213374U

Oster also said he was ~30h in and by his estimate roughly only 2/3 through. That would make it, what, 45 hours long? They also mentioned the specific number of new areas created, but I can't remember what it was. TotSC and ToB didn't really have that many new areas IIRC.

Right, right. Maybe it's the muscle dysmorphia talking, but the black guys in those pics look seriously underfed. Neither extreme is "healthy". *cough* You get points for the classic Ahnuld pic, though.

That's for mobile devices. The masterrace versions are $19.99 each. I'd wait for either Christmas or the inevitable pre-SoD sale.

Ughhh... why do they think that making things "less intimidating", splitting everything into tiny bits that are easy to digest, putting important stuff in CAPITAL LETTERS and BIG NUMBERS etc will make the game more appealing to newcomers? I had zero prior D&D knowledge when I played IWD, which was my first IE game. I loved the beautiful landscapes, the music, and yes, the combat. By the time I got to Dragon's Eye I realized I needed to RTFM to understand what THAC0 meant, how primary stats affected secondary stats, and I had to read item and spell descriptions to be able to make informed tactical decisions (which didn't work out so well back then, heh). I consider that learning process an essential part of my enjoyment of the game. Is it too much to ask that people spend a few minutes reading so they can understand what's going on instead of having everything sorted out for them with *pretty colors*? I mean, it's not like the IE UI is complicated. Victoria 2 is complicated, BGEE is simple and to the point. D&D 2e isn't exactly rocket science and they already have "story mode" for people who DGAF about gameplay. Why bother? /old geezer

Yeah, that's what 2nd Ed. 18 Strength looks like IRL apparently. Anyway, read on KKKodex that MCA is "on board" to "help polish up the writing". From the Q&A it seems his involvement is limited to playing through an early build and giving feedback. It'd be great to know if he's done some actual writing for the game. Personally I'm not impressed with the UI changes (accessibility!) but it's likely trivial to revert to at least the default EE version. On the plus side, they will be patching the new class -and logic suggests the new spells too- into BGEE and BG2EE. The Q&A:

Oster & co. talk 'bout stuff. Don't care, won't be playing this until DavidW adapts SCS.

Oh, you bet. I disagree it's low-level, though. It's rampant, all-encompassing and systemic. It's also essentially cultural. To illustrate the point, one of the -very many- recent corruption scandals involves one of the top Catalan political families, who turns out have been demanding a bribe amounting to 3% of the price of any contract with the Catalan government since its inception, if the contractor wanted to get anywhere. This is a fraud calculated in billions we're talking about. Par for the course so far, right? Then the scion of the family gets indicted, his pops, the great symbol of Catalan nationalism and fighter of Spanish oppression is called to testify as a witness (because we don't actually dare charge him), and in one of the most culturally shameful displays I can remember, he is greeted by cheering crowds of people who were waiting for him to arrive at the court, who apparently applaud that he's been abusing his power and cheating them for 30+ years. No, voting doesn't change anything because in order to make a name for yourself in politics, you need to be a pathological liar, a hypocrite and morally bankrupt so there is functionally no difference between candidates. It's these same mother****ers that ask for moar money from the ECB to cover their mismanagement, corruption and stupidity, not the loser that religiously pays his taxes and puts in 3+ unpaid extra hours every day, and gets to shoulder the burden of austerity for his trouble. But what alternative is there to voting? Taking the Bastille? Funny that the romantically corrupt, bandit-idolizing culture is the least often referenced of applicable stereotypes, btw. edit: heat melts mah brain

Time for my annual BG saga playthrough! I'm excited. The twist this time is that I'll be playing the EEs instead of my usual flavor of BGT. I'm trying party and class compositions I haven't before, so I'm going F/M multiclass (bows) with Baeloth, Dorn, Kagain, Faldorn and Safana for BGEE. Thinking of giving Faldorn a kit — SCS supposedly balances Shapeshifter for low level play so I might try that. One advantage of an EE installation is that it's easier to set up than BGT/TuTu. We'll see if the supposed abundance of bugs offsets the ease of use, but from the GOG comments, most should have been ironed out by now.

