Zoraptor

Last ep of Arrow was OK (well, if you don't mind the comic book logic of sending someone who is clearly insane off to become a government weapon), but the flashbacks have been a terrible drag so far this season. No doubt they'll lead up to something, but they're so slow. Both it and to a lesser extent Flash really need more focus or at least slightly less formulaic filler- though Flash has an excuse for that since it's just starting. OTOH Walking Dead is probably having my favourite season so far.

Not really. The manufacturer says that the sight can be fitted to a T72 fine. I might feel differently if there were evidence that the Russians used that sight or something that appears very similar on their T72s but at present you have a Ukrainian sight, a T72 model that both sides have access to and ER that both sides have access to. You also have the rebels grabbing a lot of military store houses and the like. For the second picture oby is quite right, the two white lines are Ukrainian id markers, there are multiple other examples floating around to support this. They could have been painted on after the tank was knocked out or it could have been a prize (there was a claim of a prize taken in the relevant area by Ukrainian (para)militaries, unfortunately at least two tanks of that type with Ukrainian markings have been knocked out in distinctly different areas) but that's an open question at this point.

Pardon me for being unsympathetic but considering how little the final product has changed the whole thing has been massively overblown.Crowd sourced products have repeatedly done worse by their supporters and got away without even half the outrage. Rather depends on the weight you put on the various features though, doesn't it? If you have crap internet, a data cap or various other possibilities (military deployment etc) you may not have backed at all due to that 'little' change in the final product, speaking from experience it is one thing to have to download a large file on a one off basis and having to have a persistent connection as well as large download and patching. Even if you simply backed it because of offline mode on principle- dislike of DRM, wanting to be able to 'own' games- you have the right to be pissed at them altering the agreement. I find the idea that you should kowtow and be grateful for what you get, even if it isn't what you asked for, ludicrous- and they were still touting an offline mode up until a few months ago. (Heh, I get the feeling that is Empire Strikes Back were released today you'd get a horde of people saying that Vader's "I have altered the agreement, pray I do not alter it further" was perfectly justified and simply reflects changing reality and the Empire is really still awesome, after all Lando still got some of what he was promised why can't he be happy with that and he never signed a contract just had a verbal agreement on aims, it was non binding etc etc)

On the blurry image? If I'm looking for the same thing you are I'd say it is there, slightly below and to the right of the second open hatch on the turret/ slightly above and to the right of the fourth ER block, very nearly obscured by the tree branch. Unprovable short of CSI's 'enlarge and enhance' technomagic due to the low res blurriness, but it certainly looks like it to me. Don't really know about being overly selective, it cannot be proven that it isn't a Russian tank, it can only be proven that it may be of Ukrainian origin so there has to be some selectivity. It isn't like it's a Leopard/ Challenger/ Abrams v T72 question where there is totally different hardware, you have to pick on narrow sets of similarities/ differences because both sides largely use the same equipment.

Would have thought so, though Origin's utility as DRM is limited as is every client that does not require always online. While the claim that denuvo destroys SSDs is distinctly sketchy they've admitted that it degrades performance significantly, which makes it crap anyway.

Starforce did damage hardware (CD/DVD drives), it was actually provable practically as well as theoretically. Some labelled it as FUD due to Starforce's 'competition' to prove it happened (pay your own flights to Moscow where you'd have a day to prove it on their picked hardware) which unsurprisingly got no takers. OTOH the denuvo accusations appear to be pretty much entirely bollocks, like the accusations of Origin spying from a few years back. And as always it's a shame so many 'antiDRM' crusaders appear to be perfectly happy with that well known drm platform, steam.

His first post is most relevant, since it shows the Ukrainians have a sight that matches (well, as much as can be told from a low res still) the one on the tank in question.

