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Ashoka the Great

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  1. Ashoka the Great
    When I posted my musings on having torn my rotator cuff, I didn't expect someone to wander in and call me a liar over something completely unrelated.
    Behold Jaiar, proud member of the New Pacific Order:
    Wait, what? I post a story about my idiotic stunt that injured my shoulder and my previous experiences with Canada's appalling healthcare system and someone I've never heard of wanders in, calls me a liar about something that I posted in the picture thread some time ago and expects me not to respond?
    tsk tsk tsk
    He don't know me very well, do he?
    I did attempt to give the photo some context:
    In return I received this:
    I don't object to someone attacking me over something I've done. I could probably provide a shopping list of previous activities that would earn my condemnation from all corners of CN. I don't really care, though.
    What I do care about is my integrity. At the end of the day, a person is only as good as their word. And, well, I'm not especially fond of being called a liar.
    So....I'm calling you out chimp chump champ.
    I'm not entirely sure what it will take to convince you that I was there and, yes, that a photo was taken.
    Oh wait, yes I do.
    I am prepared to give you the contact information for several individuals who can confirm my attendance at this event. If their memories are functional they may remember that I was the person who introduced Lady Thatcher at the luncheon. (It was eighteen years ago; people are allowed to forget things.)
    Or, if you prefer, you may appoint a neutral referee to make inquiries on your behalf in order to ensure some kind of fairness.
    Presumably there are only a few questions that need to be answered: Did the Fraser Institute host an event featuring Margaret Thatcher at Toronto's Royal York Hotel in 1993? Was I Director of Development at The Fraser Institute at the time? Did I raise the money to pay for the event? Were photographs taken? Was I in one of those photographs?
    That should cover it, right?
    I am prepared to put it all on the line right here, right now.
    So which person would you like to e-mail:
    1. The person I shared an office with at the time? A Ph.D in History, former university professor, now working as a newspaper columnist and regular contributor on a Canadian news network. He was there.
    2. My former boss? Ph.D in Economics, former Advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Canada. He's now retired but will likely remember my attendance at this event, since I'm the one who raised the money to make it happen. He and I also had some good old-fashioned shouting matches while I worked for him. (Absolutely brilliant man, but one of the most difficult people to work for whom I've ever encountered.)
    3. How about my best man? Actually he was my best man on two occasions, but I digress. He's the former owner of Canada's last privately-held Internet Service Provider and the son of one of the founders of a Canadian television network. He was there as my guest. One year later, and at the last minute, he volunteered to serve as photographer for an event featuring the U.S. vice-President, who was in town for a speaking engagement with us.
    So take your pick.
    Give me a bit of time and I can probably recall others who were there and who will certainly remember my being there as well. Unfortunately, the Institute's Director of Events/Conferences in 1993 has retired. But her then-Assistant now holds her job, so she'd know. Oh wait....and there's our former Director of Finance who, last time I heard, is now an Accouting Professor. (You'll like him. Harvard MBA but not stuffy at all. Good guy.)
    In the meantime, I've given you three very public figures to choose from. Select one, I'll send you their contact information and presto, you shall have your answer. Or you can select all three.
    Then you can apologize.
    Or, you can take the shorter route and apologize now.
    Or, finally, you can take the even shorter route and either ignore this call-out or say something like "I didn't say you weren't there. I said the picture wasn't real." This is the route I expect you to take.
    (Protip, pal: If you're going to accuse someone of using Photoshop, GIMP or any other kind of program of that nature, try to make sure they're actually adept at the program. Within NoR, my complete lack of graphics skills is very well known.)
    Are you man enough, punk? Do you have the courage of your convictions?
    Let me sweeten the pot for you:

    If any public figure whom I recommend says I wasn't there, I will pack up and quit CN for good.


    Ball's in your court, my friend. Do you have the courage to volley or would you rather just admit defeat right now?

