Commissar

Ha. I saw it in St. Petersburg, and my Russian's not good enough to keep up with that kind of plotline, so I just liked some of the pretty/freaky visuals. Edit: If you're looking for a good Russian movie, I recommend Russian Ark. The entire movie is one single shot. Absolutely amazing.

Nochnoi Dozor, fools. They're making a game based off of it, though? Russian game developers are usually more miss than hit - I tried out the Stalin Subway demo, by the by, and it sucked - so I wouldn't expect much.

No we don't want that ... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I was referring to running with gear, actually.

Nothing we can do? When did Iran become all-powerful? Europe took this mess on as an opportunity to demonstrate the ability of diplomacy to bring resolution to a conflict to blockheads like Bush. I really wish they'd picked a better test case, because I think this thing's going to come down to the Hicks Solution no matter what. Also, Europe is just as worried about a nuke-wielding Iran as Washington, maybe even a little moreso, which is why European fat has been so gallantly helped from the frying pan into the fire.

Necessary in some lines of work, though. And boy, if you really want me to talk about some stuff that's bad for the knees...

Well, what if the Norwegian government has evidence that nationalizing all corporations located within its borders would result in more profit? Is that okay, too?

We're giving diplomacy a chance, Hildy. In fact, that's why we're letting the Euros handle things at the moment. Looks like it's going extremely well, too. We probably won't have to clean up the mess they make for another seven or eight months, at this rate.

Download the free trial, then. It gives you fourteen days to play around with everything and decide if you like it. I'm still on mine, and if I don't get bored in two weeks, I'll likely go ahead and buy it.

I recently acquired one of these, and I thoroughly enjoy it.

Actually, I was suggesting that she go running. I run on trails in a nearby forest. Very few people I know who jog actually do so at a gym, on a treadmill. Must be different elsewhere.

Old news.

Let's look at the Google example. Basically just two guys working out of their basement who managed to take over the world, right? Their sweat, their tears, their brains and muscle went into building themselves one hell of a company. What you're saying is that they should arbitrarily be given two female counterparts at the top, simply for the sake of equality? Successful corporations don't emerge out of thin air; someone starts them up, builds them, and they either rise or fall. There is absolutely nothing preventing anyone, of any gender or race, from doing such if they so choose. Whether or not a company of any sort, with a proven record of success, chooses to hire someone ought to be completely up to that company.

We do, and I also do not remotely approve of affirmative action. Give resumes and applications file numbers, without information concerning sex, race, or disabilities if we have to, but enforcing quotas is just a horrible, horrible idea. I don't believe in giving Group Y special rights compared with Group Z. There's Group A, and that's it. It's one of the reasons that, despite my support for issues like the right for homosexuals to engage in civil unions and so on and so forth, I actually don't approve of hate crime legislation, either; murder's murder, no matter the motivation. Women should have (and do, in every Western democracy I can think of) the exact same rights as men; no more, no less.

Thanks for the info! It doesn't sound like it would float my personal boat. I'm seriously turned off by the whole PvP/Gank thing. Still it seems like an ambitious product that would be a godsend to certain kinds of players. Just not me. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> From what I've seen of it, it's not -entirely- like that. There certainly are PC pirates around, but they can be avoided for as long as you like. Various star systems are security rated, from 0.0 (completely lawless) to 1.0 (very lawful). Anything at 0.5 or above has the NPC galactic police patrolling pretty frequently, and usually always at the jumpgates, which is where ganks tend to take place. That said, some of the most lucrative trade routes and mining opportunities can be found in the dangerous zones. Another thing that doesn't often get mentioned about the game is its size. There's only one server. It's huge. It'd probably take you a couple of days to fly across the entire map. Speaking of days, the skill system is the one thing I don't like about the game; skill advancement takes place simply by clicking a button on your character sheet, and then watching a little timer slowly count down to zero. I'm only a couple of days in, but I'm already to the point where I've got skills that take a day or more to train up to the next level. Fortunately, there is plenty to do, and though I'm not a big PvP guy, it does add an element of danger to the game. I made about two million isk (the currency in the game), and decided to rather wrecklessly spend it all on a potentially extremely lucrative cargo of spirits; I found out that the station I intended to sell to considered spirits as contraband (it belonged to the religious faction), and so I was stuck out in pretty dangerous space with all of my cash tied up in cargo sitting in my hold; I could sell for a massive loss in the same system that I bought them in, or risk a very long route to a system that had a buyer willing to pay even more for the liquor. A PC pirate decloaked on the very last jump gate and took me out. I was tense as hell the entire ride, and I wasn't even ticked when he did it, just because that sort of emotional investment in a game is rare - at least for me. I suppose it's pretty common in the MMORPG world. All in all, it's a fourteen day risk-free trial, so you don't lose anything by trying it out. If anyone does, feel free to PM me, I'll hook you up with who I am in-game, at least as long as my live-in cook continues to tolerate such behavior. Edit: Oh, one other thing...the playerbase, for the most part, is amazingly friendly and helpful. I had a guy spend a good two hours teaching me some tricks to mining that I never would've come up with on my own. There are plenty of people who hate the player 'rats as well, and voluntarily provide security to various systems. Second edit: God, I'm lame.

I agree. It's essentially mandatory firing of what are presumably qualified men, or the end of the company. Edit: And I don't believe in women's rights, Lucius.

You don't see a problem with a government telling a private company what the composition of its executive board must be?

Heard this on my drive home this morning from BBC World Service: Apparently, Norway has a law going into effect shortly that requires all corporations to find themselves with an executive board comprised of at least 46% women within the next two years or be shut down by the government. I'm particularly interested in hearing a Scandinavian take on this, since I know that most Americans, save for feminist Goths (or Goth feminists) will think it ludicrous. God knows where the Brits stand, but wherever it is, rest assured they're doing it politely.

No. Now go hit a trail.

I have honestly never seen the phrase, "I used to," used this often in one place before.

Isn't Uwe Boll that German director who basically does a real-life version of The Producers?

Yup. I don't really see this thing standing up under judicial review, myself. It's also something of a catch-22, as anyone who tries to bring charges under it marks themselves as clearly deserving of whatever emotional pain they've suffered at the hands of the internet.

It's a Vampire game, man. C'mon. You don't want to go down that path.

I'm, uh...I'm addicted to the free trial of Eve Online.

I'm equal opportunity in such cases. I'm also great on a camping trip.

I've been known to run now and then.