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Son of a Witch! I just finished this great anti-Anti-Bush post and the fraggin boards ate it. Hmmm...weird. Oh well, I really don't feel like trying to type it all again.
Suffice to say that while some folks are entitled to their opinions about our President, the war, and Global Warming (or climate change, or whatever), I am entitled to think that they are wrong.
EARTH FIRST! We'll strip mine the other planets later...
GO SAINTS.
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I'm with you Heathansson! Austin isn't supposed to be icy.I hate snow! Hatehatehatehatehate!
I'm from Florida, by Crom! I don't need this crap!
I swear, it's like that movie "The Day After Tomorrow." Here in upstate NY, we've just had our first real snowfall (we should be buried under several feet by now). Before that it was sunny and 75. It's just weird.
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Damn, I'm tough. I made it to work today and I grew up in Florida.
Heathansson(one baaaaaad werewoof)
And I'm one bad ass zombie. Here in Philly, every winter I have to make at least a few "dashing through the snow" journeys to work and back. I grew up in New Orleans. But I'm with you, snow sucks. I'm surprised someone hasn't blamed it on Bush.
No, no, no. It's lack of snow that we're blaming on Bush. I want snow because it's freaking January in the Northeast and it's barely even cold. Besides, I really don't want polar bears to drown when those ice caps finally melt due to greenhouse gases. Who doesn't want to live on a planet with white bears?
But who cares. It's just climate change. Perfectly natural. Completely normal when those humongous islands of ice on either pole that have been there in just about the same shape since the ice age just start shrinking. Just another sign that Jesus is due back any minute. Along with that extended hurricane season. Wonder how that got started?
I hope the canoe that my grandchildren will have to live in will get Fox News.
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I actually have thought of something concerning the Bush Administration about which I wish to rant: Cloning.
It seems so obvious to me now. They have had the ability to create clones for years, but have hidden it from a world that could greatly benefit from the technology. How else do you explain Karl Rove? He is quite clearly a clone combining the DNA of Stalin, Machiavelli, and Gandhi – a psychotic, evil genius in a harmless, friendly-seeming package. And let us not forget Bush himself, who is obviously a clone of Adolf Hitler (how else to explain all the comparisons) with some Karl Marx DNA (how else to explain the stupidity) thrown in for good measure. And now that I think about it, “Dick Cheney” does resemble Mussolini a little. I wonder whose DNA they’ve thrown into that mix. I’ll bet it was Jack the Ripper (since that was an old Bush family conspiracy anyway).
Damn them and their evil ways. If they would just share this technology with everyone, we could create a clone with the DNA of Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, and George Patton. We would then have the ultimate President/Actor/Military Leader in the entire world. Our global domination could commence. Mwahahahaha.
Oh yeah...GO SAINTS!
Politics aside, I've got my own weather rant.
Yes, it's January, and for the entire month, save the past two days, it's been T-shirt weather here in the greater Louisville, KY, region, just like it seems to be across the rest of the nation. Now, in southern climes, I know that's normal.
Not here! It may never be snowy in January, but it's always bitterly cold with jsut a few days peeking into the 40s, during which there is invariably rain and oppressively thick clouds. It's like god is trying to crush your soul. We have the frigid Gray Wastes for January here, the most dismal time of the year.
But, that's how things are in this region. Get used to it. It has always, always annoyed the hell out of me that the news forecasters and anchormen gripe about it being cold this time of the year.
I repeat, it's freaking January. If you hate it that much, move! Otherwise, get over it. The weather lasts for a month, and then we typically get pretty snows in February.
But noooooooo! Not this year. It's like the middle of spring (ideally, since spring is weird for us, too), and they just can't get enough of it.
There are mosquitos out. In January! Not cool. Not cool at all. Flowers are coming up and other plants are starting to bud... only to have the cold finally return and kill them. This freakishly warm weather is going to mess with us for months, if not the rest of the year, so having the ability to wear shorts in January in Southern Indiana isn't something to be happy about!
What the hell is so bad about the cold, anyway? Put a damned coat on and stay inside as much as possible! You can always layer more on to stay warm. And, no bugs. That benefit is hard to overemphasize for me.
I'm not saying this is global warming incarnate- this type of seasonal fluctuation is normal from time to time. But, for God's sake, stop being so damned happy about it (that's directed at the forecasters and news people, again, not anyone here on the boards, just for clarity's sake)!
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I for one am utterly ecstatic about the (so far) mild winter we've had here in Philly. I love the warm weather, because cold weather sucks ass. If I were God, I'd outlaw cold weather (along with socialism, religious fanaticism, and clowns), or at least I'd stop the wind from blowing any time the temperature dipped below 55 degrees (Fahrenheit). Brrr.
OG STNIAS!
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Politics aside, I've got my own weather rant.
Yes, it's January, and for the entire month, save the past two days, it's been T-shirt weather here in the greater Louisville, KY, region, just like it seems to be across the rest of the nation. Now, in southern climes, I know that's normal.
Not here! It may never be snowy in January, but it's always bitterly cold with jsut a few days peeking into the 40s, during which there is invariably rain and oppressively thick clouds. It's like god is trying to crush your soul. We have the frigid Gray Wastes for January here, the most dismal time of the year.
