Hurlshort

It always SOUNDS exciting. I actually thought the original Fable was a decent little adventure. I played the sequel and was enjoying it until it totally crashed on me. I've never had such a buggy game on a console, to be honest. I probably won't touch the third one just because of that. It basically corrupted my save so I could not finish the game.

I'm right there with you. I might replay a game years down the road when I've forgotten the story a bit, but story based games are typically one and done with me. JA2 and Xcom being the exceptions, but again the bulk of the game play is unique in every play through there.

To deliciousness land?

Heh, that was a pretty funny typo. Why do you buy games to irritate me, people?!?

Really? I've never heard that ever.

It sounds like you expected it to irritate me. Why would you ever buy a game with that attitude?

Pshaw, I got a 4500 on the SAT's and I was drunk, and had lost an eye the night before to an angry parakeet.

Just Space Quest 4-6? That's a shame, I'd really like to see the VGA version of 1.

I totally don't get the SAT scoring system anymore. I thought 1600 was a perfect score? I got 1130 back in the day, fairly average. I just took it the one time, I figured my grades and extracurriculars were good enough to get me where I wanted to go, and they were.

I actually hate the smell of coffee too. I've banned it from my house, my wife has to sneak out and make it in our garage when she wants some. I'm pretty unreasonable about it too, I rush down the coffee isle in the grocery store to avoid it. Burnt coffee totally clings to surfaces too. But I've never heard of any issues with second or third hand coffee odor, so there isn't much justification for my intense dislike.

I'm not sure if it would really take off in the same way. It would probably hover around the same popularity as cigars. The difference is the addiction level. Sure, people get addicted to weed, but it isn't near the same rate as cigarettes. I read in a study that something like 75% of smokers want to quit. That is insane. Basically 3 out of 4 people are not happy to be smoking, but they are addicted to it. You just don't get that with any of these other substances. If those 75% actually could stop smoking, this whole thing wouldn't be an issue. It would be too rare to warrant any real concern. Like pot, it would be something that lots of people try in High School and college, but most people stop doing when they get older, or rarely do.

Making it illegal will not work, as someone already pointed out it is a huge industry. Prohibition was also a huge failure, so I'm not sure why we would ever go down that road. I challenge the statement that it isn't still pushed as the 'cool thing to do.' There is a reason the tobacco companies give away free cigarettes on the sets of movies and TV shows. Hollywood is absolutely filled with smokers, and the rest of the US looks to those celebrities as role models. It is sad. Again, the only solution I see is a drastic shift in the culture of smoking, and maybe a drastic shift away from where folks idolize movie stars.

To be fair, those fake cigarettes were pretty goofy. I'm not sure how that replaces to coolness factor of smoking. I love Bill Hicks, but I'm not sure if a guy who died at 32 because of cancer is the best spokesperson for the cause.

I'm not being shahoozled (is that in the dictionary?) as I've always been a big anti-smoking guy. I just hate the smell, it makes me sick to be exposed to it too long. Really, all this research and evidence is simply justification for my intense dislike of cigarettes.

Geez, I better get some body armor! Did you know teachers in certain Los Angeles schools get an extra stipend that is referred to as hazard pay?

So smoking is as unpreventable as bacteria in the soil? I haven't said anything about hating smokers, I haven't even said everyone should quit. I realize is is a serious addiction. I just would like to see people never take up the habit in the first place. It just seems like a choice that has tremendous negative consequences, far outweighing any of the positives.

I'm not really sure I understand the whole "there are worse things out there to worry about" argument. I found this on a SIDS website. It was not an anti-smoking website, it was just an informative website on how to possibly present Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the leading cause of death for infants. Now the third hand smoke research is fairly new, but it could mean that even if you smoke outside, when you come back in and pick up your child, you are still exposing that child to danger. That seems pretty serious to me, and it is something that is easily prevented by not smoking at all. Also, I've never had a neighbor BBQ 12 times a day, so I'm not buying that deflection either.

Smoking is totally gross and makes me sick when I have to smell it, but big buses and trucks with bad exhaust are much much worse. Its not even close. That's kind of what I was saying, I was establishing that my perspective on smoking is fairly extreme. Despite that, I'm still trying to listen to the alternative arguments, I'm just not finding the attempts at deflection to be all that strong. The numbers on smoking have stalled in the last 10 years. They are no longer on the decline, they have been stuck at about 25% for awhile now. Did you know that the tobacco companies are also the ones that produce most of the stop smoking aids? Apparently they make an absolute killing off that stuff.

Right.. because the fact that coal-power plants in Australia are pumping out unimaginable amounts of pollution to satisfy your AC units, computers and whatever cheap polluting electronic you have - is sooo much cleaner than cigarettes. How do you justify polluting the air I breathe just because you want ice in your water? I think it's a fair argument - why not drive a hybrid car? Why choose the SUV or 4 wheeler unless it has an actual purpose. Why not promote clean energy instead of building more coal or gas plants? If it's so important to have clean air that you are stabbing at smokers, why not do something that really makes a difference? Society does make steps towards cleaner technology. It has to be cost effective, of course. If you ruin the economy while trying to save the environment, then you are just creating more problems. Again, all these things you folks keep throwing out serve an actual purpose to society, even the BBQ. Wood burning fireplaces are a good example, most of the cities in our area no longer allow you to build them. All new construction has to choose a different alternative, such as gas fireplaces. We also have save the air days where you are not allowed to use wood burning fireplaces, and there are restrictions on the wood you can burn. The idea is that eventually everyone will simply move towards a different heat source that does not have such an environmental impact. I would like the same thing to happen with smoking. Move away from the habit because it is simply unhealthy. Change the whole culture around it so people do not even start. I'm not talking about making it illegal or shooting anyone who smokes, that wouldn't even work.

Again, the car and other general smog pollution argument has a flaw in that they serve an important function in our society. I'm not a fan of car exhaust either, but I put up with it because everybody benefits from them. I'm also not talking about banning smoking or whatever. I really want to figure out why people even start smoking and figure out how we can change the entire culture of it. I mean, we used to store toothpaste in lead tubes, but when the health concerns came out, people stopped using them. It just seems like a completely insane habit to ever pick up. It's bad for you, it's bad for people near you, and it's even bad for the people that come in after you've left. What is the appeal there?

Hey, I did attach a disclaimer

I'm paranoid about how that might affect my save when I import it to ME3.

That is good to hear about the publishers.

I did feel pretty guilty whenever a planet hit the depleted mark. I'd feel better if these were resources that replenish over time or something. Ah well, it's not cheap to research new ammo carrying pockets on your armor, I guess. Realistically, you are probably just scraping the surface area resources with your probes. They probably still have plenty underground. That makes me sleep better. I drink your milkshake!

That item spam thing is the reason I absolutely love the ME2 system. Graphically, I believe DA looks a bit obsolete because of the extended development cycle. It's just a guess, but I bet DA2 will look a lot cleaner. That's what seems to have happened with ME to ME2.