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Wow, your logic is... wow. Are you just trolling me or...? Seriously, explain to me in great detail how 1, 2 or n where n ∈ N is equivalent to "any/all", because I can't seem to solve that one on my own. What I'm saying is that you should never, under any circumstances, make personal data available to the public at large, unless it's strictly necessary OR you don't care about possible abuses of such data. Names, by themselves, are innocuous. At any rate, it's your call. This doesn't mean the end of all anonymity on the internet. Huh? What does this have to do with the topic? Those examples aren't new, and stalkers aren't either. I fail to see how posting on a message board under your real name (btw, this isn't new, I've seen it in other boards where it's customary, not enforced) is a sudden qualitative jump wrt privacy risk, unless your privacy is already exposed to some degree. Chances are that the guy that's going to rape or kill you is somebody you know, not some teen asshat from the other side of the world. You guys must all be really interesting/important people. I wish I also had masses of would-be stalkers biting their nails at the chance to get my real name.

Exactly. It's up to each person to protect their own privacy. This much should be obvious, no? *WOOOSH* So, that makes two names. If I'm doing my math right, then according to you, 2 = ∞, right?

Yes, but it doesn't matter because then I could hire a bunch of Lithuanian hitmen to take them out, so my secret involvement with the Zionist-communist global conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids remains secret!!!1 Divulging private information, even if said information is available elsewhere, without the owner's consent, can be a crime, depending on many things, jurisdiction among them. I'd recommend you look it up before you try anything of the sort. Actually, he showed just how ONE real name can be abused. I'd like to see how exactly you jump from that to your assertion that "any name can be easily abused in a few minutes". No, we aren't accepting lithuanian hitmen, asian leet haxors or ninja pirates as evidence. And keep the fearmongering to a minimum, if at all possible.

Hopefully we won't see that, because that sort of anti-football is way less entertaining to watch than a team that never stops being on the offensive. I really expected Germany to win tonight. But they just haven't been the same team I've seen play the rest of the tournament. I guess Mueller's absence really hurt them.

Exactly. It's a myth that just from your real name anyone can find whatever they want about you. I could give my real name, and I guarantee you, save for some useless facts regarding join/leave dates on my military life there's nothing about me on the 'net, because I make a point of keeping my personal data, well, personal. I'm not even on the phone directory. This thinking is also a bit paranoid. HR depts already do a ton of data mining and background checks. They are the ones most likely to engage in any sort of consistent "stalking" via the Blizz boards. So... don't say anything you may later regret? You know, like IRL? The police? If they are fishing for data on you, you have bigger problems than this... This is a bit like that Starforce cluster**** some years ago with some dev posting a warez link to a product that didn't use conventional DRM to make the point that EVERYONE should adopt SF-like tech... hilarious. On the update: looks like they are going forward with it no matter what. At the very least it'll be interesting to see how it turns out, for sure.

I was thinking more along the lines of derailing and general disruption, which could be more work for the mod team instead of less. George W. Bush: I can't believe the last pally nerf. Like, totally useless! John Doe: OMG hihi mr president u sure can dodge shoes Joe Blow: Jews did 9/11 Serious account and ID management can also keep alts to a minimum and maybe even be a useful and non-invasive DRM system. Yeah, I guess it will depend on how strict they want to get with regards to personal data. If you can use a fake name to register the account, the whole system is pointless. *raises hand* I mean, no way my real name could be more ridiculous than my current handle.

Lol, looks like people are starting to recoil at the mere suggestion of putting their money where their mouth is. I think this is a great way of dealing with trolls and general wankers. Obviously, the problem is for those who have actual reasons to want their identity kept secret (public officials, developers for other companies, media personalities), but I'm sure Blizz will find a way around that. Anonimity = unaccountability. This is bad, in case you didn't know. And, as has been posted earlier, if you don't like it... take your posting elsewhere.