But, that's how things are in this region. Get used to it. It has always, always annoyed the hell out of me that the news forecasters and anchormen gripe about it being cold this time of the year.
I repeat, it's freaking January. If you hate it that much, move! Otherwise, get over it. The weather lasts for a month, and then we typically get pretty snows in February.
But noooooooo! Not this year. It's like the middle of spring (ideally, since spring is weird for us, too), and they just can't get enough of it.
There are mosquitos out. In January! Not cool. Not cool at all. Flowers are coming up and other plants are starting to bud... only to have the cold finally return and kill them. This freakishly warm weather is going to mess with us for months, if not the rest of the year, so having the ability to wear shorts in January in Southern Indiana isn't something to be happy about!
What the hell is so bad about the cold, anyway? Put a damned coat on and stay inside as much as possible! You can always layer more on to stay warm. And, no bugs. That benefit is hard to overemphasize for me.
I'm not saying this is global warming incarnate- this type of seasonal fluctuation is normal from time to time. But, for God's sake, stop being so damned happy about it (that's directed at the forecasters and news people, again, not anyone here on the boards, just for clarity's sake)!
Where I live a number of people have lost their jobs for lack of snow. Snow is big business here. The rock salt quarries have closed and laid everyone off, many ski resorts have been unable to open, snow removal crews have been sitting at home not getting paid. It's bad news.
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Where I live... a number of people have lost their jobs for lack of snow. Snow is big business here. The rock salt quarries have closed and laid everyone off, many ski resorts have been unable to open, snow removal crews have been sitting at home not getting paid. It's bad news.
That sucks. Personally, I've never gotten into the whole winter-fun, outdoors aspect of snow. Probably comes from growing up on the outskirts of (in D&D parlance) warm swamp/marshland. Din't they used to call it "tropical" and "subtropical" in 2E?
I swear, it's like that movie "The Day After Tomorrow." Here in upstate NY, we've just had our first real snowfall (we should be buried under several feet by now). Before that it was sunny and 75. It's just weird.I'm with you Heathansson! Austin isn't supposed to be icy.I hate snow! Hatehatehatehatehate!
I'm from Florida, by Crom! I don't need this crap!
I still haven't seen snow here in Westchester (and only two days of sub-freezing temps since last winter), and have been actually suffering allergies because every few days the trees and plants think its spring and start spewing allergens into the air...What the hey? This is ridiculous. I wish Gore's film was mandatory viewing on Capitol Hill and every classroom across the nation. I want my grandkids to be able to see the land of my ancestors, Holland, and not have to take a tour boat and be told:
"Amsterdam used to lie below where we are floating, and it was a thriving city of commerce, culture and art until rising ocean levels swallowed it up along with most of the other important coastal cities of the world"
As far as the political state of this country, I can't offer much, not being a citizen (even after 21 years of residency, American parents and one American daughter), but I am afraid, very afraid of what is happening/ going to happen in the Middle East, mostly due to US foreign policy.
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I wish Gore's film was mandatory viewing on Capitol Hill and every classroom across the nation.Naah, we don't need that film. All we need to do is locate George Bush's secret, moon-based laser (the one melting the ice caps, not the one that they use to fake terrorist attacks) and shut it down.
I thought it was cow farts and suv's. Laser, hunh?
So that brings it into the realm of something I can do something about. To the wolfcopter!!!|
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I thought it was cow farts and suv's. Laser, hunh?
So that brings it into the realm of something I can do something about. To the wolfcopter!!!
SUVs are used by Big Oil and the car companies. These insidious vehicles are coated in a special substance that, when subjected to speeds over 20 mph, dissolves and becomes an airborne chemical agent. When we breath the stuff in (and fail our saves) our minds are dulled and rendered susceptible to suggestion. Then their subliminal messages, contained in TV, radio, and Internet advertisements, convert us into fanatical worshippers of the internal combustion engine.
As for the cow farts, those are part of a plot by Big Food, in cooperation with McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendys (there may be more). The cows have been genetically altered for years so that their farts act as a chemical agent that makes us desire steaks, hamburgers, and so on. Simple, yet effective.
Now that I've told you all this, they'll probably be coming after me to shut me up. They don't want me telling you any more. They especially don't want me to tell you about Wal-mart and what role that company played in the break-up of the Beatles. I might have to go into hiding.
"I BELIEVE"
I wish Gore's film was mandatory viewing on Capitol Hill and every classroom across the nation.Naah, we don't need that film. All we need to do is locate George Bush's secret, moon-based laser (the one melting the ice caps, not the one that they use to fake terrorist attacks) and shut it down.
I thought it was cow farts and suv's. Laser, hunh?
So that brings it into the realm of something I can do something about. To the wolfcopter!!!
No, Heathy! You'll never make it- there's no air on the moon for your copter to fly with!
Oh, okay. Phew! Had me worried there, for a second. Fly away, captain, fly away.
It gratifies me to see such passionate opinions among the American board members, as the way the world is portrayed in the Australian media it seems as if the USA is running everything because they're the good guys and EVERYTHING'S FINE. It makes me feel utterly powerless and despairing.
