I simply cannot even begin to fathom what this guy's personal sex life has to do with his job. Why should it matter in the slightest? If a guy in the upper echelons of Norway's elite was unfaithful with his wife, the media might mention it, but apart from that it'd be business as usual.

One word: "honeypot"

I'm guessing size 11's. <squints> Oh....SCANdals.

Romney gets my vote because:

He is against gay marriage;  please note, I do not believe gay partners should be prohibited from receiving the same benefits married couples receive in regard to taxes, insurance etc.  From a purely religious stand point however, I believe "marriage" is between a man and a woman and I ask you to please let this go, as it is not worth discussing further than this.

Jesus saved a whore, touched lepers and cured them and used non-Jews in parables. I have no doubt that if Jesus were to come back today He would say "WTF, why don't we have gay marriage across the nation yet?" Jesus was the defender and savior of the unloved, the unclean, and the un-desirables. To say that one is against gay marriage because of Jesus-based religious beliefs ignores what He was all about.

it's that time of the year again, although this is supposedly tied in with everything that has happened in the other films:



I wonder how many more years in a row we can expect a new PA film.

Judging from the reverse aging trend I predict 5 will be about toddlers being terrified. 6 will be shot mostly from baby monitor cams - ie. crib and diaper changing scenes. 7 - ITS IN THE WOMB!

tempting, but with them not really releasing replacement instruments anymore (and places asking crazy prices for what is still available) I'm holding off on any new DLC.  you'd think after nearly 2 years they'd do a new batch of instruments.

Still rocking the ION kit here - that's most of what I care about.   

Ditto. I think Harmonix' best decision was to make the ION kit compatible with electronic drum kits. I was able to expand the number of cymbals by using Pintech electronic cymbals with no problem at all.

Forget being drafted. I see a Fahrenheit 451 type future where police and fire departments have their own version of 'the Hound', based on the Cheetah.

If they manage to keep that name for release I will be amazed.

I seriously doubt it will stick around once the publisher gets involved. Only an independently produced project would be able to keep the name.

Looking forward to any game set in this time/place.

That's an awesome name for the game. What if they released it via Steam? You think Steam would object? 

One wonders if he would have similarly commended her for making a courageous and personal decision, knowing how he thought,  to abort the baby.

The wife and I watched the first episode via On Demand. We like it! 

Actually Autistic, and I know this will be wildly unpopular here, but I don't care enough about debating with you all to do any more than that.  It's helpless, and not even close to being worth my time.   

It is what it is and we can agree to disagree.  I'll stop the hit and run posts in here and let you all carry on amongst yourselves.

Chris

I can make it real simple. Either you are part of the 1% and therefore like Romney's plan. In which case good on you, because that's probably the best case scenario for you to keep your 1% status.

Or, you just like supporting the 1% on the back of your increased tax burden. In which case I'd like to come out and say I'm part of the 1% and we can skip the government middle-man. Just send 10% of your income to my bank account. I'll send you an email. Look for "Nigerian prince" in the subject header.

Not even close Gratch.  Maybe in your socialist fairytale land.

Except that Gratch is correct, of course.

I don't understand what part of Romney's pledge to cut taxes on the 1% and broaden the tax base (i.e. raise taxes on everyone else) is supposed to be appealing to me. But I am willing to learn. If only someone could explain why I should feel good about that?

I can think of at least one person who's not okay with this.

Granted, he's partially at fault for not backing up his data, but that's still some scary and heinous crap on the part of the hackers.  

Oh no doubt. I promptly enabled two-factor authentication after reading it and thanked the lords of kobol that I don't use apple email.

Yeah, I feel badly for him. But still, not backing up any of his photos? Even if he wasn't hacked there is still the possibility of the laptop getting stolen or the hard drive failing out of the blue. Was he going to wait until his MacBook started acting funny before he backed stuff up?

I don't consider DVD commentaries to be part of movie plots.  And it's not really an "again - " moment if you wrote the "again" part after I wrote my comment.

Yeah, I don't have the DVD so I don't have access to the commentaries. So I too was left to ponder whether it was real or recall.

[Spoiler]

Side note:  Did anyone else think Bane sounded like Deckard Cain?  Kept expecting a "Stay a while and listen". 

