Bufoman

For me, as with many people, it's mostly about community. I'm very hesitant to join a clan in any game, unless I already know several of the members, and get along with them. I look for a friendly, and mature community, that wants to have me around- not snobs who want me to prove myself worthy. I also have to play the game often enough online to justify becoming a member. For the most part, I prefer to just play with people I know, rather than as a clan. My main beef with clans, other than the community, is the leadership. Allot of clan leaders have view's about what their clan is, and should become, that are in conflict with what I'm looking for. Generally, if I want to be part of a clan, I prefer to try and start my own. It's not easy, but the reward seems better, when I have more control. Call me a control freak if you will, I don't like having to appease a leader, and worry that he may take something the wrong way.

I have to agree with bringing back the old wild, and removing the trade limits. Probably won't ever happen though. Well, last I checked the Clan Chat required people to be added to your friends list. I think that should be changed, and multiple channels should be made available per clan. Also, the limit of persons with ranks should be removed, to allow much larger clans to take advantage of clan chat. It doesn't work too well for large clans and community's, when they can't tell between their own members, and guests of the clan chat.

I'm a little worried things won't go according to plan should a war start. My worse fear is we see the unfolding of a secret communist conspiracy that has been drawn against us for a very long time. In this conspiracy we see Russia and China backing North Korea, along with the other communist nations, and pupits of the before mentioned big two all in a war against us. This would prove to be a nightmare of epic proportions, world war three indeed. I hope my fears are unfounded.

Well, perhaps we should take a lesson from the Native Americans. A hostile, foreign populace gets a foothold in your lands, before you know it, your people are being forced into reservations by the new, powerful majority. I can see it happening again, this time with some other group of people taking over different lands; once again in the name of their god, removeing those they see as spiritualy inferior.

Couldn't agree more with OldJoe on the whole immigration thing. A country can only support so many people, and if these people who come from a completely alien culture don't assimilate (and I believe they make little effort too), then at that rate, your going to have serious problems. Now, back on topic. First, let's get our facts straight here Foursideking, "the united states was attacked brutally when a bunch of "insane" foreigners hijacked a plane and forced it into the world trade towers." That is too broad a statement, and it omits the facts. We where attacked by Muslim terrorists, most of whom where from Saudi Arabia. Now, while I personally would have liked to see major reparations against the Saudi Government take place, I understand they have us so far over a barrel, their citizens can kill thousands of us, and not suffer any repercussions; even though their royal family has been funding these people for years. So, we did the next best thing, and invaded Afghanistan, sanctuary of Osama Bin Laden, leader of Alquada, the Islamic terrorist organization responsible for the attacks. We gave that wretched totalitarian theology known as the Taliban fair warning, and asked them to hand over Osama. When they failed to comply, we went in; justly seeking vengeance for our slain countrymen. Sadly, our previous President decided we had to do something about Sadam Husein and his WMD's. So, instead of focusing our resources on the hunt for Osama, and the rebuilding/ stabilization of Afghanistan, we invade Iraq, and get ourselves into a long term occupation, trying to keep the local population from riping each others throats out. Some of you may think we are profiting from this war. Well, I have yet to see any of that profit, unless you measure it in disabled/ dead/ psychologically damaged soldiers, or deteriorating infrastructure. The average American has lost a great deal because of this occupation, not the least of which is faith in his government. I don't know who's to blame. I do however have some idea what this has cost us.

Near the end of the movie AI, when the aliens resurrect his mother for one day. That is by far the saddest thing I have seen. A real tear jerker. This should not be taken out of context, so I won't post up the clip. If you want to see it, I strongly recommend you see the entire movie.

Many interesting takes on the subject have been presented. Speaking for myself, the biggest improvements I want to acquire in personality are Self- Confidence and a can do attitude. The lack of these two things has cost me during most of my 23 years on this world. So, Skill Caster, I recommend you focus on these things, or, more to the point, ask yourself what you want to change, and then evaluate the best way to go about it. Perhaps if you shared with us what these traits are, we could help you find way's of improving yourself. During High School, I was an lonely, antisocial pessimist lacking any form of self confidence, constantly worried about how my voice sounded. Well, fast forward 4 years later, and I am still a pastimes, I still worry about my voice, however I am allot more friendly and outgoing. As a result, I have made a friend.

