Raithe

We have a knack for absorbing folks into the cultural mish-mash that is England and the UK.. After all, they lived in England, there were.. 15 kings I believe of the line. With the amount of bloodlines mixing in with the aristocracy, you don't think there's still a chunk of the family around?.. Actually I think one of the current Dukes is supposed to be descended from the Plantagenets on the wrong side of the blankets.

On the offhand side of things.. the ratings of "mentally ill people" are probably higher in America then elsewhere.. due to several important factors. Notably, they have a whole lot more shrinks at work, who "identify" these various neuroses and wotnot as mental illness. And the customer base in America is more likely to go see a shrink and get analysed and therapy... Compared to a lot of other countries.. who don't tend to try recognising personal issues as mental illness. So they don't build statistics up about them...

Well, historically speaking we did have a big claim to the north of France in the last millenia...

Ah, I think the censor has cut out a section of that url. Just look for Kuznetsov Hijacking, and recognise the Dym**** that the forums here censor.

I have to admit, I'm tempted to try getting in a quick play through of ME2 just to have another potential save game with different decisions on it... But I'll have to see how the next couple of weeks progress and how much time I have available...

The one that I'm finding a wee bit amusing is that in-game, apparently Jack Actually, has anyone figured out the time frame between ME2 - Arrival - ME3? Are we talking days, weeks, months, or a year+ ?

The islanders are about 70% decended from UK citizens, there's just over 3,000 people living on the island, and they've been firmly saying they're part of the UK for a loooong time. The oil is something that's cropped up since the 80's. In fact, Argentina suddenly withdrew from a treaty between the UK and Argentina over how the oil should be exploited a few years back. Hell, in the Argentine-inspired poll back in the 90's, around 87% of the islanders were not in favour of even any discussion with Argentina over the question of sovereignity.

The Prothean VI you talk to in ME1, actually talks about the Reapers targeting "advanced organic life" if I recall. Which, when combined with the whole.. leaving the Mass Relays around as it helps guide species into developing specific technologies..which the Reapers know how to deal with, makes more sense of the theory they only bother with species at a specific stage of evolution/advancement. And since they are supposed to be somewhat smart, I'm pretty sure they'd figure in the whole "don't eat your feed stock" concept that most competent farmers/ranchers know...

Not a movie.. but they had the final ever episode of Hustle tonight. A nicely done episode with a couple of returning faces, and a con that came down to a redone version of the Sting once more.. It's always quirky to have a show that every now and then breaks the 4th wall by having cast talk directly to the camera.

For the potential Spoiler...

If you're smuggling pot in a Cessna.. don't fly in front of Air Force One... http://www.latimes.c...7,0,82682.story

I have to admit, the recent spate of news over the Falklands is being a tad irksome. http://www.dailymail...tick-views.html http://www.huffingto..._n_1281143.html http://www.bbc.co.uk...gazine-17045169 - What are the Competing Claims? The fact that the islands have been under UK rule since before Argentina existed as a country, and the majority of the population there want to remain under UK rule.. seems to me a good reason to question why they should suddenly get turned over to another country. Sean Penn has done that wonderful thing, saying that the UK is showing old-school colonialism by keeping the islands.. I have to wonder does that mean he also thinks Hawaii should be handed off ? Or that all of his homes across America should be returned to the Native Americans who used to have possession of the land several centuries ago? Instead he's happy spouting off that "The world today is not going to tolerate any ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology," - Which pretty much seems to be what the Argentines are doing. The UK is supporting the right of the people living on the Islands to choose who they want. Maybe it's my cynical nature, but I do get the feeling that the Argentine President is using the hot button of the Falklands to help distract folks from domestic issues...

