Messages

Don't come to the UK, it's rubbish.

I knew I wasn't alone in this thought. And I've only lived here a year to figure that one out

Well, to let you know the hosting company I use has a partnership with tucows. So tucows holds the domain, but you are registered as the owner (and you can change all the contact information if you wish to do so). So it does indeed keep the company that registers your domain seperate from the company that provides your hosting. They just have it in a one stop shop. However if you already own a domain name, you can easily set up with powweb to use that domain instead of one through them.

Honestly though, what invasion/occupation is looked on favorably at the time? This is one of those situations where we don't have the luxury of hindsight. This is something that will only have a full effect impact in a decade or two, when people will have hindsight.

Do I think that the Iraq war is helping American Freedom? Not yet. But I believe it's a step in trying to remove some Anti-Americanism, and Anti-Western sentiment in that area. More of an attempt really. Either way, trying to change that opinion (no I don't mean taking Saddam out of power, I mean winning the hearts and minds of the people, and we are trying, you don't hear about it alot on the news, but humanitarian efforts go on day by day by day there) does protect the country by slowing, or curbing a potential bed of individuals that could wish to do us harm in the future. Could Iran be next? Possibly, North Korea, possibly. I try not to think about what foreign country I may have to spend in combat in again, I like being home with my family.

I'm having trouble piecing this together. You say the Iraq war is a step in the right direction of removing Anti-Americanism and Anti-Western sentiment in the region. But surveys from the British military in September 2005 found that 82 percent of Iraqis “strongly oppose” the continuing presence of coalition troops. By these statistics, doesn't that logically mean the very presence of US troops in Iraq is actually generating more Anti-Americanism and Anti-Western sentiment?

I'm not critical of the troops, mind you. Troops fight where they're told to. Can't blame them for the decisions of the leaders above them. Following that, I am very critical of foreign policy decisions such as the ones in force now. You have to admit, it's been a huge fuck up that now has no "good" ending despite whatever option is chosen.

As a side note: I also don't think it's a good idea to keep hold of the region for the sake of not letting the terrorist win. All this garbage about certain Democrats, like Obama, wanting to withdraw and thus pleasing the terrorists... I don't think terrorists really give a shit what's happening in Iraq. Let's say the US occupied Iraq prior to 9/11; do you think the terrorists wouldn't have crashed the WTC because of this? I seriously doubt it. I think a lot of terrorists groups act very independently from Iraq. If the War on Terror is a road, then Iraq is basically a detour with no end in sight.

Yeah this is late, but I just happened to read this post.

Anyway, yes, the Iraqi people want us out... I don't have exact figures, but last I heard most polls the majority of US people wanted us out... Well why aren't we out? Two words... The Governments.

The Iraqi government hasn't asked us to leave (to my knowledge), and Bush doesn't want us to leave. Therefore, the troops are staying. End of Line (Tron reference, not arrogance).

No, I don't beleive that had the US invaded before September 11th that the attack would have ceased, in fact, it may have been accelerated.

This isn't a short term change. We are talking over 10-20 years. While working with the Iraqi's that worked for us, they are just normal people, and they learned about us the way we learned about them, by deeds and actions. They were just good guys. Doing what they could to support their families, many of them from our work force left when the Iraqi army was formed to join it, one told me on his last day of work that it was because he saw how proud we were of our country, and he wanted to be proud of his.

Iraq doesn't have much, it's a dirty, dusty dingy country, there are dumps everywhere, and people live in those dumps. Some spend their entire existance rooting through trash. People don't have much to look forward to, or live for, after quite a few years of that I'm sure I'd have some background hatered. So when someone comes along that can convince you to direct that hatred toward a source of your misfortune (even if that source has nothing to do with your misfortune) using your ignorance of that source to convince you to kill them.

For those 35 people that worked for us, they aren't ignorant of the US, at least, of the small group of a couple hundred soldiers that they talked to and worked with on a daily basis. Anti US propaganda is less likely to work on someone that is more informed of who the US people are.


Now as far as keeping a hold on a region to not let the terrorists win... Thats just Bush BS. More shit to feed the non thinking Reps. Terrorism is an idea, not a country, and the unfortunate side effect of this whole thing is that Bush set a presidence on invading countries that harbor terrorists. This, honestly, scares me to death, because I could really see this type of situation (if it happens, with Dems pretty much guaranteed to take the office come next year it seems that there will be an exit plan within the next 4 years) escalating into the third world war.

All in all, I'm what I call an internalist. Personally, if I were president, unless it directly impacts my people of my country, I'll just leave it alone, perhaps at best make a statement. We have too many broke things within our own borders that need that money that is right now being sent for boots and bullets in the desert. The moral high ground global police force thing needs to stop, instead, lets fix the education system, the healthcare system, etc.

ghydbuiklhd


What will the next question be?

