Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 01:30:33 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Newsletter August 18, 1999 Sorry this was late. My job has been eating all of my time lately. ******* ************** *** *** ************** **** ***Barren Realms*** **** *** *** *** *** *** ******* *** *********** ** ** *********** ***************** Sorta: Now, this has been suggested a few times before, but since Avians have the fewest number of skills (even lower than the new Illithids) we should be able to do a little more. First is healing. Have you ever looked out the (cont) Sorta: window, and seen a bird move its feathers around. Makes em feel better. Like a preen for avians. it does a cure serious, but it takes some time to do. A delay of a few seconds. (cont) And lastly is a new skill. Well an addition to vision. We have such great eyes, but vision only allows us to see invis, & hidden. vision should also be able to detect evil, and the others detections. (done) Kiri -- Avians will be fully redone soon. Sorta: How about when you enhance nut (nutrician) you can eat and never get full. instead of getting full after eating 2, lets say rutabagas. Cant eat anymore. There really should be no limit, like on drinking. Dio: have emote but have it as a chat as well as a say because with a chat you have to type chath everytime they drunk talk Kiri -- chat decoding drunk is actually a bug. We left it that way out of the fact that you folks got used to it and would have a fit if we suddenly took it out, and we're pretty damn tired of headaches. We wouldn't give you another loophole around the drunk talk to get used to. AMystery: areas new command. lists any areas added in the last month or so Kiri -- I do this in help news AMystery: birdseye should respond to the brief setting instead of getting the full description when I'm just wanting brief Sammantha: a spell ('distract' maybe) so if there are two or more mobs in a room with you, if you want, you only have to fight one at a time by diverting the attention of one of them, in case they assist Josta: Show messages for stats, like Str: very strong, Dex: poor etc... instead of HP's in a prompt how bout 'You are healthy..or you are hurt, changing depending on the % of hp's ya have :) Kiri -- why? Draelyn: I don't know offhand if this is really an idea, but when you type areas say 30 50 you get a nic big chunk of hero areas to go along with your search of your specified areas... maybe fix that? *shrug* Kiri -- this is a bug. On our to-fix list. WarpDrive: be able to renew spells instead of having to wait till they run out, but can't keep adding hours so you have like 500 hours worth of sanc...just enough to equal what you would normally cast Greyhame: The armourer does not let you buy things that you can't use. However it would be nice to be able to buy something anyways if you have the cash. I think this is only realistic. So it would be great if we could add code so that after it says. 'You can't use yet' have it say. 'Buy anyways? Yes/No' WolfBane: raise you alignment if you cast a spell on a person with good alignment or lower you alignment if you cast the spell on a person with low alignment Draelyn: Even if a mob is a scavenger, when they've been blinded they shouldn't be able to pick things up. They're blind, afterall.... Kiri -- good point Delariand: a watch mode in the arena, maybe 'arena red watch' where you can just go to watch and not be attacked Kiri -- I like this idea. I might just add this to the to-do list. Apocrypha: um, could we not make water flasks disappear when they're done? WolfBane: cloud mind, for illithids. Make you invisable to mobs by clouding their mind (kinda like the shadow) WolfBane: being drunk every once in a while will make you do a random thing like bark like a dog, or dance, or puke on yourself. Something to add fun to being drunk Kiri -- I like this idea. Does anyone else? Frizban: How about being able to leave little notes around that act like signs, sort of like posting notes but only in one room Kiri -- these would only be able to stay until the next boot/crash. I don't know if that would be worth it. Frizban: having area affect spells NOT kill charmed mobs:P Delariand: sac all. need I say more? Kiri -- won't happen. Too easy to make BIG mistakes or be abusive. WarpDrive: dispel magic needs to work on mobs with a bit higher level range Sammantha: make multiple word arguments available for teleport and locate object Cord: sayh? might be a bit overboard, but would be useful Kiri -- memory issues. We can't do it. WolfBane: obe (out of body experience) for illithids. They can leave there bodies making themselves invisable and unattackable but cannot attack themselves Krunk: allow proper emoting when chatting eg: 'Krunk grins.' /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) NAME: Keith BR NAME & NICKNAME: Stonehenge HOMETOWN: Southampton, NY BORN: June 17, 1984 CURRENT RESIDENCE: Wyomissing, PA CROUTONS OR BACON BITS: Both FAVORITE SALAD DRESSING: Ranch DO YOU DRINK: Ummm...no...of course not...I'm too young SHAMPOO OR CONDITIONER: Shampoo HAVE YOU EVER GONE SKINNY DIPPING: No DO YOU MAKE FUN OF PEOPLE: Only if it's in good humor or they royally piss me off CONVICTED OF A CRIME: Almost, they ruled it self defense BEST ON-LINE FRIENDS: Kellen and Robert ONE PILLOW OR TWO: None or One PETS: Twinney, Misty, and Fluffy FAVORITE TYPES OF MUSIC: Whatever I can listen to the first 10 seconds to without puking DREAM CAR: Hummer TYPE OF CAR YOU DRIVE NOW: Plymouth Breeze (Well, in 1 year) WHAT TYPE OF CAR WAS YOUR FIRST CAR: See above TOOTHPASTE: Crest FAVORITE FOOD: Seafood DO YOU GET ALONG WITH YOUR PARENTS: Yes FAVORITE TOWN TO CHILL IN: Riverhead, NY FAVORITE ICE CREAM: Mint Chocolate Chip or Chocolate Marshmallow FAVORITE SOFT DRINK: Pepsi FAVORITE TYPE OF GAME TO PLAY: MUDs, Fantasy, War, Economical, or Flight Sims, ESP. Sci-Fi flight sims WHAT IS YOUR BAD TIME OF DAY: Don't really have one ADIDAS, NIKE, OR REEBOK: Adidas FAVORITE PERFUME OR COLOGNE: Never touch the stuff FAVORITE WEBSITE: userfriendly.org FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: History FAVORITE MOVIE OR TYPE OF MOVIE: Sci-Fi movies LEAST FAVORITE SUBJECT: Math FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK: Scotch 'n Soda FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH: Baseball or soccer MOST HUMILIATING MOMENT: Too many to pick one CRAZIEST OR SILLIEST PERSON YOU KNOW: My friend Caity WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN THE OPPOSITE SEX: Smart, good looking, good personality, interesting SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU: She ain't killed me yet PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND: Anyone, cause I sent it to nobody! /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Responses by Divebomb: >Daehder: AFK or BUSY should place you in some room without exits.> >Then when you remove AFK or BUSY it places you where you left off >before. This idea is plausible for AFK because theoretically you aren't there. However, BUSY can mean numerable things. You could be IAW or you could just be getting money and equip and don't want to be harassed by tells asking about getting stuff or grouping. (Oh and you may want to leave tells on in case an old buddy pops in and wants to chit chat) >Cord >I'm not sure if this is already the case, but fire-based spells (ie >fireball, burning hands) should do the same type of fire-damage that >you get with an enflamed weapon... it only monly logical An enflamed weapon doesn't do damage, it merely enhances the damage dealt by your spells >Delariand: >1)Mobs that you can ride (ie horses, dragons), cheaper than >vehicles, and/or charmable mobs that can be ridden. Would help in >battle, and also allow 0 mv movement >2)'who group' that shows all the people online within your grouping >range, also 'who group #' that shows all the people within grouping >range of the #. >3)make tan produce DECENT eq =P >4)allow players to see the to do list with help or a command so that >we don't submit ideas that are already being worked on =) >5)split amount character. Self explanatory. >6)able to enhance hit/dam >7)make damp/dams longer, so I can make it "shout(s) 'it's CLOBBERIN' >TIME!' at' >Kiri >-- is it THAT HARD to type who # #, where the numbers are the range >of people you can group with? >-- well the todo list isn't exactly public.. well it kinda is, but >not really :) >-- split amount character is in. Try it when grouped. >-- I think this would make things too easy. 1) it's been "idead" before - s'alright an idea i guess 2) waste of time to code 3) decent compared to what? it might be decent to a low level player 4) big deal so you submit it again - it makes you feel good when you try to help doesn't it? 5) why not just give them the money? 