    -------------------


    And, before anyone asks why I'm doing this in such a very public manner, it's because our consonant-challenged friend did so first.
    nyah nyah and all that
    (Also, the lady whose face I blacked out -- the publishing V-P -- wasn't sitting. She was just very, very short.)
  2. Ashoka the Great
    Let me begin by explaining the circumstances surrounding the agreement Nordreich signed with World Federation. Many have commented on its strange wording and how, upon examination, it leaves Nordreich with 'interesting' options.
    First, it is true that we never really considered that conflict to be 'our' war. While we did not show any hesitation with respect to supporting Nueva Vida through activation of the 'oA' portion of our treaty, from almost the beginning of our intervention it was clear that Nueva Vida felt much as we did. The reality is that enthusiasm for any war is less than total when one's alliance is the fourth or fifth link on a very long chain.
    Two days before our agreement with wF was reached, we entered into a ceasefire agreement pending what we expected to be reasonably simple negotiations.
    We tried very hard to get peace for that entire front, but one alliance whom I shall not name dug in its heels so hard that progress for the group as a whole was impossible. Nueva Vida gave us their blessing to exit the conflict along with World Federation. That is why in the wF/NoR thread one did not see any complaints coming from Nueva Vida.
    It should be noted that while Nordreich was preparing to exit one war, we were being invited to take part in another.
    It is no secret that Nordreich considers the Federation of Armed Nations to be among our best friends. People on both sides have worked very hard over the last couple of years to overcome past suspicions and to build a genuine relationship between our two alliances. The astute will recall that in the last major conflict, our support for FAN was listed among the reasons we went to war with Valhalla.
    Therefore it should come as no surprise that our friends in the Federation of Armed Nations asked if we would honor the 'oA' part of our gentlemen's agreement and assist somewhere on the ever-widening front in the war against the New Pacific Order. Not being the sort to turn our backs on our friends, we agreed to assist somewhere on that front within 5-7 days of our agreement with World Federation.
    That was nearly three weeks ago.
    I should note that while we were still working out details with World Federation, most if not all of the leadership of Doomhouse, Pandora's Box and their allies were very much aware of our intentions. Nordreich's leadership was in discussions with several alliances with respect to where we could best make use of our modest war machine.
    As is true with any alliance, we counted on the support of at least some of our allies in any conflict. Nueva Vida was 'busy', so to speak. The same was true of Ragnarok. Valhalla had little interest in either of the wars involving the Orders. This left a rather short list of allies, including our friends in The Dark Templar.
    Few are aware of the ties that bind The Dark Templar and Nordreich. Myworld and his alliance sheltered many Nordreich members who were re-establishing their presence on Planet Bob in the months before Nordreich's reformation in May 2009. We owe them a blood debt; one that can never be repaid in full. This will help to explain why, when Nordreich was given the honor of submitting three flags for use by all nations, one of those we chose was that of The Dark Templar.
    And so we hoped that our friends would be given the opportunity to fight by our side once again.
    However, those who hate Nordreich had other plans.
    The Commonwealth of Sovereign Nations demanded 40,000 tech from The Dark Templar as their condition for ending the war. Myworld and the rest of The Dark Templar were shocked. Why should CSN make such exorbitant demands? Why were they attempting to extort DT?
    I attempted to reason with Xiphosis, who is now acknowledged as the author of those ludicrous terms. My efforts were to no avail. His argument boiled down to "Might makes right" and "To the victors go the spoils." No matter how well he dressed up this nonsense, the stench gave it away for the garbage it was and remains.
    And yes, he was already fully aware of Nordreich's intention to stand with FAN.
    As one might well imagine, this did not go down well with Nordreich's government. As a former Kaiser, as someone who by virtue of past service continues to enjoy some access to the hallowed halls of government, I said the following:
    Others had already made this point. And it has become Nordreich's policy with respect to the DT/CSN affair.
    We made our position known to FAN. Of course they were unhappy, but as an honorable alliance they understood our dilemma. They offered their diplomatic assistance with respect to working the matter out. Other alliances -- including those with whom Nordreich has no treaties whatsoever -- also sent representatives to speak with CSN and their GODly puppetmaster.
    Perhaps I should end that part of the narrative here, since it is obvious how well that worked.
    We agreed to stay out of the VE-NpO War on the understanding that our friends would be allowed to exit in a timely manner as well. At the end of the day, all I can say is that we were deceived. But it was not only we who were deceived. The member alliances of Doomhouse, the Federation of Armed Nations....indeed, anyone fighting on that side of the war against the NPO was betrayed.
    This has become something of an open secret, so I am here today to lay the entire matter before the handful of people who are unaware of this.
    The Doomhouse-NPO War has turned into something of a stalemate. Unless something dramatic happens, it is unlikely that there will be peace for a very, very long time.
    Through their anger and short-sightedness, Xiphosis and CSN have managed to keep at least 8,000,000 NS from entering the war.
    We have now reached the point where damn-near everyone involved knows what Nordreich's plans were. Nearly every alliance engaged against the New Pacific Order or its allies is aware of this. I am also personally aware that some on the NPO's side know about this as well. So it's for the best that I lay it all on the table, in order to quash whispered rumors with stated facts.
    We are all witness to one of the most peculiar events I have ever seen.
    Blinded by anger and unable to see 'the big picture' even if it were painted on the side of a barn, Xiphosis and his stooges are doing more to materially aid the NPO than they would by declaring war on Pacifica's opponents. Should there ever be a museum dedicated to the idea of "Unintended Consequences" then I do believe we have found something worthy of permanent display.
    And so, gentle reader, I ask that you join me in a toast.

    All Hail Xiphosis!
    All Hail the Global Order of Darkness!
    All Hail the Commonwealth of Sovereign Nations!
    Honor and Glory to These And All Heroes of Pacifica!


    For those with short attention spans, a tl;dr:
  3. Ashoka the Great
    Thinking about Admin's current Facebook-related competition....
    First, I deleted my Facebook account a while back, but I'm not going to whinge that it's somehow unfair. As publicity moves go, it's not a bad idea and I support it.
    However, I feel the need to say this:

    If, in a few weeks' time there appears a CN alliance called 'Farmville'*, I want it killed.


    ------
    * - Or named after any other FB game my wife kicks me off the computer for.
  4. Ashoka the Great
    I have two computers. The first is my brand new PC that I built this year and am continuing to fine tune. The other is a netbook I picked up a couple of years ago. I have it for those occasions when the missus hijacks my desktop because she wants to do something 'graphics intensive' like harvest in Farmville. *sigh*
    Anyway....
    The netbook came with WinXP, which I immediately removed and replaced with Ubuntu. I don't really store anything on it. It is solely for the purpose of connecting to the 'Net and doing a bit of surfing.
    So imagine my surprise when I opened my 'Documents' folder for the first time in months and saw a folder labeled 'Cyber Nations'.
    "Oooh," I thought. "What goodies lurk therein?"
    It was mostly disappointing. Some war-related graphs from the last conflict, one of those war charts that shows who is being attacked by whom and, well, this:
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/gfgraham/Cybernations/erwhat.png
    There are 'no no words' on this image. Don't say you weren't warned.
    In this, we travel back eleven months to see a remarkably paranoid Xiphosis planning the end of his alliance. The only thing missing is the part where he blames everyone else for his problems and then gets married the day before he shoots himself in his underground bunker.
    Some high points:
    - "CnG is basically worthless"
    - "....go in hard on NPO and disband them. Outright."
    And once again we see this idea of alliances 'defecting'. In Xiph-speak, it means they're no longer a chain away from backing up his sad excuse for an alliance. Boo freaking hoo.
    What's surprising to me is that no one jumps in and says, "This is a really stupid idea."
    There's Liz from CSN, basically agreeing with whatever Xiphosis proposes because CSN is totally not a GOD puppet.
    Goose likes the idea, says WickedJ likes to run his mouth, and then backtracks when he realizes it's a really stupid idea. It's like a written train-of-thought. Clearly he needs an editor, if only to avoid saying what amounts to "I like it" and "I don't like it" in the same damn post.
    R&R and RIA seem to be trying to speak to Xiphosis as one would take to a guy cradling a loaded firearm.
    But you know what really shocks me? It's not that they have such little respect for supposed friends and allies. No, what makes me pause is the fact that they speak so poorly of their own bloc. As someone who is now a lowly ordinary member of Nordreich, I'd be a bit dismayed if I learned that the leaders of Mj pretty much agreed that everyone in it kinda sucked.
    Is it exciting? I've no idea. Parts of it are very, very funny. To me, at least.
    No clue who gave this to me or when I received it. It may have come from CNtel. Or not. (I'm not registered there, and the quality of what I've seen coming out of there is pretty crappy, so probably not.)
    I could turn on my netbook and check the date when it was created, but the netbook must be at least ten feet away. That sin't gonna happen.
    This would have been much more exciting if I were posting it sometime in the third week of October in 2010. Half-way through September of the following year, it's not terribly relevant but good for a chuckle or two. By now much of this -- Xiphosis' feelings toward GOONS, the NPO, CnG and anyone who thinks he's a clown -- are rather well known.
    So, if the parties involved would like to declare me a spy for receiving information and releasing it publicly well after it's of any real interest to anyone but some kind of CN historian, I believe my official response is: "Suck it."
  5. Ashoka the Great
    Every now and then I'll notice that players have their Political Compass score as part of their signature. I cannot tell you how many times I've tried this test. More than three but less than ten, probably. Each time, I gave up somewhere around Page 3.
    Way back when studying for the priesthood, I took a variety of personality tests. I was interviewed by several psychologists. Before that, while working in public policy, I was given security clearance in order to fête various government-types from various countries including my own.
    It is said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Well, having been compelled to examine my life from a variety of vantage points, I can also tell you that the over-examined life ain't so hot, either.
    There's another reason I've avoided the Political Compass. As you may have picked up from the above comments, I hate tests, especially those that purport to tell me more about myself. I think they're all about as reliable as opening up the paper and checking my horoscope. (I'm a Pisces. We're supposed to be sensitive and caring and all that. Oh btw, I have the same birthday as Josef Mengele.)
    Anyway, tonight I decided to try the Political Compass again. Not once, but twice. In the first test, I gave nuanced answers which most closely reflect my views at any given time. In the second test, I allowed myself only the option of 'Strongly Agree' or 'Strongly Disagree'. Nothing in-between.
    I did this because, like most people, there are times when I feel like supporting the most drastic measures available. For example, each time I read about a serial killer being put away for life instead of genuinely paying for his crimes, I find that I am willing to support capital punishment for people who cut me off in traffic. When my own father was recently denied a place in a veterans' home because he had not served five or more years in the Canadian Army -- he served about four-and-a-half, including more than a year in combat in Korea -- I would have supported damn-near any measure that would guarantee seniors a measure of dignity.
    And so on.
    We all do this, right? I call it the 'If I Were Dictator' hypothesis. Something annoys us and in our minds we can't help but imagine how we'd do things if only we had the unlimited power to do so. (By the way, if I'm ever Supreme Dictator all office telephones, photocopiers and coffee makers will have identical instructions for use. If you've worked in more than a couple of offices, you know why.)
    Anyway, according to this test, here's where I sit on a normal day:



    I find this result to be interesting. I have spent a large part of my working life in public policy research, and the organizations I have worked for would tend to put me more to the economic right. I mean, geez, I organized Milton Friedman's (belated) eightieth birthday party in Vancouver, coinciding with a Regional Meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society. My (economic) libertarian credentials are pretty darn good, at least on paper. But, according to this test, not in practice.
    Interesting. Perhaps I'm mellowing in my middle age, at least with regard to economic policy. Or perhaps I've just given up on the idea of making government small again.
    With regard to personal liberty, that's no surprise at all. I've always been a "Get off my damn lawn" kind of guy.
    Alright....having dispensed with that, let's see what the world would look like if I were granted absolute power.



    And this is what the world would be like if I were handed supreme authority.
    So what have I learned?
    Well, apparently I'm an Authoritarian Centrist. For some reason I find that to be very funny. Or, rather, I found it funny until I compared my results with the placement of various political figures on the Political Compass:



    Ha ha. Very funny.
  6. Ashoka the Great
    A very simple question. Is this one big war or are there two very distinct conflicts going on? (Namely, the VE-NpO War and the Doomhouse-NPO War.)
    I tend to see them as two separate global conflicts, making this a unique situation in CN history. I can't think of two global wars occurring simultaneously. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened, of course, but I tend not to pay attention to world affairs unless my alliance is involved or at risk of becoming involved.
    Others, however, see the wars as interconnected and therefore part of a larger global war.
    My objection to the second point of view is fairly simple. There is virtually zero likelihood of my alliance becoming involved in the Doomhouse-NPO 'front', if that's what one wishes to call it..
    In fact, if Nordreich and World Federation were to reach some kind of peace agreement today, we would be out of the VE-NpO War as well. (We have other allies involved, but no requests for help that I'm aware of.)
    Each of us will have our own particular 'take' on this, and it will likely be prejudiced by where we see our alliance in this mess. Nevertheless, I believe there are decent arguments to be made on both sides. Feel free to make yours here.
  8. Ashoka the Great
    In Canada, the question of Native land claims is one that continues to vex politicians and activists alike.
    On the one side are the Natives themselves, who want to maintain their culture while breaking free of paternalistic governments that treat them as unfit to govern themselves. At the extreme one may find those who want to abolish the Indian Act, make Natives into 'full' citizens (who have to pay taxes just like the rest of us) and grant them control/ownership of lands while cutting them off from most of the government handouts they currently receive.
    This 'extreme' position is not merely held by 'so-called angry White men, but by many Natives themselves.
    So what are we going to do about this?
    I say....who cares? I'm here to discuss my land claims, dammit.
    Those who have spoken with me about my family are aware that my ancestors, although they come from many places, have been in North America for a very long time. It's been so long, in fact, that I'm not entirely sure when the first of them arrived here. What I do know is that the last of them to come to Canada did so in 1867, the same year we became a mostly-sovereign country.
    For example, my great-great-great-grandfather was a man by the name of Robert Wagstaff. (Lest you should think I'm grasping at some tenuous relationship with the past, I should point out that 'Wagstaff' was my mother's maiden name.) He was born in Cambridge, England in 1794. In 1815, as a British soldier, he took part in the Battle of New Orleans. In that battle, which the British lost incidentally, he was severely wounded in the neck.
    I can only imagine what it would have been like to take a musket ball to the neck. Perhaps the only thing worse than that would be living to talk about it later.
    Anyway, Robert Wagstaff, who was not even 21 at the time of this battle, must have eventually become an officer or a very high-ranking NCO. I say this because more than twenty years after returning home to England, he was back in North America to fight on behalf of the Crown. This time, however, he was taking part in quelling the (Canadian) Rebellions of 1837, which in fact stretched into 1838.
    The Rebellion quashed and many of its leaders hanged, Robert decided to settle down in 'muddy York', the town that had recently been renamed 'Toronto'. He had good reason to stay here, since the Crown had promised free land to British soldiers who fought in her defense.
    Alas, Robert was not to see this free land. He died in August 1843, with the cause of death listed as 'wounds sustained in battle'. It was that nearly thirty-year-old injury that ultimately killed him, although the gory details are, perhaps thankfully, unavailable.
    The following December, his widow (my great-great-great-grandmother) wrote to the Crown's representative in Canada, His Excellency the Right Honourable Sir Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, Governor-General. She asked that the Crown make good on its promise. Actually, she begged the Crown to keep its word, if not for her then for the sake of her five children.
    The Governor-General informed her that the rules had changed, there was no more free land being given out and, if there were, the Governor-General would be the wrong person to ask for help anyway.
    Sounds like the government, doesn't it?
    My great-great-great grandmother married another man, mostly likely to avoid living in penury for the rest of her life. This is what government inaction did to a soldier's widow, forcing her to practically enslave herself to a man in order to feed her children.
    For shame!
    Well, I say enough is enough. My ancestors were promised land and they were deceived. Now, nearly two centuries later, it is time to right that wrong and make good on the Crown's promise.
    I want my land, dammit.
    If my ancestors were promised even as little as five or ten acres -- an amount that seems ridiculously small for the time -- then surely some kind of inflation must be taken into account when redressing this gross injustice. To show I am a reasonable person, I am willing to take possession of approximately 570 acres of land that is, for the most part, uninhabited.
    To those who inhabit the lands I claim in the name of my ancestors and for the benefit of my descendants, I promise to be a fair and just ruler. As a City-State (more of a Hamlet-State, actually) within Canada they shall enjoy all the rights accorded by law and the Constitution.
    It is time to settle all land claims, but ME FIRST.
  9. Ashoka the Great
    ....I was having a chat with Electron Sponge. Yes, that Electron Sponge.
    It was a very pleasant conversation, actually. In it he made some rather flattering comments about Nordreich. (I wish I had saved logs in order to present them exactly as he said them, but alas....I almost never save logs. I did copy and paste some of the highlights in a private NoR military channel, so perhaps they exist somewhere out there in the ether.)
    First, Sponge said that Nordreich was always a dependable ally. Of course I appreciated that.
    Then he said that Nordreich got "all 'Dr. Strangelove'" in times of war; that we were all "
    " this and " "1 that. He explained that he didn't mean the former in any kind of pejorative sense. Rather, he was trying to convey that from what he'd seen, Nordreich was one of the very few alliances out there that did nothing other than prepare for war.He was right, of course.2
    There are few greater sins in Nordreich than being ill-prepared for war. Our members are required to check in at least once a month. They are ordered to obtain military improvements based on certain benchmarks.3 There are penalties for consistently failing to measure up to Nordreich's admittedly-high standards, and said penalties can be quite severe indeed.
    A few days ago, and in light of recent events, Nordreich's members were asked to report in as soon as possible. It is testament to our preparedness that nearly half the alliance had reported in within six hours; nearly all had reported in within twenty-four.
    We are locked and loaded. We are ready.
    Sadly, I am not privy to those high-level discussions between our Kaiser, Kronprinz, Commander-in-Chief and Foreign Minister regarding when and where Nordreich will be deployed.
    What I do know is that when the time comes, our adversaries will learn what it means to watch the sun rise at midnight.
    ---------------------------------------
    1. Yes, that clip of Dr. Strangelove has in fact been dubbed in German. That adds to its awesomeness.
    2. At this point Sponge would interject and say, "I'm always right." Since he's unlikely to stop by for a visit to this humble blog, I have done it for him.
    3. Consider for a moment that we have a grand total of three members over 20K NS who are not nuclear-capable.
  11. Ashoka the Great
    A few days ago on the Nordreich forums, a discussion was started about the Voyager 2 probe. Understabndably, this turned into a discussion about intelligent life in the universe. Aliens. Little green men. Whatever.
    It went on for a few pages before Captain Buzzkill decided to drop by.
    My entire post is below, although I've had to change the formatting slightly.

