Enoch

My little sister got hitched last Friday. A good time was had by most. One tip: If you ever find yourself wearing a rented tuxedo that comes with rented shoes, you would be well-advised to add your own padded insoles to said shoes, especially if there is dancing to be done. I neglected to take this precaution, and my only recourse was to drink until my feet felt numb. On another note, at least a dozen people there commented to me or to my girlfriend (of 3 years) that we're "next." She has also been rather insistant lately about how naked her left hand feels. Honestly, I'm more reluctant about the ring shopping and wedding planning than I am about the prospect of marriage to this woman for the rest of my life. I hate shopping, especially when I feel like I don't really know much about what I'm buying.

Okay, so it's the Jefferson Memorial (although the front entrance seems to be facing slightly in the wrong direction, relative to the Washington Monument). The interesting thing to me is the very tall building complex in the background to the right. I think we have already seen it from the reverse angle in the background of the second picture, the one of the U.S. Capitol. Given that a building complex that doesn't exist in today's world has been featured twice in early concept art, I'd say it should play a pretty important role in the storyline. Former Vault-Tec headquarters, maybe??

Heh, I'm not an anarchist Enoch . Politically I believe local, federal, and state governments should operate only within the limits of their constitutions and charters. Which I believed should be read through a filter of strict constructionism. That is my idea of protecting individual liberties. If the government does only what it is allowed to, the rest takes care of itself. Is DP a bigger deterrent than Life without parole? Dunno. How would such a metric even be tracked? But life without parole is a rare sentence in the justice system. BTW what kind of law do you practice? If you ever told me I don't remember. I'm not suggesting that you don't believe in law enforcement. Merely that allowing the government to take a citizen's life is a step opens up the possibility for some pretty big mistakes, and that libertarians and strict constructionists aren't known for trusting that the government will get these kind of things right. I think that most of the studies involving deterrence effects are either comparative studies between demographically similar jurisdictions (one with a DP, one where life without parole is the harshest penalty allowed), or studies comparing effects on crime rates before and after the DP was authorized or outlawed. Of course, all manner of complicated statistical techniques are used to try to filter out the other inputs like demographics, enforcement levels, etc. When I was an undergrad, I took a course on the Economics of Crime that covered some of these studies. I work for the Feds-- most of my work deals with federal financial management statutes and appropriations law. Basically, this means looking at where agencies get their money, how they manage it, and what they can use it for.

C'mon Enoch were are talking about child rapists (of the John Lee Couey type), and cold blooded murderes. In every state that has the DP it is only applied if the crime is heinious enough to warrant it. In my example, ordering a pizza then lying in wait to murder the deliver girl qualifies. A Stalinist approach would make no distinctions between animals like that and petty felons such as car thieves or con artists. Or even political dissidents if you take a literal historical example of Stalinist justice. I did qualify my argument by stating I'm talking about child rapists and cold blooded killers. That said I am also very much in favor of truth in sentencing laws. If a prisioner is sentenced to five years they will do five years. Oh, I know that's not the case you're referring to-- I was just reacting to the particular phrase you used. It made me squirm a bit. And you're still trusting the government to get a lot right. Wouldn't it be more protective of individual liberties if the punishment were something less final? It's been a while since I've looked at any studies, but I seem to recall that the difference in deterrent effect between the death penalty and life without the possibility of parole being statistically insignificant. But then what happens when the President is kidnapped and taken there? It's gonna take some bad d00d to go in and rescue him...

I find it a little odd that Guard Dog, who generally trusts government to do absolutely nothing right, believes that the government should be in the business of deciding which of its citizens should be "disposed of." You keep using that turn of phrase and it gives me the willies-- talking about "disposing of" criminals makes me think of a Stalinist approach to enforcing a social order. And where'd Aram go? This thread needs more pictures. Judge Dredd will dispose of the lawbreakers!!!

Well, I'll defend DOD to the extend that they really don't have the engineers, equipment, personnel, etc., to do all that stuff themselves. It's just not economical for the Department either to keep all those people on staff and all that equipment in inventory permanently, or to acquire them quickly enough for use in a particular deployment. And there are serious reliability problems in hiring locals. That the sort of stuff that contractors should be doing. However, the way that these contracts have been awarded, written, and administered has been dreadful. Contract oversight, generally, is a big problem in the U.S. government, and particularly in DOD. The Government just doesn't have enough qualified personnel to oversee and administer all its contracts effectively (and the best people are usually lured away to the private sector where they can make three times the salary), and overworked or inexperienced contracting officers are often under huge pressure just to get fast results, which generally leads them to do whatever the big contractors want. It's a pretty un-sexy reform topic, too, so it never seems to make it very high on agency priorities.

