HeyYou

That story should be easily verified, or disproved...... But, I am sure that teachers and students are having a LOT more sex than ever hits the papers. False accusations aren't anything new either. A man where I live was going thru a rather nasty breakup. So, the "lady" put her five year old daughter up to accusing the man of "inappropriate conduct", to wit: having sex with her. In several of the 'victim's' interviews, she flat out stated "mommy told me to say.....", but, this guy was forced to plead to a lesser charge, be sentenced to some prison time, put on the sex offender registry, lose his job, his friends, his new wife, his house... etc. Because some 'lady' was mad at him for breaking up with her. He pled to the lesser charge because he saw the writing on the wall, that he WAS going to be convicted. Even given the mass of evidence that mom had put her daughter up to it. He would have been looking at a MANDATORY minimum 25 years. This case had "railroaded" written all over it, and a good man was totally destroyed. What's troubling is, this isn't an isolated case.......

Immigration is a joke played with those wishing to immigrate as pawns in a game of "Don't my party look better than there's does". The Democrats hosed President Bush when he tried to get his guest worker program going and President Obama waited until he was in serious trouble to force the Dream act into being. I can't stand the way the illegible immigrants are being treated. They were welcomed here for their willingness to work cheap, but suddenly 9/11 happens and now they are a threat. Then they are a talking point then a political football. So far as I am concerned, they are criminals, and should be treated as such. NO other country is as tolerant (stupid) as the US, when it comes to immigration. Amnesty only 'solves' the immediate problem. Border security sucks, (though it IS better than it was) and all amnesty does is encourage MORE illegals to come here, as they see it is a shorter path to citizenship, or, at least, permanent resident status. Things need to change, but, most certainly NOT in the direction we are currently headed.

I don't think we have seen the worst of it yet. I suspect this is just an aritficial "lull before the storm". When the storm breaks, the feces is really going to hit the rotory, oscillating device....

Could say the same thing about our government. :) I don't think it was a recession though. I am of the opinion it was a CORRECTION, and this is the new 'normal'. Just from my own observations, America simply cannot compete on the global stage with the likes of China, India, Malaysia, et. al. where wages are microscopic, and there are no employee protection laws.... as compared to the states, not to mention a lack of environmental protections...... Add to that, a government that thought it would be a good idea to give corporations TAX BREAKS for 'creating jobs in developing nations', which translated quite literally to "MOVING jobs to developing nations." Pile on top of that the various free-trade agreements, NAFTA, etc, and you have a recipe for manufacturing jobs to flee to foreign shores on a massive scale. Which is what we saw happen. Given that these are all policies put in place by our government, at the prompting of the large corporations..... and those are the folks that make the biggest campaign contributions, I don't see anything changing in the near future......

I was thinking about running for president on '16....... :D

The stormcloaks major contention is the clause in the white gold concodat that bans the worship of Talos. The Thalmor KNEW this was going to cause a scism in the empire, that was the plan from the beginning. The civil war in Skyrim plays right into the Thalmors hands. The empire is weak, and dieing.

It isn't so much that the republicans nominate a woman/minority, it's WHICH woman/minority they nominate. Sarah Palin was a train wreck, as much attributed to her personality, as it was to her handlers. (who mishandled her badly.....) Right now, it looks to me like the republicans are simply becoming the 'new' democrats, what with their jumping on the "immigration reform" band-wagon...

Given that congress as a whole has a single digit approval rating.... whereas, even the IRS is at about 40%.... there is most certainly something wrong in Washington. Is that going to change any time soon? I doubt it. Our government is at the mercy of those that provide campaign funding. THEY are the ones that are directing which way the country goes. Unfortunately, it looks like that direction is: Down the Tubes.....

Cool beans! :D Have fun now.

Just portraying the vote though, doesn't give the full picture...... Granted, these are all economic based votes? Still and all, seeing just what POLICIES both sides were after would help bring a little more meaning to the numbers. I could see the republicans voting "No" on measures that would expand various entitlement programs, that's just in their nature. Given the health-care drama of obama's first term, seeing the repubbies move more to the right wouldn't really be that much of a surprise. Yeah, the republicans seem to love their 'trickle-down' economics.... even though it has been demonstrated many times that those policies simply do NOT work. Makes you wonder why they would continue to press them. :)

Washington is dysfunctional. Both parties are to blame. Takes two to play the partisanship game.... and both sides are playing it to the hilt. The american people are the ones that suffer from all this drama. I would also point out, that the sequester won't touch the senators/congress persons salaries... they are exempt, and they planned it that way. The sequester was scheduled to take affect on the last day of the 112th congress. Law forbids congress passing any legislation that affects their salaries in the current term. It was an end run to make sure THEIR pockets continue to be lined.

even some of the more reputable polling institutions can skew data, either in the way the questions are asked, or, the way in which the data is presented. I could write a poll that would pretty much assure I would get the responses I wanted, and I only dabbled in psychology in college..... (it was fun too....) Unless I can see just WHAT the question presented are, and the RAW data, poll numbers are pretty much meaningless.

I am not so sure it is so much "anti-Obama", as it is "anti-democrat" policy. If a dem suggests it, republicans hate it. Even when it is a suggestion that was originally brought up by a republican at some point in the past. They are still pissed about getting seriously spanked in the 2012 elections.... and are taking it out on anyone is sight. Trouble is, its the american people that pay the final price. The politicians will still be rich, sitting in the cat-bird seat when they lose their next election, but, we the people, get stuck with a non-functional government. (although, one could easily argue it has been non-functional for far longer than Obama's terms.....)

Success of the company ruins the games? Yeah, that would seem perfectly reasonable.

