Enoch

The AFL2 team doesn't expect Vick to do anything. This is a cheap grab at national headlines for a tiny struggling franchise. Vick is done as an NFL player. By the time that he gets out of prison and past his NFL suspension, the athleticism that made him a useful QB will be long gone. Whatever he offers won't be enough for an NFL team to risk the negative PR associated with hiring him.

Even if that is the case, if the gameplay mechanics are half as broken as Arcanum's were, it can stay the heck off my PC.

To my knowledge, Krez is correct about the history of cloture in the U.S. Senate. But I can't be the only one who finds his demand of "Where do you get YOUR information?" just a few scant spaces after citing something from Wikipedia to be effin' hilarious.

No, Franken would make 60. (Technically, 58 + Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders, both Independents who are caucusing with the Democrats.) WoD, I don't think that the EFCA is a particularly good idea either, but slapping silly extremist labels on it isn't going to convince anybody that your position is reasonable or convincing. Also, as I said, unless something unforeseen happens, Specter should have little trouble winning re-election as a Democrat in 2010 regardless of whether he has the full support of union leadership. They can try to convince him, but they can't threaten him with much credibility.

I don't think the unions are likely to pressure him much on that particular item. I'm sure the powers that be in the PA democratic organization have promised to make sure that there won't be any major challenges to him in their '10 primary, and the unions are certainly not going to choose to support the far more hard-core GOP nominee that runs against him in the general election. This switch makes him a quite safe bet to be re-elected, with or without full-throated support from union leadership. The area where this will probably have the greatest effect is on judicial nominees. Specter loves his seat on the Judiciary Committee and is very engaged in the vetting and questioning of nominees. He will try to set himself up as the decisive vote over whether a GOP filibuster of a particular nominee is succeeds or fails. In his previous role as the Ranking Minority member of the Judiciary Committee, he would've been under pretty heavy pressure to toe the party line on court nominees. Now as an ordinary Democratic member of the Committee, he can be the rogue moderate Senator who everyone has to entice over to their side if they want a nominee approved/stalled.

Specter has already stated that he's not going to change his vote on the EFCA.

This is all about Arlen positioning himself for re-election, getting out of the hotly contested GOP primary, and into the Democratic primary where he would likely get the nod. His "RINO" status is well liked by the middle-third of the state's electorate, but the primaries tend to go to the true believers (who often have a much lower chance of winning in the general election). Probably doesn't change much with regard to, for example, whether he would vote for cloture on a hotly contested bill or nomination. The demise of the northeastern Republican in the '00s is blowback from the GOP's use of social wedge issues to kill off the southern Democrat in the '80s and '90s.

You also noticed this? We Australians have a little thing called 'sunlight'. The British should try it one day. Wouldn't that only make the ugly British people easier to see?

Neat. I don't recall having seen this tidbit anywhere else before:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spelunking

I don't think that bundling up to avoid getting the sniffles is a particularly useful or fun concept to put in a videogame. (Should we also be penalized if we forget to put our sunscreen on before going outside in the Saudi hub?) But clothing selection should absolutely affect other peoples' reactions to your character, even if it's just to make a crack about what the heck Panama Jack is doing in Moscow. I really like the fact that the clothing options in the inventory include Messy Attire, Casual Attire, and Formalwear. You might be able to gate-crash a black tie gala if you've got a tux on, but if you show up in short sleeves (or in kevlar!), that option has got to be off the table. And I echo the comments above about weapon visibility. Realistically, any mission that starts with your character talking his way into an area should probably eliminate any weapon option other than pistol/melee. (Gameplay and skill-balance issues might trump this, sure, but ideally there should be ways to smuggle larger weapons in if you really want to.) Edit: Just wanted to add that I enjoyed the video a lot. Nice job on the narration, Matthew. What I could hear of the music seemed good, too.

A few stats from this week's Economist: About 20,000 ships go through the Sea of Aden every year. In 2008, there were 111 pirate attacks, 42 of which successfully hijacked a ship. So far this year, the rate of attacks has risen, but the percentage of them that are successful has fallen (18 captures out of 68 attacks). In other words, it's not at all surprising that the primary response has been to take the risk and pay the ransom if the ship is caught. The best precaution is probably to increase a ship's crew, so that you can have full-time lookouts on duty when in dangerous waters. Spotting suspicious-looking vessels early and outrunning them is the best way not to get hijacked, it seems.

Do we really want all the silly codexians to be hanging out around here?

Which makes one wonder what you were wearing over your pants. ?. Walsy is a Brit. To him, "pants" doesn't mean what you think it does.

Shooting for syncopation here: 83984,16,16,33024,0,2,84036,64,64,33024,0,0,33024,0,83972,4

Yeah, it's tough to do other than 4/4-- there are 16 columns, and 3 doesn't divide evenly. 21000,32,128,32,21000,2,132,0,21008,32,2,2,10504,32,65544,32772

Ugh. Solid blocks of "on" tiles sound like someone just sat on the piano.

Right click on the grid, copy and paste here. Here's my second try: 21000,8,4,8,20992,64,32,32,21056,64,0,2,0,41024,20512,10500 I think it's based on a pentatonic scale.

Neat. I tried to set up a basic iii - vi - ii - V vamp on the bottom, and put a basic melody (with harmony in thirds) above it. 21840,40,20,40,23060,0,20,40,43600,40,80,40,46080,320,160,80

What about T-Ray??!

If anyone's curious, here's the announcement thread on Bethesda's forums.

But they've got to split that take with Bethsoft. Given that the latter is providing the engine and the license to use the Fallout name, they'll probably end up with the bigger slice of the profits. I loved the DC setting for FO3, largely because I'm a local. But FO's heart is in the desert, and it'll be nice to see a wasteland that is a real wasteland. I wanna step out of the vault and see nothing between me and the horizon but a few sun-bleached gecko bones. Also, official forums-- here or Bethesda?

Some additional thoughts: We know that it's not going to be a Fallout 3 sequel. But will it be a Fallout 2 sequel? I don't think I'm alone in seeing this as a chance to get the Fallout-3-that-should-have-been. Bethesda did a decent job, particularly in that they nailed the thematic elements that are really at the core of the franchise's appeal. But now we get a chance to see a modern Fallout with: A) a less broken rule system, B) characters that actually inspire some empathy, C) a main storyline that actually makes a tiny bit of sense. Also, does this mean that Obsidianites have been taking "research" trips to Vegas on the company dime? No wonder devs haven't been posting around here very much lately...

Kewl. Seems like a quick development cycle. Does this mean that they're using Bethesda's engine/assets/etc.?

I wear this hat when it is cold or rainy outside, but it comes off when I get to where I'm going. Pairs well with the topcoat and scarf I'm usually wearing in said situations, and folds neatly into the coat's pocket. Otherwise, I've got a couple old baseball caps I wear for some outdoor activities (e.g., office league softball)