Patricius Maximus

Humbug. You assume competence based on an arbitrary age. Everyone is different, Alexzero77. Some young people know nothing of politics, some are very involved. Just like adults. Germany, like any other nations, has it's flaws, but it is getting better.

Foe. It has no national markings. How about a supernova?

Yay! All but one of my candidates won. Looking forward to the next update and new developments.

GROWTH IN HARRISBURG REPLIES: Twenty20: Thanks. Rictiovarus: Thank you. If you mean expanded features for Highways and RHW, I can't wait either. sedimenjerry: Thanks. Glad you realized it. I didn't investigate it extensively . If you will recall, Harrisburg was in a previous update. The cloverstack interchange in the city has since been modified into what the CBRD calls a "partially unrolled cloverleaf". It was inspired by this interchange on the M25 near London: It is functionally the equivalent to the cloverstack, except that the two semi-directional ramps are shifted to the side. Harrisburg also has some development. Here is the residential district. It was planned out using a variant of the Fused Grid plan: In between the residential and commercial districts, there is a parclo interchange that connects the two: Lastly, here is the east end of the residential area. The avenue is flanked on the right side by noise barrier walls. Haljackey uses them some in the Greater Terran Region, and he provided the link for them: That's all for today. In the next update, Harrisburg will expand, and some new interchanges will be shown. Please post comments and/or suggestions.

Here is a cloverstack variant that I built: It was modelled after this interchange on the M25 near London: The CBRT calls it a "partially unrolled cloverleaf". It is the functional equivalent of a cloverstack, except that the two semi-directional ramps are shifted to the side. Please post comments and/or suggestions.

For being a Traveller!

Fan

The 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913. No one "conveniently forgot" to revoke it after WWII. It was law by then. The IRS has plenty of constitutional basis for collection.quote> I neglected to put that in my post. What I was saying was that Lincoln's collections (before 1913) were not legalized by an act or amendment to my knowledge.

Kudos, 6underground. As you mentioned, Africa has a VERY unlucky environment, with droughts, diseases, floods, etc etc happening all of the time, which have nothing to do with healthcare. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about the droughts and floods. However, there is something we can do about AIDS and Ebola and starvation, and we can definetally do something about Sudan's genocidal government, but unfortunately Africa doesn't even exist to alot of people, it's like a huge blur on the map that people ignore.quote> Africa sure does have a lot of problems. A group of nations (UN perhaps?) should try to help them. Not by dispensing out bags of money or mushy food, but by helping them develop the continent with agriculture, medical care, and a decent economy. In other words, they should lend assistance for the Africans to develop themselves. The present system of handing out money and food is not working for the Africans, and is a drain on the resources of other peoples. Funny, this thing about US taxes. Federal Income Tax, as excercised by the IRS, still has no legal foundation: it is imposed - not a very democratic thing to do. It was imposed several times, first by Lincoln to pay for the war on the South, and later by the respective WWI and WWII presidents. The last one "conviniently forgot" to revoke the imposition. And thus the IRS began to work around the absence of constituional basis by having the states do the collection - because the states (most of them at least) do have the legal foundation to collect.quote> 16th Amendment makes collection legal. However, Lincoln's collections were not legalized.

