Zenfinite wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:I love this show. FWIW, every prop was legit, they just play 4th Edition. The rulebooks, DM screen, battle mat and the figs were all real 4E stuff. In fact, they have had the 4E PHB and DMG on the coffee table for many, many episodes. All in good fun.

Zenfinite

You call 4E legit?  

benjoshua wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:

Zenfinite wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:I love this show. FWIW, every prop was legit, they just play 4th Edition. The rulebooks, DM screen, battle mat and the figs were all real 4E stuff. In fact, they have had the 4E PHB and DMG on the coffee table for many, many episodes. All in good fun.

Zenfinite

You call 4E legit?  

It was probably easier for CBS to get a "Product-Placement Agreement" using 4E than using any of the other older editions.

I was just trying to get a handle on how this was being viewed in the US by 'normal' folks. I am very much aware that what is reported in the UK media is sensationalised, and that what is viewable by UK citizens of the US media is mostly biased propoganda with one political agenda or another depending on either the news caster, anchor person, or news station's political motivation. So the best way to get a balanced view of reality is to ask.

I'm more than aware of some of the restrictions we face here in the UK. I have no idea about 'extreme pornography' or what is classified as such. Dead bodies, torturing kids, and buggering farm animals have never really done it for me. But I don't delude myself that we are much more heavilly 'nannied' than in the US.

We do not have freedom of speech in the UK. We never have had (but we also do not have a litigation culture). Every e-mail we send or receive is recorded and stored for a 12 months, and all out phone conversations and text messages and scanned by GCHQ for key words. And as regards 'my country is so safe', I cannot even carry pepper spray for my own protection because in the UK pepper spray is classified as a firearm. I cannot carry a SAK in my pocket unless I can justify and prove it's intended purpose, and even then I am only really safe from prosecution if its blade is less than 3". If I am pulled over in my vehicle and I have a Leatherman in the driving compartment I can be charged and jailed with having an offensive weapon in a public place. That's right, in the UK the inside of your car is considered a public place, and a Leatherman has a locking blade which is an illegale weapon. As a member of the public I am not permitter to carry or own any implement who's purpose is for the 'defence of the person or others'. So I have no allusions as to my own country or safety. Guns and Police action are just one aspect of a whole tableau of considerations.

I have reached a point where my wife and I need to make decisions about where we want to bring up children. The environment and their possible future. Having come from a military background we are mobile and have no ties to any one country. I have lived in 7. I have also reached a point where building a financial future from rock bottom is the order of the day (I was bankruptede following job loss last year), so if you are going to start from point zero, you have pretty much an open sl;ate to start wherever you choose. A logical place for me was to look at how money, ownership, greed, debt, interest, inflation, etc. all worked. How what one earns is best used. And on what various countries held to be their values, their economic prospects, their cultural and educational values, their work ethics and socail structures, etc. I have had and used a chunk of my life, and blew it a bit last year, but luckily the kids thing has only recently become the governing factor on what I have left to do.

So when I have a question I just ask the people I think would give me the most honest and balanced response. Hopefully a varied one. I wouldn't presume to ask about Chinese culture and the realities of living day to day in China here, but that may well be my own ignorance again. However I do have questions, and I will no doubt find a forum to ask those on (probably one of my wife's). I guess I can see how my way of doing things can be seen as trolling but it isn't intended to be and I offer my sincere apologies to those who have taken it that way.

<Apologies also for all they typos. I've just come off a 12hr shift and I can't be bothered to correct them right now.>

throwi wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:I love seeing the occasional centenarian story with the "keys to long life" - like bacon, alcohol, smoking cigars, etc.  A single person can have amazing resiliency to certain foods but the sad truth is that most humans suffer from poor choices each day.

Here's a few other tid-bits:

About 600,000 people (Americans) die every year of heart disease. (CDC)

This costs the US about $108.9 billion - for health care services, medication, and lost productivity. (CDC)

"High blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. About half of Americans (49%) have at least one of these three risk factors." (CDC)

"Eat a healthy diet that is low in salt; low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol; and rich in fresh fruits and vegetables." (CDC) - Don't see bacon on that list at all.

