Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

*TC invites everyone to pull up a chair beside him, grab a bag of popcorn, and watch this colourful thread slowly, but exciting-ly progress.*

*TC would like to remind everyone though of a little side note; the popcorn bags cost 10 american each.*

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Ooh, haven't been in this forum for a while, but I felt that I had to show my agreement with Puke here.

*Clap clap. *

And I'm not from the U.S. I'm from Malaysia.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">This cycle also reminds me of the Union Job I had, people had no reason to strive to be better and if you did and you were low on the totem pole you heard about it from shop stewards or people that have been there for ever. Not that I am anything special, but its not suprising that I only worked there for about a year and half.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Here is a thought for you; your opinion is based on the views of only those that got out? Did I get that part right? So military (regardless of branch or country or enlisted or officer) are morons.

Now my wife is one of these morons and she holds a BA.
Her boss holds a MA.
The officer over all of them holds a PhD.

So using your opinion we all can safely say that:

Carrer military = Moron
Carrer military = BA, MA, and PhD
So:
BA, MA, and PhD (regardless of field) = Moron

Thus anyone who holds a BA, MA, or PhD is also a moron.

You have obviously thought this out very well and from every angle based on good information.

Nice job Puke!

[ January 08, 2004, 01:55: Message edited by: President Elect Shang ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Actually... a lot of people with such degrees are morons anyways...

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">All Lemon Scented Dawn is soap, but not all soap is Lemon Scented Dawn.

This Logic Error is brought to you by the letters ? and Z and the concept pling.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

And Puke never claimed that every single person in the military was a moron, just that a lot of them are.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Yes “Loser” that is the obvious, I don’t think that anyone here could have missed the flaw in the logic but thanks anyway. Did you happen to notice the flaw in his reasoning? Or was that only obvious to me as I thought it was just as clear as mine was.

Fyron I am not sure what you read, so allow me to cut and paste his words.

Puke said: “3 - not-so-smart enlistees re-enlist, and go on to become officers”

That sounds to me to be the same as:

If you are a carrier soldier (you reenlist) than you are a moron? So what part of that did you miss?
Or maybe this will help:

“4 - future smart generations of enlistees see that only morons have made it through to the top ranks, and leave after their first tour, again leaving only the morons to reinslist”

So lets see, still we have the statement that only morons make a carrier, did you catch it that time?

Don’t patronize me.

[ January 08, 2004, 04:30: Message edited by: President Elect Shang ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">*narf brings a 10-liter bag of his own popcorn and a lawnchair and sits in the spectater seats*

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well if you look at what he said to begin this, rather than just the fleshed out logic, it would support the statement that not all military officers are morons. As long as you don't take the second post alone and out of context, Puke was not saying that 100% of military officers are morons. Now, he could have worded the second post more consistently, but he didn't.

I was not intentionally patronizing you (Shang). I fail to see how you got a patronizing tone out of my post.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

For a while this thread was going really well (giant radioactive roaches- perfect conversational material for a Rubber-Godzilla-fetishist like me) but now ppl are getting angry again and everyone else is settling back with popcorn. This thread is obviously destined to devolve into some kind of cagematch, therefore...

*dogscoff dons his "Dogscoff the Destroyer" mask and cape and leaps into the ring, smashes a chair over Shang's back, elbows Fyron in the face, bodyslams Puke and then turns to flex and chant to the crowd.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

*cheers and throws popcorn at Dogscoff*

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Shang stumbles back to his feet and as dogscoff faces the crowed grabs his ears and bites a chunk off one. Spiting it out on the floor he turns to the now wreathing in agony dogscoff and says “Ops, sorry wrong sport, thought we were boxing”.

No I won’t let this slink into the slums of a fight; I am very sensitive right now considering my RL situation and in the name of peace will admit that I overreacted. Everyone has the right to a personal opinion, whether it is worded clearly or not, based on fact or fiction, or even if it is agreed to by others or opposed. This is not a reference to Puke’s or anyone’s posting on this thread, it is just a statement about my personal philosophy.