    ==============================================================


    In any discussion of extraterrestrial life, there are some important things to consider. These considerations are largely based on Earth's experiences, as will be obvious. (But hey, that's all the hard data we have to work with.)
    1. In any solar system, habitable zones are quite narrow. [May 26 edit. If I wrote this again I would add "if they exist at all."]
    2. Intelligent life takes time.
    3.
    have a way of short-circuiting this process.4. Humanity has only been properly organized into what one might call 'civilization' for perhaps 10,000 years, or since we advanced beyond hunting and gathering to genuine agriculture.
    5. Humanity has been capable of wireless communication over great distances for about a century.
    6. Humanity has been capable of manned space flight for less than fifty years.
    7. Humanity has the capacity to destroy itself many times over, whether through war, disease or continually "!@#$ting in our own water bowl." (A phrase I first heard used by a friend of mine while in high school. It's a remarkably apt way of describing us.)
    8. We have no data on which to estimate the average duration of 'advanced' civilizations before they succumb to self-destruction or are wiped out by natural causes. ('Natural causes' would include a supervolcano, a planet-wide extinction event caused by a collision with a big freaking rock or something like the eventual run-in between the Milky Way and Andromeda.)
    So sure....extraterrestrial life is 'possible', but intelligent life is much less likely. Technologically-advanced life is considerably less likely than that. In the billions of years of this universe's existence, thousands or millions of civilizations could have risen and fallen already, just as ours will eventually. Not one has left a mark on the universe that is visible to us.
    Does this mean that we should stop looking, unplug SETI and wait for the aliens to arrive? No. The human desire to know is unquenchable. We're worse than cats in this regard. (Much more reckless, too.)
    But we need to face the fact that Humanity is alone. We are confined to this planet, and there are significant barriers to space exploration. We may send out probes, but it is very unlikely that we will ever 'reach the stars' in a personal way. It is even less likely that we will meet up with alien life.
    When we are destroyed -- and make no mistake, we will be destroyed -- there will be no recollection of our once-great civilization.
    "Woman gives birth straddling an open grave."
    The universe is no different.
    We are, quite frankly, solitary and doomed. Our ultimate end will be the equivalent of an unnoticed gurgle in the universe's digestive system. We have no 'legacy'. We have no 'future'. The life and death of most men is forgotten in a generation. As a group, Humanity has no one to remember us at all.
    You're all welcome to stare up at the sky and think about things that will never be. Me? I think I'm going to get some ice cream.
    Note: I also do weddings and birthday parties. For some reason bookings have been scarce lately.