CONTACT AND TWO NEW PROPOSALS REPLIES: un1: Then the deal is made. Franklin Oil will have to pump more! It is black gold, after all. deathtopumpkins: 1) It isn't that hard to do, you just have to know about it! 2) That sign was put there first. The government is working hard to sign that stretch of highway. sedimenjerry: Glad you love it. And I thank you for the congratulations. I've already endorsed you for the DOR head. Goldfish4209: The refineries are in Virgin Shores and Chain Island, as DTP explained. deathtopumpkins: If the exports become huge, I'll have to supplement with my own refineries. For now, the deals are a good arrangement. Meastro444: The water and power come from outside of the county via underground utilities. bluemoose: Glad you like the way things are going. The entire metro will be developed sometime in the future, as the intro points out sim-Al2: I shall consider a deal if exports become a lot bigger. supercity124: If a new city is in Franklin Metro, it elects a represenative to the Franklin Assembly. If it is in East Valley County, the residents attend the Assembly there weekly. psander5: Glad you like it. Try what sedimenjerry suggested. haljackey: Thanks. I cannot provide a link because I forgot which one they came in . I got them from either the Traffic Advisory pack or the Restrictions pack. In a race to see who can brag about linking the two cities, developers constructed houses along the road in a frenzy: Until.... Contact! Both sides of East Franklin have now merged with Franklin proper in one contiguous development: Next, two proposals are up for voting. The first is to decrease congestion on the principal East Franklin road by making it into a 4-lane divided highway (a.k.a. an avenue). Here is an illustration of the proposed widening: Also, in North Franklin, a highway has been extended paralleling I-30, connecting the two developments of North Franklin. There is also a second proposal to make the highway running from North Franklin to the River Bend marina a State Route. Please provide numbers for the new route. At the end of the polling, I'll select one. Here is a regional view detailing the two proposals: Click on it for FULL resolution. Please vote in the poll. And, please post your comments, suggestions, and questions.

It's nice to have a tour of Escape. I was wondering what was within that city on the regional map... I spy some weaving on the highways. That cloverleaf looks like a problem. A lot of times when I place cloverleafs on the outskirts of a city, the city grows around it, and it's gridlock. Escape does have it's places of beauty. Such as the rail bridge utilizing the viaducts and the stack. The biggest thing there is that bridge. Double suspension with a bullet train If the double-decker highway project comes to fruition, the bridge termini would be perfect for it. Looking forward to the rest of Escape!

The new refinery and pier look like it can handle imports for many years to come. Also, the deal seems mutally beneficial. I'm glad Franklin Oil is bringing growth to the area. Some good people have applied for the posts. I'm glad that I'm the DOT head. Like you said, I'd be the best one for it. Sedimenjerry would be a nice choice for DOR head. I think I'll vote for him Lastly, I think it is a wise decision to put ferries in the DWR instead of the DOT. I'm anxious to see the results of the elections.

As for our now famous Joe X (wasn't he the same guy as Joe Blow a while ago?) quote> Yes, he was. indeed the "nation's problem" where do you live? In a limbo above or beside the nation? You are - whereever you call home, an integral part of that nation.quote> My statement is that Joe X is of no interest to me if he is not my problem. If he is the nation's problem, and that turns into my problem, then it is of interest. My response to multiple posts about governmental health insurance is this: In situations when someone (let's say Joe X) needs to be treated, and Joe X cannot afford either insurance or direct payment. He either has to get the treatment, and go bankrupt later; or he can sit and die. If there was a government program for people like Joe X, who need to be treated for illnesses and can't afford them, then Joe X and his comrades would be alive, well, and not bankrupt. I am against full socialized medicine, as it deprives people of a choice, and deprives quality of the insurance and care. If there were a two-tier system, with the government insurance for the uninsured people, and private companies providing the rest, then the best of both would be in the system. Also, the added advantage would be retention of quality, and more affordability, since private insurers would have to lower prices to prevent more from flocking to the government program. In the United States, John Edwards had a good plan. From what I have seen, a two-tier system would be established at first, and if the people flocked to the government program, then it'd turn into a single-payer system. The importance of this is that a single-payer system would be established by choice, not by government mandate. This was in contrast to Hillary's plan, which is full socialized medicine mandated by the government. I half-jokingly called it "HillaryCare" (no offense to supporters ). Those are my thoughts on socialized medicine. I'm also an atheist, but I have no problems accepting traditional morale values, if someone is in trouble, you help them, as they would do the same for you...quote> I do accept traditional 'moral values' if they are rational. Such as not commiting murder, rape, stealing or destroying property, etc. Don't get sidetracked by those who have given differnt political and social ideas a bad name.quote> Ah, such as communism, socialism, liberalism, and pacifism (to name a few). Life lesson: Become a musician quote> Yes. Most people work to serve their self-interest. Even musicians. What the musician gets out of it is satisfaction, enjoyment, and some pay.

