Cantousent

Yeah, Rayth seems so familiar... like I might have seen him before. heh heh Anyhow, +200 TOMBS points to meta. I don't give reasons.

Wait... You guys are talking about me, aren't you?

At least I can count on you, meta. :Eldar's cute and fluffy smile icon: I'd wink, but I'm afraid of what others might think.

It's bigoted to disagree with a lifestyle? Homosexuals are not entitled to any greater consideration or care than any other group, and yet they demand a special status. Persecuting homosexuals is certainly wrong. Forcing someone to advocate homosexuality is just as wrong. Blizzard's troubles aren't over with this. Now, the precedent is set. They're going to face the same issue, only with other groups, and those problems are going to get worse, not better. What if a group insists on married status for its members? What if a group insists on heterosexual orientation? What if a group insists on black only members? I

Sure you can, meta. They are free to say what they want and we are free to refute it. That's a damned sight better than saying either of us should kill the other. ...But I promise one thing, if the Moral Majority decides to impose anti-blasphemy laws or any other such non-sense, I'm standing with you. Freedom of Speech means hearing what the other guy has to say. Sometimes, I'm that other guy. Sometimes you are. I'm also quite vocal. I write to my legislators. I've called a couple of times. I vote in every election. So, I agree that the moral majority is overbearing and morally superior. Fair enough. They're not, however, outright advocating violence. If they do, they'll have passed beyond free speech into violence and we will hold them accountable. The we will undoubtedly be religious, atheist, agnostic, and all others who hold to the values of democracy.

There's where you're wrong, Hades. Freedom to criticise is neutral. That means that any idea, religious or not, is open to comment. You don't like folks telling you thing when you walk around the mall? Too bad. That, my friend, is freedom of speech in action. Of course, some fool will cite all the abortion clinic bombings in the United States. I mean, there have been thousands since the begining of the decade, have there not? That's irrelevant at any rate, since bombing abortion clinics is already against the law. Nope, violence, or speech that advocates violence, is already prohibited. Speech that advocates religion, like other speech, is perfectly acceptible. To suggest otherwise makes a lie out of freedom of speech. Now, if someone comes to your door, for whatever reason, it is your right to deny them access. If they approach you on the street, you are free to express a different opinion. In any event, you don't get to deny them speech, Hades. Instead, you get the same opportunity to express your views. Extremist Muslims made a huge mistake in choosing to wage war on freedom of speech. A small bit of advice to others, don't turn it into a war against religion. You might win on a message board where the atheist population is far more vocal than the religious population. Policy, however, isn't decided here. Right now, I'm your friend. A lot of us weak willed Christians are with you in advocating Freedom of Speech. Nevertheless, no one, even an atheist, is above criticism. Don't take you cue from the extremists reaction and follow suit by choosing the wrong war. You should be glad that extremists decided on the wrong course of action, not follow them down the same path.

Fine writing, Mr. Drabek. I think Nartwak is just a meanie. However, I would like to nitpick one small point. "...nothing over which to spill your coffee." :Eldar's ribbing Darth Drabek with a laugh and a grin icon:

Come on. These guys had access to high profile licenses such as VtM and Dungeons and Dragons. They made a good business decision in signing on for ToEE. They just couldn't come through with the goods. You know, I don't want to kick Troika. They had some great ideas. The problem is, they never managed to turn them into great games. The real problem is that Troika didn't do it and so a lot of folks think it can't be done. Troika didn't do a damned thing to help the CRPG industry.

Troika doesn't get credit for Fallout. Interplay does. Bloodlines, on the other hand, is one of the best RPGs I've ever played. So far, that puts one excellent Troika game in the midst of a few mediocre games and one game for which they

Come on, now. What powers does post-haste man have? I know, I'm a quick flamer. Hmmm, that just didn't sound right.

WARNING: I AM INVOKING MY BORE THEM TO TEARS POWER I'm going to do something infinitely stupid. I'm going to be completely honest on a message board. Here goes. I look around the world at fundamentalists and extremists and I wonder, "are they better than me? Am I weak and are they strong? Am I afraid to embrace my Christianity and fight for it?" I think of people I've known, both online and in real life. Real life? Do I doubt that meta or moth are real? Some of my real life friends talk to me once every couple of weeks. Conflicting schedules make it hard to meet and discuss things. This message board... I see some of you folks every day. Darth Launch has done more for helping me to understand and sympathize with Muslims than has any person in my "real life." Then I think to myself that Christianity should not be a violent religion. I'm not a coward for hoping for peace and an extremist isn't stronger for burning an embassy or bombing an abortion clinic. Maybe meta is right. Maybe these extremists, the fringe in every religion, have hijacked our faiths. Maybe there is a solid and large core of Muslims who fear and resent the face that extremists have put on their religion. I know I resent the Christian extremists, although fewer in number, who have spoken as a member of my religion. Still, extremist Christians have been a powerful force in times past, but the atheists in our number should acknowledge one fact... that western democracy owes it's religious tolerance not to atheist fighting for equality, but to those of us weak Christians who have thought that it was better to tolerate opposing or even hateful views rather than deny freedoms. Sure, we can cite abortion clinic bombings, but all of us, Christian, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, and all folks from every creed should be thankful that enough of us see across religious lines to stand in defence of our common rights. It is not weak to believe in peace. It is not weak to fight for freedom. I retire. As always, I reserve the right to re-enter the fray at a later time. ...But I don't seek to win. I'm just one of those pathetic folks who hopes to find some truth during his life. If I can find a little slice of it here on a gaming company message board, so be it. As always, I read. No matter your view, I listen.