    ==============================================================


    Let me quote the comment that was posted immediately below this post:
    While I understand that the person who made this comment didn't intend it to be taken personally, there are some folks for whom the idea of 'life out there' is all that keeps them going. It is what drives both our religious impulses and our desire to know what's happening out in the stars.
    But hey....motivations be damned. We're pretty much boned regardless of what gets you through the day.
    My questions, though, are:
    Is this information genuinely depressing? If so, why?
    Am I wrong? Is there some law of physics I'm overlooking? Are Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha and Frank Tipler going to arrive to take us to a wonderful singularity filled with virgins and beer bongs?
    If I'm right, does my my pointing this out make me a bad person? Should everyone just give up? Should you stop reading this and just go 'off' yourself?
    I asked my wife, and she just looked at me and said, "Did you put the donuts in the fridge? I'm worried the glaze will melt."
    Best answer ever.
  12. Ashoka the Great
    Before quitting smoking a little while back, I used to go outside for my smoke breaks. I still go outside to pace back and forth, having still not figured out how to get rid of that 'antsy' feeling I have sometimes.
    It's not terribly exciting. I greet my neighbors, admire the trees and, on many occasions, see drivers acting like complete dolts. For you see, I live near an intersection. It's not a particularly busy one, but for some reason it attracts the worst drivers. (My kids cross at this intersection every day to go to and from school, so I have something of a personal interest in drivers' behavior.)
    Until today, I thought I had seen it all. For example:
    - Drivers coming to a complete stop on a red light, then going through the intersection before the light has changed.
    - Cars making left turns into the wrong lane, thus pointing themselves at oncoming traffic.
    - Drivers ignoring the crossing guard's large 'STOP' sign while there are children crossing.
    - Senior citizens peering through their steering wheels in order to see.
    - People flying down the road at 90 km/h when the speed limit is 40 km/h.
    I could go on. On average, there is one accident per week. Most are not that serious, although two weeks ago a truck driver blew through the red light while in the wrong lane, t-boning a pickup truck and sandwiching it between the truck and a minivan on the other side that was stopped. I may not know much about cars, but I do know three 'write-offs' when I see them.
    Today, though....
    I was standing on the sidewalk, facing south, when I noticed a car coming from the west. It seemed to be going very, very slowly, and from a distance it was obvious that the driver had both hands off the wheel. If anything, he seemed to be making the "I'm choking" signal.
    Now....I'm a good neighbor. I like to help people. So my first reaction was to prepare to rush out, yank the driver from the car and perform the Heimlich maneuver, CPR or whatever was needed.
    I'm also rather far-sighted -- 20/10 in one eye, 20/15 in the other -- so it wasn't long before I realized what the middle-aged male driver was actually doing.
    He was flossing.
    I couldn't help myself. As he began to crawl past me, I decided to inquire as to his intellectual capacity. His window was open, he didn't have the radio on and he was (maybe) fifteen feet away from me, so I didn't have to yell.
    "Are you a !@#$@#$ idiot?" I asked.
    The driver looked my way, hands still off the wheel. I suppose he must have knocked said wheel with his elbow, because his car turned right and mounted the curb about thirty feet short of the intersection. No (apparent) damage done. He missed both a fire hydrant and a pole. I expect there was some minor damage to the area around the front-right wheel well. Possibly some damage to his suspension, ball joint, tie rod....whatever. I don't know.
    I stood there, slowly nodding. The driver looked over at me.
    "Yup, you're an idiot," I said. And then I went back inside, sat down, and wrote this for posterity.
  13. Ashoka the Great
    A while back I made a few posts about building a new PC for myself for the first time in about eight years. I got some great advice and ended up building a computer far better than I had initially intended.
    And then the nightmare began.
    Within weeks, the memory modules on my motherboard started failing. No reason. They just died. So I sent the mobo back to the manufacturer and bought a second motherboard (different brand) of somewhat better quality. SATA3 instead of SATA2, Crossfire enabled and so on. My idea was to simply sell the replacement mobo once it arrived, keeping the upgrade.
    After using this for a few weeks, I noticed that my stock CPU fan and rear 120mm exhaust were really quite loud. The CPU fan sounded like a small vacuum, while the exhaust made a lot of noise while moving a surprisingly small amount of air. The CPU was running about 10C hotter as well.
    And then I had a great idea. I rushed out and bought an Antec H2O 620 liquid cooler. Reviews for this have been great, especially in terms of noise. The theory was that I would be replacing two loud fans with one quiet fan (and a radiator) that would actually do a better job of cooling.
    Alas, t'was not to be. I unpackcaged the cooler, installed it and....the fan was dead. Argh.
    Had you been in my house at about 0200 Saturday morning, you would have heard me mutter "Are you !@#$@#$ kidding me?" over and over and over again.
    Since I'd bought it only yesterday, today I marched the whole PC back to my local retailer and asked them to yank it out for me and install a different model of a higher-end air cooler. (I'd bought the last 620 in stock. Argh.)
    No problemo. My local computer place is pretty good about things like this.
    Anyway, they swapped everything out, hooked everything up, hit the power switch and....
    Dead motherboard.
    Seriously.
    Another goddamn mother$%&@ing piece of !@#$ motherboard.
    Anyway, three days ago I received an e-mail from the manufacturer of mobo #1. The replacement has now been shipped. Tuesday morning -- it's a long weekend here -- I'll be shipping the second motherboard off to its manufacturer.
    For now, though, here I am on my notebook which, thank God, is working just fine.
    "This build has really been a nightmare for you," quoth Captain Obvious at my local computer retailer today. No !@#$, Sherlock.
    What have I learned from this? Hmmm....I don't know if there's anything to be taken away from this. I don't blame the manufacturers, since all of the products I bought had received great reviews and, well, there's always going to be that one guy who gets (or builds) a complete lemon.
    One thought I've had, though, is that once you've built a system, only open it up to give it a few blasts from an air duster every few weeks. Clean out those fan filters, if you have them. (I do.) Otherwise, don't touch a damn thing. Resist the temptation to upgrade. Instead, wait three years -- the average useful lifespan of a higher-end PC these days -- and then go out, buy the components for a new system and, once it's assembled, don't touch that one either.
  14. Ashoka the Great
    Alright.....I need a bit of a run-up for this.
    I'm from Toronto, Canada's largest city. This is what our skyline looks like:

    That huge needle is the CN Tower. Now, I could give you the numbers as to its height and so on, but raw numbers mean nothing. Instead, I ask you to think in relative terms.
    See that white office tower just right of center? That's the Bank of Montreal building. It is seventy-two stories tall. Knowing this should help you appreciate the "holy-crap-that's-big" nature of the CN Tower.
    In August the CN Tower will be adding a new 'feature'. While tethered (supposedly firmly), people will be given the opportunity to walk around the outside. I kid you not. The outside.
    Here's the mock-up that's being used to show what this will look like:

