BlueLancer

I was younger when I was in a scandinavian prison for a bit over a month (tax-related). And I can assure you there is no such thing as punishment in the jail, you can do almost anything you could do outside jail. They even had broadband internet access, supervised though, in the library. That was years ago when internet access wasn't even that common in normal families. What the heck is that? Then there's the special cells for people with no hope of turning for the better, and that's a real punishment. It doesn't even have windows. You just sit and sleep inside 4 corners all week and get out for about an hour a day if that. You eat meals in the room. I've only seen that place but I pray I or you wont ever have to go there. And who go there? Maybe 10-50 people a year, like seriously mentally ill mass murderers etc. and people who have escaped from prison multiple times. "Normal" murderers and child abusers don't go there. The only "punishment" I could think of is that most of the time the food is crap. That doesn't constitute as a punishment either, at least you get to eat something for free. Getting to eat only every second day would be a punishment.

Most good names like that are already taken on every single game you can imagine. If you're out of ideas try these generators (I'd rather make up my own but it's up to you) http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/ http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b And.. For the love of God.. Don't...Pick..Ub3r l33tn355 or anything like that :lol: It was original back in 1997, just don't. Unless it's for the cheesiness factor to add some fun in the name.

I don't think many people care they fund criminal organizations when they buy gold for an online game :? But it's good they annouce they're cracking down on it so it disencourages trading it.. For real money. As common sense probably told you Jagex can't monitor what you're doing. 8-) You can watch a movie, multitask, etc. as long as you play the game and stay logged in. AFK (Away From Keyboard) means you're not there at all, and a bot is playing instead. That's illegal according to Jagex rules. Note this isn't universal; Some games even encourage bots and macros, and World of Warcraft for example even has in-built macros as a game feature. It depends on the company. Also, some games like Project Entropia actually encourage selling the game currency for real money, the system has millions of real dollars. We're just talking about Jagex here.

Nice article, but I'm going to have to agree with ZonorhC at least on the sources. Add hyperlinks to certain pieces like "a farmer commits suicide every 4 days on average" to a BBC, MSN news etc. site and it becomes much more professional :) As the URL says, the articles are "opinion", so when you spice the article with outside facts, link to them.

That's BS, in that case (they're even consenting) the guy shouldn't even get any punishment in the first place. I was talking about fully grown adults (40+ years) ruining the lives of kids under the age of 10 and so who are the REAL problem of society, not the odd 20 year old guy going out with someone 16 or 17. I hope you see the moral problems between the two. No I don't agree with putting the 20yo guy on a sex offenders list for life. I was talking about real child abusers. They barely deserve any benefits of the society even after they're released.

Move to another town or country. It's not the employers problem, most employers don't accept felon convicts or people with a criminal record, why should these people be an exception? It's not like they're the only ones living under bridges. Look at people who are homeless because they don't have a job, education, money, nothing. What's so harsh about it?

I didn't say they should be denied housing, I don't care what happens to them after jail if they don't truly renew their crime. I was saying when they get into jail, that's not a punishment, compared to a man living on the streets they live in a hotel. If they're spared the death penalty, at least make the jail time a penalty. Heck in some swedish prisons child molesters and serial killers get access to a library, swimming pool, food around the clock, bathrooms... Why the hell do they deserve that? That's not jail. That's a hotel funded by people like you who pay taxes. They got those things exactly because people like you think they deserve it while they're in jail. At least poorer countries have this good side that they don't have much tax funds, and therefore their jails consist of a cell with a bed. You get some bread and water every day and can visit the toilet under the supervision of an armed guard. If you're lucky you get to walk on the yard outside once a week.

I'd call myself a creature for less, but sadly I'll have to disagree with you here. That's what is happening when they go to "jail". Western "jails" aren't a punishment. I didn't say anything about what happens after they get out, that's the landlords decision if he wants to rent an aparment to such a person.