In defiance of overwhelming evidence, you suggest that Christians in comparable percentages clamor for burning and killing? meta, this is a parlor trick. I don't want one off articles or other incidental comments. I want something that actually shows that extremist Christians represent the same proportion of Christianity as extremist Muslims do Islam. It's not that you offend Christians by implying equivalency. It's that such claims muddy the waters of the issue. Hades hates Christians. Fair enough. He's not getting killed for saying so. He can insult Christianity and Christians and still keep his safety. Move to Syria and do the same. Oh, sure, find some isolated events and try to tie them into the same amount of fervor we see coming from the region. That will be quite rich. It doesn

If anything, the extremists response hamstrung those of us who would otherwise have sided with Muslims. I'm Catholic. I think the cartoons were offensive and incendiary. ...But extremists call for blood. Not only that, they'll say that Muslims are a special case and that a Catholic can't understand the offense of seeing the prophet depicted, particularly in an offensive way. Yep, that's right, we Catholics and fellow Christians are happy when folks disparage and insult our religion, huh? There would have been a lot of us on the side of Muslims world-wide, but now we have a choice between upholding freedom of speech or saying that Muslims are such a special case that our freedom of speech should be held hostage. I won't do that. I believe freedom is God given. Extremists don't really understand that their response hurts all of us. Rail against the cartoons all you want, but realize that, if not for the extremists, I would have been standing with and not against you. Muslims around the world had a chance to unite in a common cause with other religious folks. Instead, the loudest voice advocates violence and mayhem. In addition, we Christians are essentially told to go screw ourselves because we can't understand the offense. The hell I can't. My Christianity is no less dear to me than your Islam is to you. The only difference is, I understand that killing folks over "Piss Christ" doesn't make me a better Christian. I don't defend or stand behind some nutjob telling me to kill abortion clinic doctors. It's not just temperate Muslims who are hurt by the extremist response. It's all of us. Already, Europeans wage a war against religion and here was a real chance to fight back. Too bad the weapons of choice for so many Muslims were stones and not words. We could have won the important fight. It should never have been a war against freedom of speech. It should have been a war against anti-religious bigotry. Too bad for all of us that the extremists chose the wrong fight.

The hat was going to cost me $85! I was just too cheap. I would have liked to have one, though. I especially appreciate the fact that, to many folks, I'll look like a walking drape. Comedy. :D

Wow, those swans are pretty damned big. Great, Ambleside's been billed as a nice area and the place we're going has a lot of great amenities. I just hoped that there were a couple of people who could verify that before we finalized the plans.

Well, at least baley's been pulling his weight lately. Come on, jorian, write up a review. Write it in Hungarian for all I care. Hey, write up a review of pixies in Hungarian.

hahaha You kill me with that poofy shirt fixation, KQD. What's funny is, I actually told my sister that a woman's blouse would work fine for a lot of guys as long as they didn't know it was a woman's blouse and the buttons were covered. At any rate, mine is a poet's shirt. There's a difference.

I'm thinking about picking up XMen Legends somewhere along the line.

Bite me, Laozi. :Eldar's shaking his head with a bemused grin icon: First of all, I'm 6'2". Second of all, I haven't figured out a way to change that. Third of all, if I could increase my bodily dimensions by fiat, I can think of areas that deserve more attention. (Get your mind out of the gutter. I meant my shoulders.)

Ah, it's exploitation. Sounds terrible, but as long as I don't have to watch it, I won't care. I mean, who cares if it's exploitation if the exploited enjoy the show and the actors are all well compensated.

Dammit, sounds like a drug induced hallucination. Still, I'll take it! :Eldar's slapping Kor on the back and handing him a cold brew icon: Now, here

Okay, I need to know, hopefully from folks who live around or have visited, all about Nr. Ambleside, Cumbria England and Rutland Leicestershire, England. Are these nice areas? Is there a lot to do around there? How's the weather in March? Please, wax poetic.

Naw, Far Thel is one of the good guys. He's not always a nice guy, but he's always a good guy. Of course, he's too much of a dandy for Vici.

BG 1 was on the boring side. Some of the later areas are better, however. Durlag's Tower is a masterpiece. Anyhow, mkreku, get back to Gothic, dammit. You've only played it half a million times, I'm sure. :Eldar's harassing mkreku with a wolfish grin icon: