Icewolf

So for the month of October I forsook alcohol as part of a charity event. Essentially a sponsored giving up alcohol. For disclosures sake a generally drink about 10 units of alcohol a week and rarely get intoxicated. I learned a great deal during this event. It is not the first time I have ceased drinking for a fixed period, a few years ago I gave up alcohol during lent. However this is the first time I have really thought about what I was doing and I reached some startling conclusions. Firstly, many many people have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. I am not talking about being alcoholics, but viewing it in a way that is not necessarily good. A lot of people made comments along the lines of "I could never do that." A very surprising number. Comments on the facebook page of the event included lines about substituting other things such as food for alcohol, or counting down the days to go until they could drink again. All of this is disturbing because if alcohol is something you feel you need, you probably have a problem. Secondly, people want you to be drunk. I was at a conference last week and my alcohol free time expired on the 2nd to last day. During the week at least 20 or 30 people promised to get me drunk on that day. I didn't have to buy a drink for the remainder of the week. Apparently I absolutely had to get drunk. As it happens I didn't get intoxicated until I was handed a wine bottle that I assumed contained wine. So I drank as though it was wine. Turns out Czech home brewed moonshine is far more intoxicating than wine. Thirdly, I was surprised by how little it altered my behavior. Without alcohol I still accepted the challenge to walk in six inch heels (guys, man to man, be aware how painful this is and do not try it), I still pretended to arrest someone dressed as a pirate, and a few other things not to be posted here. Parties were still fun and insane-and it didn't matter what state you were in. Fourthly, I was surprised at how easy it was. People kept saying how hard it must be and it really really was not. I just didn't drink-simple. The only alcohol I really missed was the mulled wine I normally start making at this time of year. And that is more to do with the cinnamon/sugar laden hot drink aspect, which was made up for my hot apple juice with cinnamon. But mostly I learned about my own relationship with alcohol and reached the conclusion that this was not really a challenge because I didn't have to decide not to drink. Drinking alcohol is not my default setting, I always make the choice to drink rather than deciding not to drink. In conclusion, it was a worthwhile activity in its own right. And I would encourage others to do the same. Be it for lent or for Charity, just spend a month without alcohol (obvious longer for lent) and see what conclusions you reach.

Also...there is no legal content on his website. If I were an unemeployed Lawyer (who are we kidding, I am one) and had spent months trying to redeem myself I would at least have made sure that I was showing I had at least some legal skill with a website that demonstrated even the basics of legal knowledge about the relevant area (in fact I could right now run out a rough version of it for my jurisdiction-speaks volumes about his legal ability).

I don't know how things work in the US, but no English law student is getting taken seriously without a clean shaven face and a suit and tie. I would suggest he spent more time in the gym than he should when he should have been studying, but his muscles are really not that impressive so I'm guessing he just failed via stupidity.

No. Mostly because you should be bringing your nation up to 3999.999 as your first priority.

It is only 56 years since Black High School students in the US needed armed escorts to attend de-segregated High Schools. It is only 10 years since the US Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v Texas declaring Mr Lawrences conviction for homsexual activity in is own home unconstitutional. The world moves on. Things improve. Not everything is fixed yet but that doesn't mean things will never be fixed. But remember, Humans have been around for 10s of thousands of years, and it is only in the last 250 years that things such as pain killers, anti-biotics and vaccination have been discovered.

