Gromnir

you shouldn't let val get away with not answering your previous question. *shrug* in any event, we agree that parents play the most significant role in getting their kids educated. so, what is the solution? we is aware that aisians and african immigrants, regardless o' socio-economic means, is diligent about the education o' their children. and while amentep justifiably notes that a college degree is not a willy wonka golden ticket, those who got college degrees is statistically more invested and/or able to get their kids similarly educated. single-parent families, regardless o' race, appear to have more problems with getting children educated. etc. we can easily identify trends and factoids, but solutions is harder to construct, yes? we has mentioned that Gromnir, up until relative recent, loathed affirmative action. as a minority who didn't need affirmative action to get admission to university or to get a job, we were much opposed to affirmative action. regardless o' the effort we expended, there were a pervasive belief amongst peers that our presence were mandated by a government program as opposed to something we earned. initial impressions were often difficult to overcome... get sat & lsat scores tattooed on our forehead mighta helped at school. hated affirmative action. the thing is, we has done a 180 on affirmative action, in part 'cause o' the impact on education. a minority with a college degree is far more likely to have children who go to college. ignore the why and the how behind the result for the moment. if you is attempting to get more kids to graduate from college, or to at least makes them better prepared to do well in hurlshot's class, statistically you got a much better chance o' success if you managed to get the kid's parent(s) a college degree. it is understandable that if you want the next generation o' kids to be prepared to do well in school, you is gonna want to get more college graduates from the current generation, yes? affirmative action and free community college is rational programs that would seem to gets college degrees into the hands o' more folks who would otherwise not gets degrees. such programs is simple and straightforward and busted, but what is the alternative? asians and african-immigrants is diligent about getting their kids educated. so, how do we get poor white trash and single-parent black families to be similarly invested in their children's education? is not as if poor white trash is unaware that education is a positive-- no PSA by a nascar driver extolling the virtues o' a college degree is gonna make a difference. is not as if the single mom working two jobs is unaware that her five kids got a better chance for a decent future if they is doing well in school. attempts to change culture is problematic, and is actual frequent unconstitutional. programs such as affirmative action and free community college is busted, but such programs is rational even if they is more desperation than anything else. nevertheless, what is the alternatives? laws has never been particular effective in changing the hearts and minds o' the people... such an observation should be resulting in a kinda "duh" moment. btw, for some o' the more vocal misguided folks posting in this thread, the republican Govenor from tennessee, bill haslam, were the guy who sponsored http://tennesseepromise.gov/ ... is kinda the inspiration for obama's community college plan. a republican Governor in a red state sponsoring free education? *snort* some o' you folks is too funny. HA! Good Fun!

our pov has always been different. we will note that barbara jordan is a role-model for Gromnir. that is not to say that we has always wished to be a woman o' color who preferred the company o' our own gender, but perhaps due to her influence, we find nothing negative 'bout being an inquisitor. HA! Good Fun!

started dragon age: origins. given how busy we has been recently, am assuming that by the time we finish da:o, da2 and all the expansions and dlc, da:i will finally feel be cheapened and stable enough to warrant a purchase. alternatively, poe will likely be released... though we gotta admit our interest has been waning regarding that title. HA! Good Fun!

