ThunderPeel2001

This is a very interesting point! But I think it's a separate point. Most insane gunmen are in their 20s or older, not their teens. I do believe something could be done to help depression in teenagers, especially since children in the USA are among the least happy in the first world (the UK, too), but it's a separate issue to protecting perfectly happy children from being shot

Of course gun control would save lives. Is it the only way to save lives? Probably not, but I don't think anyone is arguing that having less weapons wouldn't lead to less deaths...? How many people have to die before the number who would have been saved is enough to warrant gun control? 20 children would still be alive if the US had a ban on guns... is that not enough? If you're talking about the realities of enforcing gun control in modern day American, then I completely agree, but it doesn't sound like you are...? :-/ Mental heath issues are completely moot with regards to gun control, as my friend's status quite succinctly points out. He who is sane today, and therefore may have access to a portable killing machine, may not wake up sane tomorrow. In the case of the latest shooting, they were his mother's guns, anyway. How would the NRA's proposed solution of creating an "Insane Database" have helped in that situation? As for security, Nachimir pointed out that both Columbine and Virginia Tech both had armed guards. I think a lot of these "other things" have been discussed already. The question is if there's anything new to be said about them.

I fixed your post :-P

Just started playing this... Loving it so far! It's maybe not quite as polished as a GTA game, but it's damned near close. Plus, to my surprise, it does a lot of things better! (Ok, the car handling isn't super-realistic, but it sure is more fun! And the "undercover cop" trope is a brilliant way of explaining why a morally good character would commit a shit-ton of crimes.) I hope this game was successful. I think GTA needs a decent competitor, and I'm really enjoying what I've experienced so far. Edit: I see on Steam that there's a lot of DLC. A lot. What's it all for? Is any of it recommended? I feel a bit overwhelmed looking at it all.

Sorry to bump this topic, but I stumbled across it and happen to know the answer now: Yes, if your network adapter is capable of waking your computer, then downloading something will prevent it from going to sleep.

Yeah, that's a good point, actually.

I found it very interesting that the NASA astronaut doing the tour revealed that the viewport of Earth was a very popular place to spend time. It's kind of romantic. Also, man, who decorated the ISS? It's damned ugly. They need an interior designer to go up there and sort things out.

I think you're absolutely right... but let's just say that it's not surprising that that character was a woman. A sexy woman. Edit: Looks like Argo got there first.

Well, clearly, as I've already acknowledged several times -- thanks to you pointing it out -- it wasn't an issue for everyone. All that said, I'd love to know how you managed to play it so easily. I just got my ass handed to me repeatedly. I mean I barely made it out of the first few levels. It's possibly it's because I spent the entire game with my body pumped full of adrenaline, jumping out of my skin every single time something attacked me. (And I'm not really exaggerating all that much -- I was terrified playing that game... and then the spiders came. And I nearly died.) I found BioShock to be much more balanced, but maybe I'm less of a wuss than I used to be? Or maybe that's just a different type of game? Hmm. All this talk makes me want to load it up again and see if it's as scary/difficult as I remember it. I still have my original copy here somewhere

An important reminder for life: Don't forget to stop and play in the puddles every once and while

Speaking of which, are there any JRPG CyberPunk games?

You're clearly much better at SS2 than me, then. I've no idea why you think we're having an argument. As I already said, "I was already so terrified while I was playing it, that reducing the spawn/degradation just made it bearable to play." Yep, early on.

The best piece of advice I've been given so far is this: Try and clear as much of a sector as you can before you move on. This made a huge difference last time I played (but then I warped into a nebula without oxygen when I was already low and all my crew died... gah). Also: - A Scrap Collecting Arm can be a great help if you get it early enough. - Keeping empty rooms open to space will prevent fires from even starting. - Doors are worth upgrading. - When you're boarded, get your crew to Medibay and open everything else to the vacuum of space -- your boarders will try and attack you in the Medibay, where your energy refills automatically. - You can quickly refill your ship with O2 by opening all internal doors. A lot quicker than just waiting for the O2 system to do it. - You get more resources if you take out an enemies crew, but not their ship (tip: aim for their O2 and Weapon systems). - Always focus on risk/reward: If you're getting hammered by an enemy, focus on leaving the battle. 25 scrap isn't going to be worth it if your hull is fucked. - Apparently it's very helpful if you keep pausing -- I can't seem to bring myself to do that, though.