What do you want? People to come and tell you the world is all perfect and lovely? Not going to happen. People to tell you that you should work hard and you are guaranteed a perfect job? Not going to happen. But what is true is that everybody has a place in their world and everybody can make it better. Humanity is the sum of all its parts and every part can make it a better place or make it a worse place. Those that move the world can only do so because behind them there are a lot of other people pushing as well. Life is not going to be easy. The economy sucks, people are mean and the world is not the happy fun land that you were promised when you were growing up. I know this. I am a Law graduate with a good grade from a good university, I nailed three months of work at a good firm before being told "sorry...works run out...hope you find somewhere else soon...at least our name on your CV should help." Today I got my first job after that....Christmas work sorting mail. Yeah it sucks but it is work. And with all that being said, I can assure you life will not be fun and easy. But one thing that is absolutely true is that life will be a hell of a lot worse if you let it win. If you do well at college it will be hard to find a good job because we are in a !@#$%* economy. If you sit on your arse you will hate yourself and you will find it impossible to get a good job. I'm guessing you are relatively academically gifted given your attitude to your previous grades. So I am guessing this is the first time you have had the reality shock of life isn't easy as previously all targets (get good grade here, get into that school, get into that university) have been clearly obtainable. Now the task is get a good job and prove yourself to the world and it seems somewhat harder. And if you convince yourself that it is better to not try as in that case you can at least pretend that you could have made it but it didn't seem worth the effort. Whereas if you try you might fail and then you think you have no excuse. I know that feeling. I got it today when I almost withdrew a job application after getting an interview because I was scared I would bomb the interview. But the key is to remember that whilst progressing through college the targets are large, they are few. Once you get out of that the targets are smaller but there are a hell of a lot more of them. The available careers paths are far far wider than the available education paths. Finding what you want and going for it is harder, but you can find what fits you like a glove, rather than education which just needs you to find something you vaguely fit into (ok bad metaphor...shut up).

Surely you want 30 days. In the age of SDI an MP without a nuclear stockpile has limited affect.

Damn-we only have an Imperial Short ton of beer in stock. We are lost.

Terrifically Intelligent Why thank you kind sir.

Lots of Beer and happiness goes with this

Two reasonable alliances sign a reasonable treaty.

Diving into the wiki's I noticed something that doesn't seemt o have come up so far. Short wars. Great War I-16 Days Great War II-5 days for the League, just under a month for LUE Great War III-5 days short of one month Unjust War-14 days (not including GOONland Resistance) War of the Coalition-1 Month Comparatively Equilibrium War-2 Months 9 days (considered by many at the time to be suprisingly short) Dave War-6 Days short of two months Grudge War-5 days short of three months Granted there are various wars in the past Longer than this-the Karma war reached three months and there were various resistance movements such as the VietFAN war that lasted longer, but I simply cannot conceive of a major war even being fully declared within two weeks let alone a surrender of the major powers within a month.

Interesting read, but the assumptions don't add up. Yes the idea of a protected reserve under the guise of disbandment makes sense, but the motives don't. You are right that MK would not weaken its stance if it were to continue existing. Which is exactly what this war would do. Your belief that they do not know how this war will go is wrong. Look at the ingrediants; You have a bunch of people not well liked in the CN Community and a war that is outright picking on the weakest people to attack. Do you know how many people in CN want an unprotected bully to kick after years of wars of realpolitik? The idea that it could be done without counter is quite simply not one that can be maintained. As is the idea that TOP or others could then come in to back up MK at any point. Without formal treaty TOP gets regarded as the attacker so anyone who can can e-lawyer out. Guess when people most likely e-lawyer out? When someone performs an offensive act to defend a bully. So MK in any likely scenario end up burning a bunch of NS fighting a neutral alliance. Not going to happen if they plan to regroup.

Yeah....I suppose they should have thrown away all their political capital limiting their involvement and then disbanded within a few months.

IRON fought VE last war. Compared to a great many (including many of those that shout the loudest about people not giving 110%) they were quite something.

Your bills are calculated on a daily basis. If you don't pay, then the next day you have to pay for two days. In your case it has not been paid for 12 days so you have to pay for 12 days of bills. Fortunately for you bills are calculated on the basis of todays bill multiplied by the number of days since you last paid. So if you reduce today's bill, your bills for all the previous days is reduced as well. To reduce the bill I would suggest decommissioning your cruise missiles and tanks as they are not needed in peace time for a nation your size. On top of that sell 70.5 infastrucuture levels as suggested. The daily bill per level of infastructure increases at levels over 1000 (know in this game as an infra jump) so reducing to just under 1000 will save you a substantial amount of money. EDIT: Further I would suggest that you contact the economics team of the alliance you are a member of. They will be able to help you more than those on this forum.

