Andrew Turner's page

1E Reprints on the way

Procedes go toward the Gygax Memorial.

The Tucson Unified School District has stated that it did NOT ban any books: The texts in question have not been removed from the school libraries. They were removed from classrooms and placed in storage because Mexican-American Studies (the course that used them) is not currently being taught.

According to the AZCentral news website (Quoting a statement from TUSD spokeswoman Cara Rene):

Rene said the seven books removed from the classrooms were: "Critical Race Theory" by Richard Delgado; "500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures" edited by Elizabeth Martinez; "Message to AZTLAN" by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales; "Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement" by Arturo Rosales; "Occupied America: A History of Chicanos" by Rodolfo Acuña; "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire; and "Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years" by Bill Bigelow.

Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, was not banned either.

Many of the ideas in this thread are very worthy of discussion, and I think it's vital that the conversation amongst us continue.

Nonetheless, if the above information from Sir_Wulf is correct, the original premise and direction of this thread has been invalidated.

Unfortunately, new readers will open it, read my originating post, and become immediately inired.

It may be best to close this thread and someone might begin a new one to continue some of the ancillary aspects under discussion.

They even banned Shakespeare. Anything that discusses oppression, racism or culturalism as a central theme. Talk about pots and kettles!

Thanks to Ari Marmell for the link; I echo his sentiments: WTF?

Fascism Alive and Well in Arizona

As a sworn defender of the US Constitution, I'm rather disgusted by this development.

Robert Hawkshaw wrote:

From the article, seems like a clear cut case of self-defence. The kid did everything he could to avoid the fight, was jumped from behind, feared for his life and couldn't escape. Meets the definition of self-defence up here in Canada.

So it took a DOZEN knife stabs for someone to defend themselves against fists? The right to self defense ends when you've successfully deterred your assailant and ended the threat. If you continue to wound and kill him while he's helpless... that's murder.

Mustnotreplymustnotreplymustnotreply

Andrew Turner wrote:

I'll take the basic utopia that is ST:TNG

For my part, I'd go with Star Trek: The Original Series. It has most of the advantages of the "Next Generation Universe" but without the "Political Correctness" and it has just enough danger to keep things interresting (+ miniskirts).

Hmmm...miniskirts...

I'll take the basic utopia that is ST:TNG

I kind of like being clean everyday, eating regularly, not getting sick, and not worrying too much about demonic possession or being raided by goblins.

Andrew Turner wrote:

I think TV went into a coma about four or five years ago.

-BSG was the best sci-fi, period.
-Lost was still edge-of-the-seat awesome.
-The Simpsons still had a few fairly original episodes.
-E.R. was still at the top of its game.
-Spooks was interesting.
-Doctor Who was magically awesome (it's still awesome, but it has an established feel to it now)
-The Office was tearfully funny
-Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was the absolute most original cartoon around; and every episode was spectacular.
-Spongebob still felt original.
-Dora was still a little girl.
-The Wonder Pets were actually wonderful.
-Smallville was a show you went home early to watch.
-The Sopranos--this is HBO to me.

Wow...you are so wrong on so many levels...but you are right in your original statement, and about Doctor Who.

The writer's strike back in 2007 took the wind out of their sails. We saw a glut of "reality" television to make up for it. However, TV is just taking a page out of Hollywood's playbook. Why write something original when you can just dig up something old and flash it up

And for the record, Farscape was the best sci-fi, period. ;-)

I have kids, so, Wonderpets, you know? Also, I meant for 2007-ish times, not best Sci-fi in history...

I think TV went into a coma about four or five years ago.

-BSG was the best sci-fi, period.
-Lost was still edge-of-the-seat awesome.
-The Simpsons still had a few fairly original episodes.
-E.R. was still at the top of its game.
-Spooks was interesting.
-Doctor Who was magically awesome (it's still awesome, but it has an established feel to it now)
-The Office was tearfully funny
-Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was the absolute most original cartoon around; and every episode was spectacular.
-Spongebob still felt original.
-Dora was still a little girl.
-The Wonder Pets were actually wonderful.
-Smallville was a show you went home early to watch.
-The Sopranos--this is HBO to me.

Whoo! Since I'll be in Korea that day, it's a Saturday for me, and I'll be home, in bed, asleep.
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...Please, don't wake me up; I'll read about it on Sunday.

