Hurlshort

Yeah, it's definitely Final Fantasy. It took me awhile to get over it, actually. I haven't played any jrpg's in so long that it was pretty off putting.

Go play FFXIV! It has actually been a pretty fun experience, it has nailed a lot of the MMO positives while still being unique in a lot of ways. Although they need a better way to filter spam. Ugh, the goldsellers are everywhere.

I had the same problem. I ended up using imageshack.

I love lentils. I made lasagna last night. It was my first attempt, and I was happy with the result. I wish I had layered in more of the macaroni, but the sauce came out really well, and it was on the back of a Safeway Macaroni box! It was basically some tomato paste, diced tomatoes, some sugar and red pepper flakes, and some fresh basil. There was garlic and onions as well. I went with ricotta and mozzarella cheese as the other layers.

Well in California we cut quite a few mental health programs decades ago, and because of that a good chunk of our homeless are people with mental illnesses. They are typically in and out of halfway homes.

California has rebounded nicely, thanks to a fiscally conservative governor. Some cities are still in trouble because they are not making necessary cuts, but the state had a budget surplus in 2013 after years of deficits.

The trillion dollar cost is the estimate over a 10 year period. It's tricky though, because there is also a lot of stuff in the UHC that could lower medical costs. Hospitals actually factor in the losses they take on uninsured patients when deciding what to charge. That should go away with UHC.

The Iraq war is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion. Honestly the cost of the UHC is not the issue. Everybody has some different spin on what it will cost, what it will save, and they are typically just trying to gain political points. The real issue is: Can the government manage these policies without making a mess of it? The answer is no. But insurance companies have been doing a piss poor job for decades, so it's not like the bar is set very high. edit: Simply put, the government can't even get along well enough to avoid work stoppages, so I have little faith.

We've been paying for those who can't pay for years, well before Obamacare was ever a thought.

http://youtu.be/FCxWUKMJfEI

Well, since the GTA-series has been a satire of hyper-masculinity and mass consumption, i would bet that the female lead would not behave very feminine so to speak. Am I the only one filled with a quiet rage every time someone claim GTA is a satire? It's power fantasy with some self-awareness. Self-awareness can be confused for satire and there's lots of satire in the unimportant details (such as Republican Space Rangers), but there's also crude jokes and parody just as frequently (Post-Op, hi-larious...). No, you are not. There is really nothing satirical about the GTA games. They aren't really even parodies, they take themselves too seriously. They are more tribute pieces than anything else, heavily inspired by certain films.

I'm guessing that handing out Mars bars isn't going to get him into heaven, but it is an interesting moment. It makes sense that some of these guys are going to have regrets as soon as they get in the thick of it.

Final Fantasy XIV is a pretty charming game. It doesn't do anything drastically different than other MMO's, but so far it is just different enough to be refreshing, while still being comfortable to play.

It doesn't really bother me when celebrities are idiotic, and I have no trouble blaming Jane Fonda's antic on her being such. But whoever decided she should portray Nancy Reagan was simply fishing for a negative reaction, and they got it.

What server are you on? I may give it a shot as well. Brynhildr. I'm not tied to it, I barely started my character so I can switch if you find a better one or know anyone else playing.

Decieded to give Final Fantasy XIV a whirl, the MMO that was released, then rereleased and is now apparently much better. I only got through the character creation, but it seems pretty slick so far.

Trashman, I think your argument would work better if you went with cases of statutory rape. There is a very large difference between that and pedophilia.

The amazing thing is how often Oakland and Tampa compete at that budget.

