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Octopus islands wrote:Just a little nitpick here - I know some territories have elected to remain as a territory, so that is at least partially on them.

Good point. Then I guess any territory where they must pay taxes should have a right to vote, but only if they want. I know many in DC wish to vote, and their license plates even say “Taxation without Representation” on them. For that matter, I think if you’ve been a resident for at least 5 years you should have a right to vote in local and state elections, and maybe over 10 years before general elections, since they too must pay taxes here, yet they have no vote in what the taxes are being used for or how much they’re taxed.

Kinectia

Turbeaux wrote:The visual diagram suggestion is for the purpose of outlining. You could treat labor practices as an input and look at them again on the recycling end of life outcome (if the product that you choose is recyclable).

A problem that I have been running into is fact-checking corporate claims. There is definitely a huge profit motive in marketing a product as something that does not destroy the environment, lead to human misery, or put money into resource extraction practices that fund criminal activities/violent conflicts. I have found that Greenpeace rates tech companies but they are largely taking corporate reports at face value and do not get into human rights issues. I wish that there was more third-party oversight in that business. There are some great organizations that only offer certain prestigious titles to food products that meet extremely rigorous environmental standards. I learned this from taking a look at palm oil (read about POFCAP).

I was hoping you had some kind of insight that I don't. I first discovered this issue when I was looking for a paint that doesn't make me sick. I did a lot of research and the best advice I got was to read the product's MSDS (material safety data sheet). So I did, when I could find it. I always ended up at the dead-end of "proprietary formula." That's when I first realized that I knew nothing about any of the products I was buying or using, and I could discover no reliable way to find out.

Edit:
I do think this is an excellent topic for this month - and I'd like to encourage discussion about it. My suggestion is to take a product, any product, and do a quick mental sketch of where it came from and where it will go when you are finished with it. (Personally I would probably exclude foods just because the origin and destination are pretty obvious and would take me in a completely different direction.)

This is enlightening just as an exercise to raise awareness of our immediate environs. We are surrounded by dozens or hundreds of products all the time. If a cosmic anomaly suddenly occurred that disappeared everything that had been produced in a factory, what would be left? Once you become aware that most of the things around you came from "a store" and are destined to be "thrown away" that can lead you to think about how complicated our lives really are. The hardest part about being an environmentalist is even imagining how life could be different.

[I'll go ahead and release the dispatch to TLA as soon as I can do so without disrupting their election process on their RMB.]

Kinectia wrote:I was hoping you had some kind of insight that I don't. I first discovered this issue when I was looking for a paint that doesn't make me sick. I did a lot of research and the best advice I got was to read the product's MSDS (material safety data sheet). So I did, when I could find it. I always ended up at the dead-end of "proprietary formula."
~snip~

Edit:
I do think this is an excellent topic for this month - and I'd like to encourage discussion about it. My suggestion is to take a product, any product, and do a quick mental sketch of where it came from and where it will go when you are finished with it. (Personally I would probably exclude foods just because the origin and destination are pretty obvious and would take me in a completely different direction.)

This is enlightening just as an exercise to raise awareness of our immediate environs. We are surrounded by dozens or hundreds of products all the time. If a cosmic anomaly suddenly occurred that disappeared everything that had been produced in a factory, what would be left? Once you become aware that most of the things around you came from "a store" and are destined to be "thrown away" that can lead you to think about how complicated our lives really are. The hardest part about being an environmentalist is even imagining how life could be different.

[I'll go ahead and release the dispatch to TLA as soon as I can do so without disrupting their election process on their RMB.]

Apologize for not having further insight. This sort of thing is difficult to do because you almost always have to rely on a corporation's own data at deeper levels. Aside from doing these mentally, I have only put together one for "green" building materials. I took a class that covered LEED certifications and it was topical. However, it is rather easy to use recycled materials for building construction. Also, that sort of thing focuses solely on environmental footprints. I hope that some other people run into these difficulties and learn from the experience.

I included food because it is something that everyone uses. It is a bit of a different analysis but still an instructive one!

Good luck, I am excited to see what you (and others) come up with! I have all of my resources and an outline. I am ready to write mine up and should stop procastinating! My problem with writing is not having the discipline to spread it out. I get into "the zone" and have to finish it in one session.

Mount Seymour, Atsvea, Lord Dominator, Kinectia, and 1 otherThe young ur

Forwintrr League Beauty Contests

Following a draw of 16 votes each, the organisers have decided to announce Budgie Snugglers as our Super Rank winner, and Sakiria as our Normal Rank winner!