is probable easier to do stuff we don't wanna see. ultimately, we would like for the developers to do a game that surprises Gromnir, which necessarily precludes us being able to describe such a game. even so, there is some plots and themes and settings and similar such stuff that we has grown tired o' seeing. bad list: zombies. we loathe zombies. we didn't hate zombies a decade ago, but they has been overdone to the point that we is reflexive antagonistic to anything zombie related. vampires. apologies to shady, but we has never liked vampires. old skool vampire wherein dracula is cursed by God is better than current crazy-sexy-kewl vampires o' the post anne rice era, but we never embraced even the bram stoker versions. God curses dracula by turning him into an immortal monster with superpowers that, not surprisingly, gots a grudge against God and his followers? kinda makes God seem like a bit o' a jackarse, no? post apocalypse setting. nuke apocalypse or environmental apocalypse or... whatever. choose your poison. a blighted sci-fi or fantasy wasteland doesn't have inherent appeal to us. chosen one protagonist. etc. we could continue, but truth-to-tell, we can envision a good zombie, vampire, chosen-one game. execution o' the developer is far more important than is individual aspects. that being said, we kinda like weird west settings, and we would love to see a late 60s or early 70s action movie inspired crpg. Bullitt, Shaft and Enter the Dragon were great entertainment, and in a sense, they were just as fantastic as lotr. play your cop or secret agent character solving crime or perhaps being a criminal? Popeye Doyle appeals to us far more than Aragorn as the inspiration for a crpg protagonist. but again, the bestsest game would be one we didn't envision or imagine, so we cannot possibly describe. HA! Good Fun!

there is a compelling pretension that whatsoever is your favorite crpg, the developers o' that game did more than craft a wish-fulfillment fantasy. is an understandable fiction as few folks wanna admit that their favorite game is just as devoid o' genuine gravitas as is (insert latest mass-market title here). fallout was different. ps:t was art. the stick of truth... ok, we can't actual even complete that thought without it turning into a joke. *shrug* in any event, while chrisA and others recognize that their games is, first and foremost, escapist wish-fulfillment fantasies, we is nevertheless surprised that the developers fail to recognize how the current narrative model is necessarily self-defeating. "power fantasies" lose meaning if there ain't no choice. so, developers attempt to find a kinda ideal balance 'tween choice and traditional narrative. unfortunately, there is no perfect balance. one o' these days, somebody is gonna recognize that to genuine do better, the old balancing efforts will need be scrapped in favor o' a new model. ... 'course if bioware and other developers continue to make successful selling games using the fundamentally limited approach, the motivation to build a better mousetrap is approaching nil. regardless, bioware romances is no-less wish-fulfillment fantasy as is crpgs as a whole. our criticisms o' bioware romances (and those criticisms is legion) is not that such quests is more nontransparent ego-strokes as such a claim would be hypocritical and useless. HA! Good Fun!

hmmm. keep in mind that da:i openness were something that many has been clamoring for since bg1. many people liked bg1 style storytelling. our opinion: open world is not a prohibitive handicap to storytelling. however, one must alter the focus and be aware o' a need to tailor the narrative different. put story and gameplay on rails is gonna make easier to develop a coherent plot that develops in a rational and predictable fashion. have main plot points occur in a linear fashion has obvious advantages, no? we need discuss? 'course many crpgs attempt to maximize the illusion o' non-linearity by making main plot points interchangeable. doesn't matter if you do nar shadda first in kotor 2, or go to orzimar (sp?) as your initial destination o' choice in dragon age. player gets to feel like they is having freedom and making choice. interchangeability is a nifty feature o' assembly lines and military hardware, but it is less efficacious when attempting to develop a dramatic story arc. that being said, within an open world, the writer is hardly prohibited from creating geographic and narrative loci. we stumble across new reno in fallout 2 and we will be having the opportunity to start any number o' quests both minor and major, yes? the depth and breath o' an individual quest is not stymied by open world environment. we do believe that the focus o' the narrative in crpgs, particularly open world crpgs, should be developed with a recognition that the hero's journey is facing different hurdles compared to novels and movies. is difficult enough to describe the heroic journey of __________ when the protagonist needs necessarily be a he/she/snarky/serious/good/evil/ambivalent/mercenary nothing, but to then further uncouple the narrative by making plot points arbitrary is asking a bit much o' the crpg writer. while we has not played da:i, we suspect that the single greatest hurdle in making the narrative compelling is the fact that the story is focused 'pon the tangential and frequent random actions o' a nameless and faceless meat-puppet. da:i is having its focus on the inquisitor, which is a near insurmountable narrative hurdle to overcome. change focus to static rather than dynamic should leads to a more coherent narrative. focus on static characters. focus on developing the tangential quests/stories.am recognizing that such a notion flies in the face o' the crpg as wish fulfillment, but developers not seem to realize that they is facing a narrative brick wall by attempting to maximize illusion o' choice AND write the compelling story o' _____________. we hear developers says that the story in the crpg should be the player's narrative. is hogwash. crpg story, regardless o' attempts to create illusion o' choice and non-linearity (HA!) is always gonna be the writer's story. the pervasive obtuseness o' crpg developers/writers insofar as fundamental narrative limitations is a far bigger problem than is open worlds. HA! Good Fun!

