Search For Author: gwagers - Earth Empires Forum

gwagers

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Feb 18th 2012, 16:50:54

Considering that the Panama Canal is a man-made waterway, I don't think it can be considered the technical boundary between the continents. Of course, the Central American map above suggests that the division between Central America and South America is the border between Panama and Colombia (it is Colombia down there, right? Venezuela is farther east, isn't it?). So I suppose the canal is no less definitive than someone's arbitrarily-placed political boundary...

Peloponnese (PEHL-oh-puh-NEES): a mythical land of cheesecake

"We cannot enter into alliance with neighboring princes until we are acquainted with their designs..."--Sun Tzu

Who has time for that? BLAST THEM ALL!

gwagers

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Feb 15th 2012, 19:54:28

Best in Earth? Who cares? I am the best at space.

gwagers

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Feb 15th 2012, 19:49:18

Isn't ALL of Central America in North America? We call it Central America, yes, but that's an arbitrary geographical designation without anything to back it up except language differences and history.

gwagers

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Feb 15th 2012, 19:41:55

I think distinguishing Mexico from "Central America" is accurate as far as Americans are concerned. Mexico is not only the largest Central American country, but it's also the one on our border. I think it's fair to describe the general American view of Central America as "Mexico, and those other ones." When I hear "Central America," for instance, my first thought is "everything between Mexico and South America," regardless of whether or not Mexico is technically part of Central America.

gwagers

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Feb 9th 2012, 17:25:55

What's the reward, shooting the rhino afterward?

gwagers

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Feb 9th 2012, 17:21:30

Education is only one of many issues that need to be solved, and probably not the most important one in the domestic sphere (the international competition on intelligence is a different story). Still, it would be nice to see a quality education system in the US. That said, people have tried, and the bureaucracy and standardization involved have made matters worse rather than better in many instances.

*By dismissing standardization, I am not implying that we should let some schools fall behind others overall. I am saying that standardization does not take individual circumstances into account--by definition it literally can't do that. For instance, I am a history major in college, yet I have to take a GRE to get into grad school that is more than 33% math based. I haven't used any math above multiplication and division since graduating high school, and I certainly haven't used that math for my major. Tell me why my chances of getting into grad school are based in large part on a skill I have rarely needed and certainly haven't used?

gwagers

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1065

Feb 9th 2012, 17:13:00

Originally posted by Dibs Ludicrous:

separation of church and state doesn't apply to aethiests. they have no church. or their church is the state, so they have a conflict of interest.

What does that have to do with the scenario?

gwagers

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1065

Feb 8th 2012, 16:21:05

*steals llama's head for Frankenstein's monster revival*

gwagers

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Feb 8th 2012, 16:19:54

In an ideal world, regulations to improve the quality of the captivity would likely be sufficient. On the other hand, who is going to pay for and enforce those (considering that regulations often exist already and are still ignored in many cases)?

gwagers

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Feb 8th 2012, 16:11:48

I think there are already laws about asset sheltering, though I could be wrong. Of course there are loopholes, but considering the boundaries presented by international borders, I really don't see any additional legislation working to close those loopholes up. On the other hand, Swiss banks agreed to be less secretive with their account holders' information a few years back, so international pressure on other governments apparently has some value to it...

gwagers

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Feb 8th 2012, 15:55:19

I find it interesting that one of the most common yardsticks for quarterback worth on this thread is "How many times did he beat the Patriots?"

gwagers

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Feb 7th 2012, 4:12:20

Food stamps are a government program, yes? The people are living off of government sufferance. Think feudalism: If I give you land, I expect service. If the government gives you money after you beg for it, it should have the right to tell you what you can buy with it (within reason, of course; the purpose of the program is to keep people from starving, after all, so telling them they can't buy actual food would be going too far. I'm sure someone smarter than me can develop a contract to that effect).

gwagers

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1065

Feb 7th 2012, 4:09:00

This might be communism 2.0, but I might suggest that that might not be a bad thing. If someone doesn't have the motivation to get that big, rich, or powerful, then they won't... and (theoretically) the smaller countries/people will have a better chance at moving on with their lives without outside interference. Maybe.