6) in a word - "no" 7) ummm no comment >Lordzombie: > Howabout customizeable utterances for casting spells, instead of >the standard "WhoEver utters the words,'xxxx'"? maybe if someone gets really bored they would code this, but i think it would just mean bigger profiles leading to more memoery per character (saving the customizable utters would take up space - especially for each spell for each player for each race) >Lordzombie: >Taunt: lv?? kender skill. Allows player to taunt a mob in an >adjacent room, making the mob enter the players location and attack. >Like throw, except deals no damage, and requires no projectile. > Kiri-- sounds like a new Illithid skill we have in ;) Well, I don't know what Kiri is referring to. Maybe you're confusing it with repel (pushing the mob out of the room not into it). But anyway, it's too much like throw and kenders already have throw so there's really no point. At least if you want to attack a room-adjacent mob now you have to have at least bothered to pick up the projectile (which means you might have *gasp* explored. >Dio >for sanc instead of haveing to wait till it wears off just either be >able to cast it again or have something that takes it off If you still have it - use it while you have it. If you dont take the time to recover some hp or talk with a grouping partner. You have to wait - isn't life rough? >Dio >maybe be able to increase stats (prime) higher by 3 or 4 25 isn't enough? Why not? >Angelica > We need a Hero help file, as well as an immortal help file. These >will tell mortals what rules Heros and Imms have to abide by. > Kiri-- -- yeah, I do think this is a good idea. I just need to find >someone to write it. i suppose that means we have to abide by them too (j/k) ;) >Mitey >When you blind your victim, they shouldn't be able to dodge and >parry so much. THis is probably already in, but if not, I sure would >like it to be. >Kiri --I had Slart check this for sure, and he says that it has no >effect at all on a player's ability to dodge and parry - same for >mobs. Well - you brought this to our attention and I appreciate it. >I'm adding it to our to-do list! :) nothing to comment about here >Mitey >How about we colorize the equipment command. Show the (used as) >things in one color, and the eq in another and its condition in a >lighter or darker version of the eq color. And make invis darkended. >Make it so you can tell the differences more easily, than all white. >(or make these large color changves be able to be turned on and off) Pretty colors.....Umm it would look neat but might give you a headache if you keep looking at your inventory. It's one of those neat to have but not necessary things. >Stork >set the chitchat room to indoors >Kiri-- -- when you discover something like this, please use the bug >command to report it. .... >Josta >message terminals... >Kiri-- -- meaning? why would I want to send a message to a terminal? The terminal won't write me back. And I, for one, can't send messages in binary. Hmmm, is there a Binary Writing for Dummies? /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Kiri's WWW of URLs: Do any of you people even look at these? The Official Bob the Angry Flower web page - from Rabies: http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/snotley/ A sick animation short making fun of Star Wars http://3dshack.com/cgi-bin/pic.cgi?iotd/starwar.gif Order a Coke Card! Get free voicemail! http://www.iydkydg.com/ Search for intelligent life in space from the comfort of your computer room http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) >We had the 80's list.. here's the 90s !! > > >>>> -----**Signs That You've Had TOO MUCH Of The 90's >>>> * You try to enter your password on the microwave. >>>> * You now think of three espressos as "getting wasted." >>>> * You haven't played solitaire with a real deck of cards in years. >>>> * You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3. >>>> * You e-mail your son in his room to tell him that dinner is ready, >>>> and he emails you back "What's for dinner?" >>>> * Your daughter sells Girl Scout Cookies via her web site. >>>> * You chat several times a day with a stranger from South Africa, but >>>> you haven't spoken to your next door neighbor yet this year. >>>> * You didn't give your valentine a card this year, but you posted one >>>> for your email buddies via a Web page. >>>> * Your daughter just bought on CD all the records your college >>>> roommate used to play that you most despised. >>>> * Every commercial on television has a web-site address at the bottom >>>> of the screen. >>>> * You buy a computer and a week later it is out of date and now sells >>>> for half the price you paid. >>>> * The concept of using real money, instead of credit or debit, to make >>>> a purchase is foreign to you. >>>> * Your reason for not staying in touch with family is that they do not >>>> have e-mail addresses. >>>> * You consider 2nd day air delivery painfully slow. >>>> * You refer to your dining room table as the flat filing cabinet. >>>> * Your idea of being organized is multiple colored post-it notes. >>>> * You hear most of your jokes via email instead of in person. _____________________________________________________________________ | _____ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ _ _ _ _____ | | | | |__| |__/ |__/ |_ | | |__/ |_ |__| | | | | | | | |_____\ | | | \ | \ |___ | | | \ |___ | | |___ | | | \_____ | | | | ___ ____ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ___ | | | ______/ | | |_ | | | \__ | |_ | | |_ |__/ _____/ | | ________| | |___ \_|_/ ___/ |___ |___ | | |___ | \________ | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | No such thing as a failure who keeps trying...coasting to the bottom| | Is the only disgrace...-Blues Traveller | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | Be sure to check out the Official Barren Realms Homepage | | http://nightfall.simplenet.com/Kiri | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | -> Barren Realms: barren.coredcs.com:8000 <- | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | You can contact me at Kiri@li.net for any of the following: | | | | Ideas for Barren Realms | | | | Questions/Complaints | | | | Your scrapbook memories of BR | | | | Your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the | | mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter and BR Magazine. | | | | Getting on the mail list for: | | | | Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the BR story. | | Great information for ALL players, no matter what | | level. | | | | Builders guide: An all new guide on how to build areas for BR. | | Full of new information on bits, liquids, and a | | step by step instruction on building areas. | | | | Builders forum: A place to ask email questions about the area you | | are building | | | | Area list: A list of areas and descriptions of each, in depth | | and helpful | | | \_____________________________________________________________________/ Ascii by Cutlass-Mark Sherlock-msherlo@ibm.net Subject: Newsletter August 3, 1999 /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Delariand: Mobs that you can ride (ie horses, dragons), cheaper than vehicles, and/or charmable mobs that can be ridden. Would help in battle, and also allow 0 mv movement LordZombie: Howabout customizeable utterances for casting spells, instead of the standard "WhoEver utters the words,'xxxx'"? Delariand: 'who group' that shows all the people online