Free doughnuts in the break room? Seriously, though, best of luck to you. Based on what I've seen of LA-area traffic in a couple of visits, you have my deepest sympathies on your commute.

The Dems who control Congress want all the blame for starting and losing the war to fall on the White House. Had they kept insisting on a withdrawal date, the GOP would've accused them of being responsible for America's defeat. Passing the withdrawal date once and forcing Bush to veto it was a sound political move-- it reassures their base they they're committed to ending the war, and it gets GOP incumbents in Congress on the record as voting to continue the war, which should help Democratic challengers in '08. I'm not a big fan of the unrelated riders on the supplimental appropriation (for one thing, it makes it a damn nuisance to actually find these laws when you're looking for them-- rather than having an independent Public Law number, these add-ons will be additional Titles on one big, honking piece of legislation), but the additional oversight on the conduct of the war and on the Iraqi government is probably a good thing. That's the political strategy analysis. As for what is actually in the best interests of America, I frankly have no idea. I suspect that there simply are not, and never will be, enough troops in Iraq to really make the kind of victory the White House expected possible. The question then becomes what marginal improvements do the presence of U.S. troops make in the stability and viability of Iraq as a state? And do those improvements justify the cost in lives and dollars?

She's so ... HEEEAAAVVVVYYYYYYY!!! I'm listening to the version of "On the Sunny Side of the Street," found on this album:

Eh. That's not so bad. It's not as if the place was taken over by people who do nothing but post cleverly-captioned pictures of their cats.

Best one yet, now up on the official homepage. http://fallout.bethsoft.com/index.html

Moved to my new office this morning. The old one was only a cubicle, although it had really high walls and a window, so the only cubicle-related drawbacks were noise and the lack of a door. Now I've lost the window and I'm further from the printer, but I gain a door, more shelving/storage, a bigger desk, and more overall floorspace. The other drawback is that it's now somewhat easier for a passer-by (i.e., boss) to see what's on my computer screen before I notice them there. This is probably better for me in the long run-- the panopticon effect will probably increase my productivity significantly, which is more helpful to my career than, say, doing what I'm doing right now. I also gain a neighbor who keeps a bowl on his desk constantly filled with jelly beans for all to take. If any of you do or someday will work in an office environment, I strongly recommend becoming one of these candy-dish providers, if you have the self-discipline to avoid eating it all yourself (I do not). Lots of great networking opportunies crop up when the whole office is coming to you for their daily sugar rush/chocolate fix.

You mean, like, with elves? No this was a job for someone else. And there is no way in HELL it could be done by a machine. But it does pay very well. 3 days work will pay for my month's rent. *thinks* Why would you need to transcribe blackmail? As if you don't know... (I was thinking of surveillance tapes) :ninja10:

This fact leads me to the not-entirely-surprising conclusion that your career involves some kind of large-scale blackmail operation. Nice work if you can get it, I guess.

The latter seems most likely to me. Some inquisitive Fallout fan happened upon the public-domain image upon which the artist based this drawing.

You mean this one? Sonny Rollins-- I'm an Old Cowhand

I think that, of the people who regularly check Skeeter's, you're going to get a somewhat skewed sample in favor of home builds. (And you can see my first build in the PC pics thread )

New picture up. http://fallout.bethsoft.com/ Anybody know enough about aircraft carriers to tell if that design is true to the retro-50's tech of Fallout? They all look the same to me.

Herbie Hancock-- Watermelon Man (Head Hunters funk version) Back when I lived with my parents and played this track, it used to drive the family dog crazy.

The neck problems of last weekend have gone away, but now I can't sleep because of a persistent cough. It is rather loud and difficult to suppress when I'm lying down. This has been going on for 3 straight nights now.

Despite repeated promises, it fails to make my **** longer.

What age range are you in? __ 18-24 X_ 25-30 __ 31-55 __ 56+ Are you male or female? X_ Male __ Female Do you think overpopulation is a problem? __ Yes X_ No What do you think should be done to solve it? __ A maximum limit of children per family enforced by law. __ Colonization of currently non-habitable environs. X_ Nothing, new technologies will be developed to allow us to place more people in the same area without stripping the planet of its resources. __ Nothing because I

You're welcome. UNLV seems to host the only accredited law school in Nevada. Law school is expensive, but one advantage of grad school in general is that your parents aren't claiming you as a dependent anymore, so, if you go to a public school in a different state, you can usually qualify for the in-state tuition rate after your first year or so. And, of course, it goes without saying that you should definitely do whatever you can to get your brother to seal the deal with this chick.

Reminds me of the end of Logan's Run. Does Peter Ustinov live in the ruins of the Capitol?

Hot black tea. No milk, sugar, honey, lemon, or anything else in it. I seem to be getting a bit of a cough, so the hot tea feels quite good going down my slightly raw throat. Plus, caffeine is good.