Shifted this from the Modern War topic since it seems a better fit here. It doesn't have to be totally debunked, ie proven that it wasn't a Russian tank. That is impossible since it is proving a negative; but as with the earlier 'proof' tanks they (T64s which were mislabelled as T72s which it was claimed Ukraine had none of at all) could have come from Russia (they've retired that model, but they'll inevitably have some sitting around) that T72B also could be Russian. But, that wasn't what the article stated, it stated it as proof positive- and it clearly isn't that at all. The export designation itself is not important, it merely illustrates that the IISS 'expert' was incorrect on everything substantive since we both agree that whatever the designation they were exported; and it is pretty clear that Ukraine would have had T72Bs amongst the ~6500 mbts inherited from the SU. If wikipedia is to be trusted (heh) they had 1000+ T72s in Ukraine. Most of those would have been older models certainly, but in the convoy shown in the original youtube video the still is taken from most of the tanks are indeed older models with that still being of the single T72B. So to sum up, the tank pictured quite clearly appears to be a T72B, which were manufactured before the SU's breakup, was exported, and which Ukraine would have had some of in their 6500 (1000+ T72) inherited arsenal. The 'expert' appears to have conflated the picture of the T72B and information from the T72B2/BM in claiming that Russia was sole operator, either way he is factually wrong and as such, the claim that it proves anything is debunked. It is plausible that the tank came from Russia certainly, but it is also plausible that it came from Ukraine.

I'll reply in the Ukraine thread, since it seems more appropriate there.

I find all the "it isn't a problem for me, therefore it isn't a problem for anyone, therefore therefore anyone complaining is dishonest and everyone should have known it wouldn't be delivered despite it being part of their pitch, faq etc" comments on the E:D online thing rather... symptomatic of just how self absorbed many people are online. Doesn't matter that they were saying as late as July this year that there would be offline, everyone should have known it would really be online only etc. And really, just think if it were EA doing the bait and switch- or even not, since SimCity was announced as online only well before any preorders started. Let alone all the shonky logic, as if offline has to simulate all the same stuff online does in the same way. Fortunately I trust Braben about as far as I could throw him if I'd just had an unfortunate accident involving a steam roller and quick dry cement, so he got no money from me despite being tempted. (Still have my original Elite for the BBC model B to keep me warm at night)

Yeah, they sold the T72B under a T90 designation, not a T80. But still, they were exported. Short story, there are two types of T72 which are called the T72BM. One is a 1989 model with distinctive Kontact 5 ER (technically the T72B), the other is the T72B2 (technically; AKA T72BM, a 2006 upgraded model) which uses notably different in appearance Relikt ER. Here is a handy, and critically 2008 vintage so not subject to any influence, post which nicely illustrates the differences. The tank in the article quite clearly has the Kontakt 5 ER of the 1989 T72B variant and not the 2006 T72b2 (/BM) variant. To be scrupulously fair, I believe it is fairly easy to swap ER modules and that perhaps could have happened- but as any sort of proof positive of Russian tanks that article is well and truly debunked, even with that caveat.

Oh yeah, like that one you linked to a few months ago about a picture of a tank that was never used by anyone except Russia and was never exported. Except it was exported- under a T80 designation- and was more importantly manufactured prior to the break up of the SU- its manufacture date is carefully hidden by those sneaky Russians from those pesky IISS people as, er, part of its NATO designation- so Ukraine had plenty of them. Confirmatory stories: roflcopters. From 'experts' who don't even know the tank designations of the tank they're talking about and circle jerk repetition of each others' stories. And people will still insist it's only the Russians doing propaganda.

Technically, the SAMs (allegedly) used were ex-Soviet rather than Russian, since both Russia and Ukraine have them.

The abridged version is better, for the comment immediately after (about 2/3 of the way down, some naughty words because Mr Tait is a bit uncouth and has a slight case of potty mouth).

GOG keys have been out for ages, a week before release iirc. You just have to pick the GOG option from the drop down when redeeming a key at the ranger centre. Don't know about the the cross promo ones from the PE kickstarter and how they're done though.

Supposedly alt-155 but that produces 'ø' when tried here. And unfortunately 'my 10ø' just looks wrong.

r00fles! People have let you off too lightly, not only did he not admit to harassment, his accuser had to formally apologise. If you're going to continue making accusations under circumstances where not only has he never been found 'guilty' and the complaint withdrawn but he also got a formal apology from his accuser then one could certainly say, "you're trying way too hard with the Wardell dissing."

