metadigital

England and France has a century of Entente Cordiale. They are officially very fond of each other.

I'm teh kewlest ... watch this!

Isn't that precisely the problem? The US (and to a lesser extent, Europe) attempts to justify its position and actions in the world on the basis of morality (spreading democracy, civilization, etc.), its opponents disagree and labels the US (and Europe) as imperialist beneficiaries, thereby creating a moral conundrum in which both sides believe themselves to be righteous, wherein might is the only answer. Morality is thus cast as realpolitik's magic trick. Of course, that's just another way of saying that historically, no people ever believed themselves to be immoral - but then what's the point of discussing morality with regards to foreign policy? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you here. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well, it depends on the system that is implemented. If one can get a "moral government" (of the world, presumably), then that is not a subjectively moral government, but an objectively moral one. Just projecting the given government onto another peoples would be just playing lip-service, without actually being a moral government. Bear in mind that there needs to be voluntary adoption of the government policies; Liberia, for example, has an identical constitution to the USA and it is a markedly less fair society (warlords with Oxbridge / Ivy League PH.Ds leading armies of children in run-and-gun battles to control the countries rich resources, whilst the civilian populations are raped and tortured and driven from one refuge to the next).

Yes, and then they will be convicted of real crimes, and serve time for them. There is an interesting observation here in Britain at the moment about the recidivism of serious offenders (rapists, murderers) on parole, because: recidivistic rates have more than doubled (rapes by paroled convicts in 2003: 26; and in 2005-6 over 100); and because of the overcrowding in jails (more people being convicted of crimes and more severe sentences) it is much more common to convert custodial sentences to parole, earlier. What it doesn't consider is that, as well as insufficient monitoring by the government (that's a given), these recivistic trends were not even recorded beforehand (the convicts just served out there terms and were released, no further records kept). Point is: the vast majority of crime is committed by the same people. Commence Root-Cause Analysis as to why, now ...

Are you hinting at some dark, personal sexual politics ..?

No need to apologise for Azarkon, everyone is entitled to their beliefs, however skewed they are. "

There there, I thought you were making an ironic statement. Chin up, Astr0! Happy anniversary of your birth.

I think you might want a Quad Core instead of a dual (not the two dual-cores sandwiched together that Intel is selling now, the real Quad Cores coming out soon), also AMD could have a rabit up its sleeve in the next six months, too. Following that, I would wait (and am waiting) for a better motherboard. Lots of things happening with mobos ...

He wasn't posting here under the name "Azarkon", was he? "

Um, it's ... unusual to start your own birthday thread ...

I don't get it.

I think you might be underestimating just how complex the D&D ruleset is. What you seem to want is Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. But that isn't a complete D&D ruleset.

Well, I find myself agreeing 100% with colrom's last statement, so I must go and lie down.

Insane insanity = sanity?

If morality is subjective then it doesn't matter, as you're essentially defining the question away - "it's all a matter of perspective." But that's unacceptable. Moral relativism leads to dead-end arguments like "it's just as valid to kill a person as it is to hug him." For a moral system to be legitimate, it must claim to be - at least for the most part - objective. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Just a point (following up what alanschu touched on, previously) and not specifically in response to the above comment and more general in scope; despite all the personification of nations and giving them moods and feelings (which may or may not be a useful and accurate model) and liberal hand-wringing posturing, there is (at least) one elephant in the room. Even if we agree (for argument's sake) that the USA, say, is hypocritical in trying to implement "moral" standards in the current worldview (zeitgeist?), then I put it to you that perhaps the End Justifies The Means

I just wish murderers and rapists sentences were of similar severity.

Modding is the Big Thing

You aren't FORCED to have the maximum number of party members (it's a maximum); just take the ones you want. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Meta: Reading Comprehension -5 pts. He wanted to know if there was any way to take even more companions, not fewer of them. Lucius: Yeah, textures can get a little pixelated when you zoom in. I'm also running on high textures. I haven't really noticed the pixelation so much sunce I'm usually zoomed out so much. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ah, I blame this cold. I feel like I'm reading

I'm really enjoying What If Our World is their Heaven?: The Final Conversations of Philip K. Dιck (Edited by Gwen Lee & Doris Elaine Sauter).

I'm waiting for the DVD. :D

Yes.

I read it on the train in about half-an-hour (it's not long); it is credited with being the most widely distributed pamphlets in history. The impact on the US Constitution is evident.

You aren't FORCED to have the maximum number of party members (it's a maximum); just take the ones you want.

Such a hollow feeling, really. Like using a rocket-propelled grenade on a balloon.