Ahhh... see, crappy day, and all it takes to make me smile is to see Naked_Man posting again. :D

Cerb: Pretty sure you would too, if you had all that heavy gear hanging precariously over your head. I know I would. lol

I'm sorry, but ALL CAPS is reserved for members of THE MIGHTY CLAN DANGER. Please consider this a cease and desist order. :p

OMG SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP. Seriously. I swear, I wanna take you two aside and spank you both. Yeesh.

Because you missed me, of course!!! And I have been undecided about many things, NM, but you've never been one of them. lol So good to see you (ALLLLLL of you) posting again! And with the winter we've had, I never discount the value of a good pair of socks. lol

You should hang around. It moves a little more slowly than it used to in the old days (not unlike myself), but it's still fun around here...

I miss KILLERfluffY. Bring him back!!!! <3 <3 <3

OMGOMGOMG!!! IT'S NAKED_MAN!!! *tacklehugs* Where have you been hiding??? You don't call, you don't send me flowers... I haven't seen a Naked_Man in AGES... YEESH! <3

How's tricks?

See, this is what happens when you put the inmates in charge of the asylum... lol

Hmmm... just read a bit more, and it seems catastrophic mechanical failure is off the books. It was apparently caught on military radar in the Malacca Strait, which is WAYYYYYY off its intended flight path, long after contact was apparently lost. I dunno. In any case, no airliner flies hundreds of miles off its intended flight plan after a catastrophic mechanical failure. Not sure I believe that the military radar signature was MH370.

One of those men was apparently a 19-year-old seeking asylum - unlikely to be involved. I'm leaning toward catastrophic mechanical failure, myself. But I am a bit of a Pollyanna. ;)

Scode... 10 yard penalty for unnecessary roughness. :p

Cerb... your bitterness, however justified, doesn't belong on this thread. Please just let the guy enjoy his engagement thread in peace.

Dude... you know you don't have to marry to procreate, right? ;) And the human race has a fairly limited lifespan without procreation. You might want to wave your 'no procreation' banner in some place where they're spewing out ankle biters at an alarming rate, not on a North American message board where the rate of procreation is fairly controlled... lol

Cerb... I know you got screwed, but that doesn't mean that every marriage in the entire world will end up the same way. You're cynical, I get it - and you have good reason to be. But foog is NOT a cynic, and he has no reason to be. So let the poor guy enjoy his engagement. ;)

This. :p I'm insulted!

(But very happy for you... congratulations! <3 )

Well. There goes YOUR Christmas pressie. :p

You haven't got a freakin' clue what you're talking about. Who are you anyway... Robert Redford?

I work for TransCanada. I know the facts. Not only is this the safest design in the history of pipelines, but maintenance is paramount. If you'd get your head out of your ass long enough to do a little research and report FACTS instead of CRAP, you'd know that this pipeline will create TENS OF THOUSANDS of jobs in the U.S. immediately, and many of those jobs will be around for years into the future.

You would also know that a new route has been proposed around the Ogallala aquifer, and that the route has been accepted by just about everyone but Robert Redford, Daryl Hannah, and, apparently, YOU.

If you can't take the time to research and speak about it intelligently, then keep your head in your ass where at least you'll be muffled and unable to do any more harm to this proposal, which has already somehow become the whipping boy for every environmental cause in the damned free world.

Since you're all my sweethearts, I thought I'd sneak in to throw chocolate hearts at you. Remember, treat your girls/guys nice - you never know what might cause them to snap down the line. >:}

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

lol Harsh, yes... but funny as hell. lol

Scodey, it's a long way for you to fly to make me dinner when you lose. :p

Oh, scodey... I dare you to go toe-to-toe with ANY curler, male or female, in an armwrestle. Bet you'd lose. ;)

And that right there is the reason I only watch MEN's curling. :p

Hehe... if you have sex again, it'll be with a mofo. Geddit? (Oh come on... I'm a mod - I can't type it out in full or I'll get banninated!!!) ;)

Seriously though... my condolences on the death of your mom. :( And good luck with your surgery. You licked it once and proved them wrong - so just did what you did last time!

As for the rest, I'm going to tell you something I learned the hard way that's helped me a lot during the last few years: You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time. You, my friend, are staring down an elephant right now. Just take it one bite at a time, and before you know it, the elephant is gone and you can continue on your merry way. I'm keeping everything crossed for you. Now go show that elephant who's boss. *hug*

Did someone call? :p

Did someone say mod-on-mod abuse? Where do I sign up?

Wow. You need to read my post above. :p Roads are COMPLETELY different. Roads which have been regularly salted/sanded do not react to ice and snow in remotely the same way as roads which HAVE been treated. Add to that the complete lack of winter tires and winter driving experience, and you've got a disaster on your hands.

