The role playing aspect was much more important than leveling in our group. When I DM I like to make my own campaigns that are tailored to the party and involve very long story arcs. Actually, we found that by the time we hit 9th or 10th level the characters were so ridiculously powerful (with magic items etc... gained over a few years of playing) that it was more fun to start over with new characters.
My highest level character was a 9th level magic user. That took about 5 years of regular weekend playing to reach, but more importantly my character became a sort of local lord and part of the history of the world. The role playing aspect was what made playing D&D different and fun compared to other games.
A good DM that encourages role playing, even in battle, is the key to a good game of D&D in my opinion.
Actually, there ARE studies showing that kids that grow up in super clean environments have weaker immune systems. The immune system does in fact get "stronger" with exposure to moderate amounts of bacteria and viruses.
It is comments like that that make me glad I live in a country with socialized medicine for everyone. If you lived in Canada you would have full coverage just like everyone else. Yes, the system is not perfect, but you are not denied coverage because you need it.
Canada is bigger. I hear that broad band sucks in New York City which has more people than ALL of Canada. So let's stop playing the "big and sparse" card as it is nonsense.
The average electricity transmission loss in the USA is less than 8%. High voltage long distance electricity transmission is very efficient. Please see wiki: electricity transmission. Please don't just make things up. No one could make money with Hydro power if losses were 50%!
You are wrong, depending on where you live. In many countries with law based on English common law stealing is indeed defined as depriving someone of the use of their property.
You made a bigger mistake when you referred to a downloaded song as "property". You can't own a song, and it isn't property. You can own the Copyright which is a temporary privilege the government gives you to control who can copy the work in question. A copyright is NOT property.
Downloading songs is NOT theft. Downloading songs is still perfectly legal in many countries. In countries where downloading is illegal it still is NOT theft, it is copyright infringement. You are not stealing, you are breaking the rules regarding a government regulation regarding copying creative works.
Those prices are in the States? I've read that all the foods that are actually good for you to eat do NOT get subsidies, while corn and other grains (mainly used to feed pigs and cattle) get the subsidies. See Slow Food for more information.
We import our vegetables except for July and August, and they are still cheaper than that what you listed. In fact, buying only fresh fruit, veggies, and meat will make my grocery bill about 30% to 50% lower than if I buy processed foods. We import from the USA and and S. America.
It is not going to happen soon, but it is going to happen. Eventually technology will provide all material needs to people without human labour. I think the best example is the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. There will be some turmoil during the transition just as the invention of manual sewing machines and other labour saving devices have caused strikes, riots, and upheavals over the years.
We call them bait cars. But our police leave them LOCKED. Reduced car thefts 40% over the last 4 or 5 years here. The cars have video, gps, and remote control so the police can kill the engine and arrest the thief.
JFK did avoid all out nuclear war with the USSR by keeping Curtis LeMay and his ilk from attacking Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK was planning on pulling the USA out of Vietnam if he won a second term. His brother may have had to give him a push, but he did move forward on civil rights. In all respects JFK was a much better president than Bush Jr who will go down in history as one of the most incompetent and corrupt presidents ever.
Depends were you live. Here in Vancouver most car thefts are drug addicts just wanting to travel for free, joyriders, and criminals wanting transport for their next crime (min-vans are popular for this as they are easy to steal and hold a lot of loot). Most car break ins are drug addicts looking for loose change, CD's and anything else they might be able to fence. Very few stolen cars are not recovered abandonded after a couple of weeks, but usually in bad shape.
Bait cars have reduce car theft about 40% over the last 5 years. The police rig a car with cameras, remote engine stop, gps, and leave it in a high crime area. They get some nice video of the criminal then stop the car and arrest the theif.
When I went to UBC (University of BC) in the early 80's it was was common that on multiple choice exams you lost a point for a wrong answer. I'm not sure that it was official policy, but all the muliple-choice tests I took used this method. This was to prevent guessing. I just assumed this was a widely used technique outside of the highschool level.
