Gavin

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Personally I think people are getting a little uptight about this, sure coming from OB's resident Catholic this may sound slightly hollow, but this is simply an education program designed to give people another perspective on sex. I mean some of the responses really sound as if President Bush is just using this as a stepping stone before banning outright people's ability to have children outside of a Christian form of wedlock. Sure the money could be better spent on other programs, but there are dozens of other programs the American government, and [B]all[/B] governments spend money on that could be better spent elsewhere. As for when and where people have sex, that's their own decision, they want to wait till their married, that's fine, they don't, that's their business. But if we look at this from a strictly religious and politically neutral point of view, most children born to a family with two parents generally are better off financially that those who grow up in single parent families. My own mother was raised by her mother alone, and I know I've had it better than she had because I've had two working parents. I'm not saying marriage is the key, just that two heads or in this case paycheques are better that one. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. OK, I'm going to bite the bullet here and say I'd like to see the Saiyan and Frieza Sagas of Dragonball Z redone. Now I know some anime fans out there are sharpening knives ready to fillet me for this, but my main reason for saying it is because so much of the earlier Sagas simply don't fit with what comes after it, as if they simply made stuff up as they go along. I mean my first point is how if we take the Bardock Special as being what happened to Planet Vegeta, which I prefer to do as it's far better done that what was shown in the Frieza Saga, then Raditz should have no idea his brother is alive, ergo he should have no reason to go to Earth. Secondly there's the litany of discrepancies on information pertaining to the Saiyans, their tail weakness which disappears, their empire which turns out to be nothing more than a piece of Frieza?s dominion and how the planet was actually destroyed by Frieza and not it?s guardian as King Kai said. Really all I?d like them to do is go back and redo the storyline so that all the facts fit, after that, I?m happy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Nate's pace had quickened since they'd entered Viridian Forest, he had fond memories of this place, when he, AJ and their father had come out for picnics. Cade Armstrong had been a renowned Pokémon master back in his day, before he'd had two young boys to take care of. Nate remembered always feeling secure when he father was around, as dangerous as Viridian Forest was, he'd known nothing could ever hurt him or his brother as long as their father had been around. AJ was rolling the pokéball that contained his Caterpie around his palm, Nate didn't really see the point of trying to catch anything around here, the best he might manage was a Pikachu, and he didn't really consider that to be worth his while in searching out one. The breeze had shifted northwards, blowing right in the direction of where they were headed, they weren't that far from the forest's edge, after that they'd hit the city. "[B]I was just thinking about when dad used to bring us out here as kids, you remember that AJ ?[/B]" AJ laughed, but at the same time it was almost a sigh of nostalgia. "[b]Yeah, I remember. Good times... good times.[/b]" The sentiment hung in the air between the two, ever since their mother's death a few years beforehand, their father had lost his sense of direction in life. His strength had seemed to just ebb away, and for both of them it had been heartbreaking. One day Nate had arrived home from high school to find a note on the table, after "Dear Nate and AJ" the tears had just streamed down his face, he was seventeen years old when it happened, all he'd wanted at that point was for someone to tell him it would be OK. "[b]I was just thinking, if we really do this right, maybe we might hear something of him on our travels.[/b]" Nate just waited for AJ to respond, he'd never asked his brother about how he felt directly, maybe now was as good a time to do so.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Deathsye']Yeah I agree with Gavin. Fable was a great game with a great storyline. And Lost Chapters added on with Jack of Blades coming back in what seemed to be Hell. But, one thing would bother me. How would Alignment be shown? It was one of the things that made Fable great also. Could there be two heroes?[/quote] [SIZE=1]Honestly I hadn't thought about alignment as I always play as a good guy, seriously I've never actually played Fable as a villain. Besides from the point of view of most animes, nearly every hero is good, [spoiler]and even if they're not seeing as your ultimate mission is to take out Jack of Blades, you're not exactly going to hop onto the evil bandwagon and join him[/spoiler]. As for the last few bits in TLC, I really felt that cheapened the ending of the game as it barely tied to what you had done already.