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dead weight
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Joined: 07 Apr 2005 Posts: 80
[UPDATE] New Article at The Sentinel (April 12th)
Quote:
Defence Budget Debated
By JOHN CORMORAN
The City Council engaged in a vigorous debate today over future funding of defence operations and infrastructure. The current budget is PCL40 billion, with defence authorities urging increased spending, while fiscal conservatives lobby to cut the budget significantly. It is not yet clear how voting on the council will go.
Commander Isaac Sui spoke before the public hearing. "We live in peaceful times, but vigilance is nonetheless wise," he said. Sui backed away from any suggestion that Perplex City is subject to any foreign hostilities, but urged the Council to maintain the city's current excellent security forces. His proposal includes an additional PCL3 billion a year, primarily for research.
In response, Councilor Aashiyana Skye slapped the table and declared, "This budget is an anachronism and a disgrace when there are so many other more pressing calls on our city's finances." Skye advocates cutting defence spending 6% every year over the next five years.
Councilor Nathan Earlywine interjected that this budget provides more than municipal defence. "The esteemed Commander Sui here is being too modest. We all know his jurisdiction includes fighting organized crime, illegal drugs, [and other] threats to our metropolitan character and security. ... I'm sure he isn't playing war games in his office all day with shiny toy soldiers."
Leader Camryn Scott remained uncharacteristically nonpartisan on the issue, shelving the discussion after allowing only limited debate. "This is an important topic, and we should all take some time to consider the issue," before the next formal session, she said. One of her top staffers said, on condition of anonymity, that she is re-evaluating some of her positions in time to adjust with the tide of public interest before next year's election campaign. Historically, Scott has supported requests for defence funding.
Analysts say that the other members of the Council could easily sway either direction, as well, with everyone putting their fingers to the wind to decipher what will bolster re-election chances.
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 6:01 am
Reason
Unfettered
Joined: 18 Feb 2005 Posts: 408 Location: West London
I didn't know this word , just in case this helps:
anachronism:
1# The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.
2# One that is out of its proper or chronological order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time: “A new age had plainly dawned, an age that made the institution of a segregated picnic seem an anachronism” (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.).
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 6:22 am
tanner
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Joined: 21 May 2003 Posts: 875 Location: (x,y,z,t,i, ...)+
if we keep making new threads every time a new article appears were gonna have a huge number of threads -- that why it was quoted from elsewhere
still i spose we could just keep flipping between threads
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 6:37 am
dead weight
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Joined: 07 Apr 2005 Posts: 80
tanner wrote:
if we keep making new threads every time a new article appears were gonna have a huge number of threads -- that why it was quoted from elsewhere
I wasn't aware it was quoted elsewhere. Just trying to follow what had seemed to be convention here. My mistake. Won't happen again.
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 6:57 am
DogsHead
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Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 142 Location: Sydney
New Article at The Sentinel (April 12th) So...where should we be talking about this article?
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:02 am
dead weight
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Joined: 07 Apr 2005 Posts: 80
No clue. I've searched for everything I can think of and can't find it.
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:07 am
erekose
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Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 111 Location: A maze of winding passages, all alike
Quote:
if we keep making new threads every time a new article appears were gonna have a huge number of threads
True, but thats more or less the way that has worked best over any number of previous args. One or two general threads that are used for general topic disscussion, and the latest update thread for each section. older update threads slowly sink off the top page and people use the general disscussion threads to air their opinions on the older updates.
This has a number of advantages, one, people can quickly and easily check for new updates and disscus the latest news. two, it avoids stupidly long 300 page threads...most of the time anyway (Metaurchins may recall with some trepidation the 'carelessly files' thread. Wasn't searching that fun? Now imagine if all the caesar files had been put in one thread. This is my point.)
With small updates like blogs a unified structure can work, but the PM's like to keep us on our toes with a stunning revelation now and then, and those small threads have a tendency to explode.
