Well, all's the better. Wonderful how we all cherish dialogue and discussion, isn't it?

Oh GOSH the D&D scare. That was fun :)

Link to the publication?

To begin with, most Americans are religious, and most religious Americans are Christian. That's neither good nor bad, it just is.

Also, I'd LOVE you number breakdown on your "100x" figure. I'd also love a nuanced and balanced discussion on how you plan to parse out what deaths were caused by religion as opposed to…

Umm. . . it's really not that simple. The role of politics, general (not religiously confined) bigotry, and simple in-group out-group bias are not to be understated when we're talking about the wars and genocides of history. Blaming religion for the atrocities of the human race is just as as silly as blaming "the…

And that folk, is an ad hominem. Not to be confused with an actual argument.

I'd be careful here. Plenty of things make people mad. I get mad when my commute takes too long, or when I sleep through my alarm, or when another character I like dies on the Game of Thrones. And that's okay. Anger and frustration are valid emotions and can be expressed constructively. . . say through a video game. .…

*sigh* And generalizations and straw man arguments do not a logical statement make.

It really depends. In the more secular areas—New England, the West Coast, and most major cities—you don't really ever see this. It's just not acceptable unless, as you mentioned, a religious figure is being interviewed on a topic pertaining to religion. In highly religious areas . . . that's a different story. The…

Well. . . I guess it depends on how far into the fandom you stray. I generally don't like anything besides art or cosplay. But some delve *very* far into more—ahem—graphic areas.

Truth. It's a shame too; the films would have been a *perfect* time for Data—post emotion chip—to remember Lal and grieve.

I think the best example of this is after Lal's death; Data is just in his quarters, continuing his projects. No angst, no pain, no being lost in introspection. He *cannot* experience such things. The crew and audience alike—if I'm any indication—expected him to need some time to cope, but we were wrong. Data simply…

Happily :)

Blizzard has done this kind of thing for decades. One of my favorites was the probe in SC 1 quoting the orc from the original Warcraft.

By today's standards, I absolutely agree with you. Considering that it was the 60s and that the United States was in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, I give it a good deal of grace.

Another one of the excellent social commentary episodes—The Doomsday Machine—was just as blunt, but still got the point across…

Yeah, I try to forget that entire arc.

Agreed. This episode easily sums up what Roddenberry created the show for: a way to look at the social and personal issues that our society faces today in a context that allows us to look at it a little more objectively. Star Trek was never about the technobabble and deck plans and the like; it's about believing that…

That's really my big complaint about George; he writes very competently, but not beautifully. As compelling as the story and characters may be, his prose is really . . . dry.

Pretty much the best game ever. Well, the prequel to the best game ever (now available as freeware on Mac, PC, and Linux).

I've yet to see one on that side of the continent. According to National Geographic, they can live about anywhere, but I've only seem them on the East.