Raven

quote: Heh...please don't call me darling....it makes me feel extremely dirty coming from you... Why thank you darling, you say the most wonderful things. quote: I know you have the true answers to all these questions...but could you spare the ignorant the chance to discuss the things we care about... like our fellow citizens and the course of this nation.....I know the concept of the fellow citizen doesn't mean a whole lot to you, but for some of us, that are genuinely concerned with the plight of others, it does....we know you are the enlightened one. and when we are done chasing our tails rest assured we will come crawling....so until then...? Please. Darling, I have never heard it phrased so succinctly. But truthfully, who should anyone care about people who they have never met or whom they care nothing about? Oh, I see the point behind supporting policies that benefit the nation as a whole, at least when its not personally disadvantageous, but why should we worry about dated ideals like fair play and equality for all? They never worked, ever, anywhere, on any scale above two people (and only rarely then). Ideals arent whats important, rather expediency and necessity are. You talk about all the high ideals of this country being corrupted, but they never were all that important to begin with. Some people have always grown rich off of the sweat and pain of others; its the way of things, and a perfectly good way at that. You say its hypocrisy to talk about fair play and equality while ignoring injustices being done to people elsewhere, but what you are missing is that this is good. It allows most people to be moral, kind, and generally good social drones while others are suffering. The system works, it is beneficial to us (Americans), whats there to complain about? Do you have a feasible alternative that the people in power would even consider enacting, or are you simply crying about the injustices done by the powerful onto the weak? Because if its the latter, darling, you are feeling bad about something which you cannot change, and that is simply pointless. Oh, on an aside, you jokingly refer to my enlightenment, but the truth is I dont understand why people feel the way you do. I honestly dont know why anyone would care about humanity as a whole, or the sufferings of those who they dont know well. I would really appreciate it if you could explain this to me, it truly makes no sense.

Well, I have played hitman 1 and Dues Ex, and while vaguely similar; hitman focuses a lot more on stealth. I would imagine that hitman 2 would be similar, though that is only a guess. quote: Oh gawd... that implies being nice to people. It's worse than I ever could've imagined Come now darling, nothing wrong with being superficially friendly, and it tends to make life ever so much easier (not to mention that it makes people think youre a nice person oh well, whatever works).

Sounds fun

quote: Epsilon 5, you think you've got it bad with your brother. Try living with a brother that plays the keyboard and sings along to it. Badly!!! Yea, that is bad, but imagine living with a natural nocturnal who likes loud gothic music and reads net comics (while shrieking laughing) at 4 or 5am. DonÔÇÖt I sound like a fun person to be around quote: as for goth music... not for me. im all for old timer music, like ac/dc and some stones. although ive been catching some new stuff from dragpipe and good charlotte... Yea, some older stuff is good, Iron Maiden and Blue Oyster Cult for example.

Chummy just means friendly darling, nothing wrong with that (unless youre a complete sociopath). And it isnt necessary to take games back, but it does help taking back the fifth or so game in a row (or the one where I spilled a bit of pizza grease on the manual). Anyway, I dont get many crap games myself, but every so often I mess up (like I did when a bough rune, gag me with a spoon!), and I like to be dreadfully picky.

Yea, IÔÇÖm pretty chummy with the owner of the local game store and they have a good return policy (even if it is only 7 days) so I take a lot of stuff back, and spend a lot of time hanging out there picking out games and chatting with whoever happens to be working there at the time.

Listening to gothic music without a subwoofer should be criminal.

quote: Too many Americans are living in excess while scores of people die by our actions and inactions. We gear our foreign policy to maintain an imbalance that keeps a certain dream alive...a dream that serves a small few and a dream that has corrupted our basic ideals. First of all, I have to agree with Jaguar, its hard to really understand what youre talking about, be specific. As to our foreign policy, it is if nothing else extremely lenient. Our government has the great misfortune of being shackled by our population regarding foreign policy, but even so it is our governments responsibility to protect the best interest of America as a whole, and if that happens to mean a few feet get stepped on, well, too bad. quote: There is a great hypocrisy infecting this country. One that will not go away by pretending it doesnt exist. It will only grow stronger as the evidence and casualties mount.... Oh dear, hypocrisy, thats horrible Everyone is a hypocrite darling, to a lesser or greater degree, and I see nothing wrong with it.

