Agiel

Picked up Max Payne 1 and 2 on sale on Steam after remembering the unadulterated joy the mods for those games gave me, in particular the Cinema mod for 2: http://youtu.be/HwYVWTnp18w I suppose enjoyed Max Payne 3 well enough, even if Dan Houser's less than subtle writing had kind of corrupted the noir, hard-boiled atmosphere of the first two (I could go at length at the problems I had with its narrative, but I won't here).

Made my absolute, most perfect save for Dragon Age: Origins. Maybe Dragon's Keep means I won't have to worry about working up the stomach to try and finally finish Dragon Age 2 in time for Inquisition, though maybe my curiosity over the DLC for it which purportedly has actually very enjoyable combat encounters may make me cave.

That's silly. As if an actual equal fight would happen in a modern war. American infantrymen would call air strikes and artillery strikes and use all the equipment their enemy doesn't have the first chance they get. Same as any infantry. Lets face it. Give any infantry same equipment, same numbers, same meagre provisions and same living conditions as say the Taliban and send them into Afghanistan. I think the bravado about how great and tough they are will end very very quickly. That's kind of the point. I find it hilarious that IS choose to use human shields, then once confronted with a weapon that leaves very little in the way of footprints and offers unheard of levels of precision they yell out like schoolyard children "Hey! No fair!"

Vice News footage had an interview with an IS fighter saying something to the effect of "Stop being cowards by sending your drones at us." My eternal answer to that proposition is "If you stop hiding behind the skirts of women and children then you will find that the American infantrymen will more than gladly oblige your request, and you shall find that they're more than able to mow you down all the same."

If they stripped out all of the armaments, non-essential avionics, external stores and pylons to reduce drag co-efficients, gave it a half fuel load, and even took off all the paint like they did with the P-42 to beat the F-15's climb record, then *maybe* the Su-25 which had been specifically designed for the close air support role with its guns, rockets, anti-tank missiles, and LDGP bombs (insomuch that the A-10, its rough western counterpart, had been) could reach 33k feet. Then again, at this state with no weapons the only way it could down a civilian airliner would be by Kamikaze.

"I must return to my people."

Remembering this day in history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WenOh8NsDOs

It's what this thread is here for There's a bunch of great photos from the First Gulf War:

"But who's buying?!" *edit* I swear up and down, posting this was the first thing on my mind upon seeing your post and only saw your lament after I posted this.

Photo of a story I found somewhat fascinating. Woman in China attempts suicide in her wedding gown after her fiance broke off the engagement. Luckily due to the efforts of neighbours she was unhurt. "Cool off."

...which is about the most sensible attitude to take on the whole consoles vs. PC thing.

On another forum I frequent, we went on an owls tangent.

I don't know about you, but I'd be a at least *little* bit more concerned about a deputy PM showing up to one of those rallies than, say, Billy-Bob and his "beloved" cousin. And given that Svobada has less than 1% of the vote and that Right Sector virtually ceased to be a viable political entity in the wake of the new election, the claim that Nazis were the driving force suddenly holds less water than a shrapnel-riddled colander.

If you're seriously going to bring Nazis back into this: Deputy PM of Russia at Russian National Unity Rally: Demonstrators at a "Take Back Russia" rally. What did you think? That the "Nazis" in Metro 2033 came out of nowhere? "Out of context?" "Fringe groups blown out of proportion?" Well, now you just got a taste of your own medicine.

I think wishing for the return of FMV adventure games is toying with forces you do not understand: Note: If you subscribe to Giant Bomb as well, you may know that there's another great one that illustrates my point beautifully... but I'm not 100% sure it's appropriate for this forum.

Protester from the anti-government demonstrations in Turkey in March. First Selfie from Mars RIMPAC 2014 exercise A lot of the photos I get are from the regular 'In Focus" feature on The Atlantic website, which I highly recommend you guys keep up with. And because I said this thread should also be dedicated towards cool art pieces as well: Artwork by Enki Bilal.

Picked up a naval warfare strategy book on the recommendation from a fellow grognard, and got a chuckle from this passage: "Yaaargh..."

The spirit of your words aren't an entirely inaccurate assessment from my point of view, however...

A tiny bit late, but very poignant nonetheless: I can only imagine that someone uninitiated in WWII history who witnesses such an event is left flabbergasted by the display.

Post every other piece of photography or artwork that isn't necessarily funny or sexy* here: To get it started: Scrapping of the Seawise Giant "The Invisible Man." I'm suddenly reminded of this cinematic from the first Shogun. This one just speaks to you. If you know not what it is of, merely look at my "Location." ----------- *Okay, it can be a little funny or sexy as long as it is also thought-provoking and emotionally stimulating as well.

I had to double-check the foil and plastic wrap in our kitchen cupboard and... I don't know if I should be happy I learned something new, or ashamed that I only realised this just now. I suppose the next time my roommates have to cover up some leftovers, they will accuse me of witchcraft.

Littoral Combat Ship to test Naval Strike Missile by Kongsberg: http://www.janes.com/article/41233/rimpac-2014-us-pacific-fleet-commander-eyes-norway-s-naval-strike-missile-capability I suppose at that point they can go ahead and call the things what they are: "Frigates."

How unfortunate that rational politicians have allowed the inertia of public blood-raving to trump practical politics and have dumped onto their mlitaries the problems they do not wish to solve. I hope it eventually occurs to the Israeli government that "mowing the lawn" as it were doesn't constitute sound military strategy.

Going retro once more; remembering the liberation of Paris in honour of the upcoming 70th anniversary: http://golem13.fr/70-ans-liberation-de-paris/

I'm saying that's precisely it, one of the finest illustrations of this paradigm being the T-34 (which I mentioned earlier on this thread in fact): http://www.operationbarbarossa.net/the-t-34-in-wwii-the-legend-vs-the-performance/ If the "big" points of protection and mobility and numbers truly decisively mattered, which the T-34 was advantaged in against nearly every other tank in the world at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, then it did not explain how crews and vehicles were lost in *droves* against woefully inadequate weapons. Poor visibility (and thus, situational awareness), poor inter-vehicle communications (until Lend-lease radios arrived, only platoon commanders had radios, and had to communicate with his subordinates using signal flags), and poor fire-control efficiency led to crews taking much, much longer to process their OODA loops as compared to their German counterparts. Communications is key. Efficiency is key. Situational and tactical awareness is ESPECIALLY key. A point in which current F-35 pilots agree: http://www.sldinfo.com/the-fifth-generation-experience-updated-the-f-35-is-a-situational-awareness-machine/