A few years ago a guy palmed a nice amount of a big chip stack in the center of the card table at a casino in a big hand, apparently trying to transfer them to me (I won). :lol: I only noticed after I cashed in hours later, the guy took a bit over $500 bucks. Also lost a wallet with pretty much nothing in it except a Visa Electron (needs pin to withdraw large amounts and only works up to $50 with purchases) and a few coins.. The thief must've been angry since I actually keep my money in my front pocket on my shirt usually :P

If I were in a critical situation under extreme pressure, yeah, I could probably rob or murder, probably most people could. Do I expect compassion in return? I expect to be punished according to the law (which is approved by most people in that society). I would accept the death penalty, or torture, if I got caught. People in jail form even further connections with each other since it's one of the few places they can meet their own kind, drug dealers etc. have extensive connections outside of jail and even if they're in jail for years, those guys inside the jail control drug traffic worth millions of dollars on the outside. The only exception that I know of are people who abuse children, some of them will recieve serious beatings in jail by other inmates. That doesn't change my point: Why's that? The hardworking guy lost his job in a poor country and dies of starvation, but a guy who stole, abused a child and murdered, gets free housing with tax funds "because he's a human"? I just don't get it how people can have compassion for them. Just wait until you grow up. When it's your child that gets his/her life ruined, you will be surprised how little compassion you have for these creatures that shouldn't be out of a controlled environment in the first place.

What do you mean by "excessive rights"? Western societies: [*:20bbxrw3]Can spend $100,000+ during the life span of a prisoner just to keep him alive [*:20bbxrw3]Exempt serial killers/molesters from the death penalty [*:20bbxrw3]Give them 3 meals a day while some people starve to death on the streets [*:20bbxrw3]Let prisoners watch TV, play Xbox, listen to music and read books, order pizza.. What kind of a punishment is that? Is that what you wish for the person who abused your child for 3 years and then killed him/her? Go to third world countries to see what a punishment is. You may think they are primitive, but at least their jails actually make those psychopaths think more than twice about renewing their crime once they get out of jail.

I don't think it matters if they had remorse or not, those people made a consious descision to take advantage of a small child and that just disgusts me. These poeple deserve to be strung up. So they shoud die because you're disgusted by them? The way you're acting disgusts me, so go kill yourself. Not so much fun if it's turned around on you, is it? Disgusting someone else isn't reason for death, nor is molestation. Murders don't get the death sentence and they've taken the life of another human. That depends entirely on the country and it's laws. If I did something equally horrible, with full consciousness, I'd expect to be killed, work in slave labor, etc., not live free under a bridge. Western countries have this problem of granting everybody excessive rights without remembering what those people have taken away from society. That sicko can likely be the cause of the kid's later suicide which brings further misery into his/her family and could cause even more suicides, or alcoholism, etc... Yet he gets to live free? Oh, he's under a bridge in a tent. He's not piling up tiles in some construction site under the supervision of armed guards? What's that? Make his life more comfortable because he whines about "mental pain"? Do you think most of the society shares your view that tax dollars/euros/whatever should be spent on housing and feeding these worms who shouldn't even be out of prison at all?

Yeah, that's Zhu-Ying-Fu-Hao (Or pinyin as you said which is chinese in western letters). Most western people or people in general with no experience about asian languages learn that first, because it's the phonetic chinese alphabet and language. That's how I learned basic stuff. Sadly learning it wont enable you to read any chinese newspaper or stuff that actually matters because they are almost never written in pinyin. Only a few chinese websites offer 'simplified' (ZhuYing) versions of their website.

At least on an Acer laptop... The keys are too sensitive and sticked together Too much pain trying to do anything else than maybe write an email with it.

Buy an USB/wireless keyboard 8-) Don't know about you, I hate the inbuilt keyboard of the laptop, only using it when outside of my house. Standard wide keyboards are much better. ..Let alone the touchpad.. Just save yourself the pain and get a wireless mouse too.

.. I occassionally 'knock wood' .. Dunno where that comes from, probably one of my parents taught me that a long, long time ago as a kid.. I'm a realist but I also tend to think a curse of extreme unluckiness is over me most of the time. I can do fine when it comes to business, but whenever it gets personal (I bet on something or play poker) I sometimes experience so ridiculous 'outdraws' and 'impossibilities' I begin to doubt why I even take chances at anything. I.e. 1. losing full house and four of a kind to 2 straight flushes in a matter of 2 hours in poker (For those of you that don't know the odds are nearly inexistent) 2. Betting on 3 extremely good football teams getting at least a draw or win against very inferior teams - every single team lost that time 3. Losing a coin flip nearly 100+ times in a row, it was always the opposite one no matter how much I tried changing 'strategies' :lol:

Really? I'm pretty sure we have reasons for wars and such. Greed isn't a proper reason really. Most species kill what they need to survive and feed their family. Humans can rise in power and execute hundreds of thousands of innocent people for wealth and land they don't need, but they want it. Do you think the militarily most advanced country in the world sends 150,000 soldiers and spends hundreds of billions of dollars just to 'democratize' 1 country or 'spread stability and freedom in the region'? Even the humans living there aren't worth it in the cash for those politicians, let alone the moral principles. Try 'the resources of the country exported cheap because we manned the country so we simply can'