Oh, I admit that it increases the number of crap games, but it increases the number of good ones as well. If I may point out Alien vs. Predator 2, which was an extremely fun game, but was made using a licensed engine.

I, personally, think itÔÇÖs worth it. Even if there are more craptastic games out there, there are also more good (or at least ok) games, and that counts for something. Besides, people are going to make crap games anyway, at least this way they have a good game engine

Um wow thats really something

lol

ThatÔÇÖs not a price tag darling, thatÔÇÖs a bar code

quote: That's because the Haitian government is not the international thug that the US government is, but imagine if that wasn't the case. Would that justify Haiti bombing the USA? Nope, but thatÔÇÖs because they couldnÔÇÖt get away with it if they tried. Like I said, it would be very amusing. quote: If the people had known that the Red Cross and Christian Aid were warning about the millions of lives that would be jeopardized as a result of the bombing, it would not have commenced. Every mainstream media group had this information well in advance from the Associated Press, and deliberately chose not to report it. Good for them, IÔÇÖm not a big fan of being misinformed but thatÔÇÖs better then having a sensible military action canceled because of some bleeding hearts. quote: A better way would be to find the sources that provide the C4 or whatever it is that the terrorists use. Terrorizing the Palestinian families is pointless and cruel. Well sure, criminal investigations are nice, when they work. Terrorizing Palestinian families, well, if that works then you wont here me complaining. quote: It's self-defense when one uses reasonable means to go after the perpetrators. The US action was not reasonable. Recent history also demonstrates that it's not successful. Darling, self defense means doing whatever is necessary to insure your safety, and if the aggressor happens to get wasted, well, thatÔÇÖs just too bad. Our government has a responsibility to us, the American public, not the Afghanistan public, and it is our governmentÔÇÖs job to do what is necessary to protect itself and the American people no matter the cost to foreigners. DonÔÇÖt take this wrong, I have nothing against foreigners, but they arenÔÇÖt the responsibility of the US government, and if there own government doesnÔÇÖt measure up, well, that is there problem. quote: There is some speculation that he is dead, but no proof whatsoever. Yep, but speculation is a pretty good deterrent, and thatÔÇÖs what really matters. quote: I was responding to Dragon Lady's post, which gave me the impression of a 'might makes right' argument. Might does make right darling, or at least as much as anything makes right. Crying blood for people without might on there side is a waist of time, and foolish too boot. Oh, I have no problems with an enlightened legal system and such not and so fourth, but between nations it all boils down to might, whether political, economic, or military, it makes little difference.

This I will have to get.

quote: I can't keep making stations more and more powerful. Its just going to ruin the game for everyone. If you're good, be joyful about it. Nothing wrong with that. We've already had this debate and the result was even more powerful stations. A lot of people whined about it. I don't plan on revising it again. No, I wouldnÔÇÖt think that would be a solution at all. No matter how powerful a station is, it makes no difference when youÔÇÖre cloaked or hiding in one of its blind spots. IÔÇÖm assuming that everyone here knows that you can operate your cloaking device while jumping (and without expending iridium) by turning it on prior to the jump and that is how itÔÇÖs supposed to work.

Well, specifically ignoring all items that may be construed as a wish list, I found much of the same to be true myself. Capturing stations is impossible easy, and blowing up bases is even easier. I have never been hit with a missile while my EMD was active no matter how many were fired at me, and the only type of space craft I have trouble with is a fighter, and thats the kind of trouble where I say oh bother, this isnt worth wasting missiles on and fly off. Also, you dont get experience for destroying a disabled craft or structure, which works fine most of the time except that it is common for a craft or structure to be disabled a moment before it is destroyed, thus depriving you of the experience. My strategy is to always make kills with my main gun set on 100%, and it even works most of the time. Whether these are problems or features I will leave up to SC and cohorts With the exception of the experience (which may be intended to be that way, I dont know) nothing I listed really bugs me, but it does seam a little odd so Im pointing it out. Yep, pointing it out, as if everyone reading this hasnt made the same observations

