Enoch

My experience is pretty much the same. Its not a big deal to me (I can use that break every 2 hours or so, if just to remind me to look at the clock and remember all the productive things I should be doing). I've been playing primarily on my laptop, which has a radeon 9000. I haven't played enough on my desktop (which has an equally antiquated GeForce 3) to compare the stability, though.

Of course, it's just my luck to get a response in the thread I chose to ask for deletion. I'll have this fixed in a second. EDIT: That should do it. Restored original message here, sent "oops" message to other thread. The Management would Like to Apologize for Any Inconvenience!

I know there's probably a post that addresses this around here somewhere, but I'm too lazy to search and this forum needs more topics dedicated to something other than flaming Obs/LA for bugs. So here goes: Credits aside, am I missing anything substantive in the game if I decide not to waste my time swoop-racing or playing pazaak? I'm currently preparing to go down to the Telos surface for the first time, and I want to know if its even worth my while to talk to any of the characters in the cantina game room. If all they get you is credits, then I can do without. You always end up with too much money to spend at the end of CRPGs, anyway.

Yikes! Double post. I know there used to be a delete option around here somewhere. Little help, anyone? (and if there isn't, could a mod please remove this)

Charles Mingus, "Goodbye Pork-Pie Hat" The title, of course, is a tribute to the late, great Lester Young. The version on "Mingus Ah Um" is best.

I'm confused-- was the game written by a guy named "Avalone" or "Avolone"?

Implants are too powerful. They contribute to inbalancing the game. I mean, +2 to all stats? +12 attribute points total, from one little device? Thats stupid in a D20 system. What happened to the days where having an attribute reach 18 was a big deal? Now hitting 25 or 30 isn't even that special. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The numerical value is irrelevant. What matters is the game mechanic. Implants are there to make it worthwhile to pump up your Constitution. With Int and Cha of renewed importance, Con needs something beyond simply HP & fort saves going for it.

Just to knitpick: "Surviving" does not necessarily mean "killing people." Nothing says that the PC wasn't living a peaceful-but-dull existence back on Uncle Owen's farm for those years.

Refresh my memory on what we've done for the Sudan? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Clearly not enough. Anyhow, the foreign aid budget is both miniscule as a percentage of gov't spending (every other major power spends a higher percentage of their budget on aid to the developing world) and, in most cases, rather effective in getting what the gov't wants. (Although, sometimes the problem is that the government wants the wrong things.) But don't think that we're getting nothing in return for the aid we send overseas. You catch more flies with honey than with ICBMs. Anyhow, I thought that the initial post was pretty clever.

Drew Brees is this year's Jon Kitna-- a QB with his back against the wall who is playing far too well for management to shove aside for their new golden boy. The amazing thing is that their offensive line is giving him some time (and giving Tomlinson some holes). That and the powder-blue throwback uni's they wore this week are cool. As for my Giants, if you think their current record is shocking, check out their next few games: [bye], Detroit, @Minnesota, Chicago, @Arizona. They could be 6-3 or even 7-2 after that stretch.

The volcanic activity that forms the mid-ocean ridges is a slow release of pressure. It would have to change in character dramatically to gain enough height to break sea level. The only place it is above ground (in the Atlantic, that is) is in Iceland. If a new island forms, the right to claim newly discovered land is traditionally inherent in national sovereignty (nations may do it, but individuals cannot). Nobody has claimed Antarctica because the major powers of the world have signed an international treaty agreeing not to claim it (and, presumably, to prevent anyone else from trying). Anyhow, given that the rate of spread is measured in cm/year, I don't think America has anything to worry about. 1000 years from now, they'll be maybe 100 feet further away from Europe.

Indianapolis over Oakland will be even uglier. The Dolphins D might keep them in the game for awhile (assuming they haven't totally given up on the season yet). As for Dallas, they can't expect Testaverde to keep winning games with his (rather creaky) arm alone. Unless some semblance of a running game emerges, I doubt he'll last past week 8.

Your defense is looking pretty good. I think the Giants have more talent than people give them credit for. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm also impressed with what the Giants 'D' has done since the debacle in Philly. Had to figure they would get off to a slow start, though. They replaced 6 of the starters in the front 7 (everyone but Strahan). Now that the whole unit is getting used to working together (and there's some depth of rotation along the line), the run defense and pass rush look pretty good. They're strong at the corner with Will Petersen and Will Allen (who has recovered from his disastrous outing in week 1) starting, plus Terry Cousin as a respectable #3. Safety is a weakpoint, though. There's the savvy-but-slow Brent Alexander at FS and now rookie Gibril Wilson at SS. He's been impressive for a 5th-rounder, but that doesn't mean that they won't miss Shawn Williams. The rather large caveat here is that they have performed well against the Redskins and Browns-- hardly offensive powerhouses. Next week in Green Bay is the real test. Overall, I think that 8-8 is within reach for this team. Oh, and kumquat, Volo is referring to Coach Coughlin. He aired his grievances about him a few pages back.

Fassel did get a raw deal, taking a fall for a horrendous rash of injuries on the OL and in the secondary. That's life in the NFL sometimes. By far his best move as a head coach, though, was one of his first-- hiring John Fox as his DC. I'm not entirely sold on Coughlin, but his record in JAX was good, so he knows how to put together a winning football team. I really think that the Giants would've hired Wies or Crenell if the Pats had been knocked out of the playoffs last year. (There really should be a freeze on coach hiring until after the Super Bowl. As it is, successful coordinators get the shaft because teams have to make hiring decisions ASAP to have a shot at getting the more sought-after assistants and position coaches.) I'm willing to give Coughlin a chance, though. I didn't think much of Fassel when he came on, either ("Arizona's offensive coordinator??! Arizona's offense blows!!"). As for the QB, you really can't blame Kerry for wanting out after they picked Manning and refused to extend his contract. And I really can't blame the Giants for letting him go, considering that the move saved them about $7 mil. on their salary cap. The way I see it, management decided that Kerry was never going to be more than a just-above-average QB, and it's worth the risk of tanking a season if their assessment of Eli's potential is accurate (which, of course, is the $54 million question).

