Up Front: I'll Take Actium and Trafalgar
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I guess every activity has its uses. I read somewhere that the sign of a serious addiction is when it impacts negatively on other areas of your life and you still do it.
I realized enough is enough when I was late picking my son up from daycare because I didn't want to abandon a battleground. Went cold turkey, felt better almost immediately.
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Funny, I've often had the same "media attention is aggro" thought in the past, usually about people I personally disagree with, but see the value of their viewpoint to the wider debate.
With that in mind, I guess talkback punters and Stuff commenters are the trash mobs of political discourse. They aren't important enough to spend time on except that they prevent you from getting at the bosses.
Which is why nobody I'm aware of is criticising the BDO's right to determine their own content by "disinviting" Beenie Manl.
But unlike Charles Chauvel, I don't think we should be restricting anyone's ability to enter New Zealand because he (or the Immigration Minister) doesn't like what the person concerned says. IMO, that's setting up all kinds of slippery slopes I'd rather not cede to the government, no matter what colour rosette it happens to be wearing.
This is very much where I sit on this situation, too. I am friends with one of the other instigators of the campaign for the BDO to withdraw their invitation to Beanie Man, and the line I draw is between his right to enter the country regardless of his views and his promotion by a music festival I feel a personal connection with.
Oh, and slightly off topic, but my girlfriend has belatedly discovered WOW. I got her into LOTRO (via Oblivion and Guild Wars) which she still loves and has played with me for well over a year now, but she's finally seeing what a polished product Blizzard put out and loving it.
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Funny, I've often had the same "media attention is aggro" thought in the past, usually about people I personally disagree with, but see the value of their viewpoint to the wider debate.
QFT -- as George W. Bush used to say, you can disagree without being disagreeable. And there's a lot of questions in the world that can't be answered with a tidy soundbite, and thank God for that. Otherwise, I'd have died of boredom years ago.
There are folks around these parts I disagree with on... pretty much everything, but I hope I always (OK, most of the time) make it clear that I also respect that they're putting forward arguments in good faith, and just because I don't totally agree doesn't make them worthless.
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OK, most of the time
Heh. I've been on the receiving end of a few QFTs myself.
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Heh. I've been on the receiving end of a few QFTs myself.
Sing it brother -- but seriously, one thing I like about PAS is that when the pimp-slapping is done, there's not a lot of bad blood left behind. And, dare I say it, a good lung-busting argument now and then is good for the soul.
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You're telling me? Where I come from agreeing with people is considered impolite.
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Where I come from agreeing with people is considered impolite.
Where I come from, we consider it healthy to query everything:)
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I understand what you're saying Ben. For some folks it becomes a hard to step away from. I know if my wife didn't play as well I would not be playing now because it takes up (too much) time from a relationship. However, now we play together instead of watching TV :). Our iMacs sit side by side :).
The other reason it is viable is that the circle of friends that I have in real life all play online and we play as a guild. It does make for really geeky dinner party conversations and we have great fun horrifying our friends daughters with our massive geekness. If you're interested this is my virtual self.
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Where I come from, we consider it healthy to query everything:)
Where I come from, the same -- but trying to settle a point with the good streak knives and the family heirloom dinner service? That's not on, use the everyday cutlery and Warehouse mugs instead. :)
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Where I come from...
Well my parents came over from The Netherlands after the war. It took me a long time flatting to realise that arguing any position (even one you actually disagreed with) was not normal :). That does seem to be rather common amongst that group of immigrants.
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but trying to settle a point with the good streak knives and the family heirloom dinner service?
Exactly. I have got the dinner service and cutlery also. With these being one part of my inheritance I daren't throw such beauties.
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I daren't throw such beauties.
Well of course not. Those are designed for intricate surgery not throwing. Although I did rather like the matching eye gouging spoons.
Yours are more like this. -
Exactly. I have got the dinner service and cutlery also. With these being one part of my inheritance I daren't throw such beauties.
Oooh... kitchen porn. Don't you just love PA?
And Steve, have I ever told you about the woman who didn't talk to me for six months after I strongly recommended she see Dead Ringers? David Cronenberg is one seriously twisted mister - I blame Canada, myself.
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Blame Canada indeed.
Just in case Gio turns up I posted the Italian version.
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Fantastic(o).
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Sorry, I am late.
Thank you Emma, for telling us about this; it was a side of the story that nobody else has mentioned, and I am better informed for your work.
Get well soon.
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lol Bart you outgeek me severely. I'd never be able to get my wife into WoW. If it was World of Lovecraft, maybe. Or is that just called Facebook?
