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[Reelya]

It's not contradictory, the snakes are bad (falling to temptation of sin), the ladders are good (God's intervention) and when you reach the top that you are seeking (heaven), you win. It could, and has, be cited as a religious metaphor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_Ladders

The historic version had root in morality lessons, where a player's progression up the board represented a life journey complicated by virtues (ladders) and vices (snakes).

Snakes and Ladders originated in India as part of a family of dice board games, including pachisi (present-day Ludo and Parcheesi). It was known as moksha pAtam or vaikunthapaali or paramapada sopaanam (the ladder to salvation).

Moksha Patam was associated with traditional Hindu philosophy contrasting karma and kama, or destiny and desire. It emphasized destiny, as opposed to games such as pachisi, which focused on life as a mixture of skill (free will[5]) and luck. The game has also been interpreted and used as a tool for teaching the effects of good deeds versus bad. The ladders represented virtues such as generosity, faith, and humility, while the snakes represented vices such as lust, anger, murder, and theft. The morality lesson of the game was that a person can attain salvation (Moksha) through doing good, whereas by doing evil one will inherit rebirth to lower forms of life. The number of ladders was less than the number of snakes as a reminder that a path of good is much more difficult to tread than a path of sins.

I think we even had a copy once when I was a kid, where each of the snakes was labelled with a different one of the 7 deadly sins, and i think the ladders were labelled as various virtues.

[RedKing]

Of course, the more recent versions have been called "Chutes and Ladders". Probably got a complaint from the pro-snake crowd.

[miauw62]

Roll to Sin: The Biblical RTD?

E: Oh god spam. Spam coming from a person with the name of my father. No way to see the e-mail adress without opening it tough. Damn you gmail. Is there any risk to this?

[Reelya]

Of course, the more recent versions have been called "Chutes and Ladders". Probably got a complaint from the pro-snake crowd.

Not "more recent", just American. "Chutes and Ladders" is the Milton Bradley / Hasbro version, Snakes and Ladders couldn't be copyrighted. It's Snakes and Ladders in every other country, except Canada where the largest company making local Snakes and Ladders games went out of business, so they started importing the Hasbro one.

[miauw62]

Roll to Sin: The Biblical RTD?

E: Oh god spam. Spam coming from a person with the name of my father. No way to see the e-mail adress without opening it tough. Damn you gmail. Is there any risk to this?

Hm. Looks like it could just be coincidence. It's very possible that the website where this mail comes from has my e-mail adress. Nothing too spammy about it, except for some contests to win festival tickets and t-shirts of singers and festivals I a) Don't even know about and b) Don't give a shit about.

[RedWarrior0]

Eh, I've gotten spam from someone whose name is the same as my cousin.

[Neonivek]

So Kissinger was apperantly called a murderer or killer on the Radio.

Uhhh... Why? I don't remember him being in a possition that allowed him to kill people.

[Reelya]

He orchestrated the whole Allende thing in Chile, and was prominent in coordinating the carpet-bombing of Cambodia which destabilized the country, lead to a famine due to destruction of the agricultural base (later conveniently blamed on Pol Pot), and ultimately lead to Pol Pot's rise to power.

[Neonivek]

He orchestrated the whole Allende thing, and was prominent in coordinating the carpet-bombing of Cambodia which destabilized the country, lead to a famine due to destruction of the agricultural base (later conveniently blamed on Pol Pot), and ultimately lead to Pol Pot's rise to power.

Ahh makes sense.

[RedKing]

Yeah, Dr. K is pretty much persona non grata in a number of countries. I've met him, he's an affable enough guy, but if there's a Heaven he's going to have a lot to answer for before he can get in.

Likewise, I've met Zbignew Brezinzki (Carter's national security advisor, who pushed the idea of arming the mujhadeen in Afghanistan). Also an affable, humorous gentleman. Doesn't like to talk about what went wrong in Afghanistan. Not that I'm putting ZB in the same camp as Kissinger, but I'm just saying....there's a lot of genuinely nice, intelligent people in Washington who have nonetheless committed some terrible decisions which wound up costing a lot of lives.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

That's how it ends up, usually. Be it a government, a corporation, or any other hierarchy, the morals of the individuals within the system get overridden by the system's goals.

[PanH]

I call bullshit. This guy has clearly never played a game of monopoly. It always goes for about two hours too long, gets boring for everybody but the two people who go bankrupt very, very quickly, and then gets boring for those two people soon after, and ends in squabbling about where that extra money came from. Monopoly is a family slayer!

What ? But monopoly is a competition and the one that wins is the one that managed to grab the most 100$ (or 500) from the bank without being seen. It's to be more realistic !

[miauw62]

I call bullshit. This guy has clearly never played a game of monopoly. It always goes for about two hours too long, gets boring for everybody but the two people who go bankrupt very, very quickly, and then gets boring for those two people soon after, and ends in squabbling about where that extra money came from. Monopoly is a family slayer!

What ? But monopoly is a competition and the one that wins is the one that managed to grab the most 100$ (or 500) from the bank without being seen. It's to be more realistic !

No, no. You win monopoly if you manage to get the most expensive street.

[Sirus]

I call bullshit. This guy has clearly never played a game of monopoly. It always goes for about two hours too long, gets boring for everybody but the two people who go bankrupt very, very quickly, and then gets boring for those two people soon after, and ends in squabbling about where that extra money came from. Monopoly is a family slayer!

What ? But monopoly is a competition and the one that wins is the one that managed to grab the most 100$ (or 500) from the bank without being seen. It's to be more realistic !

No, no. You win monopoly if you manage to get the most expensive street.

Only if other people actually land on it.

[Darvi]

You win monopoly if you have a hotel, because there's actually people other than their opponents using those.