jaklumen

1 mime (lean box emote, I think) 0 drill demons 0 freaky foresters (although my wife had one) 3 frogs (both outfits, mask) Been playing since Feb. '02. I was usually too bored to train something repeatedly (until recently), hence these particular events are recent.

A lot of tricks regarding safe passage to the abyss apply for clue hunting in the wildy, too. It's all about gear, picking your server, and picking your time.

Yep. Gold farmers and the like are the underbelly but unfortunate reality of MMORPGs. I agree. We just need to do our part and give no quarter to these opportunists.

Your post got me really thinking. I was a good student, but math was a weak subject for me, so I drifted in and out of honors classes. I also went to university to become an educator, so I have my own opinions on how math should be taught to the masses. My short answer is just be blunt and tell your parents the truth. Mine didn't mind bad grades/marks if I could tell them I was still learning something. You seem to be saying that math doesn't really capture your interest if participation/effort is where you seem to be bombing, and I agree that you're probably more of a fine arts student. Two other things. One, if you really want to start bringing your math grade up, find a way to make the subject more interesting to you. I couldn't stand math ed majors who bemoaned that new education practices in math would leave students unprepared for life later on. I figure, those that will graviate towards hi-tech and science careers will find what they need, and everyone else-- at least in grade school-- should be taught math in a way that is relevant to them. If they're sports fans, teach them story problems that are game-related, and turn them on to statistics later. If they're art students, teach them about perspective and about CGI applications, later. And so on. The other thing is that grades aren't everything. Colleges and universities are interested in your extracurricular activities, your work experience, etc.-- at least the good ones do. I know that higher education is pulling more towards a career focus and that liberal arts is going the way of the dinosaur somewhat, but you can focus on a well-rounded education through a variety of studies, or real-world experiences, either way. Internships, work experience, and study abroad are becoming more important. Sorry this post was so long-winded. Think about it, and good luck.

Wow, I'm going to come off sounding like an impoverished old fogey here. I haven't spent much money on clothes in a long time. When I do, it tends to be at Wal-Mart or at clearance sales I happen to cross-- last one was at Old Navy. I do have some clothes I'd never be without: my Doc Martens (bought them for work when I was still in school) my Leathermen biker jacket my leather pants my flannel shirts my Eddie Bauer rugby jersey my Yakimaniac T-shirt (it's hard to find... not sure if the guy is still selling them) my walking shoes (they'll probably wear out soon) ...and I guess that's about it. I don't mind cultivating an image, but it's just not going to be brand-related or particularly trendy. Although I know the trend-setters/chasers embrace street fashion now and then, I do find the current fashion of pre-ripped holes in jeans amusing since it's not too far off from the street style that spawned stonewashed and acid-washed jeans in the '80s.

Here are some sites concerning youth suffrage: http://www.freechild.org/SNAYR/suffrage.htm http://www.youthrights.org/votingage.shtml Apparently it *is* an issue being widely debated. The 26th Amendment came about during the Vietnam War when the voting age was 21. If I understood it right, the argument was about being able to vote for leaders that draftees were fighting and dying for. I think I generally favor current arguments concerning legal independence. If all 16-year olds demonstrated such in declaring legal emancipation and independent living, then the argument might have more validity, but there are still matters in regards to current legal age restrictions. Concerning the arguments in regards to driving, well, in much of Europe the driving age is 18, and here in the States, stipulations regarding permits and such have changed recently, so even a driving age at 16 has begun to have more limits than it did previously. Let's consider other legal restrictions to age 18. I don't think I can imagine modern teenagers legally drinking, enlisting in the military, and purchasing pornography at age 16. There was a time in the history of the American colonies that a 15 year old was expected to hold his liquor. I cannot imagine that now, considering American attitudes towards drinking and drunk driving deaths involving intoxicated minors. As far as military service... hmmm. I know the U.S. military actively recruits 17 year olds and there is a program for enlistment after high school, but enlistment happening during high school... no, I don't think so. I might dare say that we might move to place female military on the front lines first, as improbable as that may be. Purchasing pornography-- in some states the age restriction is 21, so I can't see the age being lowered everywhere. I therefore think that the sentiment concerning legal independence is valid. In the distant past, more was expected of those we now define as minors, but unless things generally change to that standard, I do not see youth suffrage succeeding.

Some things I miss... others I don't.

Thread cleaned of drift/spam/flames by me.

I can't imagine the grief his parents must be feeling. No one should have to bury their own child. My condolences to his family, and all here who miss him so much.

My grandfather is a 3rd Division Marine and was down in the Pacific for World War II. This story reminded me of the duties he does now as a Marine, helping at Toys for Tots, going to Marine Balls and reunions, his newspaper article on a particular reunion, as well as our visit to Pearl Harbor and the Punchbowl Cemetery. I agree these stories need to be kept alive. Please keep posting.

Heh. That reminds me of how disappointing Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 was when it was released. But I was young, and it came with the games and the console we had got that Christmas. Can you believe Toys 'R Us actually featured a video clip of E.T. for the 2600 in one of their commercials? (Yes, it was a long time ago when they were still playing the "I'm A Toys 'R Us Kid" jingle)

And he has Samuel Jackson has his Avatar. im pretty sure thats dave chapelle Yeah, it does look like Dave Chapelle... Seconding the advice on use of Help & Advice.