[/SIZE] [quote name='Deathsye']And the way I see it about KOTOR anime. It would most likely be in the style of Clone Wars off of Cartoon Network. And that is not a bad thing. I would love to see HK's personality with animation. But the same question as with Fable Anime. How would Alignment be shown? Only one Revan and only One Exile.[/quote] [SIZE=1]Yeah I was thinking Clone Wars template too, as for the alignment, well that's a lot simpler than Fable as canonically Revan is male and light-sided. I'd rather not see an anime of KOTOR 2 unless they went to a heck of a lot of effort to clean up it's mess of a storyline and dire characters.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Honestly I don't eat enough junk food to notice a decline, nor to be honest am I sorry that finally the corporations that are producing these foods are finally trying a healthier approach. Seriously, I have never understood why junk food is supposed to taste so much better than a normal good meal, it doesn't even have to be one of these "health food" ones.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Sandy']Aww, come on! Don't tell me you don't see the connection between North Korea and the morality of nuclear weapons! Nukes were, in fact, the reason people are worried about North Korea. That's where the discussion led to, so wouldn't it be superficial to cut out a good debate just because it changed the point-of-view? Maybe the title could be changed for something more fitting, but closing down an otherwise quality thread would be quite silly.[/quote] [SIZE=1]While I accept that nuclear weapons were indeed the central focus of the threat posed by Korea, if we can indeed call Kimmy a threat, the morality of actually having nuclear weapons is quite a different topic, which should have a different thread if we want to talk about it. It means that those who want to talk about nuclear weapons and their morality have a thread to discuss that topic in, and those who want to talk about Kimmy and the threat he poses have their own and the two don't get mixed. I'm not saying the North Korea thread should be closed, just that the WMD morality debate should have it's own thread. For instance, if you wish to continue this discussion on what is "off-topic" we should probably do it in another thread that is not about "Spam Thread Surge".[/SIZE]

[QUOTE=Sandy]As much as I appreciate constructive criticism, and believe it is needed for one to become better at whatever one does, I don't think I deserve anybody's "advice" on this matter, because [I]I[/I] wasn't having a problem, I was simply "playing mod", as you put it. But it's good to know how much better you'd be as a moderator than me, Gavin.[/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]OK, if you don't want to accept some constructive criticism that's fine, just trying to be of help. However I would appreciate it if you wouldn't attach responsibility to me for DeadSeraphim's comments, as I merely explained to you what he had said. As for whether or not I'd be a better moderator than you, I'll leave that decision to those qualified to make it, though personally I think if you consider being a moderator means you can only give out advice and not receive it, then maybe being a moderator hasn't changed since the days of kuja.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Sandy']It's only natural that discussions and debates live, and the same thing is happening to this thread as well. Don't mix it with off-topic discussion, which means bringing a whole new, out-of-the-blue topic into the conversation (like "scrap North Korea, let's talk about candy bars!"). [/quote] [SIZE=1]Actually Sandy, typically when a thread has veered completely off it's original purpose, in the North Korean threads case, as to whether or not they were a threat to a point where we're discussing the morality of nuclear weapons, it's usually about then staff close the thread and advise people if they want to continue such a discussion to do it in a thread with such a title. After all what would your response be to read a thread titled "Finnish Cuisine", which when you clicked the last reply was discussing WW2. It's called Off-Topic, and such threads are as I said, usually closed. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Sandy]Also, it's ridiculous that you accuse [I]me[/I] of playing mod - I [I]am[/I'] a mod! It's not like I'm using my authority here, but ensuring the quality of this place is every mod's duty, no matter what area he or she is assigned to.[/quote] [SIZE=1]Actually Sandy he accused you playing mod in a forum that isn't yours, so regardless of whether or not you're a member of staff for another forum, it's still playing mod.[/SIZE] [QUOTE=Sandy]As an (overexaggerated) example, let's say I started a thread asking opinions if Anneli Jäätteenmäki was persecuted to step down from her office as a Prime Minister, without putting any background of the situation to the post. Now, would [I]you[/I] use google, or just go "huh?!"?[/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]I think I'd agree with indifference and go "huh ?!" then use Google or Wiki to find out who exactly this woman was before making a post and complaining that the original poster [in this case you] did not supply enough information as to allow me to avoid having to search for exactly what they were talking about. Personally if you consider us harsh for pointing out that you could have remedied your own problem but didn't, and instead chose to complain about it, then I hope you'll take this as a lesson and avoid such situations in the future. Don't take this as an attack Sandy, I'm merely giving you some constructive criticism, after all if your aim is to improve OB's overall quality, then it's best to start with yourself.[/SIZE]