Budgie Snugglers' exclusive interview featuring drop-dead gorgeous Pokemon really won us over. And a special mention for Team steam's outstanding art.

Beauty Contest

We've decided that the fan favourite will instead be declared the Super Rank winner! While you're checking them out, please don't forget to upvote!

Our organisers will then pick a Normal Rank winner once all three polls close.

Please note, you will only be able to vote in your region's poll. Polls will remain open for three days.

Polls

The Rejected Realms: page=poll/p=158812

Wintreath: page=poll/p=158810

Forest: page=poll/p=158820

Option 1: Budgie Snugglers from the Rejected Realms

page=dispatch/id=1375264

Option 2: Sakiria from Wintreath

page=dispatch/id=1376740

Option 3: Team steam from Forest

page=dispatch/id=1374220

Option 4: Pokecorp elite trainer from Forest

page=dispatch/id=1374935

Winners

Following a draw of 16 votes each, the organisers have decided to announce Budgie Snugglers as our Super Rank winner, and Sakiria as our Normal Rank winner!

Budgie Snugglers' exclusive interview featuring drop-dead gorgeous Pokemon really won us over. And a special mention for Team steam's outstanding art.

Read dispatch

And thus concludes the Forwintrr League!

Thank you to all participating nations, Gym Leaders, organisers, and the new Pokemon Master of Ownzone!

Let us know: which Pokemon did you catch? Did anyone manage to catch 'em all?

Lura wrote:

On a related note, how long does it usually take to get an easter egg issue when you fulfill its conditions?

What's an easter egg issue?

Lura wrote:On a related note, how long does it usually take to get an easter egg issue when you fulfill its conditions?

There is no "usual" with eggs, unfortunately. My understanding is that basically, if you fulfill an issue's conditions, it is entered in to the pool of issues that may be randomly assigned to you. It could be the very next issue your receive, or it might just not happen for a ridiculously long time. There is one Easter Egg that, as far as anybody seems to be able to tell, I have met the conditions of for years, and I have never seen it. On the other hand, when I decided I wanted to get some eggs at the beginning of April, I changed a bunch of my information to match, and by the end of the month I had accumulated five. Then they stopped completely, despite still matching conditions for more, and I haven't seen one since then. I'm about the change my info back to my normal, because I honestly don't like the using the silly terms required for some of the eggs, and will try again in the future.

Camden forest wrote:What's an easter egg issue?

"Easter Egg" issues are a set of (currently) 13 issues that have special conditions to receive, with those conditions not officially published or made available. Most of them can be interpreted as a joke of some kind, and they are typically "meta" in nature - they have references to real-world things or meta-elements of your gameplay choices, rather than to the in-game reality. For example, if you have a color in your nation's pre-title, you can get an issue about having an emergency cabinet meeting to answer the question "what is your favorite color?" If you have certain "spooky" things as your national animal (for example, your national animal is "ghost"), you might get an issue asking what costume you're going to wear for Halloween.

They're just fun little things hidden in the game, and when you receive and answer one, a badge will appear on your nation showing how many you have answered. I got five, all in April of this year, so if you look at my nation page now there is a little icon of an egg down with all the stat icons that says "Easter Eggs (5)" on its tool-tip.

Le krac des pacifistes

Hi, we’re Middle Barael’s new puppet! I’m not sure if I’ll keep this one or let it CTE, but just so you know, I now have this one as well as Mowte, which I am certainly keeping.

Octopus islands wrote:Stat-boosting is driving me crazy... I have to look through every issue answer on that one website, check what boosts Eco-Friendliness/Environmental Beauty, click it, then my stats still go down because NS hates people having high stats... I can't recall when I last got an issue that actually helps by a significant amount and is related to the environment.

It varies per nation. I've learned that if you just answer issues consistently, eventually all of the stats that matter to you will be affected, not just the ones you're gunning for. Just look at this one and The Ascendant Hive. Polar opposites, but yuuuuuge stats. All because of answering extremes consistently.

Trying to get a couple easter egg issues right now. Going for my first easter egg. Whats your favorite color easter egg

Also going for the halloween one

My nations gonna be like this for at least 2 weeks to get these easter eggs soooooo get used to my nation being like this

McClandia Doge 2 wrote:Trying to get a couple easter egg issues right now ... Also going for the halloween one

Just so you know, some of the Easter Egg Issues are time sensitive, especially true of the holiday-related ones. So, for instance, the Halloween one can only be triggered around the holiday, same as the Saint Patrick's Day one and Christmas one. I believe those are the only ones with such requirements.