In political terms, the movement of modders to SC4D would be termed a 'secession'. I am a believer in the right for a group to have their own place, but the reasoning is rather mysterious. Somehow, this 'secession' caused a cold war of sorts between ST and SC4D, but tensions have settled down into a détente. Personally, I think that the modders have a good place at SC4Devotion, and operational efficiency has increased for the NAM and other teams. I hold an account over there, and frequently post in the NAM threads. However, I consider ST my 'primary' account, and SC4D my 'secondary'. I see no problem with two sites coexisting with each other.

DocRorlach: Good way of putting it. True Communism has never been tried on a large scale. Communism is where the property is owned collectively. Not owned by the government. Despite the fact that I am more of a liberal than a communist, and as such strongly believe in personal property rights. However, I do not go around calling totalitarianism or socialism communism. Also, I have studied Finland, mostly about their educational system, and I do agree that they are more socialist than the rest of Europe. The popular identity of socialism and communism has been marred by self-described socialist and communist governments turning into totalitarian or stalinist ones, and the Cold War. However, I still maintain my positions that communism and pure socialism do not work becuase it goes against base human instincts. To name a few, competition, acquistion, and serving self-interest. Duke87: To me, Joe from X is a random with a problem, not your problem but the nation's problem. Do you A) Leave Joe to sort it out? B) Help Joe? C) Use Universal health care? What would your answer actually be? I know i would pick C)quote> And mine would be A. He's a big boy. He can deal with his own problems.quote>quote> I'd choose A as well. If there is universal healthcare, it is his responsibility to use it, not mine. I do not know him, so he gets no aid from me. It is his responsibility to do something about it or not. I'm an atheist. I don't believe in the whole "love your fellow man just because they're your fellow man" concept. Nobody gets my unconditional caring or respect. They need to earn it, like with everything in life. No free rides.quote> I don't either. If I do not know the person, or have been insulting or otherwise heinous to me, they recieve no aid from me. I do practice non-agression to people I do not know or just met, since there is no rationality to insult or hurt them. Again; here you are thinking short term. As deathtoall said, Joe is the nations problem; and therefore will affect the country in the long term; economically, socially, and even politically.quote> Consider this: if Joe needs the assistance of charity (be it from private charities of from government forced "charity") to survive, he is a net burden on society, not a net contributor. Meaning that it's actually for the better of the country economically if he drops dead and stops sucking oxygen and wasting resources. That might be a soulless and heartless way of looking at it, but it's completely true.quote> He is not a burden if the money he gets are from volunteers, and therefore they have chosen to waste their resources on him. Also, I have no interest in Joe as the nation's problem. Unless he's my problem, I don't care. They are unfair because you make them unfair.quote> No, they are unfair because that is the way it works naturally. It takes work and effort to try and force them to be fair when they're not. And it's futile work and effort, at that, since so long as humans remain imperfect creatures, you can't make everything fair. It's impossible.quote> It is futile to try to make everything completely fair. However, it is not futile if we try and make it as fair as possible. [edited to fix quote problem]

I like CR-60. Can't wait to see the new mods you're using.

Congratulations, DTP. You now have 1000 page views! Looking forward to Update 8.