[QUOTE=Sandy]Of course, because Phar-freaking-Lap is the most important thing in my life now and forevermore! I want to know just [I]everything[/I] about it! Seriously, I didn't get that Phar Lap was the horse's name. Sounds more like a misspelled shortening of Pharmacy Laboratory or something. :P[/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]Well correct me if I'm wrong Sandy, but making a response to the thread would seem to indicate an interest in the topic, unless you're just posting for the sake of posting, not saying that you are, just that it seems odd you seem to have little interest in this thread you've post in. As for finding out ever detail on the horse, I find it a bit hard to believe you don't have two minutes to breeze through a relatively short Wiki article to find out some basic knowledge. I'm not trying to be confrontational or anything, just replying when I'm quoted. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Nate watched AJ roll the pokéball about in his hand a few times before clipping it back onto his belt, despite the fact there was only a year and a bit between the two brothers, their respective personalities tended to push that barrier further apart. Nate loved his little brother, there was no doubt about that, he was his best friend and even though he hated to admit it, he made life exciting. "Blur", the Scyther Nate had picked up at the lab had turned out to be over a year old, which suited his new trainer down to the ground, as it meant he had some measure of experience in the field. They'd left the lab about an hour after getting their Pokémon, Viridian City was their first stop, as not only was it the closest gym to Pallet Town, it was their home city, which made it a preferable second step on their journey. They'd been one of the first groups to leave, Nate and his brother saw little point in hanging around the lab, they could easily call Oak if they needed to, it wasn't as if the dozens of cell phone satellites orbitting overhead were suddenly going to come crashing down. It was hard to believe that when they woke up this morning, the two brothers had been ordinary people, now they were Pokémon trainers, expected to go across the continent in search of battle and self-realisation. "[B]Self-realisation ? I think you need to need to meditate less Nate.[/B]" Nate realised he must has expressed that last sentiment in a low voice rather than thinking it. His cheeks flushed for a moment, before he realised that his brother had been kidding, despite the fact AJ appeared to be brash and independent, truth was he could take things as seriously as Nate did, and often underneath his passion, he did.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. T-shirts that have slogans like "If you can read this, you're too close" are things I personally consider pointless, but such is only an opinion, other more concrete pointless things would probably be older mobile phone download services which used to charge a fortune for ringtones which you would then send to all your friends for nothing, this is before everyone had different phones from different manufacturers and you could diddle these companies without feeling bad. Mother of all pointless things related to the latter would be the Crazy Frog merchandise from that awful tone, how anyone decided that the most annoying sound in the world could be marketed is beyond me.[/SIZE]

[quote name='Doublehex]Compellign storyline? Awesome villains? You are [I]not[/I'] serious! It has some of the most cliched storylines of all time. You pretty much knew what was going on with the story around every turn. Each of the plt twists were something a three year old could write down. And its length was inexcusable (10 hours for an RPG?). The only thing that saved the game was its amazing gameplay.[/quote] [SIZE=1]Oh come on Doublehex, you have to admit that Jack of Blades was a cool villain, [spoiler]and even Maze's turning on the Guild came as a shock[/spoiler] at least to me. While I accept that the length of the game itself was not something to be joyful about, indeed I regularly master everything in the game and come out at under 15 hours, but the storyline is so typical of an anime it could be easily converted. On that note, even though they did a great job of it, I'd like to see [B]Knights of the Old Republic[/B] turned into an anime as well, if only for the same reasons as Fable, along with the fact that it's Star Wars, and anything SW is automatically cool in my books, that and a fully animated HK-47 defies the awesomeness scale.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. As liamc2 said, I think it's kind of hard to blame America for Phar Lap's death, in as much as America seems to indicate the nation rather than just a group of Americans, that is of course if Americans were indeed responsible for Phar Lap's poisoning.