I am human and bound to fail from time-to-time at applying every aspect (morale, philosophical, etc) that I try to live by, and I have failed to do so here. The only thing I can say is that I overreacted and need to stand up (that chair sure did hurt) dust off and learn that this is a (considering my stress and emotional state) personal pet peeve. I am not excusing my postings, only a time machine could do that, I am just offering the best apology to everyone who reads this post that I can muster. What kind of a poor example have I just set?

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

I disagree with you, Atrocities. What Puke said was not only funny, but carries some truth to it.

I was going to go into more detail about my feeling for GIs, but it isn't coming out well. Actually, on proof it looks like I've tried again... this could lose me a pip or two...

It suffices to say that I live in a 'military town' with five separate bases including NORAD, which was mentioned earlier in the thread.

I see a lot of the enlisted kids, and they tend to be trouble. I'll be as friendly and humane to a stranger in the service as I would be to any other stranger, and some of these kids are decent company with a few really good people mixed in. But I'd rather they didn't date my female friends, the female friends of my friends, or any friend's sister. It consistently works out poorly.

I see a lot of retired military, and they are consistently good people, especially the marines. They make for good conversations and, when appropriate, tend to tip pretty well. I do wish we didn't have so many 'wash outs' around town (quite different than retirees), but if it wasn't them filling in the local can't-hold-down-a-job-caught-in-a-storm-of-self-destruction positions I suppose it would just be someone else.

I hear a lot about the decision-making process in the military, both from those in the service, those who have been in the service, and through the thousands of defense contractors around town, and Puke's description of their apparent intelligence is only slightly exaggerated.

Now, I have the highest respect for the Military and the men and women serving our country in such a matter. They are working in a way that benefits my own life in very real ways. But Puke's joke, which was funny, makes light of problems that some of us see on an almost day-to-day basis. Really, they put the corporate world to shame when it comes to clumsy decisions and Puke's explanation is as good as any, and made for a nice tie-back into the whole cockroach-thing.

Shang is .. I reread the thread during a proofread and it looks like Shang's issue is resolved. Cool, man.

I hear more complaints like those Puke is describing from military personnel than I hear from anywhere else. It's a common joke, not any blasphemy on Puke's part. On top of that Puke has done a good job of making clear not only his harmless intentions, but the close-to-home source of the joke.

Of course, it's also possible that you are referring to a post Puke made that has been removed. I'm talking about the ones I can see now.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Does the military have its flaws? Sure it does, more so than most any other company, organization, or anything else you compare it to. For one example it is the test bed for new practices, and the military is often used to try out concepts; such as how to integrate different races, how to handle homosexuals to name only two!

You don’t want any female friend to date a military soldier/sailor/airman etc. I don’t have enough fingers toes and you know what to count the number of times I have heard that one. It shocks and amazes me that if a “female friend” is jaded by a soldier it is a crime, but if an employee of lets say Microsoft does the same thing, hay that’s all good. I mean after all when she dated the employee it was her free choice, but she had to have been coerced into dating the soldier right? Can anyone say bigotry, or did you think that only applied when used in a different context?

You say that you have seen many enlisted kids that are trouble, sure there is many, hell I put one soldier back on the street when I was in, and I am proud to have of kicked him out. Please allow me to point out three things. First unlike a company if you place a PROPERLY (read that word twice) done complaint on a soldier (enlisted or officer) the complaint is followed up on even if it was submitted by a civilian. Secondly the military spends a great deal of money and effort to rehabilitee and reeducate (not as rough as that sounds) troubled individuals. This is the way of life in the military, after all we are speaking about the ONLY organization that will take a person regardless of financial status, most health issues, and education levels off the street and put them into a job that has guaranteed pay, 30 days paid vacation, and full free medical coverage for you and your dependents. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Third those same troubled soldiers that you refer to will be discharged if it is warranted and where do you think they go to after leaving? Presto instant civilian. As a note I will add that most of those troubled individuals had problems when they came in, that’s why they joined, but as I said already it is the ONLY organization that will give most anyone a try.

