Zoraptor

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.

Hey, Wheel of Time fans! You know how Obsidian and Red Something were planning on making a WoT game? Well, I've some good news, and some bad news... (While I feel somewhat sympathetic towards anyone who expected a big RPG class announcement the lack of hype was telling given how much overt build up there was for the P(o)E kickstarter and other game announcements)

Yep, my first thought on seeing it and so much so that I really doubt it was coincidence. Apparently it was mentioned on the Talking Dead post ep show as well, but we don't get that here. And whatever else can be said about TWD it didn't duck in that episode.

The problem with Svoboda and Right Sector, from the western propaganda perspective, is exactly what Cultist said. They aren't ashamed of what they're doing, they're proud of it and believe what they're doing will help The Cause, so are happy to document and promote it. Hanging pictures of Stepan Bandera in Kiev's city hall is a godsend for Russia's propaganda every bit as much as the language law repeal was, or forcing resignations under threat of violence- something that happened extensively during the revolution and goes to show how no votes in the Rada under the current circumstances can not be taken at face value or as being free of duress. I don't have much doubt that Fatherland and UDAR would make them disappear if they could- then again, I have little doubt that larger players in most coalitions would happily make their smaller partners disappear if they could- but they are needed and would not respond well to being marginalised. As such all they can really do is try to control and channel their more... radical inclinations and pronouncements.

It's to do with how people's brains work. I have to concentrate in order to tell Robert de Niro and Al Pacino apart and their names are dissimilar in fact if not in 'style' and they don't look particularly alike. I can also only remember one out of Alan Rickman and the guy who was in Leon/ Batman (Gary Oldman, but I seriously did have to look his name up). Why? Some mental wire crossings related to them tending to take similar roles and having moderately similar style names, most likely. Memory and associations aren't really rote/ literal things like a computer hard drive with a specific location that stores "Alan_Rickman.jpg" for comparison even if they have traced the Jennifer Aniston neuron.

Meh, Paradox is about the only company in the video game sphere that I actively and virulently loathe. And a few years ago I would have thought Paradox/ Obsidian a match made in heavan. Still, so long as they have no power to backdoor in steam or turn PoE into a glorified dlc front end like their recent products (and so long as I'm not contributing even a fraction of a cent to Paradox) I don't see any reason to care overly much who does disk pressing and marketing duties whether it be Paradox, EA, 2k or whoever.

It's actually cheaper on GOG- though you have to buy it as part of a choose your own bundle with other games. The other advantage of buying E:C on GOG is that the steam version is published by bitcomposter since they were used as a short circuit to greenlight. If you buy from there you give bitcomposer money for doing literally nothing except putting their name down as publisher, if you buy from GOG the publisher is Logic Artists themselves so the bitcomposter share goes to the people who actually made the game. Mind you, if that is your primary concern you're probably not buying it for $5 anyway...

I'm inclined not to believe it in the absence of independent confirmation- it isn't like the SBU is a disinterested party. If they had proof you'd expect them to parade it in front of the world's media, not just make a release on their own website. And if Russia were to use spetsnaz to reconnoitre you'd either dress them in civvies and have no one carrying id papers or you'd have all of them carrying them. One carrying them and them wearing uniforms is a bit Scooby Doo villain for the real world; those Russians are sneaky, but not sneaky enough! they send in their elite troops but they make a mistake you wouldn't expect a conscript to make! I'd also question the necessity of it, it isn't like Russia doesn't have military satellites and drones capable of spying and they almost certainly have sympathisers inside the Ukrainian military as well. On the other hand I would be inclined to believe that the shooting incident was the result of buzzed up locals deciding to take out some long simmering resentment on symbols of the old order- because hyped up semi organised men the world over tend to do such things when given the opportunity.