Lonely Town

What impact with IPv6 have on the use of the marketability of the decimal point, considering it loses a large part of it's market share to the dash?

But there's always room for jello boobs!

Seriously, it all looks nifty (peers at his own work)... Yeah...

Yeah, one of the things that I really miss about the US. Buffets for everyone, Old Country Buffet, Chinese buffet, Ryans, Golden Corral (the list goes on and on and on). Great places when nobody can agree on what they want to eat.

Then again. I haven't really gone out much on the UK economy, still a bit into sticker shock on that whole 2 USD = 1 GBP. So I really don't know if there is anything good in my local area (other than Pets at Home and Home Base, but those aren't resturaunts).

To be honest, we are more of a global police force now than a military force like we were back in the day. More protecting the interests of the country, or stopping genocide (Kosovo), or taking bad men out of power, or whatever moral high ground the current Commander and Chief wishes to put us on. Right now we seem to be protecting the interests of the US.

However, we do defend American freedoms by just being there. Our military force is in basically a passive mode. Think of it like a locked security door. Most people would just walk on by. Some may even try the handle, find it's locked, and then walk by. But like any locked door, it only really keeps honest people honest. Anyone that really wants to do us harm will try to bust in. When they do, that's when they will find the security system (which constitutes a million men an women holding M-16A2 rifles). So we protect just by being there.

Do I think that the Iraq war is helping American Freedom? Not yet. But I believe it's a step in trying to remove some Anti-Americanism, and Anti-Western sentiment in that area. More of an attempt really. Either way, trying to change that opinion (no I don't mean taking Saddam out of power, I mean winning the hearts and minds of the people, and we are trying, you don't hear about it alot on the news, but humanitarian efforts go on day by day by day there) does protect the country by slowing, or curbing a potential bed of individuals that could wish to do us harm in the future. Could Iran be next? Possibly, North Korea, possibly. I try not to think about what foreign country I may have to spend in combat in again, I like being home with my family.

Many people hate the US Military. Even those within US borders (I'm sure that happens in other countries too, I'm not trying to say that the US is the only place it happens). However, I'd just like to say, never hate your military. We don't decide on our own to go anywhere, all we choose (in the US) is to join or not to join. After that, it's on the government from there.

So please, never hate the troop, we are doing out jobs, fighting so you don't have to. If we (and I mean all militaries that are there to keep their respective countries safe, even if there isn't an immediate threat) weren't there to fight on your behalf, then what happens when a few thousand people show up on your doorsteps with weapons demanding your surrender?

Sorry, I have no issues when people dislike government decisions, I like it in fact that people have, and are allowed to have such thoughts and ideas, but it really bothers me when people blame some 18 year old kid, that maybe just wanted to do something more with his life than his home town situation would allow, for the Iraq war. He didn't make that decision, don't blame him.

And since we are playing pimp my host.

Powweb.com, I haven't had an issue with them, other than one time for a week, and they gave me two more months of hosting free for that week. (PS if you join, use yelloweyedstudio.com as the referer).

(side note, qwerty wasn't invented to slow down typists, it was invented to get the most commonly used together keys farther apart, it kept fast typers from jamming up the hammers when they pressed the keys.

Ergo, SLOWING THEM DOWN!!!!! At first..

Oh shut up! I meant what you said, you just went to a wiki or something to sound smarter.

Actually that's just something I know. Had I gone to a wiki I would have had a more intelligent and informed answer. Typing class 15 years ago FTW!

Because physics says so.

Why is World of Warcraft so damned addicting.

(side note, qwerty wasn't invented to slow down typists, it was invented to get the most commonly used together keys farther apart, it kept fast typers from jamming up the hammers when they pressed the keys. Secondly, the Dvorak (sp?) keyboard layout is made so that the most common keys pressed together are on opposite hands, as it turns out people type faster when they have to alternate hands while typing. Something about having time to reposisiton your fingers while the other hand is typing the key, so you are ready to type the next letter right after the previous letter is typed.)

42. Except on alternate tuesdays, in which case it is the square root of the square root of -1.


If a mime falls in the woods, does anyone care?

Ok rharpe, you are going to make me bite.

First off, you are displaying the exact behavior of Americans that I have been fighting for years. As of today I've lived 4 years of my life in Europe (3 in Germany and 1 in the UK, although, to be fair, Brits don't think they are a part of Europe ). I already have 2 strikes against me with many people I meet out in the local economy (military term, when overseas we mean the area outside the base, since on base we still use the USD) just because I'm an American, and worse yet, a soldier. It's one thing to be a patriot and be proud of the country you live in, it's another to push that belief on others, not unlike religion (which we all know you are keen on doing as well).

You don't see me running around spouting America is das Great, All Hail! Because there is no reason to do so.

Right now our country is under a state of paranoia, and deeper than that, a state of non-self blame. Nobody wants to be responsible for anything. The Boston goverment didn't want to say, "Oops, ok, we over-reacted." They say, TURNER BROADCASTING YOU OWE US MONEY. It's your fault we made this mistake. And you two kids that put those LED posters up, well you will go to jail!

