Ashoka the Great

[quote name='Vanilla Napalm' timestamp='1316140442' post='2801259'] This made me want to 'make up' a riddle. Can anyone guess it? The Alliance that gets it doesn't need it. The Alliance that needs it doesn't get it. The enemy that recieves it doesn't know it. [/quote] I dunno. Herpes?

I'm going to say this one more time in the hope that someone actually reads it. It does not matter how many times one has re-rolled. It does not matter how many times one has played. What matters is whether or not one joins an alliance that genuinely encourages growth. Also, please don't try your hand at neologisms by typing 'alot'. Every time you do that you shave days off of the life of anyone who has ever taught English.

/me braces himself I have a feeling the 'changing resources every 30 days' thing is going to cause some headaches.

I am able to say without even a trace of sarcasm that this is a match made in heaven. Parenthetically, I tend to think that people who use the content-free phrase "Haters gonna hate" in a non-ironic way are mildly retarded. I've yet to see any compelling evidence to the contrary.

Two words: 'Troll Norway'

I'm going to assume you're not being serious, because if you really mean this then you're clueless. I've belonged to many alliances on different parts of the web over the years. Some are great at helping out new members. Others are terrible. Who their friends are is unimportant. Again, my situation within my alliance is not unique. It is something available to all members. Again....the speed of a nation's growth is directly related to an alliance's growth program(s) and members' participation in them. The same is true of the 'missing trades' argument used in the OP's reply to my initial comment. If an alliance has its (economic) act together, all of this will come together very, very quickly. If it doesn't, then sucks to be one of its members, I guess.

I deny it. My (current) nation is eighteen months old and I have fourteen Wonders. If new players are unable to grow quickly and start buying Wonders a couple of months after signing up, they're in the wrong alliance.

Had it since I was about four when, on a typical morning, my parents would awaken in the morning, discover that I was missing, and then see me riding up and down our street in my pyjamas. Last 'night' I nodded off around 0400. At 0715 I was up getting the kids' breakfast and packing lunches. Pretty normal night for me, really. The only time I sleep well is while I'm camping, which I'll be doing in a couple of weeks' time.

A. It became the norm with respect to you when you made unintentionally hilarious statements like that in my sig and those above. B. And yes, you were being obtuse and, I should add, insulting with respect to your former allies in Ragnarok and their allies in Mj. Perhaps you will learn from this that tossing out accusations because they 'seem' right -- although if you read the entire discussion and possessed the reading comprehension of a fourth-grader, you would have known this was not the case -- merely makes you look like even more of a clown when you're shown to be 100% wrong. I do hope I've been clear enough. If not, please enjoy this precis of my commentary with respect to your 'arguments' made in the posts above: 1. Your defense of Xiphosis would have merit were it not for the fact that he has personally alienated so many people. (If you are unaware of this by now, there's little hope for you.) 2. You should re-read at least three times before hitting 'add comment'. 3. You seem unable to either read or digest information adequately. 4. Accusing me of 'name calling' for observing that you are obtuse is a bit ridiculous when, in the very next sentence, you admit that what you said was wrong. I can make it even shorter if you like: "Stop trying. You'll only hurt yourself and accomplish nothing."

Mmmm, a fancily dressed up 'No U'. Purty. You really are quite obtuse.

Oh, and.... Ok I know I'll just be called a "Xiph apologist" or w/e, but just being fair you guys did form a block with 3 NOIR alliances, a former SF member who Xiph probably feels like you stole from him, (especially considering according to some people the last straw was asking RoK to drop you guys and Polar) and Valhalla an alliance that has said several times they dislike Xiph and were known to be fairly angry over Xiph's troll incident (yea I would have been too). So if I was Xiph, I would have probably came to the same conclusion as well. Correlation is not causation. RoK and GOD/SF might still be pals if Xiphosis hadn't gone the high-risk gambit route. Had he not done that, his position would be considerably more secure than it (apparently) is now. I don't know what the final straw was in the RoK-GOD/SF relationship. Neither am I aware of everything that happened before RoK's withdrawal. I can't imagine that it eroded owing solely to a treaty between Nordreich and Ragnarok. Many of our relationships with NOIR members -- and leaders of NOIR alliances -- pre-dated the formation of Nordreich and its admission to that economic bloc. (This is particularly true with respect to DT.) The Valhalla treaty was first broached by Bud (in Val) not long after our reformation. Not much came of our conversations, which didn't so much end as fizzle. Then we found ourselves fighting them in a war, and there we were speaking again. It's not the first time friendships were formed during a war. It likely won't be the last. Except for the ongoing conspiracy that exists solely in the mind of one person, GOD has been surprisingly absent from Nordreich's foreign affairs discussions. Perhaps this is some kind of 'meta' game that Xiphosis is playing: RL < CN < XiphWorld. His world seems like a very scary place, though, so I'm rather glad not to be a part of it.