Interesting, but that doesn't change the fact that laws can be overturned. I don't get the American mentality that just because something was added to the constitution over two hundreds years ago, that it can never be changed. Reminds me of that Churchill's quote: "You can always trust American to do the right thing... once they've tried everything else." Meaning?

Or, you know, draft another amendment. It seems crazy that the US's laws are based on a document that's supposedly able to plan for every eventuality. Guess what, the Constitution might get something wrong! Also, as many people are fond of pointing out, the "right to bear arms" comes with the caveat that you're part of an "organized militia". I don't see many people heeding that part of the Constitution, which means it all just boils down to one simple thing: The public don't want to relinquish their guns, and they'll argue any way they can to keep them.

Ok, I need some tactical advice. I've managed to make it to the final boss (on easy) once -- but I got wiped out immediately. It's a fun little game, but it seems to rely on luck an awful lot. I can't seem to see the benefits of much strategy... which either means I'm very bad at this game, or it really is based largely on luck. Can anyone who's mastered this game offer any advice?

That's pretty much the entire message of Bowling for Columbine. I was in the US when I saw that, and I came out of the cinema suddenly relaxed -- it's true that the TV I'd been watching was selling fear, and it had been getting to me without my knowledge.

Holy hell, those ISS videos were awesome!

Probably. I was involved in that project and I remember the game being REALLY simplistically put together. It was extremely easy to extract and replace textures, so I doubt it would interfere with any game code, as we didn't have to alter anything.

I can't remember who said it now :-/ I do believe it's true, though. I know the newspapers reported that the public was against abolition in 1965, but I just don't see how it could have gone through if people weren't prepared to accept change (it doesn't have to be a majority, obviously). Same goes for the Civil Rights movement. Both were argued for 100's of years prior, but the powers that be and the public weren't prepared to accept them then, and I don't believe any government (other than a fascist one) can force through reform before the public is ready for it.

No, they specifically added those two features in particular. From the official patch release notes: "This patch implements cooperative multiplayer for System Shock 2. Up to four players are supported over internet or LAN. In addition, several bug-fixes and additional features are implemented including the ability for the user to modify weapon degradation and monster re-spawning rates. This patch is only intended for the original release of System Shock 2. If you have purchased a re- released "budget" edition, you should not need this patch." SS2 is notoriously difficult, especially if you want to explore. If you're fine with running through the game as quickly as possible, then I guess constant spawning and high weapon degradation isn't THAT much of an issue (although I still struggled to be honest). What's more, even with the respawn turned to minimum (you can never actually set it to completely off -- some areas will always respawn baddies) that game still offers a great challenge. Personally there are two reasons to play System Shock 2: The incredible atmosphere. The storyline. I was already so terrified while I was playing it, that reducing the spawn/degradation just made it bearable to play. Finally: Don't forget the high-texture pack: http://www.systemsho....php?topic=22.0 Before: After:

Don't forget BloodNet! It has some awesome writing.

You did read my first post in this thread, right? It pretty much responds to this very point as accurately as is possible. Your argument appears to be "there's always going to be crazy people who will manage to find ways of killing people -- guns aren't necessarily the problem". Number of gun-related deaths per year: US: 32,163 UK: 138 Even taking into account the difference in population, that's a huge difference. The problem with the US and guns appears to be very deep, though. A large portion of the population refuse to accept that gun ownership is related to gun deaths, and the idea of losing their guns makes them very nervous. I was listening to someone recently who said change only ever happens when the people in power want it AND the public want it. Otherwise it won't take hold, and I think that's going to be a sticking point for a while in the US. Also, of course, the issue that there's already so many guns in the US. It's a bit a of a mess all right :-/ Still, since researching this post I have two new facts to tote. America has not only the highest gun deaths per year, per capita, in the First World, it also has the highest infant mortality rate, too. Despite this, there's no problems with their healthcare system, nor their gun laws, and they're still the "best" country in the world. U-S-A! U-S-A!

I don't think I've ever seen anyone labelled "shrill" or "strident" anywhere on the internet , but I've certainly encountered problems for impolitely stating an opinion on this very forum.

This could possibly be the best advice here... (for me) but I'm intrigued as to what constitutes "not insignificant", though. Three figures? Four figures?