It's an interesting idea... it might force new players to slow down and actually pay attention to what they're supposedly learning. They may be racing through Tutorial Island as fast as they can, which might explain observations like these. But it regards to autoers, I think removing Tutorial Island for such an idea would be very very bad. It seems most autoers are devoted to a single skill and the aforementioned NPCs would not be much of an obstacle. Now, revamping Tutorial Island and implementing such an idea together so there's little redundancy... that might be interesting. At the very least, I think the Lumbridge Help Guide should be featured on Tutorial Island as well. Moved to Runescape Discussions & Suggestions.

Bravo, Zonorhc and bravo, Oddfaery! I've used some shorthand for some things: tyvm (thank you very much) and yw (you're welcome) and the various laughter abbreviations... mostly because I want to type quickly, when I still have the chance, or just because they are generally accepted Internet abbreviations. I read about the origins of the :) emote somewhere, which included pictures of the original Usenet discussions. Yes, there are going to be some Internet emotes and abbreviations that will be here to stay. But in general, a majority of the time I don't mind taking up a couple of lines in RS to complete my sentences. Even the NPCs in quest cutscenes do that. This reminded me of when I put college papers through proofread programs that used MLA (Modern Language Association of America) standards, and in general, reading through MLA handbooks (I have my MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 4th ed. right here) and similar textbooks. The gist of everything I noted was that published papers should be written to be able to be understood by the widest possible audience, taking into account non-native English speakers, and avoiding terms and shorthand that might be particular to certain media or fields of study. Granted, 'this is the Internet' might well apply for a java game like Runescape, but then, it is a game that many non-English speaking individuals play-- note that Jagex will be releasing versions of RS in other languages (see http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=402013). I don't think I can assume all of them will be 100% familiar with leetspeak and Internet alternate spellings, can I? This is why I believe is a valid argument. I can imagine this being true on Runescape (and an informal study in the game as well would be interesting)-- at the very least, I remember saying some sort of colloquialism to a friend who wasn't a native English speaker in-game and I had to explain myself.

Fun and amusing post. Recently, I've taken screenies of my char in various non-stat boosting clothes (hooray for the Cabin Fever update!), so I thought this was great.

That was my impression. Well, I figured it was generally something to annoy other pkers at least.

I agree. Restricting alternate languages to servers would limit their growth capacity... they'd have much more flexibility coding it to a new client or hardcoding it into game options. I'm not a programmer, so don't flame me... I'm guessing that the code regarding all game text (as it stands presently in English) would have to be reworked to a standard for all languages that the client would then handle. In other words, I'm thinking that the text (in English) isn't set up to be controlled by a client. I'm looking forward to seeing RS in Spanish... I am American, but I do speak Spanish. Since they are expanding into other languages, they might be able to rework the censor so that legitimate text is kept and cussing (in the other languages) is censored. I was at the Fishing Guild the other day and someone started cussing in Spanish... and listed just about all the Mexican Spanish swear words I knew of. I was also told by a friend here that the censor currently censors parts of text in Swedish (apparently since the censor handles text strings in English only). The website link reminded me how bad webpages used to look when I first started accessing the World Wide Web with Mosaic and Netscape back in 1994. I'm guessing that Andrew is close to my age.

I'm disappointed that there isn't a captain's outfit to go with the pirate hat from treasure trails. That's pirate crew clothes.

ALICE won fourth place. Interesting. Not too surprising though-- my last conversation with ALICE was a bit of a let-down.

Hmm, there's my incentive to get a torrent program. I haven't seen much anime or read much manga myself, but I do like to catch some anime at our local gaming convention (just for reference: http://www.radcon.org/) The anime movies I've enjoyed were: Spirited Away Battle Angel Akira ...there are probably some others, but I'm not remembering them at the moment. My wife Cimmorene is a fan of the Ranma 1/2 anime series and has some of the original manga. She's also got one of the Akira graphic novels that I never really got into (or I would have tried to collect the rest of them). I also agree: subtitles ftw

I'm just happy that the Seahawks *made* it to the Super Bowl. I'm not much of a football spectator, but since the hometeam is playing, I'll be watching tomorrow.

There was a similar topic a while back with Wal-Mart. Employees in the service industries (retail and food service, at least) put up with enough crap without people trying to encourage others to make them put up with more.

Begging does not become us. It's spam here, and it will be spam anywhere else, too.

Honestly, I kept the "Sand", and have gotten more, and there are others like me. Very informative article. Reminded me that I was realizing recently that once I took up farming again (I still have slots reserved for it), I would not have much space for herblore. Also, very good point on the t & sc taters. I really like to make pizzas, but yeah, the cheese takes a while to churn. I think this update may encourage people to start farming-- or at the very least, will see more farmers keeping their sweetcorn. I can't count the number of times I've been farming and I found large drops of them.

Sorry for bumping... but I guess I need to start writing to show a good example. My excuses go something like 'it will take a long while to write something good' and so on. Looks like I've been 'owned'... as they say.