These are all facts from the CDC website (CDC - DHDSP - Heart Disease Facts).

Just thoughts and concerns with my fellow Americans.

~throwi

Probably mostly genetics.  I've seen healthy young people die of cancer in their 20s, and smokers who eat pasta daily live until their 80s.  Obviously outside factors play a part, but winning the genetic lottery is first and foremost.

Mike B.

Badmike wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:Probably mostly genetics.  I've seen healthy young people die of cancer in their 20s, and smokers who eat pasta daily live until their 80s.  Obviously outside factors play a part, but winning the genetic lottery is first and foremost.

Mike B.

This has always bugged me because so few people talk about this, but it is obvious.  If you have "good" genes where you are smart, thin, tall, good-looking and healthy, you don't want to talk about it because it comes off as bragging, but if the opposite is true then society likes to say you just as good as everyone else.

Personally, I believe and taught my boys that you are a product of three things, your genes, environment, and choices, and far and away the most important of those three is the choices you make.  We've all seen people with limitations do amazing things and others who had every advantage throw it all away.

But society likes to teach things like, education can take you wherever you want to go, or believe it and you can be it, or fake it until you make it, or no pain, no gain.  All of these give people the impression that they can do anything or be anything and it's just not exactly true.  Fortunately, many parents or educators also teach that life isn't fair, and that is very true.

Finally, I don't see the gene thing so much as a lottery because at least with a lottery, everyone has an equal chance to win the jackpot.  The reality is that the gene rich usually get gene richer and the gene poor usually get gene poorer.  And the ugliest and dumbest don't reproduce at all.  See?  This is why it's not a popular topic....  

benjoshua wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:.  And the ugliest and dumbest don't reproduce at all.

This has to be one of the most wonderful things I have ever read on the internet - I am genuinely happy that I will not die a virgin !

sauromatian wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:

mbassoc2003 wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:I was just trying to get a handle on how this was being viewed in the US by 'normal' folks.

Then you are most certainly in the wrong place.

In my experience, I have met far more 'normal' people from all walks of life among the gamer community than say your average Scottish pub or supermarket. If Walmart in the US is in anyway similar to Asda here in the UK (same company) then you'll know what I mean. Your average staff member is over 50 and your average customer has an IQ lower than their age, half of whom seem either unable to wash or unable to disguise their own fascination with feeling their genitals. At least gamers have the ability to communicate in written form and the ability to work enough to fund their chosen addictions without expecting taxpayers to do it for them.

rhynne wrote in Former Thoughts or OT Chit-Chat Thread:Hey mbassoc,

You could have asked me about Chinese Culture and living in China
Been in Hong Kong since 1997.

Best regards,
Ronald

Hey Ronald. I will take you up on that offer over The Private Message system. At the moment China appeals if I am looking for the best start I can give kids in this world. I've lived a long time in the luxury of English dominated Western affluence, and maybe it is time I tried my hand at being an immigrant.

Random strangeness with my ebay account.  Got a notification saying my account email address had been changed.  Figured it was a scam email, but went to ebay anyway to try to log in (via my browser, not clicking any email links).  I hadn't used my account in awhile, and couldn't login, so I started the account retrieval process (lots of questions on the phone with customer service).   Apparently early this morning someone access my account and changed the email address.  They also changed the username to  "david_beckseller".  No purchases or other activity that I see so far...

A sudden shocking twist in the West, TX fertilizer plant explosion. Should get interesting....

Texas Explosion Criminal Investigation Launched By Law Enforcement Officials

WACO, Texas — Texas law enforcement officials on Friday launched a criminal investigation into the massive fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month, after weeks of largely treating the blast as an industrial accident.

The announcement came the same day federal agents said they found bomb-making materials belonging to a paramedic who helped evacuate residents the night of the explosion. Bryce Reed was arrested early Friday on a charge of possessing a destructive device, but law enforcement officials said they had not linked the charge to the April 17 fire and blast at West Fertilizer Co.

Mike B.