taks

the two best beers on the planet are odell's 90 schilling and bristol brewing's laughing lab. both are scottish ales hand crafted in colorado (laughing lab is brewed in colorado springs, btw). otherwise, it is bacardi and coke all day. i'll be having my share tonight, btw. taks

what dhruin said... really, FPS games are NOT CRPG games. not in the least. the amount of side tasks devoted to things other than graphics in a CRPG are astounding. constant checks on every NPC or trigger in the area among other things. not so with FPS games. sure, they have AI, but they don't carry around the luggage of all the previous conversations you've had, nor your associations, or demeanor, or... got it? in other words, there just aren't as many CPU cycles to devote to a CRPG's graphics as there with a FPU. unfortunate, and it won't ever be solved. as graphics engines advance, so do the requirements for the rest of the game. CRPGs will likely always lag behind the latest and greatest available FPS. taks

nope, i don't care. when you take a crappy job, you have to expect crap in return. i put up with all sorts of hell to make it through my degrees, and never walked out and demonstrated such immaturity. most people that take such jobs that are doing just that, have a higher level of professionalism than demonstrated here. based on some of the comments down the list, their problems with this manager were unique. perhaps they were the problem, not the victims. based on the comments i read, they were being treated exactly as minimum wage employees pouring coffee should expect to be treated. like it or not, the customer IS always right and in the end, nobody was forcing them to work there. i.e. leave, in a professional manner, if you don't like the job. in their note they said "you should have thought more about your staff than your business." i ask, since when is a company there to provide jobs? a company exists solely for the purpose of providing a service or good. it is not only the boss' right to look out for the businees it is his JOB. taks

yeah, it totally sucks when people are only paid a slave wage to pour coffee all day and earn tips for doing nothing. no skills required, just pour coffee... why don't those employees a) learn a skill, b) learn a trade, c) get an education and d) quit complaining about getting paid exactly what their existing skills are worth: nothing. if the job were worth so much more, i'd bet not just any idiot that has the penmanship of a first grade child could get hired. taks

OK, so guys can't spoon... what's the beef? uh, yeah... sure. taks

turns out isaac hayes had a stroke in january, and probably was not even capable of "quitting" the show. it seems someone on the dark side of the scientology world (er, yeah, all of 'em) actually issued the statement. apparently he was a bit perturbed by what he saw as a misrepresentation of scientology, but was not interested in quitting over it (remember, it originally aired last fall). the ironic part is he defended scientology in the fall for not practicing such antics, yet here someone goes and quits the show for him, without consulting his actual opinion in the first place. maybe, if he recovers, he'll see the fools for what they really are: con artists running a cult. taks

michael jackson is fleeing. i coulda swore george clooney was going to flee after the last election, or was it sean penn? oh well, it must've been a dream. this is true. actually, if you look at history, the policy has been pretty consistent, albeit perhaps a little manic as you suggest. even our economic direction has remained largely unchanged. liberties slowly erode under republican and democrat leaders alike. it doesn't matter who's in office, as the only difference is which side is complaining about it. taks

in small communities there is more work than people to do the work. there is a surplus of jobs. it's a matter of efficiency - one person is required to do many jobs for only 10 people, but the same one person can probably also do it for 100 or more. the need for work does not increase 1:1 with population. small communities also get around the demand issue, as you noted, because they're struggling for needs, not desires. hehe... yes, that, too. taks

but that's capitalism, not communism. so my point stands. i just skimmed meta, so apologies if i did not read deep enough to see your full intent. taks

hey guys... everyone knows i'm the neighborhood uber steroidal capitalist cheerleader, so i'm not going to go into any comparisons for the moment or even good v. bad arguments. however, one point that has been missed is that communism does not fail because of the people that implement it. that is a fallacy. most people in any communist/socialist (by most i mean 99.99999%) actually strive hard to make them work. unfortunately, communism fails because it has no mechanism to adjust for demand. capitalism adjusts for demand automatically by adjusting prices. something is in demand, prices go up. less demand results in reduced prices. also note, that socialism and communism are identical in an economic sense. the only difference is communism claims that the government is only necessary till utopia is reached, at which point the government will be done away with. socialism does not lie like that and maintains that the tyranny will be required forever. taks