I've been called a pedophile because I was playing Zombie Panic Source!- the Half Life 2 mod on what turned out to be a children's server. What gives? It's a mature rated game, or at least it aught to be. I tell you, things are getting insane.

"The charges against Hadley were based on only a small number of materials in the collection of over 1,200 publications." that alone should have proved to the jury just how ridiculous this is. The man has been buying this stuff- most of it perfectly legal for years, and a few publications contain something the thought police didn't like. Before you know it, the poor guy is rotting in prison. I swear, it seems like we are the only country that has such an insane legal system. People are put away because they have considered robbing a bank (they call this intent) here. "The land of the free" yeah, more and more it seems like this has become a convenient veil behind which these people- those special interest groups that lobby for these laws- can hide behind. I mean, we are told, every day, that this is a free country, constant propaganda about freedom and liberty, but more and more I see us becoming a police state where if you say, or even think something that the majority finds offensive, your in for some pretty hard times.

Well, in addition to Bufoman, I have another RS account named Lord Hyla. I usually go by Lord Hyla for most games I play online, so I will probably go by that if I play.

I am hoping for something similar to a first person shooter. I want to be able to use cover, have strategy and tactics count as much, if not more than a combat level and stats, and special weapons that perform a specific job like lowering enemy shields or shorting out equipment. Oh, and sniper rifles would be nice- and to have a good reason to chose to be a foot soldier VS piloting a Mech or other war machine. The game would be allot funner if it deviates away from the click and wait combat system in use for most MMO's. Something like Planetside's combat system would be a major improvement.

Well, it would be nice if the vehicles and physics got as good as in the Mechwarior series- like Mechwarior 4. Or, at least as good as Mechcommander2. By choosing the name Mechscape, they make me think of the battle-tech universe. I know that's not what Mechscape will be, or else we would be hearing that they got permission to use their vehicles. It would be really nice if there was a full screen version, with a high resolution so things don't look so grimy. Of course, I want to see physics and smoke, and all that good stuff. But, to me, gameplay is not all about graphics. Sound matters as well, and I hope that's way better than runescape's. Oh- and the game has to work well as a MMO, the economy if there is one needs to make sense (no broken crafting system that makes raw materials more valuable than the finished products), and combat should be allot better, preferably user controlled, not AI played like runescapes clumsy system where people take turns swinging swords at each other. The use of cover would be great, as would a first person combat system like in a shooter.

Aye, a good read.

Congratulations guys.

A superbly good season finale. Many questions have been answered- including peter bishop's past. [hide=Spoiler]The Peter Bishop we know from the show is actually from the mirror universe, Walter's real son is dead[/hide] I was very impressed with the ending. Just one complaint though: Walter and Peter did not call Agent Dunumn to tell her about the lake. That seems terribly foolish on their part. Oh, and the mirror universe must be a good place, I mean the trade towers are still up, and William Bell (played by Lenard Nemoy) has his headquarters there. It will be interesting if they can explore this universe a little more, and see how much influence Bell had on shaping it's very different history.

Oh yes, since many of you have probably never seen the man who some here are now referring to as a Scumbag, here is a interview he did with BBC America about the recent ban: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8037025.stm He's an old man, has been here a long time, and the son of an immigrant. He is also Jewish as I understand it. Yes he has a temper, but considering all the crap he has had to deal with in his life, he's entitled too it. Further more, he's not all anger and rants, about half the show is comprised of his telling stories, some which feature his poodle Teddy. I take offense to his being called a Scumbag by people who have never listened to his show. I would like to encourage anyone to at least listen to one hour of his show before you start passing judgment on the man. It's not hard to do, all you have to do is go to www.910knew.com between 6 and 9 PM Eastern ( Washington DC Time) on a weekday (like today) and click "Listen Live".

Well, I have listened to him for a good 3 years now, and the closest thing I can think of to him actually trying to provoke others to do violence, would probably be this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH6GqgqR ... re=related Then again, he did once suggest that university protesters who where on a hunger strike should be left to starve... That triggered this little incident outside of the KNEW radio station: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH6GqgqR ... re=related And who could forget the time he got himself fired from NBC: Yeah, he has one hell of a temper. Still, I can't recall any time he actually encouraged violence against others... except once, when a distraught caller told him the story of how a bunch of bicyclist environmental nut-jobs attacked her van/ car with chains and the likes. He said this is a big problem in San Fransisco, and he would like to see a few vans with Skinheads inside, all armed to the teeth, try to bait these cowards into attacking them. Yeah, that's about it.

