Colrom

I think that's a common business practice already!

It would be good if some folks would stop inciting hate by posting true and false stories of bad deeds by targeted religious and ethnic groups. :angry: We all know that there are plenty of bad actors of all kinds around. And plenty of stories which can tempt us to seeth with rage and perhaps fanatasize about vengence. :angry: But there is enough hate in play already without any additional help.

They will likely all be winners at what they choose to do best. Why in the world would anyone think there was only going to be one winner?

I recommend Grim Fandango too. Very creative and fun story! A classic!

Second - The paper involved is owned and directed by well known right wing political extremists. The National Post is owned by Hollinger Inc. which has Richard Perle as Co-Chairman and Director. Perle is aalso Director of the Jerusalem Post which is owned by Hollinger. Richard Norman Perle (born September 16, 1941 in New York City), is an advisor on national security issues who served the Reagan administration as an assistant Secretary of Defense and served on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004. He was Chairman of the Board from 2001 to 2003 under the Bush Administration. He is a member of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998 PNAC Letter sent to US President Bill Clinton. Hollinger relatively recently inherited the media network of Conrad Black. Conrad M. Black was Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Operating Officer of Hollinger International Inc.. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Nixon Center. He is married to far-right columnist and socialite Barbara Amiel [1] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1296236,00.html). Following his fall from grace with Hollinger in late 2003, Christopher Grimes and John Lloyd wrote in the London Financial Times that Black was a more effective as a conservative political advocate than a businessman. "Yet Conrad Black's business ambitions probably always ran second to his urge to be an intellectual force of conservatism. He did not want to simply own newspapers. He wanted to use them to help to reshape the political culture of his native Canada, and to influence that of the United States, Britain and Israel", they wrote. Matthew Fraser, the current editor-in-chief of Canada's National Post - a Hollinger publication - defends Black as having made a significant impact on Canadian policies. "He (Fraser) says its push for lower corporate taxes has made the issue 'legitimate'. Its criticism of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation forced the public broadcaster to be less "biased and left-wing". And its support for the invasion of Iraq, free trade and general pro-Americanism have added much-needed debate," Grimes and Lloyd wrote. However, Black became known for taking over newspapers and restructuring the different departments, resulting in job losses. Maude Barlow, the chair of the Council of Canadians, is cited by Leiterman stating Black is known to "routinely intervene in editorial policy-making". [6] (http://www.fair.org/extra/9611/conrad-black.html) Leiterman also cites Radler, Hollinger's president, as telling Maclean's (2/3/92): "If editors disagree with us they should disagree with us when they're no longer in our employ. The buck stops with ownership. I am responsible for meeting the payroll; therefore I will ultimately determine what the papers say and how they're going to be run." [7] (http://www.fair.org/extra/9611/conrad-black.html) Hollinger also owns the Jerusalem Post. The editor of the US journal, the National Interest, John O'Sullivan, a friend of Black told the Financial Times that the Jerusalem Post "supports the policies of the right and broadcasts them to the world - something which people weren't used to, because it had always been the Israeli left which commanded the stage". In September 2003 that newspaper advocated killing Yasser Arafat. This was quickly raised by the Israeli Cabinet, but described by Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice as "unhelpful" and by The Economist as "wrong". Israel has no law against foreign press ownership. This info came from several sources including wiki.

