BruceVC

<joke> Nah, they're not going to make a single clone of Shepard. They're going to make *2* clones of Shepard, one for you to play and one for you to romance. </joke> Seriously though, I liked the series (admittedly decreasingly during each installment) so I'm curious - if they can recapture the best parts of the series for a full game, then the game will be worth playing. I'm very excited about ME4,...... lets be honest Amentep whats better than killing alien scum and Romance in space

Says the guy sitting nicely in his safe, prosperous and comfortable first world country

Referendum also has lot of to do with that Greeks (as society) don't like cuts in their standard of living and their government asked of them do they want make those cuts or do they trust them in their claim that other euro countries will give them more money if they say no for the cuts. Which as seen by many (even by quite lot of euro area's political leaders) that Greece try to vote that other countries should pay their bills, which has seen as anti-freedom and anti-self-rule thing to do. No Elerond...haven't you heard? A Democracy is where you get to vote if you don't want to pay off your loans and then if you do vote this then the people who lent you the money must just adsorb your debt... That's a Democracy because " people voted for this " and if you don't agree with this you are opposed to freedom and self-rule

Yes because destroying the economy and causing citizens to suffer because you accepted terms to impose austerity on an already depressed economy so you can get a loan you couldn't pay back is a very responsible thing to do. The former finance minister spoke of three ways Greece could pay off its debt in a sustainable manner in the video Messhugger linked, if you don't think he's right feel free to argue why he's wrong. But it's good to know you think democracy is bad when people don't vote how you want them to. Yes, Germany has really been ****ing things up the last few years. Anyways the referendum has plenty to do with self-rule which is a key component of freedom. Which given the posts the last few pages is what people are talking about ITT. Ah yes the famous and fallacious " its Germany's fault and the Troika for insisting on terms and austerity " Yet as usual this argument overlooks the obvious, why did the the Greek government need the initial loans? Because the government was about to go bankrupt...so once you again you cannot avoid the whole mismanagement of state institutions and finances by the previous Greek government Nice perspective KP, lets attack the Germans for having a strong and growing economy and believing that for the EU to succeed its member states have to adhere to certain rules and regulations. And lets also blame them for supporting austerity when needed

I've found that it's harder to take sides if you stop treating countries as individuals and applying the same logic. "Greece" cannot renege on or pay its debts because it's an abstract entity, not a person, and it cannot act or make decisions. And once you begin digging into what is owed, to whom, why, and under what circumstances were those debts contracted, the issue becomes very muddled. Hell, even considering "Greeks" as a whole is silly, because you are lumping together an unskilled burger flipper that puts in 60 hours a week in two jobs for a pittance, an old lady that has to make do with a 400€ pension, and Papandreou. Should the debt be repaid in full? Does it matter? It's all make-believe anyway... that's the real issue IMO. Bottom line - Greece, the country, made up of voters and politicians, happily accepted truckloads of EU cash from Northern Europe. They squandered it. They don't want to pay it back. As there is no shared European demos, not unnaturally the creditors are pissed off. Why are so many people on this thread battling to grasp or accept such simple and irrefutable truths about this Greek crisis...it truly stupefies me

Well if freedom and self-rule means you destroy your economy and cause your citizens to suffer, due to malfeasance and corruption, for years if not decades under economic hardship then I am opposed it ...you right KP But we both know its more complicated than that since the root causes of this Greek crisis have nothing to do with freedom but more to do with mismanagement, intransigence and demagoguery

There seems to be a lot of tension in this thread and I can guarantee you I know the reason. Very few of you have accepted and embraced Bioware Romance like us Promancers have If you did that I'm sure you will find yourselves more content with life and just a lot less grumpy

we watched the women's world cup and were incredible disappointed. based on our limited viewing o' japanese anime, we expected the USA team to be a bunch o' racist amazons with enormous b00bs who would insult the plucky japanese players by calling 'em "monkeys" and then cheat horribly. the japanese team, by comparison, would do their best and through the power o' friendship they would create a world where nobody would have to cry. the event did not unfold at all the way we expected. even worse, the japanese girls were not particular attractive, and none o' them had bunny or cat ears. no maid outfits neither... and we didn't see one freaking robot on the japanese team. am so disillusioned. HA! Good Fun!