I doubt that losing the legal rights to an item --that itself didn't make the cut-- is going to be 'the one' that netted you a million dollar contract in the future. Besides, if Paizo wants to use your item later, I'm positive they'll give you credit.

Detailed Final Plan for the last two books in the Song of Fire and Ice.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG--I'm stoked!

Yes, Andrew, we can judge people who live in a different time/place by our standards, but since our standards aren't proven to be universally, objectively better, what does that tell us?

That, like every other culture that has ever existed, we can be guilty of ethnocentrism.

I might argue that our general modern standards (meaning the standards of most of us on these Boards, for example) are very much better than the standards of recent Biblical discussion.

This may sound trite and even a little unfair, but if any of us--very religious people included--saw a post-apocalypse movie with the same exact scenarios depicted in the last several posts, committed by the characters in the film, we would universally recognize them as The Bad Guys.

If this is true for you (reader of this post), then you need to explain to yourself how you can possibly read the same exact events in a bronze-age story and pass it off as acceptable behavior; pass it off as the guidance of a loving deity/leader.

It is a bronze-age story, not a contemporary one. I don't think anyone has tried to pass it off as acceptable behavior for today's world.

Not what I said nor intimated; and you're right, I don't believe anyone on these Boards would even hint that such behavior in 2011 is OK.

Nonetheless, we're talking about how we would view the people engaging in this behavior in a fictional post-apocalypse film or story scenario.

I think this goes beyond arguing that people in distant times can't be held to the same morals as modern man.

If you watch a movie depicting a post-nuclear/global disaster 'society' that engages in the behavior described by the verses in the last several posts, they would universally be considered The Bad Guys. Our Hero (and maybe his small group of 'civilized' companions) would spend the film trying to thwart the people who are, in essence, behaving Biblically.

If the leader of the Bad Guys believed he was guided by the gods (or God), we would universally understand him to be either insane or a power-monger using superstition to advance his position.

If this is true, then what praise-worthy, morally-superior, universal and time-tested general awesomeness are we supposed to get out of these OT stories?

This may sound trite and even a little unfair, but if any of us--very religious people included--saw a post-apocalypse movie with the same exact scenarios depicted in the last several posts, committed by the characters in the film, we would universally recognize them as The Bad Guys.

If this is true for you (reader of this post), then you need to explain to yourself how you can possibly read the same exact events in a bronze-age story and pass it off as acceptable behavior; pass it off as the guidance of a loving deity/leader.

My friends, theBible is going to say any horrible thing you want it to say if you're going to draw conclusion regardless of evidence. BNW: We have talked about the dramatic differences between what you are calling slavery and the slavery of Hebrew times. You choose to advance your criticism of the Bible unfazed. But you're simply wrong, bro.

In a different culture, being a well-treated servant is a good thing. The surrounding folks would simply eat you or burn you to death if they conquered your area. Having large families and capable fighters was a matter of survival. So God tells them to treat people well, better than anyone treated their slaves, and gives established rules by which family groups may be grown, captives may earn freedom, etc. There's a wealth of information about the vast differences between slavery as you narrowly define it, and slavery described in the Bible. I will remind you that in the very same chapter about slavery that fans of the Skeptics Eisogetic Approach to Scripture Without Knowing Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek make reference to, there is a prohibition against slavery as we know it: seizing people against their will and selling or buying them as slaves is punishable by death.

We who argue over minimum wage and live free of fear from encroachment by barbarians can sit in judgment over the struggles of ancient humanity. But we're silly to. The Bible was written at one point to communicate principle for all points. WHen you look at New Testament scripture, you get an even clearer understanding that eisogetic literal interpretations are abused by beleivers and skeptic, and fully miss the point of sound doctrine and a gospel of grace. I invite you all to look past preconceptions and study with open minds.

This is a great response.

I think the problem so many of us nonbelievers have with the Bible is the way some small minority of users abuse the historicity of the 'anthology' to promote and advance their own warped and patently anti-Christian views and behaviors. Unfortunately, this minority of abusers are not only abusing the Book, but their positions of authority by misguiding legions of followers to, at best, accept their corrupted principles, and at worst work to further them.

I think it's accurate to say that dying (in order to be reunited with God in Heaven) is key to the Abrahamic religions.

Is this generally true of most religions?

I'm now cleaning Guinness off my keyboard, and my nose burns.

Please just lock this ridiculous thread now and save me the time of hiding it.

FYI: Clicking the "hide thread" button takes less time than writing a post asking the moderators to close a thread.

