Zoraptor

I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't see it that way- he had a lot of people relying on him and most of them ended up dead- including his wife and so far as he knows his daughter. It was probably inevitable given the circumstances, but... I guess the real problem I have with the whole thing is due to it all feeling rather like a retread. Rick veers from being ruthless to being 'soft' roughly once a season, and has usually decided later on in that same season that it was a mistake and changed back. That may partly be due to all the changes in show runners they've had and the current trend towards moving closer to the comics, but it feels rather off. We've also been hit over the head somewhat with how the two extremes fail- utilitarians like Shane and Carol fail, idealists like Andrea and Herschel fail.

It's no longer April 1st here, but I expected some joke about PoE coming to tablets/ phones from ARMing the Masses. One of the founders is even an Urquhart.

For all we know at this point they do have back ups. And while there were some pretty stupid elements in how they went in it also has to be said that it was infinitely more sensible than the other group just wandering in the front door. And they cannot know that the others are already there before entering- that's knowledge only a viewer can have. Sending in one person to check it out would have been better than what they actually did, of course... I don't see what else the purpose could be. In most programmes when they are used they are meant to illustrate why a character is doing what they doing currently, by showing what has happened to them historically. That isn't really the case here since we've already seen how the prison set up worked and went wrong, and we know exactly why Rick does what he does post flashback. So in that sense the flashbacks are pointless and I'm left with is the thought that this is meant to illustrate the difference between the idealist Rick and the more pragmatist Rick, or 'Farmer Rick' and the 'Ricktator' if you prefer. It's about Carl as well but only so far as idealist Rick hopes Carl can return to be a 'normal' kid while pragmatist Rick knows he cannot. Indeed, the three 'normal' kids in the flashbacks end up dead from haemorrhagic fever, bundled into a random car boot trunk and (so far as Rick knows) zombie food, while Herschel himself ends up dead.

I was a bit disappointed by the finale- mainly by the flashback bits. I actually thought before the episode that they'd pretty much entirely avoided the (post Lost) cliche of having flashbacks as they seem to have in every second program on at the moment. I half expect them to have newsreader flashbacks on the nightly news nowadays, as it's all too often a cheap and easy way to pad out on episode. Don't think we needed to be told that Farmer Rick ended up failing whatever the intentions, we'd seen what happened half a dozen episodes ago. And the rabbit snare was a bit obvious as foreshadowing, as it had basically no purpose otherwise. But it certainly had atmosphere and a feeling of dread about it that no other program can match at the moment.

According to internal Ukrainian sources 80% of their service personnel have defected in Crimea. Not wanting to leave your family/ home holds some water, but not anywhere close to 80%- you'd expect considerably more than 20% to have no immediate family in the region at all, and the rump government in Kiev has tried repeatedly to say that they will help in relocation. Even half that- and almost certainly a quarter- would render their military effectively useless in a genuine conflict. I rather doubt that many Ukrainians worry much about whether Russia can't have good things- Russia has 4 times the GDP/c of Ukraine, one of the reasons even ethnic Ukrainians in the east and south prefer Russia is that narrow economic fact. And of course they also have to put up with the western parts expecting both economic subsidisation from the s/east and for the western parts to be able to set aside elected officials from the s/east when they don't like them and remove support for their language too. And an interesting article from Sergei Krushchev (yes, related) over at Al Jazeera. Despite the decision being his father's to attach Crimea to Ukraine and him being ethnic Ukrainian himself he is not supportive of their claim at all.

Some will fight, but going by Crimea a lot will simply defect or desert- that's the course 2/3 of the Ukrainian troops there took. The Russians would wipe the floor with whatever is left, I don't think anyone has any reservations on that count. Ukrainians already lost a heap of military hardware in Crimea as well, including something like a quarter of their combat aircraft.

Finished Fahrenheit. The control scheme and QTEs were an abomination (it is rather amusing that climbing a chain link fence is the most difficult part of the game...), and the plot drifted off on a massive tangent. Up until that point it rather reminded me of the Mac game Deja Vu I played and enjoyed as a little chap, and was far better as a police procedural adventure game than as an incoherent scifi/ fantasy/ matrix with literal wtf? moments. Still, liked it overall, it's the sort of game I don't play all that much and was good for a change.

And in other news, in a move that surprises no one Yulia Tymoshenko wants to stand for President again. Should be a good opportunity for her gas company to siphon off some of those IMF dollars given they're jacking up gas prices 50% and halving pensions. But how very fortunate that they've scheduled the election for late spring, rather than winter so the electors won't have to avoid all those frozen pensioners on their way to the ballot box. Well, Israel could hardly vote against annexations being legal. That'd be a bit too much on the nose even for politicians. But an abstention is definitively- ie by literal definition- not a yes vote. Adding in the undecideds or DNVs to the yes makes the whole idea of abstaining or not voting irrelevant. Hardly matters anyway, there's few entities as irrelevant and pointless as the UN General Assembly. It's meaningless when they condemn Russia, it's meaningless when they condemn Israel (several million times, it feels like), it's meaningless when they condemn talking in cinemas and onion flavoured ice cream.

