Agiel

A relevant article from the Atlantic Monthly. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/05/what-if-we-never-run-out-of-oil/309294/

Boss asked me to take one of the PDF forms we designed and turn it into a Word file, since the localisation firm we're hiring doesn't have Adobe CSS or Quark. Cue me looking up whether it was possible to adjust leading, kerning, and tracking using Microsoft Word.

Something rather interesting for guitar aficionados: Now I want to see one that tunes a guitar with a Floyd Rose tremolo!

Reminds me to re-visit Panzer Dragoon Orta.

I find the Codex to be an interesting website in that for every one thing from there that's very lucid, well-thought out, and dare I say quite persuasive, there's about ten other things that's overly narcissistic, sociopathic, or plain 'ol bigoted. That one thing however for me makes it worth it to visit it once or twice a month to wade through and try and find it.

Itching to see the new Spike Jonze joint, revisited an old classic ad:

Speeding ticket... Apparently "60 MPH" in a 45 MPH zone (could swear I was doing 55 max). Fortunately California law does allow me to go through a "Trial by Written Declaration" which so far as my research has told me means I needn't waste too much time going to court to defend myself and I stand a good chance of getting my case thrown out (it means additional paperwork for the officer, who doesn't get overtime pay for it). That said I must come up with a reasonably good written defense. How does "No previous traffic infractions as well as no alcohol and substance-related charges nor any other criminal history* makes me predisposed to prudent driving as opposed to the recklessness claimed by the officer" sound? * = It's true, honest!

Of course it seems that Marshal Grigory Kulik is Oby's type of general. I swear that guy makes the worst general mentioned so far look like Clausewitz by comparison.

Here's hoping he took my hint to sharpen up his modeling skills by modeling inanimate objects before moving on to harder stuff.

On Wellington, another reason he ranks pretty highly on my list was his concern for his troops as well as his acute understanding of the human cost of war, which comes from my favourite quote about war: "Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won."

Let's not get too ahead of ourselves just yet : http://youtu.be/ZnzhPTpzZ94?t=1h15s

Yup. That would be the emblem of the carrier air wing VFA-31 "Tomcatters." Inspired by Sorophx's screens, I've been collecting a whole lot of screens in preperation for some "stories from the front," accompanied by some detailed word behind them. Wish me luck.

Favourite one was the one in which it simply says "War" in the Balkans. Fifth one down was very promising... until it said "Belarus" where the Czech Republic was.

Please spare the Daughter of Chaos. In fact, head on back down into the Chasm of the Abyss and farm 80 humanity for the poor girl. Her story is just sooo tragic *sniff*.

A guy in the Canadian Army posted this on the Steel Beasts forum: (12) Step Program for the Military about to retire 1. Speech: -Time should never begin with a zero or end in a hundred, it is not 0530 or 1400; it is 5:30 in the morning (AKA zero-dark-thirty). -Words like deck, rack, and "PT" will get you weird looks; floor, bed, workout, get used to it. -"F***" cannot be used to replace whatever word you can't think of right now, try "um". -Grunting is not talking. -It's a phone, not a radio, conversations on a phone do not need an "over" or should end with a "out" -People will not know what you are talking about if you tell them you are coming from CTC Gagetown with the support weapons platoon or that you spent a deployment in theatre 2. Style: - Do not put creases in your jeans. -Do not put creases on the front of your dress shirts. -A horseshoe cut looks dumb, not motivating. -A high and tight looks really dumb as well. -So does a tapered, but not as bad. -A hat indoors does not make you a bad person, it makes you like the rest of the world. - You do not have to wear a belt ALL the time. -3. Women: -Air Force girls are easy, very easy, not all women are this easy and will probably punch you in the nuts if you treat them like Air Force girls. - Being divorced twice by the time you are 23 is not normal, neither are 6 month marriages, even if it is your first. - Marrying a girl so that you can move out of the barracks does not make "financial sense", it makes you a retard. 4. Personal Accomplishments: -In the real world, being able to do pushups will not make you good at your job. - Most people will be slightly disturbed by you if you tell them about people you have killed or seen die. -How much pain you can take is not a personal accomplishment. -The time you got really drunk and passed the sobriety test anyway is also not a personal accomplishment. 5. Drinking: - In the real world, being drunk before 5pm will get you an intervention, not a "good for you" -That time you drank a 26er of Jaegermeister and pissed in your closet is not a conversation starter. - That time you went to the combat medics course and practiced giving vodka iv's will also not be a good conversation starter...unless, of course, you are dating a medic or MO. Then it's called reminiscing. 6. Bodily Functions: - Farting on your co-workers and then giggling while you run away may be viewed as "unprofessional". -The size of the dump you took yesterday will not be funny no matter how big it was, how much it burned, or how much it smelled. - You can't make fun of someone for being sick, no matter how funny it is VD will also not be funny 7. The Human Body: - Most people will not want to hear about your balls. Odd as that may seem, it's true. 8. Spending Habits: -You will have to pay bills - Buying a $30,000 car on a $25,000 a year salary is a really bad idea. -Spending money on video games instead of on diapers makes you a fool. - You will need health insurance 9. Interacting with Civilians (AKA YOU): -Making fun of your neighbor to his face for being fat will not be normal. 10. Real Jobs: - They really can fire you. - On the flip side you really can quit. -Screaming at the people that work for you will not be normal, remember they really can quit too. -Taking naps at work will not be acceptable. - Remember 9-5 not 0630 to 1800 - so it is a good thing. 11.The Law: -Non-judicial punishment does not exist and will not save you from prison. -Your workplace, unlike your unit, can't save you and probably won't, in fact most likely you will be fired about 5 minutes after they find out you've been arrested -Even McDonalds does background checks, and "conviction" isn't going to help you get the job -Fighting is not a normal thing and will get you really arrested, not yelled at Monday morning before they ask you if you won. 12.General knowledge: -You can in fact really say what you think about the Prime Minister in public. -Pain is not weakness leaving the body, it's just pain. -They won't wear anything shiny that tells you they are more important than you are, be polite. - Read the contracts before you sign them, remember what happened the first time.

