DarthTofu

Iraq has become very much like Vietnam- it's a pity that we have to pull out, but we shouldn't have gone in in the first place. Our "Iraquinization" has failed just as much as "Vietnamization," and we have to accept that and move out. Eventually the country will figure out what it's doing, and when it does it may reenter world politics... but it's going to be a while. Just because a few enemies of the US have been vocal in support of Obama doesn't mean that more allies (and potential allies) haven't been vocal. Castro hasn't moved against the US actively in- what, almost fifty years, now? Chavez... well, Chavez is nuts- you really can't tack too much weight on anything he says or does. As for the Irani support... make of that what you will. We'll see what happens there.

Indiana Jones at an art auction. I freaking love Whitest Kids You Know....

*Whistles* I may or may not scare small children the whole year round.... Yeah, last year I did something called the Haunted Island, where we converted Kiwanis Island, a community park, into a massive haunted area and sold tickets to raise funds for (I assume) the Kiwanis Club. Beta Club (the organization I was with at the time (I'm now its President)) was just helping out, and never saw a penny of the money raised. This one was on a smaller scale, in a friend's back yard. Still tons of fun, though, and the fact that I live, like, fifteen miles south of his house meant that I could actually touch folks without fear of reprimand or apprehension. (No, not "touch" folks. Touch them. There's a difference.)

I was talking to Tex, but that's beside the point. For the record, it would appear that our foreign policy sway has gone rather up, contrary to popular belief: Check it out.

lol- I finally bothered to watch two episodes tonight. It was... interesting. The acting is nothing special- in fact, it hurts from time to time. I mean, we have cutting-edge graphics and the like, yet somehow we can't get the voices to work properly. And some of the stuff was just stupid- like fifty fully-trained assault droids or whatever it was being incapable of hitting three or four clone troopers standing around without cover. That being said, it was visually very impressive. I just wish the plot weren't so weak. The use of land-based units to destroy space-based units in particular galled me; The firepower of a walker vs. the firepower of a capitol (capitol or capital?) ship, the ship can take and deal way more damage. So mixed opinions from me. Some good, some bad... the sort of show that I'll watch if it's on and nobody else is around, but that I won't record or go out of my way to watch. Edit: Oh, yeah- what's with the tacky narration? It comes across like the old World War II reports, and it doesn't really work. It's just too corny and tacky. It'd be like if the characters said "jeepers!" Sure, maybe it's a reference back to the time of the Last Great War (if you're optimistic enough to call it that), but it still doesn't work with today's society.

Here's hoping that only persons suffering from some form of disease (and not obesity) will be using those things in the future. lol- bionic wedgie-maker.

Fortunately Carter was only in for one term, unfortunately that was a looooonnngg four years. Maybe Obama is what's needed to get a great president for 2012 (that means NOT him)? Your primary criticism of the man is that we know nothing of him, yet you claim that he can't be a great president. Could it be that you've formed an opinion of the man based upon his political party before ever giving him a chance? If he does poorly, I'll be the first to admit that he's done poorly, but if everyone is calling his reign the apocalypse and choosing to hate him in advance, it'll be that much harder to do a good job for his four years.

Hehe- Ian McDiarmid and Ian McClellan (sp?) both play principal characters in the version of MacBeth that we're using to supplement our readings in AP Lit right now. Today was the first day of it, and I found myself desperately hoping for McDiamid to shout "Unlimited power!" and attempting to fry MacBeth (who was portrayed by McClellan) in Force lightning, resulting in a cry of "YOU SHALL NOT PAAAAAASS!" and an awesome display of nerdiness that would make every geek this side of Mexico suddenly cry tears of joy without knowing why.

I just attended a haunted house as one of the workers. I wore the same clothes I wore to school, smeared fake blood all over my shirt, and grabbed an old mask that they had lying around. Then I did some of my better and terrified a few kids and their parents. Whenever the chainsaw broke (it had a nasty habit of losing nuts and bolts when it was used too long) we shut the haunted house and I got to go outside and entertain with the full freak show. I was also in charge of getting the jerks- little kids that yelled, "That wasn't scary at all!" whom I would sneak up behind and fake (or real, depending on how bad they were) stab in the face with a plastic stake. I thwocked three 12-year-old football players on the heads for being deusches. Fortunately I had a mask, so they couldn't tell it was me. Then I made Zoidberg-style "Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!" noises and made my escape.