    Don't get me wrong. I am definitely not afraid of heights. I have been up the CN Tower many, many times since it opened in 1976. The view is simply amazing.
    What I am afraid of is wide-open heights. A few years ago the CN Tower installed clear acrylic floors in part of their observation deck. Although I'm well aware that said floors could support several full-grown elephants, looking straight down makes me feel rather....well, not quite right.
    According to the folks who run the CN Tower, advance sales of tickets for this....attraction?....have been much better than anticipated. While I understand the whole bravado thing that might lead many to do this, here are some of the things I thought of when it was announced:
    1. Presumably there is some kind of mechanism in place to keep people moving in the same direction. Otherwise you could have a line of people waiting.
    2. So you're tethered in. You're walking around. You slip. And, for a second or two, you feel like you're going to fall to your death. Oh boy. Hope you brought some flushable wipes.
    3. What happens if someone gets half-way around and panics? They stand there, frozen in fear. What then? Is there some kind of mechanical thing that will essentially drag them around to the other side? And will EMTs be on hand to give CPR to the poor person whose heart stopped when they were dragged around with their feet hanging over the edge?
    Seriously....this thing just screams "lawsuit" the more I think about it. It doesn't matter if people sign a waiver of some kind. If at some point there is some kind of flaw that kills someone, there will be a lawsuit.
    So....would you?
  15. Ashoka the Great
    - The lower ranks are the place to be during war. More targets, for one thing. And, as the war drags on, that number increases.
    - Government members of alliances that want to surrender (but refuse to use the word 'surrender' for some reason) may want to watch what they say in public, lest a door be slammed in their face.
    - The doctrine of "we won't quit until our friends do" is noble and no one will fault you for it. However, it does have the unintended consequence of prolonging a conflict to the continued detriment of the losing side. It does far more damage than people realize.
    - In the future, alliances should sign individual treaties or belong to blocs, not both. Doing both not only leads to an idiotic expansion of a conflict, it also promotes things like Nordreich and the International fighting the same common enemy, which is the foreign affairs equivalent of dividing by zero.
    - It's not a real war until fools start launching suicide attacks against people who have never heard of them before.
    - Bragging about casualties is rather like saying, "Hey, did you see how I hurt that guy's knee with my face?"
  16. Ashoka the Great
    OK, so it's time to have a look at former adversaries or, rather, former adversaries that are still around. I generally prefer the word 'adversary' over 'enemy', since the latter implies some kind of long-term enmity that I'm just not capable of. Disliking someone enough to call them 'enemy' takes an enormous amount of energy and, if you think about it, gives an opponent far more control over you than you realize.
    Bearing that little digression in mind, here we go:
    Federation of Armed Nations - I've always liked FAN. Even in the aftermath of Operation Overlord I thought they were OK.
    Those who find the relationship between Nordreich and FAN to be a bit strange need to consider that FAN and NoR 1.0 worked together as members of the Initiative. Thinking 'OOC-ly', many FAN and NoR members have a lot in common in terms of age, past experiences and so on.
    The night of Nordreich's reformation, FAN was the only alliance to drop by our IRC channel and formally offer their best wishes. If you think a gesture like that means a lot to me, you're absolutely right.
    And, just in case anyone wonders, it was I who first got Vox Populi and FAN working together. With FAN's assistance, I investigated and [ C L A S S I F I E D ].
    /me looks up
    Oh.
    Well, I guess that story will have to wait for another time.
    The lolCommies - I'm just going to put them all in one group. They're all about collectivism, so they shouldn't complain too much.
    It's time for an earthshaking revelation.
    I don't hate the Commies. For the most part they're a pretty good group. In fact, before NoR refounded, I approached the International about something akin to a NAP.
    They said no. Not only did they turn it down, some of their members were downright insulting about it. Later, one prominent INT government member even had the temerity to publicly deny that Nordreich had ever approached them. All I could do was shrug, since cognitive dissonance really isn't my 'thing'.
    Then, just a few weeks ago, INT (along with a bazillion other alliances) ended up declaring war on Invicta....in defense of Nordreich. (They're welcome to quibble about this, but the fact is that the 'treaty chain' that brought them in ended with us.)
    He who laughs last does so in a hearty, Germanic way. Isn't that right, Comrades?
    GOONS 1.0 - I nearly joined them shortly before the UjW. That's an error I'm glad I didn't make. (Concurrently, NoV was asked to join the UjP. History shows what their answer was.)
    Global Order of Darkness - Xiphosis and I always seemed to get along quite well, although to be fair he and I haven't spoken to each other in quite some time.
    Boards Alliance of Protectorate States - Every now and then BAPS and I argue over something nobody else gives a damn about.
    I think it's terrific that BAPS have stuck it out through some very tough times.
    Libertarian Socialist Federation - Apart from admiring their ability to stick around, I honestly don't know what to think about the LSF.
    Some time ago, members of the LSF hunted down personal information about NoR members with a view toward encouraging local idiots to administer a beating. The assumption being, of course, that NoR members are all fascists.
    If they've changed about that particular goal, then terrific. If not, then they may wish to read up on the Second Amendment, something most NoR members tend to support regardless of where they might live.
    Parenthetically....
    Almost a year ago, LSF members were horrified to learn that a middle-aged member of Nordreich started a fight and won against three teenagers who were found using drugs on his property but refused to GTFO in a timely manner.
    Yeah, that was me. And, for the record, "a timely manner" would have been before I saw them.
    Valhalla - No issues at all. Even though we just finished fighting each other, many members of Valhalla and Nordreich get along quite well. For example, Valhalla's Vice-Regent and I have been the CN equivalent of friends for nearly three years, and one of these days he and I are actually going to make it out to a hockey game together. (Wings vs. Leafs, sadly. As a Leafs fan, I'm kind of dreading that.)
    I'll include TheZoo and Olympus under Valhalla, since they declared in that alliance's defense. Members of both alliances made an extremely positive impression on me during the most recent conflict, and I was far from alone (in NoR) in remarking on this.
    Invicta - "They always want the last word. They always want to be right. It makes them very difficult to deal with."
    Words to that effect were told to me by leading members of three of Invicta's allies during the last war. That they all said much the same thing -- and better than I could have -- without any prompting from yours truly means that it's probably true.
    It does help to explain why I always wince just a little before reading a post by Haflinger, for example.
    R&R - I like them. A lot.
    In the UjW they were a tough opponent. In the recent war they were an ally, albeit a couple of times removed.
    I much prefer fighting on the same side, and if they were ever to ask Nordreich 'out on a date' I'd happily give my blessing.
    Next: The Final Chapter
  17. Ashoka the Great
    Here's how the game is played:
    - Alliance X makes a mistake of some kind.
    - Someone from Alliance Y calls them on it.
    - The second individual is reminded of when they did something, possibly by someone unrelated to Alliance X.
    - The above individual is castigated over something else.
    - Eventually, you have a loop of people all pointing and calling each other names.
    - Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Always repeat.
    This would seem to be one of the favorite games these days. So prevalent has it become that I found myself typing a variation of it earlier today. At Bob Janova, of all people.
    (Sorry, Bob.)
    Well, no more.
    It's time for a reality check, folks.
    All of us who have been here a while and who have served in government(s) have made mistakes along the way. At times they may have only affected ourselves or our own alliances. But there have also been times when some of our more spectacular screw-ups have affected hundreds, even thousands, of nations.
    All of us have screwed up. (And if someone's going to jump in and say "Hey I haven't" then I can only say you haven't been trying hard enough.)
    Our errors inform our future actions. Well, they're supposed to at any rate. When they don't, there's always someone there to remind us of this. (CNers are very good at this sort of 'reminding'.)
    But y'know, it would be nice if our errors informed our comments as well, making said comments more pertinent, more cogent, more....anything other than bitter and childish. And hey, we might just learn that the guy who did a bad thing two years ago isn't really so bad after all.
    Is it so hard to focus on the matter at hand, whatever it may be? I'm not just asking that question of others, but of myself as well. Do those of us with a lot of history simply have too much baggage that we refuse to let go of?
    When I find myself acting like the second monk, I feel stupid.
    So enough with the ancient history. If it isn't truly relevant, then save it for that book about CN you've always wanted to write. (*cough* loser *cough*)
    Don't go on and on about a "pattern of behavior." Save that for the DoW, if you've got the stones.
    Finally, there is one point that needs to be made with regard to anyone who claims the moral high ground. I've said this before, but it may bear repeating:
    We are all monsters. If we are not monsters, we are friends with monsters. And if we are not friends with monsters, we are food for monsters.
  18. Ashoka the Great
    More RL adventures here, kids.
    Let me begin by saying that I live on the second floor of a two-storey, wood-framed building. It's not ideal, but we moved here back in 2006 for a reason. At the time, my mother-in-law was fighting a comeback of breast cancer (she died on Boxing Day the same year) and my father-in-law had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Their house is two blocks away. We've been on call 24/7 for four years now.
    I don't mind, really. This is what families do. Well, what they're supposed to do, anyway.
    But lately....
    I've been dealing with a drunken, abusive neighbor. In recent weeks, he has been blaring his music at all hours. In a wood-framed building, this guy has a drum kit. Seriously. A drum kit.
    Getting nowehere in trying to reason with him, I phoned the property manager to complain. About 15-20 complaints later, and after he got drunk and followed the Superintendent's 15-year-old daughter around while screaming "Yo fatty!" at her repeatedly, they finally sent him a letter telling him to smarten up. They also commenced eviction proceedings, since apart from all of this he hits on every female who lives in or comes near the building and staggers around the parking lot, drunk and incoherent. People with kids (like me and several others) don't particularly appreciate this.
    And then my car was vandalized. Someone took a screwdriver or icepick to every single window and quite simply scratched the hell out of them. There's ~$2,000 worth of damage. We didn't have 'comprehensive' insurance to cover vandalism since it was an 'occasional use' vehicle, so my car -- a previously-pristine '98 Bonneville with 120,000km on it -- is a write-off.
    Later that night, three neighbors and I heard him bragging about it to his kids (seriously, to his kids?) and telling them how to lie to cover for him if/when the police asked about it. He finished off the evening by spending under my bedroom window, screaming about how much he hates me, how he thinks my wife is cheating on me and "Don't get me started on those !@#$@#$ kids." (The children who live with me, btw, are a 13-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy.)
    The following Wednesday (a week ago today) he was standing in the parking lot outside my apartment at 11:00 p.m., pointing a camera toward my place and taking flash photos. That same night he followed my wife around outside when she went downstairs for a cigarette. He just kept saying "Good evening!" over and over and over again while staying about three feet behind her.
    Two-bit intimidation. That's all it is.
    And yes, we've spoken to the police.
    Apparently all of this is harassment, but not criminal harassment. The fact that he admitted to the vandalism in front of witnesses is meaningless, since nobody actually saw him do it. They said they could go talk to him, but that would probably just make it worse. (Translation: "Wow, sucks to be you, but we don't want to do anything. Now if you'll excuse us, it's time for our coffee break.")
    Their advice? Move. Seriously. Move.
    Until then, they won't do anything unless someone actually gets hurt. But if I do something, I become The Bad Guy.
    Helpful, right?
    ----
    So, if you happen to catch me on IRC and I'm not all that chatty or I seem irritated, now you know why.
    But remember....
    Sometimes, believing in Karma means taking the long view. My wife has somehow managed to convince me that going to prison because of this moron isn't worth it. But eventually he's going to cross paths with someone who lacks my patience.
    I only hope I get to hear about it.
  19. Ashoka the Great