The question is one of "when" rather than "if", I think. Also, no Malgus armor in the CM yet, I wonder what's up with that. Hmm. He's a far more interesting character than cardboard Marr, that's for sure.

Work harder? Siestas? Well, let's take a look at the data [1] [2] [3] for a second. So it turns out that Spaniards not only work longer hours than, say, Britons (and Germans!* Go go German diligence and work ethos!). We are also more productive while we're at it. We also have comparable official and effective retirement ages (fun fact: we retire later than them hard-working German übermenschen). So maybe let's start revising a few of these stereotypes? Or at least reference them a bit less. I'll just use my personal example. I don't always work weekends, but when I do, I work 15 hour a day shifts, in which I have to handle a workload that's split between three people during weekdays. And I do this on a part-time contract. I barely have time to take a dump and eat mate, let alone for siesta. Of course this is illegal and under-reported, but this sort of arrangement is fairly common. Beyond that, I agree. Nobody should be in the ****ing Euro. Let northern Europe citizens decide if they want to loan Club Med south Europe banks more money, instead of having that **** decided by committee. It is their money, after all. We can't have them PIGS defaulting because, unlike Greece, the Eurozone couldn't soak it up, so Greece needs to be made an example of. *Germans still have us beat in the productivity department though

...for ultimately very similar reasons, I might add. Let's not forget that German big businesses and international financiers (Hello, Mr. Bush. Great day for genocide, wouldn't you agree?) were happy to support Hitler early on.

I love how Bruce keeps posting links that actually disprove the points he's making. He can't read, he's impervious to facts and logic, and yet, despite taking a sound beating in every topic in which he participates, he's never afraid to remind everyone of how ignorant he is. Trollish regeneration at work, I suppose. Why people keep engaging with him is beyond me...

Which rules are you referring to, in particular? The same ones that are changed literally on the fly when it's convenient for France and Germany decided they aren't such a good idea? The same rules that weren't really so closely enforced when it was politically expedient to allow Greek accession? Further, I don't know of any EU treaty that precludes national referendums or forces member countries to accept economic impositions from non-EU entities with no recourse. Illegal impositions, btw, as the IMF a) acted in bad faith, b) blatantly ignored their own Guidelines and Articles of Agreement and c) disregarded their own internal Debt Sustainability Analyses that predicted an increase in debt-to-GDP ratio as a result of the measures but released fake figures to go ahead with the program anyway. As for the first, you are right, and yet way off the mark. The Greek government isn't messing with exchange or interest rates, as those are exclusive ECB prerogatives which Greece agreed to give up when they joined the EU. "Some of their ability" doesn't mean "all of their ability", and in this case the Greek government is simply exercising its remaining sovereignty. I like the "comply or GTFO" undertone in your statements, though. Regarding the second, the only valid criteria is one of importance. If an issue is both important enough to warrant popular vote and complex enough that the people at large can't make heads or tails of it, then you have an uneducated populace that simply cannot sustain a democracy, the same way that a child that cannot handle his own affairs needs to rely on parents. So we either accept that peoples are masters of their own fate, or they aren't and must be ruled by wise men committees and enlightened despots. "Only sometimes" isn't a solution. Especially when, in this context, you don't want people to make the call and yet you expect them to meekly suffer the consequences. edit: I really need to be less of an ****

