Tascar

No no, you have it wrong - it was "dismal 1/2 island". Not the other way around. Anyway, I'm not sure where you were going with the name calling thing...guess I'll just let it be. More power to ya. I think you believe too much of what you see on TV nin. Hmm...I'm wondering though (not for any reason other than wonder) were you born in the Dominican Republic and are you bilingual? You have pretty good English.

If you feel like sandbagging the USA any longer, be prepared for us to sandbag your dismal 1/2 island. Understand? Born on the 4th of July is a MOVIE. A movie with one perspective. Just like Farenheit 911 is a MOVIE. It's the views of a view people. Good luck standing on that ground. Take your own advice Nin, go and love your own country. Do good things for it. So far, it appears that you've done a better job defacing our views of foreigners than you have building diplomacy and hope for betterment for all.

Try using gradients.

Ok, I don't know how many of you really care about making your own tileset, but I thought I would p!@#$%^&* along some of my tricks that I use. The first one, and one of the most important (which Bargeld helped me figure out) was creation of an adaptive colorset. What does that mean? Well, have you ever noticed that when you make tiles in a program like Photoshop the tiles don't look the same in the game. That's because the game uses a standard 256 color pallete. When you create a Photoshop tile it might have well over 256 colors. So, how do you get around this. Well if you're like me, I tend to bias a tileset to one predominant color. So I take a blend of that color: open a new Photoshop file, create a blend in your color(s) of choice, Index Color, and set it to Local Adaptive. This will give you the richest blend of colors for your tileset. Save that file as a bmp and scale it down to 304x160. The second tip for you is this. Generate several copies of your main tiles so you have a blended look in your lvl. What I mean is this: take a look at the default tileset provided when you open SSME. You see how there are many similar tiles? Some of those tiles have bomb holes, or nicks and scratches. Well, I believe that was done so you can break up the monotany of using one tile all the time. So, what I encourage you to do is this: figure out what your main tiles will be, then create duplicates with subtle changes such as bomb markings, shadows, etc. When you go to tile a lvl, you can use both tiles to break up the monotany a little. Hope this was useful.

Your accusations are just short of a fight. Lower your guard a bit bud. I never claimed that CNN reports only on American news. You've confused that with my statement that CNN is an American Corporation. What they report on is their business you're right about that...however, as a Canadian, you're better off 'checking your mug' against agencies in your country. I believe you are attempting to prove that I or the USA for that matter, don't care about what happens around the rest of the world. There is where you have little understanding about the hearts and minds of Americans vs what is broadcasted on CNN. When your country has 1/100th of the humanitarian contributions made by the USA to the international community for the sake of THEIR well-being, let me know.

Thanks Mont - finally a cognative thought on the matter.

Repeating once again until you understand.... American news FOCUSES ON Americans just as news in other countries focuses on those countries. If you call that BIASED get your head checked. It has nothing to do with SIDES but CNN is an AMERICAN BASED CORPORATION who may have international presence but will report on AMERICANS. What is so hard to understand here fellas? If you want to know about 16 Iraqi's, tune into the Iraqi news just the same if you wanted to know about the poor living conditions in CHINA - tune into CHINESE news.

If I recall, the past months worth of bombings in Iraq have killed mostly Iraqi's. The war turned into a fight against government control. This is similar to the situation that both Sudan and Somalia went through - a civil war. In a civil war, civilians are killed however unfortunate....or should I say "civiliand killd" Repeating.... In America, you hear news about Americans! Surprising eh?

I certainly won't defend CNN. But layoff the things that the US does for the US. 1 American is substantial to Americans just as 16 Iraqi's is substantial to Iraq. News from America focuses on Americans. Is that unreasonable?

First off SD>BIG - incase you just came to earth, 16 people die daily from gunfire right here in America. Do they make cnn? Heck 4 of them died in downtown Philly. Stop attempting to tell American's what we should do. You're Canadian and your concerns should be for your country NOT ours and you sure as well won't control our media any more than we can! As for the war in Iraq, just like Brain said, it's war. None of you have been so fortunate to understand what that is until now. Welcome to earth. Sorry to hear about your loss MC. There is only one way to defeat this whole situation: defeat hopelessness.

To be pc - I'm simply telling you how the US media handles it. Sorry if you feel offended by it. I have met some very nice middle easterners, but they are very guarded about their beliefs and how things should be. Our Canadian friend seems to have issues with that fact.