Oh wow. Haven't thought about that one in a very long time. Still don't know why that was deleted. I guess he sent an e-mail to Photobucket saying, "I'm crazy and say so in this forum post. but I don't want this guy to have it." Perhaps, but I'm not sure the lesson would 'take'. I have no problem keeping secrets, but the whole skullduggery thing is lost on me. Yes, yes they are.

And then today someone send me these links, if only to prove how bad I am at this: http://i.imgur.com/B7Vq8.png]http://i.imgur.com/B7Vq8.png - "If any of this finds it's [sic] way around CN I will personally never put anything up on SF ever again...." Something tells me that this was an empty threat. http://i.imgur.com/qEVzg.png]http://i.imgur.com/qEVzg.png http://i.imgur.com/CPHVc.png]http://i.imgur.com/CPHVc.png http://i.imgur.com/rndLd.png]http://i.imgur.com/rndLd.png http://i.imgur.com/ThxC5.png - "It's my personal opinion [which I think will come to be validated in the coming year or so] that NoR is recruiting alliances, particularly within NOIR, to their own web which they can pull with them to the other side in the event of a war they think is winnable against us." First, I need to get something off my chest. Despite being a self-declared 'writer', Xiphosis' work is littered with basic grammatical errors. Second, lol. Seriously, lol. Let's ignore the paranoia for a moment and speak about a little place I like to call 'Reality'. Since Nordreich's Reformation, our priority has been to look after our own interests. Period. There's been no plotting to isolate GOD or, indeed, any other alliance. As I've said many times before, if Xiphosis wants to find the cause of GOD's problems, the best place to start is a mirror. The gems found in many of these images is proof of that. http://i.imgur.com/5r6Tu.png]http://i.imgur.com/5r6Tu.png

I know. Alright, so how come everyone remembers this but me? /me looks at pill bottle of 'morning' meds "Side effects include a hopeless blurring of the years." Ah. 1. Predict who will 'abandon' you. 2. Do your best to alienate them. 3. When you are 'abandoned', say I told you so. Hmmm....there's something wrong with this model, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I do note, however that 4/9 of the alliances are Nordreich and close allies of Nordreich. I can't think of a single thing* Xiphosis has done to intentionally antagonize us since our reformation. You should probably retire as an apologist. This gem, along with the quote in my signature, would tend to indicate you're not really up to the job. * - That's because I can think of at least two things.

I figured as much. Just wondering why I didn't notice that I had it until today. (btw....my curiosity got the better of me, so I made the arduous walk to my netbook. I've had this file since January of this year. Still no clue where I got it, though.)

The idea of giving alliances some kind of control over who flies their AA seems strangely familiar: [quote name='kingzog' timestamp='1201723308' post='360278'] The problem is ghosting. It leads to wars, causes headaches for alliance leaders, and is generally a gigantic pain in the butt. The solution: Invite-only alliances. One or two people from an alliance are given the power to issue invitations to fly a particular AA. Otherwise an individual is identified as "None". I have seen this implemented in other games with much success. [b]Now, before someone jumps in with "But there are so many alliances in the game!" I propose that this be limited to sanctioned alliances only.[/b] Currently, approximately 20% of all nations belong to sanctioned alliances. I would further suggest that if/when an alliance loses its sanction that it still be possible for it to maintain its previous status as invite-only. Disbanded alliances would of course lose this option. Has this been suggested before? Probably. But I haven't seen it, so I thought I'd bring it up here. [/quote] I don't know who this 'kingzog' fellow is, but he seems quite bright. Handsome, too.

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."