I can't believe the police were actually checking for "illegal fuel" in the first place. Where I live the police would not waste their time on something like that. Out police's priority is crime against people (assault, murder, etc...) then property crimes then traffic, then a mixed bag of stuff like white collar crime, fraud, grow ops, rackettering, etc... The police never investigate stuff like business licenses or untaxed fuel - that is a job for non-police inspectors.
Clinton fired all the attornies when he first entered office - just like every other president has done. He did NOT single out a few to fire half way through his term because they were not investigating his political oppents with enough zeal.
I'm surprised it is even legal for a company to ask for your fingerprints just for a programming job. I'm sure that would be illegal in most western countries, but, of course, be perfectly legal in that bastion of individual freedm, the good ol us of a.
Patents are NOT part of a free market. Patents are government monopolies granted in an effort to reward research. Before patents new inventions were carefully kept secret. It was a capital offense to breach some industrial secrets in Europe at one time.
Patents are a good idea for new, non-obvious, inventions. The problem is that many obvious things are getting patented. Patents should be rare, not common. While I don't think any software should be patentable, I do think most drugs deserver patent protection.
The standing water problem is mainly a problem in warmer climates, and even then Hydro is very clean compared to coal. If the area where the resevoir is going to be is logged first it cuts down on the problem too. Of course there is that whole flooding issue - people have to move etc...
The government is not doing this beacuse it is the best use of its money from a purely finacial or practical point of view. It is doing it to show it can be done in the hope that the technology will improve and eventually solar power will become an economically viable power source. The government is subsidizing a new technology.
I do not agree that the person or corporation running a mesage board should be held liable for "publishing" everything that anyone writes on their board. The person who actual wrote and published the article should be held liable. Reasonable people should take anonymous posting with a grain of salt. The person running the board does not actually publish the articles unless they review all articles before they appear and only posts the ones that meet the publishers criteria. But many message boards do not review any of the posting and the users directly publish to the board. It makes no more sense to hold the person running the message board liable as it would to hold phone companies liable for crimes organized over the phone. ISP's and message boards should have common carrier status to protect them from the actions of the small minority of users that abuse these services.
If you are labled a "kiddie porn lover" you can take legal action to find out who posted the message and sue the person for libel. Of course, only idiots would believe such an outragous accusation from an anonymous internet posting. Your bad experience does not justify shutting down all anonymous postings. Anonymous posting are an important way for individuals to post information about the powerful. The value to society of anonymous information greatly outweighs its faults.
I do agree it would be reasoble to ask for libelous postings to be removed by the mesage board operators.
Why was the kid jailed at all? Even if he phoned in the hoax I don't see it as a crime deserving being locked up for 12 days BEFORE reching trail, especially considering the kid was never in trouble previously. A reasonable response would to charge the kid, and release him to his parents until trail. That is what happens in civilized countries, and is exaclty what happened in my city. A local kid did phone in a hoax bomb threat, the school was locked down, armed police on the roof the whole bit. And the kid was not charged with some outlandish terrism crime, but simple mischief. He was released to his parents, he did go to trail, he was found guilty, and he was sentanced to community work - not jail time. He was suspended from school too.
Actually it is very common in insurance policies to have a clause that there must be evidence of "a break in" to cover theft. A broken window, busted door, jimmied window, whatever. Some car insurance will not cover your car if you leave the keys in it - after all it is theft insurance not stupidity insurance.
The average person cannot see the improvment you get going from normal dvd to hi-def DVD unless the TV is over 40" and of good quality. If you are watching on any smaller tv you can't really see the difference.
The drug companies will keep it secret and sue anyone who analyse their potion into oblivion - just like the good old days before patents.
Software patents ARE stupid, but not all patents are stupid. Patents for things that take a lot of research to develop, are not obvious, and improve the art do deserve patents. Business methods, forms, software, and algorithms are all examples of things that should NOT be patentable.
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I agree totally.
The role playing aspect was much more important than leveling in our group. When I DM I like to make my own campaigns that are tailored to the party and involve very long story arcs. Actually, we found that by the time we hit 9th or 10th level the characters were so ridiculously powerful (with magic items etc... gained over a few years of playing) that it was more fun to start over with new characters.
