Raithe

Finding myself a little bit discombobulated and semi-anti-social this weekend for no particular reason that I can figure.

See, I could see myself developing a bunch of those patch designs for a geeky joke and that no-one really pays that much attention to the NRO.. So I can quite easily understand some amused geek throwing these things together as an in-joke, without thinking that people are really going to take much notice.

I've noticed the same thing. To paste anything in you have to switch the BBCode Mode. Which is a bit of a pain.

Escape Plan Sylvester Stallone's structural security specialist makes a living being inserted into maximum security prisons and then escaping from them to find the flaws and how to deal with them. Then he gets hired to test a black site prison that turns out to have been built according to all of his notes and promptly gets deep sixed there when it turns out to be a setup by some people who don't want him around. He makes friends with Schwarzenegger's fixer character, and suffers the watchful eyes of Jim Caviezel's ruthless Warden and Vinny Jones sadistic guard, along with brief moments with the burnt out doctor played by Sam Neil. Basically an excuse to have Sly and Arnie do a partner up as they figure out how to escape and get payback. They don't push the action, trying to make it more tension and thriller style. It's got good chemistry between the cast, the plot holds together without too much silliness, and even the bad guys don't go over the top campy style like so many can.

I'm not going to explain that one. Seriously. Hey, some news just should have a bit longer for the general taking a moment.. that's all.

That quote would look better.. if it actually had a picture of Mandela.

Actually, I think that's the only FF game I've ever actually played through from beginning to end.

Well I'd really llike for this patch of non-health to cLear up. Spent the night with a stomachache, Awake, kind of haZed into sleep as dawn hit. Been half waking up and fading out with a headache and just realised it turned 2pm

Yup. The first Fallout3 DLC retconned the ending of FE3 so you survived. It also changed it so if you re-played the game from the start, there were options so you wouldn't die.

Heh, did you ever see that quote from Kalishnikov over how he regrets having inveted the AK? After all these years he'd have preferred to have invented something "truly helpful, like a lawnmower."

Heh. That's the trouble I had. I had a knack for producing decent passing grades without ever needing to develop those habits. When I hit university and actually needed those skills and habits, I didn't have a clue. "What do you mean I can't just attend, listen, skim through a book and produce the work?? What are these things called "notes"? What's a...'study plan'?"

Well, from all accounts, he started as a cup-bearer (pouring the wine) and usurped the local King. Got power, stormed around in rather good form and beating all enemies. Then , in the nature of things, suffered the odd rebellion. Which he put down, quite firmly. He had to deal with a bunch when he was getting on, everybody assuming the old man was slowing down. Since those texts were written by the Babylonians a few centuries after he'd kicked the crap out of their ancestors I don't think they were particularly aiming at total praiseworthy. Thus the whole "he was a git who offended our god Marduk and THAT's why they suffered a few years famine." And yup, definite arse. The type of guy who wouldn't only break down your walls, but then capture your leader, put him on a choke chain and collar and leash you to the gates as he marched his army in. Just to make a point. So, the first great Imperial Arse.

Well, we've been focusing on the fairly recent.. So how about we skip back to the times when the Great Commanders, were invariably also the Great Rulers of the time? I give you... Sargon of Akkad Generally thought to be THE first great Empire Builder of recorded history (We're talking around 2300-2200 BC sort of times here). Started out as a servant to the King of Kish (cuniform suggests he was the cupbearer), and ended up with his own state around the city of Agade. Thought to have conquered all of Southern Mesopotamia and well into Persia and parts of the Lebanon. He established a multi-ethnic, multi-region Empire that his successors managed to keep running for about 200 years after his death. According to Babylonian texts:

How about Wendell Fertig? An interesting case, where a guy who was a civil engineer in the Phillipines got a direct commission to become an Army captain as WW2 broke out, rapidly promoted up (fuzzy records, some say just to a major, other to a full Colonel). But he gets up to the general thing... because when the Japanese took over, he started organising the resistance and guerrillas in the area. Due to the local psychology and the importance of stature and the whole cult of personality importance of the locals, he ended up being referred to as a "Brigadier General" by everyone. For most of it, the American's refused to believe in his existence at first, then when they did, a lot of the leading command officers wouldn't authorise support because "if American troops could be defeated so easily, some scrabble irregulars would have no chance" and it would be a waste. However, under Fertig's leadership the locals absorbed other guerrilla groups and harassed the Japanese over the continuing atrocities they committed. By the time MacArthur actually landed, he was greeted by a force of over thirty thousand Filipines under arms and a complete marching band.

Granted I don't know many, but I've met a few of those brides when working with my mother. When I was cleaning the bookshelves at one place and told her why she looked absolutely perplexed. "Shelves get dusty...?" Well if you cover them with books, they don't. :D Or try to get air flowing across them, but really no one tries to manage airflow to that degree in one's home. I'm confused. Why are we debating covering Russian single mothers with books? Because the hot librarian appeals to everyone, add in a foreign accent and it's all about the smart, pretty girls with imagination who read...?

Heh. That reminds me of a quote. "Of course you're hot. You're a 19 year old girl. You're SUPPOSED to be hot. When you're 40 and still able to say you're hot, then come back to me and I'll be impressed."

I made a basic mistake at first thinking you simply changed the equipment. I didn't notice that each and every piece of gear has it's own "skill tree" on the right hand side of the screen when you select it under components. So the first rank costs 1,000 ship requisition, the next rank 2,500 and so on. around the 4th-6th ranks you have to make choices between X or Y improvement.

It depends on what you're looking for. It's got that Uncharted/Far Cry 3 style of run around, a little bit of exploration, a bit of hunter gathering, get xp from killing things, improve weapons, improve skills, loose plotline holding it together. It does have a few semi torture-porn moments, and a couple of annoying QTE's, but I found it mostly entertaining for that. If you were expecting Tomb Robbing, it doesn't really do that. But then, it's basically a prequel for how she became the hard bitten killing machine with an interest in weird archaeology.

Not for the computer game playing, but just for the cool robot side of things.. moss-the-dynamic-robot-construction-kit

Wait until you start recognising the same voice speaking for a dozen characters...

I think it could become an issue. The rewards you get for it (so far that I've seen) basically give you "ship money" that can only be used to improve the equipment on the various starships you can use, that and improve your "abilities" with them during those starship games. So someone who's done a bunch of them will be able to have lasers that do more damage, recharge faster and can hit you from a longer distance, while not having to wait as long as you for other abilities to recharge. Depending on what positions you assign various crew to, you get a couple of options of special abilities.. ranging from increased hit/critical chance to reducing an enemies recharge rates on their shields/weapons etc.

You realise you've set this up for Wals to take by storm?

It's hovering at around £26 here in the UK. So with Christmas shopping to be done, I'm trying to avoid taking the plunge just yet... Temptation and all that still.

To be fair, the main writer of Far Cry 3 keeps trying to say that. The problem being that none of the people who played the game saw that is the fault of game players not being deep or aware enough to see that. Take sharp note that the island is "Rook Island" which obviously points out the nature of being a game-piece on a board, or the target in a con. Seriously. The writer is all over the place when he tries explaining what he tried to do with Far Cry 3.

Engineering principles at work again.. Hoverbike - The Twin Rotor bmw Boxer powered Flying Motorcycle Hover-Bike.Com