Posts by The Postman

OMG NEXUS POSTED, BETTER FLAME HIM!

idiots.

Keep workin' on your map Nexus, looks like it could be interesting later on. We need more to go on than one shot though

Interesting concept...but please, I beg of you, go for some unique weapons. The MP5 and the M4A1 have been done to death. It'd be exciting to see some very uniquely crafted gunsmithery by Mr. Dillinger on a set of pistols for the angel or some kind of blessed relics/swords/etc. Keep up the good work and good luck on your quest.

http://www.andrewsullivan.com/main_arti ... m=20041128

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When America sat down last week for its annual rite of national Thanksgiving, some would argue that two different nations actually celebrated: upright, moral, traditional red America and the dissolute, liberal blue states clustered on the periphery of the heartland. The truth, however, is much more complicated and interesting than that.Take two iconic states: Texas and Massachusetts. In some ways, they were the two states competing in the last election. In the world's imagination, you couldn't have two starker opposites. One is the homeplace of Harvard, gay marriage, high taxes, and social permissiveness. The other is Bush country, solidly Republican, traditional, and gun-toting. Massachusetts voted for Kerry over Bush 62 to 37 percent; Texas voted for Bush over Kerry 61 to 38 percent.

So ask yourself a simple question: which state has the highest divorce rate? Marriage was a key issue in the last election, with Massachusetts' gay marriages becoming a symbol of alleged blue state decadence and moral decay. But in actual fact, Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country at 2.4 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants. Texas - which until recently made private gay sex a criminal offence - has a divorce rate of 4.1. A fluke? Not at all. The states with the highest divorce rates in the U.S. are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. And the states with the lowest divorce rates are: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Every single one of the high divorce rate states went for Bush. Every single one of the low divorce rate states went for Kerry. The Bible Belt divorce rate, in fact, is roughly 50 percent higher than the national average.

Some of this discrepancy can be accounted for by the fact that couples tend to marry younger in the Bible Belt - and many clearly don't have the maturity to know what they're getting into. There's some correlation too between rates of college education and stable marriages, with the Bible Belt lagging a highly educated state like Massachusetts. But the irony still holds. Those parts of America that most fiercely uphold what they believe are traditional values are not those parts where traditional values are healthiest. Hypocrisy? Perhaps. A more insightful explanation is that these socially troubled communities cling onto absolutes in the abstract because they cannot live up to them in practice.

But doesn't being born again help bring down divorce rates? Jesus, after all, was mum on the subject of homosexuality, but was very clear about divorce, declaring it a sin unless adultery was involved. A recent study, however, found no measurable difference in divorce rates between those who are "born again" and those who are not. 29 percent of Baptists have been divorced, compared to 21 percent of Catholics. Moreover, a staggering 23 percent of married born-agains have been divorced twice or more. Teen births? Again, the contrast is striking. In a state like Texas, where the religious right is extremely strong and the rhetoric against teenage sex is gale-force strong, the teen births as a percentage of all births is 16.1 percent. In liberal, secular, gay-friendly Massachusetts, it's 7.4, almost half. Marriage itself is less popular in Texas than in Massachusetts. In Texas, the percent of people unmarried is 32.4 percent; in Massachusetts, it's 26.8 percent. So even with a higher marriage rate, Massachusetts manages a divorce rate almost half of its "conservative" rival.

Or take abortion. America is one of the few Western countries where the legality of abortion is still ferociously disputed. It's a country where the religious right is arguably the strongest single voting bloc, and in which abortion is a constant feature of cultural politics. Compare it to a country like Holland, perhaps the epitome of socially liberal, relativist liberalism. So which country has the highest rate of abortion? It's not even close. America has an abortion rate of 21 abortions per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44. Holland has a rate of 6.8. Americans, in other words, have three times as many abortions as the Dutch. Remind me again: which country is the most socially conservative?