I, like Volo (weird, huh?), am a Giants fan with little hope for a productive season. I'm still of two minds about the Eli acquisition. He's looked good and all, but it's always a huge risk to give up so much for only one player (especially considering that they could have traded back, picked up Cleveland's 2nd rounder, and still gotten Ben Rothlisberger instead). It was quite nice to see them beat the Redskins, though, especially because I live within DC's general penumbra and the game was actually on TV here (it's also fun to see the local papers whine about a Redskins loss). I am not, however, encouraged by how a 6-turnover lead only led to a 6-point win. If they take care of Cleveland at home next week (which wouldn't be surprising given the injuries the Browns suffered in Dallas), I might have to revise my dismal hopes for this season.

You're right about the deficit numbers. Sorry- it's rather late here and I'm getting foggy in the head. I stand by my assertion that most of the damage was done by the tax cuts, though. Because so many of them were set to phase in over time, the existing numbers don't yet show their full impact. But they're a main reason why the future budget projections look very grim (unless you assume ridiculously rosy growth forecasts). A linky.

Well, most of that debt was pre-existing before Bush took office. Deficits (debt is the running totat of the yearly deficits, plus interest) have been standard fare since the 50's, but they really started getting bad during the Reagan administration (Reagan wanted and got lower taxes and more defense $, but Congress stopped him from slashing social programs). The numbers recovered with the boom in the 90s (helped along by Clinton's tax increase on millionaires). The Bush admin's policies have brought back some seriously huge deficits deficits ($700 billion/yr or so). The Bushies blame it all on the weak economy (and 9/11), but it's mostly due to their tax cuts.

Lets flesh this out (paraphrased from Exodus 20, KJV): These four are important to the procedural worship of Yahweh, not very important otherwise. I'd file this as good advice (happy families are nice) rather than a moral principle. But, I don't think it's too controversial to say that some parents are not particularly worthy of honor. Here are the real moral principles. The same ones are pretty universal in any moral or legal code (before or since the spread of hebraic monotheism). This one is touchy. True, envy and jealousy are not to be encouraged, but it's the one that human beings are set up to fail (desiring is pretty intrinsic in human nature). As such, I think that the better moral principle is to be mindful of what you desire, and not to let it lead you to some of the more serious stuff in 6-9. By themselves, the 10 are the barest of minimums. There's nothing there about helping the less fortunate, or treating people with respect, or taking care of your children, etc. Granted, much of that stuff was articulated in the other OT parables and the teachings of Jesus. But still, their absence does cut into the arguments of those who promote the commandments as a definitive guide.

I appreciate Carth because of how difficult it must be to make a character to fill his role. Consider: He's there to provide exposition, so he has to have some knowledge & experience. He's also there to give combat-weak characters a crutch to lean on for the first couple of Taris areas, so he has to be a decent fighter, but not so good that your character is irrelevant or overpowered. But, he also has to defer to your character in all important decision-making matters. This third requirement really doesn't jive with the first two. So, how do you create a character who is an experienced soldier with some knowledge of local and galactic affairs, but follows the orders of a new recruit who can't even remember his/her own name? Make him something of a head case! Given this conundrum, he came out pretty well.

The Intellivision D&D game was fun. It started with an overland map that had a variety of obstacles between you and the end dungeon. You could enter a series of randomly generated dungeons (overhead map view). Your only weapon was a bow and arrows (you started with a whole 3) which only shot in the 8 keypad directions, although they would ricochet off the walls (and bounce back and kill you if you're not careful). The enemies ranged from bats, rats (both easy), snakes (very fast), and such up to dragons. There were also slimes (red blobs) that were indestructable but very slow (had to lure them out and run around them). In the dungeons, you would find items to help you, like more arrows (there was no display of your arrow count-- you hit a button and it made a ticking noise as a count), keys (for the gates on the map) and an axe (so you could pass through the forests). I believe the final dragon guarded a crown. I also quite enjoyed a bomber game called "Mission X." It was kinda like the later NES game "1941," except that you were mostly dropping bombs on enemy targets and dodging flak (enemy fighters came along once in a while). Ahhh... Pointless nostalgia...

$10 trillion is the GDP, not the total gov't budget. Congressional Budget Office projections 2004 total federal spending is just under $2.3 trillion. Projected GDP is nearly $11.5 trillion. Defense spending is around $450 billion.

The SciFi Channel hasn't had any programming of any quality on since they dropped MST3K. One particular project sucking is not at all surprising.

Taris is the only part that consistently interests me in replaying. Every time I've started the game over, I begin to lose interest shortly after I leave Taris. Once you get your jedi powers (a.k.a., once you become invulnerable), the gameplay gets much less interesting because there's practically no way you can lose 98% of the fights. As a result, I've only finished the game once. (Second try got as far as the unknown world.)

Deep Purple's Gemini Suite is, to my knowledge, one of the earliest (1970) and most interesting attempts at rock-orchestral fusion. Anyhow, there's a rather strong anti-hip-hop bias on these boards. I, for one, find most hip-hop and rap far more interesting than the metal that predominates most of these discussions. It's a matter of cultural background-- you prefer the style of self expression that speaks the language of the culture you're most familiar with (I'm probably equally distant from both hip-hop and metal culture, so I'm only going by personal taste).