Gorth

Didn't really think it warranted it's own thread and it wasn't really a scientific discovery, but I'm a "fan" of amusing and odd news stories. Saw this one during my lunch break (old history, but I really hate lawn mowing). Honda races to build speedy lawnmower for Top Gear team They are targeting a speed of 130mph (210km/hr). "The main engineering challenge stems from the need to retain the look of the lawnmower on which it is based, and the ability to still cut grass while achieving the speed and the handling characteristics required for this type of vehicle" Should get those lawns taken care of in no time

Got my game redeemed at GoG Now I just need a long weekend (like the one just around the corner) and I can download and start playing. Looking forward to it. Wonder if it has any similarities to Seven Cities of Gold.

Welcome to the Balkans, 1917 Russia doesn't want anything in the vicinity that could end up as a breeding ground for the Caucasus Caliphate recruitment drive, so they don't want the AQ faction to be amongst the winner in the war. They probably feel morally obliged to support the Syrian government in their "War against Terror" ® As for funding... Neither Iran nor the AQ "store front" backers are particular short of money. In short, geopolitics in a messy situation without borders and criss-crossing alliances. Edit to add: It seems a bit comparable to US - Pakistani relations, which are a marriage of convenience, not one of love.

Liquid cooling FTW

A good point, why build a gaming PC? Maybe that's why consoles are so popular, they require less effort to set up and get running. I don't have a console, but I use my PC for occasionally significant workloads, so I build them to work hard. Not the biggest and most expensive of each component (because you pay like 100% for the last 15% gain), but the second best of each. Lasts me 4-5 years. That it also happens to be a good gaming machine is a significant fringe benefit, but not the main objective.

Agreed. I consider RPGs my favourite genre, but I sink more time into strategy games due to their more open ended nature. Exactly. If two campaigns play out the same way in a game, your doing it wrong

If you backed (couldn't for Steam) you can get a free Steam key by just PM'ing them on their Kickstarter page with your Steam handle.Nice, huh? Although from what I hear the Steam version is the most instable of them all, so you might want to use the platform you originally chose it for till it's patched Of the available options, I would prefer GoG (backed it with $100, not sure what that entitles me to, but I started downloading the digital goodies from the urls in the email)

Nothing new... Started a game as Muscovy in EUIII (with latest patches) and continuing the adventures of 'Gorth' the Bounty hunter in SWTor (now level 30). Then I read about the imminent server merges and am going to be royally pissed off if I get forced to rename my character (not to mention nightmare visions of excessive ping times). *Grumble*

I knew there was something I had forgotten I did see the email last week. Just didn't get around to get it sorted out, because I no longer remember what options I chose along the way (i.e. steam, gog, desura etc.). Better get it done today and get something for my pledge

I think longevity and obsessing over may not always be the same, but rather than creating a long list of games in each category, I'll just give the short version: Games I keep playing over and over are the ones where *I* create the story (emergent?). Doesn't prevent other games where somebody tells you good story from being great, but it will rarely beat your own stories for longevity.

I just find it slightly amusing that most of the "rednecks" shown in popular entertainment is waving the navy ensign flag, thinking it was the national flag. Talk about rebels without clues...

Feeling old and tired. Don't remember much of what I did the last week. Tried to focus on a task with the result that the absence of braincells for motor skills lead me to drop a cup of coffee on the floor. Ah well, annual leave is only 6 months off

I'm probably the opposite. I like the PS:T style layout, as long as it takes up as little space as possible As long as the hotkey configuration is good (i.e. not wasting ui space on 'clickable' buttons) I'm fine with the bare minimums being shown (portraits and text feedback box). Edit: Of course, configurable is better, that way I can put the parts on the right side, top side or a bit here and there. Some things just needs to be visible most of the time.

Splitting my limited time between Europa Universalis III (with latest patches) and Swtor. Caved in on the latter and spent a bit of money on "cosmetics". Some choices early on before getting familiar with the game just irked me constantly. For four dollars I could remedy that. Tried an experiment, because the flashpoints seems completely unbalanced when it comes to providing social points. Unless you spend all your time from level 10 to 15 hanging around in the groupfinder queue and do the Esseles/Black Talon constantly (with social point boosts), forget about ever getting any. Gorths workaround: Create a F2P account (ok, preferred status actually, just for the sprint) and level up a pair of toons (one dark, one light) and group up with my main characters. My high level guys kills anything that moves and the b-team just joins the conversations. Problem solved (and gives more SP in 30 minutes of "soloing" than 8-10 hours of grinding the later FP's). Plus, the b-team ends up with some nice gear, despite the f2p limitations.

My memory may be a bit fuzzy, but I seem to remember that part of the legitimacy is that you are easily identifiable as a "combatant" before you start randomly killing people, even if your targets are in uniform. I'm fairly sure the UK killers didn't go around in uniforms (or even armbands or similar) that identified them visually as belonging to a faction officially at war with the UK. There is a reason why getting caught "out of uniform" is a bad idea in a war zone. This wasn't war. It wasn't terrorism either. It was "simple" murder by deranged individuals, most likely with too much time on their hands and listening too much to local demagogues.

Fixed. One of my all time favourite games still runs on the emulators... Damn upstart PC and it's inferior hardware.

I didn't try driving "automatics" for real before moving down under. Seems like all rental cars come with it. Sort of miss the manual control sometimes. At least my motorcycle is still manual

It's like when I have to decide on a glass of Cognac. One one hand, it tastes good, it makes me feel good, it is good. On the other hand, it's alcohol and intake should be limited, it's expensive, so resources are taken from elsewhere and so it is bad. There, covered both sides, ain't I clever? Now hand me the Cognac glass...

It's called "growing up" Only half joking, your taste buds actually gets reduced in numbers and sensitivity as you get older. I recommend Green Curry Chicken and Vindaloo

Carpet bomb the area with Nitrous oxide? When everybody is sitting down giggling, go around and ID those of interest and do whatever you need to do (while the rest is laughing at the hilariousness of it). Ok, maybe not practical, but sometimes you need to think outside the box

I remember watching it 20 something years ago. Still one of the best movies ever

For some reason, the first sentence that sprang to mind was 'There can be only one!'. I know, not particularly funny nor appropriate. Doesn't change that it was the first thought though. Probably because of the absurdity of the situation and the trouble with trying to understand the equally absurd mindset behind the act.

Slightly unrelated, but I'm curious to see what Intels plans are for the Xeon E5 series. They talk about a V2 on current technology to be followed by another version built on Haswell technology. So much for my plans for building an actual workstation early next year.

There is a risk of camels turning into a pest in Australia. Just waiting for the great "safari" where you can go hunting for feral camels and hang their stuffed heads over the fireplace. Edit: In Hungary, Ass bites you! Apparently, Donkeys are lethal predators in Hungary.

Maybe Boeing wants to hire her for future airplane designs?