quote: The belief that you either do nothing or raze an entire country to the ground is a false dilemma. The US government did the latter in its campaign in Afghanistan and it failed miserably. It resulted in millions of Afghan civilians dying from starvation, the replacement of one brutal regime with another brutal regime, and no sign of Bin Laden. Yea, but it will give the next bastard who wants to use terror tactics on the US pause, not to mention the leaders of the country he is in. quote: The bombings were not only disastrous, they were hypocritical. The Haitian government has been trying for seven years to get the US government to hand over Emmanuel Constant. Should Haiti bomb the USA? Let them try darling, it would be quite amusing. quote: After all this and more, Bush and Blair are still using the same old tactics. Makes you wonder if this really is a 'war on terrorism' and not a 'mass murder spree'. Yea, but it works. There is something to be said for success. quote: Did anyone notice how these retribution tactics are remarkably similar to those of the Mafia, the Nazis, and similar brands of thugs? Israel has every right to defend itself, but this is not self-defense. Sharon is a terrorist. Again, there is something to be said for success.

quote: True, the Republicans are the lesser of two evils. I've yet to see any political canidates that I really support, even the fringe ones. It's really discouraging to know with the screw ball politcians out there there's none as sick and twisted as myself. Then again, most people probably consider that a good thing. Well its not like they would admit it if they were though and if they even hinted that they were anything like me they wouldnt be much like me after all Paradoxes and politics, can it get any worse? quote: You mean taking away thier frequent flyer miles isn't enough? Probably not, though I dont imagine they do much frequent flying if they up and crash the planes. quote: I'm not sure how that would work in preventing attacks. It would seem to me that the terrorists of the caliber we faced on September 11 were more than willing to give up thier lives. I can't picture them hesitating because we threaten to demolish a few homes of their relatives. There is something to be said for vengeance however, if nothing else it sets a good example. quote: Really, I think the only feasable solution is a complete no holds barred military campaign in Iraq and other terrorist supporting countries with the goal of removing terrorist friendly governments and rounding up or eliminating suspected terrorists (preferably the latter option). Yep, execution on suspicion not that Im complaining. [ 10-10-2002, 04:59 PM: Message edited by: Dragon Lady ]

Yes, welcome to the fleet

Im not too fond of either party myself, but I much rather have a Republican president then a Democrat. This whole two party thing is lame, I dont really agree with the Democrats or the Republicans Ok, so any party that I agreed with wouldnt even be remotely mainstream so it doesnt make any difference anyway, oh well

[RP] We shall come like a plague of death and for every ship we loose we will extract vengeance tenfold. When at last our mighty fleet is at the very doorstep of the foul humans we shall destroy there stations and rain fire down upon mars until the stones flow and the very ground is stained red with the blood of our putrid foes. And when the homeworld of this most loathsome of species is laid low, all shall cower before us least there most sacred of worlds be reduced to an airless rock. And our fleets will rule all of the galaxy, for even the most foolish alien will fear us for what we shall do to mars Oh, wait, there homeworld is earth isnt it Damn! [/RP] Yep, 7:00 humor, dont you love it. I think Ill just go back to sharpening my fingernails

quote: Spoken like a true Gammulan Thank you darling. quote: I think the words germ and warfare used together inherently implies unsafe use because it is indicriminate! Well yes, I admit that germ warfare is currently both dangerous and experimental (at least with anything engineered, nothing experimental or dangerous about sending anthrax in the mail), but it is not totally indiscriminate. The theory, as I understand it, is to engineer a disease that only lasts a given amount of time, thereby limiting both its ability to spread and the chance of a mutation. The way this is done is by limiting the number of generations the disease will live. A lot of people consider germ warfare to be unstable because it could mutate so that it no longer had a generation limit, but this threat is overly exaggerated. Considerable mutations in a disease are relatively uncommon, and the chance of any specific mutation is extremely low. Oh, and safe use of germ warfare probably means having a cure for the disease, or at least a very good idea of how the disease works (something rather implicit in an engineered disease) so that a cure could be formulated.

I personally donÔÇÖt hold with any ethics of any sort, but then many of you already knew that. That said, the results of scientific research should be used in a responsible manner with awareness of the consequences. There is nothing wrong with, say, germ warfare, but should anyone decide to employ it they should do so in as safe a manner as possible (the last thing we want is it to mutate and cause unintended destruction).

ItÔÇÖs not bad, I enjoyed reading it, but there is an unfortunate lack of structure. IÔÇÖm trying not to go into critique mode here, something about it being impolite to publicly dissect and state everything wrong with someoneÔÇÖs essay, but I think I should point out there is very little conclusion. After I read it I was left wondering what the point of the essay was, what you were trying to say.