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Thanks for merging the posts Celtic!

Point taken. From experience, no matter what route I've taken (I have done what you suggested in the past) it has always been the wrong choice. The CoC is a living document and not etched in stone. The rules did not change, but were rather clarified. In such cases, we do not punish members, but inform them, and everyone else, what the new standards are. Let's take all further discussion offline.

Again, the issue is not about the ability to voice an opinion. I fully support people doing so, as long as the content posted is appropriate. Where I draw the line is when it becomes needlessly provocative. Look, Synergy could have said the exact same thing without doing so in such a way that I felt hijacked the topic at hand by virtue of tone. How you say things is sometimes more important than what you say. I had to adjust the rules because they were not clear in this case. I wanted it to be entirely clear what the new rules are and where this fits. Further, Synergy faced no possible sanction for this other than telling him to stop, since it was not spelled out prior to him doing anything. I think it best to close this discussion now.

Synergy, we disagree on the need for some control over content. In either case, goodbye again.

Synergy, I consider them diatribes and hardly a minor attempt to shift the discussion. You did more than "talk about" the decline of the middle class, you put out a long rant full of charged language. Most of these points were completely out of the blue and the tone here is as if you have an axe to grind. I thought about posting them and highlighting the areas, but then I realized it's over 80% of it. You can have an opinion. You can share it so long as it is not completely inappropriate for these forums. Where the line is drawn is you cannot post long charged rants on your opinions. I call that dominating the discussion or using the forums to push your agenda. You might disagree, but that's my decision.

Synergy, you posted two long diatribes on your personal philosophy, and then a separate topic. Number of posts is not the only metric: you effectively tried to hijack this topic, in my mind. Such posts are more suitable elsewhere, such as your own blog.

Synergy, you will be pleased to know this topic has led me to clarify something in the code of conduct: Quote: While there is a great deal of latitude in the General forum with regards to permitted topics, it is not a personal blog or meant to be an avenue to excessively espouse personal beliefs. The level of tolerance for this is generally inversely proportional to the sensitivity of the topic (e.g., discussions of hot-button political issues are generally frowned upon). While you intend well, I do think you have reached the point where you are dominating this discussion and treating it as your personal space to express your views at length rather than as an equal participant in a conversation. There are other places on the internet for this: politics forums, your own blog, etc.

That's good to know; however, with other versions in existence, I think the most conservative advice is just to go find the item you were meant to find unless other information is provided.

Synergy, you will be pleased to know this topic has led me to clarify something in the code of conduct: Quote: While there is a great deal of latitude in the General forum with regards to permitted topics, it is not a personal blog or meant to be an avenue to excessively espouse personal beliefs. The level of tolerance for this is generally inversely proportional to the sensitivity of the topic (e.g., discussions of hot-button political issues are generally frowned upon). While you intend well, I do think you have reached the point where you are dominating this discussion and treating it as your personal space to express your views at length rather than as an equal participant in a conversation. There are other places on the internet for this: politics forums, your own blog, etc.

You can't. Search around the estate (hint: bookshelves) to find what you need to decode the journal.

The cauldron at 29,13 is the one to use. Note that you need to be using Ember Flowers from this scenario and none other. Character Editor will not be valid either. There are some at 9,50.

If memory serves, you will need to explore some of the caves. In one, you will overhear some giants telling you about a secret passage. To use it, you will need to find what is otherwise an ordinary looking crystal, which is on a dead body of a mage in one of the giant camps. I believe the secret passage is past the main giant camp, which can be passed if you give them the Troglo map. Hope this helps!

Part of what I've heard about winning the lottery is that it is far more a curse than a blessing. Apparently winners seem to attract a lot of frivolous lawsuits, unsolicited requests for donations, bitterness of family/peers, unwanted attention from unscrupulous individuals, etc. Conversely, after the initial high, lottery winners tend to develop problems such as alcoholism over time. Of course, counterexamples exist, but that appears to be the trend.