[quote name='Steve Buscemi' timestamp='1315686694' post='2798266'] Well that last batch of aid you sent to Methy was titled "War Aid" so can we cut the crap about it being "tech deals". Clearly that wasn't the case. [/quote] I could put "hookers and blow" as an aid reason. Doesn't make it true. I rather suspect it's intended as more of a "Screw you, NG." Still, it's a shame that cooler heads haven't prevailed on either side. (I don't include Methrage as one of the 'sides', btw. I've watched over three or four years as he's gone from reasonable leader of a respectable alliance to....whatever the hell he is now. I'm no psychiatrist.)

This is a tangled mess (for me, anyway) that needs to be explained before I comment. As per usual, understand that despite whatever positions I have held within Nordreich, this opinion is mine and mine alone and may or may not represent those of other individuals within the alliance. Whew....OK, where was I? Oh yeah....the tangle.... Sigrun is a former member of Nordreich and she is someone who is worthy of respect. She certainly has mine. Olympus, CA's protector, is closely tied to Valhalla which is, of course, an ally of ours. (I happen to like Olympus on their own, btw, regardless of their ties.) Non Grata is a treaty partner of Nordreich's as well. Holding all of the principals in high esteem, it's difficult to comment for fear of offending one or more. Here goes, though.... First, I understand Sigrun's contention that tech deals are not aid, and I'm reasonably certain that she knows this is a minority position within the Cyberverse. Second, while I have supported punitive reparations in the distant past, I stopped doing so a long time ago. The alliance I belong to has stated many times that it will never pay nor seek reparations. Reparations are a pain, frankly. I would rather to do tech deals with a vanquished opponent as a means to helping them recover, rather than bleeding them dry for a reason that amounts to, "Because I can." There's no honor in that. So it is my hope that the two sides will quickly agree to end this silliness and part ways on the understanding the Non Grata was and shall continue to be justified in asserting that any aid to Methrage or his alliance constitutes aiding their enemy, and that they are justified in seeking to put an end to such aid. Aid stops. The parties shake hands and walk away. That's it. Do I expect that this will actually happen? Sadly, no. So many of the parties involved are too damn stubborn for their own good. T'would be nice to be pleasantly surprised, but I won't be holding my breath.

Vader is one of the few people I haven't personally met (the rest are Nordreich members) who is a Facebook 'friend' of mine. I've been very nearly duped by him in the past. Back in NoV, he almost convinced me to attack a fellow member. In retrospect, I wish I'd fallen for it. The proposed target was an idiot, anyway.

And just for fun.... On Thursday it was discovered that baby rabbits were living on the school's soccer field. My guess is that they were either abandoned by their mother or she was hit by a car. Anyway.... The Principal's reaction? He simply told kids not to touch them. That's it. Care to guess how long that lasted? The rabbits were still there on Friday and, since they'd been pawed by dozens of kids by this point, even if their mother came back she would have smelled all the people on them and probably abandoned them for real. Did the school call animal control or one of those wildlife rescue charities? I present the official answer as given by the Principal when I inquired: "Oh, I never thought of that." I sincerely hope he heard what I was saying on the way out of his office. It went something like, "What a !@#$@#$ idiot...." Good first week. I'm sure the remaining thirty-nine or so will be just as fun-filled.

@Schatt: In a kind of 'parallel universe of retards', this year Ontario schools may no longer sell carbonated beverages, but yes....things like Powerade and various fruit juices -- many of which have just as much sugar as a can of Coke -- are still OK. About the ban on sunflower/sesame seeds.... On the first day of school, a husband and wife met with the Principal. They explained that their son, who is in Grade 4, is terribly allergic to these things, as well as all nuts. The allergy is severe enough that he has needed to be transported by ambulance to a hospital because he's stopped breathing. OK, so far so good. I understand bringing this to the school's attention. They asked the Principal to ensure that the teacher was aware of this and that she might send a note home so that kids in this class and this class only would know what to keep away from their son. Again, so far so good. The school went crazy and just decided to ban everything all on their own. Many parents are furious, and many kids are annoyed as well. The parents of the Grade 4 kid are pissed off as well, since their son is now the focus of a lot of unwanted attention and anger. This is precisely what they wanted to avoid. Oh....and just to make things even more clear....kids eat lunch in their own classrooms. Another reason why a school-wide ban is moronic.

