Zoraptor

Doesn't make much difference- Clinton's 'misrecollection' was over something that happened the previous day, iirc. If you want a really extreme example 'recovered memories' may be absolutely, literally and completely impossible. Doesn't stop the person having them think that are also 100% true though.

Rationale discourse on current events and putting them in the context of comparable historical scenarios, of course. Heh, that's what I call arguments as well. If you want a purely rational reason to dislike Bethesda intensely there's the constructive bankrupting shenanigans they allegedly made against at least two studios they wanted to buy in order to recoup/ reduce development costs. Worked against Arkane, but not on Human Head. Also, the choice was not between Fallout Online and Fallout3, the contract between Beth and iply allowed for both to be made. The choice was also not between Bethesda and, er, oblivion for Fallout, when Iply licensed (originally) the rights there were multiple bidders, Bethesda was just the highest bidder.

You could say the same thing about people who say they earned a purple heart but didn't. Or people who claim on their resumes to have worked for IBM, but didn't. Both of those are far more likely to be a deliberate lie though. You're unlikely to think that you have been wounded or worked at IBM for x d/ w/ m/ y incorrectly because both of those things are 'chronic', they take a long time and have direct long term consequences, it's more akin to Williams claiming he has shrapnel scars from the RPG or claiming he was in Iraq when actually he was sitting behind a studio desk. OTOH, being in a helicopter convoy in which the first helicopter is shot at is a short, one off event with no obvious long term consquence. What Williams did is more an exaggeration than a full out fabrication, much as Clinton's was- there was the very real risk of them getting shot at and someone did get shot at, it just wasn't actually them. It is quite a small step from 'this happened to someone nearby' to 'this happened to me'.

Stewart's been on a bit of a downhill since probably 2007. Still better than most stuff on TV, but worse than it was. I do wonder who will replace him since the obvious candidates are all otherwise employed now. Williams, well who knows. My brother in law is a policeman and he's said that people quite often have absolutely honest, but absolutely incorrect, recall of events especially when they're under stress- people have a habit of putting themselves directly into the narrative, even when it's particularly stupid to do so. I'd put it in the Hillary Clinton 'landing in Sarajevo under fire' class. Both were dangerous situations in which there was a very real, if overstated, risk. Most people don't really have the opportunity to lie in that fashion precisely because they spend their time in a safe environment. As for the media overall, the big problem there is tight budgets and the tendency to just regurgitate press statements and what you're told by 'trusted' sources acritically, plus increasingly reliance on social media (ptooey*). If there's no actual journalism involved, no getting other opinions, no fact checking it simply does not matter whether it's media being deliberate mouthpieces for propaganda or hapless dupes, the end result is the same; regurgitation of PR, propaganda and a failure in the crucial role media should play in keeping politicians honest. Well, as honest as possible. Most people think the state of gaming journalism is terrible but that is where all journalism is heading because proper journalism is expensive and takes time and skill- and the time may even end up being wasted if an investigative story does not pan out. Crap journalism is cheap, you can print first and think later and it has a bigger, in some cases far bigger, audience than quality has. British tabloids are utter crap, but that doesn't stop the 'Fail and the Scum from being the two biggest sellers, indeed they are the biggest sellers precisely because they're crap clickbait equivalents. So, why do quality when rubbish is both easier/ cheaper and has better rewards? That's also extremely convenient for governments, they get their PR spin from a compliant acritical press while being able to talk about how they have freedom of the press and are subject to press oversight. Which is all most people need to nod and decide everything is fine and wow some minor reality star had a car crash when they may or may not have been txting, how very interesting. *Though it can be a good or even great source of information getting that good info from SM takes all the things that journalists no longer have, time, critical analysis etc. Far easier to just do a 'BBC trending' style lol a cat climbed a tree so funneh! or use random tweets to imply interactivity. Yeah, if I want that load of old bollocks I'd just look on twitter myself, I want informed comment not what Barry the waste technician from Eketahuna thinks about Greece's possible default and its ramifications on the world economy.

Don't know what it is about narcissists but they almost always end up sounding like they're satirising themselves. Hmm. Most SJWs end up sounding like they are satirising themselves; narcissists end up sounding like they're satirising themselves... hmm. I'm sure it's coincidence.

And of course, Brink 2 and Star Trek: Legacy HD

They should have the reputation from both Ultima Underworld and Looking Glass though- and Warren Spector for that matter. They're quite old reputations now, but very highly respected. Personally I'd have gone for a System Shock game (or 'System Shock' game, depending on how the insurance company that owns the IP feels) rather than UU since it's more suited to the sort of modular design that kickstarter's variable funding makes necessary.