That is exactly who he sounded like. 

Saw it yesterday and was trying to place where I had heard a voice like that before. OMG! Bane sounds like Deckard Cain!

I liked the movie. I came into it not expecting TDK so I found myself enjoying it and the references it made to the previous two movies. And as for Bane:

Spoiler for Hiden:

After seeing him get shot by Catwoman I thought, "So he can't dodge bullets. Wonder why more people haven't tried shooting him sooner?

We're going out on Sunday, so I guess I'll learn more then. I do think there may be an element of cat-and-mouse involved on her side, but I guess I can't fault her for that. As I mentioned in my original post, I'm just trying to determine what the hell is going on based upon her mixed signals.  

Is this the same girl from the other thread? If so, wouldn't the Sunday outing have given you a better idea of her motive?

Same guy did a pretty exhaustive blog w/ photos about it here:
http://m.digitaljournal.com/article/328574

She's not a man, baby! 

Lessons? Probably working as designed for the guys who wrote the law.

+1000.

"See fellas", says Newt. "If you put the little bastages to work early enough you'll keep them from voting. NOW who's the smart guy for suggesting we put 'em to work in high school?"

They're reusing a lot of tech and working on something they know how to make.

The engine is the Space Marine engine, the gameplay is very close to CoH1 with notable additions. They also know exactly how many people are interested in buying this.

This sounds like a relatively safe bet of a game.

+1. I know I'm in.

Anybody know who the catgirl is in the Bad-Anon meeting?

No melee!

Well that's pretty damn lame, but I can probably live with that. My gal Hedy will just have to take her aggression out with a PPC 10, or even better an AC 20!  

[Edit] I saw this list of 'Mechs (Atlas, Awesome, Cataphract, Catapult, Centurion, Cicada, Commando, Dragon, Hunchback, Jenner, Raven, Stalker, Trebuchet) and noticed that none of them are jump jet capable. So I'm guessing jumping is out too?  There's still 4 that are unannounced, so one can only hope.  

The Jenner in the "Light Mech Developer Breakdown" video had jump jets. The dev showed off using the jump jets to get behind the enemy scout mech.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Aliens in at least 6 years and don't remember the details enough to be able to compare the two settings. And my guess is that the average Prometheus movie goer hasn't seen Aliens very recently either.

Details? I think the fact that Prometheus shows the planet being sunlit and looking like New Zealand is different enough from the Alien planet all dark and Hades like to be a big glaring difference.

If you've seen the old movies, you know this isnt the same planet, due to the name.

I have seen the old movies. In fact, I watched Alien again less than a week before seeing Prometheus. But I still didn't realize it wasn't the same planet until I read that online. Seriously, do you think most people who casually watch these movies will remember that the planet name that briefly popped up in Alien was LV-426 and not LV-233? As far as I know, that's the only way to realize that this isn't the same planet, right?

I could be wrong, but wasn't the planet in the Alien movie all dark and dreary? Like, all the time? While the one in this movie actually has sunshine and sparkles? Well, maybe not sparkles but there is a definite day night cycle, and in the daytime it doesn't look quite so scary (aside from the storms).

[Spoiler]

Things I learned from Prometheus:

Spoiler for Hiden:

1. If you're going to be a bro-scientist (acting on impulse without all the facts, drinking when things don't go your way) you will be a shitty one and your only hope is to tie your research to someone who is actually more research oriented than you.

2. If you're going to ask people to go on a long cryosleep voyage to do some research, run psych tests on them to filter out the obvious failures. Like:
 a. a biologist who freaks out over dead bodies. Seriously?
 b. a geologist who gets the creeps from being in caves.
 c. scientists who listen to the bro-scientist and take their freekin helmets off before checking for alien airborne pathogens. Something you'd think the biologist would be worried about more than the dead body.
 d. scientists who can't be bothered to check their map (i.e. what the sensor probes mapped out) to find their way back out. Like subjects a. and b. who should have been filtered out from the psych tests

3. Bring nukes. Especially if you're secretly hoping that the scientists are all wrong but wondering what the hell can go wrong if they are right.

Seriously though my main complaint was with bro-scientist. Simply because he was just not believable. I could be biased, but then again I've never ever met a bro-scientist. Then again, all the scientists I've met were brilliant and competent in their field .

