Messages

[are]

I get your point, Farlander, but I think it's not that simple. A very big problem is for example cheating in marriage. Often women are infected by their husbands without their knowledge, because the husband cheated on his wife, got himself infected and as the use of condoms is not allowed, passes it on to his wife. Another example is that a lot of children get infected without even having sex just by being born to a mother with AIDS. As they are not allowed to use comdoms, they either have the possibility to not have sex or to pass it on to their wives. People are forced into prostitution and refuse to use condoms, because the Catholic chruch tells them it's a sin. I've recently read a report that in some cases, priests and nuns in Africa told the people that condoms are useless anyway, because the virus can pass through.
I'm not saying, the church is responsible for every single person dying because of AIDS, but definitely for quite a lot deaths and if they wouldn't stick to this principle it would be a lot easier to fight this disease.
Another problem is that having sex before marriage is something you can sort of stumble into. It happens even among the most Catholic people, just like you can end up driving drunk simply because you are too drunk to think. Using a condom is something you have to plan, because you have to get one. So, even if you are deeply Catholic and don't want to have sex with someone else than your husband/wife, you can still end up doing it more or less by mistake (getting drunk, simply the tempation etc.). If you are not allowed to use condoms, you're not very likely to have one with you in such moments. It's like forbidding to even install seatbelts, to get back to your example. You won't even have a chance to put them on if you end up driving drunk.
So, imo, the church and therefore the pope are responsible to a very high degree for what happens in Africa.

[a lot of]

But I'd like to read a short briefing of any of the agsers if you have time.

And here it is. Got it from Wikipedia:

When Benedict turned 14 in 1941, he was drafted into the Hitler Youth, membership of which was legally required after 1938. National Catholic Reporter correspondent and biographer John Allen writes that Benedict was an unenthusiastic member who refused to attend meetings. Benedict has mentioned that a Nazi mathematics professor arranged reduced tuition payments for him at seminary. While this normally required documentation of attendance at Hitler Youth activities, according to Benedict, his professor arranged that the young seminary student did not need to attend those gatherings to receive a scholarship.

In 1943, when he was 16, Benedict was drafted with many of his classmates into the Flak (anti-aircraft corps). They were posted first to Ludwigsfeld, north of Munich, as part of a detachment responsible for guarding a BMW aircraft engine plant. He served in the Flak (antiaircraft brigade) defending the BMW plant (and its slave laborers) from marauding Allied bombers. Next they were sent to Unterföhring, northwest of Munich, and briefly to Innsbruck. From Innsbruck their unit went to Gilching to protect the jet fighter base and to attack Allied bombers as they massed to begin their runs towards Munich. At Gilching, Benedict served in telephone communications.

On September 10, 1944, his class was released from the Corps. Returning home, Benedict had already received a new draft notice for the Reichsarbeitdienst. He was posted to the Hungarian border area of Austria which had been annexed by Germany in the Anschluss of 1938. Here he was trained in the "cult of the spade" and upon the surrender of Hungary to Russia was put to work setting up anti-tank defences in preparation for the expected Red Army offensive. On November 20, his unit was released from service.

Benedict again returned home. After three weeks passed, he was drafted into the army at Munich and assigned to the infantry barracks in the center of Traunstein, the city near which his family lived. After basic infantry training, his unit was sent to various posts around the city. They were never sent to the front.

In late April or early May, days or weeks before the German surrender, Benedict deserted after two years of service in the German army. He left the city of Traunstein and returned to his village on the outskirts. Desertion was widespread during the last weeks of the war, even though punishable by death; executions, frequently extrajudicial, continued to the end. In the days preceding imminent German defeat, however, many deserted for fear of the more salient Allied threat. Diminished morale, and the greatly diminished risk of execution from a preoccupied German military, also contributed notably to pervasive desertion. He was briefly interned in an open air prisoner of war camp near Ulm and was released on June 19, 1945.

Most information about Benedict's wartime activities is based on his own memoirs and accounts from his brother, Georg.

Generally, I don't blame anyone for being a member of the Hitler Jungend or the BDM as they were still kids at that time and it's not that easy to leave the country at the age of 14 or 16. The other option you had, was simply refusing to be a member which caused a lot of trouble. Just being a former member of the Hitler Jungend doesn't make you a Nazi. Actually, I know quite a number of people that had to attend the HJ and did so, but fought for the resistance secretly in their free time.
I do blame people for not doing anything against that regime and their crimes. Most people just turned their heads and looked away and quite a lot truely believed in the Nazi's philosophy. But I certainly can't blame the kids for their parents' faults.

Anyway, Nazi or not, Ratzinger is very conservative, to say the least. Like JP II, he will be responsible for millions of people dying of AIDS. He will be responsible for thousands of women dying because of illegal abbortions. He will be responsible for thousands of prejudices towards homosexuals. I could go on like this for hours...but I won't.
Guess, you already figured out yourself, that I'm not very fond of this Pope. Well, I wasn't of JP II either, so it doesn't really change anything for me. I'm still waiting for the Church to come out of medieval times...

I'm not a smoker and never was, so I can't really help you with personal experience, BUT I know a lot of people who tried to stop smoking and they read this book. It's not that expensive. It's actually quite entertaining (read it myself to support my friends who tried to stop smoking) AND it seems to work. I recall 23 persons that tried to stop smoking with this book and it worked for 21 of them and they were facing the same problems you are experiencing right now.
The book offers you a view behind a smoker's psyche. It explains how this addiction works and what effects it has on you physically and mentally. You can only fight against things you know and understand, at least imo.