    ATTENTION NERDS

    By Ashoka the Great,

    I interrupt your current military broadcasting in order to ask for some input regarding a new computer.
    Right now, I'm sitting at my eight-year-old desktop PC, a P4 2.66 GHz with 1 GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon 9000 Video Card.
    OK, you can stop laughing now. When I bought this in 2003 it was pretty frickin' sweet, and it has performed admirably over the years.
    But now, alas, it is beginning to melt down before my eyes. Despite my very best efforts, my CPU regularly heats up far too much, compelling the computer to shut itself off in order to avoid frying. My poor little 150GB hard drive is nearly full, and I have about 100GB of saved data on other hard drives that aren't connected to the computer. (I admit....I currently use them as bookends.) Never mind that it is beginning to fail as well. Bad sectors and all that.
    So yes, it's time to get a new computer and toss this one.
    My needs with respect to a computer are surprisingly reasonable. Most of the games I plays are older, and the newer games I'd like to try out (like Sims 3 or Tropico 3/4) make relatively insignificant demands on systems when one considers what the most basic computer comes with these days.
    My problem is that I'm outside the loop right now. It has been several years since I completed all my computer certifications, and tbqh I haven't kept up with changes in technology very well. Neither have I been interested in the cost of systems that are out there right now.
    So, with this in mind, I present the system that I'm considering. It meets the most basic requirements I have, and can be 'upgraded' (by adding RAM, etc.) to make it work even better within my narrow set of needs.


