Henrik's right.

Most of the US debt is held domestically. If the US simply refused to pay it's obligations, the entire US economy would seize up and everyone in the US would be broke.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I can't believe I'm answering this... but:

IQ doesn't matter. Intelligence does matter, but IQ fails to measure intelligence accurately. You didn't cite your quotation, but wherever it's from, it got that right.

However, there's no reason to suppose that the choice to dismiss IQ as an inaccurate measurement system is in any way a step towards the belief (by either a large or a small number of people) that various entirely unrelated virtues are no longer important.

I'm sure someone had this same discussion about alchemy a few hundred years back. I can imagine it now:

Me: Alchemy Doesn't Work.
Watertowers: I offer no evidence one way or another. But what concerns me is that you'll soon say that metallurgy isn't worth pursuing either!

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

H4, there's very specific laws governing the sale of all securities. Citibank violated them.

It's not a "buyer beware" market at all. It's a highly regulated market. We rely on those regulations in order to ensure that trades are fair. Citibank side-stepped those regulations. In doing so, the broke the law (and cost a lot of people a lot of money).

So yes, I can blame Citibank for doing what they did. And if you think "anybody would do the same" in their position, then you clearly have no knowledge of the industry what-so-ever.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

No. That didn't go unnoticed. But, it's not an issue that needs to be revisited publicly.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Actually, Occam's Razor would have us discount that possibility Atryn.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

During the 1920s, Germany took on so much debt that when the depression started in 1930 and those debts were called, their financial system collapsed entirely. There were no longer the peaks and valleys of a boom/bust cycle (however tempered) -- there was simply banana-republic style super inflation.

The reparations from WWI were part of the reason why Germany was forced to take on that debt-load but the cause of the debt-load is irrelevant. Once it exists, the economy is vulnerable to a crash which essentially ends economic activity.

I think this is what martian is getting at anyway.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Blame the Fascist Organization of Good Looking Men of God.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

So?

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

This may be a good way to vent Omega's frustration, but I'm not convinced it's a good way to prevent iMagNum's LGs against Omega in the future.

We'll see though.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

The CAPTCHA system used is not maintained by the game admins. It's free service operated by google.

The way it works is as follows: Google takes large volumes of print material which it wants to digitize and runs a program which separates it into words. These words are then displayed in CAPTCHA images to verify users.

One of the words in the pair is one which other users have identified -- this word is the "test" to ensure that you're not a bot. The second word is a word that Google wants you to identify. It has not yet been vetted by an employee anywhere.

If several people identify this second word the same, it gets added to the database of words that can be used to "test" other people, and google has digitized one more word from whatever print material they're currently working through.

The reason why you will sometimes see Hebrew (or other bizarre character sets) is because there were passages using these characters in the text Google is digitizing.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

If you renamed this thread "Most important dates in European history", this thread may have some merit. But World history? Hardly.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Where do you get that from? I don't see any post in this thread which supports that idea. I don't even see anything in the articles linked to by this thread which supports that idea.

Could you please point out where anything is written in this thread which "sounds like" anyone's goal is "the end of the corporation"?

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

How many of the 14 million unemployed Americans are cops or doctors Deerhunter?

My understanding is that most (or, at least, a significant portion) are from the manufacturing sector. Unskilled or semi-skilled labour.

Though, I think you're bang on target for pointing out that UI is not welfare.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I see anoniem's point, but changing the spelling destroys this game's heritage.

Clearly the only fair solution is to make an option in account settings which allows players to choose whether that phrase will read as "in route" or "en route".

It's also clear that doing that would be the best possible use of the admins' limited coding time.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

"Anonymous" doesn't make statements. Specific individuals who self-identify themselves as part of "Anonymous" make statements.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

It was deleted.

The thread in question was created in order to bring attention to a perceived act of impropriety by a mod. We appreciate this, as this kind of involvement by the community helps to keep us all accountable.

However, once it was brought to our attention, it was dealt with internally. Now that the issue is at a resolution, keeping the discussion going in a public venue would be likely to do more harm than good for the community.

For this reason, one of the mod team took action and deleted the thread. It could have been closed instead, however it's within the discretion of the moderator to determine which of those courses is better.

I hope that clears the issue up. If you require further explanation, feel free to PM me. If you have additional concerns, I'd encourage you to contact Martian or one of the Admins via PMs.

I am closing this thread. I suspect that any additional threads on this subject will also be either closed or deleted.

Thanks for you interest,

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

+1 LightBringer

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Who's coming back for it? Anyone really old?

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

This took effect a few weeks ago, and is in the wiki, but I don't think it ever got posted here.

I've become the second moderator for this server and will be working along-side Spawn. If you need to contact me, forum PMs are a good way of doing so.

I look forward to hearing your complaints.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

If you don't reply to this post, I'll stub my toe -- and it will be YOUR fault.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

... You don't think Japan has serious organizational issues? In the last 10 years, the Prime Minister has changed 10 times. The various legislative houses have been even more turbulent. Japan definitely isn't well organized at the governmental level.

However, none of this proves anything. If we accept that you've successfully demonstrated that large countries tend to be poorly organized (something which could still be disputed), you still need to demonstrate that small countries are well organized. This is something you seem to have made no attempt to do yet.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I'm not actually trolling archaic. I actually agree with what I'm saying and am not simply saying it to upset anyone. I definitely chose to post when I could have chosen not to -- but that's true of everyone in this thread, right?