That's the thing thought isn't it? If we all had that attitude then the world would never get anywhere, we would never advance; as there would be absolutely no motivation for people to. And yet again; you are looking short term. You want instant gratification. I seem to be the only person who is capable of looking long term and realising that most of what all I do now won't have an effect until after I am dead. But you know what? That perfectly satisfies me; as I realise that the world is far bigger than me, and if I help people down the line; then it can only be a good thing. Even if I am not there to see it. Rarely does anything come for you in your life time; but surely the satisfaction of knowing that your actions will help people is enough?quote> Your altruism is admirable, but most others are not. Yes, we want short term gratification. But not for no reason. Most humans, when they work, want to get something out of it for themselves. You may call this selfish. In my view, there is a difference between serving your own interests and being selfish. If humans worked at their jobs and got no compensation of any kind, there would be no incentive to work, since they would be, in effect, working for nothing. It is a human instinct to stop an exertion if nothing comes out of it. Not only is working for nothing pointless, it wastes time and energy. Most humans are not purely altruistic or overly selfish, most are somewhere in between on the spectrum. Most are willing to help a greater cause, but they ask the question: What will I get out of it? If the answer is in the affirmiative, they, as you put it, pitch in for the community. If all had your attitudes and altruism, then communism would work better. The problem I see with communism is that it attempts to fight base human instincts, and most are not willing to fight them. Because we save. We never buy anything that we do not need. We absolutely live by the ethos that you should never live beyond your means. That's something Americans seem to have forgotten if we look at the current state of the credit crisis.quote> There I agree with you. If your expenses surpass income, then assets go down. However, most Americans charge up a lot of debt and they have no means to pay for it. Having a debt and credit card is good, as long as you can pay the monthly payment. It is a way to afford things you could not buy in one lump sum. Example -- a $20,000 car. Very few could buy it all at once, so the payment is spread out monthly over a period of 3-8 years. That is the basic principal in the 1920's "installment plan" for vehicles and other consumer goods. It is kind of like consuming alchohol. If you go on a binge, you'll harm yourself. If you use it responsibly, much less harm comes out of it. It's all in how you use it. What on earth every happened to Christian love?quote> 1. How can I love someone I haven't even met? 2. I am not a Christian, and most people on Earth are not.

I heard the news this morning. He was a good journalist, and he'll be missed.

Equal economic status?? Huh no, not in a "social democracy", you still have rich, very rich, middle class, poor and very poor. You do get "equal" opportunities, but you don't get paid equally, physicians, policemen and company directors don't get the same salary at all. And you have to work your way if you want a good career, no one is giving it to you with no effort, despite being public college education.And those predictions of lazyness, economic stagnation and failure ain't working here, we still were one of the most advancing economies of Europe last year, despite being "socialist"quote> Fukuda, I was talking about pure, traditional socialism. Not democratic socialism. Democratic Socialism seems to work well for Europe. Not sure how it'd do in North America. Also, since there is not equal economic status and salaries in a democratic socialist system, it works better in my opinion than pure socialism. Abraham Maslow would beg to differ with you. Healthcare is not a physiological need, it's a safety need. It falls into the second priority, not the first.quote> It is a safety need and second priority if you are more or less healthy. It is first priority for those with serious/terminal illnesses or having a medical emergency. The one that should be afraid of the people is the government, not the people of the government they voted. That's democracyquote> Government works better when it is afraid of the people, not the other way around. After all, a democracy is supposed to serve the interests of the people.

A FEW NEW DEVELOPMENTS REPLIES: un1: Really? Franklin Oil is always open to new deals. They have decided to accept it, with a 15% land use fee deathtopumpkins: 1) Yes, but don't mention that to the assemblies 2) Glad that they are. A new terminal will boost efficiency. 3) Good idea. I think I'll build a dirt road. cityhawk: Thanks. Yes, I did terraformed it myself, with SC4 Terraformer. sedimenjerry: 1) A university? Never thought of it. The idea does interest me. 2) It is a republic. I used the general term 'represenative democracy' because 'republic' implies that it is a nation-state. Goldfish4209: Thank you. psander5: Catching up is fun. If you get the RHW, try doing simple interchanges at first, then build more complex ones. It takes a little experience to be good at it. edmonton_stinks: Pros and Cons of the oil boom... Meastro444: Thanks. In DTP's Virgin Shores, an exploratory study is underway for a "city council of sorts" to be assembled. I have expressed interest in being a transit planner, and have accepted the post of DOT head for Virgin Shores. This will in no way affect my updating of Franklin County, so, here's another update! First of all, a service road has been added for easier access to the oil field: In North River, a new citizen has arrived and set up a gas station, which pumps gasoline extracted from East Valley and refined in Virgin Shores. In Franklin, a new subdivision has been built in the western part, and they have found employment in Central Franklin: Put your cursor over the picture for 'hidden' information Lastly, I have acquired a few MASS-PAK signs, and they add a lot to transit systems. Here's a picture showcasing one: And here is the traffic moving on I-85 to North Franklin: That's all for this update. As always, please post your comments, suggestions, and questions.