Okay I'm impressed....I assume you mean "steak tartar " ....most people won't touch it because its " raw meat...waaaaaaaaaaaaaah " Its incredible ....truly delectable. And you can have so many things that you can add to it like capers or a tot of cognac. I always have the raw egg and parsley among my base ingredients

Well, I suppose one's perspective on the likelihood of that occurrence hinges on to the extent to which one believes the EU decision making process to be subservient to financial interests. We'll have to wait and see. Also, pretty funny to see Bruce defend "democracy" right up to the point where it is put into practice (cf. Crimea, Greece). Then it's all propaganda, manipulation, etc. Or, should I say, it would be funny if people recognized him for the poe that he is. No 2133, you are mistaking my criticism of Crimea and this Greek crisis with me someone contradicting the values of a Democracy Crimea was/is a legitimate part of Ukraine so even though the citizens of Crimea wanted to join Russia thats just not the way the world works. There are legal and political realities where citizens of a region just can't have there own state or just breakaway and join another. Its not just the fact the Crimean referendum was a farce, its the fact the Ukraine government (you know the people who actually govern Ukraine ) have no desire to give Crimea to Russia. How do you feel about the Basque separatists getting there own nation in Northern Spain, I assume you are supportive of there objectives ? And Greece..no idea why you think I am criticizing there NO decision based on the principles of Democracy. I know this was a Democratic vote, that's obvious. But it was an egregious mistake because I fail to see how this decision is going to get more funding from the European Troika or somehow get the current Greek government to implement the necessary austerity measures needed that will start there economy moving forward

Why have you stopped training?

He did say that actions of Greece's debtors are terrorism, so I would guess that he would not get most warmest welcome in meetings with other eurozone's finance ministers. Meaning that if Greece hopes to have any change in any negotiations with their debtors he probably should not be part of those negotiations. Yeah I have heard that argument, hopefully that is exactly the reason and outcome But the issue is he represented a certain symbolism around the Greek defiance. Many Greeks really liked him and believed what he said Now the rhetoric is over and the NO vote has won he resigns...what does that say about the veracity and credibility of the NO argument ? Surly for the all the millions of Greeks who stood by his views he needs to continue to represent the NO perspective and ideological stance ? That is something that only Greeks themselves can give answer. I think the vast majority of Greeks have been mislead and manipulated by the current Greek government and they will now face dire consequences. And trust me for those that think " it can't get worse " ....it can get worse. I live in Africa and I can give you many examples of just how bad it can get dire how? its not like there's anything left to lose, the previous government has seen to that At the moment the Greeks need additional loans to keep the Greeks bank sustainable and viable and for government to pay its pubic sector debt So without those loans these institutions will collapse, its inevitable So right now the Greek banks are allowing 60 Euro/day withdrawal...but what if there was NO money in the Greek banking system and they can't pay the salaries of the bloated public sector? You do realize how bad that would be, it would be similar to certain African countries where the public sector is basically dysfunctional and is unable to meet its service delivery agreements to the public

No doubt, Russian prisons are hardcore How many Russian inmates have there PS3 requests taken seriously, recognized and a valid complaint ?Somehow I don't think many .... I doubt the majority of South African prisons even have PS3 facilities

I'm not engaging in this debate because I want to prove the " supremacy of Western ideology ". We need to take the emotion out this debate and look at the facts I am absolutely critical of the way the Tsipras government has consistently handled the negotiations and led the country to the NO vote So people like Varoufakis have for ages been making all these arguments about how the loans are unacceptable and he was been very skillful at grandstanding and anti- EU rhetoric And his views helped shape the NO vote. And now that they have won he quits So for me it demonstrates a simple truth, Tsipras didn't really believe all the anti-EU views. They just wanted to win the NO vote which they feel gives them some credibility around asking for changes to the agreed on austerity and loan agreements Yet how much support would he have received if it had become common knowledge that Varoufakis would have resigned if the NO vote had won? I don't remember seeing a single link that this was the strategy. So I see this whole thing as disingenuous because it now appears what Tsipras was really saying is " down with the Germans, IMF and ECB....but we don't really mean this because once we win the NO vote we are going to position a softer argument and use less vitriol " ......the inconsistency boggles my mind