He'll be missed... he was a good author. I really enjoyed Jurassic Park. Oddly enough, I also enjoyed the movie, which is rare for me. Probably comes from seeing the movie before I read the book. I rated your vid and commented, Mad. Would it help if we favorite it?

lol- the common theory is that she was chosen because, to put it in the most vulgar terms possible, "former Hillary supporters won't be able to tell the difference between two people with a vagina!" Really there was nothing going for her, unless you want to count looks. Her SAT scores were released, and she only got, like an eleven hundred. Pretty low, when you consider that the best you can do is a sixteen hundred. Granted, that's the old SAT, which may or may not be comparable to today's SAT, but all the same, I'd prefer to see some better scores and some better schooling than she had- particularly if she would have stayed at any one college longer than, what was her record? Two years? Rice had it all going for her- minority vote, woman vote, she's actually intelligent and speaks to the base... her only detractor would be Palin's only benefit- looks. Sorry, but that gap between the teeth... *shudder* All the same, it would have made me vote for McCain if I could vote. He just distanced himself too much with Sarah Palin... So: Who are we predicting will run for President in 2012, now?

The issue is that we still have an overrepresentation of the smaller states. One million people in one location have less of a vote than one thousand people in another. It's disproportional representation, in my opinion. The main argument against abolishing it is that then candidates would only campaign in New York, LA, and Miami, really. I think that's rather silly, personally, but oh well. So far as Obama goes... we'll see. Don't judge yet, and don't jump to conclusions. I don't think he'll be God on earth or anything, but I think he'll do his best, which is the most we can ask of him. At any rate, we'll hopefully not see the religious-based social issues being pushed upon us by Obama. Enough of the foolish attempts to put Intelligent Design in schools- if you want to believe that, it's your business, but the idea is based in religion, not science. I'm rather ticked that Amendment 2 to the Florida Constitution passed, banning gay marriage. I'm not gay, nor do I know any gays, but it's stupid bigotry to say that they shouldn't be married. What are the pathetic arguments against it? That it "destroys the sanctity of marriage?" Let's extrapolate that: it destroys the sanctity of marriage according to their religious views. First amendment, folks. Never ever ever ever ever ever try to take that one out in any way, shape, or form. Anyway... I don't expect the economy to pick up in the next four years. Part of that is because I disagree with Obama on the economy, but most of it is because the economy is slow to change. Obama has been compared quite a bit to Carter recently, who lost most of his support due to events outside of his control, and I predict the same will happen to Obama- he'll most likely be a one-term President. But that's just a prediction. If he does a good job, in four years time I'll vote for him. If he hasn't delivered the Change We Need, I'll vote for whoever runs against him. You want my honest opinion? If McCain had taken, say, Rice on as his VP choice, he would have won. Palin scared too many people, myself included. I know folks who care quite a bit about the economy, agreed with McCain's views... and back Obama, because Palin was too much of a turn-off, and they were afraid McCain would die in office.

Shhhhhh! Quiet, Tex! You're gonna totally wreck my scam! I believe quite a few folks sold the boxes for 360s when they first came out and made upward of 2000 dollars on them.

I haven't the patience to try making one of those. I always need a pattern to tell me what to do, or else my freehand pumpkins come out with one eye too big or a lopsided nose or something like it. So far as costumes go... I'll probably grab a full-face mask and a ladder. Then I'll climb on the roofs of the houses of folks I don't like and pelt small children with rocks from up there. I just need someone to run off with the ladder after I climb up, now...