Sorry How2PK but I disagree entirely. These scum should feel lucky they are even alive, because there isn't a very strong culture of revenge in the States. Should they be living in Saudi Arabia etc., those guys would thank god for even being able to hide in the sewers eating mice. "Mental torture" my ***. You had the choice, and you mentally tortured an innocent kid and ruined his life. Live under a bridge and read newspapers, eat food? That's better than these people deserve, heck it's not like they work in a coalmine. They sit there doing nothing.

National questionnaires: Age: Name: Race: Elf Ah, good times. 8-) Got me into trouble a few times but at least I got to ask them why they even bother putting race in there for every damn poll and test. Extreme profiling? I think they can't even do that anymore these days..

Depends on how you learn it :P I have a hard time grasping/remembering what's an adjective, what's an exception, conjunction, bla bla... I just learned the stuff by myself, mainly by speaking to english speakers, later on the internet, newspapers, etc... But hell do I agree with I feel like giving up.. I also got told by a chinese guy even he himself doesn't know all the characters, and for gods sake he was born in China and speaks the mandarin dialect which is the largest. How the heck am I, someone with absolutely no hint about asian accents and characters going to learn it then? :lol: Think I'm going to continue with Japanese... Mandarin is hell, the only reason I want/ed to learn it is because so many people speak it...

English is my 3rd or 4th language depending on the method of measuring it, but in early childhood I only knew some words I'd seen on TV programs and ads. Later it was very easy to learn English, it's grammar etc. even without the help of my school. Given that the languages my parents speak have nothing to do with English I'd conclude it's an easy language. :) Probably because you see the language all around you.

That's real reality, it doesn't matter if people see it or not. If it's inconvenient for you, that's a shame, at least seeing that people can really be this brutal would leave a bigger impact on you than just reading about it in the newspaper every day. Real people in the real world don't struggle in the jungle to get an adrenaline boost and win a million dollars for the amusement of TV spectators. I'd much rather see some coalition soldiers punish barbarians who know better but choose to murder kids and live as savages, thieves, rapists... Than see a bunch of fat americans trying to lose weight as a form of competition. The soldier gets less coverage because people like you don't want to see what the soldier sees (As you said it's not necessarily a bad thing, people just want entertainment) That's how "fame" works. Sorry to the original poster but not many people really care about the lives of a soldier or a teacher or whatever "real" worker compared to a film star or a professional sports player.

Not all advancement is good, guns make it too easy to kill people. At least with a metal blade, killing somebody, especially a completely innocent person, will leave mental scars on the killer. Shooting somebody accurately from 100m+ away is so distant the killer doesn't care at all if it furthers his goals. Simple: Make guns less available or make people pass tests to obtain them. Sure, no rule or law in the world will prevent criminals from obtaining them but what about 'ordinary' people who turn 'mad'? Such as in the case of Virginia?

They probably stop humanity and philosophy related degrees because they aren't cost effective. Too many people who get these degrees don't get appropriate employment. ..What can a doctorate of philosophy really do? Become a philosopher or write a nice book about aphorisms? Write a book about Shakespeares production during the years 1601-1605 from a marxist perspective? I'd know because one of my parents got a humanist university education which ultimately didn't pay off at all and resulted in having to get another degree. Americans will 'support the troops' but they don't want to see what the soldiers go through every day. Hypocrisy but that's not what the average comformist american wants to see on TV. Rather than seeing real things happening they will pay to get channels that show rubbish copies of survivor and whatever 'reality' programs they have these days. What about the ultimate reality, things that actually happen? Who wants to see an american soldier trying to stop extremist shia militants from murdering two sunni kids with an automatic rifle, while they play football? You don't see it on TV because people don't want to see it. They will rather comfort themselves by watching "reality" which is scripted. People want a fantasy reality. They don't want to see americans standing there helpless while janjaweed soldiers in Sudan cut up a woman's womb betting on the gender of the baby for entertainment and a few dollars.

Why would anybody follow rules when there's no enforcer :P Sounds harsh but you should also find out ways to punish those who don't follow the rules. If somebody steals, exploits resources meant to be shared... Who will punish him on the island? What if these 'rogues' group up to break the rules, make weapons and enslave the 'law abiding' people?