Aniki

Those are pretty cool! I've always wanted a treehouse, there's just something about them that's so appealing.My castle, hopefully, will be an apartment above a hobby shop that I'll run. My friends will come over, hang out, I'll sell the games I love, meet people, etc. Nothing grand or majestic or regal or anything like that, just something that fits my needs and is super cozy.

Personally, I think direct democracy is the best kind of government. Direct democracy is where there is complete and absolute rule by the people. There are no political figures, no senates, no presidents, etc. Want to go to war? Have a national vote! Anything related to the country? Vote!The good thing about this is there can't be any corruption, as everyone is completely equal. I suppose you could get into the system and mess with the votes, but that's inevitable. Also with no political figures, assassination is useless! With millions of equal politicians, you could never assassinate all of them. <_<If there were even just a few countries that were direct democracies, I think that if people didn't agree with what their country was doing, they could move to another country that fit their opinions better. Countries would take on the quirks of their population, heh.Anyhoo, I don't like government very much, but out of all those existing, I think direct democracy is the best.

I consider Blizzard to be one of the greatest game makers of all time. Their games are addictive, fun, and timeless. Starcraft is just one example, it was made in... what, 1998? and it's -still- played by millions of people every day.I've always been a geek for game world lore, and Blizzard certainly delivers! The Starcraft world has been a big influence on my post-apocalyptic book. The detail they pour into each world is awesome.Anyhoo, Starcraft 2 looks awesome. Can't wait until it comes out. And when it does, you can be sure I'll find a LAN party for it somewhere.

Someone once said christians and atheists weren't so different when it comes to morals. christians don't go around punching people in the face because that would be bad and therefore would increase the chance they'd go to hell. Atheists don't go around punching people in the face because they don't want to live in a society where everyone punches each other in the face, therefore they don't do it themselves. I've found that the core of morals comes from the ethic of reciprocity, or 'golden rule', which is don't do to other people that which you don't want done to you. Sometimes people act immorally, they steal, lie, hurt others, etc. But usually, we don't do immoral things, such as punching people in the face. On a basic level, I think, we abide by the ethic of reciprocity. Perhaps when an intelligence, a little-used one at that, is added to the equation, the ethic is ignored at times. Perhaps when we understand where morals come from, we can behave morally most, if not all, of the time.I often hear christians speaking of morals coming from god. I laugh. I consider whatever god-given morals they speak of to be common sense. 'Thou shalt not kill'? The thought of killing another horrifies me. 'Thou shalt not steal'? I remember a christian student actually somewhat mugging me to get at an apple I had. I was practically yelling this commandment, didn't stop him. All morals come from the ethic of reciprocity. It's so simple.Speaking of murdering, I hate the thought of snuffing out a life before its time. I even felt a bit sad when Saddam Hussein was hanged. Dreams, ambitions, memories, thoughts, all gone in the blink of an eye. Anyhoo...The KEY TO LIFE! I think the key to life would be trying. You need to try to control your emotions. Try to understand what other people are thinking, what their perspective is. Even if you can't, you need to try. That's the point. Everyone dies at some point, but you need to try to live your life to its fullest. Try.Sorry if I rambled, even if that was the point. Thoughts?

Cool, I could never do anything like that. The style is nice, and the effects are fun. Good job!

I'm an Atheist. I describe that as not believing in god. I never really chose this stand. My mother never taught me about religion, she believed it was a personal thing. The reason I kept this stand, however, is because of the overwhelming ignorance and intolerance of the various people I've met, most of whom are christians. I do not believe others are 'wrong' in their beliefs. I couldn't care less if someone believed incest was fine. I do, however, think people who bother other people are wrong. When other people try to change my point of view, I just laugh helplessly. It's hilarious when a christian tries to convert me by quoting the bible. Every person I get into arguments with uses the same crap over and over again. Oh well. I believe socity needed religion. Note the -ed suffix? Hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, we used religion to answer questions about intangible things. Now, however, christians (for one) have opposed every new scientific theory that comes up. I don't need a crutch to find hope and meaning. People need to get off the crutch and look around. Yes, I think society would function very well without religion nowadays. We needed it before, but now we don't. You're thinking of, perhaps, the last 10 commandments, the first ones are about god. Once again, we needed religion. Perhaps it gave a moral core back in the day, but now we can do without it. If god was real, and I died and got a chance to talk to him, I'd probably tell him he needs to get his act together. I mean, really, hundreds of different religions, his worshipers running amok.