[After Action Report]

After Action Report
Pilot: 1st Lt. Allan Brannigan
B-17G: Polka Dotty ( 1 )
151st Squadron
Mission: 99
Date: Sept 22, 1943
Target:  Hannover, Germany
Position: N/A, night operations
Crew Status:
Pilot 1LT Allan Brannigan ( 1 ) Bailout, captured
Copilot 2LT Kurt Parkey ( 1 ) bailout, captured
Bombardier 2LT Cody Wengerd ( 1 )  bailout, captured
Navigator 2LT Johnny Patel ( 1 ) KIA
Engineer Sgt. Gregory Trent ( 1 ) bailout, captured
Radio Op Sgt. Greg Sidney ( 12 ) bailout, captured
Ball Gunner Sgt. Justin Martineau ( 1 ) KIA
Port Waist Sgt. Russell Wakefield ( 7 ) bailout, captured
Starboard Waist Sgt.Jeff Durrett ( 1 ) bailout, captured
Tail Gunner Sgt. Kevin Looper ( 1 ) bailout, captured

* = 1 kill
# = 5 kills

Fighters Claimed this mission (Dmg/Prob/Kill): 0/0/0

B-17 Status:
lost over target zone
 
Debrief compiled from various eyewitness accounts:
Polka Dotty reported as having a good run to target, no enemy fighter interceptions.
A searchlight found and fixed on bomber during target run. Bomber reported to be trailing a plume of fire on her right wing. Most likely due to a flak hit on the inner starboard fuel tank. Eight chutes reported exiting the craft. No word on which of the crew survived. Due to the location of the target all hands presumed killed or captured.

I think you'll be disappointed if you think this is going to be a high fidelity tank sim.  They've already said it's not.

Not a high-fidelity tank sim. I have Steel Beasts pro for that. I was thinking spiritual successor to M1 tank platoon. And especially with the larger forces involved, something akin to Combat Team but as a computer game instead of a book.

  whoa! This could potentially be the game I keep hoping Steel Beasts would evolve into.

Just took this picture from the roof of my apt building. An amateur astronomer had set up a telescope and was viewing it with a couple of friends.

That speck on the Sun is Venus.

Oooo! A solar funnel! Did you happen to ask what material that was? The plan I downloaded from the internet called for the material used in rear projection screens but that looks like cloth.

And I got clouded out when trying to view from my house. At 5:30-6 it was clear. Then 6-8pm all clouds.

Can anyone set up a private server?

[After Action Report]

After Action Report
Pilot: 1st Lt. Lester Husby
B-17: Maid'n America ( 11 and final)
151st Squadron
Mission: 96
Date: Sept 16, 1943
Target:   Montlucon France
Position: middle, middle squadron
Crew Status:
Pilot 1LT Lester Husby ( 11 ) KIA
Copilot 2LT Sam Lohr ( 11 ) CAPTURED
Bombardier 2LT Charles Morgan ( 4 ) LW CAPTURED
Navigator 2LT Tim Stenzel ( 11 ) *** CAPTURED
Engineer Sgt. Wesley Havener ( 11 ) #** CAPTURED
Radio Op Sgt. Greg Sidney ( 11 ) RESCUED
Ball Gunner Sgt. Karl Harshmann ( 11 ) # CAPTURED
Port Waist Sgt. Russell Wakefield ( 6 ) RESCUED
Starboard Waist Sgt.Daniel Peterson ( 5 ) CAPTURED
Tail Gunner Sgt. Dave Welk ( 7 ) ** CAPTURED

* = 1 kill
# = 5 kills

Fighters Claimed this mission (Dmg/Prob/Kill): 1/5/1

Bomb Run: Aborted due to inoperable bomb bay doors

B-17 Status:
bomb bay doors inoperable
starboard wing aileron inoperable
tail gunner oxygen supply out
port wing root
starboard wing root
bomb bay fuel tank hit over Zone 4, causing fuel fire in bomb bay
 -piloted into ground by 1LT Husby
 
replacement: TBD

Debrief:
<Transcribed from oral debriefing supplied by Sgt. Greg Sidney>
This was a FUBAR mission from the get-go. Sir. I knew that having a fuel tank in the bomb bay was just asking for trouble. Why they couldn't have stood down the crews in the 'F' models I'll never know, but I do know that if it weren't for that fuel tank the Lieutenant would be here giving the briefing instead of me. (light sniffle) I think for damn sure we all would have made it back. If not for that damn fuel tank.