    Proposed New Computer
    * Motherboard - AMD 760G, Socket AM2+, USB, LAN, PCIe, MicroATX
    * AMD Phenom X4 9600B Business Class Quad-Core Processor HD960BWCJ4BGH - 2.3GHz, Socket AM2+, 2MB L2, 2MB L3 Cache, Unlocked, OEM Cooler Master DK8-7G52B-A2-GP CPU Fan - 70mm, 2 Ball Bearing, 754, 939, 940, AM2, AM3, 3050 ~ 6000 RPM, 95W, Aluminum
    * 4GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel RAM
    * LP Hard Drive - 1TB, 5900rpm, 32MB, SATA-3G
    * 24x DVDRW Drive - 24x, S-ATA, Black, OEM
    * Radeon HD 5450 Video Card - 1024MB DDR3, PCI-Express 2.0, DVI, HDMI, VGA
    * ATX Black Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB and Audio Ports and 450-Watt Power Supply
    COST: $299.99 (after $10 Rebate) With this I would eventually upgrade the RAM to 8GB, but that wouldn't be a priority. (It would mean ditching the current memory completely -- since there are only two slots -- and picking up two 4GB sticks at a cost of roughly $180.00.) More important would be adding a cooling fan to the back of the case. That will cost <$20 if I don't simply take the fan out of my current PC and 'transplant' it.
    All prices are in Canadian dollars.
    Obviously it doesn't come with either a monitor or an OS. My current monitor is fine, so no worries in that department. (I'll eventually drop the money to get a nice big LCD display, but it really isn't a priority for me.) As far as the OS goes, I'd probably get the 64-bit Windows 7 Home version, which is about $100. The Pro version is about $150; Ultimate is $200. Those are possibilities as well.
    Is it a good deal? I honestly have no idea.
  20. Ashoka the Great

    Reality Blows

    By Ashoka the Great,

    I play another online game rather a lot. On that game, I'm a server admin.
    Tonight, one of my fellow admins confided in me that he had 'taken a fit' the other day. He went to the hospital, where they found three tumors in his brain.
    The punchline?
    These were actually secondary tumors. He actually has lung cancer.
    Like me, he's forty-four years old. Unlike me, he has never smoked. (I quit a year ago, and think about it damn near every day. God, I miss it.)
    So we talked on TeamSpeak....for about an hour or so. And then another player joined the TS server so we had to make small talk about other things.
    I just sent him a PM. It's not all that relevant to CN. In fact, it isn't relevant at all to the typical CN demographic, but if only to give you a sense of the guy behind the walrus exterior....
    Life blows, kids. But that's no reason to take it for granted.
    Oh, and btw....the image in my sig on this particular game forum:



  21. Ashoka the Great
    OK, let me begin with a few caveats.
    1. I'm not American.
    2. I was involved in the policy-making process for many years and, having seen how it's done, I have very little respect for most politicians.
    3. My Bachelor's degree is in Broadcast Journalism.
    4. I have actually worked 'in the field' before, and I have less respect for journalists than I have for politicians. (One day I'll have to share my story of my one encounter with CNN's John Roberts. Perhaps in my next post.)
    All that being said, I believe I'm on fairly safe ground when I say that, Fox News notwithstanding, the American media enjoys picking on Republicans far more than it enjoys picking on Democrats. As a rule, the most extreme individuals are trotted out as being representative of the entire Republican Party.
    Generally, Democrats get a pass. When Robert Byrd died four months ago, he was eulogized for his 'progressive' voting record. His having served as an organizer/recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan in his youth went unmentioned.
    Quotes like this were forgotten:
    Rather ugly, don't you think?
    But then again, Sen. Byrd worked pretty damn hard to put his past well behind him. Perhaps he earned that 'pass' from the media after all.
    But then we have people like this:


    Meet Kesha Rogers, Democratic candidate for Congress in Texas' 22nd District.


    Notice anything wrong with this picture?
    She's a nutjob. A Lyndon LaRouche supporter. She wants to impeach Obama. She also received fifty-four percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, and did not make even the slightest attempt to hide her views from voters.
    Oh, and her campaign slogan?
    "Help send me to Congress, and we can send our grandchildren to Mars!"
    I get the feeling she's already been.
    So where are all the stories about loony Democrats? There are plenty of them, after all. I can think of half a dozen Democratic Party embarrassments off the top of my head, but none of them seem to be getting nearly as much airtime as everyone's favorite Tea Party poster-girl, the ever-chaste MILF, Miss Christine O'Donnell.
    Am I just watching the wrong channels?
  23. Ashoka the Great
    Some of you will know that my relationship with my Christian faith is a bit, well, complex.
    Several years after finishing my Bachelor's degree in Journalism, I attended an Anglican seminary. A few years after that I went to live in a monastery in New Mexico. (I came back after a few months because I made the 'mistake' of falling in love before I left. Every now and then my wife will say, "If you're ever a widower, I know where you're going after the estate is settled." And she's right.)
    In both seminary and the monastery I attended services very often. In the case of the latter, several times per day.
    And now?
    I don't go at all.
    Parish life holds no interest for me. It clashes with my personality. There are those who are comfortable in that kind of environment. I am not one of them. (Which is funny, considering how 'intense' one is involved in a monastic community.)
    Similarly, I have no prayer life to speak of. I have an interior life, but that's a somewhat different thing. My 'prayers' are usually uttered at especially bad times, and tend to consist of my looking skyward and muttering, "Really?"
    This is all background, btw.
    Today I found a YouTube video which purports to ask '
    '.The purpose of the video is transparent enough. Its creator wants Christians, especially educated ones, to feel a little bit stupid about their faith. In this it's not particularly different from Richard Dawkins' atheistic crusade. He posits questions and then places limits on how one can answer. (Watch it for a minute or so and you'll see what I mean.) It's a very old debate tactic, although not a particularly good one.
    But his first question did remind me of a story told to me by a rabbi, which I would now like to share.
    Take from it what you will. I just felt like sharing.
  24. Ashoka the Great
    I've signed a lot of treaties in my time. And yes, I've written a few as well.
    Lately, however, I've come to realize that nearly every treaty contains the same nonsense, namely:
    The 'Sovereignty Clause'

    Is this really necessary? Does a formal agreement between two or more alliances not carry within itself the implicit recognition of all signatories' sovereignty? If not, then what's the point of all those signatures at the bottom? Decoration? Is there some sort of problem with alliances announcing treaties with others without any kind of consultation or agreement beforehand?
    Of course not. And yet, the Sovereignty Clause reigns supreme as the one thing found in damn-near every treaty ever produced.
    The only situation I can imagine in which sovereignty might be forfeit would be the announcement of a treaty between two alliances that contained the signature(s) of only one. Were that to occur, however, the more astute among us would jump all over that omission rather quickly.
    I have been just as guilty of this as everyone else who has ever written a treaty. I used the phrase because everyone else did and I assumed it actually meant something. But if you think about it for a moment, you'll see that it doesn't mean anything.
    In the context of an agreement between alliances, the Sovereignty Clause is unnecessarily redundant.*
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    * - See what I did there?
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