Wow this sounds like fun. I'll get it soon and try it out, I've got a few ideas for video games B)I used to mess around with the RPG Maker programs, I even had one for the playstation, I think. Cool stuff,

Ah! I loved SWAT 4! I loved single player mostly, just messing around with the fun gadgets and forming strategies to get the bad guys. And it makes me feel especially good when you take down all the terrorists without killing them. Beanbag Shotgun for t3h win! The multiplayer was also fun.Great game. I should find it again, lost beneath piles of other games >.<

I would hope that this was common sense. It's kind of obvious that passwords are meant to be kept secret, that's the entire point of them. But what are you going to do? There are people who think computer viruses are contractible by humans...

Sartre, a French philosopher, said that everyone would like to be absolutely what we are with the full awareness that we are it. But this is impossible, since we are aware of ourselves, and can never be completely ourselves. It's a difficult concept for me to describe, but the point is a thought I had...If people are aware of what they are, but cannot be absolutely what they are...And gods are both aware of themselves and are absolutely what they are...Then wouldn't animals be exactly what they are, but not aware of themselves?And then would unliving and inanimate objects like rocks be neither?I'm going to ramble for a bit, going back to gods. Take a god like Zeus, king of the gods, ruler of the heavens, and wielder of a fun lightning shaped spear. Cool guy, loves going around and having affairs with mortal women. Now, Zeus, as a god, would be both aware of himself, and be exactly what he is, which is god of the sky. But isn't this a trap? He cannot be anything else, he cannot suddenly become god of grass, for instance. While a mortal is ever changing and adapting, a god seems to have a fixed agenda and domain. Interesting to think that while they command such power, they are trapped in a singular existence.Anyway, questions, comments, general discussion?

Sounds a lot like my Explorer's Guild... you sure you didn't steal this from me?In my world, Aesyle, the Explorer's Guild sends out groups of adventurers in order to collect artifacts, unique items, monster parts, etc. Each adventuring party has a pencil pusher who sits back at headquarters and finds them assignments, places reports in the archives, etc. The whole points of the Explorer's Guild is to collect information. When an adventuring party returns, the leader usually has to write a full report.As for your game, if you want rivalries, it can either be between different organizations, or between different teams.I don't know a lot about programming so I can't help you with that part... perhaps a text game would be easier?When you finish, tell me. I'd like to play.

It looks like it has a bit better graphics than Warcraft 3, I think. Is your system really that bad? Just wondering... I'm excited as well. I've been hoping for a new starcraft ever since I finished the first one. I'm especially glad for the new graphics, as the graphics of the first weren't good enough to see details. They were good, but I always wished to see exactly what the units looked like. I'm a geek like that.

Blizzard recently announced that they've been working on Starcraft 2 for quite a while. It's nearing it's completion. Here are a few pages: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ Screenshots! http://www.gamespot.com/articles/qanda-session-details-starcraft-ii/1100-6171172/ Information http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/ Official Site It looks so delicious!! Perhaps even better than the witch touching game! I've been waiting for this for a long time. Starcraft remains one of my favorite games, and now with Starcraft 2, /drool Thoughts, comments, rambling?

