Gorth
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Everything posted by Gorth
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X-Com 3: Apocalypse and Jagged Alliance 2 are two serious contenders for that title -
Thread pruned a bit. Lets try more feed back on the game, less feedback on fellow posters.
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You just summed up 3000+ posts
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That was my thought too... the rather non constructive opening post makes me doubt this leads to useful discussions. Lets see if we can keep it civil?
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Trying to focus on work today, but somebody is playing bagpipes outside and now i feel like going out and conquering something Maybe it's just because its spring, who knows.
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Hello youngster I need to play Zork Zero some day to find out how the altercation between Lord Dimwit Flathead the Excessive and Megaboz the Magnificent ends. Edit: Welcome by the way, almost forgot my manners
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Since when is ignoring the cause of a problem going to help? Israel, the US, Serbia, Greece, Iran and Iraq Kuwait, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, China, Tibet and two score more countries would like to have words with you. The UN and international community understands perfectly well and enforces absolutely nothing unless its the enforcing arm of some economic and military powers extended arm, trying to give it a thin veneer of "legitimacy" (because selling it at home is easier then) Oh my... Bruce, I sometimes hope you *don't* wake up to the real world (hint Libya was a chance to pitch in and try to be on the "winning" side in a tribal conflict and Serbia was real politik in action, trying to limit Russias sphere of influence in eastern Europe) Sometimes you dont need to formally annex anything, especially not if installing local puppet governments is a lot more cost efficient and achieves the same result.
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A good starting point would be to examine the "legality" of the nation state of Ukraine, the ways in which the borders between it and its neighbours were drawn etc. (hint: they were established as rather insignificant administrative lines, at a time when ethnicity was irrelevant and independent Soviet republics were unimaginable) If the lines had been drawn with the benefit of hindsight, a lot of bloodshed could probably have been avoided. As for annexing territories and spheres of influence, Israels (never recognised) annexation of the Golan heights, the rather unsubtle western interference in Libyia, the forced change (and following anarchy) of regime in Iraq, the meddling in Serbia, the meddling (in the end, without any results) in the affairs of Georgia and where the minorities there were never consulted about which country they suddenly wanted to belong to... it's a long list. Nobody is entitled to wear a halo in the world of "realpolitik"
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The Ig Nobel price is turning 25 this year. Happy Birthday It's part satire, parts recognition of less glorious scientific subjects getting studied in all seriousness. "Assembling a team of balding physicists, Goldstein set out to tackle the subject, publishing their research in a peer review journal. It detailed the fluid mechanics of hair, drawing on a rich seam of scientific observation stretching back to Da Vinci. They even coined a new term: hairodynamics." "The Ig Nobels skewered the U.S. Government in 2012, awarding them the Prize for Literature 'for issuing a report about reports about reports that recommends the preparation of a report about the report about reports about reports.'" "Past recipients include a man who dressed up as a polar bear to scare reindeer and a study of homosexual necrophilia among mallard ducks" Science doesn't always have to be boring particle particle physics
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I guess you could say my job is to make people unemployed. Not directly, but by streamlining and automating a lot of processes, there is less need for "menial" tasks. Not talking about blue collar menial tasks, but white collar menial tasks. The current system in the western world is self defeating, because the constant quest for cost reduction always end up with the same conclusion, humans are the greatest cost and needs to be removed from the process. Reiterate it enough time and you end up in a perfect world that runs itself and has no room for humans.
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In case anyone wonders what the above is a reply to, it's Mieu's post a bit further up. They got seperated a bit by merging the threads
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If you look a bit outside the box, you may noticed that white males have been victimised and marginalised just as much as any other group on earth. Possibly not for that particular reason, but then all white males aren't the same. That's stereotyping. This "white males" group have been persecuted for being Gauls, for being Romans, for being living in a province belonging to a particular liege, for being Christians, for being non-Christians, for being the wrong kind of Christians, for being the wrong sexual orientation, for having the wrong last name on their birth certificate (ethnic cleansing, hello?), killed in their millions at the frontlines of various wars and so on. Simply saying people have been better of through history for being "white males" is a gross over simplification imho. Edit: Yay me, that wasn't actually the specific line I wanted to quote, but you get the idea Edit2: Being a real cynic, you could say, just like in nature, (white) males are usually considered expendable once they've served their purpose.