You're even more arrogant about it than I was when I spun off the road at 5 mph. :p Let's hope you never end up driving in Atlanta in the snow... you'll bloody KILL someone. lol

Here's a little something I posted on galleri's timeline that I think fits here:

Ya know... I'm the first one to poke a little fun at you guys when the entire country shuts down because it drops below zero, or a little snow falls... but I completely get it. I don't get it because I believe what you say, or because I watch the news - I get it because I lived in England, and I distinctly remember the first time the roads froze. I remember the arrogance with which I got behind the wheel. I remember spouting expletives at the hat-wearing old man in front of me, crawling along the North Walsham road at 5 mph. I remember how, with all my winter driving experience and accompanying arrogance, I finally reached a passing place... and immediately spun out onto the verge, because winter driving in Canada and winter driving in England (or any other place unaccustomed to regular freezing and snowfall) are entirely different things.

Roads created to deal with rain, and which have never seen salt, are NOT a surface you want to be driving on when it freezes. Without a word of exaggeration I can tell you that it's like driving on BUTTER with a top layer of motor oil. There is no amount of winter driving experience (except maybe the whole 'steer in the direction of the skid' thing) that will help you on roads like that. And THAT, my friends, is what the south is facing - except that they have ZERO winter driving experience in most cases. So I hope my friends understand that, while I do like to poke fun, I do get it - and I feel for ya.

I've seen Jersey Boys, the musical. Do I get half points? :p

Do you think? I haven't tried in a decade...

No, not that you look like him (do you???)... I just heard his voice in my head and couldn't help picturing him. 'I'm dead sexy!'

(I totally typed that while picturing Fat Bastard in my head, nipples and all... lol)

Hmmm... good point. I don't think there is. lol

Yes, I think that might be it. lol You are clearly dead sexy...

Yes. But not the fun kind. :p

Well, since I haven't had access to the TIE site in probably a decade (maybe more!), I'm pretty sure it wasn't me. :D

Besides... I do have a bit of a soft spot for ya, RaTS. I dunno why. lol

*smacks Dibs* Stoppit. Seriously.

OMG... *spanks all you miscreants who made fun of a guy trying to improve his game* I oughta take each and every one of you over my knee. :p

yylim80sss, let me apologize for these boobs. :p I'm glad you got a serious answer eventually. If you're interested in the finer points of Earth Empires and how to really amp up your game, there are some serious strategists on the Strategy forum that are always willing to help you get a better understanding of game mechanics. :)

(To bstrong and the others who were actually HELPFUL, thanks for sharing your knowledge!)

Dude... stop calling him the 'mayor of Canada'. He's the mayor of TORONTO, which just happens to be IN Canada. The rest of us Canadians don't want anything to do with him, believe me. lol (I'm pretty sure 99.9% of Toronto wishes he'd disappear in a puff of crack-pipe smoke, too...)

lol What year? If it was more than 6 months ago, I have no idea. :p (PS... I don't remember ever banning anyone from TIE, and I certainly haven't banned anyone from anything lately unless you count the odd forum spambot. lol)

Sucker for punishment, eh? ;)

OMG. That can't really be RaTS... lol

I think I should change my nick to Naked_Patience. :p

Apparently it WASN'T completely obvious that it was dagga, otherwise I wouldn't have been so happy to see him. :p

And now I'm sad. Thanks for ruining my day. Bastard. lol

*snogs Snort*

*kicks Marshal out from under the bed... and EL Kronos... and whoever else is hiding under there*

NEKKID!!! <3 <3 <3 'Bout time you came back... where've you been? There are entirely too many clothed peeps around here...

(Unrelated side note: The first 'sex' film I ever saw was in Biology class, and was called 'Would You Kiss a Naked Man'. lol Every time I see your name I cringe.)

As an old player who hasn't played in so many years that I actually gasped when I heard the number, I have a few scattered thoughts:

First... OMG, CARPET!!! *tacklehugs* How I've missed you... <3 <3 <3

Second... Great thread, Randy. Nobody wants the player base to sit down, shut up, and never be heard - this game (in its new incarnation) finally has active admins who are willing to listen to any and all suggestions and feedback, as long as they're presented in a respectable manner. So thanks for starting the conversation.

Third... Change happens, as someone said before me (I'm too lazy to find out who). Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad - but it's always done with good intent. If you don't like the changes, take the time to detail WHY and present it to the admins (instead of just ranting about how stupid they are and how they've ruined the game), along with a few suggestions on how to improve the game. Obviously all suggestions won't be implemented, but you never know which one might get the game moving in a direction that benefits everyone. But don't just bash and whine and fluff and moan - criticize fairly AND present solutions or suggestions. I promise, you will be heard.

lol... Holy crap, it's HEL! You never know what the wind will blow in around here... ;)

FISHY! When did you turn up???

lol @ Boltar... that made me snort. lol NorCal, is that really you? :p

Thanks all! Sucks to be an Xmas baby, but I had a lovely, laid-back holiday. Hope you all had a lovely time too!

(And Marshal, I did have a lot of posts - but I don't think it was enough to break an archive. I'm not YOU, after all. lol)

Never bitter. I worked damned hard to live this long, so I'm happy to tell you all that I'm 49. (And I started playing this game at 32. Holy crap.)

Marshal, hadn't ever seen that one... Thanks! :)

Hahaha... Spankins?!?!? Best present EVER!!! *spanks Scode*

I can't believe how long I've been involved with all you miscreants. I need a hobby. :p