within your grouping range, also 'who group #' that shows all the people within grouping range of the #. kiri -- is it THAT HARD to type who # #, where the numbers are the range of people you can group with? Daehder: AFK or BUSY should place you in some room without exits. Then when you remove AFK or BUSY it places you where you left off before. Delariand: make tan produce DECENT eq =P Delariand: allow players to see the to do list with help or a command so that we don't submit ideas that are already being worked on =) Kiri -- well the todo list isn't exactly public.. well it kinda is, but not really :) Delariand: split . Self explanatory. Kiri -- split amount character is in. Try it when grouped. Cord: I'm not sure if this is already the case, but fire-based spells (ie fireball, burning hands) should do the same type of fire-damage that you get with an enflamed weapon... it only monly logical Dio: for sanc instead of haveing to wait till it wears off just either be able to cast it again or have something that takes it off Angelica: We need a Hero help file, as well as an immortal help file. These will tell mortals what rules Heros and Imms have to abide by. Kiri -- yeah, I do think this is a good idea. I just need to find someone to write it. Delariand: able to enhance hit/dam Kiri -- I think this would make things too easy. Delariand: make damp/dams longer, so I can make it "shout(s) 'it's CLOBBERIN' TIME!' at' =) Mitey: When you blind your victim, they shouldn't be able to dodge and parry so much. THis is probably already in, but if not, I sure would like it to be. Kiri -- I had Slart check this for sure, and he says that it has no effect at all on a player's ability to dodge and parry - same for mobs. Well - you brought this to our attention and I appreciate it. I'm adding it to our to-do list! LordZombie: Taunt: lv?? kender skill. Allows player to taunt a mob in an adjacent room, making the mob enter the players location and attack. Like throw, except deals no damage, and requires no projectile. Kiri -- sounds like a new Illithid skill we have in ;) Mitey: How about we colorize the equipment command. Show the (used as) things in one color, and the eq in another and its condition in a lighter or darker version of the eq color. And make invis darkended. Make it so you can tell the differences more easily, than all white. (or make these large color changves be able to be turned on and off) Dio: maybe be able to increase stats (prime) higher by 3 or 4 Josta: message terminals... Kiri -- meaning? Stork: set the chitchat room to indoors Kiri -- when you discover something like this, please use the bug command to report it. /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Responses by DEDRIK: > Dedrik: how about a linefeed in prompt so we can have a two line > prompt? > > Kiri -- not a bad idea. What would you put in the second line though? right now my prompt line is rather long. would be nice to put personal things like align, gold and exp tnl on the top line and then my vitals (hp,mv and mana) on the second line. > Cord: make "ignore" compare to the list of active players to be > used... currently, I can type "Ignore sdfsdf" and the game will say "You > decide to ignore sfdsfd" > > Kiri -- good idea. How about saving ignore over reboots etc? add it to the pfile? Responses by DAEHDER: > Cord: help file - "help killer" I didn't even know that you're not > supposed to help someone with the killer flag... > > Kiri -- help murder You could add KILLER to that help's keywords :) > Alucard: Rem drunk spell :) > > Kiri -- coffee does this once you can drink or eat. > We could make one which cost 250 mana to use :) > AMystery: the lag on roundhouse is too long. roundhouses leave you > facing the attacker again in martial arts > I was worried about this too, but with all the auto-skills, it seems reasonable. > Dedrik: would be nice to have a more selective range of throwing > weapons > > kiri -- don't I know it!! I've been begging area writers for them for ages > :) > I think this will start happening as soon as a better area editor is offered. > Azurite: Can you edit, fix, turn off or do something to the messages that > appear when a mob hits you when you have low hp? I am talking about, a > mean little kid misses you, you are gushing blood. continued on next.... > well that's nice and all, but when I still have 200 hp it's kinda > ridiculus to see it. so could we have an option to turn it off or > something or have it trigger when we are at 100 hp or something? > Set your wimpy at a level and set you trigger on you try to flee, hehe :) /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) The following is an article by OVEREASY -- replies and rebuttals are more than welcome (in fact are encouraged so we can keep this section going!) so please send them to me and I'll publish them in the newsletter. :) ---------- Before I begin, here's something to think about. The 1st and 2nd draft (the 2nd was the one that was actually agreed on) of our Declaration of Independance was written on hemp paper. Oh, the irony. As many of you know, I'm quite a loudmouth when it comes to the subject of marijuana. Kiri has been generous enough to even offer me a spot in the newsletter to voice my opinions, instead of the mud ;) I'm going to make this as short as I can while covering as much as I can, I'll save the rest for my next installment. First, I'd like to start with the matter of why it's illegal. It's illegal partly because of newspaper writer William Randolph Hearst, who made such outrageous and blatant lies such as jazz being the devil's music, causing blacks to smoke marijuana and rape white women. He made claims like this for years and years, causing the impressionable (or just plain clueless) american population to go in a frenzy and think it was an extremely dangerous drug. I'll get into this matter more next time. But the biggest reason it's illegal is because of profit. Because of it's many medicinal values (helpful for glaucoma sufferers, arthritis, tumors, asthma, epilepsy, back pain, muscle spasms, migraines, etc etc... I'll get into this in my next installment as well) it would cut into the pharmaceutical (sp) indsutry BIG time. Since it is also such a versatile plant, it is also used for rope, paper,textiles and fabrics, paints and varnish, oils, etc etc (This I will also get into) it would cut into those industries as well, especially the paper industry. Since cannabis is so easy to grow, it would cut into the profits of these industries vastly, costing the government money. But they can't have that, can they? There are other reasons as well, but I've taken up too much space. I'll continue this in my next installment as well. Next, I have to talk about the effects of smoking marijuana. I'll use a true/false system ;) "It kills brain cells!": False! Besides anti-pot propaganda lying to the general public about this, supporting no evidence, there was one study that showed that it caused brain damage in monkeys, in tests by Dr. Heath. Reagan declared "The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana" (LA Times). However, after much requesting and suing of the government, the actual test results were given. Apparently the monkeys were strapped in a chair and pumped the equivelent of 63 columbian strength (very strong) joints in 5 minutes, without letting the monkeys breathe anything but smoke. The experiments are actually revealed to be tests on the effects of animal asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning (A compound of all types of smoke). Good one, Reagan. Har har. "It's addictive!": False! There has never been any studies that have shown any kind of dependance at all. Never. Ever. "It's worse for you than tobacco!": False! First of all, any kind of smoke at all contains carbon monoxide, which is bad for you in large quantities. This is only remotely bad for you if you smoke HUGE amounts in one day, like tobacco smokers. Though marijuana does contain more tar than cigarettes, cigarette smokers smoke about 20-60 cigarettes a day, while a heavy marijuana smoker will only smoke about 6-8 day... This pales in comparison. I may