I will confess to this though. The argument I just gave was new to me in this thread. It wasn't something I'd thought of before, or read elsewhere. I assume it's not actually original, because it seems obvious now, but I don't actually know.

For that reason, this forum is serving me how it always does. I post to refine ideas and arguments. Maybe there's a better way of making that case. Perhaps the better way to make the point is that you carry a gun but not a vest -- when both are a potential (but neither is a certain) defence against the same threat.

Or maybe I just need to go look up better death statistics, so I can give examples where the numbers are more comparable. I haven't done that for this argument yet -- though I would argue that your stat for scuba deaths is irrelevant, since they already had scuba gear. It's drowning deaths (of which I believe the number is in the 3000s annually) which is the rightful comparison, since those are the people who might have been saved by scuba gear... or a life jacket.

Gary, I didn't have time to read the entire article yet (I will in the next couple days), but the range of numbers given in the second paragraph offer a variance of over 3500% without giving any citation. That looks like a clear indicator of a guess to me.

If the numbers are factual, they certainly have a place in this discussion. But it's hard for me to take numbers like that seriously.

Finally, I'd like to acknowledge that I'm very much a product of my environment on this issue. I live in Canada, where practically no one carries a gun. I know that impacts my outlook on this. But I still think that, for a majority of gun owners (if not all), the "neat" factor is the reason they carry a gun and the "self-defence" factor is the justification or excuse given to others.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Saying you have a gun for defence is just stupid.

You have a gun because, on some level, you think it's neat.

I know this because the odds of you ever requiring a gun for defence are extremely remote -- and guns are not unique in their potential to save your life when faced with extremely unlikely circumstances.

There are thousands of items which may, under some remote circumstance, save your life. Yet you do not choose to purchase them or carry them with you. A year's supply of canned goods, scuba gear... what-have-you. There is literally no item which has such a high cost, is of so little utility and yet is owned by so many people.

I wouldn't be surprised if we could come up with a hundred items that are as or less expensive than a gun, but statistically more likely to save your life if carried with you as often as the average owner carries their gun.

Having said that, I actually don't have anything against gun ownership. I think guns are neat too. I've enjoyed the time I've spent on ranges and generally liked the people I've met there. Within the next couple years, I plan to get my gun licence and purchase a hand-gun. I'll never carry it though, it will be kept in a locked case in my house, and it will stay in that locked case until I get to the range whenever I go.

It's not actually that I don't think responsible people shouldn't have guns (though I tend to support stronger gun controls). I just think that the "I need it for defence" argument is paranoid and ill-founded.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Nope. If I could view that, why would I ask?

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I was simply proposing another potential solution.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Or just don't carry a gun.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I only have access to the Advisor forum... which no one reads, because you all spend all day on the pr0n forum.

And I don't even know who's in iMagNum anymore... so I don't know who to message.

In short, yes, it's too hard.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

How am I supposed to get into your chat room when you change the key on me?

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

We've already tried running a game where the admins don't play. We all know exactly where that road leads.

Now, we're trying running a game where the admins do play. So far, it hasn't been an issue -- at all.

Personally, I think it makes more sense to keep going with what's working now than to fall back on what's failed in the past.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Billy Talent is good, but they've got nothing on Pezz. Now that was a band.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I definitely remember you :)

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Has this been an issue recently?

My suspicion is that it hasn't been coded out because it's not done enough to be worth the time.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

You do have patron Status, with Swirve.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Chalk one up for "Newb Tag".

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

No.

The revolutions that we've seen this year throughout the Middle East are not a vast conspiracy to force the US into bankruptcy via foreign aid.

Also, where did that $40b come from? My understanding was that aid to Israel is closer to $2.5b/year and that Egypt was about the same.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

EYE-mag
sole
EE-voh

Done.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Whichever is available.

Porpoise or Dolphin?

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Thank you Darwin.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

God did it.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

You can try.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Her comment about wanting a Canadian equivalent to the "Arab Spring" strikes me as more than a little ignorant.

Even as I agree with her politics on a macro level, maintaining strong government institutions is more important that what Harper can do in the next four years.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Gradually...

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

A little while before we start thinking about getting married, I think. Though it's definitely a possibility in my mind.

As for little Fooglmogs... I reckon start them on Earth when they're about 5 and by the time they're as old as I was when I started, they'll be ready to run all the major alliances.

(That's an abandoned piece of track... I think)

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

http://s1043.photobucket.com/albums/b433/Fooglmog/

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Yep. Just give me a minute.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

Great :)

It's amazing the difference a beautiful girl makes in your life.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I just turned 23 a month ago Scode.

But I can't argue with the rest.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I plan on grabbing a beer, sitting on my porch, and laughing at any idiots who go by doing something stupid because they think it's the end of the world.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I guess not... I must be thinking of someone else who's used the same (or a similar) pseudonym. :-/

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

I was 12, Scode.

And I started the war in UCN Boot Camp, with Wax as my mentor. I was then transferred, during the war, to the Wolf Pack... but I was only there for about a week before someone took note of my insane SPAL and granted my request to move to UCiNtel -- which was the council run by Wax with Rocko as the aDL.

At the end of that reset, Wax moved to Phoenix to run that Council, and Rocko took over UCiNtel. Rocko and I never got along, so I left UCN around the end of the next reset.

Apart from that though, you're right, I barely remember anything at all.

(Scode, this was only a year before you and I co-ran BC Bravo in iMagNum. Back then, everyone assumed that I was in my mid-20s until I told them different. I wasn't exactly a normal kid.)

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.