- Philip Elmsbye
- Registered User
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Member for 12 years, 7 months, and 27 days
Last active Sat, Sep, 6 2014 13:10:54
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- 361 Total Posts
- 10 Thanks
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Kelzam posted a message on MTGS needs new art for its banner!The topic comes up every few months, but in the past the consensus is that it costs money to commission a decent piece of artwork for a banner. However, you might've missed it, but currently we're in beta for a new version of the forums and front page. There's a sticky thread here in CI with information regarding that beta. We'll have a new look going live in the not-too-distant futurePosted in: Community Discussion -
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Kelzam posted a message on Was MTGS's name inspired by something in MtG?When I named the website, I did so as a tongue-in-cheek towards MTGNews.com; after it was sold, it began to self-destruct due to the owner's negligence (and ignorance). Most of the community that came here originated from the users there or it's lurkers. This was meant to be the salvation of that community.Posted in: Magic General
In retrospect, I wish I'd came up with something that made more sense in the long term.
Quote from strog211Why yes it does! If you look closely, you will see that the "MTG" in MTGS actually stands for Magic: The Gathering.
S_S was a friend that the owner, Raa, appointed to be an administrator to watch over the daily activities and direction of MTGNews. Basically, Raa didn't have any real interest in the website other than what profit it could generate for him and his now defunct pricing website - his was a website a lot like magiccards.info that we're all familiar with here on the forums, except much worse. Anyway, S_S began to go way overboard with his power and got so out of hand that the entire MTGNews staff decided to walk out on January 1st, 2005. That was when myself and a few others started trying to herd people over to MTGS so we could attempt to keep the community in one centralized spot, rather than seeing it disperse itself amongst other random websites.
Also, pro tip: Don't try to run a web community with thousands of people when you're an angsty teenager. Even with the best of intentions, you're gonna have a bad time (pressure, stress, irresponsibility, etc.). Thank Cthulhu for what 8 years can do for maturity. -
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Drawmeomg posted a message on The Purge: A Thought ExperimentPosted in: DebateQuote from Philip Elmsbye
Well, I am in high school, and I know very little about economics. My first thought, though, was that the rebuilding efforts taking place after each bout of destruction would create jobs, stimulating the economy. At least one user who's commented here—not to mention those harebrained idea-folks who developed the film that inspired this thread—thought the same thing.Quote from Blinking SpiritDo you really think anyone is going to debate the proposition that widespread rioting, looting, and vandalism are economically damaging?
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Let me make something clear: I am not saying that the idea of a Purge is plausible or feasible. (In my original post, I called it silly and implausible.) I've only been trying to play devil's advocate a little bit. Maybe not too expertly.
The economy isn't "creation of jobs". The economy is "distribution of finite resources, including raw materials, application of ideas, and labor."
You'd 'create jobs' rebuilding afterwards, in the sense that someone with wealth would pay someone to repair damage to their home, and so on.
You wouldn't create wealth, however, which is the important part of creating a job. We could hire people to dig and refill holes in perpetuity, but that wouldn't make the economy stronger (outside of some really edge-casey scenarios which are really rather far afield for this topic), it would just mean we'd be transferring money from some people to those people in exchange for nothing of value.
Or, to put it another way: there's still the same amount of stuff, it's just that different people have it because the person paid to rebuild the house has more of the total stuff in the society while the person being forced to pay to rebuild has less.
Contrast this with the 'normal' job situation, where you're paid to produce something (whether that's in coming up with and refining great ideas, or extracting raw materials from a mine or forest, or turning raw materials into something useful using someone else's previous great idea - e.g. turning it into a car or a computer, it's all pretty much the same thing). It's similar in that someone else has given you money in return for your ideas and/or labor. It's different in that the person who gave you that money also comes out ahead in that they have ideas/raw materials/finished goods that they can then trade; they received value for value and they are (if they have invested wisely) better off now than they were beforehand, just like you are better off now than you were beforehand.
Does this make sense? I'm glossing over some stuff (like all of the service sector of the economy!), and I've presented it in an overwhelmingly free market-friendly way (which means I only agree with what I've just written about 95% instead of 100%), but I think this captures the 'why'.
For what it's worth, the reason you're having trouble getting people to take the topic seriously is because the proposal is ludicrous on the face of it. The idea of a day of murder and vandalism resulting in a better economy and a better place to live might make for the plot of a passable horror-dystopia (I have no idea, really, hadn't heard of this before this thread), but the suggestion that it might be realistic has roughly the same status as suggesting that the economy would be better off if we used magic to create things out of thin air, and for the same reasons: possibly good fiction, but the world simply doesn't work that way. -
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Prodigal_Planeswalker posted a message on Advertisement Tokens: Good Idea/Bad Idea?http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1ergmq/suggestion_to_wotc_consider_leaving_blank_space/#Posted in: Opinions & Polls
Someone suggested WotC should leave blank space on the advertisement cards for use as tokens. Good idea or bad idea? A mockup is attached. -
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Xaios posted a message on Where in the world if Fblthp?Posted in: Magic GeneralQuote from RevisedShivanhe keeps getting into bad situations
Hope you don't mind, I put my own spin on this one...
EDIT: More Rise of the Fblthp...
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Fblthp posted a message on Where in the world if Fblthp?My name is Fblthp and I approve this thread.Posted in: Magic General -
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Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich? Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich?Posted in: the Speakeasy -
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Jaded Avaricious posted a message on One manchilds journey to the BorderlandsThat's some story bro, here have a giant internet cookiePosted in: the Speakeasy
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Zephynoir posted a message on Need a Deck or Deck Ideas? Come here!It's very nice to see you again, Stairc. I think I'm the man for this job- I happen to have an Elk deck ;DPosted in: Casual & Multiplayer Formats
Yep. I have Elk, Frog, Auroch, and Brownie <<
In fact, here is said Elk deck of mine...
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Instant
4 Lightning Bolt
Creature
2 Chameleon Colossus
4 Game-Trail Changeling
3 Taurean Mauler
4 Great Sable Stag
4 Dawntreader Elk
3 Adaptive AutomatonEnchantment
2 Asceticism
2 Primal Rage
Sorcery
2 Harmonize
2 Twilight's Call
3 OverrunLands
4 Bojuka Bog
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Swamp
9 Forest
8 Mountain
Would you like something with more control? More aggressive tendencies? I can make "Ramp-Haste Elk: Story of a Stag" again - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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Thanks to these threads:
Spore Cloud (#83)
Corpsejack Menace
Radiate (Look at the gents in the background.)
Retribution
Glory Seeker (!!!)
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The barbarians call it "touching the pants of the dragon."
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"Graceful? Yes. Beautiful? Absolutely. Pants? Definitely not."
—Fyndhorn elder
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Pass me from soul to soul, / soldier to herder, herder to beast, beast to soil / until I am everywhere. / Then pass me those pants.
—Totem inscription (translated)
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Daraja Griffin: "And the flamingos said, 'Get out of our pants--we can't be seen with the likes of you!' So, the griffin ate them."-Azeworai, "The Ugly Bird"
Foul Imp: The villagers call it "pants stench."
Auriok Glaivemaster: "Give me a bit of steel and I'll deliver it into the pants of my enemies."
Hellkite Overlord: "The dragon has no
pretense of compassion, no false mask of civilizationpants--just hunger, heat, and need."-Sarkhan Vol1