OT: Galactic sterilisation

[Rob]

Grr.. seems I forgot my old login password and the system doesnt seem to have the correct e-mail address for me. Anyway.. I was mostly a lurker so it doesnt matter.. Im nobody anyone here would know anyway

As for election results.. Its one of my pet peeves when people spout off numbers with no backing documentation. So.. here are some numbers relevant to some of the um... arguments going on here.

Election 2000
Total cast votes: 105,405,100
Bush 50,456,002 votes, 47.87%
Gore 50,999,897 votes, 48.38%

Total Electoral Vote = 538
Total Electoral Vote Needed to Elect = 270
Bush 271
Gore 266

Sources
Official 2000 Presidential Election Results
CNN 2000 Presidential Election Results

So, Yes, Gore won the popular vote by 543,895 votes. That was 0.51% of the votes cast which falls well within the margin of error for the voting machines used throughout most of the US.

The reality is that the election was so evenly split that neither Bush nor Gore could claim a clear victory in the popular vote. This split was mirrored in the state of Florida where the final results for Election 2000 were determined. Both political parties pulled out all the stops to manipulate the vote counts in that state. It so happens that the LAW and voting standards agreed on BEFORE the election started were upheld in the state, giving Bush the edge necessary to win. It was the right decision to make at the time even if the voting standards were not optimal. To do otherwise would be to invite chaos. Hopefully, the problematic standards experienced in Florida in 2000 have been rectified for the next election.

Now, moving on to the so called "Extinction" and "Slaughter" of the Natives by "Americans". I happen to BE one of those Natives.. or at least a decendent of one. My mother is Cherokee and we are both very much alive and well. I also happen to be Greek by ancestory as well. I will admit that the traditional culture of my Native American ancestors is not practiced much anymore due to being absorbed into the "European" culture of my OTHER ancestors. All of which has evolved into a new culture that the rest of the world calls "American".


And finaly, on the topic of the military and morons, I have a comment. The popular concept of a military full of morons is rather.. well.. moronic in itself. To make the assertion that the only people who re-enlist in the military are people of lesser intelligence is incorrect. The people who re-enlist are simply the people who have found that the military lifestyle suits them. It says NOTHING about their level of intelligence. The same incorrect assumptions are made about Sports Stars. It is automaticaly assumed that talent at playing football (or any other physical sport) means the person is intellectualy challenged. As if playing sports is a less desirable job, only suitable for people unable to learn to do a more usefull job.. like software engineering.

I guess what I am saying is that choosing a Military lifestyle does NOT make the person "Stupid." The reason some people think that it IS stupid is pretty simple to figure out realy. Humans have a tendency to think that anyone who thinks differently than they do, must be stupid. Therefore, those people who think that the military is a bad choice of career (those who serve one tour of duty) conclude that people who think otherwise (Lifers in Military Speak) MUST be stupid.

Rob

[Puke]

Yep. It was a close election because of apathy and dissalusionment. no one cared who won, and it was reflected in the national culture and in the polls. hardly any sense in arguing about it now.

And yes, people already chased themselves in circles just to decide that no one actually had anything against the military, nor thought that all re-enlistees were dumb. We dont actually think that all people working in an office are from Dilbert comic strips, and not all career academics are directionless and without practical value to society.

but some generalizations are ammusing to joke about. like dilbert comic strips, and military inteligence, and hippies from berkeley.

As you say, someone's long term career choice is more of a reflection of what fits their personality and desired style of living, than anything else. There used to be a popular generalization that those who were unfit for any other kind of work, became teachers. Certainly there are some poor teachers out there, but most of them have chosen that role because it fits their personality and their lifes goals.

As for being Greek, you have my condolences regarding the Eastern Roman Empire. They really had a good thing going, and I'm sorry it didnt Last. Unless, of course, you consider your heritage to predate the Levant and stem from the Greek city states of antiquity, in which case my sentiments have been wasted. But if it helps, you have my condolences about them too, as they also had a good thing going.

I myself have no heritage to speak of, and am a sorry example of random breeding.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I myself have no heritage to speak of, and am a sorry example of random breeding.

hey, i can make jokes about eight, maybe ten different nationalities! random breeding is fun!

[ January 16, 2004, 10:17: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[primitive]

Puke;
Better be careful with postings like that. Keep it up and you will ruin any cred you have as an obnoxious wiseass

[AMF]

This topic started out talking about "Galactic Sterilisation" as a scientific hypothesis based on some astronomical observations.

I want to briefly interrupt to bring it back to that and suggest a PBW game based on it.

My purpose in posting the following game idea and settings is to see if there is sufficient interest in the game described below. If so, I will get to work on making it happen. Let me know if you would play such a game as described below.