First - As I said the claim is false. Here is the report from the Associated Press who took the trouble to actually obtain and translate the draft law. AP story begins/ Iran bill addresses women's clothing -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press, May. 20, 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A draft law being considered by Iran's parliament encourages the wearing of Islamic clothing to protect the country's Muslim identity, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday. The 13-article bill, which received preliminary approval a week ago, makes no mention of requiring special attire for religious minorities. On Friday, a Canadian newspaper, The National Post, quoting Iranian exiles, said the law would force Jews, Christians and other religious minorities to wear special patches of colored cloth to distinguish them from Muslims. The bill raised fears among women that the hard-line government led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning to crack down on social freedoms won in Iran during the previous, pro-reform government. Laws in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution require women to wear "chador" - meaning a headscarf to cover their hair and a long overcoat the hide their shapes. But in the past decade, enforcement has grown lax, and women - particularly in the capital, Teheran - commonly wear scarves that leave almost their entire heads bare and short, form-fitting jackets instead of overcoats. The bill makes no specific mention of women but says it aims to "encourage the public to abstain from choosing clothes that aren't appropriate to the culture of Iran," according to the copy received from the parliament's press office. It tasks the Culture Ministry and state media to promote Iranian styles of dress and to discourage clothing "that does not conform with Iranian-Islamic culture." It also would give economic incentives to producers making Islamic-style clothing and impose tariffs on clothes imports. The bill does not call for police or other bodies to enforce stricter styles of dress for women. In the past, religious police and paramilitary militias would castigate women in the streets if any of their hair was showing or if their clothes were too revealing, though such enforcement has been rarer in recent years. The law does not define the Islamic-Iranian style that it will encourage or directly impose a particular uniform, as the National Post article suggested. /AP Story Ends

My guess is that Black Markets are usually very free and competative. The bribes necessary to play are usually modest. They don't usually involve much capital though so I'm not sure if they are really good examples of Capitalism. This business of equating "free markets" with Capitalism is just propaganda. Markets are not unique to Capitalism. Socialism and Communism have markets too. " Most private enterprises which people think of as examples of Capitalism seek vigorously to avoid competition or to alter the rules of competition in their favor and generally succeed to significant degrees. So the markets where they play are not really free at all. The decisions about supply and prices for oil companies, for example, are made by a small group either based on communications through trade groups or communications through market signals or perhaps even based on personal meetings (for example, in **** Cheney's office). Oh my. I wish supply and demand was really as simple as Economics 101 makes it seem.

This is a false propaganda story deliberately originated from outside the US but likely fabricated in coordination with US agents intended to inflame hatred for Iranians and justify future actions against them. There were alot of similar stories about the Iraqis and their leadership originating from all around the world in the run up to the invasion of Iraq. It is a standard propaganda technique. If you feel the need for motivations or just rationalizations for murder they will be provided. It is false. I think it is worth considering what it says about the sources and the spreaders of this hate food. :angry:

Too bad we didn't stay out of WW I completely. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Too bad for whom? Those who were killed and their families. For starters.

On the topic. Some of those who join the military are "defenders". They hope to defend others from violence. They are admirable - in a sad way. Some of those who join the military are "vandals". They hope to perpetrate violence on others. They are despicable. Those who avoid being in the military include anti-defenders, sometimes labeled "cowards". There are also anti-vandals, sometimes labeled "pacifists". There are others. Of those who avoid being in the military the only ones I really disrespect are the "cowards". There are, however, so many considerations it is nearly impossible to give a true answer without dealing with specific cases. There are, for example, some who truely cannot function in the military for one reason or another and who, knowing this, avoid the military. It is pointless to revile them for this, although some never-the-less label them as "cowards".

Too bad we didn't stay out of WW I completely. J. P. Morgan spent a bundle to get us into that war in support of his Banking business interests. Even now the investment firm Morgan Stanley amusingly sends out info touting how the company patriotically supported US efforts for WWI even before we joined the war! (I wonder if they realize what they are saying!!!) I think it was JP who hired the 50,000+ speakers who went around talking up the idea that the US should join that war. Ah well - at least we stayed out for most of it. And then after it was over we wouldn't pay our vets what we promised!