Wow, I have been called a Moron and a Bigot by two different users. I have come to expect character attacks from Magekiller, it's what he does. I will try to refrain from attacking your character Magekiller, and talking about those pre-formatted arguments you have that you compulsively copy and paste into topics whenever the opportunity arises. I make no secret that I don't much care for you coming on my topics, and calling me names. I'm liable to complain that you have been harassing me, but I have to remind myself that you do this sort of thing to anyone who dares to disagree with you. So, now I'm a bigot because I have proposed an alternative to Same Sex Marriage. Instead of attacking the idea, once again, you attack me. Who here is intolerant of other views and the right of people to have them? And what ever happened to Gay's just wanting to be left alone? Oh, and sure, I am definitely a moron for providing the link to a video that helps demonstrate the type of people I am talking about, for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about. Oh, and guess what guy's, Bufoman happens to be rather good at argumentative writing, perhaps better than Magekiller here. So, over the next few day's, he's going to make it his mission to answer your questions honestly, and see if we cant come to some agreement on some of these issues. So, lets start with the one's directed at me so far. OK, I will drop the whole religion thing, because you do make a good point regarding them being conflicted, and I am in no mood to promote any particular religion as being right on all issues, because I don't believe any are. OK, lets assume for a moment we are talking about a minority of Muslims, what's being done about that violent minority? And is anything being done about Sharia Law which as I understand it is being implemented on English soil, and overriding the common law of Great Britain. I Edited that to deal with the questions pertaining to me. OK, Well, for starters, I am not talking about segregating our gay population and making them live in certain districts, or doing any of the things in your examples. On your second point regarding there being no social/rational reasons to appose Gay Marriage, I should say that marriage is in fact a religious institution, or at least that's how I regard it. By that token, government acts regarding marriage are in fact in violation of our Separation of Church and State. Now, I am starting to sound like I am on the fringe here, and maybe I am. To me, Marriage shouldn't be delt with directly by the government, but by the religious authorities. That means tax writeoffs and laws regarding Marriage are in fact unconstitutional. Therefor, by this reasoning, Civil Unions should be the manor in which the government recognizes marriage, as a legal construct, not a religious one, thus meaning Marriage becomes optional from the religious side of things. And if the religious authorities won't marry a certain segment of the population (homosexuals for example) it really is no big deal, as they would be recognized by the government authorities via the new Civil Union that applies to everyone wanting recognition by the law.

Yeah, well, I am definitely painting those Muslims as violent and dangerous. They are Islamists- muslims who want Islam to conquer the world.

OK, lets ignore religious reasons for a moment here, and just consider social reasons. The fact is, Gay Marriage is disliked by the majority of Americans. So, if Homosexuals want to be recognized by the law, what's wrong with a legal equivalent called a Civil Union? And it's not like I am coming up with this idea, it's been used for a long time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_union Now, there are some problems with this currently, the main one being the federal governments stance on the whole issue, which prevents this from being a proper alternative to marriage. But really folks, I think we are going way off topic here, and should get back to Michal Savage, and the British government's actions yesterday, and those people who where banned like Geert Wilders, a man who I respect for having the courage to talk about the Islamic invasion of Europe, especially considering that people in his country have been murdered by Muslims for talking about it. Last time I checked, London alone has over a million Muslims- and that population has come out in full protest on more than one occasion, calling for the death of the queen, and the implementation of Sharia Law.

OK, what the hell. Let's do it. Magekiller, on the whole issue of Gay Marriage, religious people everywhere find it offensive, and can quote the bible on why they don't want it. How about a Civil Union instead of Gay Marriage? That would give two people the same status as a married couple legally, but it wouldn't be disrespectful to religious people, as it's not being called marriage, or sanctioned by a religious authority, mearly the government. For that matter, a Civil Union could be used by anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, old widows for example who live together being one example. There you have it, my stance of Gay Marriage; it's a completely unnecessary, and avoidable issue.

I can see Magekiller is trying to change this topic into a debate about Gay Marriage and Feminism. Please, go make another topic so that we might discuss these things for the thousandth time. As much as I would like to debate you on these matters, I won't do it here, because then this is just another topic that diverts so far away from the topic post, that it becomes something completely different. And we have allot of those already. I am about to listen to his show in a minute, and I will be sure to share with you all the latest news about this situation, as told by Michael Savage.