I'm also glad that everyone can still make jokes :)
One of the biggest problems I can foresee is that the middle class is disappearing all over the western world. I mean sure, the middle class has faults, but a society with a few rich people, a few poor people, and most people in the middle is a happy society. I am in my late 20s and it seems my parents and their friends are fine, they all have houses and cars and are firmly middle class. Me and my friends however are living in a world where you need the best part of a million dollars to own your own home, and a good car will be at least 40 grand plus the ludicrous cost of petrol (thank you, pointless war). I have ONE friend who owns his own home, and he and his wife are both executives, with teh sort of jobs that would have enabled them to have a house, a beach house and a boat 30 years ago. The most they could afford was a two-bedroom duplex. Everyone else I know rents, and probably always will, unless they decide to get a crippling 30 year mortgage.
Sorry to ramble a bit but it just seems so obvious to me that if you glorify wealth, tell everyone that the purpose of their life is to have the latest iPod or rintgtone, you are creating a system where competition is so fierce that everyone is either rich or poor, haves and have-nots. It makes me so sad, I thought we humans had managed to laboriously fight our way out of that sort of predatory society?
Now we are sliding back into it and it scares me. I can struggle my whole life and die poor as one of the have-nots or I can abandon all of my principles and simply do all the right things to get as much money as I possibly can, which WILL harm someone else, because that's the nature of the system.
And that thing someone said before about apocalyptic government is right on. I feel like a fool pointing this out, but it is clearly not a good idea to place the government of a complex western nation in the hands of people who think the world is going to end in the near future. Just a heads-up there, in case anyone was wondering ;)
Have whatever God you like, it's cool with me, but if you can't separate your religious beliefs from your responsibilities as a representative of ALL of the people then hey, maybe you shouldn't be the people's representative.
And on a more local note, seeing as James was complaining (quite rightly I might add) about New York sinking, I'd just like to say that it'd be great if the Australian government actually put some serious industrial and household water-management practices into effect, rather than increasing water rates and saying "hey, could we all just water our lawns a bit less please?"
We are seriously running out of drinkable water on the whole east side of our country (the green bit) and nobody has even suggested that a) maybe growing vast quantities of cotton in a desert country is not a good idea, and b) if you simply must grow cotton then how about you use drip irrigation and cover all outdoor water supplies. Didn't these people read Dune?
Plus I went for walk last night at about 10:30 and passed a yard where someone had secretly left their tap on, hoping no-one would notice because it was the middle of the night. Water was just gushing out over their lawn, so I turned it off. #%&* your lawn! You selfish &*^%! Perhaps you'd prefer to live in a a fricken Mad Max world?
Oh no, I just realized...it's coming true isn't it?
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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We are seriously running out of drinkable water on the whole east side of our country (the green bit) and nobody has even suggested that a) maybe growing vast quantities of cotton in a desert country is not a good idea, and b) if you simply must grow cotton then how about you use drip irrigation and cover all outdoor water supplies. Didn't these people read Dune?
You should check out Collapse by Jerad Diamond. He's the author of Guns, Germs, and Steel (also a good book), and Collapse is about how societies self destruct. There's a chapter on Australia and its water problems.
Perhaps you'd prefer to live in a a fricken Mad Max world?
That's the bright side for you - according to nearly every post-apocalyptic movie out there, Australia is going to be the one bastion of western civilization that survives. It's not the water you need to worry about, it's the nukes wiping out the rest of us.
It makes me so sad, I thought we humans had managed to laboriously fight our way out of that sort of predatory society?
Where did you get that notion?
Regarding the religious leaders, fanatics (of anything, but particularly those of the religious persuasion) make my head want to explode. When they're parading around with things like "God Hates F%!@!", "Thank God for Katrina and 9/11!", and other statements that even attack the government itself.
They'd better be f&##ing grateful they live in this country, because anywhere else in the world and they'd be shot in the streets with fanfare.
But the lack of thought is one of the defining points of being a fanatic, I suppose. The dangerous and sad thing is that, even if you want to try and help them, talk them out of their misguided notions, all they do is chalk it up to "devil worship" (or whatever, depending on the type of fanatic in question) and continue spewing hatred. It's very hard to bring someone back once they've crossed that line. However, those that have keep yelling and shouting their insanity, attracting ever more to cross the line, and on and on it goes.
The more one becomes a fanatic, at least for the Christians, the more one profanes the book they're so worried about to begin with.
Oh, and regarding Iran- I seriously, seriously doubt that we're going to attack that nation. 68% of Americans, according to the last news sound bites I heard (since they're so reliable, but anyway...) disapprove of what Bush is doing (particularly the troop surge). He doesn't have the political juice to take on Iran. I mean, technically he could, but he'd have hell to pay if he did, even here in America.
At least, we better hope we don't go to war with Iran. Not only are they not a country with no effective military (like Iraq, since we burned their whole tank force on the desert during Kuwait), but they are far more theocratic than even Iraq, far more dedicated to a cause. Imagine giving the Christian fanatics here guns and a government liscence to shoot people. That's the sort of force we'll be up against if we make the tremendous error of attacking Iran.
But, the administration still keeps on talking about needing to succeed in Iraq.
How?