As a result I have binned my copy of SCS, I am fed up with EA tacking the pee, and have decided to not buy anymore of their games. If only more people would do that they'd get the message.quote> I already have. The last EA game I bought was NFS Carbon in 2006, and I have no intention of buying another EA game.

I noticed that myself. It has since been corrected. Also, I see that you saw my custom text @SC4D. Thanks for the compliment.

DRILLING BEGINS REPLIES: edmonton_stinks: There won't be much cost to the landscape. un1: Thank you. supercity124: Who knows? Perhaps all along the river, or maybe hardly any growth deathtopumpkins: 1) Your offer is accepted. It'll save time and money needed to build a refinery in Franklin. 2) The Mass Transit Comittee keeps track of that. Ask them nihonkaranws: Thanks. Oil has been confirmed at the Forest Basin site. Also, a final agreement between Franklin and East Valley has been arranged: East Valley gets the high plateau, and Franklin Metro gets all the rest. Now for some detail about the two governments. Franklin County is a representive democracy. The citizens elect 30 people to the Franklin County Assembly. There are 30 districts in the county, and each elects one person every 2 years. Members of committes are appointed by the assembly. There is an executive branch which consists of the Mayor and his lieutenant. And, of course, there is a county court. East Valley's government is a direct democracy system. All the citizens meet weekly in the East Valley Citizens' Assembly. They vote on every proposal. The Assembly also functions as a court. There is no executive branch. Everything is decided by the citizens. The oil man has established a new company, the Franklin Oil Company, and the East Valley Citizens' Assembly has given permission for him to drill. He has erected a welcome sign along SR-285, crediting Virgin Shores for part-financing the venture with their refineries. I have made a sign for it with the BAT and placed it on SR-285: Oil derricks have already been built, bringing in money for the Franklin Oil Company, plus a refining fee paid to Virgin Shores : The crude oil is already on it's way to Virgin Shores to be refined, travelling by the rail and then tankers. The oil is expected to bring even more citizens to Franklin, and more vigor into the booming economy. Feel free to post any comments, suggestions, or questions that you may have.

I'll add my opinions, since this is an interesting discussion. 'Socialism' is a governmental system where all citizens are equal legally and economically. That is the difference between socialism and other ideologies. Socialism and Communism have economic and legal equality, most others have legal but not economic equality, and some have no legal or economic equality. Contrary to popular belief, I do not consider the USSR to be a communist state. Everything was owned by the state, instead of the people collectively. I think it was more of a blend between socialism and totalitarianism. Socialism can be with or without freedom and liberty. All of the self-described socialist countries to date have had little freedom and liberty. A state can have socialism and liberty. An example of this is the more moderate Democratic Socialism, such as the UK. The British have rights and liberties, and as a result have more freedom than the USSR's citizens did. However, the government is more powerful than the United States. Socialism has it's benefits, such as equal treatment, increase of status for the poor, single-payer health insurance, etc. It also has it's flaws, just like any other system. I believe that equal economic status mandated by the state deprives the people of ambition to better their position. As a result, the economy stagnates and the state is at risk of failure. Regulation of the economy is good, as it ensures fair treatment for the consumers and competing companies. But there is a difference between fair and equal treatment. Socialism, in my opinion, does not work because it eliminates the ambition to work harder and increase economic/monetary status. It also has a risk of decreasing innovation, since there is no incentive to benefit from inventions, due to equal economic status. I'm not a communist or socialist. I'm more of a liberal. Equal under the law is essential. Equal under the economy is not good. Ecomonic fairness with competition laws and consumer protection is good. In short, equality is good. Too much or too little is not. - Patricius Maximus