am mildly revolted by some responses... mild. at worst, we see a woman who were extreme irresponsible. her error in judgement may have caused her own death. there is, of course, the possibility that an unfortunate confluence o' small errors resulted in a single tragic accident-- in our line o' work, we see this all the time. what if it were the husband who put the gun in her purse after cleaning? would mrs. ruteledge still deserve a death sentence 'cause she failed to check to make sure the safety were properly on before leaving the house? she might be irresponsible, but deserving of death? story says mrs. rutledge were shopping with her son and three other children. well gosh, is it possible that one o' the children, an older child, had reached into her purse and disengaged the safety on her gun whilst she were driving? mrs. rutledge were visiting relatives. as noted elsewhere, a toddler cannot disengage a safety on any reputable handgun-- would invalidate the point o' a safety in the first place if such were possible. nevertheless, mrs. rutledge's typical routine regarding gun safety may not have taken into account the presence o' relatives. routine has been the undoing o' many a man, or woman. etc. sadly, we can come up with any number o' hypotheticals that alter the scenario at the walmart from being illustrative of a wanton disregard for even the most basic "rules" o' gun safety and transform mrs. rutledge into a largely innocent victim o' happenstance. however, even assuming a worst-case-scenario, the implication that abject stoopidity should carry a death sentence is vulgar. the events described in the linked story is a tragedy. even thirty years ago, the rutledge family woulda' had the option of moving and starting a new life. yeah, the toddler who killed his mother woulda' had to grow up without a mother, but perhaps the family coulda' gotten a fresh start where nobody knew what happened to mrs. rutledge. "oh, she died in a car accident when _________ was two." who would question such a story? perhaps mr. rutledge would be unable to forget the events in the walmart, and that might affect the raising o' his child, but one may hope and pray that the child were too young to remember or to be traumatized by what occurred. move to a new town and family gets a new start. is 2014... for at least a few hours more. we got internet. type "veronica rutledge" into any search engine from now until armageddon, and the walmart shooting accident will be readily discovered. even assuming that the toddler is unaffected by the memory o' what happened, the loss o' a mother, and the possible trauma done to his remaining parent, the child is likely never gonna be able to escape this tragedy. wherever he goes, people will know what happened to his mother and the child will be treated different because o' that fact. am mildly revolted. as an aside, a single incident, should, with extreme rare exceptions, never be taken as a commentary on civilization... that is just silly. ps other than off-duty cops and the like, we is against carrying handguns on one's person. is not simple because we has comical bad aim with handguns neither.

yeah. recommendation: quit watching anime. ever hear that, "sex is like pizza. even if it's done bad, it's still pretty good"? well, anime is apparent the opposite o' sex... or pizza. anime, even when it's done well, it's still pretty bad. oh sure, just as with sex and pizza, you can find examples that defy the general rule. grave of the fireflies and spirited away were excellent storytelling and were beautiful to behold. cowboybebop had great music and better than half its episodes were betwixt watchable and great. however, for the most part, japanese anime is (perhaps ironically) poorly animated and near universal poorly written. the avatar: the last airbender cartoons from nikelodeon were 'bout ten times better than any japanese anime we has seen in decades. we haven't followed korra, so we can't say much about the new stuff. actual happened a couple months ago and is illustrative. a friend o' ours began to try and convince us that _________ anime was worth watching and that we should put aside our prejudice and, "give it a chance." were not the first time a friend had made such a suggestion. our reflex reaction were to argue but then something broke inside us. we reached into our wallet and pulled out $20. andrew jackson gave our friend a humorless stare that contained just a hint o' contempt. being a patriotic fellow, we followed andy's lead. "if you promise to never again try and convince me of the merits of any anime, past or present, you can have this twenty." ... our friend knew us well enough to not be offended. he chuckled... but he took the $20. it were the best $20 we has spent in the last 6 months. HA! Good Fun!