At least the administration is now admitting that there won't be a traditional victory. There's no unified enemy force, no one to surrender or give the order to surrender! It's just a bunch of radical members of a populace running around that want us gone (and if Iran wasn't so close and threatening the black gold, we'd already be gone). The only way to quell that type of activity is to actually conquer and occupy the country, which so far isn't what we've been trying to do (and shouldn't, I might add).
No, we're going to send the troops out in the field. They've been in the bases up to this point, and that's why we've only lost 3,000 (casualties in general, however, are much, much higher; current medical technology is capable of keeping people "alive" that would have been unquestionably dead several years ago). But now, we're going to start helping the Iraqis handle their own affairs, which means leaving the bases more and more, which means a lot more deaths.
On the other hand, we turned the place into the s$*# hole it is, so we do have some obligation to help the people out, rather than cutting and running.
Back to the other side, however, it's not going to work. The place has been infested with factional rivalry and hatred for centuries, and it's an impoverished country. If there was any real education there, we might have a chance of fixing things. There isn't, we don't. Given that it is in the state of a civil war and that it will continue to be a horrid place for years to come, regardless of what we do, the best option is LEAVING.
Again, however, it was a pointless war. How on Earth am I any safer now than I was before we invaded? How on Earth was Saddam Hussein threatening me? Presumed links to Al Qaeda be damned, that intelligence was faulty and Bush knew it. As for WMDs, which he didn't have, so what if he did?
You really think Saddam would have attacked America? Not to defend the man, but he was a brutal tyrant and a thug, but that's all. He wasn't a fanatic out to destroy the world. He had, from his perspective, a good thing going for him, and if he attacked America he knew full well Iraq would be the major source of the world's radiated glass. Never was going to happen.
I'll grant there was a threat of nuclear proliferation, if he had actually had any weapons, was a valid concern, but hardly justifying this war. If we were that damned worried, why don't we invade some little state that used to be in the USSR and has nukes that they can't handle? That's a bigger threat to proliferation, in my mind.
And again, not to defend monsters, but in today's world of shades of gray (No, Mr. Bush, there is no such thing as an "Axis of Evil"), there is still some validity in thinking about it from the stance of countries in the Middle East. Israel claims to have nukes, and they keep fighting the Muslims, so maybe the Muslims decide they need equal protection. Worked for the U.S. and Russia a few decades ago. And then we say that's not okay, but we've got how many of those monstrosities? Not to mention, we've now broadcast the message that America can and will attack any nation that we see as even a potential future threat, so yeah, stocking up on weapons doesn't sound like such a bad idea if you're Syria or Iran and think the gun is aimed at you next.
I'm not justifying it, but I am offering an explanation and pointing out that we, the USA bear a big part of the responsibility for the situation. Let's not forget the contemptuous attitude we've had for the people of that region historically. Remember that whole thing with the Shah? Yeah, about that....
Back to Saddam, I'm not even saying that he didn't need to be taken out. But, you're telling me that, out of the entirety of the United States of America, our government didn't have one agent they could call on to assassinate the bastard?
Maybe not. The CIA is so strapped for personnel (apparently) they're running recruitment ads on TV that look like things aimed at kids (Maybe they are? Start early, you know). But they're for the CIA! What the hell?
I'm sorry for straying back into this. I just can't help myself when I get going. The whole situation is so damned frustrating. Knowing our luck (Americans, and the world in general), the Democrats who just took power are probably going to commit some huge blunder of their own and send us down an alternate track of misery, or perhaps just complicate the one we're already on even more. Sorry if I don't have an optomistic view at the moment. Maybe it's because I'm hungry.
One of my mates from university (he did economics so this is not surprising) has a theory that since dictators are all about personal power, countries like the USA should,instead of going to war with their nations, buy the dictator. He thinks the US could have bought Saddam's position as leader of Iraq and installed a puppet for far less than the trillions of dollars and thousands of lives they have wasted on the war so far. Give the dictator personally, say, 200 billion dollars, and pack him off to Switzerland. The US now unofficially owns Iraq. Problem solved. It's certainly an interesting idea; leaders used ot buy and sell countries all of the time, eg Lousiana, Alaska.
Saern, I know how you feel. I get pretty heated thinking about any of this. Politics are probably the only thing I have trouble laughing off.
I also find the Cold War mania to be hilariously insane. If two super powers possess a weapon that had twice shown it's capability to destroy entire cities with all of the inhabitants inside (or close to all, see "The Hiroshima Maidens"); why would we need hundreds of them? Honestly. Keeping it in the low twenties would have likely been sufficient, especially if neither side knew how many the others had. We have so many, we could use them as currency.
"Hey, Jimmy, I'll give you one of my A-bombs for your Flintstones push pop!"
"Psh! In your dreams, Dave. Throw in a handful of pogs and you got a deal, though."
"Pogs?! But those are collectible! They'll be worth money someday!"
Atom bombs. SO out of style. Until they come back as retro-chic in a few years.
"Yeah, I carried around MY atomic bomb before it was COOL. Now you see everyone with them, just begging to be noticed. Now they're almost as lame as gasmasks were in the early 2000s."