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Its really irrespective what words use to mean, its what they symbolize now that matters What does it symbolyze? Is it related to the Atlantic slave trade? It has a long history, but generally got regarded as an "offensive" term second half of last century. Before that, it was considered a perfectly good word, the same way as slavery and racism was considered perfectly good practises. When the latter changed, the use of the word did too.
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She does have a point, you know? Bruce once asked me to do a comparison between the people and countries I've lived in. I think I've lived here long enough to add Germany to the list. Not in any way a comprehensive analysis, but one thing that struck me as a difference between Australians and Germans is, Germans are a *lot* more passionate people. In Autralia you've got two groups of people. The vast majority living in the 5 cities and the remaining few percentages living in the rest of the country. The city dwellers are sort of reserved and guarded, not sure why. Maybe the mix of people from very different cultures from Asia and Europe just causes it? The few people living in the country side are nice enough, but probably don't mingle much with other people. In Germany on the other hand, people seems a lot more "extrovert" and they appear a lot more passionate about more than just the beer drinking (one of the few things Aussies also seemed enthusiastic about). Whether it being in sport, art, politics, they just seem to actually care about what they do. The Kiwis are still my favourite people though. Nice, gentle and completely laid back (not sure about Auckland, but that was my impression from the rest of the country). I would trust a Maori any time of day to hold my wallet for me. Proud and honest (and very friendly) people.
I know your word. Working with South Africans for more than a decade, it's hard not to learn a bit about some aspects of South Africa, even if not visiting the country itself. It is indeed considered more offensive than the 'n' word by an order of magnitude. South Africa not only had white/black racism in the past, asian immigrants and day labourers were considered third rate human beings, despised by both whtie and black people. Not sure what their status is today in modern South Africa. Phillipinos are considered slaves and personal property in many Arab countries. Newly rich Chinese are some of the worst bigots you can run into today. Feel free to add to the list. It is indeed not limited to a particular group of people.
Had the most awful week in a long, long time. It started with me being told I was being shipped off to Sweden the day after, so little time to organise travel and hotels. Flying with Air Berlin the first part of the way to Stockholm, I got an email reminding me that I needed to get my baggage and check in again with the other airline. That was Ok. When I got to Tegel airport, the girl at the Air Berlin counter told me I should not pick up my baggage in Stockholm, it would be transferred to the other plane automatically. Ok... I told her that it was unlikely, being two different companies unaffiliated with each other and one being an international and the other a domestic Swedish flight. Yes, you can't pick up your baggage in Stockholm. Ok, but I got an email from your company reminding me that I had to pick it up? Yes, that email was wrong, just ignore it (3 denials in a row). Of course, when I arrived at my destination my baggage was still in Stockholm. After 3 days wearing the same clothes, I probably started smelling pretty stale. At least the hotel had "survival kits" with toothbrushes and shaving gear. The fun really started on the return trip though, where the travel had been booked with Norwegian Air. Yes, those guys who went on strike the day I was supposed to travel home. I showed up in the airport in Malmö (which is like 30 km outside the city) and found a section of the airport without power or light, no people other than other confused passenges, no signs, no contact no. no people offereing any explanation. Being in the dark (literally), we asked around and found out that people had left and gone on strike. Gee, thanks for the great customer support, not even a phone line offered to call for help. Had to buy new tickets from SAS and got to Stockholm, just to see the gates close for last flight to Berlin. Bought another ticket for the day after and then booked a hotel room for the night. At least the hotel was nice. Getting home finally on a Saturday early afternoon (and having picked up my baggage on the return trip), I got home to an icy cold appartment where the heating had broken down. No service to get over the weekend, so no heat, no hot water and me getting increasingly pissed off. The morning showers in 3 degrees C "warm" water didn't help ...and now I'm back in Sweden. I already hate the place
I wouldn't mind if they remastered the horrible UI to work better with PC's. A bit off topic, but speaking of remastering, did they ever get rid of GWFL in Fallout 3 (I know of the mod, but would rather be able to use an "official" patch on my old physical GotY edition).
