A bit late, but I wanted to comment on this:

Quote from: Josasa on August 24, 2008, 01:12:24 pm

That's just the thing. Obama is almost too progressive. Moving forward at the rate he proposes is too fast (in my opinion), but also not a very smart move. I like his energy and his want for 'change', but thats the thing. I don't think he truly realizes what the political system is truly like. Half the stuff he proposes won't make it past the drawing board.

Half the stuff any presidential candidate proposes never sees the light of day.  They are either lofty campaign promises with no chance of coming to fruition, or are shot down by the legislature.  If you think Obama (or McCain) will deliver on all of his proposals, you're fooling yourself.

Not true! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_K._Polk
*sigh* He's so dreamy.

If you're really missing your Zelda fix, there are N64 emulators out there as well as downloadable versions of both Zelda: OOC and Majora's Mask. It's also not illegal, as long as you own the game. Fortunately for me I have a huge collection of those awful N64 cartridges, just not system to play them on any more. 

I would just warn you away from using bit torrent to download them since it's just asking for malware.

But yes, as far as modern games are concerned, the Elderscroll series is probably your best bet. Oblivion has better combat and graphics, but Morrowind was far better imo, just because it was so much more immersive. And I'm sure a young lass like yourself would have no problem reading dialogue yourself rather than listening to the same 5 voices repeating the same lines, hour after hour.

Quote from: Ameg on July 28, 2008, 09:28:40 pm

I agree completely. One of my major beef's with Bush was that he cut taxes like Reagan, but spent like FDR. There needs to be a major purging of frivolous spending and earmarks in the federal government.

Bush cut taxes like Reagan and spent like Reagan.

Quote

In the long run I believe Iraq will be an investment as far as oil prices are concerned. Will it cover the costs of the war? Not nearly. Will it ease panic over gas prices in the next few years as things settle down? Perhaps.

There's much, much more to war than a column marked "COST OF WAR" and another marked "PRICE OF OIL."

Perhaps you should read it again.

Will it cover the costs of the war? Not nearly.

I know that there's much more to a war than just immediate monetary costs. The costs of lives, having to have a military presence in there for so many years, the damage done to our reputation on a global stage, etc.

I'm simply saying that we should reap what benefits we can from a bad situation. Making lemonade out of lemons so to speak. We're in Iraq. They have oil. We're paying a lot for oil. Our current economic situation is a complex system of levers and pullies. One of the cogs in that ****ty mess is pain at the pump. I'm merely suggesting we use whatever influence we have in Iraq to 'oil' that cog. 

It depends which people you ask, really. As an economist by training myself (for what that's worth, if anything), I'd suggest that on balance he's done quite poorly. I can point to other examples of countries who have smoothed their cycles out to the point that they affect the economy significantly less. If I had to put anything down as a reason for the current decline, I would point to cutting taxes and raising spending (mostly on the military) as being the reason why the deficit ballooned, along with some underlying issues in the financial sector, as causing the current problems.

I'd be quite interested in seeing McCain's actual economic policy when he gets around to releasing some hard numbers. I just don't see how he can save nearly enough money by cutting pork barrel spending to balance the budget especially as he wants to maintain Bush's tax cuts and stay in Iraq for as long as possible (and maybe even start something with Iran). The numbers don't add up.

I agree completely. One of my major beef's with Bush was that he cut taxes like Reagan, but spent like FDR. There needs to be a major purging of frivolous spending and earmarks in the federal government.

In the long run I believe Iraq will be an investment as far as oil prices are concerned. Will it cover the costs of the war? Not nearly. Will it ease panic over gas prices in the next few years as things settle down? Perhaps.

Basically this election is about the transition from the baby boomer generation having the majority political sway to their children and grandchildren.

Honestly I've found that people in my generation (teens to mid-twenties) often dismiss the realpolitik of yesteryear simply because their parents bought into it. However I think placing so much faith in idealistic, young, inexperienced leaders is, at best a gamble.

I don't know for certain if Obama truly desires the change he's his campaign on. Or even exactly what the change is focused on. Many (some great) politicians have run on such things such as Teddy's Square Deal, FDR's New Deal, JFK's New Frontier, Johnson's Great Society. But all of them had definite issues that they addressed, if not definite strategy. 

Unfortunately for Obama, he's a Catch 22. Of those that believe he truly wants change, some believe it shows his youth and inexperience. Cynics may think it's merely another slogan used in an attempt at power mongering. It's hard to decide whether he is innocent or insidious. Harder still to decide which one is preferable.

Other nations embrace him, but I wouldn't necessarily consider that a good sign for voters in America. Every politician serves their constituency, including those in other countries. What is good for them may not be in our best interest.

While it may appear I'm just bashing Obama (I am conservative) I'm trying to keep this in a non-partisan viewpoint. There's simply not much to say about McCain. He represents the status quo. We know the country won't break under his leadership. On the same token, he brings less opportunity for improvement.

Obama is a multifaceted gamble. On the first roll of the dice, we find out if he's truly practicing what he preaches. On the next, we find out whether or not that collapses this house of cards or solidifies it.

While I personally will vote along my Republican party lines, I also submit to the likelihood that Obama is our next president. Let's hope he doesn't screw this up. I'm fairly sure if there's a God, I asked not to be alive during a Great Depression.

  Currently my brother is trying to build his "super computer" and he's looked around and also thought the 7800 was a good deal. You should look at many different stores before you buy though, there are many different prices out there.

  I've also seen where you can have dual graphics card of the same type. So you might check if you can get maybe 2 lesser cards with this at a better price and still pump out better graphics.

Exactly! The look is nothing new, it looks like warcraft. 

Unique doesn't have to be new if it's by the same maker. The game board has the trademark exaggerated characters as the MMO which had the same unique look as Warcraft 3. 

Obviously you have never played EQ. It has just as much story as WoW, EQ2 is even better, not only does the world have a story, everyone quest is highly detailed dramatically, WITH VOICE ACTING!

Obviously I didn't play EQ before Kunark and don't know what I'm talking about. I'm sorry, but the "story" in EQ was entirely driven by putting out new content. They didn't introduce Planes of Power for the story, it was merely a high level content expansion with "oh yea, let's throw in some storyline!". EQ2 did do a much better job, I'll admit. If only it were fun .

Hmm, EQ2 has desert, forest, dungeons, mountains, plains, arctic terrain... Im not a fanboy for SOE, im just trying to prove a point here.

Certainly "desert, forest, dungeons, mountains, plains, and arctic terrain" aren't unique in one single game. I'm just saying that each of these areas are much more distinct than previous MMOs.

That makes it derivative not unique.

It's unique in that it derivates so well.  . I'll let you ponder that dodge for awhile. 

Notice - I can't defend Steve's saying that the board game will include all these unique features, but WoW does have some distinct items about it that other's simply don't have. I will make several references comparing it to Everquest as this was the standard of MMOs for a long time.


For one, WoW didn't go for an ultra-realistic looking unviverse such as EQ2 tried to do (which .01% of gamers can run with even decent looking graphics).  It stuck to signature Warcraft 3 cartoony type animation and pulls it off fantastic. It has a background! For the most part MMOs including everquest have pretty much no story readily available. They made the world into much more distinct areas. In other MMOs you could hardly tell the difference between two zones. In WoW, you can literally go from a swamp to a desert in seconds or a light-filled shire forest to dread woods infested with undead and actually feel the difference. But, for the most part what makes it unique is that it does everything that other MMOs have done, and in spades. It is the culmination of the features present in most and will continue to expand into better things. Blizzard is notorious for making old formulas into something amazing and WoW doesn't deviate.