And then you just know... somewhere in Texas, a man with a cigar, some Jim Beam, a colt.45 and a cowboy hat goes outside with man's best friend the A-bomb to deep fry a turkey in his backyard. He knows he shouldn't, but he drops the turkey in a little too quickly. Hot oil spatters his face and while he flails, his firearm discharges into his beloved atomic bomb.
And America gains a second Grand Canyon.
And I will secretly be glad. Because I loved Fallout and now I get to LIVE it.
But the lack of thought is one of the defining points of being a fanatic, I suppose. The dangerous and sad thing is that, even if you want to try and help them, talk them out of their misguided notions, all they do is chalk it up to "devil worship" (or whatever, depending on the type of fanatic in question) and continue spewing hatred. It's very hard to bring someone back once they've crossed that line. However, those that have keep yelling and shouting their insanity, attracting ever more to cross the line, and on and on it goes.
Oh that reminds me, three cheers to James Jacobs for his polite yet firm reply to the guy in the latest issue of Dungeon who complained about Mephistopheles being on the cover of a previous issue. When I read the letter I thought "what is the US coming to?" When I read James' reply I thought "well thank the gods for that. A sane person is running this magazine."
Honestly, if seeing a picture of a Devil from a fantasy milieu (as opposed to a specifically Christian representation) offends you, then I can see why all those Christians in the 80s thought D&D players couldn't tell fantasy from reality; it was because they themselves couldn't.
Everybody in Texas doesn't wear a cowboy hat and drive around in a cadillac with bullhorns on the front.
Just me and Daigle.
And thank God for that. It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it!
::cue video of proud American Eagle, holding aloft two cans of Bud Light::
What is this Shiner Bock you speak of? Is it larger or smaller than a breadbox? More importantly, if consumed in a social situation will it make me:
-more confident
-more charming
-more "in touch with my feelings"
-more affectionate to strangers
-a superhero
-a supervillain
-full of the warm and fuzzies
If so, I would like to subscribe to the newsletter, if possible.
Talking about global warming and stuff, here in Dublin , Ireland, we have had 7 consecutive days of the craziest weather I've ever seen : winds like tornadoes, dark skies, heavy rains then nothing,etc....Well, to be honest, Ireland is not a tropical paradise of course, but still....
Even irish people tell me it's really unusual...And back home they had 12/15 degrees Celsius in December !!! Never saw that before...
Something is going wrong guys, it's not normal AT ALL...
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I remember the big drought of 1976 - the sky turned orange and it rained aphids. So weather does vary naturally. That said, the winters do seem a lot warmer than they used to.
On the politics - you know, we have the luxury of whining about our elected representatives but nothing really disrupts our lives too much. There are all sorts of parts of the world where politics is life or death. On that basis, I can't really get too excited.
I was very interested in politics once but when I actually took some tentative steps into a political career (got involved at a local level) I realised that it really has very little to do with inspiration and leadership and much more to do with good management. On that level, it is fundementally boring.
Do I like my government (that of St Tony of Downing Street)? Not much, that couldn't organise a p!ss up in a brewery, as we Brits like to say. But they don't impinge much upon me. The alternative is basically the same. That's really the how it goes in a mature western democracy - he who gives least offence wins.
If I do have something to rant about (my first rant, though I like to respond from time to time to others) it is in the general coarsening of society and culture. We have these ignoramus celebraties, Big Brother and muck-raking tabloid news papers, dumbing-down of news and documentaries, and a decline in educational standards. I find it quite depressing. One of the few places where you can actually have a sensibly, meaty conversation with someone is on these boards. So kudos to everyone here who makes this such an enjoyable forum. And especially to Saern, who kicked off such an interesting and varied thread.
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My rants for today:
It bugs me that the Democrats in congress keep using the phrase “re-deploy the troops”. I wish they would just say what they mean, that they want to RETREAT from Iraq and SURRENDER the country to the radical Muslim fanatics from Iran and Syria.
And just what will happen if we pull out of Iraq immediately? Will the violence stop? No. Will the terrorists all go home? No, they’ll probably come here instead. Will Iran become more emboldened because they made the big, bad US retreat like a little girl from a (fiendish) spider? Of course they will.
It bothers me that the Bush Administration hasn’t done more to help the young, well-educated, pro-democracy movement in Iran. Of course, and in all fairness, neither did the Clinton Administration. And we know they haven’t been doing any secret programs to encourage democracy in Iran, because the New York Times hasn’t leaked the information.
Speaking of Bush: he’s either an idiot, or an evil genius. Pick one.
I hate the United Nations in all of its oil-for-fraud, blame-the-Jews glory. Anyone who thinks that group should be running the world needs to have their head examined. Not that anyone has actually said that on this board, but I have seen it elsewhere.
It pisses me off that the politicians in this country don’t seem to want to do a damn thing about illegal immigration. Note that I said ILLEGAL immigration. I have no problem with folks coming to this country for a chance at a better life. Just do it legally. Or better yet, try fixing the problems in your own country for a change.
I hate having to keep using ALL CAPS, but I’m not sure how to bold or italicize stuff.
I’m disturbed by the fact that it seems our high schools and colleges are increasingly becoming places where you cannot have a meaningful, reasoned debate. I see many instances where, unless you preach the liberal, socialist dogma, you are shouted down and ostracized.