Let me wrap this up by touching on the decision making process? It is a common joke in the armed forces that there is no such thing as Military Intelligence (MI is a job field) for good reason. But then you have to also consider that most decisions are made by an individual who has a noose about his/her neck. If you look closely you will see the noose has a label, and on that label is printed: PROPERTY OF THE US GOVERNMENT AND THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE WHO ELECT THE OFFICIALS.

Oh yes one Last thing, yes, Puke did not mean harm and I did apologize for getting worked up, what more would you have me do? Build a time machine? Considering how close to home he hit (not just metaphorically speaking) I did not think it was funny, but as I said I apologize for getting out-of-hand there is no excuse for my actions.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

We all have our differances of opinion. Poor timing aside Loser, perhaps they might have been humors, but not right now.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Times of war are the best times to make fun of the military, actually. It is called freedom of speech. If it is not allowed in times of crisis, we do not really have it.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Taken from the paper "The Army Times" dated January 5th 2004:

Faces of the Fallen
U.S. troops who died since Jan. 1 [2003].

“More than 500 service members died in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in 2003, a group that represents the full, rich face of America’s diversity.”

You can pick up a copy at most major book stores, except that this is an old article (they come out every two weeks) so you may have to order it. On the other hand I can scan and email the pages for you but I can’t guarantee the quality of the color photos, that way you can look at the pictures and see the men and women, young and older, husbands and wives, daughters and sons, officers and enlisted that came home in body bags. Yes I agree with free speech! And I for one was laughing my proverbial buttocks off as I looked at these faces. Oh look that one was only 19 ha-ha-ha, and quick look on this page he was 54, I bet his grandchildren are laughing as hard as I am. Ha-ha-ha, but the kicker of them all, the one that really cracks me up so much that I pee my pants is this one 27 year old female Sergeant, know what’s so funny about that? She died in her husbands arms; get it because he sure did HA-HA-HA.

There is a very thick line between free speech and calling even one of these deceased a moron and not a single one of us here can separate the morons from the non-morons, I agree with Atrocities in that it might have been funny at another time.

Times of war are the best times to make fun of the military? I don’t agree with that, no I would say that times of war are the best times to make fun of the government that sent the military into combat. Government does not equal military (soldiers) but the two are too often freely swapped in speech, that is a side effect I feel of our society’s freedom.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Nothing more, I felt I made it clear that was settled in a manner of which I think well. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">First of all I will admit to the accusation of bigotry. It is only appropriate, as I will not rescind the things I have said and the word fits.

Second, my carefully worded statement did not indicate that the fault lies solely with the GI. It may be as much a problem with the kind of girl that falls for the soldier. But on an emotional level who do you expect me to side with, beyond reason, led by my 'gut': the young lady I call a friend or have watched grow up, or the young man I don't know who has all the faults you might expect for a young man in the GI's situation? (Being away from everything you are familiar with and caught up in a new and different culture will change a person, and leave a few marks.) The conclusion is natural.

The other reason I worry about these relationships when I see them start is how consistently they end very, very poorly. I've deleted a paragraph here where I recounted anecdotes, it wasn't going to accomplish much. On an additionally note though, if its a local boy I can 'have a talk' with him. This isn't really possible with a GI, not even when taken more literally. The GI can retreat into military life and there's nothing I can do about the conflict.

I do know about the CO approach to civilian-vs.-GI problem solving. I have used this method to collect on debts, 'banish' problematic party regulars, and in one very special case I even used it to make a married fellow in the Army leave my girlfriend alone. Sometimes girls have trouble being final with their 'no', or maybe she just didn't want to be final, I don't know. Either way and whatever happened she never saw him again and had no idea what happened. So yes, this is a useful way of dealing with certain situations after they have happened.