There is no "bottom line", and claiming otherwise is an oversimplification. There is no simple "they". That's my point. Do you read and vote over every bit of budget legislation that is passed in the UK? Do you make sure that all deals that involve the government are done in perfect accordance to the law of the land? Do you watch over government officials to make sure they act in the best interests of the people? Not only you don't do that, you couldn't do it even if you wanted to. And yet, you are supposed to assume responsibility for your political representatives' mistakes, abuses, corruption and general idiocy, under the terms of a social contract that you were never given an option not to sign. Not just you, but also those who, unlike yourself, lack the ability to make informed political decisions. (I'm a master theorycraftsman, I'll have you know) By all means, hold referendums throughout the EU! That would of course inevitably lead to the immediate breakup of the EU. Yes, that would be democracy. At its worst, democracy is the rule of the stupid, the cowardly and the selfish. In spite of that, I would never dare claim that German taxpayers shouldn't have a say in how their government spends money. What is your point? Some things are too important to decide democratically? Might as well boot up Skynet already. (emphasis mine) This is a good point, and one of the common complaints leveled against the referendum. A clear, unequivocal question could have stuck the government (even more) between a rock and a hard place. If they had asked whether to reject any conditions imposed by international creditors that were deemed unfair and/or unfeasible regardless of consequences, even if it means leaving the eurozone, the referendum might have gone differently — though I personally doubt it. As it stands the question posed was an unintelligible mess and pointless because the terms alluded to therein no longer applied after defaulting on june 30th.

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.

Heh, I'll admit, I didn't expect Varoufakis to follow the political equivalent of "live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse" so closely. I guess he'll just go back to advising Valve as how to best nickel-and-dime their customers, so watch out. 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.

Turnout's been less than two thirds, though. Given how things are, I'd have expected it to be in the high 70s. Of course now everyone is going to try and take advantage of the referendum result. If the powers that be are smart, they won't give an inch of ground in the coming days and force Greece out of the euro by denying access to credit, cutting their losses. If not, if SYRIZA is allowed to negotiate advantageous terms, the left elsewhere will be emboldened and the risk of a contagion may increase. That would spell certain doom for the EU. After all, ~€320bn is chump change compared to what TTIP represents.

^ Shouldn't that go in the "Apparently there are things that Russians can do well" thread?

Wow. I didn't think Keyrock meant it literally.

Oh, ****. So it's already gotten to the point where moderates are to be regarded as enemies of the state, huh. Can't say I'm surprised by that sort of sectarianism, but I wouldn't have expected them to start making threats so quickly. They haven't even been in power for a year, ffs.

Sounds bad. I wonder to what extent the current gov't has actual support from the armed forces. Have you heard anything about Academi (formerly Blackwater)? http://beforeitsnews.com/global-unrest/2013/02/greece-blackwater-mercenaries-guarding-govt-and-overseeing-police-coup-feared-2453458.html https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=el&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsbomb.gr%2Fpolitikh%2Fnews%2Fstory%2F296524%2Fapantisi-dendia-sti-voyli-gia-tin-blackwater I'm guessing the "domestic enemies" he was alluding to are supposed to be Golden Dawn fifth-columnists and such?

Greece was doing great as far as fiscal consolidation goes according to OECD, by late 2013. "There is no doubt about the efforts of the Greek authorities to reform the economy and balance the budget. Between 2010 and 2012, Greece reduced its budget deficit by nine percentage points of GDP, the largest ever adjustment by an OECD country and one which looks set to deliver a primary surplus this year. Over the same period, no OECD country has introduced more far-reaching reforms in health care, the labour market, the pension system and the banking sector, to name but a few." That hasn't really worked as advertised, with debt-to-GDP ratio increasing all the way, and the country is now going down the toilet. *shrug* Heh. With the heat wave going on, I'm guessing people will put off heading out to vote as much as possible.

Oh it sure does. Opening both windows creates an airflow, and air in motion will carry away the heat, which works like a fan. If the air is over ~37ºC and significantly dry, an airflow will actually transfer heat to you, says thermodynamics, which is not hard because air in contact with the asphalt is locally hotter than what the temperature is according to thermometers. You will then start sweating like crazy as your body does what it can to maintain homeothermy. Pretty much everyone but me has A/C in my condo. Dem electricity bills doe...

(emphasis mine) Yep, if some get their way, you won't get even that.

Well, yeah, I might be doing it wrong. Or rather, not doing it enough. That's neither here nor there... And yes, sex is pretty much on the same level as feeding or sleeping, as far as impulses go. Nothing special about it; it'd be hilarious how much undue weight it's given, if it weren't for the fact that people stil get sent to prison and killed over it. I'd completely agree if she had been charged with rape, but not one of the gajillion charges she was convicted on was for that, unless I missed something.