What? He was? I must have missed that. Anyways that referee did try his best to let Uruquay score 3-3... Yeah, those last few minutes smelt a bit of paid-off-ref, but then I remembered he was an incompetent twit throughout the match to both teams' disadvantages. Yeah, especially how the ref managed to miss that handball that aborted the last of Uruguay's chances. Now, what were you saying just a few pages ago about cheating and the rulez? Heh.

No, they didn't "very nearly win". German planning for the invasion of the Soviet Union was flawed at the root. There's this Hitler quote about a kick on the door that I'm sure everyone knows, and it represents his thinking on the matter so well that one would be tempted to think it apocryphal were it not for the fact that Hitler held fast to his idea of a weak Soviet Union until the day he ate a bullet. Axis troops were not prepared for a multi-year operation on the Russian steppe. German military doctrine was, for all its successes, outdated, incomplete and unfit for long-term use in the vast Eurasian plains -- unlike its Soviet counterpart. The German economy not only could not cope with the needs of the military from day one despite being a command economy, but was not completely mobilized until it was already too late and the Axis had lost all strategic momentum... because the Nazi leadership was generally ****ed in the head and basically disconnected from reality (Totaler Krieg speech, 1943). As Thorton_AP has pointed out, it was thanks to the disarray and poor quality of the Soviet officer corps (and the offensive stance that Soviet western formations were deployed on in '41) that the Axis was able to win their initial victories so easily, a lesson the Soviets should have learned in the invasion of Finland, but didn't. Once competent commanders started replacing Stalin's pure yes-men, Germany stood no chance. It wasn't a question of "if", but a question of "when". The high casualties sustained by the Soviets are also at least in part, Stalin's fault, as he stubbornly refused to believe that his pal Hitler had backstabbed him so even in the face of evidence, and later on he kept demanding that his generals launch offensives when they weren't ready. There's also the (in)famous Order 227. In summary, Germany didn't very nearly win at all, not even with the substantial help that Joe Dzhugashvili unwittingly was to them. Barbarossa was a madman's gambit from its conception, if this is perhaps a conclusion that needs of a good deal of hindsight. There's two flaws in this line of reasoning that I can spot at a glance. 1. You are assuming that only Bolshevik leaders are valid alternatives to Stalin. Kerensky was left without supporters not only because he was a corrupt, weak twit but because of Bolshevik activity, for instance. This argument only has merit in the sense that it's very much a matter-of-fact one. The Bolsheviks removed all possible rivals they could find, so they only had their own to manage the country. This isn't exactly an excuse, though. 2. You are also assuming that only the level of lightning-fast industrialization achieved by Stalin's brutal collectivization was enough to hold Germany in check, and that anything below this would have resulted in an Axis victory in the Eastern front. How lucky for us that Soviet production by 1942 was just the right amount needed to push back the Nazi aggressor, no? If those two could be proven, then yes, Stalin did what he had to and may be excused... but you simply can't prove those, so ol' Joe remains just another power-crazed People's Commissar for Mass Murder.

No. In fact, Axis forces outnumbered Soviet troops during the initial stages of Barbarossa, while the Germans still had the initiative. So it wasn't a "much smaller force" at all, more like the opposite. Oh, and by the way, you still have to prove that without Stalinism, industrialization would have been impossible.

Yes, the encroachment by Spanish players in Cardozo's penalty was pretty clear, which is grounds for retaking the kick. In fact, it was clearer in that case than in Alonso's first attempt. Maybe the ref didn't remember that encroaching is verboten the first time around. I haven't seen many penalties being retaken for encroachment though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xil8dz6Uuw

Russia's huge manpower and the ability to mobilize very quickly was most certainly the reason the Soviet Union was able to keep on fighting after the Germans captured or killed more than four million Soviet soldiers in 1941, which all but destroyed the RKKA standing forces in the west by that point. But yeah, I guess manpower didn't really matter.