And I know about the unmatched redemption from circumstances the military offers its recruits. I've lived with military presence all my life and I know why many GIs are the way they are. This is no reason for me to be any less careful. I have some good ideas why the decision making process works the way it does. This is no reason for me to find any less amusement at its expense. That's just what it is like for a civilian living in a military town, it is the nature of the situation.

And if there is anything in the matters discussed here that our military is doing wrong I don't have any delusions that I could do it better. I'm not delivering serious criticisms. I was defending a joke against a blanket sanction. Later I was trying to defend the fact that decisions made by those in the upper echelons of the military are worthy of some amount of mockery. It looks like one of my 'I have authority in this subject' points went a bit astray. I am sorry about that, I suppose, this thread hardly needs another derail.

Atrocities, I am glad we can disagree amiably enough.

Having refreshed once more before posting I see your latest, Shang. That's a bit over the line. I do regret if I have contributed to whatever got you that worked up. But here I am, putting-up the post I wrote before I read that Last bit of rhetoric anyway

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

I think that any one who has lost someone or has someone at risk in this conflict would find the comments in these Posts over the Last few days very dishearting. I sure do.

Lets shelve this debate for another time gentalmen, right now is NOT the time to be making fun or insulting the men and women of the armed forces.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">alright, settle down everyone. theres alot of sharp folks in the military and the defense industry, I know alot of them. I also know alot of people whom disparage their co-workers, and it applies to EVERY industry, as Narrew describes above.

Just like almost every office worker can draw similarities between their place of work, and a Dilbert comic strip.

no one is trying to take a crap on our armed forces, but at the same time im not going to qualify every wisecrack with two pages of flowery exceptions, just to make sure your feelings dont get bruised. take a deep breath, and exhale. Repeat.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Yes, I would expect you to side with the lady friend. I read the comment to be more generalized when here you were being specific, my fault indeed.

They do mostly end poorly (from my exposure at having seen many first hand) but I think that has more to do with age than profession.

I hope they Article 15 the SOB, he was married for heavens sake. If she meant to carry on with him or not is not so much the point, that said the military is VERY strict about that and related topics. He is probably sitting at home after a dishonorable discharge cursing your name.

That Last bit was only pointed at the moron aspect; it was intended to convey the message that in referring to the military it is no laughing matter becouse you referring to men and women, not faceless entities. But I respect the request of Atrocities so bygones-be-bygones.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Does any one remember what this thread was originally about? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It was about me telling something aboug gamma ray explosion and then some guy pointed out something about Hitler/Saddam and then I pointed out something abut Bush/Blair and then all hell broke loose. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif First about the EU/US dogfight and then about the US military.


P.S.: Love your shipsets Atrocities, using the ST: TNG now. Must have been quite an effort to put it all together.

P.P.S: Puke... we're talking about 2 different things. I'm talking about the current state of affairs and my (and the majority of the world's) oppinion on it AND you're (as I understand) talking about some phylosophical debate about there being no right and wrong... I don't care anymore http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I pointed our my position very clearly and so did you. So lets leve it at that and let history make its judgments.

[ January 08, 2004, 19:32: Message edited by: JurijD ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Thanks.

I am glad that you are enjoying the ship sets. There have been so many varations of them over the Last three years, check that four years now, that the effort behind them has long since pasted into ledgend. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Seriously, most of the sets were a lot of fun developing. The federation sets all use models from Starfleet Command I, II, and Orion Pirates.

The Klingons / Romulans use some models from those games, BOTF, and a Klingon ship game that I cannot remember the name of.

I enjoy the TNG set too. I seldom if ever use it in any PBW games because there are so many others who want to play the Federation that I often opt to play another race. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

It was originally about advanced life and black holes; he wrapped up his opening statement by saying that we are pretty lucky here on Earth. But isn’t that the truth in general? I mean our position around the sun, the type of life and wonder of diversity we have, the move to tool use and development of intelligence, and what about Goober Grape? Aren’t we lucky to have that to eat on bread? I love that stuff, and so does my son. I mean for heavens sake he will sneak the jar into his room and eat it straight from the bottle. Then he comes to me with it smeared on his face and asks for water because he’s thirsty. No doubt you are I would be too if I had just eaten half a freaking bottle in under 2.5 seconds. Give it a rest guy; I don’t want him to grow up with his mouth glued shut from peanut butter. What a mad man I have!

