Raithe

On the semi-related note (and yes, I know it's from a Guardian news article so pinch of salt and all..) Corporate Executives test the same as commited Psychopaths

This is one of those mornings I'm really getting annoyed with my sister. More and more she's running late to get into work, which means she's just grabbing time to feed the dogs and stopped taking them out for morning walks or even just a quick run around the garden. Which means the alsatian is even more hyper, so I can't get a morning cup of tea without having to deal with him. I've lost an hour or so so far with various things with him. It's not fair to the puppy to ignore him or shut him up just so i can get on with work an assorted chores, especially if she's not walking him as much. Trying to find that balance of keeping him occupied/un-bored/somewhat tired while still managing to get moments for myself to work and relax..

So to follow with a more recognisable pop-culture reference...

Not a Doctor Who fan then...

Oy vey. Part of me thinks this has to be a joke. Part of me wouldn't be surprised if it is true. Armed Robbers steal Copies of COD Modern Warfare 3

So an old friend of the family turned up to surprise visit us. Which highlighted the fact we don't get enough visitors, so the puppy goes nuts and won't shut up, which makes the spaniel get overexcited and she joins in. Maybe I should start asking people to turn up randomly just to get him used to strangers coming through the door and into the house. When I manage to get them somewhat settled and away from the guest, I then find that at some point in the day the pup had dug a rather impressive hole in the middle of the lawn.

If Game of Thrones was an old school crpg... And yes, potential spoilers for those who haven't read the books or seen the tv show yet...

Just have to remember Wheaton's Law - "Don't be a ****"

Urf. Had something like 3 or 4 hours sleep with assorted wakings up through the early hours of the morning. It's kind of grim and overcaste, I've got one of those headaches sliding a spike in, kind of really wish I didn't have to get up when the alarm went this morning... and the puppy just spent five minutes honking a rubber chicken near my ear. So I've distracted him with a rawhide chew, that gives me some momentary peace while I juggle ideas around for a report addendum. Hm, and i've got an opticians appointement later this afternoon. Have to remember that.

Feeling the urge to hunt someone down and kill them.. so I'm reinstalling Hitman Bloodmoney and while away an hour or three on that this evening as life allows..

Small fireworks celebration with friends. Found out one of them had proposed to his gf. And made the local news doing so, or at least, BBC solent radio. Apparently a proposal whilst dressed as a bear (for camouflage so she didn't see him coming) and with a 60+ choir scattered around the crowd outside the university library, waiting to burst into song, class as local interest...

Eh, had my sister throw a bit of a hissy because her car battery is flat and she's got a bunch of things to do. She has this habit of jumping on you as you step in the door , insisting you help because she has to be somewhere at x time, then if you help her, she just idles along then ends up leaving late anyway because she's juggling other things. So been trying to keep uninvolved in all that. Killing my time on this grey and windy 5th of November afternoon poking around at various sci-fi rpgs, and constructing a history and galactic map - a little bit of mental exercise, throwing in the mix of hard science and space opera, tannhauser discontinuities for fixed "gate" jumps - each discontinuity linked to another, allowing two way travel between - different systems having a different number of said discontinuities - thereby forming colonisation patterns. So different groups might be astronomically close and mixed up, but if they don't share the "gates", they'll never meet. Heh, not sure why I got wrapped up in that.. something caught my mind on one small thing, and then it just..opened up as I poked at it and I've ended up producing that all half-sketched out with assorted notes to go with it.. Maybe I should worry that I ended up checking the astronomy of it all of star types, planetary conditions and wotnot to go with it...

Quote for the day: "If you identified with the kids from The Breakfast Club when it came out, you're now much closer to the age of Principal Vernon." And to add further insult to the aged.. "Karate Kid's Ralph Macchio has turned 50 today."

People seem to be hitting between 5 and 10 hours on the dlc...

The internet weighs as much as a strawberry

I haven't got anything new to play, but I'm pondering on re-installing Hitman Bloodmoney to see if I can still achieve all those Silent Assassin ratings...

Tried working my way through one of those "10 minute yoga tone up" routines. And surprisingly my spine is actually feeling rather untensed now.

Official Xbox Magazine - Saints Row the Third Review

They tend to pull the "ridiculous" levels for the stupid-fun. I mean, look at the Professor Genki tv show that's set in Saints Row.

I'm not saying that Byzantine = Force worship or the Sith Empire. I'm not saying that she probably cut and pasted. And I'm not saying those elements were problems, or that they were unique to the Byzantine Empire. What I am saying is that someone who has studied the Byzantine Empire in the detail to successfully get their Masters in relation to that subject, should have a damn good background for understanding political chicanery and underhanded methods of manipulation. Which makes applying elements related to such into a fictional story much more likely to be interesting/realistic then someone who has absolutely no knowledge of those matters. If her background had been Engineering, or Romantic Poetry of the 1800's, I don't think anyone would really expect those to influence her writing a story for a class that is meant to be smart, sneaky, underhanded and involved in the political maneuverings. But Byzantine History, that has a lot of elements that could be used as inspiration. The Byzantine Empire did all of that in such a matter then even a millenia on , we still recognise the word Byzantine to mean sneaky, underhanded, twisty and complicated. (Okay, at least we do if we speak English, I have no idea if it's carried across like that in other languages) That does sound like a pretty good attitude to have for Sith Inquisitors.

Yes, but not all that many empires actually brought their name to be the common reference for sneaky, intricate, complicated maneuverings - ie; Byzantine

The Byzantines had a mass of political maneuverings, infighting, backstabbing and general fun and games going on. The Imperial Court, the Bureaucracy, the Nobility, the Soldiers, and that's only keeping to what was happening within the Empire. Take in the efforts of the Persians as neighbours... They also had the cold war and on/off border skirmishes and outright short wars over a few centuries. Something that the Sith Inquisitor should have a good handle on. So therefore, someone with knowledge of how that sort of stuff actually happens.. is more likely to produce an interesting setup then someone who has no clue at all.

Pimps and Gimps - Saints Row Burt -****ing- Reynolds? Now that just adds to the win factor.