DanJW

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Posts posted by DanJW

  4. Posted

    OK, so first thing to do, Thunder and Epiclairs, is roll up a character - choose a race and class and all the rest of it. It might help to read the campaign wiki so far, since the flavour of some races and classes etc is different. But so far I've managed to fit everything that people have come up with into the world - it's fun being inventive!

    In terms of team-work, since Murdoc cannot play at the moment, the part really needs a defender class (a Tank in MMO terms). You can see most other people's characters on the wiki too.

    Let me know once you've made a character and put them into the Obsidian Portal character sheet (which can be a bit of a pain I know) then I'll help you onto the next step.

  5. Posted

    you almost certainly do have the technology. It's all browser based (although there are still installable apps available for some of the tools if you prefer them, as I do).

    The D&D Insider stuff does require Silverlight plugin platform for your browser.

  6. Posted

    We're Playing D&D 4th Edition. Most of us have signed up to D&D Insider which gives us online access to character builder tools and rules database.

    How does all of this work? Emails?

    We're using a forum that has a built-in dice rolling app. Also a combat map, but that's a bit clunky. And another site that is functioning as a world-info wiki and character sheet repository.

  7. Posted

    Correct? If we're discussing discrimination and identity, we're discussing the cultural construction of race. Science doesn't enter into it and it's IMO readily apparent that whatever definition scientist want to apply to the term, it only has influence in their labs. The cultural conception of race has existed far longer and has massive influence in everybody's lives. There doesn't need to be a basis in genetics when the reality is everybody lives through their lives with a racial identity.

    Ah! I see a way to tie this back to the thread topic.

    Culture/tradition/the past can be superseded by advancing knowledge and the spread of that knowledge via education. Just because concepts of race or gender have been a particular way for a long time does not mean that they cannot change. Thus in both these fields education is the major tool for improving the future. Discussion is of course an excellent method of education.

  8. Posted

    There are races and there are differences between them and those differences make perfect evolutionary sense. Genetically speaking I am very different from a Mongol, an African Negro, an Oriental etc (crude terms but forgive me).

    I'm not sure what you mean when you say there is 'no reliable scientific data to show races even exists'?

    It should not be taboo to say there are differences between races, there definitely is and we should celebrate them.

    Actually, take two people from neighbouring countries in Africa, and one will be more genetically different to the other than they are to, say, white Europeans. Africa has massively more genetic diversity than the rest of the world put together (since the rest of the world stems from just a couple of emigrant tribes).

    So yes, whilst there are genetic differences between different populations, physical differences are not a good guide to these variations.

    This is why people say race does not exist - because the traditional views of races and what defines them are completely wrong.

    Other tidbits: Most white people have a black person in their not-too distant ancestry. Most black people have a white person in theirs. This makes no difference to anything.

  9. Posted

    There's actually four of you; Hermie is about to start his prologue in secret :gaming:

    I'll PM sombre, see if he still wants to play. Murdoc may be in a better position to play now too. You'll likely need a defender class once the party comes together.

  10. Posted

    Hey Speedy - I've gone through that a few times, and you're right it normally is linked to depression. I still get those thoughts occasionally even now my depression has passed, but it doesn't last as long and doesn't hit me as hard.

    Definitely talk to your doctor, ask them to set up some cognitive therapy sessions, one-on-one or group. Medication can help, but has side effects and is a short term solution only (anti-depressants are a pain-killer, like aspirin. They help with the pain but not the injury).

    Now this next part is less definite and my opinion only: do some research. Humanity has been contemplating death for millennia, so read up on some of the philosophy surrounding it. I found a lot of it actually made me feel better, especially Buddhist approaches and the life-affirming aspects of existentialism. Also poetry (my favourite being Yeats). As Nach and Thunder have said the way out is to take joy in the now and make the most of life (which can mean working hard on things you enjoy or it can mean relaxing and enjoying the minutia like a really good cup of coffee).

    Also get well soon to all those thumbs above who are less than full health. And good luck to all those making difficult decisions or having a rough time. Remember you are a thumb and therefore you must already be an awesome person :tup:

  12. Posted

    What the HELL, thread! You're a loose cannon! Give me your gun and badge!

    But Chief! FemLink is only a week away from retirement! She can't take down the Patriarchy all by herself!