get into this issue more next time, as well. "It affects your memory!" True, to an extent. I have been smoking marijuana regularly for 17 years, and my short term memory is not the best ;). Nobody knows how it affects your memory, but some tests have shown that people that have quit smoking marijuana have had their short term memory improve, this is a strange side effect of it. "It causes cancer!": Surprisingly, this is false. There has never ever been a reported case of cancer caused by just smoking marijuana (not smoking tobacco at the same time). This even surprised me when I first learned of it, but it is true. Another medical mystery. "It causes car accidents!": False as well... this surprised me too. Numerous studies have shown that a marijuana smoker compared to a non marijuana smoker will have accidents just as often, if not less often. "It causes your head shrink! You lose weight! It causes aggressive behavior! You start to go insane! It causes you to have "bad trips!": Any outrageous things like these are all false. Ask any smoker themselves, or look it up, I won't even bother explaining this one ;) This is all for now... send your opinions to kiri, and she will send them to me. -Overeasy (btw most of this info has come from encyclopedias, internet searches, government tests, personal experience, other people's experiences, and a really cool book called "The emporer wears no clothes", which is quite biased, but it is a good read as it shows nearly all the good things about it. Unfortunately it avoids the few negative things) --- Logan R. Rollins Holder of 0 points Holder of many roms Lover of Zsnes Player of many a MUD Defender of Ayla (hope this isn't taken ;) Obligatory Ascii: (((((*****ATTENTION*****))))) The ascii cow that existed for one post has been slaughtered for various meat products as it was uncooperative in it's .sig job. Maybe someday I'll make a different ascii bovine. The cow's final words: *splatter* /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) NAME: Danielle BR NAME & NICKNAME: Bluestar HOMETOWN: Mars =) BORN: Feb. 1st 1984 CURRENT RESIDENCE: Earth CRUOTONS OR BACON BITS: hmmmmmm, bread or some poor pig.....bread with bacon bits =) FAVORITE SALAD DRESSING: tough one...Creamy Parmesan with cracked peppercorn DO YOU DRINK: Arizona Iced Tea with Ginsing =) SHAMPOO OR CONDITIONER: 2 in 1 HAVE YOU EVER GONE SKINNY DIPPING: When I was an itsy bitsy thing! DO YOU MAKE FUN OF PEOPLE: I used to make fun of people....but I realized that it was a mean thing to do so now I only make fun of my friends =) CONVICTED OF A CRIME: Depends who you're talking to....My mom convicts me all the time!!!! BEST ONLINE FRIENDS: There are so many! Kiri,(everyone loves Kiri!!!!!) See, Flitter, KurtisII and a bunch of other people....there are so many of you I couldn't mention everyone. ONE PILLOW OR TWO: One king sized pillow.....it's huge!!!!! PETS: Toska (male dog...6 months old) Kiera (Female Dog 5 years old) Faol Ci (Female dog age 2) Donald (Female dog age 13) Wolfie (Female Cat age 3) Woggie (sex? pollywog) Tad (sex? pollywog) Nameless (sex? fish) FAVORITE TYPE OF MUSIC: Open House Party (With John Garabedian) type music....NOT SPICE GIRLS OR HANSON!!!! DREAM CAR: One that drives...actually I'd like a fancy little sports car with a convertable. TYPE OF CAR YOU DRIVE NOW: Zilch...Mom won't even let me take drivers ed! WHAT TYPE OF CAR WAS YOUR FIRST CAR: I think I've basicaly answered that one already. TOOTHPASTE: Crest FAVORITE FOOD: My gradmother's Baked Maccaroni and Cheese. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm DO YOU GET ALONG WITH YOUR PARENTS: I get along pretty well with my mom....haven't seen the sperm donar (Don't this thing my father) since I was two FAVORITE TOWN TO CHILL IN: Memphis Tenn. That was the best city I've ever been to. Unfortunatly the poverty there is heart-breaking. FAVORITE ICE CREAM: grapenut FAVORITE SOFT DRINK: SURGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FAVORITE TYPE OF GAME TO PLAY: Barrne Realms . WHAT IS YOUR BAD TIME OF DAY: When I have to wake up ADIDAS, NIKE, OR REEBOK: Adidas FAVORITE PERFUME OR COLOGNE: Perfume gives me headaches so I wear body mist...my favorite is Pear. FAVORITE WEBSITE: ummmmmmmm mine....I'd give it to you got I forgot the address =) FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: English all the way! FAVORITE MOVIE OR TYPE OF MOVIE: Don't make fun of me...my all time favorite is Titanic...I also loved Austin Powers, Patch Adams, Shakespear in Love, Holy Man, Step Mom, What Dreams May Come, and Mr.Bean. LEAST FAVORITE SUBJECT: In school? MATH!!!!!!!!!! FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK: Wine Coolers (The fruity ones) FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH: Ewwww, watch sports? I'd rather jump off the side of a cliff. MOST HUMILIATING MOMENT: The two times when asked a question I said it was the smallest living orgasm's in the world instead of organisums (spelling???) (In front of my entire class!!!!!!) CRAZIEST OR SILLIEST PERSON YOU KNOW: My mother!!!!!! WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN THE OPPOSITE SEX: A good sense of humor, someone who looks within the person rather than judge them from looks, sensitive, zany (in a good way) cuddley, good listener, and somebody who has respect for my opinions. SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU: I got it from the newsletter, but since it is Kiri who does the newsletter....Kiri you're one awesome person with a lot of patience.....most of the time =) PERSON YOU SENT THIS TO YOU IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND: No idea! --- The Future Author =) /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Kiri's WWW of URLs: Really awesome photoshop tips, gifs and seamless backgrounds - AndyArt http://www.andyart.com/ XXXX The cross word - you need java but it's really neat! http://www.dareware.com/cross.htm XXXXX You Can't Do that on Television's official unofficial site.. a complete site for a nostalgic show! http://www.ycdtotv.com/ The Encylopedia Mythica - a complete resource for myths - great for area builders. http://www.pantheon.org/ /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) These new viruses came off of the MSU VM/XA system. BOBBIT VIRUS: Removes a vital part of your hard disk then re- attaches it. (But that part will never work again.) OPRAH WINFREY VIRUS: Your 200 MB hard drive suddenly shrinks to 80 MB, and then slowly expands back to 200 MB. AT&T VIRUS: Every three minutes it tells you what great service you are getting. MCI VIRUS: Every three minutes it reminds you that you're paying too much for the AT&T virus. PAUL REVERE VIRUS: This revolutionary virus does not horse around. It warns you of impending hard disk attack --- once if by LAN, twice if by C:>. POLITICALLY CORRECT VIRUS: Never calls itself a "virus", but instead refers to itself as an "electronic microorganism". RIGHT TO LIFE VIRUS: Won't allow you to delete a file, regardless of how old it is. If you attempt to erase a file, it requires you to first see a counselor about possible alternatives. ROSS PEROT VIRUS: Activates every component in your system, just before the whole damn thing quits. MARIO CUOMO VIRUS: It would be a great virus, but it refuses to run. TED TURNER VIRUS: Colorizes you monochrome monitor. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER VIRUS: Terminates and stays resident. It'll be back. DAN QUAYLE VIRUS: Prevents your system from spawning any child process without joining into a binary network. DAN QUAYLE VIRUS #2: Their is sumthing rong wit your komputer, ewe jsut cant figyour out watt! GOVERNMENT ECONOMIST VIRUS: Nothing works, but all your diagnostic software says everything is fine. NEW WORLD ORDER VIRUS: Probably harmless, but it makes a lot of people really mad just thinking about it. FEDERAL BUREAUCRAT VIRUS: Divides your hard disk into hundreds of little units, each of which does practically nothing, but all of which claim to be the most important part of your computer. GALLUP VIRUS: Sixty percent of the PCs infected will lose 38 percent of their data 14 percent of the time. (plus or minus a 3.5 percent margin of error.) TERRY RANDLE VIRUS: Prints "Oh no you don't" whenever you choose "Abort" from the "Abort, Retry, or Fail" message. TEXAS VIRUS: Makes sure that it's bigger than any other file. ADAM AND EVE VIRUS: Takes a couple of bytes out of your Apple. CONGRESSIONAL VIRUS: The computer locks up, screen splits erratically with a message appearing on each half blaming the other side for the problem. AIRLINE VIRUS: You're in Dallas, but you data is in Singapore. FREUDIAN VIRUS: Your computer becomes obsessed with marrying its own motherboard. PBS VIRUS: Your programs stop every few minutes to ask for money. ELVIS VIRUS: Your computer gets fat, slow and lazy, then self destructs; only to resurface at shopping malls and service stations across rural America. OLLIE NORTH VIRUS: Causes your printer to become a paper shredder. NIKE VIRUS: Just does it. SEARS VIRUS: Your data won't appear unless you buy new cables, power supply, and a set of shocks. JIMMY HOFFA VIRUS: Your programs can never be found again. CONGRESSIONAL VIRUS #2: Runs every program on the hard drive simultaneously, but doesn't allow the user to accomplish anything. KEVORKIAN VIRUS: Helps you computer shut down as an act of mercy. IMELDA MARCOS VIRUS: Sings you a song (slightly off key) on boot up, then subtracts money from your Quicken account and spends it all on expensive shoes it purchases through Prodigy. STAR TREK VIRUS: Invades your system in places where no virus has gone before. HEALTH CARE VIRUS: Tests your system for a day, finds nothing wrong, and sends you a bill for $4,500. GEORGE BUSH VIRUS: It starts by boldly stating, "Read my docs....No new files!" on the screen. It proceeds to fill up all the free space on your hard drive with new files, then blames it on the Congressional virus. CLEVELAND INDIANS VIRUS: Makes your 486/50 machine perform like a 286/AT. LAPD VIRUS: It claims it feels threatened by the other files on your PC and erases them in "self defense". CHICAGO CUBS VIRUS: Your PC makes frequent mistakes and comes in last in the reviews, but you still love it. ORAL ROBERTS VIRUS: Claims that if you don't send it a million dollars, it's programmer will take it back. So please use your virus scan. Don't let any of these viruses happen to your PC!!! _____________________________________________________________________ | _____ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ _ _ _ _____ | | | | |__| |__/ |__/ |_ | | |__/ |_ |__| | | | | | | | |_____\ | | | \ | \ |___ | | | \ |___ | | |___ | | | \_____ | | | | ___ ____ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ___ | | | ______/ | | |_ | | | \__ | |_ | | |_ |__/ _____/ | | ________| | |___ \_|_/ ___/ |___ |___ | | |___ | \________ | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | No such thing as a failure who keeps trying...coasting to the bottom| | Is the only disgrace...-Blues Traveller | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | Be sure to check out the Official Barren Realms Homepage | | http://nightfall.simplenet.com/Kiri | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | -> Barren Realms: barren.coredcs.com:8000 <- | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | You can contact me at Kiri@li.net for any of the following: | | | | Ideas for Barren Realms | | | | Questions/Complaints | | | | Your scrapbook memories of BR | | | | Your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the | | mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter and BR Magazine. | | | | Getting on the mail list for: | | | | Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the BR story. | | Great information for ALL players, no matter what | | level. | | | | Builders guide: An all new guide on how to build areas for BR. | | Full of new information on bits, liquids, and a | | step by step instruction on building areas. | | | | Builders forum: A place to ask email questions about the area you | | are building | | | | Area list: A list of areas and descriptions of each, in depth | | and helpful | | | \_____________________________________________________________________/ Ascii by Cutlass-Mark Sherlock-msherlo@ibm.net Subject: Newsletter August 26, 1999 Sorry, no HTML again this week. And yes, I know I'm late again. Kiri is a very busy Empress, as those of you who know me can tell. I've been sort of missing lately. I'm still available though, whether by email or voicemail or ICQ.. see my profile for ways to contact me. --------------- Igneous: for Druids, since they are accustomed with staves, to be able to have a skill called 'pugil' which would hit a mob twice as often ONLY when first and second attack succeed, and hit the mob...and only when wielding a staff, 1 weapon only since pugil Sorsa: irc field to profile Frizban: Illithids need charm Eol: since u can FILL JUG during combat, u should be able to QUAFF POTION Kiri -- you can. You just can't always succeed. Eol: LAUGHING BUDDHA should do better damage Trice: how about changing Mackenzie is carried in from the east by Trice. to you carry Mackenzie in from the north Delariand: some birds can fluff up their feathers to appear bigger and scare predators off. How bout an avian skill like this that would work like illithid repel? DeadlyMan: Why would i get attacked if i was in a tent? Mob can't see me! Can't cast spells on someone in a tent! Please change. :) Kiri -- come on, bears and whatnot would be able to find you in a tent. They're mobs, but not stupid. WarpDrive: not sure if this is possible, but could you code the mud to change chars of a channel if a person swears...like if bla bla bla *****(swear word) change it to %&#&@#! or something Kiri -- I think people would come to rely on this too much, and if something else was vulgar and obscene and not blocked out, they would think it was okay to use. We can't possibly get every single discriminatory and vulgar word to use. I think people should use their brains with this. Trice: make a YEEOWCH social :) Kiri - or you can. Help writesocial and help socialex Dedrik: an idea for a weapon: a stick that when thrsted to the ground casts earthquake Kiri -- so include it in an area that you write. Dedrik: change the shiver social :) it can be confused with poison Cord: a color field for damage delt by your group members WolfBane: if we have a item to regain hp, then why not mana Kiri -- it's called booze Delariand: show damage next to the hit (i.e. Your slash tickles the whatever 2). It'd help to know just how much damage we're doing WarpDrive: I like the idea of random emotes when you are drunk, adds a little twist to being drunk...like in real life- not that i'd know *blush* Kiri - I kind of like this too. But then, I love backfires and some people hate them. Go figure. WarpDrive: about the idea on the notes left in rooms...people could abuse this and leave nasty little messages, and make plenty of them, just wasting space on the mud Follett: people who get free heal from Clericus should be able to type report and have Clericus heal them Delariand: An automated quest system. Perhaps a mob or machine hands out cards for a price. The card shows item(s) that need to be found. The code can monitor the use of location and transportation spells to be sure it's fair. When the player returns the item( Kiri -- I've never been fond of automated questss. I think these should be personal and run by heroes or imms. Skill: Pugil->Since druids are clerics and spellcasters of sorts, the = should be able to use staves with little effort. Maybe other races can = use this skill. This skill allows the character to hit 2 times the = normal of what he would hit. This happens when you use both ends of the = staff. But, if you are going to use this skill, you have to have 1 hand = free of a weapon, and wielding the staff, and you have to succeed in = hitting the mob with first attack and second attack to recieve up to 4 = hits per round. Sounded like a cool skill, maybe extra hits with = spellcasting staves? -(Unknown) /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) NAME: Marc Sawaya BR NAME & NICKNAME: Apocrypha, Elixir HOMETOWN: Cincinnati, OH BORN: November 12, 1980 CURRENT