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But yeah the NHS will still care for people who smoke and drink and over-eat and cut themselves and overdose. That's what it's there for.

Apparently this isn't as true as you would like to believe...

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/01/truth-in-advertising.html

... First some background. For years, there has been growing documentation of NHS (National Health Service) patients being denied care and suffering, even dying, as a result. The elderly, smokers and fat people were increasingly the targets of rationing. Back in 1999, the BBC reported that 20% of doctors questioned had known patients who had died as a result of being denied care on the NHS.

Over recent years, for instance, fat people have been denied transplants to joint replacements, under the reasoning: “NHS resources are finite, and, unpopular though the idea is, some degree of rationing is a fiscal necessity.” In the Scotland on Sunday, Dani Garavelli wrote an editorial critical of the NHS policies and the political correctness behind them. Fat people are wrongly perceived as “greedy pariahs who refuse to exercise any self control,” Garavelli wrote, and as a result they’ve become a repressed group that “accepts the abuse they suffer in silence.” They already fare worse in receiving healthcare and are marginalized when it comes to their health. Ruling them out of fairly routine operations on the grounds of weight stigmatizes them further, Garavelli said, concluding:

When making these difficult judgments, it is important for primary care trusts to remember that fat people pay taxes too. After all, it is one thing to insist everyone should be required to give a portion of their income to fund services they may not use (such as education or improved transport networks), it is quite another to demand people pay for a service they will be denied when they need it.

And if we decide the best way to cut costs is to punish people for “self-inflicted" conditions, where is the blame game going to stop? Could we see health authorities refusing to treat people who are sexually promiscuous for STDs or those who use sunbeds for skin cancer? Perhaps those in the throes of a heart attack should be interrogated on their diet before an ambulance is dispatched and anyone who fails to do pelvic floor exercises after childbirth should surely have to thole that self-inflicted prolapse. Indeed, if fat people are refused treatment for fat-related conditions, why shouldn't sports fanatics be denied treatment for sports-related injuries?

The point is, we are all fallible: we all make choices every day that impact on our health, from eating junk food to having children. And unless we are willing to sacrifice our own right to NHS treatment when the time comes, we should not be so hasty in judging other people's lifestyles, and finding them wanting.

And there is also this ...
Doctor's Keep Cancer Drugs Quiet

which may have something to do with this ...
June 2006, The NHS deficit in England has reached £512m - more than double the amount last year.

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Mr Flibble, thanks for your reply. I apologize if this comes across as being (or is) a harsh response.   I am sincerely curious about how such difficulties in the UK system since it seems our Obma is hell bent on duplicating the same over here.  Upon refelection, I guess I should apologize getting off topic.

This is what perplexes me about the Atkins Diet though. People DO lose weight on it (whether it's unhealthy or not, the fact remains that they still lose bloody loads of weight), and I can't see a reasonable reason for it. It's not just water weight. I understand what water weight is, and they did not just lose water weight - they lost about 30lbs of actual, visible weight... and very quickly.

Consumption of carbohydrates stimulates the production of insulin, a hormone which is used by the body to store excess glucose as fat.   Consumption of proteins does not generate glucose and so stimulates the production of  glucagon, a hormone used by the body to retrieve energy from fat cells.  The body is practically always in one of these two states.  

Clearly weight loss only occurs when the body is in the glucagon stimulated state and this can only be achieved through a carbohydrate restricted diet, strenuous exercise or some combination of the two.  The Atkins diet works because it restricts the consumption of carbohydrates and satisfies the appetite by allowing liberal consumption of high protien low carb foods.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucagon

Glucagon helps maintain the level of glucose in the blood by binding to glucagon receptors on hepatocytes, causing the liver to release glucose - stored in the form of glycogen - through a process known as glycogenolysis. As these stores become depleted, glucagon then encourages the liver to synthesize additional glucose by gluconeogenesis. This glucose is released into the bloodstream. Both of these mechanisms lead to glucose release by the liver, preventing the development of hypoglycemia. Glucagon also regulates the rate of glucose production through lipolysis ... Lipolysis is the breakdown of fat stored in fat cells.

.

Low fat diets are pretty much rubbish and counter productive.   Low fat diets are necessarily high in carbohydrates and low in protein.  A person on such a diet would spend most of the time in the insulin stimulated state and would not be able to lose weight.

=========================

Just out of curiosity, I was wondering, in countries such as the UK, that have nationalized health care systems, who decides what is healthy and what is not?   What happens if they, the deciders, are wrong?   If one makes a decision for himself, he must accept responsibility for that decision and live with the consequences, whatever they may be.   If one is compelled by law to allow others to decide for him then who is responsible for the decision and who should bear the burden of the consequences?

