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A Thread for Random Musings


Old Man

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Got the first computer I've ever purchased rather than building from scratch yesterday. Finally decided to break down and get a laptop, and it is too much of a pain and not worth it to try to track down parts to build your own.

 

So far very cool, as I post this from my living room sitting on the comfy couch-thing of doom. :)

 

(Dell Inspiron 6000d for any that are interested)

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Got the first computer I've ever purchased rather than building from scratch yesterday. Finally decided to break down and get a laptop, and it is too much of a pain and not worth it to try to track down parts to build your own.

 

So far very cool, as I post this from my living room sitting on the comfy couch-thing of doom. :)

 

(Dell Inspiron 6000d for any that are interested)

Was that the $579 super deal that Dell had? My oldest son is wanting to work towards a laptop purchase this summer.

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Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

I have the day off, and I have no idea what to do with it. Part of me says I should clean the house so it will look nice for John's birthday, and part of me is sick to death of giving up MY days off to clean...

 

Or I could go back to beating the crap out of Medieval: Total War...

 

Michelle

aka

Samuraiko

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Guest Skaramine

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

I updated my Spybot search and destroy...

 

And found out that I had a friggin' 22 evil little proggies inside my machine.

 

Then again, it could have had intercourse with 'Bec's machine and become incurable.

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Guest Skaramine

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

I just picked up John Constantine: Hellblazer, Original Sins, the other day. Awesome stuff.

 

It's inspired a few wild dreams, and last night, I had a weird, running nightmare about a zombie infestation, first in a quiet farmhouse in the country (where one of the zombies balooned to titanic size), then caught in an auditorium, then proof that they were the creations of creatures from beyond Pluto (Cthulloids), and then finally getting frustrated and leaving the auditorium to live on my own, fighting and scraping for survival in a Batman costume, fighting with only an entrenching tool, and a black hover jet with folding wings.

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Guest Skaramine

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

China is a threat, so that if we leave Saudi Arabia, they'll own it.

 

Despite the fact that the Saudi royal family, and their flunkies are so racist that they barely tolerated white people and their brown, non-semetic flunkies in their part of the world.

 

Great googly mooglie!

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Guest Skaramine

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Attention David Queenan! Alert! Alert!

 

Army frowns on Dungeons and Dragons

 

 

 

IDF says players are detached from reality and automatically given a low security clearance

By Hanan Greenberg

 

 

 

Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance.

 

 

 

 

“They're detached from reality and suscepitble to influence,†the army says.

 

 

 

 

Fans of the popular roleplaying game had spoken of rumors of this strange policy by the IDF, but now the army has confirmed that it has a negative image of teens who play the game and labels them as problematic in regard to their draft status.

 

 

 

 

 

So if you like fantasy games, go see the military psychologist.

 

 

 

 

Dungeons and Dragons (also known as D&D) has been a popular roleplaying game for decades and is based on a fantasy world.

 

 

 

 

 

One player assumes the role of “Dungeon Master,†which entails directing the game and controlling the labyrinth, while the others select from a large selection of characters that includes warriors, magicians, dwarfs and thieves.

 

 

 

 

The game focuses on the results of decisions

 

made by the players as determined by the roll of the dice.

 

 

 

In a more "active" version of the game, players leave the table and go out, dressed as the characters they assume for the game, along with the requisite equipment of swords (not real) to play outside, usually in the forest or woods. Most D&D players do not don costumes, and participants in such costume games are called "LARPers" (for live-action role playing).

 

 

 

 

 

'Simply detached from reality'

 

 

 

Thousands of youth and teens in Israel play D&D, fighting dragons and demons using their rich imaginations. The game has also increased in popularity due to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

However the IDF does not approve of this unusual hobby and prevents D&D players from being considered for sensitive army positions by labeling them with low security clearance.

 

 

 

 

 

"We have discovered that some of them are simply detached from reality," a security source told Ynet.

 

 

 

 

Game enthusiasts are aware of their problematic image in the army and prefer to maintain their anonymity. Many of them are from the former Soviet Union, where the game is very popular.

 

 

 

 

In Israel there are thousands of players, between the ages 16 to 35, and include lawyers, high-tech workers and businessmen. Matan, 22, and Igor, a 21-year-old IDF soldier, organize activities for groups of players. Soon hundreds of fans are expected to meet in a forest in the southern part of Israel for a two-day game of pure fantasy.

 

 

 

 

"It's not a game of winners and losers," Matan says,

"but rather entry into another world with stories and plot changes."

 

 

 

 

He is aware of the game's problematic reputation, especially in the IDF. The army is not indifferent to the unique hobby and is trying to locate soldiers who in their free time dress up as witches and play in forests.

 

 

 

 

'The game indicates a weak personality'

 

 

 

 

A security official tells Ynet there are specific criteria for deciding the level of a soldier's security clearance.

 

 

 

 

"One of the tests we do, either by asking soldiers directly or through information provided us, is to ask whether they take part in the game," he says. "If a soldier answers in the affirmative, he is sent to a professional for an evaluation, usually a psychologist."

 

 

 

 

More than half of the soldiers sent for evaluation receive low security clearances, thus preventing them from serving in sensitive IDF positions, he says.

 

 

 

 

Igor says exposing soldiers who play the game could result in the soldiers being sent to a military psychologist or even being kicked out of the army.

 

 

 

 

"Exposing them could also harm their chances at being accepted to other military courses," he says.

 

 

 

 

Matan says he has personally met soldiers whose military career was harmed due to their connection to the game. Most soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons simply do not admit to it while they are in the army, he says.

 

 

 

 

Why does IDF believe game is dangerous?

 

 

 

"These people have a tendency to be influenced by external factors which could cloud their judgment, a military official says. "They may be detached from reality or have a weak personality - elements which lower a person's security clearance, allowing them to serve in the army, but not in sensitive positions."

 

 

 

 

 

Unsurprisingly, Igor, Matan and thier friends do not approve of this IDF policy. They say the game is only a colorful, non-violent hobby.

 

 

 

 

"Many people who play served in the most classified units," David says. "They are intelligent and any attempt to label them as 'weird' is incorrect and unfair."

 

 

 

 

But in the struggle between the gameplayers and the Defense Minister, the latter wins - or at least this is the case in the real world of the IDF.

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Guest Skaramine

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

 

Canada's RCMP is now carrying the Smith and Wesson version of the Walther P99 - James Bond's current gun.

 

The gun is technically the SW990L, in 9mm. Instead of stiff trigger cocking for the first shot, then light trigger cocking for subsequent shots, it's "medium" trigger cocking for all shots, around 7 pounds. It's got 16 rounds in the magazine, plus one up the pipe, and has three sizes of interchangable backstraps so that, unless you have Shaquille O'Neal's giant paws, or Linda Hunt's teeny little mitts, it should fit you perfectly.

 

I love the Walther/Smith 990.

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