metadigital

I am transported back to my youth when I smell distilate mixed with sea water; I fondly remember the times spent with family on our boat in the Broadwater; and zipping about in an aluminium dinghy with a six horsepower Johnson outboard motor ...

Um, I was merely making the point that people

pity, because I went to Sardinia on Al'Italia ...

Yeah, I'm thinking of going to Switzerland just so i can catch the 8:02 at exactly 8:02! Japan has a military. And, in point of fact, it is one of the best (if not the best) equipt militaries in the world. They just aren't aloowed to use it, without a special act of parliament.

Does that happen to every passenger on Al'Italia ?

... Or not.

My LSF Revan saved Bastila. And took her off down behind the garage, afterwards. "

There was an external contest for KotOR 2 where the winner would get his face on a character. The winner, Nikko, is a forum member. Do a seach and you'll find the relevant threads on his profile. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> O.M.G. That face has been recorded in digital limestone for all of posterity?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Fix'd. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks.

It wants to download a (very big) DivX-compressed movie file (30+MB), which is the fifteen minute journey of a brand n00bi3 killing Dagoth'Ur. Without cheating. So you will have to allow pop-ups / download content (open in a new window might work better).

And you were worried about the ninja chimps!

Yes, I am acquainted. Co-incindentally, I have also used psychometry to analyze large mathematical complexes.

I'm a royalist myself, so don't be shy to admit it. :ph34r: Getting fire from snipers or ambushed or blown up while on patrol is not unsual for gorilla warfare, is it? These tactics are not acts of terrorism in my opinion, but then again, my view would probably be different if I had been shot at myself. But alas, this is how it is with all things we've not experienced ourselves, yes? I'm not saying that a suicide bomber is not a victim, but whatever screwed up childhood he made have experienced, whichever nasty ideology he might be following, it simply doesn't justify blowing yourself up to nail as many as possible. Pardon me for my rather conservative stance on this one. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> SpellMar says that, unless you are talking about espap

Well, it is certainly the most likely to be efficient, especially utilising the current Info Tech available. I guess every system is susceptible to corruption. (I think that reference to the trains running on time, which you correctly read between my lines, was actually a reference to the German World War strategy of shipping their troops about on their shiny new rail system, built with that purpose in mind. Certainly made a big difference in WW1, and I think WW2, as well.)

1. This goes back to my previous question, which was bourne out in a recent council election in the midlands. The electorate was asked, in a referrendum, if they would approve of tax increases specifically to be put into education. The vote was the highest turnout for any referrendum (ever in history, probably ), and they all said NO! The point is that, although it is feasible to get broad directional input from the electorate, they certainly shouldn't have micro-management powers for the government, let alone something like the economy. (I suspect the economy has become such a touchstone recently, because of the high taxes, high waste and high demands; people just want to make sure that the money they give is being used efficiently, that the best use is made of it, and that there are efforts to maximise the efficiency even more over time. No-one really wants to talk about macro-economic policy: they just don't want to pay high taxes for some idiot to waste on something that nobody wanted.) After all, what you seem to be proposing is a micro-managed totalitarianism of the majority! 2. What we need is some method to let people get on with what they do best (governing for bureaucrats, decision making for politicians) and IMPROVE THE SYSTEM they work in. Make it more transparent (how many quangos are there in Britain?) and make the participants more accountable. And attract the best people for the job. 3. I don't like this argument. (I know you were joking, but there is a serious point underneath, about limiting totalitarian power of institutions.) I think if the organisations are auditable and accountable, then they should have MORE power. 4. The three pillar government construction is good because: there is one body (legislature) that just MAKES the laws, there is one body (executive) that APPROVES the laws, and can edit / reject laws tht are unfair, there is one body (judiciary) that INTERPRETS the approved laws, and can apply them in a fair way, to be balanced by the new laws that are created (by the legislature, and tempered by the executive) to assist this process further, if the government wants to change thefocus or direction of the interpretation of the laws; and there are three bodies, which is the minimum for a democratic decision. I think this long process is mandatory to preserve the underlying freedoms of the society, whereby the assumption is that we can all do whatever we like, as long as we don't hurt anyone else (and then cue the lawyers to interpret "hurt"). Perhaps the election of these bodies needs attention (surely the judiciary needs to be made more transparent: both their appointments and their mistakes are steeped in secrecy.) You can make a more efficient government: fascism is very efficient. You can make attempts to redistribute wealth, power and privilege: communism, but it isn't very efficient. (Net produce of grain fell under communism, as compared to the Tzarist serf-produced crops.) Our society starts with libertarian ideals and works out from there. (China doesn't, for example: the State is more important than the individual there.) I like some of your ideas, but I think your focus is in the wrong area. We need to make the system so good that it doesn't allow anyone to cheat. Then have three bodies sharing a rock-paper-scissors power relationship over each other and the society, and free ingres and egres into these bodies based on merit, and we have a winner. Now, if only we could get that to work in practice ...

