Agiel

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/09/04/weekinreview/20100905_gilbertson.html?_r=0 <<Une armée marche à son estomac>> "An army travels on its stomach." Napoleon Bonaparte At least the French one I think I could keep down. I'd be concerned about suicides in the field with the Scandinavian ones.

It's a bit presumptuous to say that the Ukrainians are totally blind to the situations in Greece, Spain, Italy, and the like. In spite of that, some of the Ukrainians I've spoken with who support integration with the EU understand that if the deal had gone ahead things would remain bad for a while (if not get worse) before they got better. And those who don't, well, they think making their own path apart from the influence of the Kremlin is an end in and of itself (the type of mentality amongst some Slavic nationalists that "Little Russia should be one with big Russia again" sums up the issue nicely).

Been shopping for a new network card back home for when I'm at my apartment while at university. Look up this one card on Newegg that's got 5-star reviews across the board and people universally saying: "Oh, this **** works perfectly." Go to the local Fry's Electronics and it's sold out.

That actually kind of brought me down for the day

I think this is what he had in mind:

At the moment I find myself enraptured by Warframe. In the weeks I've played it I've managed to get to Mastery Rank Six, thereby unlocking the gamebreaking Soma. Also, given that it is a free-to-play game, I'm pleasantly surprised it hasn't been invaded by Brazilians who can't speak English yet.

I would imagine the forged documents industry in the former SSRs is a booming one with plenty of high-quality talent to go around, so I don't know if that was the smartest move.

"But the worst thing of all are their antitank missiles, and these missiles work all too well." The younger man gestured with his hands. "Three men in a wheeled vehicle. One driver, one loader, one gunner. They hide behind a tree at a turn in the road and wait. Our column comes into view and they fire from a range of - say two kilometers. As often as not the first warning we have is when the first weapon hits. They fire one more and kill another tank, then race away before we can call down artillery fire. Five minutes later, from another spot, it happens again." -Tom Clancy and Larry Bond, Red Storm Rising Trying out a new scenario in Steel Beasts and I now have a new favourite steed. ...a humble Humvee, with a TOW missile launcher mounted on top. It dies to a sneeze, the launcher isn't stabilised, and you have to stand still while the missile is in flight. But it's nimble, the TIS of the launcher is still a cut above most non-NATO developments, and the TOW 2B (2B, or not 2B, that is the question) series with its top-attack explosively-formed penetrator can render many protection measures irrelevant, meaning over open ground I can keep armour at arm's length, as this unfortunate T-90 discovered: (Green line indicates the path of the EFP that was fired downwards from the missile) *Boosh*! And/or *Ka-kow!*

Raise you the 140mm Smoothbore tested for the Leopard 2 and the Abrams Component Advanced Technology Test Bed: I swear that thing would send the turret of a T-80 flying all the way back to Kharkiv

Oh how far man-portable anti-tank weapons have come, from the humble Boys Anti-tank rifle to the Panzerfaust, to the AT-3 Sagger to the MILAN, then finally the RBS-56 BILL and the TOW 2B.

As an addendum to this. With the drag factor of a combat-loaded A-10 and its canopy left on the runway I'm surprised that Eagle didn't stall while trying to fly fingertips with your friend.

Imagine how it would be if it was the Finns who utterly dominated in Biathlon.

Great games are a potent combination of gameplay and storytelling. Though if you must be without one, do without the story.

Comintern had also liquidated the existing Polish Communist party during the purges in the run-up to the Second World War, replacing it with one far more amiable to the Soviet Union's interests. From that we can glean that Stalin's plans for Poland had been on the cards for as long as Hitler's. And, you know, Katyn.

Bunch of great ones so far. I'm glad to see so many with taste with their appreciation of Homeworld http://youtu.be/FG9EEp5Oqj4 Looking back on this, it gives me vibes of Saturday morning 3D cartoons a la ReBoot and Beast Wars. Has a rocking track to it too.

Putting The Hunt for Red October and Das Boot in perspective: http://www.cracked.com/article_20871_6-things-movies-dont-show-you-about-life-submarine.html

Yesterday some good Samaritan left a note on my windshield telling me that someone had backed into my rear bumper while it was parked, and against all odds managed to get the license plate number. Today, I got rear-ended at a red light.

Decided to see what happened if you opened up the canopy mid-flight, did we?

There is only one way to play Fallout: New Vegas, and that is role-playing as a rough-and-tumble, survivalist, gunslinging cowgir, of which this will probably be the umpteenth time I've done this run: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/3316075617495300920/159E00356972744563845F92E631D8855E4D3335/ http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=223603836 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=223603806 True to form, while not an airhead at about 6 Int (for purposes of not totally gimping my skill leveling), I put absolutely no points in Science. Problems involving computers and robots can be solved with .45-70 Govt. SWC, a Bowie Knife, or some dynamite, thank you very much.

Today, you would have a difficult time convincing me otherwise that web designers have some burning, irrational hatred of Opera, as my mail client refuses to work with it and I must use Google Chrome to work in any functional capacity.

Catching up on Les cités obscures ("The Obscure Cities") which is an anthology series taking place on a Counter Earth after hearing about an English translation of L'enfant penchee (The Leaning Girl) which was funded by Kickstarter.

With the obsession of rendering cinematics with the game engines in this day and age, pre-rendered cutscenes have nearly turned into a lost art. So I decided to create a thread to celebrate those moments that evoke such pathos: 1. A prime example of why Relic is my favourite game developer of all time. That they are one of the great underdogs of game design and can so consistently knock it out of the park in visual and audio design is a testament to the talent and dedication at their studio. As this is the end of the game, there are spoilers, natch. 2. Casually walking down the flightline wearing Ray Bans and a flightsuit, great mustaches, the mighty Mudhen soaring in the Wild Blue Yonder, rocking guitar solos, and the American Flag. I dare anyone to watch this and say they didn't even consider signing up for the Air Force to become a fighter jock. 3. A relatively new one, but quite possibly the best completely CGI thing I've ever seen. For those curious about the game itself it's made by From Software, the guys behind Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, and true to their design philosophy, it is brutally hard and unforgiving online or off.

Ever wanted to try out one of these bad boys?

Hands (and feet) are probably among the most difficult things to draw. In my life drawing classes it was recommended to our beginner students to draw them as amorphous mittens as placeholder while they built up their skills of gesture and form for the figure.