Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro really shat the bed with 4e, and WOTC have pretty much admitted they've alienated just about every demographic in their fanbase. The grognards were put off by the MMO styling, the simulationists hated the dissociated mechanics, the math trolls...well, they'll never be happy. The icing on the cake was the red box (it's 4.5e, but it's not). Basically they had to go back to the drawing board because Paizo, makers of Pathfinder RPG, have been eating WOTC's lunch for the past year or so. Plus, I mean, who doesn't like a slutty cash grab?

What's the German word for "the boner you get from too much Schadenfreude"? Speaking as an American expat living in NZ: fuck the US government and its thuggish international corporate rent-a-cop policies.

You and busyqth are both glass-half-empty sort of folks, aren't ya? Fair enough. My intended emphasis was on the requirement of electoral progress for politico-economic progress, in contrast to the Marxist-Leninist (big-c Communist) requirement of political violence. Violence it is then.

small-c communism is only possible with completely free and open elections and an informed, participatory electorate.

No, he means that the previous poster's defense of Sopa are the opening words of a text of a medieval manuscript or early printed book.

Citation needed. I can pull platitudes out of my ass too.

I don't see how that has anything to do with racism in modern Rastafari faith. Haile Selassie wasn't a Rasta either, but his positive (and anti-racist) influence on the movement is patently obvious. There are a vocal few who claim to follow Rasta who also propagate hatred against gay people and/or whites, but in general the movement is pacifistic and vehemently anti-racist. Garvey died in 1940, a time when the KKK still rode strong in the US. It's short-sighted to look at his beliefs through modern eyes, and it's equally short-sighted to paint modern Rastafari with the same brush.

Wow. That's an incredibly reductionist point of view. Never mind the fact that Garvey WASN'T RASTAFARIAN, and that Haile Selassie (considered the earthly manifestation of Jah[God]) frequently spoke out against racism. You might want to actually speak to a devout Rasta before smearing the faith with such a generalization. On second thought, reasoning with a Ras might force you to reconsider some of your misconceptions. Never mind.

Having lived in Thailand, land of software piracy and smiles, I can tell you that people there would rather buy a pirated disc, EVEN IF IT COST MORE than than the legitimate version. Thai-produced software is extremely inexpensive, but people are so used to buying knock-offs it's a force of habit. Not sure if that speaks to the point you were making but it's an interesting anecdote, AFAIC.

I seriously doubt there is a a writer in this day and age that possesses the linguistic skills Tolkien had. At least with the first 4 (oh wait, 5) movies there was a plot extant to diverge from. And it was obvious that Peter Jackson et al took more care making the cuts than some would have.

I expect the next several movies will an abortion of Star-Wars-esque proportions. Ooh, rhyme.