Ironic, huh?

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...huh?

Please just lock this ridiculous thread now and save me the time of hiding it.

UFO's are simple. They work like this:

1 - Look up.
2 - See something flying.
3 - Don't know what it is.
4 - It's a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object)
5 - Attempt to profit from misidentifying said flying object as an extraterrestrial spacecraft.
(Please note that if that were true, it would no longer be Unidentified, and thus is no longer a UFO.)

UFO's certainly exist. It's extraterrestrial spacecraft that are questionable.

You're also having a bad day and don't want to play our game. I'm not giving you any spaceship cake unless you come up with a cool way a UFO might actually work.

It is a recurring motif that people see something blinking and cigarlike zip across their field of vision. These observations are typically symptoms of stroke, and this could explain why the cultures that are alien-primed are the only ones where such sightings are called aliens. Other cultures find another explanation. By the same token, there are african cultures where voice hallucinations are replaced by the sound of war drums. Cultural references affect us deeply.

If we are to discuss the sightings that do exist as real, there was a report from a fighter pilot that he saw something flying, that suddenly shot away from him at an incredible speed. Considering things like sheer stress and even acceleration itself, this would suggest inertialess motion. Anything else would smear the contents of the UFO against the back wall. How inertialess motion can be achieved, naturally, is unknown at this time. That we finally are more or less certain we have found the Higgs particle is likely the absolute first step along that path, however.

Me, I find it utterly improbable that aliens would come visit us without us knowing about it. We have astronomers who would pick up on any kind of applicable approach.

So you have no idea how a UFO might actually work?

Gingerbread Tardis

and

Gingerbread Aperture Portal Companion

How about a New Years Village...?

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas, one and all!

I hope the season is kind to you and yours.

-Andrew :-)

In the Xmas spirit, my brood and I attempted to build a 'ready-made' modular Gingerbread village. Upon our rather disastrous failure, my oldest said, "It's like Godzilla dropped by."

Well, we decided Cthulhu would do.

Has anyone else made a village or a house (whether you did a very good job or not...)?

Suggestion 1:

Give away a couple copies of each new major publication (like Bestiary 3), signed by everyone who had a hand in it.

Only rule to win is being a message board member with at least, I don't know, 10 posts and one thread.

Just randomly pick a couple message board members who meet the criteria.

Suggestion 2:

Make a dozen signed copies of each new major publication available for purchase, first come-first serve, with a 25% (or so) markup.

The profits for those copies go to charity, tallied at the end of each FY.

(sorry if this thread is in the wrong place)

Jobs for all those people still searching for employment.

Have a few of them travel up north to Fairbanks,Alaska. We've got 'Help Wanted' and 'Now Hiring' signs in almost every restaurant, at Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer, Zales, Barnes & Noble, even the Comic Shop.

I cast: resurrection.

I say...

A UFO works by manipulating physical space at the subatomic level, overlaying empty areas with full areas in a hyperdynamic lattice.

Is there any math attached to that gibberish you're spouting? Or would you like to at least define "hyperdynamic" to the rest of the audience please?

It's a superposition of states where p and q are noncommuting. Hyperdynamic lattices allow you to manipulate matter in terms of on and off (1 and 0, so to speak). It's all quite simple, really...

The biggest difference I've come across is some of us very deliberately saying things like, 'that's so Alternative Lifestyle' instead of the old 'that's so gay' line.

Seriously, the biggest difference is the absolute dearth of gay jokes--they're very simply gone.

We older Soldiers are typically professional enough to deliberately think about it and effect the necessary change to operations and language. The younger men and women seem almost to a T unaffected.

Male
38 years old
Army
I remember watching my dad play when I was 7 or so; I started playing with a passion around 1983.

I created a survey asking exactly this way back in college in the 90s. If I remember correctly, it was amazing to realize more than 90% of respondents unknowingly aligned themselves with the Empire (based on how they answered questions).

Don't forget, at one point even Luke wanted to be an Imperial pilot and fight in 'the great star battles'...

The truth is, I think most of us are too close to the meeting point of the past and the future.

I grew up with books. My office is lined with bookcases overflowing with books; hell, at this very minute I need to get another bookcase--I actually have books stacked on the floor. If there's a fire, they're gone.

Not so with my ebook library. At least currently, all three major retailers allow an apparently infinite download of purchased titles. There's a value there.