Re: Passive Voice The reason to avoid passive voice is that it can lead to confusion about who or what leads to what action, and sentences can become unnecessarily long. Sometimes when you want to purposely deemphasize the subject because it is unimportant or irrelevant, this is fine. As a general rule of thumb, the active voice tends to lead to more crisp writing, which is good. This comes from someone who does a decent amount of technical writing in scientific and engineering publications. I use mostly active voice except in cases where it is awkward not to do so. While I cannot objectively judge my own writing, many colleagues have told me that they find my writing style easily accessible.

Quote: But I think it goes wider than corporations. For whatever reason, collections of people generally do seem to behave in ways that a single person might not. Crowds/mobs, religious institutions, political groupings... Micawber, agree with you. Whenever some group gains some practical protection from the collective that shields the individuals, their behavioral dynamics tend to differ. The issue with corporations is they are legally enshrined with "free speech" protections and have the resources to have major influence over the political landscape in ways most of the others cannot.

Don't get me wrong, corporations can and often do plenty of good and they are essential for a modern economy. Unfortunately, unlike real people, they sometimes lack the motive to behave and can lead to a net negative overall while they still gain. In theory, regulation is supposed to help align their motives with that of society, but when they have the ability to influence said regulation to their liking, the system tends to become unstable in favor of corporate interests.

Lilith, there is that and corporations are immune to the same psychological impacts of deterrence the rest of us as individuals are. Much of our legal system is built to deal with people, not abstract objects that cannot know emotions such as shame, fear, and guilt. You can't throw a corporation in prison to protect the rest of society; you can only assess monetary damages. Sure, there are individuals behind the corporations, but they are largely shielded from all but the most severe retribution. Even if you deliver such a monetary blow to a large corporation that you effectively "kill" it, the individuals behind it will, in all likelihood, be doing just fine sans their positions. Further, as a corporation, there is little motive to "do good". In fact, they are legally obligated to make a profit even if it means messing up their community. Effectively, corporations are immortal and unimprisonable sociopaths that are almost impossible to destroy. The laws that tend to deter people from doing bad things usually don't work on them.

Turtle: I would e-mail Jeff ASAP and get him your system specs.

I would hesitate to call US schools abysmal. The problem is it is hard to do an apples to apples comparison between systems in different nations. The usual metric of standardized tests really assess low level learning objectives such as rote memorization or the ability to do a mechanical process (e.g., long division) as opposed to more abstract levels that involve analysis, synthesis of knowledge, and creativity. Fact is the US schools as a whole have been able to produce enough talented individuals to be a major force in the world economy. Enough individuals are also produced to serve in the various US labor markets. Certainly, things are not as egalitarian as they should be and there are many faults with the system, but the problems largely go beyond the schools themselves.

The ordering is as dave s states. Within each grouping, they are done left to right. One could define other rules, but these are the ones everyone has agreed to follow, so it is best to use them.

Certainly, Eisenhower's foreign policies caused a lot of problems we are trying to mop up today; however, considering we still had the paranoia inspired from the echoes of the Second World War coupled with the escalation toward what appeared to be inevitable nuclear armageddon, these actions seem more understandable, and perhaps even necessary in light of the greater evils.

I see the point that the kill Redbeard path should have been more like an unpalatable path throughout the game much as joining the Darkside Loyalists were in A5. Had the general theme throughout the game been everyone pretty much resigned to his rule and telling you that challenging Redbeard is insanity and not viable, then I think this ridiculously tough battle would have been more appropriate. In fact, I would have rather liked it only possible to challenge Redbeard and not be immediately annihilated if you were in league with the Wayfarer for at least the last half of the game. As Redbeard said, the Wayfarer only posed a threat because of surprise and the only way to win is if you joined him in combat. Perhaps there could have been three types of endings, the first two of which are "easy": You serving Redbeard as a loyal servant, you serving Redbeard only on surface but an agent for the opposition, or the most difficult ending of taking his place.

My only issue with bashing in Exile, the way it was implemented, it pretty much made it the default mode of removing a non-magically locked door. While lockpicking was an option, since someone was going to invest heavily in strength anyway, it made lockpicking pretty much worthless.

Up the stairs in the library in Avadon.

If you do quests for Eye Leira, the librarian in Avadon, you will eventually get something that allows you to pass them.