over christmas we got stuck in a car with somebody who were a fan o' taylor swift or katy perry (sp?) or who-the-F-knows. regardless, we had to endure 40 minutes o' musical oatmeal. no doubt such fare is easily consumed, but it is bland and soul-killing when served ad nauseum. ah. much better. HA! Good Fun!

admitted off the rails: if it were not so cumbersome, am suspecting amentep could use the video as his permanent signature HA! Good Fun!

Gromnir I would suggest you try another holiday destination just for variety....it sounds like it would be of benefit, you sound a little jaded depends on what you mean. give up kauai? *snort* not gonna happen. thanksgiving and christmas, on the other hand, typical involve family. ... you have no idea how frequent we has considered altering our holiday destinations that is involving family. HA! Good Fun!

net or gross? if you persist on enduring a long-term relationship wherein costs outweigh return on investment, you is likely making a mistake maintaining the relationship... or perhaps we is referencing family? however, excepting romance wherein we thinks folks is often bug-nut crazy in their seeming desperation to avoid being alone, we will concede our hypocrisy in this regard as we frequently indulge in relationships wherein we is near absolute certain that the ledger will end up looking poor. hope? charity? is perhaps proof o' the perversity o' The Universe, but the folks who need help is those least likely to genuine embrace aid. perhaps we is so willing to help the helpless as we recognize our self in such folks and thus we is in fact getting payment in spite o' the seeming futility? dunno. HA! Good Fun!

sequels different and better than original? bg2 were superior to bg1, but the sequel weren't a re-imagining so much as a refinement. mechwarrior 2 v. mechwarrior? is odd, but there were actual quasi role-play aspects in the first mechwarrior game, but the combat were so much better in the second incarnation that we didn't mind the absence o' rp. gonna go slight obscure on this... battlezone. v. battlezone (1998) is near the top o' our list o' Best Games Nobody Played. HA! Good Fun1

thanksgiving, Gromnir's yearly trip to hawaii, and christmas all is happening far too contemporaneous. is a plot o' xenu, the galactic overloard? ... is a bit like swimming laps in a nice indoor pool for 47 weeks... start to have delusions o' being johnny weismuller? then circumstances change and for last five weeks o' the year, instead o' swimming in a pool, you is trying to swim same distances in the ocean. we give up. the holidays won and we lost. perhaps ironic, but now we actual we need a vacation. HA! Good Fun!

3dm saved you $60? we googled "3DM" in reference to pc games and what we got is references to game cracks. you ain't saying you is playing a game without paying for it, is you? obsidian is understandably intolerant o' such stuff. in fact, it were our understanding that one o' the Prime Evils that the mods were s'posed to squash on these boards is any advocacy o' piracy, implied or overt. advocacy o' piracy is one o' the few clear no-nos we got, yes? perhaps you might wanna change story before some actual obsinate returns from holiday and notices your faux pas, and the inexplicable mod indifference. HA! Good Fun!

don't expect uniformity. each municipality does things a bit different. that being said, we has only heard colonel for some state police, so a county colonel is new to us. oh, and then there is kentucky colonels... http://kycolonels.org/ HA! Good Fun!

one benefit to the developer and publisher is to gauge interest for potential future multiplayer titles using the same intellectual property. is there actual interest for mp dragon age? what is feedback from players of da:i mp? does such feedback give ideas as to how one would make a better da mp game, or perhaps even a da mmo? we got no reason to believe our guess has any validity whatsoever, but we can see potential usefulness o' such a thing to publisher/developers. HA! Good Fun!