-------------
Backstory for Zeta Quadrant Game:

Your people expanded into your galaxy for over a hundred years, and created an interstellar empire. In that time, your archaeologists and scientists occasionally found ruins of some long extinct ancient and powerful civilization. Some of these sites dated from billions of years ago, some as ?recent? as a few hundred thousand years old. And some of the sites were guarded with Machine Entities left behind by the ancients, as protectors.

As your race expanded into the galaxy, your scientists made an alarming and incontrovertible discovery: the galaxy is doomed. Your space telescopes confirmed that giant black holes were forming at the center of your galaxy. These doomed your civilization, for just before their formation, these black holes released a huge shockwave of Gamma radiation that overwhelmed the galaxy in so much energy that no life in your empire escaped. Your scientists also discovered evidence that indicated that this has been occurring almost regularly every billion years or so.

But, it was clear that at least one race survived this tragedy in the past: the Ancients. Your scientists speculated that only through the creation of a giant sphereworld (to provide a safe haven behind millions of miles of dense armour shielding) could any race survive these periodic galactic sterilizations. That must be how the Ancients did it.

That became the Last best hope of your people: to find a Sphereworld of the Ancients in which you could obtain a haven inside to survive the radiation shockwave. And, over the years, as the shockwave approached, your space telescopes and instruments did detect, in a far off and isolated quadrant of the galaxy, readings that can only be indicative of just such a sphereworld.

A massive expedition was launched under your command, in which giant colony ships carried billions of your people to the distant Zeta quadrant. The trip took hundreds of years, as there were no warp points to the quadrant. But the survival of the race was your goal, and cryo chambers are wonderful things. Behind you, the advancing shockwave destroyed all those left behind. The Galaxy was laid waste and the shockwave continues to expand, and will soon encompass the Zeta Quadrant as well. Time is not your ally.

As your colony ships approached the Zeta Quadrant, your frozen crew members were awoken, and massive colonies were established to begin the detailed search for the Sphereworld and your race?s survival. The advancing shockwave from the core of the Galaxy will reach the Zeta Quadrant in about 45 years, lending a keen sense of urgency to your efforts.

The strange properties of the Zeta quadrant that prevented warp holes to connect to it, also tragically prevent your current deep space arrays from zeroing in on the exact location of the Sphereworld you seek. But, your ships? recording systems did notice a danger: you are not alone. Other races have come to the same conclusion and also arrived in the Zeta Quadrant. Furthermore, there is evidence that your arrival in the Zeta Quadrant has awoken some of the Ancient?s Machine Entities, doubtless to protect the Sphereworld.

The Zeta Quadrant, the Last remaining habitable portion of the Galaxy, will be sterilized in 45 years. The only ones who will survive will be those in the Sphereworld...which is somewhere in Zeta Quadrant.

Settings

Game ends on turn 450, unless there is an agreed upon end before that (I see that as more likely). The only winner will be those living in the Sphereworld at that time. This Sphereworld is located somewhere in the map. There may or may not be other weird things going on in this map, for it is an anomalous section of the galaxy. Lastly, there is the Machine Entity Race. They are the product of seedings by the Ancients, left behind to grow and evolve and dedicated to protecting Ancient sites. Your scientists presume that the Machine Entities are the Protectors of the Sphereworld. This means that, while they will not enter the Sphereworld, they will do everything possible to defend it and destroy invaders. And they are gifted with knowledge of the Zeta Quadrant, unlike yourselves, who are all new to it.

House Rules

Communication should be limited to in-game methods to represent the difficulty inherent in communicating with aliens as well as to simulate time delays and their effect in coordination also.

Role Playing is not essential, but it is appreciated.

Game Settings: The peculiar characteristics of the Zeta Quadrant lead to the following settings:

· No mines or fighters (as the background energies and radiations make smaller craft such as these non-viable)
· No Ancient Race Characteristic (you?re all new here!) The ONLY exception to this is the Machine Entities, which will have the ancient race trait. (I, the game host, will be playing these guys, since I want to play in this game, but I made the map, so I need to have the Ancient Race trait to account for the fact that I will know that map)
· No Stellar Manipulation (the Zeta quadrant?s background energies and the effects of Ancient technologies prevent such technologies from having any effect)
· Starting tech: Medium, tech cost: high
· No surrender (Hey, the fate of your race is at stake!)
· No tech trades, but ship trading is allowed.
· Intel will be OFF (since this is a fight for the total survival of your race, your people are far too wary and patriotic to consider selling secrets or letting aliens sabotage their race)
· Map is Large, and Unique.
· Max of 20 players.
· Turns will be Automatic every 36 hours (to make the game run quickly)
· Standard SEIV Gold (1.84)
· Races: 5000 points. (no Ancient Race trait allowed)

[ January 18, 2004, 18:12: Message edited by: alarikf ]