Gibbed's Save Game Editor. Doesn't have any plot flags from ME2. Looks like he quit pretty early. I can't find anything to say if the save did a romance or what happened to Collector Base. There's an updated version as well I believe, one of the other bioware community members added some functionality. Look for "modified gibbed" or some such. I'm not sure exactly how it got expanded though, or whether it just cleans up what was already there. Edit: http://social.bioware.com/project/4373/

Something from the Art of the Mass Effect Universe book - The "Reaper Destroyers" that are actually doing most of the "landing on planets" in ME3 are actually only around 160 meters tall/long. As compared to Sovereign's 2km.... So there's possibilities on just how Reapers are divided into what sort of categories/purpose, and how powerful or not. I would imagine that Sovereign might be an ultra-powerful Reaper because of the role he was supposed to play in regards to the Reaper-Plans... We don't know how Harbringer relates to Sovereign, since he was only around as a presence possessing Collectors..

The question of whether its an action movie or a romance one.. Either way, it is quite good.

And for the quirky marketing ploy...

I was given Chronicles of Riddick over Christmas, realised it was both Escape from Butcher Bay and Dark Athena. Finally got around to installing it and had a short start up of it. Butcher Bay is showing some of its age visually, but it seems interesting enough. Plus its kind of amusing to hear all the voices and try to name the actor.

Well they're still giving you points for your choices, so something must exist. Since they seem to have set it all up to the Renegade choices if you weren't importing saves in ME2, I'll guess that the "Action mode" will automatically select Renegade options when that's possible to decide how the story semi-branches...

Heh, Claudia Black is doing two seperate voices.. and they even have Natalia Cigliuti back as Morinth. So they even wrote in that part if you chose to keep her alive in ME2... And yes, Conrad Verner is back again

So pretty much every squadmate from ME1 will turn up in your squad. Surviving members of ME2 squad will turn up in the game, and - potentially - might be squadmates for one or two missions, but won't be part of the fly around the universe, live out of the ship type of squadmates. Hm,also, if you pay attention ot the comics... apparently Cerberus were able to take over Omega, so Aria is on the run. Why do I get the feeling she's going to turn up in ME3. Either as a full on squadmate, or as a special squadmate....

One of the interesting things with Europe is how a lot of the countries have a legal system based on the Napoleonic code. And the French have a habit of talking about how rigerous their standards are compared to so many other countries. However, a lot of the European countries don't actually enforce the extent of their legal code on their citizenry. Case in point, MOT's. The French love to talk about how high their standards are compared to the UK's. However, when when we stopped French Lorry Drivers and enforced our apparently "low standards of MOT" to their vehicles, a large percentage failed. Lower standards that actually get enforced, rather then high standards that aren't... It's all sorts of fun and games with any legal systems.

"Valentine's Day can be a lot like your taste in chocolate. Sometimes its soft and gooey. Othertimes its just dark and bitter..."

Eh, she's moved out, she's come back, she got engaged, she moved in with her fiance, a year later that broke up and she moved home.. she spent a year away living at a farm and working at the stables there, then came home to save money so she can get a place for herself... It's that sort of repeat. Heh, I mean, i've kind of got a good excuse for not having left home. I've been mom's primary carer for the..hm, well last decade.

And are there any comparable statistics for unsolved crimes between China and the US? Or just how many of China's judgements end in the bullet to the head that the defendants family are then charged for?

I have to admit, that's one bit that made me blink. The Normandy Mark 2 is a privately owned vessel.. so by what right do the Alliance have to strip Shephard of it and then man it with their own personnel? I mean, apparently both Joker and Doc Chakwa had resigned after Shep's "death", and - depending on how you handle it - Shep is still a Spectre after ME2... Edit: Just had my copy of the Art of the Mass Effect Universe arrive and having a flip through it.. A lot of the 1st chapter is regurgitated from the original "Art of Mass Effect" of course, but has a few new things. The 2nd chapter sketches out some nice points on why things developed in ME2.. and I'm trying to avoid reading too much of the ME3 chapter .,, Although, one thing that did jump out... Apparently the majority of Reapers we see landing on planets are actually "small reapers" who are only around 160 meters tall, as compared to Sovereign's full 2km length. Geared more for "planetary invasion" then actual space battle. So that's one reason why Shephard is likely to be able to cause damage to them without a full Armada along taking pot shots...