Hmm, thanks. I was thinking, since it's her 22nd birthday, I'd make 22 exactly (which is great since they come in quantities of 24), and then number each cookie one through 22 with frosting, and then put a candle in each. What do you think?

She's not my girlfriend, but I really like your idea of a birthday. Walking and talking are my favorite, but since we're not romantically involved, I have to find some way to make it special without that kind of lovers' intimacy.

Thanks, I really like the baking idea. Do you think I should go cookies or brownies? I'm thinking cookies. However, 1. she's not my girlfriend, and 2. I have to drive a ways to see her, so they can't be fresh if I want them to be a surprise. Also, I'm not sure what kind are her favorites, and I can't ask without…

Does anyone have any ideas for birthday gifts/activities/plans? I'm trying to make this as special as possible. It's for a human of the girlular variety, so keep that in mind.

You are a borderline case. Unless I think there is a great chance others will be confused, when I get an indication that someone is being dishonest, I immediately stop arguing.

I assume they do this so as to give jailbreakers and hackers as little information as possible, which is good.

Oh, really? Capitalism is how we get that? You mean to say that the current situation of having an extremely delimited market for private schools because people can't afford them because they are already taxed to provide public ones is "private education with no government interference"?

I do not understand how someone can be this blind.

My alternative solution is private education with no government interference. It's not that hard to figure out from what I've stated.

Uh, that that's bad...

Aside from the fact that professing fondness for an aspiring dictator is inappropriate, even if you were capable of such a gross dropping of context as to forget that fact, just what he has said here should be enough to make you shiver.

Notice how when someone feels vaguely threatened by a fact he will often respond by proclaiming how obvious the fact is. This is done to try to prevent discussion and consideration of the inconvenient fact, because it contradicts his ideology.

Is this a serious article?

[frontpagemag.com]

This is cool: [www.clevescene.com]

Apparently you didn't read or understand the essay. The whole point is that the restriction of the Miller Test is arbitrary and based on no rational principle, so even though they say it will be restricted, it cannot be in the long-run. Just look at Scalia's argument. He, writing the majority opinion in defense of the…

Stringer is absolutely right, except he doesn't go far enough. These people don't want your stuff for free; they just don't want you to get paid. (I refer you here for more on pirates' motivation.)

Yeah, but you can't really blame Levine for that. I've definitely encountered the idiotic idea that BioShock is some kind of argument and not just an expression of Levine's view, but that's the fault of people who don't grasp the difference between art and argumentation.

No they don't. And no, Objectivism is not just "background." In a sense Objectivism per se isn't important in the game; it was just the best exemplar of "extremism" Levine could think of.

"Exploration" implies objective didacticism, which is obviously not what BioShock was about, but I don't think Levine was being satirical or purposefully misrepresenting the philosophy.