IMO the smaller the scale of the figures, the brighter the shade of the colours you should use, because it looks better on the table and the small scale alters our perception of colours so that they appear duller than they really are. Fluorescent would be too much for me though I think 
and...
(The_Real_Chris @ May 10 2007,06:06)
QUOTE
- my job depends on such suffering
-I don't care really, its just another program in a long line
-I know exactly the most effective actions to take to advocate for them. Ultimate resolution is political so I cheerfully bypass the buerocracy that says I'm not supposed to do anything and leave it to HQ and instead try and get foriegn ambassedors to put pressure on.
-National staff on all sides have varying levels of compassion and competence - all hold the refugees in some level of contempt for a variety of reasons.
-So is it wrong?
Yes, I am informed by the example of my parents who were moral Catholics dedicated to serving others. Since they were also quite pragmatic and i require some ethical structure to remain in the society I inhabit, plus my wife would box me if i got to cynical and started being mercenry, theirs is better than nowt, so I go with that.
-Do I care? No, I know what to do, do it, know my chances of success and can give you the likely scenarios 5 years from now, can tell you exactly the strategies required (fall into two camps - variety of 'get better' and 'get worse', the former leads to better conditions the latter to the closure/disbanding of the camps and they get to take their chances outside) etc.
-Sometimes I get moved, other times I'm too busy trying to figure out what angle the person in front of me is trying to push and most of the time its run of the mill human suffering which is hardly novel.
-Great eh? A sorry state of affairs to be in, but at least i am still worth my salary unlike many others in the same field.
-Would i have been one of the great philantrophists of times past who decided against the grain of society to improve the lot of their fellow man? No idea, I can see how I could have gone both ways.
Wow that was an in depth analysis! Thank you. Some interesting statements there, including the fact that you appear to attribute your sense of right and wrong to your parents and their value system, your need to have an ethical structure to be part of society... and your wife 
. Sounds very functional and pragmatic. Is this system also why sometimes you get moved , why you describe things as a sorry state of affairs, or do you think there may be something more innate about those affective judgments also?
And if you can be bothered... a follow up question that is hypothetical... on a scale of 0-5 with 5 being 'a lot' and 0 being 'none', what level of concern and personal motivation would you feel to change the situation of people trapped in a refugee camp if they were:
1. Your wife and immediate family
2. Your siblings (if you have any)
3. Your cousins
4. Distant relations you have met only a few times.
5. Distant relations you have never met.
6. Members of epicomms who have replied in this thread (we were on our way to an epic convention and got lost or something...)
(Anyone else who wants to answer it would be interesting too...).
, an on topic example of this equation in action is choice of the 300 Spartan soldiers at Thermopylae ? all were chosen because they had sons. Thus all were already reproductively successful and extremely altruistically motivated to defend that genetic inheritance despite the sacrifice involved.