Octopus islands wrote:Stat-boosting is driving me crazy... I have to look through every issue answer on that one website, check what boosts Eco-Friendliness/Environmental Beauty, click it, then my stats still go down because NS hates people having high stats... I can't recall when I last got an issue that actually helps by a significant amount and is related to the environment.

I personally would discourage using Trotterdam's website. Issues are too variable for it to ever be able to guide your choices adequately. Use your brain and - like what Darths and Droids said - be consistent.

Does anyone know where i can find a list if easter eggs?

Roless wrote:Does anyone know where i can find a list if easter eggs?

I'm interested in this info too!

Does anyone know how to find all Forest Region cards? I'm collecting Forest cards.

Cam

Northern Wood wrote:Just so you know, some of the Easter Egg Issues are time sensitive, especially true of the holiday-related ones. So, for instance, the Halloween one can only be triggered around the holiday, same as the Saint Patrick's Day one and Christmas one. I believe those are the only ones with such requirements.

No the halloween one is year round not the st patricks one and the christmas one though because someone got the halloween one in december.

McClandia Doge 2 wrote:Trying to get a couple easter egg issues right now. Going for my first easter egg. Whats your favorite color easter egg

Also going for the halloween one

My nations gonna be like this for at least 2 weeks to get these easter eggs soooooo get used to my nation being like this

Northern Wood wrote:Just so you know, some of the Easter Egg Issues are time sensitive, especially true of the holiday-related ones. So, for instance, the Halloween one can only be triggered around the holiday, same as the Saint Patrick's Day one and Christmas one. I believe those are the only ones with such requirements.

Northern Wood wrote:Just so you know, some of the Easter Egg Issues are time sensitive, especially true of the holiday-related ones. So, for instance, the Halloween one can only be triggered around the holiday, same as the Saint Patrick's Day one and Christmas one. I believe those are the only ones with such requirements.

Roless wrote:Does anyone know where i can find a list if easter eggs?

Camden forest wrote:I'm interested in this info too!

Does anyone know how to find all Forest Region cards? I'm collecting Forest cards.

Cam

McClandia Doge 2 wrote:No the halloween one is year round not the st patricks one and the christmas one though because someone got the halloween one in december.

A dispatch I copied from Ballpit covers the subject.
Here's a handy dispatch from Ballpit's Easter Egg Guide for the Uninformed.

Hello reader, and welcome to my simplistic overview of how to get Easter eggs! I’ll cut straight to the chase, as I’m not one for idle chatter.

1. Halloween Easter egg: change your national animal to one of the following spooky creatures:
1) zombie
2) monster
3) ghost

(Others may work, but these are proven)

2. Colour Easter egg: change your nation’s pretitle to include a colour.
Eg: “The Red empire of Ballpit”
(Any colour works)

3. March Easter egg: change your national animal to Leprechaun, or your national currency to Gold Bars, or adding “lucky” to your pretitle.
(May only be able to be activated in March)

4. NationStates anniversary egg: simply get 3 Easter eggs and it’ll be activated.

5. Religion egg: the only way I know how to activate it is to include the word “holy” in your nation’s pretitle.
Eg: “The Holy empire of Ballpit”
(May be population selective, and may need at least 1 billion population to properly activate.)

6. Santa egg: change your custom fields to align with the holiday season! :)

7. Friendship Easter egg: change your motto to include the word “friendship.”
Eg: “Friendship is magical”

8. Breaking the fourth wall: change your motto to include the word “NationStates”

9. Remove the E Easter egg: remove all letter e’s from all custom fields.

10. Aliens Easter egg: (unproven) make pizza delivery and space programs high. (Scientific advancement)

11. Zombie Easter egg: let your nation CTE and then restore it. Times for egg activation may vary.

12. Issues egg: solve at least 300 daily issues.

You can also mix and match, setting triggers for different Easter eggs at the same time. For example:

Changing your motto to “NationStates and Friendship” activates two for one, changing your animal to “Zombie”, and your currency to “Gold Bars” activates 2 more, and changing your pretitle to “The Holy Blue Lucky Empire” activates 2 more! (3 if you didn’t activate the March Easter egg in another custom field.)

DISCLAIMER: Easter eggs aren’t activated immediately, and can sometimes take weeks to actually trigger.

Read dispatch

Hello, and good day to all. We are currently trying to compile a grand list of all of Forests ambassadors, so we know which regions don’t have, but our current list is very outdated, so if you believe you already are an ambassador to a region, please TG me.

Also, does anyone know why we stopped the Endorsement thing? I think it was really beneficial, as smaller nations got more influence, while bigger ones got an increased chance of getting endorsed back. The Young Ur, could you maybe restart it? And thanks Hyon Delta for endorsing me.