Games get simplified to appeal to the 'casual' gamers..... as that is where the big money is. Why make a truly excellent game, that will only appeal to a small segment of gamers, when you can make a mediocre game, that will appeal to the masses, and therefore, turn MUCH more profit?

Well polished skills? Really? Thing was, you do not use the same techniques with a short blade, as you would a long blade, and certainly not a mace, or an axe...... The skills weren't "vague", they were rather specific to the weapon they governed. Athletics: Determined running/walking speed, etc. How is that vague? I find it more reasonable than EVERYONE having the EXACT same walk/run speed..... Same for acrobatics. (I will grant that it could use some tweaking though....) I am more comparing to Morrowind here than Daggerfall though. Daggerfall also had a selection of language skills, which I never did ever find any real use for.... Yeah, some of the skills in daggerfall WERE useless.

My point was, an iron dagger shouldn't even be able to come close to the damage of a daedric greatsword. The physical limitations of the materials and all that. I will grant though, that the addition of magic into the mix, does complicate matters. :) Climbing IS a skill. Not everone is good at it, and some are better than others. I could almost see cooking/alchemy relation.... as you are doing pretty much the same thing. (combining ingredients to form a finished product.)

Trouble is, the government CANNOT create jobs. At least, not jobs that lead to sustainable growth. The US is supposedly out of it's recession, (would have a hard time convincing ME of that though....) mainly due to government spending. Well, the government can't continue to spend forever.... (although, it appears that ours seem to think so....) without consequences..... The economy here is STILL weak, even after spending a trillion dollars or more on 'stiumulus' and 'bailouts'. Some of the companies that were bailed out are again failing. Including some banks. Shall we bail them out again? Sure, letting the various businesses that got bailed out, fail instead, would most certainly hurt. Salvaging them with taxpayer money, (which promptly went to pay 'retention bonuses, for the very people who's poor judgement got us in to the situation in the first place) was only a temporary fix. And of course, the re-regulation came along too. Which the banks promptly ignored, or found loopholes, to work around. The people that put us in such a crappy position got THEIR money, then they got the houses and such that secured those toxic loans as well. Even in an economic collapse, they made out like bandits. It's the average american that got a royal screwing. And we are heading for yet another fall. All the government did was postpone the inevitable, it will be WORSE next time around. The UK government doing its austerity thing BEFORE it was absoutely required, probably wasn't such a bad idea. Times will be tough for a bit, but, things ARE recovering, albeit, slowly. (until the bottom drops out from the US economy again, then we are all gonna be in for a world of hurt) And what did the various recipients of the bailouts learn? It doesn't matter what they do, if it looks like they are going to go under, they know the fed will come along and save them. Again. Zero motivation to change their ways, and fast money to be made NOT changing. Same problem we have with our government. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Where I live the temperature runs anywhere from -40C (-40F) to 40C (100F), and there are 4 distinct seasons - and I don't mind any of them one bit, but I am a winter person. Give me the cold anyday. I can always put on more clothes when I feel chilly, but I can only take off so many when I am hot. And not get arrested. :D

I have noticed that threads I reply to are marked as "unread"..... which seems counter-intuitive to me.....

My guess would be "no", they would not be compatible. The one loaded last would override any others using the same 'slot'.

The Thalmor win the civil war. After all, it is what they WANT to be happening. Distracts the empire from what they are doing, weakens both the empire, and Skyrim, leaving both open to conquest by the thalmor.

Enemies you face should be based on either location, (distance from civilization, further away, meaner they get) or, character level, regardless of what skills were used to attain that level. (if using a level-scaled model) Weapons/armor should have hard caps on just how much they can be improved, regardless of crafting skills, and other factors. I can make potions that improve smithing over 260% with a combination of alchemy, and enchanting..... if THAT isn't an exploit, I don't know what is...... The idea of an iron dagger doing more damage than a Daedric great sword is just oo much for me to swallow. :D

This, in a nutshell, is basically the issue. The decline of society as a whole. The lack of personal responsibility, the 'no one ever fails' mentality of schools. Etc. Mankind has always been best at finding new and better ways to kill his fellow man. If it wasn't guns, it would be something else.

It used to be the republicans were all about 'borrow and spend', and the dems were 'tax and spend', commonality there being "spend"..... Now, both parties are 'borrow and spend', as the revenue base from taxation has declined dramatically with the loss of millions of jobs in 08, (and the decline began even before that...) and the disappearance of the middle class. Currently, we have a revenue problem, AND a spending problem. Both need to be addressed, in order to prevent a major economic collapse when the current system finally breaks down, as it must.. As I see it, Tax Reform is going to have to be a BIG part of the solution. Going to a graduated flat tax would even the playing field for everyone, and eliminate all the loopholes that have accumulated over the decades. Starting with a clean slate is about the only way I see to rectify a fair few of the current issues. Spending is a whole 'nother barrel o' fish.... Currently, "health and unemployment" is almost 24% of our budget...... Followed by Social Security at 22%, and Defense at just over 19%..... we can see where the lions share of our money is going..... what can we do about it? The BEST thing I can see to do would be Get America BACK TO WORK. That would go a long way toward reducing costs of unemployment, and health care... provided we can start getting back some of those jobs that disappeared in the last decade...... part of that due to Tax laws that make it more profitiable to build factories anywhere else BUT here. Second thing I would seriously consider doing is SIGNIFICANTLY reduce our military presence overseas. We are NOT the World Police. No one appointed us to that task, and quite frankly, we can't afford it. (not to mention that our mere presence is a selection of countries actually inflames the residents there against us..... self-defeating policy there...) I have a long list of reforms/changes that could be made to help this country..... but, given that the folks that have the power to make the changes, have zero motivation to do so, and EVERY motivation NOT to..... I am fully expecting our country to continue on its road to collapse, and third-world nation status.