Why does it seem to me that feminists in this country are more concerned about a woman’s right to an abortion, and less concerned about how women are treated in some other parts of the world?
Speaking of abortion, why does it seem that if you are against it, then you must be a religious fanatic? I am not a religious fanatic. I do think abortion is insane.
Can someone (anyone really) show me ABSOLUTE proof of global warming and ABSOLUTE proof that mankind is causing it? Anyone? I didn’t think so.
I’m pissed that they don’t offer more reprints of Frank Herbert books that I don’t have. (Ha, and I bet you thought that this was going to be all about politics)
No offense to any that are out there, but I really don’t like many lawyers, professional politicians, liberal-arts academics, whiny-professional athletes, or clowns.
Aw hell, that’s enough for now. GO SAINTS!
For a laugh about gaming, check this out:
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?cat=14
Rant: What happened to this game?!
I love D&D. I started over 30 years ago & had some of the original sets, however, took a hiatus for a bit due to that nasty ole habit of trying to have a life.
Well, stunning graphics, revising rules to fix 'em, & all of the talk about 3rd Ed., OGL, D20, etc., convinced me to check out 3.5.
I've now played with 4 DMs in 3 groups over the past year & my reaction is WTF happened to this game?!!!
The reason I bounce around is cause I keep telling myself that it can't be this bad & it must be the DMing, yet, now I'm convinced that the game has a great deal to do with it. I want to meet quality gamers & possibly DM myself again, but this is getting old.
1. Minis. Yes, RPGs emerged from wargaming & WOTC & Paizo are businesses & want to make money, fine, however, the game is so minis-intensive that it's losing sight of character & plot development. Think that's mis-placed sentimentality?
If you're a DM, watch your players' faces & reactions very carefully. During my experiences with 1st & 2nd Ed. (for all of their problems), players mostly interacted with each other & DMs. They LOOKED at each other more often than not.
Glance around your table now & note how often your friends stare down at the mat watching their minis & waiting for their fricking "five-foot step" crap. WTF? Yes, 3.5 corrects rules that certainly need tweeking & in the process butchers it. Watch your players carefully. You'll see exactly what I mean.
2. Speaking of which, movement into battle drags like watching water boil. Every one of those 4 DMs does it like this: "You advance five feet, turn, adjust for the contour increment, enter his square, thus provoking an attack of opportunity, though you can take a five-foot step..."
Argh! One game averaged 15-20 minutes per round, just waiting for the DM to work his way around the table to me again. Yes, you need to account for some of these actions & yes those are the rules but you DM's just skip this crap & tell your players:
"You charge past the assassin, who swings at you & just narrowly misses, then you reach the wizard & thrust," bwah, bwah, bwah.
The point is, pick-up the pace & skip a lot of this BS.
Have you ever noticed how often your munchkin players get wound-up about this stuff, yet, after the game or next session most everyone forgets about it & just wants to play? Most of the arguing over rules frankly just wastes time & isn't important.
3. Prestige classes. 'Nuff said. People, a fighter is still just a fighter, even if you have fancy names & feats. Of course there are historically different styles & techniques. I'm a historian & love that stuff & even I realize that most players don't really care & just want to play & have fun.
4. Feats. Whoa. How many frickin feats do we need to replicate basically the same actions? Every time you do you just bog-down the game with more rules from the way we use to do it. It's called "winging-it" & it works well if you're a DM with half a brain. No one wants to be looking at books or arguing about rules in the midst of a battle.
Just make a decision on the spot & stick to it. If you're fair & everyone's having fun, most players won't care that much. The ones who do are your problem players & there are entire posts about how to deal with 'em.
5. Having to purchase every book under the sun. I'm getting to the point that when I see someone walk in with an armful of books I immediately get worried LOL
'Nuff said, rant finished. Don't flame me, I'm just very, very disillusioned at what they've done to this game & if I can meet some players who don't care about 2/3 of the rules & just want to have fun & enjoy RPGing I'm set...
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I don't really agree with most of this stuff about how it was better in the good old days in 2E and 1E. The game was much more freeform back then - mainly because the system was very primitive. It was quick because there were no real options for anyone to take. Want to roll up a fighter? Five minutes later and you are done. Actually want to do something other than hit someone - um, roll a d20 and, uh, is it less than your Strength? Or whatever. It certainly had the benefit of simplicity. But I hardly played the earlier editions of D&D because the system was just so DULL. We played RQ out of preference, beause it felt like something was happening when you had combat, and you could actually develop skills in a meaningful way.
Now, I will grant you that the current version certainly emphasises physical manoeuvres, the use of miniatures and battlemats, feat builds and other complications. But, I would contend, the 3E system is fundamentally an elegant one with a clear basic mechanic (d20) that was lacking in the earlier editions.
Is it perfect? Of course not. The array of options available make it much more complicated than it used to be. This makes actually playing the game more complicated, as the players have a number of options and they have to decide tactically what to do. But I don't think that is a problem, but rather something to be celebrated. A fighter with options - who would have thought it?
I play D&D now, when I didn't before, because I find the game vastly improved from where it was before. It probably is slower. The focus at WotC has not been on adventures but on game mechanics (something I always thought was shortsighted, and now belatedly appears to have been realised) so that aspect is not as central to the game's development. On a bad day, play can grind to a slow crawl if players are not well prepared or indecisive. But I wouldn't go back for love nor money.