He did say that actions of Greece's debtors are terrorism, so I would guess that he would not get most warmest welcome in meetings with other eurozone's finance ministers. Meaning that if Greece hopes to have any change in any negotiations with their debtors he probably should not be part of those negotiations. Yeah I have heard that argument, hopefully that is exactly the reason and outcome But the issue is he represented a certain symbolism around the Greek defiance. Many Greeks really liked him and believed what he said Now the rhetoric is over and the NO vote has won he resigns...what does that say about the veracity and credibility of the NO argument ? Surly for the all the millions of Greeks who stood by his views he needs to continue to represent the NO perspective and ideological stance ? That is something that only Greeks themselves can give answer. I think the vast majority of Greeks have been mislead and manipulated by the current Greek government and they will now face dire consequences. And trust me for those that think " it can't get worse " ....it can get worse. I live in Africa and I can give you many examples of just how bad it can get

He did say that actions of Greece's debtors are terrorism, so I would guess that he would not get most warmest welcome in meetings with other eurozone's finance ministers. Meaning that if Greece hopes to have any change in any negotiations with their debtors he probably should not be part of those negotiations. Yeah I have heard that argument, hopefully that is exactly the reason and outcome But the issue is he represented a certain symbolism around the Greek defiance. Many Greeks really liked him and believed what he said Now the rhetoric is over and the NO vote has won he resigns...what does that say about the veracity and credibility of the NO argument ? Surly for the all the millions of Greeks who stood by his views he needs to continue to represent the NO perspective and ideological stance ?

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-07-06/greek-finance-minister-yanis-varoufakis-resigns/ Unbelievable, so one of the main proponents and architects of the referendum, the Greek finance minister, has resigned He claims it will be easier to negotiate better terms on the loans if he isn't involved. This is UTTER BS....the issues with the loans are not to due to clashes of personality but structural around the actual terms of the payments I don't believe it will make any difference who Greek sends to renegotiate the terms... there will always be certain conditions that Greece has to adhere to. I just find it concerning Varoufakis seems to be jumping ship when we will now see the true impact of the NO vote

Yes of course this is accurate, the primary reasons the Greek economy is in the state its in is due to mismanagement Its not just the bloated and problematic public sector and ineffective tax collection. Its factors like the low retirement age and as you mentioned this puts massive pressure on GDP Zora highlights the fundamental misunderstanding around the Greek crisis where he says " Now, hopefully, there will be some good sense and good will shown by both sides" This view makes the spurious point that the solution to the Greek problem is around the terms of the loans...no. The Greeks needed to implement serious economic restructuring and under this new government they will be delayed from doing this, yes some loan relief will help but the loan payments are just a symptomatic problem. The core issue is how the Greeks have managed there economy ...and the NO vote will reduce attention from the important and required changes the Greeks still need to make Remember we mustn't forget the reason for the loans initially was because the Greek government was about to go bankrupt, so for all the people blaming the loans and bailouts as the root cause of the current financial crisis in Greece maybe they can explain that one? In other words the economic problems existed in Greece before the loans

I don't think it's the eagle head you're focusing on...

Yes the view that Russia with all there economic woes is going to bail-out the Greeks is ludicrous at best and pure never-never land logic at worst