"Unless Gromnir produces the actual study so we can see if it really supports his theory, we'll have to make do with summaries. (1) (2)" we don't expect you to believe us, but you don't need us to provide the info. in one link you can see the following sources mentioned. 1 Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training, A Study of the Minnesota Professional Peace Officer Education System (1991). 2 National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, Police (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973). 3 Brookings Institution, Upgrading the American Police, by C. B. Saunders Jr. (Washington, D.C.: 1970). 4 D. L. Carter and A. D. Sapp, "College Education and Policing: Coming of Age," FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (January 1992): 8-14. 5 D. J. Bell, "The Police Role and Higher Education," Journal of Police Science and Administration, vol. 7, no. 4 (1979 ): 467-475. 6 H. R. Bowen, Investment in Learning: The Individual and Social Value of American Higher Education (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1977). hey, as is christams eve, just one example to get you started: http://www.academia.edu/2907549/The_Effect_of_Higher_Education_on_Police_Behavior with just that list you may find literal dozens of links and articles that also utilized the same sources to either refute or support the notion that educated cops is less likely to be subjected to discipline... which will reveal even more such articles and studies. lazy. you state, "While that seems to support his idea," but then you lift one quote outta context as if such is effective refuting? HA! you not need Gromnir. do yourself. hell, look how long it took for us to get you to admit that cops get paid more than a pittance? it don't appear that you actual wanna discuss merits, so why don't we switch roles? HA! Good Fun!

So, you're okay with cops keeping silent or actively assisting in covering up the abuses of another cop out of a sense of loyalty ? I suppose they do have multiple loyalties and some are prioritized over others - but it seems some of them have that queue messed up. we can only provide anecdotal. when we worked juvenile hall, we were mighty conflicted about reporting infractions of fellow probation officers-- the county probation department ran the local juvi hall. if we reported a fellow employee for, just as examples, being asleep on-duty or leaving a security door unlocked, we would then needs have to deal with the predictable backlash from our fellow "counselors." the next time Gromnir needed counselor backup or support, we would expect less than their full effort, and we would be certain that if we ever made an error, no matter how minor, we would be instant reported. and again, we were only working juvenile hall. the residents Gromnir typical dealt with were older and bigger than the average resident, but we is still talking 'bout 16 and 17 year olds as 'posed to adult criminals with firearms. if you cannot trust the people you work with, it is unlikely you will last long in any law enforcement job. sidenote: we did write a memo to administration regarding chairs of all things. in the high security unity we searched residents for such items as pencils and shiv/toothbrushes as such things could be utilized as weapons. unfortunately, the residents used plastic chairs when they were watching tv or eating meals in the unit. we observed that a pool table had been removed from J-unit a number of years previous because a resident had used a pool cue as a weapon and struck a counselor doing serious and permanent physical damage in the attack. we further observed that the chairs we currently utilized in the high security unit, a unit that housed accused rapists and murderers, were heavier than a pool cue and could also be used as very effective and deadly weapons of opportunity. etc. yadda yadda. we were given a crap detail after we submitted the memo to the lead supervisor. the administration didn't like that we wrote such a memo. nevertheless, one supervisor "had our back." the supervisor who approved o' our actions got us transferred to his time-slot at the hall and from that point we were working effectively for him at intake/security. we certainly felt a significant amount of loyalty towards the supervisor who were looking out for our best interests, especially when the alternative were having to clean the fecal matter that B_____ used to paint his room when he were off his medications. HA! Good Fun! ps we would never fail to report what we saw as egregious infractions or assaults on residents, regardless o' loyalty or esprit de corps or whatever. but borderline stuff? am betting that "boarderline" is even more confusing for police officers.

