ELECTRICALKAT'S PROFILE

Um, assuming on the complete off chance that you AREN'T trolling, Funky Gun...



Are you saying that you CAN'T sprite something like this?

And we're mostly sarcastic because you are both not communicating your wants properly, and you're being quite an ass about it.

I'm going to veer a little off-topic and put something forth for everyone here to review, since I think this is the best time for it. :D

In my story, one of my characters happens to be a lesbian. It isn't really touched upon - or even hinted at - for most of 2/3 of it, except perhaps within minor character interactions when she is mysteriously...silent. (she normally loves to comment on everything, and is quite a snarker!)

However, some time before the second act ends, the entire party prepares themselves to embark on what could very well be a suicide mission. In a discussion where all of the characters let out their feelings, worries, and personal stories, she admits to her homosexuality, and she feels extremely sad about never admitting her feelings to another girl at home (one of her bestest of best friends, as a matter of fact). See, at that point, she has already lived almost three years on a different world. Time is dilated on that world, and this causes one year in that world to equal five years on Earth...so by now her best-friend-and-possible-romance probably already has her own life, her own family. And everyone at home has probably already assumed that this character has long since died.

What do you all think about this situation?

I was once a Catholic, loong long ago. My dad is a practicing Catholic (and my mom was, once; she is Jewish now), so I went to a Catholic grammar school. I think it was when I was about 12-years old, when I stopped believing in Catholicism altogether (for a lot of reasons, some of them very personal). Of course, that depressed my dad (especially since I told him that I wouldn't be undergoing the rite of Confirmation), but he came to accept it eventually, and we moved on.

I sure learned a lot of fun things in Catholic school, though! I can remember at least three teachers and/or priests, that outright told classes that atheists were as bad as serial killers, and LGBTs were equal to rapists or child molesters. The nun-principal was also pretty hardline herself, so it's not really a surprise that some extraordinarily stupid crap was taught to us in school. It was part of why I started to feel anti-theist ("militant" atheist) when I was a teenager, because I realized just how much hate/fear I was being fed in my elementary school years.

Now though, I am pretty much in the "I don't really care" zone of thought. I guess you would call that agnostic? I personally cannot find the mental room to worry if the God from Christianity is more valid than Allah from Islam, if there is a cycle of reincarnation that depends on what you have done in life, if Odin and his pantheon even exist... I live and let live, and I also expect people from other religions to do the same. (i.e. don't try to convert or threaten me to your religion, don't tell me that certain people are destined for Hell, and for that matter don't tell me I will go to Hell because I don't follow what you do)

The vast majority of religious people that I know are not that bad way, though. Thank God.

I think that my RPG's story is kind of inspired by my experiences with religion. I can see religion as a potential force for good (as it was probably intended to be, since time immemorial), that we as a species should really use for that purpose. But unfortunately, a lot of the human race is twisted...and we can turn this potential good into just as bad of a potential evil.

Just like anything else we humans create, honestly. Religion isn't the only thing that we can twist!

author=Dyhalto
A lot of the world's problems would be solved if materialism were that easy to simply "drop".

I dunno, I actually like Darken's sentiment. There is a lot of joy to be found in controlling what you have, using them for what you like, and not always buying into the latest trends.

While I greatly deplore Apple's and Foxconn's business strategies, there is something that does need to be made aware of: Apple is not Foxconn's only client. In fact, Foxconn services more clients than a lot of you may be aware of. Here is a rough list of their largest ones...

author=wikipedia
Acer Inc. (Taiwan)
Amazon.com (United States)
Apple Inc. (United States)
ASRock (Taiwan)
Asus (Taiwan)
Barnes & Noble (United States)
Cisco (United States)
Dell (United States)
EVGA Corporation (United States)
Gateway (United States)
Hewlett-Packard (United States)
Intel (United States)
IBM (United States)
Lenovo (China)
Microsoft (United States)
MSI (Taiwan)
Motorola (United States)
Netgear (United States)
Nintendo (Japan)
Nokia (Finland)
Panasonic (Japan)
Samsung (South Korea)
Sharp (Japan)
Sony (Japan)
Sony Ericsson (Japan/Sweden)
Toshiba (Japan)
Vizio (United States)

As you can see...well...this includes almost every major technology company that matters. Okay, you might be able to gain a little bit by boycotting Apple and (you would need to check the temperature in Hell for this one...) forcing them to relocate all of their manufacturing operations. But at the same time, you would also need to force that on every other manufacturer on this list.

Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are here, so their consoles and other devices are all manufactured in these same plants. As are Intel's various processors and chips, and likely whatever desktop or laptop that you are using now. Cisco makes up more or less the entire backbone of the Interwebs. Apple is only one client, and while switching them away would deal a blow to Foxconn, it would probably not change much if anything.

I want change for the workers, too. My point is, though, that blaming Apple alone is not nearly enough. You would need to affect the entire electronics industry's practices, in order to even begin affecting Foxconn.

There is also, as kentona had mentioned, a problem of better alternatives even being available within that region. I don't know a lot about these conditions though, so I can't comment on that.