RESIDENCE: Houston, TX CROUTONS OR BACON BITS: Bacos! FAVORITE SALAD DRESSING: Thousand Island DO YOU DRINK: Nope SHAMPOO OR CONDITIONER: Shampoo HAVE YOU EVER GONE SKINNY DIPPING: Unfortunately... no. I will, tough. DO YOU MAKE FUN OF PEOPLE: I try not to judge. I leave that to everyone else on the face of this planet. CONVICTED OF A CRIME: No, and I don't plan to get caught any time soon. BEST ON-LINE FRIENDS: acceberY, Mujahid ONE PILLOW OR TWO: Two for when one gets too hot. PETS: Q, Chocky, Tabs, Chess, Puffy, Gin, and Nikita FAVORITE TYPES OF MUSIC: Ambient, Experimental Techno (Orbital, Autechre, etc.) DREAM CAR: Mazda RX-7 TYPE OF CAR YOU DRIVE NOW: No comment (Read: Ford Aspire) WHAT TYPE OF CAR WAS YOUR FIRST CAR: Same one I have now. TOOTHPASTE: Aquafresh Whitening. FAVORITE FOOD: Pasta, Fettucine Alfredo DO YOU GET ALONG WITH YOUR PARENTS: Better with my mom. FAVORITE TOWN TO CHILL IN: Lausanne, Switzerland. FAVORITE ICE CREAM: Haagen-dazs Coffee FAVORITE SOFT DRINK: Pepsi FAVORITE TYPE OF GAME TO PLAY: Adventure (Monkey Island, Grim Fandango) WHAT IS YOUR BAD TIME OF DAY: Noon. Everything before or after is fine = ) ADIDAS, NIKE, OR REEBOK: Bacco Buccis FAVORITE PERFUME OR COLOGNE: None. Alright, this French one called Kenzo that they don't have here. FAVORITE WEBSITE: www.loopz.co.uk (Orbital Homepage) FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Computer Science FAVORITE MOVIE OR TYPE OF MOVIE: Horror/Sci-fi like Event Horizon, Sphere, Dark City, 2001, etc. LEAST FAVORITE SUBJECT: History FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK: -NA- FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH: Skateboarding or Basketball MOST HUMILIATING MOMENT: Never really had any. Well, I did pass out at NASA one time at a doctor's convention. CRAZIEST OR SILLIEST PERSON YOU KNOW: Probably one of my split personalities. They're so elusive. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN THE OPPOSITE SEX: 1. Intelligence 2. Not too social or anti-social 3. Humour 4. Looks SAY ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU: Kiri seems like a very intelligent and cool person. /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) REPLIES BY FURY: >>Delariand: Mobs that you can ride (ie horses, dragons), cheaper >>han vehicles, and/or charmable mobs that can be ridden. Would help in >>battle, and also allow 0 mv movement Sounds good, however, I think it would be wise to make them hard to find, put the shop far off, etc. >>Delariand: 'who group' that shows all the people online within your >>grouping range, also 'who group #' that shows all the people within >>grouping range of the #. >>kiri -- is it THAT HARD to type who # #, where the numbers are the range >>of people you can group with? There are things that need to be improved on the MUD though coding, and there are things we as players just need to do for ourselves.... Cmon guys, you can type who and two #s.... >>Daehder: AFK or BUSY should place you in some room without exits. Then >>when you remove AFK or BUSY it places you where you left off before. ?? Why? What about people who are Muding and just want to be left alone to level, etc. and have this on.... >>Delariand: allow players to see the to do list with help or a command so >>that we don't submit ideas that are already being worked on =) >>Kiri -- well the todo list isn't exactly public.. well it kinda is, but >>not really :) Well yeah, err no, well maybe, nah, err i dunno.... It so tragic, indecisivness at the top.... :-) >>Delariand: split . Self explanatory. >>Kiri -- split amount character is in. >>Try it when grouped. Pretty straight forward... and if you can't group with them you could always whip out you BR Traveler Lite (c) Calculator and just divide it...... >>Cord: I'm not sure if this is already the case, but fire-based spells (ie >>fireball, burning hands) should do the same type of fire-damage that you >>get with an enflamed weapon... it only monly logical True enough, I think this is in, after all its only monly logical... >>Dio: for sanc instead of haveing to wait till it wears off just either be >>able to cast it again or have something that takes it off Hmm, ive experianced the "waiting till sanc falls off", however, i think this is more convience.... Spells in general should stay on you for better or worse.... >>Angelica: We need a Hero help file, as well as an immortal help file. >>These will tell mortals what rules Heros and Imms have to abide by. >>Kiri -- yeah, I do think this is a good idea. I just need to find someone >>to write it. Excellent Idea... I could write it if you want... >>Delariand: able to enhance hit/dam >>Kiri -- I think this would make things too easy. Nuff Said >>Delariand: make damp/dams longer, so I can make it "shout(s) 'it's >>CLOBBERIN' TIME!' at' =) Might be a code issue here. >>Mitey: When you blind your victim, they shouldn't be able to dodge and >>parry so much. THis is probably already in, but if not, I sure would like >>it to be. >>Kiri -- I had Slart check this for sure, and he says that it has no effect >>at all on a player's ability to dodge and parry - same for mobs. Well - >>you brought this to our attention and I appreciate it. I'm adding it to >>our to-do list! The ever secret to-do list strikes again... >>LordZombie: Taunt: lv?? kender skill. Allows player to taunt a mob in an >>adjacent room, making the mob enter the players location and attack. >>Like throw, except deals no damage, and requires no projectile. >>Kiri -- sounds like a new Illithid skill we have in ;) Doesn't the ill skill make them leave? or is there another? >>Mitey: How about we colorize the equipment command. Show the (used as) >>things in one color, and the eq in another and its condition in a lighter >>or darker version of the eq color. And make invis darkended. Make it so >>you can tell the differences more easily, than all white. (or make these >>large color changves be able to be turned on and off) This sounds a bit complicated solution to a very minor problem... >>Dio: maybe be able to increase stats (prime) higher by 3 or 4 ?? higher than what? you want more than 25? >>Josta: message terminals... >>Kiri -- meaning? How about a BR PA system.... oops, forgot about the chat chanell :-) >>Stork: set the chitchat room to indoors >>Kiri -- when you discover something like this, please use the bug command >>to report it. Stomp them Bugs! IDEAS BY FURY: Illithid Skill: Soul Capture Sytax: c 'soul capture' corpse 100 the 100 is the amount of hp..... Level 40 or so, maybe if it is made more powerful a hero version instead. After an illithid kills off a mob, he may choose to capture the soul and create a shadow of the mob. This must be done before the corpse is "cold" ie recently after it is killed. The illithid uses 50mana + however much hit points he/she wishes to invest into the new mob. The mob is the exact same as the former mob, but it is an exstention of the illithid... So the illithid may cast all its spells upon the new mob... Estentially the new mob is a charmie but the Illithid can only mentally maintain one, the first mob must be disovled before the illithid can make another. Also, the mob can be equiped with equipment just like a merc.... however, if the mob is killed or disovled, the eq goes with it. The mob would retain its characteristics, so if it had the ablity to disarm or something like that, it would have it as the shadow. A hero version could be made by letting the ill have 2 or more or having less hp output... /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Kiri's WWW of URLs: http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/frontdoor/nc_content.html A crazy how-to guide for web developers http://internettrash.com/users/salatrel/hunting.htm Illustrated Guide to Goth Hunting http://dmfriend.com/COI/ Creatures of Imagination - a totally gorgeous fantasy webpage http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev For those of you into mud development - the mud development listserv webpage. /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) Response to Overeasy's article by Divebomb: Before I begin my response to Overeasy's argument in favor