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Wow... I see statements of making fun of the military itself have (as probably should have been expected) been grossly twisted into making fun of specific people that died. So sad that you guys had to read what you wanted to read, not what was said. Making fun of the military does not constitute making fun of the soldiers that died in ANY way, shape, or form. "The military" IS an abstract entity, divorced from the soldiers in it. Mocking the military itself is ENTIRELY different than mocking the men and women themselves of the armed forces.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

whoops, got that Last post in before reading the wind-down. ignore me, as usual.

so, if we wanted a burst of radiation to sterilize the planet, am i correct that we could only expect to zap one hemisphere of it? it wouldnt be all that hard to repopulate and keep the species going if we had a whole half the world to work with. Maybe JurijD would get lucky, and only the americas would be wiped out. Admittedly, that wouold not bode well for our nothern and southern neighbors, but acceptable losses, and all that.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

yes we would lose a few hockey teams.

But we would win the cup every year.

But I would not be able to travel to small american towns all over...

But the cup would be back here.

Then I guess Canadians would be considered bad. But I would rather see a donut shop all over the world than the golden arches http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

And no more of that ice tea problem.

Cause ice tea would be what it is ice tea... no strange brew tea and let it get cold to drink...

I think mostly i would miss the small brew pubs and micro brewerys.

And the fact I never saw California.

Oh and no SEV...


AT That is a good ship set.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Huh? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif What do you call iced tea?

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

*wander's off to get a 4-liter chocalate milk*

*wander's back*

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well I did think about that. (already had plans on creating a black hole somewhere near us) Couldn't get the damn Tesla matter-energy transformer to work properly. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
But the real problem is that these bursts Last for several decades and hehe the Earth tends to rotate every now and then (I read 24h somewhere... I don't know where Oleg, should you want my refrences again)

But seriously... this issue I raised that was directed against the US is the same as with that military thing you were talking about. And as Fyron pointed out: The US and its citizens are two different things. I got nothing against you poeple, I even got several american friends... heck my english teacher was American and we let her live. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

I mean you people can't help it if you got leaders that have **** for brains.... I mean you tried to elect a better president (Gore got something like 63% of total cross US votes) but the courts didn't agree with you.. so lets hope you get democracy going again before the next election. Or at least deal with this silly electoral system before it bites you in the *** again.

Forget about each individual state and just simply add up all the votes cross country. Isn't that the most fair and democratic way? And besides everyone else is doing it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[ January 09, 2004, 00:09: Message edited by: JurijD ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Everyone else is doing at lot of things we aren't, buddy. Our way is better. ^_^

Anyway, your figure is a little off. The difference between 47% and 63% is pretty big, but remember that was just an estimate. They never did finish counting the votes in Florida. A U.S. Presidential candidate does not need the majority to win, he just has to have more votes than the other guys. It's kind of like running from a bear in that way.

Let the party resume.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

It truly saddens me to think that the concept of the military has been reduced to that of a nameless and faceless organization for the sole purpose of preserving an argument. If it was not for those same nameless and faceless people there would be no “military” to speak of in the first place. But rather than concede a point or let it drop it is easier to shape the truth into a surrealistic Version, for what? Just to argue more. It also shames me to think that I have sat here and typed up my responses, conceding and apologizing for when I was mistaken, just to see that only a very few others where able to do the same. The self-righteous have truly gained the majority, able to counter every point conceivable to continue their argument. Well, I think that is about enough from me.