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I don't really agree with most of this stuff about how it was better in the good old days in 2E and 1E. The game was much more freeform back then - mainly because the system was very primitive. It was quick because there were no real options for anyone to take. Want to roll up a fighter? Five minutes later and you are done. Actually want to do something other than hit someone - um, roll a d20 and, uh, is it less than your Strength? Or whatever. It certainly had the benefit of simplicity. But I hardly played the earlier editions of D&D because the system was just so DULL. We played RQ out of preference, beause it felt like something was happening when you had combat, and you could actually develop skills in a meaningful way.
Now, I will grant you that the current version certainly emphasises physical manoeuvres, the use of miniatures and battlemats, feat builds and other complications. But, I would contend, the 3E system is fundamentally an elegant one with a clear basic mechanic (d20) that was lacking in the earlier editions.
Is it perfect? Of course not. The array of options available make it much more complicated than it used to be. This makes actually playing the game more complicated, as the players have a number of options and they have to decide tactically what to do. But I don't think that is a problem, but rather something to be celebrated. A fighter with options - who would have thought it?
I play D&D now, when I didn't before, because I find the game vastly improved from where it was before. It probably is slower. The focus at WotC has not been on adventures but on game mechanics (something I always thought was shortsighted, and now belatedly appears to have been realised) so that aspect is not as central to the game's development. On a bad day, play can grind to a slow crawl if players are not well prepared or indecisive. But I wouldn't go back for love nor money.
Whole-hearted agreement. I love the tactics of combat. Is it a bit cumbersome? Sure, but I love it. It takes a while to get through a good combat but so what? Way back when there were too many DMs with chips on their shoulders who liked to kill players for fun, now they still can but there are rules in place to adjudicate various actions and if a DM decides to change the rules the players know and can call him/her on it. I had a bunch of Di*$head DMs when I first started playing in 1979 or 80. There doesn't seem to be that many of them around now so the game is more enjoyable to me.
FH
Fixed it fer ya! ;)Everybody in Texas doesn't wear a cowboy hat and drive around in a cadillac with bullhorns on the front.
Just me and Daigle.And thank God for that. It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it!
::cue video of proud American Eagle, holding aloft two cans of Shiner Bock::
I haven't had a Shiner Bock in nearly a year and a half!!!! Frackin' Goram so-called "refined" NY palates. They don't even carry it at the distributors up here. They don't know what they are missing. Boo! Rant of the day over.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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And just what will happen if we pull out of Iraq immediately? Will the violence stop? No. Will the terrorists all go home? No, they’ll probably come here instead. Will Iran become more emboldened because they made the big, bad US retreat like a little girl from a (fiendish) spider? Of course they will.
Yup, it's a pretty bad situation. Too bad somebody didn't consider the potential consquences more carefully before rushing in. To the extent the U.S. military looks weak, to the extent the country's ability to exert influence has dwindled, it is because the leader of the country badly mismanaged our troops, our foreign policy, and half the population (i.e., the half that disagreed with him and who he marginalized, isolated, and bullied for 6 years). Acknowledging the complete failure of this president does not require repudiating the conservative principles he has betrayed. I don't believe we can leave Iraq, but I sure believe the war can be managed competently (Mr. McCain, I'm looking at you).
Speaking of Bush: he’s either an idiot, or an evil genius. Pick one.
Idiot.
I hate having to keep using ALL CAPS, but I’m not sure how to bold or italicize stuff.
put a b in brackets on one side and a /b in brackets on the other side (or an i for italics).
I’m disturbed by the fact that it seems our high schools and colleges are increasingly becoming places where you cannot have a meaningful, reasoned debate. I see many instances where, unless you preach the liberal, socialist dogma, you are shouted down and ostracized.
Cleary you've never been to a rural high school or the state of Utah. Idealogues on both sides of the political divide are equally unreasonable. No political party has a monopoly on good ideas or the truth. The saddest thing is when people won't accept ideas that come from the other side of the aisle because they come from the other side of the aisle.
Why does it seem to me that feminists in this country are more concerned about a woman’s right to an abortion, and less concerned about how women are treated in some other parts of the world?
Why is it that those who say life is sacred don't mind the fact that tens of thousands of innocent people are dying in, among other places, Iraq?
Speaking of abortion, why does it seem that if you are against it, then you must be a religious fanatic? I am not a religious fanatic. I do think abortion is insane.
And I think owning a gun is insane, but I'm not out to repeal the second amendment.
Can someone (anyone really) show me ABSOLUTE proof of global warming and ABSOLUTE proof that mankind is causing it? Anyone? I didn’t think so.
I'm still waiting for absolute proof that Jesus was the son of god and that the current version of the bible contains unadulterated truth. I'll tell you what, I won't make you quit driving your SUV if you won't make me learn fairy tales in school instead of evolution.
Rant: What happened to this game?!
For what it's worth I agree with you totally, Gror, but unfortunately we're in the minority. D&D is turning into Warhammer before our very eyes, and Warhammer is just a soul-less corporate business squeezing money out of expensive miniatures. It's not roleplaying, but apparently WotC aspires to that operational model. Sure, the rules have been fixed and are patently more logical, but a game of imagination and creativity has been turned into a tactical board game.