We were attacked by three FW190s right out over the Channel. Its like Fritz was saving his Varsity team for this one day. Luckily those all got chased off by little friends. Contact was not too bad until we got around the Meulans area. This lucky dumsonuvabitch in an Me110 comes up low on our 6 o'clock and nails us right on the bomb bay door mechanism. Its all jammed up. Can't open, not even manually. So the Lieutenant officially declares an abort and turns us around for home.

You'd think we'd all breathe a little easier but no, we can't. Cause our bay is still filled with three 1000 pound bombs and a big fuel tank that's still pretty full of gas.

Fritz hit us with everything he had once we got close to the Rouen. Its like he wasn't going to let us go. Not this time. Five 190's and a lone 109 hit us hard. Our little friends weren't too friendly this time around, only chasing off one of the German fighters. We managed to get one of the initial attackers at 9 o'clock high to break off the attack. Then another as he was coming around to 3 high on his second attack. A third 190 was heavily damaged on his third successive attack but he kept coming in and gave us a scare with several shell hits. Luckily none of them hit anything important.

It was the third 190, who missed his first attack, then his second, that did us in on his third. When his shell hit it sounded kinda like "plunk", like a rock hitting the water, you know? Then I saw the flames start coming out of the bomb bay and I knew we had to bail out. I kept count of everyone as they bailed out and kept calling for the Lieutenant on the intercom. Lt. Lohr came back and said that Lt. Husby was going to stay. He said he was going to stay and fly the plane straight and level to make sure everyone else got out.

Well he did. We all got out. And everyone except me and port wast gunner Sgt. Wakefield got captured. Sir.

ISS captures Dragon unmanned supply capsule. Best Geek Pride Day Ever!

A summary of mission 95 was put up on boardgamegeek and it was pretty sobering. Of 17 bombers dispatched, 5 were lost, 1 was damaged so badly it will never fly again. Two had to abort on the way to the target. Our aircraft losses equal 35% of the squadron. Fifty men KIA, 8 in the hospital with serious wounds, 18 with light wounds, 9 missing in action.

Of the aircraft lost, first one to go down was the one at the tail end of the low-low position. She was blown up by an Me109 whose shells cooked off the bombs in the bomb bay. Two were shot down by flak over the target. One with a direct hit in the port wing, and the other a direct hit in the starboard wing. The fourth went down after completing the bomb run - crew bailed out over France. The last crashed on landing with a poor soul stuck in the ball turret because it was jammed.

Our squadron claimed 29 fighters destroyed, 20 probables, and 13 damaged. 20% of bombs were dropped within 1000 ft of the target.

With so many aircraft and men lost the 281st bombardment group is to stand down for 5 days as new aircraft and replacement crews come in from stateside.

[After Action Report]

After Action Report
Pilot: 1st Lt. Lester Husby
B-17: Maid'n America ( 10 )
151st Squadron
Mission: 95
Date: Sept 15, 1943
Target:   Romilly Sur-Seine, France. A/D
Position: middle, low squadron
Crew Status:
Pilot 1LT Lester Husby ( 10 )
Copilot 2LT Sam Lohr ( 10 )
Bombardier 2LT Charles Morgan ( 3 ) SW
Navigator 2LT Tim Stenzel ( 10 ) ***
Engineer Sgt. Wesley Havener ( 10 ) #**
Radio Op Sgt. Greg Sidney ( 10 )
Ball Gunner Sgt. Karl Harshmann ( 10 ) #
Port Waist Sgt. Russell Wakefield ( 5 )
Starboard Waist Sgt.Daniel Peterson ( 4 )
Tail Gunner Sgt. Dave Welk ( 7 ) ** LW x 2

* = 1 kill
# = 5 kills

Fighters Claimed this mission (Dmg/Prob/Kill): 0/0/1

Bomb Run: Off target 0%

B-17 Status:
top turret inoperable
bomb bay superficial damage
waist superficial damage
starboard wing, superficial damage
 
replacement:2LT Douglas Nark, bombardier

Debrief:
If there's anything this war has shown me, its how things can change so much from the efforts of one man. For Fritz it was the lucky SOB who dove on us and raked our fuselage. And for us it was the efforts of Sgt. Havener. But let me start from the beginning.