Fyron for your information:
Military (adjective): Of or relating to SOLDIERS
Military (noun): military PERSONS

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Puke http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif what you posted was in no way funny. You have to understand that it hurts people who have loved one serving in the military and is rather rude considering what is going on in the world today. Additionally all of my friends and family who have served in the armed forces have never said anything negative about their experience, even the guy who was court marshaled, and most of them are very intelligent, hard working, family people with good jobs and stable income.

I hope that in the future you will considered the harm an animosity that such a derogatory post would generate and refrain from posting.

[ January 08, 2004, 12:42: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Fyron that is just cold man. Cold. I rated him 5 some time ago http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif and stand by it. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">People like you make me sick. Can't even give a guy the rating he requests. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif j/k </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I understand the error of my ways now. Please forgive me. I was horribly wrong and will forever live with this regret. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ January 08, 2004, 12:50: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Those are rather crude and irrelevant definitions...

All I was saying was that your tactic of guilt-mongering was completely irrelevant to what was being discussed (as guilt-mongering tends to be). I have shaped no truths, created no surrealistic Versions, none of that bunk. Noone "reduced to that of a nameless and faceless organization for the sole purpose of preserving an argument," that is what "the military" has always been. "The military" does not equal "the men/women of the military." They are two separate entities. You are just confusing issues and do not want to accept the fact that one can mock the organizations that are the military without mocking random soldiers in them. You can certainly mock the soldiers themselves, but you do not have to do so to mock the military.

[ January 09, 2004, 00:52: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Jura, yes, I made a mistake. I forgot to take a square root of 1000. That is 33 km you are so proud about. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Still, I think the whole idea of our incrediable luck while millions and millions of other civilizations dying around us is absurd. It is dangerously close to the christian doctrine that humanity is the chosen breed because Christ was born here and not on Epsilon Eridani (just an example) and only we will be saved in the whole Universe http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">or, in other words, stupid systems can have smart people and smart systems can have stupid people.

um, that comment doesn't change my spectater status. i made no comment on the validity of any statements made here, not because i don't have an opinion, but simply because this thread is to 'hot'.

[ January 09, 2004, 01:27: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

You know what the best thing about the EU is? They love the US so much that they are trying to imitate it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Think about it... lots of independant states that all fall under one "nation," lacking national borders, one currency, separation of powers between the state governments and the overal national "government." The EU is just in phase 1 of the transition right now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ January 09, 2004, 01:37: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

You know what would be really bad for the UN? Kicking out the only world superpower. That is just a recipe for forcing a World War III down the road...

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

Backing up to the math bits, I found a slight problem. Mainly, you're underestimating the effect of the atmosphere, which blocks most radiation. For reference, a single solar flare produces several million megatons for energy. Not all of it is in gamma, but the other wavelengths can be equally nasty if enough gets through.

About all that actually happens when a flare hits is some more impressive auroa.

EDIT the sun itself, meanwhile, produces around 10^9 of your hypothetical h-bombs per second. With aproximately the same radiation, since this is also nuclear fusion. It is also, of course, far closer than any gamma ray burst.

[ January 09, 2004, 02:20: Message edited by: Phoenix-D ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

As it turns out, this argument over radiation intensity is misplaced. The full theory is that the gamma radiation from a supernova destroyed the ozone layer and allowed hard ultraviolet from our own sun to reach the surface.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science....ap/index.html

So you were on the right track comparing to the radiation from the sun... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">LOL, your evil http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
but right on the money

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hehehe well it might seem so for an American who doesn't know whats really happening http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif There is no one "European" nation... and that is the core of the whole idea. We don't need one nation and one language to work together. Ergo one nation doesn't need to kill off all other "natives". We tried that in 2 world war recenty but it din't work out. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

And besides since we don't need to kill off everybody else we won't need to build those nasty reservations and getos in the cities... think off all the trouble we are avoiding http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Loser... I'm not talking about the Florida vote. I'm saying that it is incredible for a country such as yourself... that has ONE man theoretically in charge of everything... not to have a direct electoral system. Perhaps you misunderstood.