I found this little tid bit about getting apache web server to publish CHM files.  I know that we already have an online version of the manual but it is not nearly as easy to find things as in the chm version.  I was wondering if it's possible/practical for the current or future AGS website to directly publish chm files and if so would the usage be similar to chm or insome way better than the current online manual?

The reason I ask is that if it were easier to search for things in the online manual then it would be easier to help folks in the beginner's forum.

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/decompile-chm-file-to-view-as-html.html

Force apache to publish chm files

You can force Apache to publish chm file contents if there is trailing slash in request to that file. First make sure you have working mod_python. Now open httpd.conf /apache2.conf file:
# vi httpd.conf

Add following lines to your httpd.conf:
AddHandler python-program .chm
PythonHandler archmod.mod_chm

Save and close the file. Restart apache.
# /etc/init.d/httpd restart

Now upload file.chm to document root of your Apache webserver. Now view file by typing URL: http://you.com/file.chm/

Note: trailing slash at the end of URL.

The StopMoving command does not take effect until the script completes.  Inserting a Wait() command  gives the engine an opportunity to stop the character's movement before executing the rest of the script.

Code: ags

 if(zomhp4 <= 0){
    cZom4.UnlockView();
    region[1].Enabled = false;
    cZom4.StopMoving();
    Wait(1);                                // Try adding a wait here
    zomhp4 = 10;
   cZom4.x = 575;
   cZom4.y = 200;
  }

Okay, I'm too fuckin drunk right now, but I'll answer soon.  

Hehe..., Matti, you have restored my faith in humanity  

Reason's I believe most migrate:...

You left out conquest!
[edit]
http://www.meforum.org/687/the-muslim-brotherhoods-conquest-of-europe
http://www.globalpolitician.com/24345-islamism-multiculturalism-european-immigration
http://www.aina.org/news/20060511113048.htm

I haven't worked specifically in the game industry but have been working as a contract engineer/software designer for the past 20 years.  I think it's currently fashionable in the software business for employers/recruiters to have very specific experience/skill requirements.  I don't know if this because of lazinezz on the part of HR people and recruiters or if it's because of a glut of software people left over from the dot com bust.  I am not certain but it seems to me that it's common to put teams together for specific game projects; if so then being flexible and having an entrepreneurial spirit/attitude may be helpful.  

Anyway here are some job listings from Dice.com.   Apply to the jobs you think you are qualified or are interested in doing. If possible, phone the recruiter, ask for his/her direct e-mail, and send your resume directly to the recruiter.   Keyword searches etc are all the rage and many of the job boards won't even forward your resume and the recruiter many never ever see it.  Career Builder is particularly awful at this and I would recommend avoiding it, if at all possible.  Follow-up the next day and confirm that the recruiter has your resume and use the  opportunity to network and glean as much information as possible.  

Anyway I wish you the best of luck.   Maybe some oth ers will be able to offer better advice.

[edit]
Here is an ad for multiple entry level positions.
http://seeker.dice.com/jobsearch/servlet/JobSearch?op=302&dockey=xml/5/f/5fbb2f7f6d988d129be1e017d3f01f56@endecaindex&source=19&FREE_TEXT=game&rating=99

You're implying that everyone living in a country shares the same values, culture and way of life. That's just not true, a country is not that homogene.

I disagree.  While it is true that in any given country/culture there will be a variety of opinions/beliefs about  how one should live one's life, how things  ought to be etc, but it's people will have more in common with each other than they will with people of some other country/culture.     

If you're referring to very general things, in my experience most of the people from other cultures settle in well. Yes, some don't but that's the same thing with natives...

Well I had the spread of Sharia law throughout Europe in mind.   

http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2009/05/germany-islamic-groups-want-sharia-law.html       
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1535478/Sharia-law-is-spreading-as-authority-wanes.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4749183.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/feb/08/uk.religion

Who would I rather have in my country. A man who has traveled half way across Europe, learned a foreign language to survive here and has the drive to want to better their life...

You are assuming that such a people desire to adopt your values, culture, and way of life.  You would perhaps not be so eager to welcome large numbers of people into your country who desire to impose their values, culture, and way of life on the residents of your country.

Just use 7-zip.

http://www.7-zip.org/download.html

For the last several years I have been catching a cold or something in my chest.  It always comes on me in mid september and it stays with me for months.   Just as you describe antibiotics chase it away but when the antibiotics are done the illness comes back.   Finally the doctor told me to keep better control of my blood glucose level.  I took his advice and that seemed to help me quite a bit.   Perhaps something similar is happening with you.