Would be nice if Coke put the money that was set aside for the twitter stuff that Gawker sabotaged towards a bit of pay back. While I don't have a problem with mass email campaigns they are very easy to rationalise away if you want to- otoh a few emails from someone at Coke- or their advertising agency- with their contacts could make things very difficult for Gawker almost instantly. If they wanted to.

Seems that the rebels have closed off most of the pocket around Debaltsevo. Still (somewhat) disputed but looks like there's up to 5000 UA troops caught there.

That's been a problem with Wikipedia for ages. I tried to change the System Shock 2 page once to remove the "EA is going to make System Shock 3!" part of it since I know perfectly well that the "System Shock 3" EA was making was actually Dead Space- same genre, made by the rumoured team etc etc. Can't do it, a (at that time) 4 year old (speculation/ rumour) article from a 'reliable source' trumps anything and everything including primary sources (copyright/ USPTO) proving EA no longer had rights to the games or franchise- because the copyright and trademark databases are primary sources/ it's original research. So, until someone writes an actual citable article saying that EA is not making System Shock 3 the reference has to stay there, even eight (!) years after the original, speculative, articles were written. (Not C&VG's fault in this case though, everyone heard the rumours they reported. Just another example of how stupid wiki's blanket secondary trumps primary source idea is. And to be fair the wiki admin who reverted it certainly sounded rather embarrassed about doing it, but do it he did) Edit: and having checked they actually say in the article that EA doesn't own the IP now, having found a citable source. Somehow that still ain't enough to remove the "EA is making SS3" rubbish though.

If there's one thing I've noticed from the youtube war footage of the recent years it's that either everyone fighting is terrible or the competent ones are too busy being competent to film themselves being competent (or bring along embedded 'proper' journalists), and the tendency is to be either immensely cautious and spray your AK over some cover one handed without a hope of hitting or be utterly incautious and stroll across roads and open fields as if you're going for a walk with some occasional random, seldom properly aimed shooting thrown in to liven things up. I am reminded of something Orwell said in Homage to Catalonia, that the Spanish conscripts often seemed utterly incapable of even basic defensive measures like cover. Makes sense that those who survive for any length of time go rather to the other extreme. (Inept, not inapt. Logically it should be inapt, but it's english and our language is nothing if not random.)

I knew he was going because I read that the actor's signed up for a different programme. Since none of the regulars has left any other way since S1 that only really left one way he was going out. It was an extremely well shot and atmospheric- if pretty disposable- episode. Also trippy as anything.

It's a lot more than one of them- a certain, er, revolutionary indie dev made sockpuppet troll accounts to make GG look bad, for example- though the excuse is always the same (with minor tonal variations) when caught out. About 90% of the time 'trolling' is trolling under the standard subjective definition of people who cannot handle others having differing opinions: I post thought provoking stuff without being overly concerned if it offends or gets negative responses so as to Make Valid Points; people I disagree with are all just trolling and doing it because they're ignorant, stupid or malign.

Fargo talked about it a bit though he generally didn't volunteer information. There was a bit of a flap when he said W2 would be on Origin because people thought he would be forced at gunpoint to link all copies to Origin by EA, for example. Which would have been hilarious but didn't happen. As it was they allowed the original Wasteland to go for free to all backers, so who knows, maybe they'll give a free UU to all backers here. Don't hold your breath though.

The claim was made that they are military passports rather than actual passports- though a cursory exam suggests only one of them actually is so with the rest being old/ new versions of the actual Russian passport. Presenting them is pure theatre and means nothing practical, the Ukrainians claim to have captured more FSB/ SVR agents (carrying their ID cards and passports, as all intelligence agents do...) than that. Though since Russia has conscription it matters a lot less whether there are Russians there as volunteers/ mercenaries since they're all trained, that's why having regular forces on the ground would be largely unnecessary. Giving the rebels ammo at least is a given though.

"No." Yes! It's called 'Underworld Ascendant', there is no "Ultima" and hence no trademark infringement EA as EA does not own the rights to the word 'Underworld'. The thread title is somewhat misleading since it is not an official sequel.

Yeah, I've disagreed with Hurlshot on some things but I have no doubt at all that the disagreements were over honestly held views that were expressed, for want of a better term, honourably. I have no doubt that this is the case here as well.