But in the Last election if you add up all the people who voted for Gore and compare them to all the poeple who voted for George W you get 63% for Gore and 37% for George W. (cross country not in any invdividual state).

But because those southern countries and some othes too have too many electoral votes based on their population and George W. happenes to have won in them .... he won the the federal vote when the majority of the total US population actually didn't vote for him.

I mean can u explain why you need to conduct elections in this silly way? Why should votes in one state mean more than in another. And you also need to count these votes in every state anyway... so why don't u just add them up and see who got the most all over the US... and not decide who won in each state and then assign these silly electoral votes to one or the other candidate. Doing it in this way can lead to silly results like u had now.

Historically it prolly made sense as the original colonies and some other more powerful states wanted to have more say in who gets to be the president... but today it just doesn't add up. Why should one vote in Florida mean more than one vite in say Kansas .. (just an example I don't really know what the Electoral_Vote/Total_population in those states are)

To give you another example of how odd this is: Lets say that your Congress didn't add all the votes up and compared them but instead of that gruped the politicians by the state they belong to and decided who voted for what in that "state" and then assign 1 vote for one or the other side based on who got the majority of the votes in that state-based-group. Doing it this way produces weird results... as some states have more population that others and if you only assing one vote for them you neglect that. But even if you give more votes based on their population they will still go just to one side and won't be spread evenly like the vote was...

In any case... why complicate things. Loser give me one logical example (besides that you "like it this way") why this is better that adding all votes and comparing them.

[ January 09, 2004, 09:37: Message edited by: JurijD ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

*Dogscoff the Destroyer surveys the ring, ignoring the profuse bleeding from his ear. Most of the combatants have left the arena for a pint, but JurijD can still be seen, taunting the others to come back and fight. Dogscoff the Destroyer shrugs and smashes another chair over JurijD's back, then employs his trademark "nefarious nad-wrangle" technique and, once again, turns to flex for the crowd and discourse on the threads actual topic.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Sounds like that might be what happened to Mars. Water-moulded rock-formations there indicates that it once had a thicker, warmer atmosphere and apparently even now the remains of that atmosphere are being blown away by solar winds. Much of it gets caught by Jupiter, apparently.

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">i thought it was just to light to hold an atmosphere???

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Wrong on both counts, kiddo.

I don't feel like Dropping The Civics and explaining, again, how the U.S. Government works. I've posted before about the balance of power and how it really works, as opposed to how it sounds like it works when all you listen to are major news outlets (foreign or domestic), I don't care to do it again. It's not worth it this time.

I will say that there is an excessive amount of personalization in current politics, and this could lead some young or inexperienced people to believe that the country is run by one man. This is certainly not the case, not even when the President and the majority in Congress are from the same party.

On the numbers, you are simply mistaken. I do not care to say more because I am beginning to believe that you are not sincere in your argument. The internal personification of my own extensive personal experience in griefing is building a case, sorting through papers, and correlating data. He is handing me a thick report in a well organized binder and the summary reads thus:

"JurijD is a troll."

Now, this certainly may be incorrect. I'm just saying you look enough like a troll that I'm going to stop responding. Nothing personal, I just thought you might appreciate the honesty.

Perhaps another time...

[ January 09, 2004, 13:27: Message edited by: Loser ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Three words and one link baby:

Merriam-Webster Online

http://www.m-w.com/home.htm

Look it up yourself.

[ January 09, 2004, 14:39: Message edited by: President Elect Shang ]

Re: OT: Galactic sterilisation
 

I read that Last year. I recommend that book and the first one as well. THat always stuck in my head. And in university we talked about that time frame for the introduction to 20th century European History. Many people asked why until they where forced to connect the dots to ww2 with it.... Cause and couter effect history teaching is a very interesting way of teaching history. Also helps with remembering what the events were that lead up to the moment of crisis. It also helps explain why I spend all my money on history books. ( and the odd sci-fi fantasy book ) Right now I am reading the Guns of August ( upstairs ) and George R.R. Martin's A clash of kings ( downstairs )