The country is as much the individuals that make it up, as it is any authority in it. I don't think you'll be very successful trying to limit the ability of people to declaim their belonging to a group, no matter how hard you try. (And I don't relly want to live in that society, anyway.)

King Metadigital says "Oops" Italy's regent was today making a statement about the current foreign affairs, when he was heard to say "Oops!". Apparently it wasn't the King's mistake (for we all know that he is the Earth-born divine monarch that has been sagely prophesised since time immemorial, and therefore cannot make mistakes), but the accidental joint operations held with long-time ally Austria in the Adriatic Sea. "Butter fingers," our King said, "I'm sure the men of Italy were only guilty of doing their job too well. "My, don't the uniforms look nice, don't you think?" In other comments, His Highness was heard to pity the Ottomans, "not much for fashion, are they, with those long flowing robes. I do like their moustaches, though they do tend to over-compensate for something, I wonder what it could be ..." "I think Germany declared war on us the other day," the King mused nonchalantly, "I was chatting on the Marconi-long-talking-box with the good Kaiser von Lowenwiggin, and he said: 'I'm awfully sorry about this, old chap, but I'm afraid we're going to have to obliterate the Italian race and turn that part of the Mediterranean into a stone-age theme-park for the kinder. Terribly sorry, such ghastly news to have to bear, I know.' So just a little warning to those good folks up near Tyrolia to be well behaved and not to jump in front of any German munitions." "That King James III is a bit of an eccentric, isn't he. I wonder if they learnt from us Romans that lead poisoning can lead to all sorts of mental maladies. Didn't the British learn anything from the Fall of the Roman Empire? I think he should stop drinking so much red wine, or else find a different way to ferment it, without the lead piped destillery. Same thing happened to Beethoven, y'know. Lead poisoning. Tragic. Would have finished that tenth symphony, y'know, maybe even a few more. I think the Kaiser might have been tipping a bit too much red wine jus into his cognac, too."

Eru, buddy, there are a bajillion articles here, and they are all easier to read than the manual. Try reading through your country's opening moves, read the logic, who your natural enemies (and friends) are, and then progress onto the meatier stuff. Basically, the central tenet of the game is that military units will stand-off against each other (it's not like Risk, where you can build up your army and sweep through a continent). The point is that you need more than your own country's units to survive the first part of the game, and so you need to decide who you can trust to partner with, and when you can turn on them (if necessary) before they turn on you. It's all about the diplomacy, as in the original Byzantine and French-type of whispered secrets that are only partially true. At the end of the day, you need to make a risk assessment of who is actually going to be doing what they tell you, and who isn't, and plan contingencies accordingly. Unfortunately, there is very little a single player can do against multiple players (even if you know for certain some events will transpire), so there is a downside. However, this only more firmly puts the emphasis back onto building good relations with your allies, and fooling your enemies into thinking you are their friends. Also, don't think you have to win or bust. It is very likely that most countries will not be able to win after the first few turns. But these same countries can still affect the balance of the game, helping to shpae the board and possibly even deciding who will win. Above all, it's all for fun, so don't take any backstabs personally.

Okay, send out a search party.

He hasn't been on since August the 15th. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Also, about the same date last century when "golly" was still considered cool to use. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I thought it was a nifty affectation.

Well, just spoil the surprise, why don't you? "

This is the sort of thing that entertains me, though. Understanding the mechanics of the underlying game, and finding a way to beat it. (My own continual Kobe Oshimaru, if you will ...)

OMG! Pixies is stuck in a spacio-temperal anomaly that is folding in on itself ...

And there are a whole bunch of other countries that share the conjoined continents with the USA.

I'm not sure if I agree it is such an intractable problem (the thinking demands of a leisure activity, like RPG playing). Sure, there is an element of that. I am just as guilty as everyone else for wanting some mindless fun sometimes. Equally, though, I think it is quite reasonable to want some alternative reality thinking, where my decisions do not drastically effect my personal well-being in the most intimate way; but instead I can reload and replay if I don't like a particular experiment. After all, a change is as good as a holiday; I can quite happily change the particular task I am focussed on at work to allow myself to recharge my mental batteries to the first task. I do it all the time. So it isn't much of a stretch to have some demanding leisure persuits (adrenalin sports, anyone?) to provide a different sort of personal challenge that will aid in quicker and superior recreation. Well, that's the theory, anyway ...