  13. Posted

    I immediately thought of this quote from The Boondock Saints:

    Paul Smecker: Television. Television is the explanation for this - you see this in bad television. Little assault guys creeping through the vents, coming in through the ceiling - that James Bond shit never happens in real life! Professionals don't do that!

  14. Posted

    The online poll to me seems like a way to outsource the responsibility for picking the "wrong" girl Shepard.

    Yeah, this.

    Bioware should have had the guts to have a character designer make the Shepherd that best broadcasts the qualities they want the her to have. I have a tough time believing that a marines commander would wear her hair long and loose.

    It's mildly disappointing but doesn't matter to me too much because I am able to make Shepherd look and mostly act the way I think she would. I'm at least glad that female Shepherd is now part of the face of the game, because I find her much more interesting and better acted than her male counterpart.

  15. Posted

    But you stated it quite well. :yep:

    Thanks :)

    "Why not?" I asked. She replied, "Because some women like getting ogled at and wolfwhistled while wearing skimpy things, and I think they should be able to."

    I thought this was what people mean when they say "post-feminism". Is that right?

    Thunderpeel: it bugs me a little too. But then I noticed that both the men and the women (other than the original artist) are faceless, represented only by their gender symbol. I think this means that they are equivelent and both sides are nearly as bad as each other. Maybe. Note that the artist is not present in the 'pink' crowd.

    Yes it is I, Over-Analysis Boy!

  16. Posted · Edited by DanJW

    The only way to win the pendejo game... is not to play. :shifty:

    Give them a bibliography? They will decline to read anything from it, which proves false their claim to a desire to learn. Not that it's likely to help really.

    On the wider discussion (which I mostly missed because I was away from the computer for a couple of days, and also because I don't really have much of value to contribute) - I grew up with fairly feminist values and would still consider myself a feminist in many respects. It did however give me something of a male guilt complex once I reached adolescence and it took me a long time to actually accept that a lot of things about male sexuality are not inherently bad. It's only a blessing* I wasn't raised catholic as well.

    For this reason and others I am, as well as being sympathetic to feminist issues, also interested in societal misandry and modern male identity crisis. Granted this is much less serious and considerably more subtle than female discrimination to the point where a lot of people doubt it even exists. In a way though I see them as part of the same problem - most male chauvinists are that way because that is the role their culture has steered them into and it may even punish them for deviating from it. This does not excuse them; it merely suggests a method to tackle it.

    In a similar fashion much abuse and indoctrination of women is carried out by other women, especially in less egalitarian cultures. This is why I have no real truck with a 'war of the sexes' - it divides the line in entirely the wrong places.

    I am utterly unqualified to state any of this.

    *ironic use of the word "blessing"? - I have no idea, i just noticed it myself.

  21. Posted

    sexism comic

    That's depressing. But only in that it exaggerates it to happen every single time when I have personally observed it to happen differently at least once.

    :tmeh:

    The Day Today was scarily prescient. It resembles so much of the TV news we now have. Only a matter of time before we here the BBC declare "the rain will bitch down".

  24. Posted

    Reading this thread, I've realised that tattoos should either be iconic (as with JD's) or allude to something (like the 'Corley's Motors' logo, or something). They shouldn't be obvious (like 'Gears of War 3' written across your buttocks).

    I can see it as a coffee table book now: "Thunderpeel's Guide to Tasteful Tattooing".

    edit: with footnotes by toblix.

  25. Posted

    The Mystery Box with JJ Abrams.

    I totally agree - I love mystery and think things like traditional fairy-tale logic are great and I also agree that anticipation is often better than the pay-off.

    But I also steered well clear of Lost because it was obvious the mystery had no heart to it, and I had the same problem with parts of Heroes, BSG, and so on.

    The thing is, if the author is simply making it up as they go, if the mystery has no cause, no centre to it - then there is no internal consistency to the story. You're playing a tacky game of Consequences, not painting a landscape. The author can choose not to reveal the mystery, but they should themselves know what it is - how else can they know what will logically happen next?

    There was a bit of dialogue in the last few episodes of Caprica where the writers seemed to be excusing themselves, where a character talks about the difference between mysteries and secrets; “Secrets have answers. Now mysteries, they don’t have answers.” It's entirely self satisfied.

    Knowing that Abrams has the attitude he states in the TED talk makes me not want to watch anything mystery-based he ever does ever again. I think he's missed a part of the puzzle.