What you're failing to take into consideration is the fact that you are changing too. When you first played those old IE games you had not experienced anything like it before. That exhilarating feeling is bound to disappear after a few similar games. I don't think there's anything missing in today's games, what you're missing is instead that feeling, which you won't feel again until something new that suits you as well as the IE games did back then comes along. Or maybe you've just gotten older and now lack the ability to become as excited over a computer game anymore? One of the curses of maturing. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Whenever I replay Torment or Fallout or Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale I always enjoy them more than the more recent renditions like NWN or Torment or Bloodlines or Knights of the Old Republic. So the original impressions are steady for me. Those older games were better RPGs - or better in some way than the newer games. Maybe the point is that, while good scenery is important to the production of a play, better scenery does not compensate for a weaker screenplay. :D

I like 1 level every 3 hours of play. That brings you to level 20 in 60 hours. You could try 1 level every 2 hours. That brings you to level 20 in 40 hours. I find playing characters over level 20 a bit of a chore. They have so many special capabilities it becomes a pain just keeping track of what they can do. Whatever the overall rate, it probably is better to advance the characters a bit faster at the start when the characters are brittle and then slow down as the characters become tough. :D It doesn't matter how big the party. The difficulty of the game should be scaled to the party size to give the same rate of increase.

Many things are needed to make a good CRPG. Some of these things are: A good PC centered story; Challenging PC choices and interesting consequences; Some good NPC stories; Explorations and discoverys; Entertaining riddles and puzzles; And about 40 hours of gameplay. There are many things that need to be in an RPG if it is to be good and a game which includes those things will inevitably take longer than 20 hours to play. 40 hours seems about right. Aside from the aesthetic issues of quality there are other considerations as well -less gameplay may lead to fewer buyers - although perhaps more players - they the are not the same after all. Few folks pay for a good joke. They just take it and pass it on. But many folks pay for a good comedy routine.

If the game is only twenty hours I will be disappointed - and may not buy it.

Walsingham, Let me know when you achieve global hegemony. In anticipation of your future status, your servant, Colrom :D

Main Entry: self

My understanding is that Torment made money over time. With the reputation it has now I would expect it to make money in a starting burst as well as over time. Some of the scenes would be spectacular with modern graphics! That would be a selling point. I don't see why a trip to the prime material plane couldn't be added, as you suggest Gromnir. A side trip you stumble into early on? I like the idea of Torment II as Fall from Grace's story! But Hey. It's all good. :D

The thread about the Planescape Torment sound tracks got me wishing that Oblivian would do a new production. It's been a while. The script is mostly written. MCA could include some new material about Fall From Grace and maybe add some other new material elsewhere. If they wanted to do a sequel they could do Fall From Grace's quest to find The Nameless One. There have been some good real life stories lately about mothers and wives rescuing their sons and husbands from warzones. In the case of Fall From Grace the warzone would be teh Blood Wars. Hey they do Hamlet and such over and over. Given it's reputation I figure a new production of Torment would be a good bet to make money.

"In a many dark hour I've been thinkin' about this That Jesus Christ Was betrayed by a kiss But I can't think for you You'll have to decide Whether Judas Iscariot Had God on his side." Bob Dylan

By the way, Weiser, you may want to be careful you don't go about issuing terrorist threats without meaning them just to be a jerk. Someone might not understand and take you seriously. :angry:

Yes. I don't know. Probably not. Some say that many of those who go to hell go willingly. Makes sense.

They are afraid and are trying to warn us off our plans to attack and kill them. Seems reasonable to me. Meanwhile I hear we are demonstrating a 700 ton explosive. Can that be conventional? Seems like it has to be a nuke. What carries a 700 ton (1,400,000 pound) warhead? Must be a nuke, right? Here's a ditty: George says bad dreams may cause him to kill again. Democrates and media are struck dumb. Iranians are terrified. Satan is pleased.

Most likely they did the right thing. When I had a big important job I always wondered why some folks would treat workers badly rather than deal with the issues constructively. This incident is probably the result of bad management. Unfortunately the manager may not have learned anything from it. That happens alot.

Ah! Fox News ( ) : http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188463,00.html Also a mention of a "mild" stroke in January in another source - in connection with the word "exhaustion". Strange association - unless one is talking about "heat stroke" which is not a stroke at all so far as I know.