bob_fox

I understand the predicament, as I grew up in SA. Much easier to get hold of things in Europe. But I remember quite easily finding the "original" Dune books in the library (depends on where in SA you live, I suppose).

This is slightly off-topic, but it's been announced on Wikipedia that Avatar is now the highest-grossing film (not adjusted for inflation) ever made!

No, I didn't. I was just trying to find things that most would consider evil, and they all happened to be crimes in most societies. I admit speeding isn't much of an evil - it's solely a crime according to most. And I know some don't think there is such a thing as evil, but that's discussed in another thread. In any case, I think it's obvious that there are varying degrees of evil.

Of course there's such a thing as more evil! Murder's more evil than theft, rape is more evil than mere prejudice, drunken driving is more evil than speeding, physical assault is more evil than verbal abuse, etc. What I was commenting on was the fact that we have all these movies trying to convince how evil apartheid was (and most of us agree it was) when, on the grand scheme of things, it's on the level of a school bully. That doesn't mean I won't see or enjoy the film - I just think they're preaching to the converted (in most cases).

I haven't seen the movie yet (I want to), but I'm surprised they're still making films about Apartheid. (I suppose they're still making films about Nazi Germany, but I think most would agree that the Nazis were more evil.) Though it was an interesting choice to place it in an SF setting. But from reading all the South African comments I see you can never please everyone. I mean, if you take that last comment by the Nigerian as an example, what can you do? Portray all the Afrikaners as bloodthirsty tyrants and all the blacks as peace-loving innocents? It's not really realistic. Most Afrikaners don't like their language being called Dutch, even though, linguistically speaking, it is just a dialect (like Flemish). (I'm not Afrikaans-speaking, so my feelings aren't really involved.)

All I have to say is, You swine flu!

I haven't found out much more. The situation in Sweden doesn't seem to be too serious yet. I did come across the following article at Stockholm News from a week ago:

I believe three Swedes are suspected of having contracted the virus on an aeroplane. Will try to find out more for the sake of those who live in Scandinavia.

As long as someone comes back to the topic... ::) (Too much to expect, perhaps?) Anyvun else vis a comment - on topic?

Yes, well, we like to keep things family friendly on the forums. I've just skimmed over the "Propaganda Due" article at Wikipedia. Very interesting. It apparently had some very prominent members, so I suppose it could well have achieved what you say it did.

Nice to see my Dune2k maps are so popular. My Emperor map was a disaster in comparison. I haven't downloaded anything from here in ages - probably the most recent thing was patch 1.06 for Dune2k when I tried to get into it again. In fact, I think I originally found this site by doing a search for the latest patch for Dune2k. Man, that was years ago!

Are the x's just in there to look cool?

"Freemasonry"?! Really? How?

Is it a party you used to support?

Sorry to post three times in a row, but... I got Civ4: Complete (Civ4 with its two expansion packs) a little while ago, and all the additions to the game are taking me a while to get used to (I went straight from Civ4 "Vanilla" to the full package). But they're very cool. The Rhye's and Fall of Civilizations scenario is particularly interesting. I've just been looking around a bit on the Internet but I can't find anything. The only way I know of to play past 2050 is to keep telling the game to let you play "just one more turn," but then your score no longer counts. Perhaps if you created your own mod you could change the time limit? (I've never tried to create a mod for Civ4 so I'm not sure.)

"Old" can be used almost as a term of endearment, in case you didn't know. ;) At one time - AGES ago - I called myself Bob the Slob. Those were definitely sillier years. ::)

Am I the only person who doesn't play role-playing games? :-

So you're old Doc Nyar? Should have been obvious to me, I suppose. For a long time I called myself Sven the Slayer, but when I got a bit older I decided it sounded childish (I am in many ways still immature but I try to hide it).

Well, I just ordered Civ4: Complete (I already had the original game, but it was cheaper to buy the whole box set than the two expansion packs separately), which I'm really looking forward to play (I'm still a child when it comes to buying new computer games), and I've also just downloaded the latest patch (3.17) for BTS now, because I can't wait (am also a child when it comes to that). Just thought I'd tell everyone. :)

No, it doesn't make much sense, but we're grateful that you shared some of your precious childhood memories with us. ;)

Yes! Like the words "rar" and "rolig." You wouldn't call a girl "rar" in Norway! As for Danish, that language is hopeless! (Hope there aren't any Danes here.)

Oops! Well, that was a long time ago, so I think quite a few people have joined since then. That would be "J

Oh, I didn't know that. How long ago? The most familiar bus service? What do you mean? Where in Singapore did it operate? (Excuse all the nosy questions.)

Nick is short for nickname (I don't know how common this abbreviation is), i.e. the screen name you use in this forum. You were born with the name Gryphon? It's a cool name.

That's alright - I was being a bit picky (something I don't like but can't always avoid). Interestingly, Thorfinn Thordarson was the father's real name - he was nicknamed Karlsefni.