It seems rather odd that whoever it is monkeying around with System Shock 2 and Thief on- presumably- an entirely amateur level has managed to put out something that is basically bug free (well, rocks didn't cast shadows or somesuch, for like two days) and Dark Engine is a renowned kludge while Overhaul has so many troubles with a professional team some of whom actually worked on the original titles. Modders also fixed most of the bugs left in the BGs with their extremely limited tools. As such, I don't have much sympathy for the code morass excuse. I'm sure a lot of it is undocumented and I'm sure that there are short cuts taken- but if you expect clean, well organised code all the time then you've probably just finished your comp sci degree.

That would be the same US intelligence that completely missed his plans for liberating Crimea, right? (Oh, I think it probably will happen, and soon. Can't take Crimea only, that just guarantees the western part of Ukraine shifts into ascendency permanently, the Rasputitsa are coming and while it isn't WW2 any more they're still a problem when moving an army, plus Transnistria needs a connection to Mother Russia. But I wouldn't trust US intelligence or CNN if they told me the sky was blue)

Well, there is the Eucharist. Really though, throughout Christianity's history you've had people who could morph 'turn the other cheek' into 'burn the the infidel/ heretic alive'. Converting a metaphorical consumption of Jesus into eating other people is not such a huge leap as that.

Wouldn't be surprised if Bruce likes the ending.

Yeah, not exactly a nice guy. Reckon the most significant thing in that article was confirmation that a significant majority of the Ukrainian troops in Crimea simply defected, first time I've seen that admitted anywhere even if it is buried on paragraph 4 of an article mainly about something else. From actually watching the news you got the impression that it was all heroic passive resistance against overwhelming odds- unless you actually looked at the people singing the Ukrainian national anthem and noticed only around a fifth of the people were actually singing.

I think they'll almost certainly be a very competent group who will be very good at surviving, what we've seen of them looks very efficient- but I wouldn't want them within a hundred miles of me. On the hitch hiker guy I don't have much doubt that Rick would have stopped to pick him up at the end of that episode, and they didn't actively kill him. That's one of those things the writers seem to like doing a lot, like contrasting Carol's ineffective ruthlessness with Andrea's equally ineffective lack of ruthlessness. I rather suspect that if circumstances were different Darryl and Merle would have ended up in such a group, so he has a certain base affinity for them. He could probably have escaped during that ep if he wanted to by going off hunting and dumping his stash. But it does seem very likely that there will be a choice between Rick and this new group soon, and in the end Darryl chose Rick over his own brother. Can't see that changing.

Meh, I'd put pretty much any amount of money that Darryl's new group are 'ruthless savages', for as much as that term has meaning in a post apoc setting. Having rules does not make anyone civilised or nice, they're the best candidates for killing that camp back in the Gov-centric eps and were distinctly and suspiciously interested in the 'clean women's shirt' back when they met Rick, let alone Bow Man's comments. I also thought it was pretty clear that Glenn was set up to as having- literal- tunnel vision and that it was a really stupid decision from a survivability stand point, and pretty much everyone including Glenn knew it from the outset. I do tend to agree on the other things though. CDC should ring alarms about claims of a cure, Woodbury should raise alarms about perfect communities. But I'm not hugely concerned by those sort of issues, as you can do similar to just about anything if you have the mind- the Wire is highly praised but the events at the end of S1 are utterly contrived*. OTOH, I do find it rather perplexing that Maggie seems to have basically forgotten she has a sister. *so the police have an obvious link to the Club they use for conducting business since the manager was a snitch who you'd just whacked for being a snitch. Bright idea to personally order your cousin to pick up a large shipment of drugs from said club, Avon. Not a mistake the real Avon would have made.

Nah, he's already down for voicing the protagonist.

Yep. Don't think I've seen anyone say that Russia is the victim, just that (1) they have reasons for doing what they have done and (2) pretty much everyone behaves the same way with the main difference being the way spin is applied depending on whether it's us or them doing it. To be scrupulously fair elements of (1) can sound like saying they are the victim if that is the message you want to hear instead of an explanation of why the Russians think the way they do.

Been playing Fahrenheit. While I'm enjoying it well enough overall it would be far better as a more or less straight adventure game without the interminable QTEs. And it feels ever so slightly creepy on occasion.