(I was going to discuss the latest update, but somewhere during my aimless rant I lost the point I was going to make)
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:09 am
lotusflower
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Joined: 21 Mar 2005 Posts: 64
I agree.
If I update the forum page and don't see any new topics, I won't check every thread in case I've missed one new post. Whereas if I see a new topic about an update, I can get on the case and start looking at it.
But now we have a thread about the etiquette for starting new threads ...
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:22 am
PuzzledPineapple
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Joined: 07 Apr 2005 Posts: 352
Is it me, or is it a bit odd for a city council to make defense decisions? Usually it would be the country's government. This seems a pointer to PC perhaps being it's own state/country/independently ruled thingy.
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:36 am
StarryNight
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Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 90 Location: New Hampshire
I agree with putting each update in a separate thread - the postcard thread was getting unmanagable. However, I think that the threads should reflect the stories that were added, for example "Update:Sentinel:Defence Budget(April12)". There could be a general thread for stories that we only get headlines for, another for letters and another for futures?
Also, I agree with PuzzledPineapple - sounds like Perplex City is a city-state controlled by a city council. Also, this is not a utopia future without conflict as wars must still exist, even if the city is at peace right now.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:48 am
Scott
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Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Posts: 1132 Location: 390 Chestnut Ridge Rd, Rochester NY, 14624, USA
Ok, so Perplex City is more like Perplex City/State. unsurprising, really. They have their own currency, their own postal service which issues their own stamps, and now their own military.
It's a fFunny world we are painting. There is one giant mega city which seems to have one major university and all the technology in the world. Elected officials include "Leader", which appears to be head of the executive branch.
So in some ways it's like any other quaint fFictional city. It's not clear where the city is, it's just, you know, The City. (like the matrix, or teenage mutant ninja turtles -- why didnt shredder ever bother attacking any other fFreakin city in the world? in the cartoons, he was at the center of the earth but always drilled up in this one poor city! what a mook. And april o'neal with channel 6 was always there to cover the story, too!)
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:02 am
erekose
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Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 111 Location: A maze of winding passages, all alike
Historically, city councils have been very powerful, even when the government is a monarchy (Londons city council, comprised mostly of merchants and guild leaders,at times raised it's own army, loaned funds to the Monarch, and even forced him out of the city when he did something they didn't like.). I wonder if the council is(1) a full democracy with popular elections,(2) a collection of leaders elected by rich merchants and the guilds like Londons, or (3) a consortium of powerful families like the Italian republics. Personally, I think a mix of 1 and 3 is most likely, with a selection of families with enough money to fund their campaigns trying to obtain the poorer masses vote. It leaves a lot of room for political intrigue, which is the main reason i like it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:20 am
Seej
Unfettered
Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 614
Don't forget we have a history of powerful city-states here on Earth - The Ancient Greeks used to have them , and currently we have places like .va and .mc (though technically Monaco is a principality, not that I understand the difference......). No reason why PPC couldn't be the same.
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:40 am
dopefiend
Decorated
Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 182 Location: London, UK
This whole city vs country thing doesn't seem a big deal to me- As Scott says it's
Quote:
one giant mega city
along the lines of the Mega Cities in Judge Dredd maybe?
But back to the article: a couple of things caught my eye
Quote:
Councilor Aashiyana Skye slapped the table and declared, "This budget is an anachronism and a disgrace when there are so many other more pressing calls on our city's finances." Skye advocates cutting defence spending 6% every year over the next five years.
Aashiyana Skye has to be an anagram!!! surely! also- could the 6% be important at all?
and the other thing:
Quote:
I'm sure he isn't playing war games in his office all day with shiny toy soldiers.
seems a strange thing to say and a stranger thing to report- could the shiny toy soldiers have any significance?[/quote]
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:43 am
tanner
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Joined: 21 May 2003 Posts: 875 Location: (x,y,z,t,i, ...)+
ok im wrong bout separate section for sentinel threads -- thats cool -- im often wrong
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:22 am
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