Edit: Sorry, for some reason this posted twice. I’ve deleted the second one, but sorry if it made your RMB notifications go even higher

Post self-deleted by Middle Barael.

~ Official Government Post ~

Middle Barael wrote:Hello, and good day to all. We are currently trying to compile a grand list of all of Forests ambassadors, so we know which regions don’t have, but our current list is very outdated, so if you believe you already are an ambassador to a region, please TG me.

Dear friends,

I would just like promote and recognize Middle Barael's work that they are and will be undertaking as the region's Diplomatic Root, essentially the "top ambassador." Hopefully with a dedicated and enthusiastic coordinator at the helm, we can better systematize the network of ambassadors. The Diplomatic Root functions as an autonomous enclave within the larger foreign ministry (i.e. all ambassadorial stuff should go through Middle Barael, not your long-suffering, Easter egg hunting Foreign Affairs Branch!).

There is no pithy send-off for how I feel this past week or two IRL, but stay safe and healthy,
Ruinenlust

Post by Beautiful ladies suppressed by a moderator.

Beautiful ladies wrote:Hello, Im The Free Land of Beautiful Ladies, I have come here to tell about my cleaning business to help raise money. I can guarantee that after we are done, your house will be spotless, we are fast, efficient, and we would love to help clean your house! If you are interested, please TG me for more information. Thank you and have a great day!

I have no clue what to think about this....is this roleplay, is this real, why do you use this platform for marketing purposes, is that even allowed, help raise money for what? The list of questions continues....to be honest on the one hand I am curious to go down the rabbits hole to see what I can find out on the other hand I consider this to be SPAM. EDIT: After pouring myself a drink I am strongly leaning towards the latter.

Post by Beautiful ladies suppressed by a moderator.

That didn't take long.

South wal saland

My trout fishing industry keeps expanding with most issues I answer, even with issues that have nothing to do with fishing. Perhaps Nemo depletion is simply a part of our culture at this point.

South wal saland wrote:My trout fishing industry keeps expanding with most issues I answer, even with issues that have nothing to do with fishing. Perhaps Nemo depletion is simply a part of our culture at this point.

We have the same thing. Maybe because trout farming is a big industry in South Wal Saland (it is here), so whenever the economy does well, they do well, since they make up a big part of the economy?

Darths and Droids wrote:
A dispatch I copied from Ballpit covers the subject.
Here's a handy dispatch from Ballpit's Easter Egg Guide for the Uninformed.

Hello reader, and welcome to my simplistic overview of how to get Easter eggs! I’ll cut straight to the chase, as I’m not one for idle chatter.

1. Halloween Easter egg: change your national animal to one of the following spooky creatures:
1) zombie
2) monster
3) ghost

(Others may work, but these are proven)

2. Colour Easter egg: change your nation’s pretitle to include a colour.
Eg: “The Red empire of Ballpit”
(Any colour works)

3. March Easter egg: change your national animal to Leprechaun, or your national currency to Gold Bars, or adding “lucky” to your pretitle.
(May only be able to be activated in March)

4. NationStates anniversary egg: simply get 3 Easter eggs and it’ll be activated.

5. Religion egg: the only way I know how to activate it is to include the word “holy” in your nation’s pretitle.
Eg: “The Holy empire of Ballpit”
(May be population selective, and may need at least 1 billion population to properly activate.)

6. Santa egg: change your custom fields to align with the holiday season! :)

7. Friendship Easter egg: change your motto to include the word “friendship.”
Eg: “Friendship is magical”

8. Breaking the fourth wall: change your motto to include the word “NationStates”

9. Remove the E Easter egg: remove all letter e’s from all custom fields.

10. Aliens Easter egg: (unproven) make pizza delivery and space programs high. (Scientific advancement)

11. Zombie Easter egg: let your nation CTE and then restore it. Times for egg activation may vary.

12. Issues egg: solve at least 300 daily issues.

You can also mix and match, setting triggers for different Easter eggs at the same time. For example:

Changing your motto to “NationStates and Friendship” activates two for one, changing your animal to “Zombie”, and your currency to “Gold Bars” activates 2 more, and changing your pretitle to “The Holy Blue Lucky Empire” activates 2 more! (3 if you didn’t activate the March Easter egg in another custom field.)

DISCLAIMER: Easter eggs aren’t activated immediately, and can sometimes take weeks to actually trigger.

Read dispatch

Yee. I have my own little info about all the easter eggs on one of my tabs right now.

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