The Butler - This is the story of a butler who served through 6 administrations at the White House, and it's heavy with connections to the civil rights movement. There were some great moments and some really bad moments for me. The beginning was pretty rough, I felt it tossed you into a situation with little setup and then moved on so fast it was hard to really feel the impact. Once the Butler reaches the White House, it gets more interesting. I absolutely loved Leiv Shrieber as LBJ, he's my favorite president and they portrayed him in an interesting way. I also thought John Cusack was a compelling Nixon. JFK was decent as well. The film did a good job of staying even keel on the political parties until one point, and I really cringed when I saw it. It happened during Reagan's term. Reagan was played by Alan Rickman, which was an odd choice but I thought it was decent. Some media outlets are saying they made Reagan out as a racist, but that seems ridiculous, as he is the one that allows the Butler to get a raise and also lets him bring his wife to a white house dinner. That didn't bother me, it was the casting of Nancy Reagan... Jane Fonda. Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan. At this point I rolled my eyes and the movie lost me. It doesn't matter what type of job she did as an actress, this was a blatant insult to put a woman who sat on AA guns in Hanoi as the First Lady. I can't believe they cast her. Really the casting was weird all over the place. Forest Whitaker is an amazing actor, but he's not good looking, so casting a nice looking young guy was an odd choice. Then watching Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey portray a 30-something couple was also odd. In fact the whole personal story between the Butler and the wife was a bit tough to watch, although I thought the father-son stuff worked. Although the son going from MLK Jr. to the Black Panthers was a bad stretch. After Fonda was on, it turned into more of an Obama campaign, although that was still a lot less offensive than Hanoi Jane. So I'd still say it was worth it for the way it handled the 50's-70's, but just barely.

You should have sent me a message earlier Wals, I would have been able to squeeze in a game.

I'm not sure about the school playing a role in that though. Lessons need to be learned, but there are so many other ways to teach them without resorting to physical harm. Now as a parent, I've given my kids a smack on the rear or grabbed them roughly when they've thrown a tantrum or are doing something dangerously bad, but I would hardly expect that type of reaction from an educator in a school setting. I couldn't imagine doing anything of the sort as a teacher. Do I have students that deserve it? Absolutely! But it is still not my place and I have many other tools to use in order to get my lesson across. Basically I am saying educators need to be held to a higher standard.

I thought Daud was the spymaster? Eh, all the titles confused me. I also thought: was a very nice touch, on more of those little things they did well.

am a snob when it comes to stock. we makes chicken recipes so frequent that we almost always got enough leftover chicken parts for making quarts and gallons o' chicken stock... which is one o' the few things that freeze well. thanksgiving always results in us having a couple month supply o' turkey stock. duck stock is also a staple for us, but it is different 'nuff from chicken such that it ain't genuine interchangeable. what we is always short o' is beef stock. we rare have leftover meat and bones in enough quantities to be making quality stock, and it just seems wrong to buy meat and bones specific to make stock. as for store bought... swanson's is having almost zero depth while also being very salty. am not knowing how or why anybody would bother using that swill. kitchen basics seems to be preferred by people other than Gromnir-- tastes almost same as swanson's but is less salty. better than bullion is flavorful, but is quite salty if you use in recommended proportions. *shug* folks who would Never use canned green beans or frozen ribeyes seems willing to use pre-made stock. am s'posing it is a sacrifice people makes at the altar of convenience, but we just can't do bad stock. HA! Good Fun! It's interesting, I've never really thought about making my own stock. We don't really eat enough meat, but I bet I could make some vegetable broth, it looks like you can use the scraps and peels to do it. I'll have to check that out. I buy the reduced sodium brands, of course, but salt is a concern even in those. I typically get what is on sale and have never really noticed a difference between Swansons or anything else. I'll give the Kitchen Basics a try.

Arkane is working on a sequel, so more of that is on it's way. And I hear the dlc are good, going to get them myself when they pop on steam sale. I just hope Arkane can improve their storytelling for the sequel, that's the only thing I found lacking in Dishonored to say the least. I thought their use of books, notes, and general world building was fantastic. There were also some compelling characters like Slackjaw and the Spymaster. But they went in an odd direction with the story, it was almost like they were rushing it at the end and trying to force the plot to work in a way that didn't make too much sense. I'm not explaining it well, but hopefully they can iron it out for the sequel.

Finished Dishonored with a low chaos ending. It was a fun game, and I really enjoyed the setting. I'd play another set in the same universe for sure.