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Lord Ser Brightblade

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Posts posted by Lord Ser Brightblade

    Copied from a link I was sent

    in Chit-Chat

    Posted

    This was taken from a London Craig's List post which was sent to me. I love this great nation of ours but what in the world are our leaders doing. It isn't leading thats certain. One thing which is certain FEMA and Homeland Security have proven they are completely worthless. Our tax dollars being wasted and our countrymen and women in the South suffering for gross incompetence!

    Dear Mr. Bush:

    Reply to: anon-95062153@craigslist.org

    Date: 2005-09-02, 8:46PM GMT/BST

    Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

    Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

    Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

    I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

    And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

    On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

    There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

    No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

    You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

    Yours,

    Michael Moore

        * this is in or around Michael Moore

        * no -- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

    95062153

    Gas Prices

    in Chit-Chat

    Posted

    Jumped up to 3.09 here overnight and .10 increments each grade up. Pretty soon many people will barely be able to afford to commute due to the gas they need I know one guy that makes about 250 a wekk takehome and hes spending about $45 per tank now and he needs to fill up at least 2 times a week with an occasional 3rd tank there and there. For a guy living in the northeast $250 a week take-home is peanuts when rent is through the roof.

    To those it may concern....

    in Chit-Chat

    Posted · Edited by Lord Ser Brightblade

    I want to give my thanks for raising me three levels (probably by time i write this) by attacking me.  I have not attacked (maybe that stinkin high elf leader :) ) since i was level 10.  Although you do me great service, please leave my newbs alone you panzie pushdogs.  Thank you, have a  great weekend.

    I attack whoever is the highest level unless its someone who attacks me. However since you resort to such name calling I shall ensure that you are forever on my attack list. Thank you, come again.

    Great debate to reinstate mate

    in Chit-Chat

    Posted

    Great debate to reinstate mate

    Fri Aug 19, 2005 11:44 AM ET

    CANBERRA (Reuters) - A ban by Australia's Parliament House on the term "mate," a popular colloquialism and symbol of egalitarianism, has been overturned following a barrage of protest.

    Security guards at Parliament House in Canberra had been directed Thursday to refer to people as sir and ma'am. The ban was imposed after the head of a government department complained about being called mate, local media reported.

    But a parliamentary circular issued Friday removed the directive warning staff not to use "mate" when dealing with the public or members of parliament, instead suggesting they use their judgment on when a more formal approach is required.

    Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke said the attempted ban was "pomposity gone mad," while current Prime Minister John Howard described the ban as "absurd and impractical."

    "There are circumstances where a more formal address is appropriate," Howard told Australian radio.

    "But in the same conversation you might start off calling somebody you have just met sir or madam but as you become more familiar ... you might end up saying mate."

    The move also prompted a flood of calls to talkback radio around the country and was slammed by Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper as "ludicrous" because it took Australia back to the days of the class system.

    Virtual Muggings in Lineage II

    in Chit-Chat

    Posted

    Taken from Slash Dot:

    Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday August 18, @12:58PM

    from the i-need-my-widgets-back dept.electro-donkey writes

    "A man has been arrested in Japan after on suspicion using a bot to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash, according to this report from NewScienist.com. "I regularly say that every form of theft and fraud in the real world will eventually be duplicated in cyberspace," says Bruce Schneier."

    The next Pope may be the last

    in Chit-Chat

    Posted

    Man its amazing how advanced the mayans were for their time.  So you all wanna get together on December 20th 2012 and party before the end of the world?  Everyone can come to my place heh.

    It could be as early as October 21. I bet it'll be something like The Day After Tomorrow.

    That was a pretty decent movie. Watched it when I had mono. Given how hot I was from my temperature at that time I found myself wishing it was kinda cold in my room.

    Richard Garriot..UO Creator and Space Enthusiast

    in UO Discussions

    Posted

    The Space Review

    Richard Garriott

    While best known for his many successful computer game projects, Richard Garriott has also helped open the door for space tourism. (credit: NCSoft)

    Richard Garriott and the beginnings of space tourism

    by Sam Dinkin

    Monday, August 8, 2005

    Richard Garriott lives in Austin, Texas, and is a producer at computer gaming company NCSoft. He has had many hit computer gaming titles going back to the dawn of the personal computer age in 1979, including his famed Ultima series. Less well known has been his quiet role as vice chairman of Space Adventures, which includes some notable firsts. The Space Review conducted an email interview with him after his first space PowerPoint presentation at the Metropolitan Breakfast Club in Austin.

    The Space Review: How did you get to be vice chairman of Space Adventures?

    Richard Garriott: I was one of Space Adventures’ first suborbital reservation holders, and quickly became their best client for terrestrial space training activities. I then realized one of the best ways to help ensure that I would get to fly was to invest in making it real. Since then I have become the plurality shareholder and vice-chairman, and remain one of the best clients as well.

    TSR: Did you think you would have to fly a Soviet rocket into space when you designed Ultima III, which includes such a rocket as part of the game?

    Garriott: No! But neither did I ever expect to fly with the US space program. I have always expected to have to go with private space vehicles. I am just very excited to see it all coming true!

    TSR: Do you think you will be one of the first ten paying passengers into orbit?