I can imagine that if Amazon had sold me a digital version of an $8 paperback for $5, and only one chance to download it, or a digital version for $10--$2 more than the physical paperback-- but with infinite downloads, I might spend the extra for the insurance of never losing the book.

I might argue that a criminal's victim is more unfortunate, and often not treated half as well.

Yes! Think of those poor, unfortunate marijuana leaves! What did they ever do to anyone? And some evil criminal, totally unprovoked, lights them on fire and smokes them! (Look at the proportion of people in prison in the U.S. for nonviolent drug offenses, vs. almost everything else)

This is true: the statistical majority of inmates in 2011 were convicted on drug crimes that before the stricter penalties born of the 'war on drugs' would never have gotten them imprisoned.

Prisons are overflowing—bursting at the seams—because they’re full of small-time petty crooks locked away for 15 years over ‘possession’ of enough (of a naturally-growing plant) for three people and an afternoon.

Nonetheless, when most Americans say inmate, I daresay we imagine raping murderers.

My Geeky Heroine, a year later.

I might argue that a criminal's victim is more unfortunate, and often not treated half as well.

CNN spot on the Return of the King-like ending of Cable TV...

What everyone in the video neglects to mention is that the internet is the way around cable boxes and subscriptions: we all know what I'm talking about. TPB, et al. is how expatriots and lonely ranchers in Montana keep up with the Starks and Tullys...

This has been an issue with me for a while now. The only ebooks I'm willing to pay more than $10 for are ones that don't have a physical format, or that are, even if more than $10, substantially cheaper than the physical copy (like a textbook or OOP/rare title).

99% of the kindle/nook/ibook titles I 'own' are actually below that $10 tag, like WotC paperback titles that are actually cheaper than the physical format.

The Game of Thrones paperback collection (first four novels) is another good example: $18.99 for the physical books as a boxed set; 29.99 for the Kindle edition!

If the Bible is the Word, the Word is with God, the Word is God... then you can't pick and choose which parts to believe in.

To say that they can't do it ignores the very real fact that they do it and always have. In fact, to pick and choose is an essential part of the faith.

What makes it an essential part of the faith?

Essential in terms that failing to do so makes the faith untenable? --(practically essential)--
Or essential in terms of a requirement, doctrinally within the faith? --(essential due to regulatory requirement, so to speak)--

Do you mean it's an (seemingly) essential part of the general practice of Christianity, or that the Christian faith requires it? Please explain.

I don't understand the distinction you are trying to make.

I mean to ask, (and are you saying) is selecting some of the Bible (and disregarding or not adhering to some) required doctrinally, or is it simply the practical application of the faith by (again, seemingly) most believers?

If the Bible is the Word, the Word is with God, the Word is God... then you can't pick and choose which parts to believe in.

To say that they can't do it ignores the very real fact that they do it and always have. In fact, to pick and choose is an essential part of the faith.

Do you mean it's an (seemingly) essential part of the general practice of Christianity, or that the Christian faith requires it? Please explain.

It may be hard for you to accept that matter can organize itself in ways we tend to find extremely complex, but there is nothing miraculous about it. That is simply what some matter on this planet does.

You mean God doesn't individually design each snowflake?

(1/50) × (1/50) × (1/50) × (1/50) × (1/50) × (1/50) = (1/50)6 = 1/15,625,000,000

"It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times. Stupid monkey!"

Not only is this just one hell of a great movie, it's a walk back in time for we grognards! It's like finding a lost Speilberg film from the 80s. Camera angles, close ups, pans, sound design, even lens flares--vintage awesome!

Very highly recommended.

...My school day growing up was up at 5 to feed the animals and a few other quick chores, bus to school and get home by about 5 (plenty of time for homework on the bus), dinner, chores for 2 hours, snack, and bed. Mowed 1.6+ acres of lawn with a push mower every other Sat (9 yrs...

You, sir, are a god among men.

I recall getting up at 6 AM, at school by 7:30 (getting a head start in chemistry lab, physics lab, preparing for an upcoming debate trip, working on sheets for the yearbook, developing in the darkroom, etc.).

I feel fortunate that by high school I didn’t really have chores, per se—I carried out the trash when it was ready, I washed dishes with my sister every other night; and these both took no time at all.

Keeping my room clean can’t be considered a chore. Weekends were spent on reports and research and the homework issued Friday, due Monday.