[/SIZE] [QUOTE=Sandy]No, the question is who heck is Phar Lap? :P Putting just a [I]bit[/I] more background information to the starting post of this thread wouldn't have hurt...[/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]Maybe doing a Wiki search on Phar Lap, or heck even reading posts subsequent to the original might shed some light on your predicament Sandy.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Personally I'd like to see Lionhead's [b][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_%28video_game%29]Fable[/url][/b] turned into an anime, like Zelda it has many of the usual anime roots, young boy orphaned by an evil warlord due to an important family secret, taken by a powerful wizard to be trained to be a hero and avenge his family. Of course it was Fable's quite distinct graphics that made it such a hit, as well as it's compelling storyline if we exclude the woeful addition in the form of The Lost Chapters final few quests. Jack of Blades is definitely up there in the Top 100 PC game villains and I think it could work quite well as an anime. [/SIZE]

[QUOTE=HedonismBot][COLOR=Sienna]Gavin, I think they're reffering to a phenomenon called [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori]Hikikomori[/URL], also known as Acute Social Withdrawl. It is real, and there are cases of the Hikikomorites killing their families. It's hard to say how come this happens almost exclusivly in Japan. The most probable reason is that, in Japan, a lot of pressure is placed on the male children by their parents and society as a whole; they are always being pushed to be better or work harder, and society's expectations are often rediculous. As a result, a lot of people find it easier to just cut themselves off from it all. I don't blame them; life in Japan isn't all it's made out to be. So damn crowded, too.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]Thanks for the link HD, having read the article, I have to admit I feel truly sorry for people who are subject to this "Hikkomori". The idea that in Japan it's not dealt with because it may bring shame to the family is deeply unsettling, but then as the article stated there is such pressure on children to succeed in Japan that it's not hard to believe that this kind of problem could develop. I know it detailed other similar phenomena in other countries, but seeing as this article is on the one specific to Japan, I'll stick to discussing the Japanese variant. As for the most extreme cases "killing their families" I don't recall reading that, just the bus incident, which was tragic if indeed the child was Hikkomori.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.[/SIZE] [QUOTE=musiQ_Q]This is known as the 'phenomenon' that only occurs in Japan. Basically, kids just snap under pressure and lock themselves away in their rooms for years. They do not come out, are fed through cat flaps, live in piles of rubbish, and in the worst case scenarios, finally come out of their rooms in their mid 20's, only to murder their whole family. Japan keeps this a secret. Parents keep it a secret. Why does this happen? and only in Japan...? it's a little bit interesting...and also a little bit sad.[/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]Not to doubt you musiQ_Q, but could you provide a link that might offer some corroborative evidence of this. I'm not calling you a liar or anything, I just find the whole concept a bit hard to believe.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. My place to relax is split between my room watching a DVD or my local gym where I can pump some iron and then go sit in the sauna for thirty or some minutes and allow my muscles to relax after the hard work. Meeting up with friends is good, but I don't do that all that often, as most of them are in college, but our pub and golf sessions are still a riot.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. I'm really puzzled as to why so many people are surprised by this, it's a typical South Park thing to lampoon recent media events, regardless of their nature, the Tom Cruise episode for instance, which I have to admit I'd have loved to see. It's offensive, it's politically incorrect and at times it's downright heartless, all these things have been typical of South Park since the beginning, so what's so special about Steve Irwin that he should avoid it ? It's a bit low I agree, but that's life. [/SIZE]

[quote name='Lunox][color=dimgray'] I fundamentally agree with you, but I also believe there are technicalities that people miss when they view this topic. Most of the people here are blowing Kim Jon Il off as a attention-hungry dictator and needs to be put in his place. Yeah, that's probably true, but "*****-slapping" third-world countries back into their place only increases the schism between the western/eastern struggle.[/color][/quote] [SIZE=1]In relation to the "*****-slapping" comment, I was talking about the leaders themselves as opposed to their nations, I generally feel those guys have a rotten end of the stick to have such kinds of people in government. Leaders like Kimmy and his ilk generally need to be cut down a few sizes as to prevent them getting too arrogant in their own minds as to go making demonstrations of their "power".