Enemy contact was light on the way to the target. In fact, we had just one, as we passed over Le Bourget. An overeager pilot in an Me110 came at us from below in a perfect vertical climb. It was almost like he was standing still, which let Sgt. Harshmann pour hot lead right into the engine. He exploded in a bright fireball, giving Hashmann his ace status.

It wasn't until we were approaching Romilly that this lucky SOB came at us. He was approaching our formation, about 5000 feet above us, then rolled inverted and went into a vertical dive, headed straight for our bomber. It was so fast our fighter cover couldn't do anything about it. Nor could Sgt. Sidney or Sgt. Havener, in the radio room and top turret guns. He walked his shells from nose to tail, hitting Lt. Morgan in the leg, knocking out the top turret guns, nicking Sgt. Sidney in the right arm, and Sgt. Welk in the left arm. He came at us again on our 12 o'clock but missed. Never saw him again.

Sgt. Havener took the opportunity to get the first aid kit and attend to our wounded, since the top turret guns were out. Lt. Morgan was first, since he was the only one seriously wounded, requiring a tourniquet to keep from bleeding out. Meanwhile we went on our bomb run as the navigator, Lt. Stenzel, took over the bombardier station. He didn't know the first thing about using the bombsight but I told him to just open the bomb bay doors and drop when I told him to drop. I was going to take our cue from the bomber ahead of us.

And the flak came. Superficial damage to the starboard wing, but Sgt. Welk got hit again, this time in the left leg. He was wailing something fiece, but Sgt. Havener told him he was going to be fine. I couldn't tell at the time, but his efforts led to Sgt. Welk only suffering from slight loss of blood from his two light wounds.

Obviously our bomb run was off target. But still, we managed to dodge all the flak on our turn home. The three Me190s who wanted to see us off were shooed away by little friends. After that it was back to almost no enemy contact all the way home, either from not having any contact at all, or fighters being driven away by our fellow bombers. All our wounded will recover, thanks to the efforts of Sgt. Havener. Unfortunately the base doctor tells me Lt. Morgan will lose his leg, and thus not be flight capable at all. But at least he gets to go home.

Lt. Lester Husby

[After Action Report]

After Action Report
Pilot: 1st Lt. Lester Husby
B-17: Maid'n America ( 9 )
151st Squadron
Mission: 94
Date: Sept 10, 1943
Target:   Dovai, France. A/D (Vitry-En-Artois Airdrome)
Position: middle, low squadron
Crew Status:
Pilot 1LT Lester Husby ( 9 )
Copilot 2LT Sam Lohr ( 9 )
Bombardier 2LT Charles Morgan ( 2 )
Navigator 2LT Tim Stenzel ( 9 ) ***
Engineer Sgt. Wesley Havener ( 9 ) #**
Radio Op Sgt. Greg Sidney ( 9 )
Ball Gunner Sgt. Karl Harshmann ( 9 ) ****
Port Waist Sgt. Russell Wakefield ( 4 )
Starboard Waist Sgt.Daniel Peterson ( 3 )
Tail Gunner Sgt. Dave Welk ( 6 ) **

* = 1 kill
# = 5 kills

Fighters Claimed this mission (Dmg/Prob/Kill): 0/1/1

Bomb Run: On target 30%

B-17 Status:
moderate damage to pilot compartment
 
Debrief:
This is the first mission that I can safely say is a milk run. No enemy aircraft approached our position from the start of the mission through the bombing run. Interestingly enough it was over the target area that bombers in our vicinity started drifting apart, resulting in a fairly loose formation. Flak was light, and our new bombardier was able to see better in the daylight, as opposed to last mission. Estimate 30% of bombs landed in the target area.

The loose formation allowed for more enemy fighter activity as we made the turn for England. Still, enemy fighter cover was relatively light over the target. Of four Me109s that attacked us one was driven off by our little friends. Another went down in flames after Lt. Stenzel gave him a good burst with the starboard cheek guns. An Me109 did manage to get through and strafe the heck out of the cockpit. Its a miracle nothing vital got hit, including Lt. Lohr and myself.  He came around again to our 3 o'clock where Sgt. Peterson gave him a good burst, forcing him to break off the attack. Unfortunately no one else could confirm whether the enemy fighter was destroyed, so he is still scoreless in confirmed kills.

