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Amentep

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Everything posted by Amentep

  1. As I understand it state supported universities are considered to be part of the government, so can't curtail free speech. They can, however, control disruptive speech since they're a place of education so, for example, local state universities typically have "free speech zones" that are placed in areas of campus so that, for example, random people can come and shout about how all youths are sinners and gay people will burn in hell or whatever while not disrupting the educational process on what is, in essence, government property. The student safety cancellation stuff was a bit of an end run around this and I'm not sure would realistically stand up to a challenge (memory says it was challenged and didn't, but I'm not going to be bothered to look it up).
  2. I think people should play in a way that works for them. If it is on the internet because they've been deployed overseas or if its meeting in the living room of the DM and rolling dice, I think the important thing is to enjoy what you're doing not to worry about how you're doing it.
  3. Seems a bit of a stretch to do every post, though.
  4. Old thread - https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/106337-tvs-vast-wasteland/page-27
  5. new thread - https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/108752-political-point-and-counterpoint/
  6. start of old thread end of old thread[ am thinking invade v. intervene is largely a semantic differentiation and it ignores actual reasons for perceived success v. failure. sadly, success in these kinda post-invasion operations comes down to a willingness to allocate sufficient resources to adequate maintain peace in newly occupied territories. https://www.rand.org/pubs/periodicals/rand-review/issues/summer2003/burden.html https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1753/MR1753.ch9.pdf us peacekeeping force in iraq were too small. woulda needed 3x as many troops 'ccording to estimates, and a whole lot more money invested into infrastructure if true lasting peace were the goal. coulda' sold iraq invasion to public if actual costs were known? doubtful. bush administration mistaken thought once "liberated," the iraqi people would take care o' self policing and infrastructure development. wrong. obama made same stoopid mistake during arab spring, believing regime change, but w/o costly invasion, would lead to development o' stable democratic governments throughout the region. so obama helps spark the regime changes but then watched impotent as middle east burned. is an ugly reality to face. ain't morality which determines success o' peacekeeping and nation building efforts. is simple a matter o' having will to commit necessary troop numbers and intelligent allocate rebuilding dollars. gd suggests the investment is never worthwhile. am not certain we agree, but we do recognize how the costs is typical far greater than politicians claim, and actual costs, if truthful communicated to public, would almost always be considered untenable. if all the US wants is to maintain influence with bad actors 'round the globe, is much cheaper ways to bring 'bout positive results compared to any sorta serious military campaign. blix, for example, noted just how effective were sanctions in limiting iraq's wmd programs. 'course sanctions hasn't been as effective insofar as north korea and iran. stay complete uninvolved is a bit 19th century and a little naive, but am recognizing any sorta state-sponsored regime change is likely to be far too costly to sell to American populace in all but most extreme situations. HA! Good Fun! And so it continues...
  7. Clearly what this shows us is that we need to have a better classification system when talking about the age of gamers. I suggest aping D&D's dragon age ranges. Category Age (Years) Wyrmling 0–2 Very young 2–5 Young 6–9 Juvenile 10–15 Young adult 16–19 Adult 20–28 Mature adult 29–36 Old 37–42 Very old 43–49 Ancient 50–60 Wyrm 61–80 Great wyrm 81 or more
  8. I've actually liked most of the Bioware games. While I'll discuss what does/doesn't work IMO with any of them, I've still enjoyed and put a lot of time in them. I think the released Bioware games I haven't played are Shattered Steel, MDK2, and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and now Anthem. Since I have no interest in playing online, I'll never buy and play Anthem. Personally, though, if the next game Bioware announces is single player, I'll keep an eye on it and see if its something that interests me. And hopefully it will be, as I think the rumor is a Dragon Age game is in development. If they continue going after online multiplayer gaming, then I won't; no hard feelings but that's a market I'm just not going to be a part of.
  9. If a lifetime of watching action tv shows and movies have taught me anything, its that the hero can take up to three people at once tops. He's going to have to have somebody run interference on the 4th and 5th ones until he takes down the first three. And if they get to 6 or more, they're better off trying to work together to escape.
  10. RIP film director Stanley Donen. Directed, amid others, Singin' in the Rain, Funny Face, Damn Yankees, Charade and Arabesque.
  11. The Monkees was the only show that my mom forbade us to watch, albeit temporarily (they showed it twice a day, five days a week at one point in local syndication, meaning that with 58 episodes, every 5 weeks you started it over and we watched it every single day twice a day - my mom just got tired of seeing the same episodes over and over. She relented a few years later because it is a fun show and she'd recovered from being forced to watch the 58 episodes umpteen times).
  12. The Wild Wild West is set during the Grant administration (1869 - 1877) and is retroactively considered steampunk (since the term wasn't coined during the years it ran on CBS).
  13. Its a previously reported issue - https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/94940-disjunction-pulse-bug/ As Hannibal_PJV says the best ways to get it seen by obsidian is the support email or going to the website and using the form.
  14. Microsoft bought Rare in Sept 2002. As I understand it, Grabbed by the Ghoulies from 2003 is considered to be the first game under the Microsoft era (as I think their other 2003 games were funded by Nintendo and THQ).
  15. Egads, the book lover in me is cringing horribly at that picture.
  16. ...and Punisher and Jessica Jones are cancelled with JJ Season 3 still to air.
  17. I think there's a simpler explanation for Alita's score than conspiracy theories - the end doesn't really give a pay-off to the story. Don't get me wrong, I loved the film and understand why they went with that ending, but it doesn't resolve the plot or the emotional character arcs of the main characters. It stops rather than ends.
  18. Isnt that still a win/lose situation, just broken up into gradients? Ive never paid for a "lootbox" but don't 100% of them have "something" in them, that being what you wanted or not, notwithstanding? Or is there actually a chance to get an empty "lootbox"? You could argue that, sure. But if you win little you could still be upset you didn't win a lot (with respect to paying money chasing a rare loot box item). You could also argue Loot boxes are more akin to an ultra rare card in a collectible card game, the purchase of packs wouldn't be considered gambling.
  19. That's really only in winner takes all types of gambling. There are types of gambling that gives you odds on an opportunity (win big, win little, lose little, lose big). That's why as I recall giveaway games (like McDonald's Monopoly games) have to give a way to play the game without purchase to not be considered gambling in most states and thus be regulated under state law (and it is regulated, such as being required to publish odds to win prizes).
  20. Current Avatar: Adele Mara

  21. I hope we don't go full on Mad Max. I look terrible in a mohawk and chaps.
  22. BBC is going to adapt Michael Moor****'s RUNESTAFF novels to tv. https://deadline.com/2019/02/bbcs-michael-moor****-runestaff-1202556240/
  23. All your money?
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