    Garriott: Hard to say. I’d like to be, but it all depends on who flies first. I have an “in” with many if not most groups, but not all! There are too many to keep a foot in each door.

    TSR: Can you describe the steps leading up to your becoming the critical person to enable the first space tourism flight purchase?

    Garriott: Yes, funny story! Or kind of sad from my perspective!

    I have always expected to have to go with private space vehicles. I am just very excited to see it all coming true!

    During the middle years of the X Prize, when the $10 million prize was not funded and none of the competitors had raised the tens of millions they needed to make their suborbital craft, it was looking bleak for suborbital space travel. In a chat with Eric Anderson of Space Adventures, we decide to look into orbital. So, on my behalf, Space Adventures contacted NASA and the RSA (Russian Space Agency) to see about the possibility of flying with them. NASA just said, “No.” But the Russian answer was more interesting. They said something like, “Well no! To even see what would be involved with that kind of mission would cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars just to see how we would do it, then to actually do it would be millions more!” So, the door was opened. At the time I had recently sold my game company Origin, and was feeling particularly wealthy, so I funded the study. The Russians came back with a flight cost of about $20 million. Sadly for me, this is right when the US stock market started to crash, and then fell farther with September 11. Along fell my net worth, taking me out of the potential market. But since I had paid for the door to be opened, Space Adventures went out to see if we could find someone else to fly instead. Thus Dennis Tito became the first!

    TSR: Has Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, or Greg Olsen ever sent you a thank-you note?

    Garriott: No, I don’t think they even know this story. [it was only recently published in The Daily Texan.]

    TSR: Are you jealous?

    Garriott: Yes. But, I do hope and assume I will go soon enough!

    TSR: Who do you think will get to the Moon next, NASA or Space Adventures?

    Garriott: NASA will put people on the Moon next. The costs are far in excess of suborbital and even orbital. Tourism can get us into space, but other industries will be required to generate the values necessary for lunar exploration. But tourism might piggyback and subsidize this like it does for a lot of ecotourism these days. A good example is the submarine trips aboard the Keldysh via Deep Ocean Expeditions.

    TSR: Is Space Adventures a travel agency or a space line?

    Garriott: Space Adventures is currently an agent, and we have millions of dollars in cash paid reservations for sub orbital flights. But with few or no suborbital space lines to book today, we are working to ensure they exist and that may mean SA invests in that eventuality.

    Since I had paid for the door to be opened [by funding a study on space tourism options in Russia], Space Adventures went out to see if we could find someone else to fly instead. Thus Dennis Tito became the first!

    TSR: In a June 15 talk in Austin, you cited a 1995 study saying that 10% of people would pay their entire annual income to visit space. Since there are seven million households in the world with $200,000/year income or $1 million in assets, does that make the market at least 700,000 people? Or are these people more cautious and we may only see 250–500/year at first like the Futron study?

    Garriott: I think these studies are a good indicator of interest, but cannot directly be tied to expected sales. Long term, I think there are millions who want to and will fly in space. But I think starting with a few hundred a year will be a good start, and a great business!

    TSR: At $200,000 per seat, isn’t the potential $140 billion? If three companies manage to get flying by 2008, won’t installed capacity be a small fraction of that?

    Garriott: Yes, but that is more than enough to get the industry off the ground, let all the kinks get worked out, figure out fair pricing, refine the experience, and still be highly profitable. I expect we will see numerous builders fly suborbital craft and competition will drive cost down, safety up, and other services like rocket point-to-point via space! So, this is the beginning of something great!

    TSR: Did you ever imagine that the US video game market would grow to $10 billion per year to rival the movie industry when you started as a lowly programmer?

    Garriott: No idea! In fact, my family used to say “When this game industry windfall runs its course, you can go back to school and get a real job!”

    TSR: As Howard Cosell might have asked, are you due for a win in your space investment strategy? If Space Adventures were Apple, what year would it be? 1980?

    Garriott: I sure hope so. The signs are all good! I already feel we already won with the X Prize. So, now let’s all go!

    TSR: Will you invite your father, NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, on one of your space flights? How did your father influence you to be a space enthusiast?

    Garriott: Clearly my dad’s work made space travel seem like the obvious no-big-deal thing that we should all naturally do. It was only as I grew up that I realized this would not easily be the case. So I figured the only way we—I—would go was if it became successful in the private sector.

    TSR: Would you support a colonization foundation for the Moon with a portion of your estate? What big ideas do you have about your legacy?

    When I was young, I used to say that I would immediately take the opportunity to leave for deep space and never return. I still believe that.

    Garriott: Sure, in theory. I’d have to be convinced that it would work. I’ve always thought of my legacy in terms of my contribution in computer games. There are others, like Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson, who deserve the greater credit for making civilian space travel a reality. Still, I’m proud to have played my part so far. Mostly though, I must confess, I just want to go!

    TSR: Will you emigrate to space?

    Garriott: When I was young, I used to say that I would immediately take the opportunity to leave for deep space and never return. I still believe that. I’d want to be sure that my journey would be safe, and that it the journey was to achieve a worthy goal, but I would go in a heartbeat!

    Sam Dinkin is a regular columnist at The Space Review. He can be reached at (888) 434-6546 and thespacereview@dinkin.com.

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