laziness should not be encouraged. in the links #s has in his recent post we can see many sources indicated. do a search. educate self. clearly you don't necessarily believe Gromnir conclusions, even if some such stuff is self evident (e.g. requiring more education would require more pay.) otherwise we get the nonsense such as above where in spite o' general findings, we get somebody post a single quote rather than reading whole articles or actual studies. HA! Good Fun!

usa today is not the only such study... do a check for yourself. differing numbers were taken into account. is also noteworthy that in at least a couple such studies we saw, such articles and papers is prefaced with the % of the budget police departments spend on personnel. number we saw most often is ~85%. sidenote: we will recheck, but am recalling that there were some oddity regarding cops with masters degrees. such cops were represented by a very small sample size and the typical cop, even the typical college grad cop, don't get a masters til he has been on the force for some considerable number o' years. discipline actions and sick days and other such stuff were extreme similar between cops with masters and long-time vets w/o a degree. HA! Good Fun! ps am recalling that usa today didn't actual do the study that were quoted, but rather some kinda police chief's periodical.

"According to a 2006 report by USA Today, “In an analysis of disciplinary cases against Florida cops from 1997 to 2002, the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that officers with only high school educations were the subjects of 75% of all disciplinary actions. Officers with four-year degrees accounted for 11% of such actions.” " is only one study. college degrees for cops make a significant difference. "Pretty much anything and everything done by or associated with the Rand Corporation is slanted evil in some manner and is often pure BS." this guys is so amusing. am beginning to think he is an oby dopple. all those nobel prize (literally dozens) winners who has contributed to RAND studies over the past few decades is demons in disguise. HA! Good Fun!

today is shady's birthday, yes? happy birthday and merry christmas. HA! Good Fun!

ps let's do a quick review so we can see what happened in this thread. "Er, call me naïve, but wouldn't this be solved by having cops earn more than a pittance? Encourage smart, hard-working, committed and motivated youths to pursue a career in law enforcement, instead of recruiting just about anyone that can pass a drug test. Societies have the police forces they pay for, like everything else." so, yeah, we call you naive. even after you see that our cops, guys who typical need only a ged, is getting paid similar to many college grads, you still don't seem to wanna back away from your misconception. ask for dramatic more education will shrink the pool o' current applicants and will necessarily require more pay to expand such a diminished pool to fill hiring needs... and where the heck will the money come from? HA! Good Fun!

"Cops get paid more than teachers, so cops get paid more than all college graduates" where did we say that? nowhere? so why put in quotes? even so, you didn't read the links, did you? "A patrol officer’s average take-home pay of $57,770 is comparable to our other Best Social Services Jobs." oh, and we agree that teacher turnover is high. 20% is not good. is one reason why teacher median is low. a 10 year teacher makes far more than a starting teacher, nevertheless, the median numbers shown ain't what we would expect. you is proving our point. teachers is an oft used example o' underpaid and high turnover, and yet there is less problem getting educated teacher than there is getting cops. and you are so missing the point. YES, chemical engineers make far more money. that is precisely the freaking point. there is no way you can pay cops that kinda money... the money doesn't exist to pay cops that much. and if you give a guy with a chemical engineering degree the choice between being, say, a chemical freaking engineer and a cop, which occupation would the typical recent college grad choose? make the pay the same for chemical engineers and cops (HA!) and which job would the guy with the degree in chemical engineering choose? "Prohibitive, really? I could bring up defense or intelligence budget figures, but you'd just say that those are fed spending items and the fed can't do anything about local and state budgets or some other bureaucratic cop-out. " show them. cop departments has already pointed out they need help to afford body cams, and you want to significantly raise cop salary? good luck. wacky stuff. you see numbers o' the increase in cop pay, and that is for guys with a ged, but you don't think that needing to raise pay proportional so that we got universal college grad cops would be expensive? and you Particularly given the numbers we keep showing for the current grad rates o' blacks... which is also a priority. HA! Good Fun!