My highest level character was a 9th level magic user. That took about 5 years of regular weekend playing to reach, but more importantly my character became a sort of local lord and part of the history of the world. The role playing aspect was what made playing D&D different and fun compared to other games.
A good DM that encourages role playing, even in battle, is the key to a good game of D&D in my opinion.
Actually, there ARE studies showing that kids that grow up in super clean environments have weaker immune systems. The immune system does in fact get "stronger" with exposure to moderate amounts of bacteria and viruses.
Anti-bacterial soap sucks
Anti-bacterial soap sucks
Immune system
More immune and hand-washing
It is comments like that that make me glad I live in a country with socialized medicine for everyone. If you lived in Canada you would have full coverage just like everyone else. Yes, the system is not perfect, but you are not denied coverage because you need it.
Canada is bigger. I hear that broad band sucks in New York City which has more people than ALL of Canada. So let's stop playing the "big and sparse" card as it is nonsense.
The average electricity transmission loss in the USA is less than 8%. High voltage long distance electricity transmission is very efficient. Please see wiki: electricity transmission. Please don't just make things up. No one could make money with Hydro power if losses were 50%!
You are wrong, depending on where you live. In many countries with law based on English common law stealing is indeed defined as depriving someone of the use of their property.
You made a bigger mistake when you referred to a downloaded song as "property". You can't own a song, and it isn't property. You can own the Copyright which is a temporary privilege the government gives you to control who can copy the work in question. A copyright is NOT property.
Downloading songs is NOT theft. Downloading songs is still perfectly legal in many countries. In countries where downloading is illegal it still is NOT theft, it is copyright infringement. You are not stealing, you are breaking the rules regarding a government regulation regarding copying creative works.
Those prices are in the States? I've read that all the foods that are actually good for you to eat do NOT get subsidies, while corn and other grains (mainly used to feed pigs and cattle) get the subsidies. See Slow Food for more information.
We import our vegetables except for July and August, and they are still cheaper than that what you listed. In fact, buying only fresh fruit, veggies, and meat will make my grocery bill about 30% to 50% lower than if I buy processed foods. We import from the USA and and S. America.
It is not going to happen soon, but it is going to happen. Eventually technology will provide all material needs to people without human labour. I think the best example is the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. There will be some turmoil during the transition just as the invention of manual sewing machines and other labour saving devices have caused strikes, riots, and upheavals over the years.
We call them bait cars. But our police leave them LOCKED. Reduced car thefts 40% over the last 4 or 5 years here. The cars have video, gps, and remote control so the police can kill the engine and arrest the thief.
JFK did avoid all out nuclear war with the USSR by keeping Curtis LeMay and his ilk from attacking Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK was planning on pulling the USA out of Vietnam if he won a second term. His brother may have had to give him a push, but he did move forward on civil rights. In all respects JFK was a much better president than Bush Jr who will go down in history as one of the most incompetent and corrupt presidents ever.
Depends were you live. Here in Vancouver most car thefts are drug addicts just wanting to travel for free, joyriders, and criminals wanting transport for their next crime (min-vans are popular for this as they are easy to steal and hold a lot of loot). Most car break ins are drug addicts looking for loose change, CD's and anything else they might be able to fence. Very few stolen cars are not recovered abandonded after a couple of weeks, but usually in bad shape.
Bait cars have reduce car theft about 40% over the last 5 years. The police rig a car with cameras, remote engine stop, gps, and leave it in a high crime area. They get some nice video of the criminal then stop the car and arrest the theif.
When I went to UBC (University of BC) in the early 80's it was was common that on multiple choice exams you lost a point for a wrong answer. I'm not sure that it was official policy, but all the muliple-choice tests I took used this method. This was to prevent guessing. I just assumed this was a widely used technique outside of the highschool level.
