archermoo

Re: Musings on Random Musings Reasonable. On the other side, I probably have even less of an idea about Swedish politics than you do about US politics.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Added to that: There is the perception in the US that if the government is involved in providing something like healthcare that they will be in the group that is paying for more than they are "using". Mostly because they don't seem to understand that for the most part the only way in the long run to be in that group is to die young without an extended hospital stay or heroic lifesaving efforts being made. That being said, we have already taken another useful step towards improving our healthcare system. We'll see if it survives.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings Well, keep in mind that I'm not a doctor. Though I do maintain software that doctors use for such things.

Re: Musings on Random Musings I believe in the US that would be called "taking a history". I don't remember ever hearing anamnesis used in that context.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Eh, it depends. Some people want to avoid it because they think it is over commercialized, but I'm pretty sure that getting people to want to ignore Christmas isn't the intent of the marketing types. For a lot of people, Christmas isn't a holiday about family. It is a holiday about being required to get gifts for everyone they know. And having their worth as a person by successfully remembering everyone that they are "required" to get a gift for, and then getting that person a gift that they like. For some people Christmas is a time of year that they are reminded that they don't have a loving family or friends in their lives. Whether it is true or not. Heck, I've known people who would be mightily offended that you would suggest that it is a holiday season about family and would instead insist that it is a holiday season about an important event in their religion. And that if families get together that is merely incidental. Some of those people are aware that the calendar timing of the event was chosen because it was a time that people were already used to celebrating a different religious holiday, but a lot are not. And for some people it is a convenient time of the year to get together with the family that they love, regardless of what other baggage anyone else brings to the table. Some of these people attach a religious significance to the holiday, and some don't. I have of course missed a number of other possibilities, but you get the idea.

Re: The cranky thread

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: The cranky thread Yeah, except for the bursting into flame part, that's pretty much were I am. I went to church with Keri for a while when we first got together, because it made her happy. But as you note, I felt more and more like I was an intruder, and so I kept feeling more and more uncomfortable. Like going to the meetings of a club that I'm not a member of. No one was unfriendly in any way, far from it. But I'm not a member of the club, and I don't really have any interest in being a member. So it just didn't make any sense to keep going to club meetings.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: The cranky thread

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings I don't see that it is even a double standard. Or if it is then putting restrictions the freedoms of criminals (incarceration, loss of the right to own firearms, etc) is a double standard as well. Which is to say that to my mind if eating animals raised as food while caring for animals raised as companions is a double standard, then the term is so watered down as to no longer have any meaning.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Cats are raised as companions. Pigs are (for the most part) raised as a food source. I don't see any inconsistency in treating them differently. Heck, I don't see treating pigs who are raised as a food source differently than pigs who are raised as a companion as being inconsistent.

Re: Musings on Random Musings I understand. Do you understand why it seems strange to some of us that making jokes about killing and/or torturing animals is strictly forbidden but that it is okay to make jokes about killing and/or torturing people?

Re: The move to FTP

Re: The move to FTP Yeah, that's what I meant by Silver players not getting to customize their power sets. It does indeed limit options, though while the customizability is certainly one of the things I like most about CO I also know that there are people that will feel more comfortable with "classes" to play. And for people that feel it is necessary there is always the option to subscribe. As long as the game is playable for people playing the straight archetypes it seems like a pretty reasonable upsell opportunity to me.

Re: The move to FTP Sorry, the move of Champions Online to a Free To Play system. http://www.champions-online.com/f2p

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings I think the point is that on the one hand, Bill states categorically that making jokes about killing and/or torturing animals is never okay. Never. But then on the other hand he makes jokes about killing and/or torturing people. I agree that sometimes a double standard is valid. But in this case it isn't that the double standard is "I know Bill is okay because I know and trust him, but I don't trust the neo nazi". It is "Under no circumstances is it okay to joke about killing or torturing animals, but it is at least sometimes okay to joke about killing or torturing people".

Re: The move to FTP From what I understand the only real gameplay impacting thing that silver players can't even purchase that gold players will be able to do is customize their power sets. Everything else looks cosmetic. Whether not being able to create custom power sets will put them at some kind of disadvantage remains to be seen.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Re: Musings on Random Musings Agreed. In my experience the jokes about abusive treatment of animals aren't told because the idea of doing whatever sick things to animals is funny in and of itself either. They're told to get a reaction from the lovers of those kind of animals. People generally don't tell jokes about making kitten stew because they think that making kitten stew is funny; they tell jokes about making kitten stew because they think the reaction of other people to the idea of someone making kitten stew is funny.