Amazing stuff. Thank you for that.

Further to my earlier post, I wonder how many Contras are on the list?

sorry, that link didn't work...maybe this will.

http://www.issues2000.org/2004/Dick_Cheney_Foreign_Policy.htm

http://urltea.com/35m8

The important bit: "As Wyoming’s representative-at-large in the House of Representatives, Cheney was a vigorous supporter of U.S. aid to anti-communist contra rebels in Nicaragua in the mid-1980s and voted against imposing economic sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid government in 1986."

"Adjerned"?

Only in America would someone like Klein be described as 'far left'.

Thanks for posting this. I wish more people pointed out the racism of ignoring the Iraqi bodycount.

Loved this. Absolutely great.

Oh, dear God. Stay off my side, Isaacs!

Great magicians, obviously, but my God, what an annoying style Penn has. There is a microphone in front of you! We can hear you!!!

Sorry, but that is a lot of blather. I am talking specifically about the figures on the cover of the box. They are SWIPES, nothing more, nothing less. Stop insulting our intelligence by talking about 'inspiration'.

"So that acknowledgement is a logical thing to squeeze into the rules in the future". You bet it is! But nil points for trying to get away with it up until this point!

The more I find out about this, the more annoyed I get. On your Livejournal post, you say you're a fan of Gorey, and then you say this.

"I didn't do the artwork for Gloom; that would be the work of Scott Reeves, Lee Moyer, and Todd Remick. For that matter, I didn't even commission the art for Gloom; that was done by Atlas Games. So I can't tell you exactly what instructions the artists received, or what inspirations they drew upon."

So you, as a Gorey fan, can't tell whether the artwork on your game rips off Gorey? You're either not a Gorey fan, or you were aware that it was a rip-off. Either way, your pants are on fire.

Hellcow, I'm sure the game has been influenced by all the people you mention, but the cover art is a complete Gorey rip-off and you should at least have credited him somewhere.

The Guardian piece was bullshit-the 'analysts' tagged on simply so it wouldn't look like what it was--a crib of the Harper's piece. The Harper's piece was, however, bang on. Bush seeing a hero in a painting of a horse thief is a PERFECT summation of the man and the administration. Surely you're n board with that, Mark?

No, it should be 'stop'. The Dennis Pennis clip is horrible (what an odious little prick that guy was), but to uncoin a phrase, it's not funny because it's true. Steve Martin turned his back on his own talent, and ever since we've had to put up with his dreary prose and cynical films because he 'grew out' of what made him special.

What a happier world it would be if there were six or seven more Steve Martin live albums to choose from, or even one more film like 'The Jerk'.

Oh, having said that, though, how about, before you make one of these things, running the script through a spell-checker first? "Loyality?", "Phenominal?"... Completely bounced me out of the experience when my eyes tripped over those doozies.

As someone who doesn't speak German, that is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Chortle! It's as funny as heckling, but also cowardly! Well done to everyone concerned.

"But acknowledging that the worst can happen, and being prepared for it can keep you alive to go enjoy the good relations you've already made with people you care about."

So you need a gun to defend yourself from people with guns. Do you see ANY irony there? No? All right, carry on. And good luck surviving the next school/shopping mall 'incident'. I'm sure your Bruce Willis gun-skills will save the day.

Supporting evidence? Well, let me trawl through Google...actually, no, I must get back to that 'life' thing I have. But Liz, you win, all right? I guess by saying that it is a form of gambling, I have admitted that it's a form of gambling. I still think that people who don't know any better lump it in with 'pure' gambling games and ordinary people suffer as a result (especially when you're talking about, say, $25 dollar tournaments, where the risk is negligible). But gambling it is.

Well, I do think it's self-explanatory but... being able to make a regular income, one that you can live on, means that poker is not gambling in the same sense as, say, roulette or betting on football results.

Slot machine tournaments...well, I'll take your word for it. But I still don't think the skills involved can be compared to the combination of strategy, psychological profiling and mathematical analysis involved in a poker tournament.

Anyway, while there are players who make a living on the tournament circuit, I am talking here mainly about cash game players, who keep books, budget their trips etc etc...There is no other form of 'gambling' that you can say this about, so I do believe it is a special case and should be treated as such.

Oh, for God's sake.

"Professional slot machine players"? I think that might be a dream you had, Lizardman. Even if there is such a thing, to compare them to someone like the late Chip Reese, or Doyle Brunson, or countless others is just nonsense.

#23, Fnord: The article suggests that "three or four men in ski masks and dark clothes [who] entered the room after 11 p.m. to rob the players." Are you suggesting they were agents of the New York state government?

Fnord is absolutely right that driving poker underground leaves players vulnerable to this kind of thing.

Poker is more a game of skill than a game of luck, so it is not gambling (the existence of poker professionals goes some way to proving that). It is also, as Carey states in the video, as American as a game can get. The current war on poker is just as dumb and open to abuse as the war on drugs and the war on terror.

Swat teams raiding poker games... Goodbye, America! Nice knowing you!

I mean, stop blogging about it!

Stop posting about it!!!

I'm getting scared reading about all the people who just read about 2G1C and got scared!

You know, I bow to no-one in my love of Daniel Clowes, but it says on the cover of every Eightball I've seen "For mature readers." Why did this guy feel it was a good idea to give it to a thirteen year old?

'Eightball' is art, but so is 'Lolita'. If you're a teacher, giving either to a kid is a dumb, dumb, thing to do. He maybe shouldn't have lost his job, but he shouldn't be surprised that he did.

You know, I bow to no-one in my love of Daniel Clowes, but it says on the cover of every Eightball I've seen "For mature readers." Why did this guy feel it was a good idea to give it to a thirteen year old?

'Eightball' is art, but so is 'Lolita'. If you're a teacher, giving either to a kid is a dumb, dumb, thing to do. He maybe shouldn't have lost his job, but he shouldn't be surprised.

Gahhh! There's a goddamn Harry Potter spoiler in the Machinist piece! Thanks a lot!

I think American cops, post 9-11, have developed a weird complex about their authority. They seem to feel that any threat to it, or to the greater authority of the President, is taser-worthy, at least.

Also, the people who talk about how obnoxious the guy was are really amazing to me. Of course he was obnoxious, he was angry! The question is, why aren't you angry? Why aren't you enraged Habeas Corpus is gone, people are being kidnapped and tortured, global warming is destroying the planet and the Iraq war may have killed 600,000 civilians. And all you can say is, that guy should calm down? Wow.

Grrr...Amazon don't deliver software abroad.