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Can we do a positive rant? You know what, since its my rant, I say - YES! So here it goes.
I like After Hours Formal Wear and the fact that they have a downloadable PDF measurement sheet. It makes planning a wedding with participants scattered across several states all the easier. Maybe other tux rental places do this as well, but since I'm using After Hours they get the praise.
In fact, I don't know how people coordinated out of state weddings before the internet. Must have been crazy.
So, in essence, the internets making-planning-easier quality is something that rocks! Booyah!
Of course, the tuxedo's is one of the few things about the wedding that I'm actually working on. Everything else is just, "What do you think of this?" followed by either "Yes Dear" or (in my case) "OK". Of course that is quickly followed up by "You don't really care do you", following which I very say (in as heartfelt a tone as possible), "The only thing I care about is that I am marrying the woman I love." Which of course I really do mean, but I really just want to get back to this movie/video game/book/other-more-interesting-than-talking-about-wedding-plans-hobby. Seriously! Then she leaves me be, and we go through the entire routine again in a few minutes/hours/days.
Speaking of which, you'd have thought that, by now, women would have learned that men would rather just leave all the wedding decisions to them. And maybe they do, but they keep on asking us stuff. Maybe its hardwired into their genetic code or somethig? Oops, PC faux pas. How mysoginisitc of me, to suggest that their are actual genetic differences between women and their oppressors.
Anyway, while I'm on the wedding topic: We first met with the priest back in December, during which meeting we accidently let slip that we share a house. Oops, again. He suggested we either stop living together or sleep in separate beds. I understand that the Catholic Church has this whole "no premarital sex" rule, but does this guy actually want to imply that two mature adults can't share a bed without having sex? I almost wanted to explode into a rant about the Catholic Church and the evils of organized religion. We have to go back for another meeting in April, and I guess he'll ask us about the whole different beds thing. There goes my "never lie to a priest" vow.
Enough of this. Rant over.
I haven't had a Shiner Bock in nearly a year and a half!!!! Frackin' Goram so-called "refined" NY palates. They don't even carry it at the distributors up here. They don't know what they are missing. Boo! Rant of the day over.
*cries with ZeroCharisma*
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Yup, it's a pretty bad situation. Too bad somebody didn't consider the potential consquences more carefully before rushing in.
Yeah, I guess Bush and his cronies were too blinded by oil greed to consider the consequences of their actions.
I don't believe we can leave Iraq, but I sure believe the war can be managed competently (Mr. McCain, I'm looking at you).
I'll have to agree with you on that part. But its weird that some folks are saying how great McCain would be, while at the same time they are shooting down the "more troops" idea that he's been saying for the last two years or so.
put a b in brackets on one side and a /b in brackets on the other side (or an i for italics).
Thanks
Cleary you've never been to a rural high school or the state of Utah. Idealogues on both sides of the political divide are equally unreasonable. No political party has a monopoly on good ideas or the truth. The saddest thing is when people won't accept ideas that come from the other side of the aisle because they come from the other side of the aisle.
Yeah, I guess I was just going off a poll done not too long ago where they said a large majority of all college teachers thought of themselves as liberal. And where there are liberal high schools is usually in the Northeast and the left coast, both with large population densities.
I agree about the idealogues though. I went to a Catholic High school in Louisiana that had its fair share of those, on both sides. Luckily, it was also run by a group that wanted us to have a really well-rounded education.
Why is it that those who say life is sacred don't mind the fact that tens of thousands of innocent people are dying in, among other places, Iraq?
Or that those who are against the death penalty can be in favor of abortion.
I'm still waiting for absolute proof that Jesus was the son of god and that the current version of the bible contains unadulterated truth. I'll tell you what, I won't make you quit driving your SUV if you won't make me learn fairy tales in school instead of evolution.
Of course, my point about this was that Global Warming enthusiasts were saying that the scientific evidence to support their side existed. And there was some. But there was other scientific evidence that suggested they might be wrong. Point being - we really don't know for sure.
As for believing in Jesus and the Bible. That is a matter of faith. I've never even suggested that it could be proven one way or the other.
Oh yeah, GO SAINTS!
You know who's awesome?
Tesla.
Tesla had invented this machine where you would grab two coils and electricity would dance across your skin as you completed the circuit. Apparently, it was really exhilarating. So he's hanging out with Mark Twain one day, and Twain tries out the machine. Twain's standing there with electricity running all over his body and he's like,"Wow! This is amazing!" And after a few more minutes, Tesla says,"Hey, Mark. I think you should really get down now." And Twain just keeps holding it, he says,"No way! This is too great!!" And Tesla says again,"Okay, but I think you should really get down now."
After a few more minutes, Twain shouts,"WHERE IS IT?!" Tesla knows exactly what he's talking about. He says,"Down the hall and to the left." So Twain runs down the hall and to the left to the watercloset.
And s@%*s his brains out like he had never done before.
Nicola Tesla gave Mark Twain the worst diarhhea of his life without even trying. That totally beats putting your college roomate's hand in a bucket of warm water while he's passed out.