I guess I could have been working in the remaining weekend time, instead of playing D&D or going to movies.

I drove myself beginning in the 11th grade, which took my ride to and from school down to 15 minutes, and my mom drove me 90% of the time before that. My bus ride would have been something like 40 minutes in the morning, and close to 90 minutes in the evening.

Nonetheless, I never could have done all my homework on the bus. For those who’ve been out of school for a while (over 20 years for me), or who never rode the bus, imagine doing your homework for several subjects, with thick hardcover books, notes and notebooks, in a theatre seat at the local cinema. Ouch!

Not to mention, I dare say I never had a single night of just over two hours of homework/study. In fact, I remember just finishing homework around 11 PM; and in my senior year, often not until after midnight.

When I was in high school I worked part time in the summer and over Christmas breaks, but there's no way I could have worked any time during the rest of the year and kept my grades up. I very distinctly remember my 'bedtime' being extended chiefly because I needed the time to study and do homework.

School let out at 3:30, and I was on the yearbook staff and the debate team. I remember getting home from school around 6 PM, just in time for dinner. That only left about four hours for homework and study.

The couple hours a day in extracurricular could have been spent working for pay, I suppose.

I don't know--I want to say working kids are either geniuses who don't need to study and magically write reports and finish homework in their sleep, or Bart Simpsons who aren't going to study or do homework regardless.

We're probably better off not using terms like Natural Law in a thread like this...

Reminds me of a Piers Anthony novel.

You could borrow from Warhammer--

skaven tech: tech that's enhanced magically to over perform design or create an after effect (like a timed weapon)

Machine spirits: more than strong AI, machine spirits are magically trapped spiritual essences (Vancian), or elemental forces (Eberron), or bound souls (warhammer) used to power equipment or manage the OSs.

Magic-enhanced tech lets a bullet seek the true villain in a group of civilians, allowing the peace officer to fire into crowds. Commercial uses include hunting and home safety.

Magic-enhanced barista machines brew coffee from garden mud, making them black market items in several countries with strong ties to the coffee industry; in the US, Congressional Inquisitors actively seek and confiscate machines, and prison terms for possession are not uncommon.

Possessed TVs don't require electricity and are cablespirit-ready, providing international programming without cable or antennas, making them a favorite target of copyright protection organizations concerned with regional licensing. The MPAA has an overwhelming campaign to convince owners that getting caught with a possessed tv could result in heavy fines and jail time; they spend inordinate sums of money lobbying the Congressional Inquisition, our 4th Branch of Government.

Also (and here's an old, necrotic equine argument), why would an all-powerful entity go to so much trouble? If it's transcendent of the universe, then it's transcendent of physics (and everything we know and understand of the nature of reality). It can do anything it so desires. Anything

Example, in colloquial English (for humorous purposes):

I was disappointed with humankind. They ignored my laws and scoffed at my guidance. In essence, they did everything I told them not to do, and nothing I told them to do--the whole planet is overrun with American teenagers!

I'm going to start over, sort of. I'll destroy all but the select few who kept their grades up and made their beds every morning. I'll keep them around so they can pass on the story to future generations--I could just implant the idea in their minds, but I'm fond of this concept of faith, and if I overwork it so everyone knows, it kind of defeats the purpose (which I'm still working on--obviously, it's not veneration of me; that's so tribal and won't make any sense once they populate the entire rock and build nations and start having post-modern thoughts and jazz music).

Instead, they have to believe there was disappointment (on my part), a kind of universal and unremitting immorality (on their part); and some amount of actual physical and emotional pain suffered by the destroyed population (this tells them I mean business).

So, I translate the select few to another dimension for a brief period of 'time', 40 days/39 nights, let's say; blink the planet out of existence; make the molecular disintegration process exceptionally painful for all the bacon-sandwich-loving asshats; tell my Select all about it; blink them back to the near earth, filled with trees and birds and the heavy earths necessary for laptops and cell phones, and give them all another go.

Also, I should mention I saved
FST=1-∏W/∏B=1-∑J(nj2)nij/nij-1//∑2ni/xi, or about 942 genetically unrelated 'Select' people (no I didn't have to do it that way, but why not?); and I will suspend disease and sickness amongst 70% of their offspring (1:3 gender ratio) to ensure someone makes an iPad somewhere down the line.

PS: If you can find the mistake here, I promise not to send you to a painful eternal torment; instead, here's a cookie.

V/R,
-Dad