _caster_ level is anywhere from 27-29 in second edition, but in 3E he has levels in other classes (for a total of 35-36, depending upon where you read) plus the chosen status which gives him powers as well. he did do a "lay mythal" spell at one point, which requires level 41 casting apparently. of course, i suppose the idea of a 35th level edwin is really the preposterous part of it all. either way, elminster is immortal (for all intents) and possesses some god-like abilities. he'd whack any mere mortal even of higher level. taks

uh, no. never have, never will. now chinpokomon, that's a different story. just need to get my hands on a copy... taks

personally, i prefer area based scaling to some extent. i.e., certain areas are geared towards certain level players, period. if said players stumble into the area prematurely, they get treated with a can of whoop-ass and reload. this forces a little linearity in where you _should_ go, but leaves the non-linearity option there for the adventurous types that want a difficult challenge without the aforementioned scaling. of course, improved AI would help, too. the easiest way to challenge players in most games seems to be to simply give them higher level critters. a group of 10th level players can take down the occasional 20th level baddy in most games simply because the baddy has poor AI and makes the same repeated mistakes (of course, the improved dragon AI in BG2 removed that issue... oy veh!) this is a difficult task to accomplish, however. taks

hell kitty has a scary fixation on sharp objects and stabulation. :shudder: taks

yeah, i saw that. a cowardly act, but nonetheless, he was obviously a tortured soul. it is a shame that people who seemingly have it all can otherwise be so unhappy. taks

Interesting. I didnt know you could appeal a US Supreme Court decision. they didn't. this was NOT a US Supreme Court decision. it was the 9th circuit, a federal appeals court. they appealed a state ruling in a federal appeals court, which upheld a previous US Supreme Court decision (not that they could overturn it anyway). they could appeal to the US Supreme Court now, and then the US Supreme Court could overturn its previous decision, but there's not a lot you can do beyond that without different evidence. taks

every time i sit down to play a game, i get guilty that i'm not working on my school stuff, or spending time with my family, or... the list goes on. as a result, i don't get a lot of game time in these days unless my son is sitting in my lap (which ain't too bad, actually, because he rather enjoys watching). taks

he looks like a little boy in that picture. taks

then there is no further appeal possible. taks

i think sand has stepped himself into a line of reasoning he knows is bunk, yet does not know how to get out of. hehe... taks

hehehe... taks

ToB was a railroad w.r.t. linearity, but there were plenty of role-playing options (insofar as a crpg can have "role-playing" options to begin with). those options, however, did not alter the primary path in any meaningful way. most were relegated to side quests. taks

because you base your opinions on different criteria than those that are against it. an unprovable statement. certainly they are not sentient in the same sense as you and i are, but there's no way of knowing to what level their "self awareness" extends. i.e., this is still simply opinion. taks

no, i think you're right. education's benefit would be the removal of the image issue from politics. at least, it would lessen it. the masses would (eventually) make better decisions. taks

chicken. all mystery meats taste like chicken. taks

nobody in here is taking that for granted... in fact, it has been pointed out that the "optimal" solution is an informed, and educated, populace. not likely to happen for a few millenia IMO. yeah, walsh, there are high-level generalities that many (or most) tend to agree with, but it's the details of the measure of quality system that are difficult to be objective on. taks

he's the most hard-core liberal in the group. not a chance. taks

everyone seems so set on chastising bush they seem to forget this is the one area he has shone brightly with. actually, bush's economy has been an uphill ride since the bubble, which started well before he took office. i.e. he is maintaining the economy. yeah, gas prices are high, but not when you consider average inflation over the last 30 years or so (oil is a commodity, so it doesn't track normal inflation). the over-heated housing market has cooled in the regions in which is was over-heated, but everywhere else it is chugging along. and, not surprisingly, our budget deficit is actually getting smaller now... eliminating the debt, however, is next to impossible unless we maintain a power split (i.e. dem congress repub pres, vice versa). the problem with spending over bush's terms is not necessarily a bush problem, it's a one party control problem. clinton would have done the same had dems been in control then. taks