(Please don't flame me, just tell me where my theory is mistaken and I'll revise it. Thank you.)

gwagers

Member
1065

Feb 7th 2012, 4:05:49

I would agree that getting money out of politics is step one, but lowering the salaries of elected officials will only make them all the more willing to take money from other sources. Is there any way to legally end the institution of lobbying? I don't know enough about Washington to know how lobbying works, so I have no idea just how hard that would be, but I think slamming the door on lobbying might help.

Also, if they took an oath upon achieving office to only seek employment or accept money from certain sources after leaving office, they might be held accountable for their actions after the end of their term (so that any services they do during their terms in return for promises of favors later might be avoided).

Of course, to do this legally would require the lawmakers to make laws. And since the lawmakers are the ones who are getting paid by lobbyists, making lobbying illegal would be shooting their incomes in the foot (if it's even possible anyway), so I'm not holding my breath.

gwagers

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1065

Feb 7th 2012, 3:37:23

Certainly no one would suffer taking home $100 million when they could be taking home a billion instead. But you know better than to think that they would WANT to settle for 10% of their possible income. And if they're as big as that, they aren't going to let everyone else dictate how much they're taking home, either.

gwagers

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1065

Feb 7th 2012, 3:31:52

Global warming: I'm with Detmer.

Back to the topic at hand, if a global tax could help people, I might even consider it. The fact is that it wouldn't. Not only are the governments involved corrupt, but can you imagine the logistics of trying to ship food to every hungry person on the planet? When the government doesn't have money for irrigation projects, they don't have money for roads either, and that's assuming that people aren't moving around quite a lot, too (starving people might do that if they're looking for food). Shipping companies will definitely want their cut, and we have to assume that they'll do the job right. And who knows how to do that if there aren't accurate records of how many people living in such and such a place, etc.?

I admit, I'm no expert. These are just my thoughts, and someone with better knowledge might easily find them faulty. But I imagine that shipping, more than anything, would be the real Achilles Heel of any plan such as this one.

gwagers

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1065

Feb 7th 2012, 3:16:01

As Bigwiggle says, I don't think Eli is very consistent, but his great plays seem to make up for his not-so-great ones. Whether or not he's better than Peyton, I'm going to wait and see what happens when Peyton gets back on the field before I make any decision. Who knows if he'll be at the top of his game after taking a season or so off due to injury? Eli might very well be the better Manning NOW, depending on Peyton's recovery and his ability to get back into playing mode.

Personally I was rooting for the Pats, but I can't deny that the Giants rolled over their defense in the first half. The Patriots were too dependent on their offense, and the Giants were good on both sides of the ball... at least that I could see.

gwagers

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Jun 26th 2011, 0:24:42

Only if doing so nets double the profits from the sale.

gwagers

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May 22nd 2011, 14:36:40

I'd have killed him if I believed him; that kind of trauma is something you have to prepare for, I think, and if nothing happened afterward, I'd be absolutely furious.

gwagers

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May 12th 2011, 3:04:41

childish =/= funny, but I take your point.

gwagers

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May 10th 2011, 18:45:11

Who needs farms when you have catfish?

gwagers

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May 10th 2011, 18:38:07

'Argument' in the sense that you have your point of view regarding your team, and we have ours. Connecting someone's name to an STD doesn't advance your point of view; rather, it makes you look childish.

Also, why exactly am I still alive? I disappeared for five days straight and no one bothered to do more than send a few spy ops after me? Did you even get through?

gwagers

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Apr 30th 2011, 15:23:11

How exactly does that advance your argument?

gwagers

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Apr 24th 2011, 1:36:13

How many times can a single person post something about my mother's knickers? It wasn't even funny the first time!

gwagers

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Apr 13th 2011, 6:49:42

...He's out of a ride next year? I REALLY need to start paying attention, apparently.

[is crushed now]

gwagers

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Apr 13th 2011, 6:42:30

In other words, yes, something fairly obvious. Thanks. [kicks self]

gwagers

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1065

Apr 12th 2011, 2:33:21

Bobby, you're an idiot. Firstly, the entire government system is made up of people who want to take other people's money and spend it as they please. Secondly, this particular card-carrying Democrat is a lot more interested in seeing his tax dollars go toward something worth spending them on. Paying a government that does its utmost to pass everything off to the private sector is like taking that same money and putting it in a bonfire. What do I get out of paying people who won't help me?

