Bartimaeus

The "downsizing" has been misframed somewhat, here and elsewhere: nobody got laid off, people were just shifted to other projects/teams, which makes perfect sense, seeing as the game has been released and all they're going to do now is do patches and maybe some DLCs (unless the "Mass Effect put on ice" means no DLC, too, I guess).

...Avoiding impropriety? This is Trump we're talking about: I'll be surprised if he doesn't initially try one of his sons, Michael Flynn, Alex Jones, or even Putin himself.

McConnell rejecting calls for a special prosecutor because it would just "impede" the investigation. As opposed to firing the guy in charge of probably the most major one of those investigations...

I'm a zombie right now after having gotten back from a funeral and subsequently spending the rest of the day watching Stranger Things, so whoops, good call.

So basically, he's fired everyone that has investigated him - Sally Yates, Preet Bharara, and now Comey. Didn't Nixon fire the special prosecutor for his impeachment right before it happened? May it be that we are lucky enough that this is the case here.

I watched all of Stranger Things. I had virtually no interest in it to start with - not really my genre, and so it more or less happened by accident. I have pretty severe difficulties tolerating child actors... It was pretty, uh, pretty good.

MOTHER 2/EarthBound. It's pretty good. Not sure if I'd rate it that much higher than M1, though - a few innovations in the combat and encounter systems, and better characterization of your party members, but not quite as good music, I don't think. It's not often that I feel an NES game has better music than an SNES game, but while M1's music was simpler, it was simpler in a good way. M2's is like...too avant-garde for my tastes or something.

Yeah, and now he gets paid like an additional 6.5 million from the Patriots - or rather, his family does. It's quite possible that this was the reason for him doing it after all, then.

I don't feel too strongly about Bethesda as a publisher either way, actually. The "crappy" comment is from the perspective of someone who feels more strongly about it than I - I'm not that knowledgeable of their business practices*, so it's hard for me to comment. Personally, the fact that I feel that they're a pretty poor developer is actually what pushes me away from their games. I don't know too much about Prey yet, but I have very little love - none, actually - for the rest of Bethesda's games, including the recent efforts of both Arkane Studios and id Software. *...which is usually more the onus I judge publishers by, at least the more major ones.

There are a lot of arguably "really good" games out there - that's hardly a convincing point to buy a game from a crappy publisher.

I'm not much of a spring or summer guy, but it is nice to be able to go outside in a leisurely manner again. The effect will probably wear off in a couple of months after it gets hot again, though - I can't stand the heat.

Ah. I don't think I've bought or played a Bethesda game since New Vegas.

But rather, I think his point was that there's been like maybe one game in between DOOM and Prey, which would be Dishonored 2? So yeah, not much of a benchmark yet...

Nice job, .

Mine is the former Queen of Iran, Princess (of Egypt) Fawzia Fuad; Amentep's is actress Natasha Parry.

I imagine it's pretty abysmally low, which makes the admission requirements for it for higher end colleges all the more silly... Imagine if you actually had to DEMONSTRATE your 2-4 years of taking a language to get admission - that would be a much more serious requirement.

Ha! Funny how that seems to be a problem a lot of natural multi-linguists run into...don't think it's as common for people who learn languages later and in a more formal setting, but I'm sure it's not that unusual.

That's how my cat is like too, actually! It's nice in some ways - being more involved than you would normally get out a regular cat is nice - but also very annoying at times, too. He whines and cries a lot for no real reason besides that he can. Whines at doors, whines at windows, whines for water (he only drinks out of a running faucet these days...), whines to jump up on counters (...and he's getting too old to jump by himself sometimes). I think he's about 13 or 14 years old now...which I guess probably means he won't be around that much longer, sadly, especially seeing as how persistent throwing-up is usually a bad sign for longevity. That's life, though...

In regards to foreign languages, I think we, again, get back to the point of 'youth being wasted on the young' - pretty much nobody who takes foreign language in high school ever remembers virtually anything from it a few years later (unless their studies or necessity - usage - take them back in that direction, anyways). What a a silly requirement and a bit of a waste, .

Requirement for admission, my bad. A lot of "2 years of foreign language required"s and "4 years strongly suggested"s from what I was reading, .

I'm pretty sure my cat would literally die if I went on a road trip with him. He's an old geezer and throws up with the slightest amount of anxiety (...darned rescue animals), and he hates being in cars. Your cat seems pretty relaxed by comparison, .

Yeah, I'm looking it up more, and it seems like it's more of a requirement for "competitive" (i.e. generally the highest-end...or otherwise more sought-after) schools than a strict requirement of some kind. Good call.

Literally nonexistent. No joke - the only crime that happens here is from people just traveling through. So that's nice...but still, the FOOD! I have to drive like an hour away to get any decent grub! ...and I HATE driving.

It's mandatory for a 4 year college degree (in most states?) these days, I think.

I'm the opposite: my handwriting is that of a 150 year old's, but my grammar is - well, I think anyways - pretty good. Good thing I don't have to write out stuff by hand too often. It wasn't that it was too hard or anything - it's just that it always felt like a big waste of time. High school made me realize that you get some of what you put into it...and then high school was suddenly over in the blink of an eye, and then you get to college and you start your generals and realize, "Hey, wait a second, this IS a big fat waste of my time!". Until you start some of your core classes (hopefully!), anyways...