Death and agony sell. Good deeds don't. But ya know, I have first hand experience with many middle east people and my concern is not about who is bad or good, but really, if they aren't fighting us, they will be fighting with each other. Generally I have found most of the middle east people to be hostile and somewhat resentful of others. So 16 dead Iraqi's is unfortunate, but not news because they know that it happens regardless if we are there or not.

Very nice work zig. Amazing progress!

wtf is that? Ok, next. GL with your meeting.

I'm not disagreeing that it is racial discrimination. However, the Waltons apparently did as they please because they are rich, it attracts possible black athletes to the school, and it helps a minority group. Despite the fact that you and I think it's unfair, it's completely overlooked because of those factors. It sucks. Now if by chance you become extraordinarily rich, and would like to setup a college scholarship for whites, I think you will have to find similar factors in order to do so. Therefore, you might have to give it to a predominantly black school, in an urban run-down area, where the university will play by your rules.

Brain, what you have to take into consideration is the percentage black to white population in that university's area, vs the percentage of black to white attending the school. If you have a 30% black population, but only 5% of blacks are attending college then apparently the scholarship was setup to get more black folks into school.

Will subsidies for minority groups ever change? The whole problem is, minority groups will continue to feel "oppressed" because they can receive subsidies! oy! I really don't care about that though. If the government is trying to help minorities make it in this country, great. It may not be good to you, but it's the right thing to do

There is a substantial difference between the two. Here's an example: There is a house for sale in an all white neighborhood. Two buyers are considering the house, and both have the money to buy the house. One buyer is Chinese, the other is white. The seller, having considered the neighborhood, believes that it would be "good" to sell to the white buyer because the neighborhood is all white. However, that is not right. It is very wrong. The Chinese buyer might be a perfect match for the neighborhood, a kindly person, and well suited. But because the seller thinks it's "good" to put a white buyer in the neighborhood, the Chinese buyer is left out. Good - is very cir-*BAD WORD*-stantial Put this on a national level. Corporations make decisions all the time about who they will hire. When it comes to race/creed/ethics they cannot filter out candidates, however they can discriminate for education. Is that right? It might be good for "good ol boys" club in the corporation, but it disqualifies many well qualified and experienced candidates from getting a great job.

Zig - cypherJF made a nice F1 editor. You might be able to collaborate with him. I always love to volunteer someone else

As I was listening to the presentation of the Clinton's portraits at the White House, I heard Bill Clinton say this "hopefully we can return to a nation where debate is about what is right or wrong, and not good or bad". This came to my attention as I considered the grounds for action in the middle east, as well as, simple debates here in the homeland about things such as abortion, !@#$%^&*isted suicide, media rights, etc. When I think about that phrase, it seemed easy for me to understand two things: first, that there is a substantial and liberatarian difference between what is right and what is good. Second, I was somewhat challenged to consider the republican view upon Christian influence in our society - which leads to the conflict between those two things - what is right - and what is good. So - can you for debate sake, present a view that you support, which can be swayed by the argument of right vs. good? Mine would be this: in Christianity, many legal rights in America can be considered contrary to Biblical beliefs. However, I believe that what is right in America, is to support freedom for each and every person to choose. I believe what is good in Christianity, is to choose the firm statements of the Bible - which would be considered Good. (or Bad, depending on your own beliefs) If this was simply boring you to death, sorry! haha

Dav: 'Becusae hte hickcen, awnted to' (prvoen) <_<

Jk - I have no new zone. hahaha

i c grass

Trusting British Petroleum statements on the internet about US interests regarding any nation, including its own and any middle east country, would be equivalent to asking Margaret Thatcher to quote Jimmy Carter's interest in peanuts. Surely you can find a more valid research to back your accusations about our interests there? US interests in Iraq were clearly security of the middle east region. You could argue that oil played a part in that IF Hussein had begun an initiative on Saudi Arabia - which is one of many tragic scenarios that could have happened with Saddam Hussein remaining in power. I suppose that your next argument might be that should a Haitian leader so bold as to attempt to overthrow the Dominican Republic government, our MAIN interest would be sugar. If you really believe THAT, you truly do not understand America whatsoever.

lol, nice attempt at an argument A Soldier. Tell me, is the education system there standardized in your town? Or did your government ignore that rock you live under? Lol, I like this next one.... QUOTE (Manus Celer Dei @ Jun 10 2004, 12:05 AM) Being the skeptic I am, I have a sneaking suspicion that this won't change the situation in Iraq an awful lot. I also suspect that Coalition forces will find some reason to stay in Iraq despite paragraph 12. QUOTE (A Soldier)Indeed... a puppet government maybe? QUOTE (A Soldier)Please read carefully before posting stupid comments ...and u try so hard too. lol