Raithe

A fairly in-depth run through and show of the nemesis system... http://youtu.be/FzjQmbHWUCY

And in somewhat similar vein... io9 - China is Mass Producing Islands

That background piece to while away as reading is done.. http://youtu.be/lUys-8edi20

io9 - Russia Building a Star Fort on a Strategic Arctic Island

There's always room to be shaken and not stirred. I got home from a meal that was partially networking with business associates of a friend. Pleasant thai food and beer. Then I saw on the internet that Keannu Reeve's is turning 50. Damn. That makes me feel old.

heh, that's a point a former Ranger discussed with me. You have the Hollywood view of Special Forces / Survivalist type guys being the Woldan-esque big, beefy, defined and bulky muscle toned types... When they actually tend to fail out of the qualifications. Those body types tend to require a lot of calories and resources to keep going strong, so put them in a position of day after day effort with minimal resources and they tend to drain and fade out quicker then the lean, resilient, wiry types. So you'd have to balance out Woldan's skills and attitudes for survival, against whether you want to get between him and that last tin of food you might be sharing..

What was that old hoary story about someone asking a Polish guy if they thought of the Russians as friends or family... He turned around in amazement and said "Family of course!" then after a moment added "I get to CHOOSE my friends."

Is that along the old lines of the "a secretary isn't part of the office till they've been screwed on the desk?"

Interesting! What kind of surgery was it? Well, due to a previous surgery, she has a chiari malformation - which means her brain suffers downward displacement and pushes it against the spinal cord. Which has resulted in a case of syringomyelia, where a cyst forms within the spinal cord which duly cuts off sensation in the extremities, loss of motor control while increasing levels of pain. So they're having to basically cut a piece of her skull out, sever that nice braid of muscle that protects the spine, get in, figure out a way to keep the brain elevated, drain/remove the cyst, re-sew the muscle back together and mutter their black magic arts over it all while hoping that no infection sets in. None of which actually guarantees regaining any lost sensory/movement abilities. There's a fun range of what percentages can be recovered. The main key is preventing it from getting worse. Of course, her neurologist was pissed that the ER doctors she's been going in to see over the last year for chronic migraines and pain had not picked up on it and just kept giving her pain management drugs. If it had been noticed at any point, it wouldn't have waited until she was having trouble holding things before they figured it out.

http://youtu.be/YoB8t0B4jx4

One of my friends had brain surgery yesterday, so there's been the keeping track of her sister to get news and updates on how that's been going. No obvious complications, but they're keeping her in the ICU for the moment and making sure no infections set in. So we'll have to see how that goes. It'll be kind of interesting, because it's about a 6-8 week recovery time, and they're the ones who invited me over to the US for my trip in.. 8 weeks. On the other side of it, the weather has turned weirdly muggy here, which is annoyingly sapping. Also, the dog has figured out that if she does the "poke-poke-jiggy-*dance-of-about-to-pee-the-carpet" people will pay attention to her more and get up from whatever they're doing to let her out, only to find she doesn't want to go out. Now it's that battle of starting to ignore her, and finding the one time she actually was about to pee the carpet..

Okay then, if we're sliding into the downturn of the week, shall we ponder on...

And I don't think he had this quite in mind for the Ad campaign.. Lesson Learnt - Never put the all important "F" on the door....

From the Skeptics Guide to...

Eh, I have to admit, I picked up my homes, but I haven't been that impressed by the decorating side of it. It does mostly seem to be a sink for time and money, and I'm not sure it really grips me enough to spend time doing so.

I have to ponder on Dragon Age 2, just what reason anyone might have for choosing to support the Templars at the end? Other than just because they feel like being a bit of a bastard? Either you're a mage yourself, or your sister is, and the Templars have basically said they're going to kill everyone for a crime that was committed by one person, who was stood in front of them. It's kind of like "Okay, so you want to kill everyone who you know wasn't involved, and either me or my sister along with it? Yeah, I'll support you. Of course I will." Okay, technically, it's possible your sibling won't be along, but still...

Heh, and they've just released the "Official Event Video" of that Tough Mudder weekend, so for general amusement for those interested.. http://youtu.be/o-OpAY1BfPw Yes, I will be milking this, and for surviving that for years to come. http://youtu.be/OYTjWFmzB0o

A nice little brief wander into the Constitution and other areas... http://youtu.be/wGp94ediJAA

Still idling along on some more Dragon Age 2. I don't know if it's just because it's been so long since I first played it, or if I'm more forgiving now, but the re-use of maps isn't bothering me as much as it did when I first played it back when...

From the Deadpool vs Comic-Con...

Hm, in which case, maybe I should delve again .. And then wrap off with..

So to help distract from the hacked thread.. how about.. Hmm, lets see ..