Ah, SilverFox! I would have asked that we have a private discussion over email, so as to stop this on-and-off argument we seem to be having... but then I wouldn't get any credits . I do in fact blame religion for quite a bit. Throughout my life, I've never believed in god, because my mother felt that faith was a personal thing, and she never really talked to us about it. When I was little, I would go to school, and whenever the other children spoke of god, I said I didn't believe in him, because that was the simple truth. Then suddenly, I'd be told I was an evil, devil-worshiping cultist. That I was going to be thrown in hell and have my flesh boiled off me, etc. These children acted as if they were taught only about christianity, the hundreds of other religions were not even mentioned to them. I got the impression that they were told that whoever didn't worship god, worshiped the devil. Honestly, this seems to me like brainwashing. I am not impressed with christianity. To this day, I've been told I'm going to a place of eternal suffering that I don't even believe in, and that not even christians seem to be able to agree on what exactly it is. But then, of course, I've learned about all the terrible things christianity has done. Granted, christianity isn't the only bad religion in the world, and it's not totally bad, but it's the one I'm surrounded with every day. I've given you examples of the terrible things it has done. I'll say them again: Crusades, Witchhunts, Inquisition, and many acts of hatred over the years, like that time when a busload of christians tried to stone a peaceful wiccan protest. You said in another thread that the good outweighs the bad, but I said I couldn't think of anything, and asked for examples. You didn't answer. Of course, I don't like any of the abrahamic monotheisms. In fact, I think I like every religion that doesn't have a monotheistic view, except perhaps zoroastrianism. I think that perhaps christianity has become such a default thing that people who were introduced to it at a young age take it for granted, they don't follow their commandments, they don't take their bible seriously, etc. People who choose to become Wiccans and Buddhists do so because they thought it was the best religion for them... most of the time. You say Jesus never advocated violence. And yeah, that's true. But I'm blaming christianity for what its followers have done. And also, the bible, pardon for saying, is kind of a mess. You've got inconsistencies everywhere, you have people killing other people, wars, incest, 'kindly' god turning people into salt... Jesus may have never advocated violence, but I'd say the bible does. I don't care about Jesus, he was a cool guy, I think. I blame christianity as a group, not an ideology. Though I'm beginning to gain a bit more respect for it, though I won't entirely like it. Religion, in the beginning, was simply a way to answer the questions that the ancients couldn't find out themselves. There's also a couple other things, but it's 6 in the morning, and I'm tired. Anyway, I don't believe we need a crutch right now. People need to look around themselves, see the beauty in the secular world, see the meaning in everything, and find something to reach for. You know what people who aren't quite mentally stable could do? They could think that since there's a wonderful afterlife waiting for them, they can do whatever the hell they want on earth and not be punished. They could go on a murder rampage, for instance. And I know, no religion says that, but once again, a lot of people are taking it for granted, they hear what they want to hear. Whew! My point is, you can say that religion is a good, nice thing that makes people happy, but that's your opinion. It causes more suffering than happiness, in my opinion. There are no right answers. You just have to do the best you can, and stick to the absolute moral standard, the ethic of reciprocity--which you'd call the golden rule--and not force your views on others. Sorry if I rambled.

I used to participate in a religious debate forum, but it just... wasn't there one day. They were always talking about how they didn't have enough christians... perhaps they finally gave up. Too bad, was a really great forum...Anyway, one of the members described himself as a 'Syntheist.' He said a Syntheist is someone who exchanges ideas and believes with others, and then incorporates this new information into their belief system. No fighting, no arguing, no hatred. The two parties simply share, become a little wiser, and walk away. A Syntheist doesn't have to use the new ideas, but even if they don't they're still better off than they were before, because they've just learned something they didn't know before. And that's always good, you can never know too much, I say. You could take this knowledge and store it away, or use it, or mix it with the knowledge you had before and make something entirely new. Knowledge has no limit.I just thought this was nice... perhaps in the future we'll have something like this, and there'll be no more deaths and pain on account of religion.