"Paraguay really was robbed"? What exactly are you referring to? The goal that was disallowed by Cardozo's offside? Seriously, what?

She only does that sporadically, afaik. Publicly, that is. Spain had the ref on their side, according to jackass manager Yup. Like, totally. Doesn't matter, anyway. Germany has been scary effective so far, and I don't see that changing against Spain.

Yep. The Spanish empire was pretty nefarious. It had some bright points (Lepanto) but mostly it was a reactionary blight. Your point? Only Uncle Joe's crimes don't end at the Purge. This is ridiculous and absurd. Prove that only Stalin's genocidal policies could have lead to a defeat of the Wehrmacht, or conversely that without these policies, Germany would have prevailed in the Eastern front. Russia had historically been a power and a very serious worry for European and especially German leaders (Bismarck: "The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia."), so it's insane to suggest that Stalinism helped defeat Hitler, when it's actually most likely the opposite as Stalin's policies were fundamentally conceived to cement his own power, regardless of the cost. Early Soviet history is a contest between national socialists and international socialists to see who can kill the most Russians (and minorities).

That would be a misunderstanding on your part -- I (or that guy) can't be held responsible for your lack of a realistic picture of how things work outside America. Despite efforts (from within Europe, too) to portray Europe as a somewhat culturally homogeneous and politically unified entity, that's not really how things are. If you are suggesting that a Belgian politician expressing fringe historical views in Belgium somehow reflects badly on me as a Spaniard... then I can only assume that you haven't really done your homework.

Why? I'm pissed at neither. From the looks of it, both are just going for an obvious attention grab. I don't feel this guy represents me any more than, say, the heirs of the German American Bund do you. He just happens to live in the same continent as I do.

Proof, please. Also, **** the ref.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Maradona.

The rules should, ideally, make it a risk not *worth* taking, yes. I don't think so. If the idea was that offenses are to be punished so sternly that nobody would ever commit any willingly... they would be. The way the rules are set, tactical fouls are just another element of the game. Opinions to the contrary are, I think, holding the sport to an unrealistically romanticized standard. In fact, for truly unsportsmanlike acts (aggression, mostly), associations have committees deliberate and impose special sanctions on players, after the game. I'm not sure if any player has ever been perma-banned from playing, but the penalties imposed can be pretty harsh at times, regardless.

It could have meant either "some Europeans" or "the Europeans," as he included no article. People generally assume the latter, though. Yeah, technically, it should be "One European literally cannot... etc. as that's all this piece shows. I could go find a similar article about some cranky Stalin-loving lefty and make a similarly silly thread... and I would if this wasn't just the latest lolf troll-fail.

Err... not quite. The Maginot Line was meant to work in concert with the Belgian fort system, as there was an alliance in place when the system was built. Under this setup, the French army would have reinforced Belgian positions and theoretically a breakthrough would have been neither as easy nor as decisive. However Belgium, in a stroke of genius, broke their alliance with the French in 1936, which destroyed the principle around which the Line was built (present a homogeneous defense line to the German aggressor). Germany then outflanked France through "neutral" Belgium in 1940, after steamrolling them. It wasn't as much a military blunder as a political one... as per usual.

How exactly is that some sort of hypocrisy? Someone on death row has had a chance at life and has taken the lives of other's in, usually horrific means and would likely continue. I suppose those who oppose the death penalty yet are for abortions are ok with you. The argument usually goes like this: all life belongs to God, and therefore it's exclusively His prerogative to give and take it. If you accept that man can come up with exceptions to amend what is Divine judgment... well, all bets are off. Looking at it purely from a consistency perspective, it's not exactly the most tenable of positions. However, this is politics... <insert Chuck Norris reference>

Victoria is awesome. Market dynamics, internal politics, international relations, migrations and, of course, war in the advent of the industrial revolution. No tactical battles, though. "Suicide by micromanagement" for some (), Paradox's finest for others. And Vicky2 is coming out soon!