Oh right....the missus reminded me of one of the 'banned' items this morning while I was making my son's lunch. BEWARE THE AWESOME DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF.... sesame seeds. EDIT: Apparently the demise of bake sales is owing to a commandment laid down by the provincial Ministry of Education. Also, the school used to have a Pizza Day every Monday. Kids could get a slice of pepperoni or cheese pizza plus juice/milk for two bucks. Now, of course, and owing to these new guidelines, it will continue precisely as before, because greasy bread topped with greasy cheese and greasy pepperoni meets the Ministry's nutritional standards.

Hmmm....you just reminded me that some of the funds raised went to a project that provided fresh water for poor villages in rural India. (Along with school supplies.) Oh well. $%&@ poor people in India, I guess.

Oh the first day of school. Truly it is something every parent enjoys, as it brings eight or nine weeks of having to entertain the kids every damn day to a close. For ten wonderful months, they're someone else's problem for six hours a day, Monday to Friday. Ahhhhhhhhhh....just feel that stress going away. Of course, a return to school also means that one is subjected to well-meaning stupidity on the part of one's Board of Education, school principal or teacher. Sometimes it's hard to figure out who is responsible for which moronic idea. Anyway, I now present a list of rules that have been added for 2011-2012. We all know that many schools ban peanut products, owing to the one-in-a-million chance that a kid with a peanut allergy will shake hands with another student immediately after the second pupil has been wrist-deep in a jar of Jif. I don't want there to be any misunderstanding here. I understand that peanut allergies can be serious. I also know that during my entire school career a grand total of zero children experienced an anaphylactic reaction to peanut products. If kids can't learn what not to touch, let natural selection sort it out. My God....my friends and I used to play with lawn darts and rode bikes without helmets, and we're all still here and free of non-alcohol-related cognitive impairment. However, in my district the school board only enforces its anti-peanut policy until high school. After that, kids are on their own. I'm not sure what happens to children between the June of Grade 8 and the September of Grade 9, but apparently they get some kind of instruction with respect to preventing allergic reactions. Beats me who gives it to them. Our local elementary school has decided to become hyper-vigilant, however. All nut products of any kind are now banned, as are sunflower seeds and other various kinds of food suitable for birds and/or squirrels. Also, the school is banning bake sales. At first I thought this was because of some liability issue dreamed up by government lawyers. Kid brings 'bad' food to school, dozens die, school board is sued for millions and so on. But no. Bake sales make children fat. That's the logic. Never mind that bake sales at my younger son's school have always been a small part of a much larger multi-ethnic evening of homemade food representing many different countries and cultures. Those are out, too, illustrating that 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater' really isn't an antiquated saying. The problem here is that this multi-cultural evening of food (and yes, a *gasp* bake sale) was a fundraising project used to offset the three-day trip Grade 8 students take during their last month of elementary school. Last year, for example, my daughter went to Montreal. She had a great time, and it was a nice way for her to spend time with people she wasn't going to see again, since different kids go to different schools, people move, and so on. Fortunately, this is an easy thing to fix. The Grade 8 trip is cancelled. Instead, kids will be taken on a couple of day trips to local attractions like the zoo. (What will actually happen: With their parents' permission, they'll stay home and watch TV.) Yippee. And then there are things that are just....there. Aggravating things with no purpose whatsoever. My youngest son is now in Grade 1. His class is near the back of the school. At lunch yesterday, I waited for him by the door near his class. (I'm smart like that.) After several minutes I ventured about fifteen feet inside the school and saw his teacher, who informed me that at lunch he would be leaving by the door at the front of the school, near the Office. OK. Whatever. The school day ends and I'm waiting at the door near the Office. The Secretary -- who knows me by sight -- asks what I'm doing there, and I explain that this is where my son came out at lunchtime. You can probably figure out where this is going. At lunch he must leave the school by the door near the Office, where there are no parents and no supervision of any kind. Meanwhile, on the other side of the school there's usually a group of 10-20 parents of kindergarten kids -- most of whom know my son -- and, once the bell goes, there's a teacher there to make sure the kids don't play games like 'New Kid Eats Asphalt' and other sadistic favorites. However.... After school he must leave by the door nearest his class, where there are very few parents and no supervision of any kind. The teachers who haven't jumped in their cars and sped off are helping children get onto the buses, which park near the door by....that's right....the goddamn Office. And so I rub my temples and await the next annoyance, knowing that it's probably not too far away.