I thought the reformed troll aspect was interesting. Granted it could be entirely made up, but the idea that there was a rock bottom where said troll realized they had a problem presents an interesting parallel to other kinds of abuse. My main problem with that article is that it's an article from The Grauniad. I don't have any trust that it (the end, mainly) is something that actually happened as opposed to something the writer wanted to happen to make a point. It is exactly the sort of 'progressive' story The Gaurdian is renowned for and reflects its editorial position; it is the equivalent of getting a 'typical immigrant' story from the Daily Mail or a 'typical leftist' story from the Daily Telegraph. It is stereotypically Guardian, almost to the point of parody and plain doesn't ring true to me at all. To be clear, I'd certainly believe that the impersonation part of it happened, it's the moral ending that I doubt as it's a(n unironic) Stan Marsh monologue over the last twenty seconds of a South Park episode story type ending and is a bit too convenient, right down to mentioning her 'article in Jezebel'. (I suspect most trolls do grow out of 'career trolling', I just think that the vast majority either try to forget they did it at all or don't feel ashamed but simply move on to other interests. The sort of person who has sufficient self awareness and empathy to apologise would be very unlikely to do it in the first place precisely because they have self awareness and empathy)

It certainly isn't in the classic sense. Which has some disadvantages but a whole lot of very real advantages. The big contrast for GG would be with the 'Occupy' movement- which failed when it tried to become a classic movement. GG is near completely decentralised and its supporters have a wide range of views, often mutually incompatible but by and large people have been able to express their opinions without infighting because there isn't a real hierarchy and you don't have (inevitably self appointed) leaders saying something others vehemently disagree with as if they're speaking for everyone and thus driving people away, you just have individuals disagreeing; and you also don't have obvious points of attack since there's no one to discredit and take the 'movement' down by association. In essence it's like putting Muhammad Ali (because let's face it, SJWs are generally very good at what they do and have won far more often than they've lost) in the ring to fight someone made of smoke, all he can really do is become the subject of a rope-a-dope. That also makes it very hard for GG to win in a classic sense, but it makes it next to impossible to lose- and in a 'fight' like this in a very real sense a failure to lose is winning.

Not very believable. Can't see the Syrians wanting non WP/ soviet standards like 7.62 NATO or 338 rifles much for logistical and supply reasons, and Ukraine (or Russia/ Iran for that matter) should have plenty of alternatives to sell. Also written in english on official letter head and using inconsistent calibre notations? Yep, needs far more than just a random jpg for evidence.

US equivalent of 'troll army', Brits are going to have 2000 army personnel working on propaganda full time. And Israel at least has the same thing. On a $ per haemorrhoid generated basis the Russian troll army is certainly most cost effective though.

Oh, I have no doubt the Russians were primarily trolling (though no doubt they'd see it as point making) and I'm perfectly aware that each side can flatten the other pretty quick. But it's the equivalent of 8chan trolling 4chan, it's all in the game and they ain't no poor innocent shrinking violets who just blundered into the geopolitical equivalent of Compton. The US/ west frequently decides to send fleets or planes places to 'make a point'- though, no doubt, the people they make said point to see it as trolling. If we're going to play whose brinkmanship is more stupid then an intruder run is still just an intruder run, even if done for moronic lulz- but I think something like launching cruise missiles at the embassy of a nuclear armed country trumps that comprehensively in terms of potential for unpleasant consequences, as does that abject moron Wesley Clark ordering British troops to attack Russians troops at Pristina airport in a fit of pique. Ain't no shrinking violets.

To be honest I've always found it rather odd that the term for a lesser accident is 'bent spear'. A broken arrow isn't really a big deal since your bow is still fine and you probably have lots of other arrows and can recycle the fletching and arrowhead- but with a bent spear you're a lot less likely to be carrying spares and the consequences are likely to be a lot more serious. Should really be the other way around.

42 broken arrows to 1982, from a non wikipedia book source I had handy. Difference being this is through among the world's busiest airspace, not responding to civilian ATC, transponders off so they wouldn't have shown up on TCAS, with aircraft probably equipped with nuclear warheads, flown by pilots and aircrew who meet the bare minimum flight hours to qualified aviators, and the airframes not being the most well-maintained in the world. A recipe for a disaster with casualties potentially in the thousands. I'd be interested to know if any of the US/ West's equivalent flights have transponders on since that rather defeats the purpose of them- certainly in the 2001 incident the claim was that they should be visible on radar 'because of all their dishes and antennae', not because they had their transponder on. Cannot say I'm particularly impressed by the rest as setting a case for Russian behaviour being exceptional either. At least two 'western' fighters have crashed recently due to mechanical issues (albeit the Jordanian one may actually have been shot down but the official story is mechanical trouble) and anything involving nukes has a potential for casualties in the thousands. Mainly though, suggesting that someone else shouldn't do what we do because, basically, they cannot be trusted and their equipment is crap is not going to be taken very seriously by them and may actually encourage more incidents.

Collisions do happen, certainly. Meh, it's all just one of those things where if it's the Russians doing stuff it is "grossly irresponsible aggression!" but if we do it it's "legitimate flights in international airspace being harassed!".