Ironically our loose formation seemed to help the other B-17s drive fighters away from our aircraft. Fritz made one last attempt over zone 2 with two Me109s, but the little friends arrived to drive them off. All the boys are back safe and sound.

Lt. Lester Husby

Hah - puny dragons  The Might of the Templars will shone a light unto thy faces until they melt.

Aye, may the light of the Templars shine on our enemies and may we smite our foes with righteous wrath.

[After Action Report]

After Action Report
Pilot: 1st Lt. Lester Husby
B-17: Maid'n America ( 8 )
151st Squadron
Mission: 93
Date: Sept 8/9, 1943
Target:   Boulogne, France. G/B
Position: N/A. Nighttime bomber stream
Crew Status:
Pilot 1LT Lester Husby ( 8 )
Copilot 2LT Sam Lohr ( 8 )
Bombardier 2LT Charles Morgan ( 1 )
Navigator 2LT Tim Stenzel ( 8 ) **
Engineer Sgt. Wesley Havener ( 8 ) #**
Radio Op Sgt. Greg Sidney ( 8 )
Ball Gunner Sgt. Karl Harshmann ( 8 ) ****
Port Waist Sgt. Russell Wakefield ( 3 )
Starboard Waist Sgt.Daniel Peterson ( 2 )
Tail Gunner Sgt. Dave Welk ( 5 ) **

* = 1 kill
# = 5 kills

Fighters Claimed this mission (Dmg/Prob/Kill): 0/0/1

Bomb Run: Off target 5%

B-17 Status:
landing gear inoperable (-3 to landing)
rudder hit
tail superficial damage

Debrief:
RAF Bomber Command had helped us out recently by lending us some of their crews to fill out our bomber squadrons. Bomber Command had called on our bomber group to return the favor by participating in a nighttime bomb raid. It was a short raid, to Boulogne on the coast of France to silence some long range heavy guns.

We saw no enemy fighters (codename Tame Boars) on the way to the target. We saw searchlights criss-crossing the sky, trying to find a bomber to hit. Karl, our ball turret gunner called out in shock as the glare from the searchlight hit the Maid's belly. "I think they found us" he yelled on the intercom. I alerted Sgt. Welk to be alert for any Wild Boar fighters on our tail, now that we were lit up like a Christmas Tree. Flak also increased as it seemed all the guns decided to turn on us.

We got hit by three shell bursts. One lucky hit took out the landing gear and we suffered some damage to the tail rudder. Then a Wild Boar snuck up on our tail and started his attack. Luckily our luck held and none of his bullets even touched the Maid. He peeled off and dove under us, trading altitude for speed. Then he came around underneath and tried a vertical climb to get in range. Sgt. Harshmann squeezed off a nice burst and got Herr Rookie right in the canopy. Solid kill.

I wish I could say good things about our bomb run, but Lt. Morgan is fresh from the States and this was his first bomb run. Off target with only 5% accuracy. Flak completely missed us as we headed out of the target area and turned home. Sam and I actually managed to land the aircraft with no further damage to the plane or crew. Despite our light damage I can say with all honesty that I hope to never do another night raid. The Brits can keep the night. I'll take my chances with the light of day.

Lt. Lester Husby

Played for the first time last night. At first I was like, okay, this is nice. Then I started falling into some random team ups around a thumper or some other objective. Played as a medic. OMG so much fun just dodging around and healing people. Getting to level 2 and building the vampiric healer was even better. Then I could heal myself by draining life off the lower level critters.

Finally played on a thumper squad today. It was nighttime on the server. Lots of fun at night, with the low visibility and having to use flashlights to see the enemies. I like how the flashlight beam is tied to your gun, so it moves down and away a bit while you're reloading. And OMG seeing two people die because they were standing right in the thumper drop zone. Too funny! Reminded me to pay attention to large red circles on the ground .

I'm having a blast with this game and I haven't tried PVP yet.

Got my invite from Grue. I guess I can be moved to the other list