Not really sure if that's on topic or not, considering that I couldn't make myself read that essay--professional it is not.

gwagers

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1065

Apr 12th 2011, 2:17:33

Getting rid of it completely might not be wise, but yeah, the front page is not the place for it. Is there an archive on this site?

gwagers

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Apr 12th 2011, 2:14:24

Originally posted by W:

1 kill after the FS (which was very good) is pretty sad, you can paste news in here all you want about "we had help", but you clearly beat yourselves with inactivity and...did only one of your countries restart?

I take offense (kind of)! At least two restarted (I'm not looking at the news or anything, but I know someone posted that they had, and I know that I had to).

gwagers

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1065

Apr 12th 2011, 2:11:02

I thought Rockman was tagged. Figured he wouldn't complain otherwise.

...I'm missing something obvious, aren't I?

gwagers

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Apr 11th 2011, 19:04:19

Originally posted by ZIP:

mark martin ftw

ZIP, you are my new favorite Earther.

gwagers

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Apr 11th 2011, 19:03:19

Originally posted by Heston:

instead u should turn off the recruitment messages. then you wont have to worry about it.

Wait, you can do that with PMs?

gwagers

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Apr 11th 2011, 18:55:39

MKR nets when it can.

gwagers

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Apr 11th 2011, 5:25:24

Wait, wait, wait, I've clearly been out of the loop. FBI declared on both clans two days before the end of the set. And my weakling country, ignored save for four hits by all of Lords' people, was completely passed over by yet another clan. I mean, I'm happy to have survived with only one death this set, but that's just insulting.

Yeah, I deserve it, but that's beside the point.

gwagers

Member
1065

Apr 11th 2011, 5:20:36

If I may, since when do YOU decide what is best for this server? As others have stated, this question was basically decided a while back. We have hammered out the details in blood; if you want to spill more, of course, you're more than welcome, but I have to say that it seems a bit pretentious to make a post saying, "I think it should be this way, so that's the way I'm going to make it."

gwagers

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1065

Apr 6th 2011, 20:42:43

...ANOTHER new points system? [sigh] Yeah, I know they're not far in, but I was wondering how many names I'd recognize in the top ten or so. And thanks for the link, I keep forgetting about NASCAR.com.

EDIT: Harvick's won twice and Kyle Busch is in the lead?! I'm so glad I'm not watching this season...

Edited By: gwagers on Apr 6th 2011, 20:44:50. Reason: making opinion known
See Original Post

gwagers

Member
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Apr 6th 2011, 20:39:08

I don't like Tony Stewart either, but that's for different reasons entirely. :P

Who's leading the championship this year, anyway? I haven't paid attention to a NASCAR season since 2006 or '07, I think.

gwagers

Member
1065

Apr 6th 2011, 20:32:33

I was recently informed about this game. It impresses me.

That said, I've never actually played any of Valve's games (I've just seen the walkthroughs because I'm more interested in the plot than the action). I would be very interested to watch someone go through this one.

gwagers

Member
1065

Apr 6th 2011, 20:29:44

Anything with the word "czar" in it is bound to be trouble. :D

Congrats.

gwagers

Member
1065

Apr 6th 2011, 2:04:04

I would think that the purpose of clan leadership is to help protect the clan, right? Figuring out whether or not you're about to be FS'd is pretty darn helpful in that regard.

I assume, though, that the spy op alert is only triggered when the spy op fails, so that the leadership will see exactly what the country that got spied sees. Seeing successful spy ops when the country that got hit can't doesn't make sense.

gwagers

Member
1065

Apr 5th 2011, 1:42:44

Hey, Montoya isn't doing TOO badly. I still don't like the fact that he sold out, though.

Granted, he left F1 under rather a cloud after that mishap at Indianapolis when he wrecked his teammate (not really sure if it was his fault or not, but he certainly got the blame for it), so I suppose he had to go SOMEWHERE...

gwagers

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1065

Apr 5th 2011, 1:40:54

What Marshal said. Join ICN. We have cookies.

Or rather, we will have cookies eventually.

gwagers

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1065

Apr 4th 2011, 5:43:24

Martinsville? I apologize for anyone that loves that track, but I always found it a boring race to watch. Bristol is where it's at.

And Trife, you're dead to me.