Alright, I think I should write to Allen Carr to demand some money for all this advertisement  .

Seriously now, I think it's worth a try. And if you have problems with all your friends smoking around you, why not try to convince them to quit together?!?

Anyway, good luck. Hope you'll succed.

Hey everyone,

I have to write an essay for school about Portugal. To find information about it on the net isn't difficult, but I don't just wanna write the "usual" stuff. I've never been to Portugal and I can't even remember meeting someone from Portugal. That's why I'm turning to YOU! Have you ever been to Portugal? Are you living in Portugal? Either way, you might be able to tell me something about this country that isn't easily found on the net, like what prejudices do other countries have towards Portugal (like towards Germany: bratwurst, lederhosen etc.). What is typical for Portugal and the people who live there? I wanna know just everything that comes to your mind when you hear the word "Portugal".

Thanks in advance

Looks nice so far.
Maybe add some mouse-over effects. Would make it easier to navigate through your site as links are instantly recognizable.

Other than that, really good.

Thanks for all the quick replies. Keep them coming.
The water mark isn't really the logo, but it fits in the theme. The wohle page will of course be bigger (A4) and as it is right now the readabiltiy is quite alright in that size. As for the black boxes, they are supposed to be replaced with images like the one in the middle.
As for the border, I'm not quite sure what you mean. There are these gray borders on the right and at the bottom. Where should I put another one?

But I'll work on that watermark and re-arrange the pictures.

Hey,

I've been working on this yearbook lately. This is supposed to be a template of a characterization page. Each member of my grade will get one with a little bio on it. The text and pics are just placeholders. Right now, I'm kind of stuck, so I could definitely use some c&c on it.

So what do you think of it? Anything to improve it, to make it look more interesting?

Here is what I have so far:

I simply love the updated GUI! Now all that's left to do is to make the verbs change dynamically.

btw, is your little test game part of the game you are planning or was it just make for testing to show what the GUI can do? If this is somehow part of the upcoming game, go ahead and finish it as soon as possible! I love the graphics!

Thank you, venus, ^^

Gern geschehen 

I couldn't agree more with rich. In fact, I was writing the very same things, but was just too slow and therefore too late. Damn you, rich,  all this typing for nothing  .
Anyway, the GUI looks good. Simple and nice. I think it's one of the user-friendliest interfaces possible.

But there is one thing to make it even better imo: I don't really like when I have to click on something or even look at something to know what it is supposed to be. Although your graphics are really nice, it's sometimes just not possible (because of lo-res etc.) to recognize all the things on the screen at once. So maybe you could make the cursor not only change into a cross when moving over an object, but maybe in a cross with the object's name next to it or something. That's of course just my opinion and my taste. Your GUI is just fine as it is already.

Just one question: How do you use inventory items on obejcts with your GUI? In your test game there weren't any, but as most adventure games have them and I simply assume that the game you are planning will have some as well, you might need to have the possibility to somehow use them on objects or characters etc. If you wanna do this, you need to think of another GUI as you don't want to mix them...

Ooooh, nothing wrong with that story imo. Of course it needs a little more detail, but it has great potential. I love it and I'd love to play that game, so why don't you just try to start. I think we will keep you motivated, because if you start this and then don't finish... 
Nah, just joking, but you should really think about it imho.

Your English is quite alright btw. So you are from Germany as well. Ich auch! (me too!)

Oh you're right. That's it! Stupid me... 

Yeah right, something is different. Can't really find out what it is, but there definitely is something different  .
These bgs are great. I love the style. Btw, do you want to use them in a game? Because right now, I'm quite eager to find out what happened to those guys. Could be a great story imo. So even if you haven't thought of using this in a game, start right now!

Anyway, keep up the great work and please keep posting it in here for us all to enjoy! 

Congrats khrismuc! 

Just downloaded the demo. Very funny so far. I just managed to escape from my cell. The game simply rocks! I'd just work on the walk-able areas a bit more, coz walking on walls or beds or in toilets isn't really my thing  . Apart from that it is pure awesomeness. I'd love to play-test the game for you. I could also assist translating it to English. Just pm me if you are interested.

Make sure to finish this one soon.

Hey Potter, nice sprite, but I'd change the background as long as there is still time. Right now you have 64 colours and allowed are only 25...

btw, Hermes indeed is a god, namely the god of communication and travel.

Smashing work, Venus. 

Thanks, I had a good teacher, Master ProgZ 

[1x 3x]

Oh damn it, I did Aphrodite as well but with the exact amount of clothes she is usually depicted in  .
Well, here she is. Not very original now, but what other god/goddess was I supposed to choose using Venus as my nick who is the Roman equivalent to Aphrodite?!?

75x75 24 colours

1x 3x

Thanks for all the advice and tips, ProgZ. That was really helpful and I learned a lot.

Anyway, as I'm very unlikely to finish this game in time for the competition anyway, I'll just continue without the time pressure and get it out once it's ready.

I tired to turn my char to face completely to the left. I'm quite satisfied with the overall look, but somehow his nose bothers me.  This pose isn't going to be used in the game, but rather as a little help for me to start on the walk-cycle:

1x  2x

What do you think?

I totally agree to the others. Really nice.

There is just one thing I would change: this "woo"- sound drum beat thingy (hope you'll get what I mean) gets kind of nerve-wracking very quickly imo. Maybe don't use it this often.

Other than that, great piece of music.

I think the main problem of Teal'c's face is that the eyes are too high. Usually the eyes should be in the centre of the face meaning that the space between eyes and chin and eyes and top of the head should be more or less the same.
The other characters look great though. Can't wait till this is finished!