I can't believe the police were actually checking for "illegal fuel" in the first place. Where I live the police would not waste their time on something like that. Out police's priority is crime against people (assault, murder, etc...) then property crimes then traffic, then a mixed bag of stuff like white collar crime, fraud, grow ops, rackettering, etc... The police never investigate stuff like business licenses or untaxed fuel - that is a job for non-police inspectors.
Clinton fired all the attornies when he first entered office - just like every other president has done. He did NOT single out a few to fire half way through his term because they were not investigating his political oppents with enough zeal.
I'm surprised it is even legal for a company to ask for your fingerprints just for a programming job. I'm sure that would be illegal in most western countries, but, of course, be perfectly legal in that bastion of individual freedm, the good ol us of a.
Patents are NOT part of a free market. Patents are government monopolies granted in an effort to reward research. Before patents new inventions were carefully kept secret. It was a capital offense to breach some industrial secrets in Europe at one time.
Patents are a good idea for new, non-obvious, inventions. The problem is that many obvious things are getting patented. Patents should be rare, not common. While I don't think any software should be patentable, I do think most drugs deserver patent protection.
The standing water problem is mainly a problem in warmer climates, and even then Hydro is very clean compared to coal. If the area where the resevoir is going to be is logged first it cuts down on the problem too. Of course there is that whole flooding issue - people have to move etc...
The government is not doing this beacuse it is the best use of its money from a purely finacial or practical point of view. It is doing it to show it can be done in the hope that the technology will improve and eventually solar power will become an economically viable power source. The government is subsidizing a new technology.
I do not agree that the person or corporation running a mesage board should be held liable for "publishing" everything that anyone writes on their board. The person who actual wrote and published the article should be held liable. Reasonable people should take anonymous posting with a grain of salt. The person running the board does not actually publish the articles unless they review all articles before they appear and only posts the ones that meet the publishers criteria. But many message boards do not review any of the posting and the users directly publish to the board. It makes no more sense to hold the person running the message board liable as it would to hold phone companies liable for crimes organized over the phone. ISP's and message boards should have common carrier status to protect them from the actions of the small minority of users that abuse these services.
If you are labled a "kiddie porn lover" you can take legal action to find out who posted the message and sue the person for libel. Of course, only idiots would believe such an outragous accusation from an anonymous internet posting. Your bad experience does not justify shutting down all anonymous postings. Anonymous posting are an important way for individuals to post information about the powerful. The value to society of anonymous information greatly outweighs its faults.
I do agree it would be reasoble to ask for libelous postings to be removed by the mesage board operators.
Why was the kid jailed at all? Even if he phoned in the hoax I don't see it as a crime deserving being locked up for 12 days BEFORE reching trail, especially considering the kid was never in trouble previously. A reasonable response would to charge the kid, and release him to his parents until trail. That is what happens in civilized countries, and is exaclty what happened in my city. A local kid did phone in a hoax bomb threat, the school was locked down, armed police on the roof the whole bit. And the kid was not charged with some outlandish terrism crime, but simple mischief. He was released to his parents, he did go to trail, he was found guilty, and he was sentanced to community work - not jail time. He was suspended from school too.
Americans seem to be in love with incarceration.
Actually it is very common in insurance policies to have a clause that there must be evidence of "a break in" to cover theft. A broken window, busted door, jimmied window, whatever. Some car insurance will not cover your car if you leave the keys in it - after all it is theft insurance not stupidity insurance.
I believe most of these "yobs" are young men who are likely to grow out of this behaviour. I think a good caning would suffice.
The average person cannot see the improvment you get going from normal dvd to hi-def DVD unless the TV is over 40" and of good quality. If you are watching on any smaller tv you can't really see the difference.
The drug companies will keep it secret and sue anyone who analyse their potion into oblivion - just like the good old days before patents.
Software patents ARE stupid, but not all patents are stupid. Patents for things that take a lot of research to develop, are not obvious, and improve the art do deserve patents. Business methods, forms, software, and algorithms are all examples of things that should NOT be patentable.
Abstince only sex education makes as much sense as removing seatbelts from cars because the seatbelts will encourage speeding.