of marijuana, I would like to present that I did not look up anything, I do not claim to be an expert on marijuana, and I have never had the undoubted privilege of experience the wonderful feelings that I'm sure accompany it. I broke up Overeasy's argument by his paragraphs and responded to them one at a time. My answers come from a philosophical basis, not a factual basis. I decomposed his argument into what it really was. I took the points and either attacked or supported them. I did not simply say he was right or wrong without due cause as you will see. And if anything appears to be a personal attack I sincerely apologize for it is not meant to be. My responses are solely aimed at the content and the circumstances around it, not the person presenting it himself. (O.E.)First, I'd like to start with the matter of why it's illegal. It's illegal partly because of newspaper writer William Randolph Hearst, who made such outrageous and blatant lies such as jazz being the devil's music, causing blacks to smoke marijuana and rape white women. He made claims like this for years and years, causing the impressionable (or just plain clueless) american population to go in a frenzy and think it was an extremely dangerous drug. I'll get into this matter more next time. (DB) Your rationale and reasoning I agree with. The reason people think certain things is based so much on what they are told - more so than they would ever believe and admit. Take another scenario into example: Certain 4-letter words are considered expletive and uncalled for. Why is that? If someone somewhere had decided the phrase "make love to" was explicit then we might very well be using its 4-letter alternative as our common place language. Alcohol is so desirable by minors simply because they aren't supposed to have it. In European countires, for the most part, alcohol is not a big deal to those under the age of 21 simply because they've never known it to be otherwise. (O.E.)But the biggest reason it's illegal is because of profit. Because of it's many medicinal values (helpful for glaucoma sufferers, arthritis, tumors, asthma, epilepsy, back pain, muscle spasms, migraines, etc etc... I'll get into this in my next installment as well) it would cut into the pharmaceutical (sp) indsutry BIG time. Since it is also such a versatile plant, it is also used for rope, paper,textiles and fabrics, paints and varnish, oils, etc etc (This I will also get into) it would cut into those industries as well, especially the paper industry. Since cannabis is so easy to grow, it would cut into the profits of these industries vastly, costing the government money. But they can't have that, can they? (DB)You have made an unfounded claim with absolutely zero support behind it. You make this claim as if it were undeniably true, yet it is impossible to know if it is true - or how true it is without it actually occurring. You have a hypothesis and nothing more, and a hypothesis gets you nothing. (O.E.)"It kills brain cells!": False! Besides anti-pot propaganda lying to the general public about this, supporting no evidence, there was one study that showed that it caused brain damage in monkeys, in tests by Dr. Heath. Reagan declared "The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana" (LA Times). However, after much requesting and suing of the government, the actual test results were given. Apparently the monkeys were strapped in a chair and pumped the equivelent of 63 columbian strength (very strong) joints in 5 minutes, without letting the monkeys breathe anything but smoke. The experiments are actually revealed to be tests on the effects of animal asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning (A compound of all types of smoke). Good one, Reagan. Har har. (DB)Have any tests been run showing that it absolutely does not kill brain cells? If there is why have you failed to mention those? The claim, once again, may not be false - it just may not be supported well enough. Or perhaps you were just unable to locate a better study then the one you presented. Once again, an unfounded claim. (O.E.)"It's addictive!": False! There has never been any studies that have shown any kind of dependance at all. Never. Ever. (DB)Sorry dude, any drug (legal or not is immaterial) is addictive if abused. Aspirin is addictive if you use it wrong. (O.E.)"It's worse for you than tobacco!": False! First of all, any kind of smoke at all contains carbon monoxide, which is bad for you in large quantities. This is only remotely bad for you if you smoke HUGE amounts in one day, like tobacco smokers. Though marijuana does contain more tar than cigarettes, cigarette smokers smoke about 20-60 cigarettes a day, while a heavy marijuana smoker will only smoke about 6-8 day... This pales in comparison. I may get into this issue more next time, as well. (DB)Ok, I'll give you this one. Maybe it's not worse than tobacco, but it could be just as bad. It makes no difference if it's worse. It's worse than not doing at all and that's what really matters. (O.E.)"It affects your memory!" True, to an extent. I have been smoking marijuana regularly for 17 years, and my short term memory is not the best ;). Nobody knows how it affects your memory, but some tests have shown that people that have quit smoking marijuana have had their short term memory improve, this is a strange side effect of it. (DB)Well since you said it was true I guess there's no point to argue. But at least in this paragraph we find that our presenter is relaying us information as a biased source. (O.E.)"It causes cancer!": Surprisingly, this is false. There has never ever been a reported case of cancer caused by just smoking marijuana (not smoking tobacco at the same time). This even surprised me when I first learned of it, but it is true. Another medical mystery. (DB)Ok so it doesn't come from just smoking. Maybe it comes from smoking marijuana and eating vegetables! Please, you have no point here. Just because there hasn't been a reported case doesn't make it false. And just because you couldn't find a reported case, doesn't mean there isn't one. (O.E.)"It causes car accidents!": False as well... this surprised me too. Numerous studies have shown that a marijuana smoker compared to a non marijuana smoker will have accidents just as often, if not less often. "It causes your head shrink! You lose weight! It causes aggressive behavior! You start to go insane! It causes you to have "bad trips!": Any outrageous things like these are all false. Ask any smoker themselves, or look it up, I won't even bother explaining this one ;) (DB)These are just silly and I'll agree that they are false. /(*) | / | |\--------------------------------------------\ (@)(((((((( | >-------------------------------------------- > | |/--------------------------------------------/ | \ \(*) STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE: THE ABRIDGED SCRIPT By Rod Hilton FADE IN: INT. SPACESHIP LIAM NEESON It is vitally important we enter trade negotiations with the federation. EWAN MCGREGOR I agree. This one planet and how it trades with other planets is certainly an important enough topic to be the entire plot of a Star Wars film. INT. SPACESHIP - MAIN DECK EVIL ALIEN Werr. What wirr we do now? My evil, obviousry Asian race must prevair. I wirr not face de Jedi. Send de droid. INT. SPACESHIP - BACK TO THE JEDI A droid enters. LIAM NEESON I sense a disturbance in the force. EWAN MCGREGOR Well, shit. Suddenly, numerous pieces of CGI enter and begin attacking the Jedi. The Jedi use the high concentration of midichlorians in their bodies to use the force to destroy the CGI. They run outside. EXT. NABOO They run until they smack into some more CGI. JAR JAR Who might you be? LIAM NEESON (staring in the general direction of Jar Jar, but not really staring at him) I am a Jedi. There are bad things coming. Take me to your homeland. JAR JAR I see. That is quite interesting. I will guide you to the land from which I have come. Suddenly, GEORGE LUCAS realizes the Jar Jar toys aren't selling well enough. JAR JAR (cont^Rd) Oh! Meesa sorry! Meesa ment to saysa: Weesa can go back to Jamaica mon, okeyday? EWAN