Don't try to deny the fact that we are a finger pointing society. Just look at all the parents that blame videogames, and violent television for their childrens problems, yet they never look at themselves for letting their kids HAVE those games, and watch those television shows.

But in the end, ATHF got what they were looking for, even if it may not be the way the origionally thought. They got some publicity, and some people are probably watching the show now that weren't previously. Some people that don't watch Cartoon Network, or surf the internet, but do watch the local news.

Oh, and rharpe, before you try to tell me how I'm a bad American, I'd like to ask you this. How many years have you been serving the US? Willing to lay your life on the line so that other people like you can have their opinions and state them freely, while you yourself cannot fully express your views.

I've been doing that for a decade, I have pride and patriotism, but I also call a spade a spade.

MTV plays what is currently popular (if they are playing any videos at all) Way back when, it was all rock all the time, with that lovely hour a week of Yo! MTV Raps. When a song breaks into popular culture, such as "Lithium" by Evanescence it's always as short lived as that song on the charts.

In fact, there was a Korn song, where the band members used HipHop stars to represent themselves doing the video (Had, Snoop, Little Jon, and others I can't remember off hand). Johnathan Davis (Frontman for Korn) stated that they did it to get more MTV playtime. And the funny thing, because they used HipHop stars. It worked, their song was played more than any other rock song at the time (this last sentence isn't research factual, I just remember when it came out and it seemed that it was played a whole lot, more than any other rock song).

O'course way back then it was about the music and the videos, not the "Real World vs. Road Rules Challange" and "Pimping my Ride". Although, for fun, I'd like to see them pimp my 98 Kia Sephia. I used to turn on MTV when cleaning the house and stuff, didn't even need to turn on the CD player. But now they play garbage HipHop, and reality television. Even MTV2, which was supposed to go back to what the origional MTV was, started with the less videos more shows. At one point there was an MTV (or was it vh1 based) that played nothing but rock, where you'd find such gems as Primus, and all sorts of other rock bands... But because it wasn't as popular, it was dropped.

Quite sad really. But like everything, it's more about the money than the art.

Actually I meant pano, since you could make it  where it doesn't scroll with the background at all.

For instance, we can have a 320X240 room, with a transparent area where the sky would be. Parralax would only make the sky scroll when the room scrolls. But this room doesn't scroll... A pano 640 pixel wide pano could be made to move 2 pixels left every game loop, thereby having a scrolling sky, as if the clouds were moving.

Reading back, I forgot to mention that part of it, so yeah, what I described is indeed parralax.

Well, the short answer is: "Because Chris says so", or perhaps "It's a limitation of the scripting language."

But IMO... Goto, it shouldn't be used, usually it's still in many programming languages, but it can cause major problems, there isn't anything that goto does that can't be done another way.

for loops and switch, Yeah, I've wanted these two myself, mostly the switch case blocks since I use plenty code that would use this, instead of all the if else if's.

While you can't really break out of a loop when a certain condition is met, you can use return; to break out of a method procedure. However, since I've never needed to do this, I'm not sure if it stops processing all scripting, or just the current procedure in the stack. If it's just the current procedure then you could theoretically use return; as a break for that instance. However if you want to break out of a loop when a certain condition is met, then continue in the same procedure after that... I don't believe that's possible currently.

It's just one of those things I just got used to, and don't think about too much. However I don't think you will be the last person to ask this, and I know you aren't the first.

Oh, just thought of something as well...

Panorama support. You know, a large tiled background that is actually behind the room.

This would mean that backgrounds could have transparent areas (if no pano, I'd say a black background). Also, you could either do something that the pano scrolling is in reference to the room size (pano 2x room size means that the pano scrolls twice as fast) or just make it user controlled x,y speeds for scrolling.

No I was aware Khris, but thanks anyway . And yes, using Media.PlaySound won't work as the script can't extend engine member methods. I'm not exactly sure that you can even overload them, I've never tried.

Snarky: Ahhh gotcha, I knew I couldn't have been that far out of the loop (it's been awhile since I've actively done anything programming, been busy with other things) so mostly just a difference of what AGS was doing, and what I percieved it as doing, so anyway that's nifty.

Pumaman: Yes I was actually refering to the editor itself, to remove those limits, with the editor moving to .NET I figured I'd mention that if you hadn't thought of it. Looking back I did say engine a few times, but as in that instance, I really meant the editor, in my mind I don't differenciate between the two, as you can't really access anything in the engine short of the editor (well I guess a plugin as well, but you probably get my point).

Java supports direct access to public properties in classes, perhaps it's changed, but last I checked it was bad practice to directly access properties, but that may have to do more with making portable code, or maybe it was just something I was taught and just kept doing...  Either way, not a huge deal really.