[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. What with my time being mostly taken up with high school at the moment, I have to admit apart from the few incidents I've noticed in the Website sub-forum, I haven't really noticed any major increase in spam. Given that these kinds of problems however are usually swiftly handled by the staff, I think as James said it's really only a case of seeing where the problem lies in vB and sorting it out. And given how skilled Justin is, I think that it's only a matter of time.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Personally, having attended both mixed and single gender schools, I definitely think that co-ed school as a far better alternative to what's being offered here even if it's on a voluntary basis. As many people have said, separating kids based on gender will only lead to more awkward social interaction when they're older, and trust me I know first hand this is true. By separating people, you make them less aware of others, by keeping them ignorant of others and their difference you breed idiocy [cooties anyone] if that keeps up you eventually lead to the separated kids having no idea how to integrate into a society which does not split men and women into different workplaces actively. I agree there may be some element of distraction between the ages of say 12 and the rest of your life if you're male because of the opposite sex, but this is going to occur wherever you go, and it's just going to get worse if you keep a whole load of teenage boys cooped up with only a few female teachers to look at.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting. Mostly when I think of New York, I think of the City, and when I think of the City, I invariably think of that episode of the Simpsons where they all go to New York to get Homer's car back. Other than that all the touristy things come to mind, Empire State, Statue of Liberty, all that stuff, oh and those baseball caps, can't forget those.[/SIZE] [quote name='Raiyuu][FONT=Trebuchet MS]Hey, here I am modding a thread about New York and [i]Englishman in New York[/i'] by The Police pops up on my mp3 player random playlist. Funny thing, coincidence, isn't it?[/FONT][/quote] [SIZE=1]Weird, I just started humming that song as I was reading the thread as well.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Nate found himself wandering around Oak's lab while the other trainers "mingled", he'd had the chance a few years before hand to become a trainer, but school had seemed more important at the time and he'd chosen to finish high school. AJ had been his brash self as usual, leading to a snort of irritation from his older brother, he hated having attention drawn to himself. ?[b]Nathan, I'm glad to see you took up my offer.[/b]? Nate turned to see Oak leaning against an adjacent wall observing a few of the other arrivals, Oak hadn't changed that much in the four years since Nate had seem him in person last, a few more white hairs, a few new creases, but essentially the same man from before. Adjusting his jacket, Nate moved over and stood beside the professor. ?[b]I remember the first time you came here, you were very eager to take the challenge... I'm glad in ways you decided to wait a few years, makes you a better candidate, a more adult perspective.[/b]? He laughed at the sentiment, "eager" that didn't sound right, Nate never got eager over anything any more, you could offer him ten-thousand dollars and he probably wouldn't do anything more than blink. He recalled that he?d never actually chosen a Pokémon the first time around, he?d asked Oak to do it, figured the man had more experience in those kids of decisions that a child who equated fire with cool. He hadn?t said anything in response to the professor yet, but Oak had made a statement as opposed to asking a question. ?[b]I remember the first time we met, I asked you to pick my Pokémon for me...[/b]? ?[b]As recall you decided at the last second it wasn?t for you.[/b]? ?[b]I think now?s the time to relive that last second.[/b]? ?[b]I think so too.[/b]? The pair moved across to the racks of Pokémon in Oak?s lab, each of them were young, quite young even, sometimes young Pokémon had a problem with following orders, if they felt it was in their better interests to ignore them. His hand passed over a few different balls, but none of them really felt right to him. Oak just kept walking, maybe he knew something about Nate that even four years and a personality shift hadn?t. ?[b]I think this one will suit you best.[/b]? Oak tossed a pokéball over to him, so much for being able to make his own choice. He opened it dutifully, releasing whatever Pokémon had been sealed inside. It was tall and lean, green carapace covering it?s body, a Scyther. But this didn?t look like a hatchling... ?[b]Interesting, most interesting.[/b]?[/SIZE]

[QUOTE=Aaryanna][COLOR=DarkOrchid]Wow, I really think people are overly judgmental here. >_< Do you really think the news is going to paint her in a good light? As much as suicide may be wrong, how many of us even understand the pain behind such a desire to die? I think I?m going to bow out of this one as I think everyone is too busy slamming her instead of bothering to wonder what else is going on. Quite honestly I get tired of hearing how suicide is selfish when it?s often coming from someone who has never suffered. (I don't mean you Panda cause I know what RH does. >_