Awesome!I have to agree with you, the top one is the best. You just can't go wrong with chicks+swords, unless you fail at life.I think the bottom one has a bit too much going on. Busy graphics are ok, but simple ones can do even better. Of course, you probably know this, being extremely better at graphics than I am. Still, awesome work, I'm impressed!

I agree with Ashen that a good way to learn is to start a project. When I was learning HTML, I never really did anything, and I was trying to use Dreamweaver. Finally, I undertook my Aesyle fantasy world website, with Wordpad and Firefox. Turned out great, and I'm comfortable with HTML now. Before I ever learned even a single tag of HTML, however, I was in London and I decided I needed a good book. What I found surpassed all expectations. I'm extremely happy with the 'In Easy Steps' books. In my opinion, they're the best. After I got the HTML one, I bought the C++ book. The website is here: http://ineasysteps.com/ If you can get past the whole re-instead-of-er thing, it's an extremely good series.

I've always said every group has some number of *BLEEP*s, and christianity is no exception. However, I am pleased to find that you are one of the good christians! You understand that it is not your place--not anyone's place-- to judge and condemn others. There are more christians in the US than any other religion. And most of these are ignorant of even the basic things, like their ten commandments. They take their religion for granted, and if they find someone who is not the same, they go nuts, acting as if they thought christianity is the only religion in the world (and they probably do). These people make a mockery of their own religion daily, and it's pathetic.I'd say most christians have not read the bible, and a majority of those that do think of it as a chore, and don't really think about what it's saying. I'd say that, but I have only the slightest idea, and it's only an educated guess. Anyway, I'm glad to have found an example of the christian religion who is not one of these idiots.

Very good jokes! I especially liked number 2 I think, despite the use of chatspeak ('u'). I find it absolutely hilarious how marriage has inspired so many over the ages. And of course there's the quote in my signature .

Doki Doki Majo Saiban, a new game for the Nintendo DS, in which the main character (whom you play, of course) touches female classmates in order to see if any of them are witches. Apparently it's been declared the first of a new sub-genre (the touch-a-girl-to-see-if-she's-a-witch one). Opinions of this game are varied. Some are disgusted by what they see as child porn. Some (like me) are simply amused. Penny Arcade did a comic on the subject: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/04/20 And there's an article on the game here: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ dsfanboy.com also has a few articles. It looks like a fun game, and I'm hoping to get my hands on it someday .

http://www.dokimos.org/ajff/ has got to be the worst website I've ever seen. Other than the religious message, the background is so busy, it hurts... literally, my eyes are on fire. There are popups, of course. Some greek thing down at the bottom, or russian, I wouldn't know. View at your own risk, it's horrible. It was even made #4 on worst websites of 2006 on webpagesthatsuck.com

Saint Michael and Niru are my favorites. They're both clean and simple, with not too much going on. The reflection effect is nice, too.

Isn't Alpha Centauri the nearest habitable planet? In any case, I'm glad that we're still reaching towards the stars. It's unfortunate that we won't be there when it happens.I must scorn develcuy's comment on the bible. This is about exploring space, not disproving a dusty old book. However, I do agree that we have to sustain our planet. But even so, I'm sure that--if we colonize other planets--we'll still be on Earth. We won't just use it up and move on to the next planet. That's not what space exploration is attempting to do.

I agree, Dark Messiah was and is an awesome RPG. I think the greatest reason I love it is because it has more ways to kill an enemy than any other RPG I've played. I found myself checking each room to look for ropes, spikes, barrels, etc. Using the environment against your enemy is an absolutely wonderful idea. I loved the graphics, storyline, characters... in fact, most everything about it.As for the ending, I took the good path. You get those holy weapons and I forget what they do.

If you're playing on a private server, you'll probably be the only one there. It may be fun for a bit, but I bet you'd get bored of it eventually. As Arkane said, it is illegal, and Blizz quite the angry. I would not recommend anyone do this.Though, Arkane... you need to tell me next time you have a LAN party with WoW.Anyway, $15 a month isn't all bad.