MCGREGOR (staring at something right above Jar Jar) Good. Do you have a hotel room for me and Liam? We have..uh..Jedi business to attend to. JAR JAR Weesa can smokesa some ganja, mon. AUDIENCE Die. Die, Jar Jar. Nobody likes you. INT. SPACESHIP - MAIN DECK The queen appears over some kind of thing which appears to be better in technology than the kinds of things in the original trilogy. NATALIE PORTMAN I am the queen. You've gone too far this time. I will tell the senate and you will be in a lot of trouble. EVIL ALIEN I'm so sorry, Amidala. NATALIE PORTMAN No, no, I'm Padme now. EVIL ALIEN I thought when in the makeup, you were the queen. NATALIE PORTMAN No, I'm whoever is playing the queen at the time. The voice changes don't help you figure this out. EVIL ALIEN Stop trying to confoose me! Droids, capture the queen.. or Padme.. er.. just capture everyone! LIAM and EWAN and, fuck, JAR JAR too take NATALIE PORTMAN and other members of her staff onto a ship and they escape. They go to Tatooine. INT. TATOOINE - SOME SHOP WHERE JAKE LLOYD IS HELD SLAVE JAKE LLOYD Hi there! Golly I'm cute. NATALIE PORTMAN You certainly are, little boy. JAKE LLOYD I'm the only one disturbed by the fact that I'm gonna bone you in episode two? LIAM NEESON Jake, I need you to have a pod race so I can get the parts I need and free you. JAKE'S MOM No, I won't allow him to pod race. He'll get hurt. (pause) OK, I will. Nevermind. Good luck. They pod race. It looks really COOL. GEORGE LUCAS (attempting subtlety) Oh! Look! There's a video game of this scene... uh.. buy it! Hey, I had to sacrifice a part of my grand vision for these movies to include a part that could be turned into a game, so buy it or I'll do it even more in episode 2. JAKE wins! He has to leave his mother, which will become very important in the next movie. He also has to leave his protocol droid, THREEPIO. AUDIENCE He built C-3PO? Why wasn't this ever mentioned in the original trilogy? GEORGE LUCAS Because I just made it up. Speaking of stuff I'm just making up, how do you like the midichlorian bullshit I pulled out of my ass? They all get into their ship and go to Coruscant. INT. CORUSCANT - JEDI COUNCIL LIAM NEESON I want to train this boy. YODA Nope. Sorry. Too old the boy is. Clouded his future seems. Vague my worries are. LIAM NEESON Well, he is the chosen one. He will bring balance to the force. I'm training him. SAMUEL L. JACKSON Yoda told you no, muthafucka. What the fuck is wrong with you, bitchass? I'll fuckin' kill you! I'm gonna be a fuckin bad ass in the next two fuckin movies, you know. My toy has a fuckin lightsaber. LIAM NEESON I'm going to go over your head and train him myself, then. So there. He exits. INT. GALACTIC SENATE MEETING IAN MCDIARMID Damn I'm evil. Suddenly, we see E.T! This does not make the film HYPER- CUTESEY like Return of the Jedi, but CLEVER. EXT. NABOO NATALIE PORTMAN I am either the queen or Padme now. Regardless, your cheesy-looking race of annoying, unrealistic characters need to ally with our badly acting race of creatures so we can capture this one guy. BOSS NASS One guy? The climax of this film revolves entirely around us capturing one, pretty insignificant guy? Doesn't that make this whole thing kinda pointless? NATALIE PORTMAN No more pointless than the fact that this entire film revolves around taxes on trade and the cutting off of one, pathetic little planet half-filled with annoying creatures. They go after the bad guy or whatever. Who cares? Finally DARTH MAUL shows up for a prolonged fight sequence. Darth wears black boots, a black cloak, a black shirt, has a red lightsaber, wears red and black face paint, and has horns. He is EVIL. Meanwhile, the Naboo people go after this one insignificant guy and we really don't care. Meanwhile, the Gungans go against a bunch of droids and we really don't care except we want the Gungans to die. Meanwhile, Anakin takes off into space to join the space- battle, which is mostly over by the time he arrives. We care a little bit. INT. SOME KIND OF THINGY WITH SOME RED FORCE FIELDS MAUL, LIAM, and EWAN all have a huge lightsaber battle which has had a lot of effort put into the choreography and is thousands of times better than any other lightsaber battle in a Star Wars film. AUDIENCE Whoa! This is really cool! Suddenly, we go back to one of the other three stupid battles going on at the time. Eventually, we return to the good one. DARTH MAUL (menacing as hell) Grrr. Eventually, MAUL stabs LIAM, which is very surprising, especially to those of us who bought the film score which has a song whose title gives away the ending. He then kicks EWAN into a shaft. EWAN grabs onto something on the side and holds on for dear life. EWAN MCGREGOR Well, you certainly are an experienced fighter and there is little question you could kick pretty much anyone's ass. DARTH MAUL (cont^Rd) Muahahahaha. Slowly, EWAN uses the force to grab LIAM'S lightsaber, jump up out of the shaft, over MAUL, press the button on the saber, and slice MAUL in half while MAUL stands there like an idiot and does nothing at all. He dies. EXT. SPACE JAKE LLOYD Whoaaaaa! I'm in space! Now this is pod racing! Yipee! Uh oh! Man, I'm so cute. JAKE goes into a hangar, where the main reactor for the ship is kept. He accidentally blows it to SHIT. JAKE LLOYD (cont^Rd) Uh oh! I better leave! Let's leave Artoo! They exit quickly. The ship explodes, which stops all the droids and just makes everything great, because it's always enjoyable when a serious conflict is resolved with a slapstick accident. EXT. THE STREETS OF NABOO The Gungans are dancing and such, still alive. A huge party ensues. AUDIENCE Wow! Watching this party and all this celebration has convinced me that the tiny, pathetic problem that has been taken care of is actually really significant! Hooray! Suddenly, the AUDIENCE realizes that behind all the mindless celebration and kiddie cartoon bullshit, what actually happened was the future-emperor has actually manipulated everything, come into great power, and that one tiny problem has actually been resolved, but thousands more have been created. GEORGE LUCAS Three years, suckers. I'd make them come out sooner, but I work very hard on my films, as I am an independent filmmaker due to my disgust with Hollywood's commercialism. Now go buy some Star Wars toys! END _____________________________________________________________________ | _____ __ ___ ___ ____ ___ ___ ____ __ _ _ _ _____ | | | | |__| |__/ |__/ |_ | | |__/ |_ |__| | | | | | | | |_____\ | | | \ | \ |___ | | | \ |___ | | |___ | | | \_____ | | | | ___ ____ ____ _ ____ _____ _____ ____ ___ | | | ______/ | | |_ | | | \__ | |_ | | |_ |__/ _____/ | | ________| | |___ \_|_/ ___/ |___ |___ | | |___ | \________ | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | No such thing as a failure who keeps trying...coasting to the bottom| | Is the only disgrace...-Blues Traveller | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | Be sure to check out the Official Barren Realms Homepage | | http://nightfall.simplenet.com/Kiri | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | -> Barren Realms: barren.coredcs.com:8000 <- | |_____________________________________________________________________| | | | You can contact me at Kiri@li.net for any of the following: | | | | Ideas for Barren Realms | | | | Questions/Complaints | | | | Your scrapbook memories of BR | | | | Your poetry, stories, questions, comments, and bios for the | | mort/hero/imm bio section of the newsletter and BR Magazine. | | | | Getting on the mail list for: | | | | Players file: How to play the game, helps, and the BR story. | | Great information for ALL players, no matter what | | level. | | | | Builders guide: An all new guide on how to build areas for BR. | | Full of new information on bits, liquids, and a | | step by step instruction on building areas. | | | | Builders forum: A place to ask email questions about the area you | | are building | | | | Area list: A list of areas and descriptions of each, in depth | | and helpful | | | \_____________________________________________________________________/ Ascii by Cutlass-Mark Sherlock-msherlo@ibm.net