Congratz, Deraldin. I suppose next you're going to tell me you soloed Ornstein and Smough :D I suppose with my Lightning Bruiser/Glass Cannon mentality when I create my PCs in RPGs I've been of the belief that "If you're getting hit, you're doing something wrong." Ah, the tyranny of load limits which forces almost everyone I talk to about the game to use Havel's Ring. Great Hollow/Ash Lake? The place is a bit out of sight and out of mind, since there's not a whole lot of reasons to go too deep into that place if you're not using a Dragon wep as your primary arm. My character at the moment in Ciaran's get-up: Comes complete with jester-like boots. Currently trying to decide what kind of weapon I want to be Lightning infused. With an Ascended Pyromancy Flame as a stand-in for a fusion pistol in my off-hand a "Power Sword" in my right, and equipped with the Ninja-flip ring, this will probably be the closest I'll ever get to my dream of playing an Eldar Harlequin in a video game.

I've heard getting the tail is next to impossible without a summon given how quickly he reacquires you after every attack. That said in a strictly loot-oriented playthrough getting the tail is a success since the ring you get from beating him is actually purely detrimental.

A dinky Bamboo tablet I'm afraid. That said it serves me well enough for my purposes given that I come from a fine arts background (oil painting) rather than being a full-on digital painter.

Found this funny given how I have a similar situation at the back of my PC, of which as of right now USB ports have a mouse, keyboard, Wacom tablet, Logitech flight stick, TrackIR, Codemeter dongle, and Microsoft Xbox 360 controller receiver plugged in.

That guy definitely took some doing by my friend and I. Unfortunately my Pyromancies and Sorceries (my Faith was still sitting at 8, probably try and fix that in NG+) were a no sell, as was my Moonlight Greatsword. So I had to break out the Black Knight Halberd. On the plus side, I think he's definitely do-able even if you're not specced out for survivability, and most of my deaths were a result of my being an idiot rather than anything inherently difficult. The best piece of advice for that fight is get the Ninja-flip ring and Keep dodging left.

Ha! This is me, too. If I can't get *any* character names out of the dozen or so I have in a list, (literally, I keep them in a list, ), I just give up. "I can't believe 'EliteSniper' was already taken!" In all seriousness, yeah, was really surprised to discover that my usual MMO names that I normally have no problem getting were taken (Lamashtu, Lllitu, Laure, Laureline, Ledroit).

Neither do I with western military stuff (the worst thing to ever hamper the US military was Curtis LeMay's influence which caused the Air Force to focus on strategic bombing rather than tactical air power that was practical for conventional forces). I don't go looking for trouble armed with all my knowledge, but if oby comes here with info from one of those Slavic brotherhood websites and gives me a reason to cut him down for size... well... I can't help myself

For both scenarios technology wasn't the issue, it was human fallibility. Issues with the Soviet Ground Control Intercept had sent their aircraft on a wild goose chase, expending their fuel before they could visually identify the civilian airliner. Poor communication with air assets and GCI had also, as previously stated, allowed a West German student pilot to not only penetrate Soviet air space, but also land in Red Square a stone's throw away from Lenin's tomb. And you're putting words in my mouth if you're implying that I ever said something like an Abrams was indestructible even out of its element.

I liked the Black Knight Halberd/Naginata best. Before finally plunging into Dark Souls I scanned the wiki (yeah, maybe I am ruining the game for myself, but I'm having the most fun I've had in a while despite this) and took one look at that thing and said to myself: "Yeah, that's for me." Even though I made a primarily Int and Dex specced character, I put just enough Str into my char so that she could two-hand it (22). Even with the bare minimum strength, she dispatches just about all human-sized foes in a single R1 attack. It also doesn't hurt that the animations are cool as hell; I feel like my character is a Howling Banshee Exarch with an Executioner. I love it so much that I rotate between that and the Moonlight Greatsword and Lifehunt Scythe (complete with Black-Hemmed Set) which are more appropriate for my build.

Design requirements for fleet-defense missiles dating back to the 70s included the ability to intercept supersonic missiles at speeds ~Mach 3.5. In fact the F-14 and its AIM-54 Phoenix missile as well as the new AIM-120D AMRAAM were purpose-built for this role. What matters for these missiles aren't speed, but sensors and G-limits that allow them to make the corrections needed to intercept supersonic missiles. Believe it or not, missiles, provided they have a large enough radar cross section, are easier to intercept than an aircraft since they travel in a predictable course and present an uncomplicated interception solution. SM-3 has already been demonstrated to be able to hit a ballistic missile target, which is considerably more difficult to intercept than a sea-skimmer, and you need only ask the crews of the Yamato and the Bismarck how building even Battlecruiser-sized surface ships such as the Kirov as your primary seaborne AShW platform works out in the age of air power. Against a Russian SAG, a typical USN "Gorilla package" would consist of EA-18G Growler jammers, F/A-18 SEAD shooters with AGM-88 HARMs, and Hornets equipped with AGM-84D Harpoons. When the HARMs are in the air, the Russians have two options, both of them terrible: a.) Turn off their radars, at which point they are now completely vulnerable to the Harpoons which will send them to the briny deep. b.) Leave their radars on to try and intercept the Harpoons, then their radars get busted and the ships are vulnerable to follow-on strikes.