Fair enough, you make some good points in support of reddit. I can understand why people would want to create an unusual or possibly older discussion like that example you gave about Frozen 2. You wouldn't have the same number of people participating in that type of discussion if you created a thread like that on these forums So then what went wrong in your opinion? It seems that the reddit admins don't really understand the relevance or importance of the moderators that maintain the smaller discussions and subreddits ? Is that why there is "reddit revolt " from some forums ? Small correction to what I said: I was actually trying to say Frozen...2 years after it was released. Not Frozen 2...years after it was released. Doesn't really matter, but Frozen 2 hasn't, you know, released yet or anything. I think a number of things went wrong...and are continuing to go wrong. Funnily enough, what Zoraptor and Barothmuk kind of mention one aspect of it: the terrible functionality of the website...though not quite in the way I think they were talking about. Moderators have to install third party plugins for their browsers to be able to moderate beyond anything besides basic functions. I didn't know this until recently, but apparently they've been complaining about this for years, with the administrators consistently promising change but delivering nothing. Another problem is the issue of censorship...the former CEO of reddit, some guy named Yishan, said that the stated ideal of reddit was to be a free speech platform. The current administration, under CEO Ellen Pao, has gone against this, saying that it is not meant to be a free speech platform. Even though this wasn't really true, in my opinion, even with the previous administration, they've certainly kicked things up a notch or two since, banning subs that are determined to be "harassing"...and being extremely inconsistent in doing so. I have mixed feelings about this: on one hand, I don't like those harassment subs myself...but I don't think they should be Big Brothered. I also think that a company like reddit should have the ability to clean itself up of content that it, and most normal people, would find reprehensible. What I would've preferred to have seen is removal of such offending subs from ever being visible from the /r/all front page (essentially, the page where all subreddits can be visible depending on some upvote/time created formula...which is the page that guests users see when they visit...as opposed to what is simply called the "front" page, which is personalized based on what subreddits you're subscribed to as a logged in user): not only would this clean up the site, it would decrease the likelihood of new subscribers/content for those subs. It also would've likely prevented the huge crapstorm calling out reddit for its censorship as well as its inconsistency: the subs that were banned were vile, yes, but there were many more just like them that have still not been touched in any way since. As a result of these complications, the userbase was kind of split on whether the subs being banned was a good thing or not: some thought free speech (to a point) trumped whatever reasons for banning them were, others hated the content so much they were simply glad that it was gone and weren't really interested in any such implications. Then there was the fact that Victoria, almost absolutely the favorite admin for being an apparently genuinely wonderful person as well as actually critical to some subreddits...the very large default subreddit iama as well as smaller subreddits who would do similar things and employ Victoria's services...was fired for reasons still not yet explained, and absolutely no communication about it was conveyed by the admins to the moderators who required her services in order for events in their subs to work. Furthermore, the admins have been pretty unhelpful even since the crapstorm: took a look at kirottu's post above, where you can see the head admin basically try and strongarm the iama science mods (who were going to do an AMA with Stephen Hawking before Victoria got fired) without offering any real information or *anything* concrete in return for cooperating. (EDIT: If you're having trouble reading that image, uh...I can't blame you. Took me a bit, too. Pay attention to the "to" and "from" fields: red kn0thing is the admin, the green users are the moderators, and when the message itself is green, it means the moderator is sending a message to that user. There are still a few odd bits - like, why does the admin repeat lines of what the moderator says and then stick on additional bits - but that should help.) Just stupid behavior on the parts of the admins. FURTHERMORE, what was probably the SECOND favorite admin was also fired recently...and for, get this...having cancer. That admin ran the reddit secret santa program, which you can Google if you want more information about, as well as this story, if you wish. Finally, Ellen Pao, the CEO, keeps going onto news sites like buzz feed and trying to downplay the events that recently transpired, as well as the complaints of the userbase, saying that it was "minor", and that most users did not really care about all of this. I don't know how much truth to that there is, but the fact of the matter is, you shouldn't be saying crap like that as the CEO of one of the largeset websites in the world...that just got more or less incapacitated by those so-called "minor" issues/complaints. Bah. Interesting, thanks for sharing. You have given me some new views and insights

Sure, I agree that in the media aesthetics play a part and I'm sure have a degree of influence around hiring policies But its not all about good looks, the person still has to be competent to get the job. And that is what is overlooked by some when they see someone like that weather girl ...some people will immediately think " well there is someone who only got hired because of her looks " And what they don't realize is they are unintentionally adding to the culture of objectifying women by only looking at her from one angle

Fair enough, you make some good points in support of reddit. I can understand why people would want to create an unusual or possibly older discussion like that example you gave about Frozen 2. You wouldn't have the same number of people participating in that type of discussion if you created a thread like that on these forums So then what went wrong in your opinion? It seems that the reddit admins don't really understand the relevance or importance of the moderators that maintain the smaller discussions and subreddits ? Is that why there is "reddit revolt " from some forums ?

Did you feel guilty that you were responsible for her getting suspended ? Oh wait ....this happened to " someone you know "

This is actually a very valid point, I would dispute the point that she is a " victim " in any respects If you look at all the various international news channels you will see there are many examples of beautiful and intelligent women who discuss news and global events. So it would be quite patronizing to suggest to these very competent women that they were only employed to satisfy the lascivious urges of the male demographic So lets take this weather women, my only questions is " can she do her job effectively and professionally " ...the same question I would ask of any news presenter The fact that she also happens to be smoking hot should not be how we judge her at all