Even a cursory look at the leading members of the forces of social conservatism in America reveals the same pattern. The top conservative talk-radio host, Rush Limbaugh, has had three divorces and an addiction to pain-killers. The most popular conservative television personality, Bill O'Reilly, just settled a sex harassment suit that indicated a highly active adulterous sex life. Bill Bennett, the guru of the social right, was for many years a gambling addict. Karl Rove's chief outreach manager to conservative Catholics for the last four years, Deal Hudson, also turned out to be a man with a history of sexual harassment. Bob Barr, the conservative Georgian congressman who wrote the "Defense of Marriage Act," has had three wives so far. The states which register the highest ratings for the hot new television show, "Desperate Housewives," are all Bush-states.

The complicated truth is that America truly is a divided and conflicted country. But it's a grotesque exaggeration to say that the split is geographical, or correlated with blue and red states. Many of America's biggest "sinners" are those most intent on upholding virtue. In fact, it may be partly because they know sin so close-up that they want to prevent its occurrence among others. And some of those states which have the most liberal legal climate - the Northeast and parts of the upper MidWest - are also, in practice, among the most socially conservative. To ascribe all this to "hypocrisy" seems to me too crude an explanation. America is simply a far more complicated and diverse place than crude red and blue divisions can explain.

The spasms of moralism that have punctuated American history from the first Puritans all the way through Prohibition and now the backlash against gay marriage are not therefore a war of one part of the country against another. They're really a war within the souls of all Americans. Within many a red state voter, there's a blue state lifestyle. And within many a blue state liberal, there's a surprisingly resilient streak of moralism. And it is this internal conflict that makes America still such a vibrant and compelling place. The conflict exists perhaps most powerfully within the red states themselves - as they grapple with the "sin" of their own practices and the high standards of their own aspirations. It's worth remembering that Bill Clinton was a product of a red state. And that for more than half his life, George W. Bush was a dissolute wastrel from a blue state family. These contradictions are not the exceptions. They are the American rule. And if you love this tortured and fascinating country, one more reason to be thankful it still exists.

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My goodness! We must preserve the sanctity of marriage! Our society and values are under attack! hehehehehe...oh my!

Quote from Section_Ei8ht

yeah, these days it seems that the only way to get into a game dev company is know someone on the inside or start your own.

Or have skill...but hey, whatever.

Quote from DUFFY

who gives a fuck if the mod will make itgood people + good idea = a good mod, regardless

I agree with Duffy...

Oh God, I agree with Duffy!

*world implodes*

Quote from kleinluka

I don't like the glow behind the "Wasteland" - It doesnt look neon =(

Fixed in the final version

close thread, nuke from orbit

the wall looks good, but it doesn't look like an interior wall of a building, it looks like a retaining wall of a building perhaps. Too weather-worn for inside. There should be flaked paint or perhaps stains from water damage.

OL you're being silly. This isn't one huge graphic for each page. It's a mockup to see what the site would look like in its final form. All these parts would be loaded as individual images. Easy peezy Japanesy.

Edit: updated

*special note* this is a mockup, the glowy bits around the text will look much better in the final site. I blame PS being funky about alpha'd transfers sometimes. Please disregard.

Quote from mawibse

*Posty Bann’s maw for being a pussy*

What?

Howabout the people in Georgia that want equal learning time for "Creationist Science" or "Intelligent Design." Oh boy! Let's make our kids stupid!

Quote from Fletch

http://www.yahoo.com

Thank goodness they have those barricades and shields. They might get even more flowers.

Considering the founding fathers were Deists who paid lip service to the Puritan church, I'd really say this guy has gone too far. That's history, it happened, it's a part of our country and it's important.

that's a mansion? Someone didn't go for a high rate architect...

Hmm, changes to come:

Good eyes on the shadow seam. At midnight last night I didn't notice it, hehe. Will fix.

The neon won't change though, I like it and later when this thing is torn apart and put into Flash it'll flicker and spark, it'll be neat, promise.

As per the wasted space, I will be making more little trinkets and such to fill that area I think. Giving it a "fuller" appearance.

Thanks for the good crits and comments everyone

[Blocked Image: http://img12.paintedover.com/uploads/12/website_mockup222.jpg]

constructive comments/crits welcome

EDIT: updated: 11/27/04

Quote from kleinluka

This has to be the worst promo thread for a mod ever.

Quote from kleinluka

I'd go to Plano so I could give Mike his spaghettios.

You think you wanna go to Plano. You're mistaken.