Until you want the patch.... Or buy any of the plethora of DLC, or play multiplayer, or ironman. And of course, even if that were actually drm free it would only be so if you bought direct from steam. Buy retail or from Gamersgate/ Amazon/ OtherDD and you have to plug a code in to activate and access the game- the exact same process to all practical concerns as if it were Securom or Tages.

Exactly what you saying exactly the same thing 2 weeks ago has to do with the part I asked you to provide a cite for, to whit... is a question I'm not sure I can be bothered asking at this point- since it's absolutely clear and explicit that numbersman is talking in the future ("will be begging the Russians") and isn't blaming the EU for the mess Ukraine is currently in. Though at this point it does rather look like someone is throwing BS assertions. In any case, if anyone was blaming europe for the economic mess that Ukraine is in they would be wrong, but same with Russia. It's a self made bed. Passive-aggressive armchair warriorism, if you please.

Nope, I'm afraid not, people are still disregarding their obvious wisdom. The french just had local body elections and they were riven with despicableness! They used transparent ballot boxes and printed more ballots than were used. Stop buying Citroen, Peugeot and Renault everyone to protest this hopelessly undemocratic travesty. New York hipsters can stop buying FIATs instead, I hear the F stands for France! Ah, I note you didn't link to anything to show your economic argument was not a strawman though, as I predicted. Nevermind. (I should ask you about your support for Israel and their unilateral annexations, colonial immigration policies and repression of the indigenous (as much as the tartars are) population in those regions, plus of course their hiding behind a single veto at the UNSC. But I really don't need another long post which is a long winded way of saying "it's different, because I say it is and because I like those doing it!")

Wasn't me, and I'd question if it was anyone at all. I presume no link will be forthcoming, indeed it sounds rather like strawmanning of what several people did say- that Europe offered a pittance bail out as part of its association agreement with big conditions (including ending gas subsidies which would completely trash anyone old and poor) while Russia offered a larger one with few conditions. And of course, the person who made it a one or other affair was a certain Ivan Juan Manuel Barrosovich, of Russia Europe. Still it is kind of ironic that the west of Ukraine wants the far more prosperous eastern part to both subsidise it financially and to not be able to retain their elected representatives if the west don't like them. Should fit in to the greater western fold swimmingly with that attitude. There was Libya of course, where the west 'interpreted' the resolution protecting civilians into regime change (again, with the most mealy mouthed and rubbish interpretations as justification, rather like claiming Kosovan independence had a UN mandate when it didn't) and not protecting civilians in, say, Bani Walid or Sirte- indeed, there were persistent accusations that the freedom loving Misratans used gas there. Nor should we forget presidential candidate Wesley Clark actually ordered an attack on Russia during the Kosovo crisis, an order that the British commander it was given to fortunately disregarded as utterly insane. Poor old Russia could not even gain much appreciation for bailing Obama out of the corner he'd boxed himself in to over the opposition's use of nerve gas in Syria. And, again, Russia disbanded the Warsaw Pact, its cold war alliance, while NATO, the west's cold war alliance is still going strong. But of course it's Russia that has the Cold War attitude... Nah. They just worked out that the west was perfectly happy to take advantage of any leeway given, when Russia was led by a drunken incompetent sot like Yeltsin or when lead by Putin. Took them a decade or so to do it, but there comes a point when assuming good faith from those who clearly don't have it means the old proverb applies "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice... I won't get fooled again" (there's no evidence that oby is russian, btw)

Wholesale scans are copyright infringement. That looks like Fair Use to me, and pictures may well not be copyright to any magazine but EA/ Bioware instead since they would have produced them.