The character is moved to the new room by the engine.  The script queues up the request but it is not executed until control is returned from the script to the engine.   For example if you move a character from poiny A to point B and then back to point A in the same script the character will remain at point A.

Well, here is what you need to do to accomplish this.

1. Create sprites for umbrella animation that include umbrella and character.   
2. Create sprite showing umbrella lying on ground.
3. Create a  new folder in sprite manager and import these sprites.
4. Create a new view for the umbrella animation.   Create one loops for the umbrella animation.
5. Assign sprites to frames in the above loop.
6. Create a room object with the laying down umbrella.
7. Use Object.Visible=false to make the umbrella invisible.
8. Use Character.LockView() or LockViewAligned() function to change character view and Character.Animate() to perform animation. 
into sprite manager.  You'll probably want to create a new folder for these sprites.
9. Use Character.UnlockView() to return character to normal.
10. Use Object.Visible=true to make the umbrella visible.

LockView
(Formerly known as SetCharacterView, which is now obsolete)

Character.LockView(int view)

Sets the character's view to VIEW. This can be used to perform animations with characters, for example bending down to pick something up, which don't use the default view.
NOTE: This function locks the character's view to the specified view, so that it can only be changed by other script commands (ie. it won't automatically be changed by AGS on walkable areas, screen changes, etc). When you are done with the animation, call UnlockView to allow AGS to take control back.

Example:

cEgo.LockView(12);
cEgo.Animate(0, 0, eOnce, eBlock, eForwards);
cEgo.UnlockView();

This will change the character's EGO view to view 12, perform an animation using loop 0, wait until the animation finishes and then return the character to his normal view.

No problem Ghost, I didn't take offense; just wanted to clarify my comments ZombieCow and the others.   

ZombieCow meant the (seldom used) feature of having dialog lines that were chosen once displayed in a different colour. That's not the same as turning lines on of off.  Wink

I understood what he wanted and since his question had no replies I replied that the manual only makes mention of turning dialog option on or off.  I was not aware of the latest ability to change colors so I appologize for being a bit out of date.

I don't think this possible.  From the manual there dialog options are either "ON" (visible) or off (not visible).


eOptionOff
  The option is disabled - the player will not see it
eOptionOn
  The option is enabled - the player can now see and use it
eOptionOffForever
  The option is permanently disabled - no other command can ever turn
  it back on again.

From my reading of the manual and your description of AGS behavior, it would appear that Start/EndCutScene mechanism process the ESC key independently of the on_key_press() event handler.  

You could script the cutscenes without the use of Start/EndCutScene() by using the non-blocking commands and the additional scripting required to make everything work to your desire.   Typically a state machine is created in the room's repeatedly execute function where each state corresponds to the initiation of an action/movement or the completion of an action or movement.

I like how you felt you needed to point out which character you were refering to.

When I was your age it wouldn't have been a consideration...

Perhaps something like the one on the left?  Seems like you haven't watched nearly enough of the original Star Trek series.  

It's often more difficult to identify outdated material in the manual than it is to correct it.  It would probably be a good idea to create a post in the Tech forum describing the outdated or erroneous portions of the manual.   Such issues are usually quickly resolved.        

I would also recommend checking out the DemoQuest documentation in the "Games in Production" forum.

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=34048.msg443220#msg443220

There are Global Script, Room Script, and Script Header templates  you may find helpful.

I think we  ought to consider using http://archive.org to mirror all things AGS, in addition to the AGS archive.  

Perhaps if this discussion reaches a consensus the games page should be modified to inform a game submitter of the conclusions reached here and perhaps provide an option to automatically submit the game to the AGS archive, archive.org, or whatever else we come up with.  

I would also like to propose an offline source vault where game authors could submit their original source for  preservation by CJ or some other AGS authority.  The idea here is that at some future date such games would be upgradeable to work on the tech of the day.  There would of course have to be rules and it would probably require a lot of debate and thinking to work out what the rules ought to be, etc, etc.  Perhaps it's too much  trouble?

[edit]

Not overly related, but why is it so many AGSers, or rather, EX ags-ers are "removing" their games and stuff? WHY? Why are people becomming so ashamed of their hard work?

Also, I don't think it's a case of people removing their stuff;  It's more of a case of maintaining the web space.   many people hosted their stuff on free website services that no longer exist.  Others may have bought web space to host their stuff but are no longer interested in keeping/paying for web presence.