I think stage 2 is more important than is given here, and has far more of a role to play. Stage 3 cannot exist without stage 2 and is entirely dependent on it. Those that dismiss the political game tend to be the ones to get burned very quickly Because the hatred and motivations are born at stage 2 and in the way that alliances conduct themselves does have a very real consequence. Every alliance is broadly democratic in that it needs its members more than its members need it. An alliance that is wronged by another will struggle to keep its members if it shrugs that off for political expedience. If an alliance wants power it has to be willing to fight to the end. If the members say no, then that will not happen. No Alliance is immune to this. The game is not immune to it. Anyone who tried to play stage 3 without also playing stage 2 will die. Quickly. Those that scheme and flop around the treaty web cuddling whoever seems to be convenient at the time are not those that have made it to the top level of power. They tend to be the ones who most loudly advocate themselves as the true wheelers and dealers of the game, whilst generally being the middle ranked and most easily manipulated by those who have built a stronger foundation of genuine relationships and a genuine cause and aim.

Lets see these PMs. Take a screenshot, blank out the sender, and the post them here.

You are indeed right that every superpower will fall. Every major CN power has at some point been defeated. There are those that with enough determination today that could harm us a great deal. However, the basic truth is this. You are not one of those people. As for somehow hurting us by making us respond, I do not understand the logic. We could have just left this all to be dismissed by those here. And if you look carefully, it was. No one sided with you. No one suggested that we had a case to answer. No one was even the slightest bit concerned about our conduct and no one called on IRON to do anything. They did unanimously come out to laugh at you. If you have exposed this hidden weakness (that is apparently obvious to you from a brief encounter but not to the many many alliances we deal with everyday). then where is the salvating wolf pack baying at our door to destroy us? If you want to know why we respond to you, it is because we are bored. Nothing major is happening right now. The world is relatively at peace. Storm clouds are gathering in the distance, but they are not on our doorstep right now. If and when the next storm breaks rest assured you will be totally forgotten. When the nuclear war breaks lose, the few soldiers you kill here and there will be a nothing when a hundred thousand soldiers can die in a second.

Dear sir You keep talking about arrogance. Well I will admit that IRON does have a slight tendency to be slightly arrogant. Not as badly as some out there, but arrogance does creep in sometimes. It is not a trait to be proud off but it is there. Ultimately a long history, a proud history, the position as one of the largest and most powerful forces on the planet does tend to give a certain spring in ones step that can in certain lights and a arena's be seen as a strut. Perhaps as such an alliance with such a history we should take more care to be humble but we are but men, and like all men we have our weaknesses. Victory after victory in war, awesome economic growth and a steady maintenance of a role of power and influence does tend to colour ones vision of ourselves. It is a weakness that many here suffer. However, there is one arrogance above all. One of unbelievable gall. Ours is born of being an alliance of hundreds of nations, of over 12 million NS, of having a nuclear arsenal of thousands, of having millions of soldiers under arms, thousands of ships, and billions upon billions in financial reserves to plow into our endeavors. Your arrogance? Is born out of the belief that you can overcome that. At the end of the day, everyone has their weakness. Ours is fairly minor. Yours is fatal and will destroy you and your alliance.

You have someone offering you a way out of this. Franz Ferdinand is a member of the alliance Non-Grata. They are a sound alliance. Franz is a reasonable member of that alliance. If you want to walk away with any kind of dignity or any kind of nation go and talk to him and let him help you. Ultimately, you are new here. You do not know how things work. IRON has been kicking around for well over half a decade. We do know how things work. The idea that you will defeat us militarily is just not based any form of reality of the mechanics of this game. Go and take his help. IRON will not agree to those terms. You are basically declaring perpetual war if those are you're only terms. If you want any kind of end, please go and talk to him.

We said if you did not leave our AA punitive action would be taken. Why did you not simply leave? You would have had nothing bad happen to you then. You could have just left our property and gone. Instead to declared a war on an IRON nation. You try to escalate with threats of nukes. All the while you could have walked away after the first message and gone and joined someone else.

In anarchy. You have to wait.

You started the war...yet we are evil because we gave you a chance to avoid it.

Riiiiiiiiiight. We are not focused on war. IRON was actually born as a neutral alliance. We are focused on honour, bravery and other things that can have a militaristic theme, but our focus is not on war not on warmongering. What is wrong with that? It is exactly what we did.