Pretty much everything the UK answered was already told in this thread and if you look you can find a counter response to every paragraph. Yeah, typical propaganda trash from the people that brought us "WMDs from Iraq can hit London in 45 minutes!!!!!!". Better check turnitin to see if it's plagiarised from a Master's Thesis as well this time. Must be nice living in the warm acritical embrace of knowing that you're right because some chap who was once used as a toilet warmer or toast rack while a turd at Harrow writes a press release. Still, because I can... (tldr "everything the UK answered was already told in this thread and if you look you can find a counter response to every paragraph") Response: Not only did the change of government violate Ukraine’s constitution, it was not in line with internationally agreed democratic procedures and best practices. Right Sector armed forces had been in Kiev for several months, during which time they installed a pro-Europe puppet administration that voted through legislation via a parliamentary session under watch from armed, fascist gunmen, from which MPs opposed to Europe’s agenda were excluded or under threat. The legislation’s preparation – which was just 1 hour – was characterised by a complete lack of local electoral commissions, voters’ lists, and no ballot papers at all were issued - with no meaningful impartial observers. The circumstances of the legislation made it impossible for voters to express support for Ukraine's existing government – nor were there any questions on the legislation, nor was there a free public debate in Ukraine. There are credible reports of intimidation. The result is wildly out of kilter with the results of a representative opinion poll described as passably free and fair by international observers and OSCE, called a "Presidential Election" as recently as 2010, which indicated that only 47% of Ukrainian voters supported the Fatherland Party's candidate- and contrasts with the greater proportion who voted for Yanukovich as well as the 95% turnout for autonomy from Ukraine voted for by Crimea in 1991 and the parliamentary majority voting for independence in 1994. Response: Since President Yanukovych’s departure, the Ukrainian Parliament and interim government’s actions have been in violation of the Ukrainian Constitution. Numerous groups, including the United Nations, OSCE and the Ukrainian rabbinical association, have been completely fine with this and indeed insist that it isn't so despite it being a black and white issue. President Yanukovych’s own party, the Party of the Regions, supported measures implementing the interim Ukrainian government and calling for new elections while under threat from armed Right Sector militia providing security for the Rada. The single greatest destabilizing force in Ukraine right now is the Ukrainian 'government' whose first moves were naked triumphalism at having 'won'. Euromaidan was composed of a cross-spectrum of ordinary Ukrainians with a common agenda to demonstrate their opposition to losing a fair (per OSCE) election and their desire to see the majority rather than them disenfranchised in order to become Germany's toilet cleaners once Poles or Bulgarians become too expensive, and actively fascist militia, which also violated the Ukrainian constitution and laws. It was remarkably disciplined in their preparation for violence, barricade building, building occupying, body armour creating and molotov asterisktail production. They acted in a premeditated way to overthrow the elected government after failing to win the election that international observers like the OSCE described as passably free and fair. Response: Ukraine’s government tried as one of its first acts and under threat of violence to enact legislation limiting the use of the Russian language at regional level, and it took days for it to be vetoed after it sparked unrest and they realised it didn't play well with the FREEEEEDOM (otoh it played extremely well with the other freedom, Svoboda) narrative. That the theoretically majority parties who had no interest at all in repealing it and indeed had already defeated various attempts to could not block this underscores how much duress they were under from the Right Sector militia working as Rada security. Response: There was clear legal and executive authority in Ukraine. The abandonment of office accusations against President Yanukovych was 'confirmed' by a non constitutional vote in Parliament under circumstances earlier deplored in this very document as unfair (threat of violence, duress, lack of preparation etc)– a Rada which remained unchanged except for the expulsion and exclusion of non compliant members (deplored in this very document, again, when applied to Crimea) and which was elected in a free vote of the people in Ukraine then set aside when inconvenient by Europe. The interim government was approved by an overwhelming majority (not a single dissenting vote! Wow, and they question the Crimea vote's 90+%) in a vote in the Ukrainian Parliament under circumstances described as not free earlier in this document, including representatives of Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions being 'protected' by Rada's Right Sector security. Response: The situations in Crimea and Kosovo are not comparable. THEYRE NOT THEYRENOT THEYRENOT!!!!1!!!1111!!!! WE DID KOSOVO ITS OK WE DID IT SO ITS OKOKOK JUST BECAUSE IT DOESN"T SET A PRECEDENT BECAUSE> BECASE BEACUSE!!!!! YOU CANT USE OUR PREVIOS LOGIC AGAINST US THATS NOT FAIR!!!! meanie Kosovo’s eventual independence came about through a long, inclusive (Albanians and NATO), process under NATO occupation (this is, of course, bad and means the process is eeeevil if it's Russia doing it), under the auspices of a UN Security Council Resolution which did not specify independence the thing you're trying to justify you overbred Old Etonian muppet I know I've read the resolution, eventually reaching an agreed political settlement- we agreed, so by definition it was agreed! even if the other parties involved like Serbia and the Serbs in Kosovo didn't actually agree. The referendum in Crimea is attempting retrospectively to legitimise the unilateral action of one state which, as last weekend’s referendum and historical data shows, is acting in complete agreement with the wishes off the majority of the Crimean people just as much as it was in Kosovo. Of course, there isn't a single UNSC resolution supporting Kosovan independence, so it's actually exactly as legitimate in that sense. Oh, and no mention of the CoJ judgement this time? Could it be just a tad inconvenient in what it actually says? Of course, Europe’s position on Crimea does seem to be inconsistent, unsurprisingly goalposts shift when it isn't in our interests.

Yeah, I rather suspect he's of the opinion that whatever he says will be spun negatively in the west ("cat lovers disgusted at Putin's pro puppy stance") so he deliberately trolls for the visceral thrill of bunching morons panties, rather too many half smiles after saying something controversial for it to be coincidence. Indeed, one of his old advisors said that he basically does do it deliberately on Al-J.