Not really. Paradox is on board to do certain things, primarily marketing and using their experience as a publisher/ distributor to Obsidian's advantage, and they will be getting money from the partnership. And if they don't do those jobs well then partnering with them is pointless to counter productive because they get paid for doing them, money that otherwise would have gone to Obsidian, or someone else who would have done the job well. (Far too early to tell whether they've done the job well since they are effectively just starting and have 5 (?) months to go with the marketing, I'm just glad I backed the project so none of my money goes to Paradox who I dislike intensely)

Nice to see Gorby getting some proper recognition. I'm not really the sort of person who has personal heroes, but he and Mandela probably come closest because they took circumstances that should have ended terribly and managed to end them with something approaching genuine hope, no matter how their successors may have made a mess of things. In theory. In practice, not so much. The basic (mis)assumption that both philosophies make is that people are rational actors who obey what are effectively little formulae written onto paper underpinned by what may as well be a god of societal modelling- the invisible hand of the market vs each according to their abilities, each according to their needs. Practically, neither works according to their little formulae and theories because the formulae work on the basis that 2+2=4 while people may decide that actually 2+2=5. And most evidence is that default human society was not based on capitalism and competition, but on either intra communal cooperation (small scale) to stratified dominance (large scale) neither of which are compatible with theoretic capitalism. The current model requires an extra input, technology, to function even slightly properly and still often resembles the stratified dominance of feudalism as much as actual capitalism. A Bruce thread calling out the ghost of Lord of Flies? How can it turn out anything other than well?

Yes, because Nouri al-Maliki was so desperate to have US troops stay! He was chasing after Obama on hands and knees begging rather than offering to pack their bags and see them off from the airport while bouncing up and down with anticipation! No, he wasn't. You weren't going to get troops staying because it wasn't what Maliki wanted. Both parties had to want the troops to stay and the Iraqis didn't want them, if they had they would have simply extended the old SoF. And if Obama had pushed strongly for an extension and failed it would be used as evidence of his failure (had to go on bended knee to Iraq then got rejected) and if he had accepted more restrictive conditions then he'd be criticised for that (went on bended knee and sold our guys out for Maliki/ didn't do enough/ broke his promise to withdraw).

I rested twice in the entire Dragon's Eye and twice in Severed Hand last time I played. It helps when you've played before and can remember what is coming but those two areas are not particularly hard. I do remember there was an odd bug in Severed Hand where one of the shaman type enemies cast healing spells on the party (!) which helped a bit there. Also paying attention to floaties to see where ambushes were going to occur and bottlenecking as much as possible. OTOH the Barrows in HoW with those asterisking Drowned Dead and Banshees...

George Washington fought for the British (in the 7 years war, iirc) before he turned traitor and fought for the continentals. So he was both a British soldier and their implacable foe as circumstances changed.

Not like you can't add the game to steam manually either, then it's the same to most practical purposes as the situation now, launch a launcher to launch another launcher. I am finding the butthurt generated absolutely delicious though. I may actually have to buy a Ubisoft game to compensate them for the entertainment gained. Toyota selling new cars at Ford dealerships so Ford gets 30% of Toyota's sales is the analogy I've always found illustrates why they don't want to do it.

It was also the Iraqi's decision not to renew the status of forces agreement, and the Iraqi's choice whether US troops stayed or not. If Obama tried to keep troops there- against the wishes of the Iraqi government- it could hardly be an improvement over the current situation, certainly not so as far as the US is concerned. Which really illustrates how easy it is to pot shot Obama using hindsight. It was the right decision for the US to leave Iraq and the only realistic option, indeed it was the right option not to bomb Syria. Obama just ended up looking spineless and weak for doing both things, but that was far better than the alternative 'strong, but stupid' from a McCain or Bush.

I wonder if it's to do with Valve's DLC policy that also got EA games removed. I haven't heard anything about the policy changing, and Ubisoft didn't fall foul of it as EA did since you could buy their dlc on steam as well as via uplay- though the current situation is exactly equivalent to EA, you can buy them just about anywhere DD that isn't steam (eg the Gamersgate and even Origin versions of Ubisoft games are still there, as you can buy EA games on Uplay and Gamersgate). Can only presume at this point that they have genuinely pulled them or decided that the dlc policy is just too restrictive. Avoiding the 30% cut on most sales has to be a consideration too, especially as EA's digital revenues have increased massively over the past few years despite the supposed hatred for Origin. And there are rumours of others doing much the same- WB most persistently, but also Rockstar with RSC. I'm actually a bit surprised that the latest CoD is still steamed, since I'd heard that one of Ghosts' services from the console versions got scuppered on PC due to Valve's TOS (CoD: Elite? Big IIRC on that though)