Congrats. It was starting to get lonely up here at the top- now we spammers have some company!

lol- no beer for 16, 17, and 18-year-olds here in the States, unfortunately... or fortunately, as the case may be- I imagine I'd be a very entertaining drunk, but not the world's brightest. I tend to get rid of silly little inhibitions without alcohol- with the added effect of being able to say, "I was drunk at the time" I'd probably do something really obscene. So no beer, but we did have some good tunes pumping- AC/DC for starters. I just bought Back in Black, and I am loving that album! Potentially because I've had to listen to stupid 3 Days Grace CDs that my friend burns me, since I don't have any other music to play. (I don't really like 3 Days Grace.) Then there was, of course, the music from Rock Band. From Hells Bells to Don't Fear the Reaper to Sandman, we had some good classics going.

Here's what this boils down to- my friends and I are all nerds and social pariahs. We're the kids that make jokes based on calculus, such as "dbacon/dx= delicious." (The derivative of bacon with respect to x is delicious!) They're quite funny if you get them, but if you try to explain them, you receive a number of vacant looks. Anyway, we've embraced our nerdiness and social awkwardness, and so this year, our Senior year, rather than being slaves to conformity and attending the Homecoming dance, which none of us much cared for in the first place, we created the Anti-Homecoming. The Anti-Homecoming is precisely what it sounds like- everything that Homecoming isn't. Our Homecoming dance generally consists of the following: 1) Loud rap music/the occasional hick song played at around 2,000 decibels 2) Dance styles that ought to require contraceptives 3) At least a dozen folks deciding that dancing just isn't cutting it, and that they're going to have to go somewhere else and remove those dang constricting clothes 4) A room small enough that there is nowhere to escape the noise and hear yourself think, much less hold a conversation. 5) An average IQ of about 79.6 (roughly estimated) The Anti-Homecoming consisted of this: 1) Four, count 'em, four video game systems, only one of which was actually mine (friends dragged along a Wii, an X-box, and an X-box 360 to compliment my PS2), each equipped with the great party games (Soul Caliber IV, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Rock Band, Battlefront II, DDR) 2) Forty-eight cans of orange soda available for free (BJs had good prices, and I felt like being nice) 3) An average IQ of at least 125 (again, a rough estimate) Where normal Homecoming ended at eleven, ours didn't finish until around 2 AM. It might have gone on longer, but the people we were going to prank came back from their walk around the block too soon. Curses! Anyway, I kinda wonder- do we have any "popular" folks here who would prefer to attend a legit Homecoming, or are we all nerd and geek enough that we'd prefer the massive LAN party that was the Anti-Homecoming, surrounded by nerds and geeks who can fully embrace it? All but two of the folks who showed up were in AP Calculus... that amuses me.

Hahaha- ace posts, Krytos! Liberal joke. Don't watch if you're too conservative for your own good.

You're absolutely correct, addict. The UK version is the exact same thing as the US version, just the name change. I think there's also some sort of an issue with the multiplayer system, but the patch for both versions is available on this site.

.... I refuse to become a part of this conversation beyond making this comment, mentioning that I don't want to become involved. It's far too strange, even for me.

I beat you to the punch on the X-ray sticky tape, Krytos. bwahaha! Hot coffee makes people like you more.

half.com has it for $25, which is still rather a lot, considering the age of the game. It used to be available on LucasArts.com, but it isn't anymore. I don't know why- potentially because nobody was willing to pay $50 for a copy, which is what they were charging when they offered it (yeah, ridiculous). It's ten years old, though, so finding a copy will be tough. I have to get mine back from a friend and make a backup, 'cause I don't want to lose that game....

It isn't that we don't care, Ceorl. It's just that some folks, myself included, can't really participate in the conversation, because we don't own the game. I played Jedi Outcast and loved it, though. Nothing quite so sweet as hacking off a Reborn's head with the saberrealisticcombat cheat!

Little known fact: Whenever Wedge Antilles dies, the Imperials all lose five billion moral points as they recognize that badassness of Wedge's death, for he cannot go down in a mere blaze of glory. Rather, he dies in a supernova of glory!

The only downside to 360 is the errors- red ring of death and all. Otherwise, most folks love it. I played a few games on the PS3 and liked it, so it's no waste of money, but it lacks games, trading them for stability.