women are anti-technology. taks

i don't think the same problems occured with the guy that did it... i only saw him, btw, not the whole show. it seems maybe i did see the result as "plausible", but it's been a while. taks

what!!!!??? i doth protest! taks

hey, upsets happen all the time. that's why they have the word upset! you know, as well as the US team has been performing the last few years or so, you'd think we'd have a stronger professional scene over here. it's just not so. too bad. i grew up in a place where there are more soccer fields than baseball fields (st. louis, MO) and kids learn how to kick a ball before batting one. soccer is actually nationally bigger than baseball with children (probably because it is cheaper), yet once we get out of high school... no more interest. oh well. thankfully, from a child raising stand point, colorado is big on soccer, too. taks

i hate those machines they put jagermeister in to give you on-demand, crisp, cool satisfying jager shots. those damn liquor peddlers! death in a shot glass i tell you. i blame that machine for all my problems since running that bar while working on my degree... taks

no, it does matter, in spite of what anybody claims otherwise. there are reasons, some for the better and others not so much better. btw, conservatism is not necessarily = narrow mind. one of the failures of liberalism is labelling conservatives either narrow minded, or lacking in compassion. neither is really true, unless you're looking at it from the other end of the spectrum. it gets worse when you consider about 60-70% of the population (in the US at least) really don't fit in the completely liberal or conservative camps... taks

seems i recall them doing the water torture thing on mythbusters and it was annoying, but nothing major. the hardest part was lying there without being able to move. taks

maybe... really hard to say. historically, liberalism and conservatism do seem to cycle. taks

yes. and i'm not sure it is "international law in a criminal court", either. i'm not actually sure they've ever said one way or another, for that matter. taks PS: sammael, i had forgotten you were from the area. i'm sorry for what you must be going through... do you intend to stay should the radicals regain power? it is amazing that after all the death there are still those that think such fanaticism is a good thing. i'm sorry, it is not amazing, it is a shame. i wish you the best of luck.

i wasn't specifically accusing you of making that statement, though it certainly could have been implied (both that i was accusing you and that you were implying that). we - the average joe american - probably know more than you give us credit for. we are not stupid nor do we blindly watch CNN and believe it all... war is pretty well known everywhere in the world, and we all know neither side fully obeys the "rules of war" (sort of a jokish idea, too). hehe... i would put forth that you are more than wrong with that statement. taks

because the phrase "cheese eatin' surrender monkeys" is just so danged funny... and at the expense of the french no less! taks

while i certainly understand your position and agree that headlines as you've pointed out serve little good, i disagree with the "one actor" position. in the end, a leader is responsible for the actions of his subordinates. this works with countries as well as individual businesses. ken lay, of enron fame, should be held accountable for his underlings as much as milosevic should. he was in charge, and he had the ultimate power to stop the bloodshed. nor does the "both sides" argument hold. should travesties have occurred on the "other side" they too should be held accountable, but any attempt to excuse milosevic because of this laughable. two wrongs do not justify themselves. taks

i agree it is only because of WW2. never doubted that. the reasoning, btw, is that veterans are still alive as are their children and grand-children. the only descendant i know that actually tells stories from his grandfather, has nothing but contempt for the french. either way, who cares, poking fun at the cheese eatin' surrender monkeys is a hoot! taks

that's the crux of the military vs. political outcome of a war. militarily, we were 20:1 (our 1, their 20) in terms of casualties - including equipment losses. politically, well, we're still having the discussion, aren't we! taks

unfortunately, the "objectives" were not very well defined, IMO, nor were the reasons. and, meshugger, i think your statement is probably spot on. defining the term "loss" for a war (uh, "military action") is difficult. militarily, the US did not lose, not even close. politically, they lost big-time. right or not, the last one is the important one. taks