Actually I got into it in the first place because of friends, but we quickly found talking about it over dinner was very antisocial to everyone else. Indeed, almost everything about it is antisocial to everyone else.
<antisocial>
Pally eh? Natural Tank. Still working on the Gladiator's Vindication set or is that helmet you already got just too nice? Can see you're not much into instances either eh? Word. I'd show you my toons but it's embarrassing by comparison. Mind you, I notice that things got a whole lot easier over the last year and a half. When I was playing, it took until about level 48 to save up enough for a mount, now every level 20 has got one
</antisocial> -
Although it would be fair to say that that girl could use some beauty tips ...
I clicked through & snorted coffee.
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Caution extreme geekery below (apologies for the threadjack)
Hey Ben, you'd be surprised at the number of wives/girlfriends that really enjoy WoW. Our guild is dominated by women :). I think it's because Blizz focuses on pretty and fun rather than adrenaline. That makes it much more accessible to old slow folks like me and to families and couples. I know lots of folks that play with their kids as well and both parent and child enjoy the game. It's much more about entertainment than number of kills.
Nah you saw me in my battleground gear, that's my ret set helm not my tanking helm. I'm mostly a PVEer and prefer 5/10-mans over anything else, but I'm obsessed with achievements and there are many to get in the BGs. WoW is easier to level now and some things are easier (in mah day...). But there is hard stuff too. Basically Blizz recognised that 12.9 million of their 13 million subscribers just want to have fun with their friends and so the game allows that to happen more now than it used to.
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Caution extreme geekery below (apologies for the threadjack)
Pff, I'm just surprised it's taken this long.
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Hey Ben, you'd be surprised at the number of wives/girlfriends that really enjoy WoW. Our guild is dominated by women :).
I know lots of folks that play with their kids as well and both parent and child enjoy the game. It's much more about entertainment than number of kills.
A techie who temped with us not too long ago definitely falls into that category. She was out of the Warcraft scene for a while but recently came back to it boots & all.
And my brother-in-law & his son are right into it too. So one can slay demons and ghouls and still have a life.
<geek>
My primary char is geared for multi-purpose roles (DPS/tank/PvE/PvP), so that she doesn't have to switch armour sets all the time. If she's wearing damage-dealing gear, I put on defence enchantments such as extra stamina. If she's kitted out in tanking gear, I use attack enchantments such as strength & agility.Nearing the magic number now...
</geek> -
I'm not surprised that entire communities, including many women, will form around WoW. It's just a little too immersive for me - another sign it's time to quit is when you start having WoW dreams. My kids are too young to really share in it, although the eldest did like to watch - it is a pretty game.
<unter-geek>
My main was a fire mage, so I was never destined for tank :-) But my favorite toon was a feral druid. She's kitted 100% for PvP. I only recently discovered that she could Tank pretty well. Something about being a cross between a sneaky puss, a raging growler, a speedy cheetah, a slippery seal, and a hot blonde, really appealed. Also, for some reason, appearing female seemed to help with the teamwork. It did also enrage the enemy, they would go out of their way to kill me, which actually served a purpose, since druids are slippery as hell. It was easy to support a flag runner, just by annoying the enemy chasers. They'd turn on me, and I could run them to a remote corner of the map before they finally caught and killed me, by which time our flag runners had capped. This is the kind of thing a lot of Tanks don't even notice has happened - they usually only see cowardice or weakness as a reason to run from battle.
</unter-geek> -
I'm not surprised that entire communities, including many women, will form around WoW. It's just a little too immersive for me - another sign it's time to quit is when you start having WoW dreams. My kids are too young to really share in it, although the eldest did like to watch - it is a pretty game.
Not as pretty as Eve Online. That's real eye-candy. I don't understand the gameplay at all, but Leo seems to find it very satisfying -- and he likes the community there a lot better than what he was beginning to to experience as a longtime WoW (and before that Warcraft 3) player.
We fund one MMORPG at a time, and so he jumped. He's done that before and come back to WoW eventually (sensibly, they facilitate this by not deleting player histories when accounts are closed). But I get the feeling he won't actually go back this time.
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Yeah WoW shows its age. It's not the prettiest game, but it is still evocative of ... a mythical past, I guess. Eve sounds awesome. Considering the hours I wasted as a teen playing Elite, I'm sure it would hook me quicksmart. Has Leo reviewed it btw?
Perhaps the next patch will reel Leo in one more time? Personally it demotivated me, having not even upgraded to Lich King.
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