FredEffinChopin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HaR6aHh9FA

Yeah, I thought he was making it look good too, and I still wasn't completely convinced until I saw his face as they took him off... Even then I didn't expect the extent of it to be that severe. I felt terrible when I found out though, just as the last game (congrats Argentina, btw) began. I hope he recovers as best as possible.

Yeah, I've had this Moto X for maybe a month now, and it's sort of annoying the way they treat "location" now ("now" because I'm assuming it's a KitKat thing). The power control widget doesn't work properly anymore, as location now has 3 settings: Off, on, and high accuracy mode. What's weird is the default power widget does have a display for both types of "on", but can only toggle between two settings. I've found though, that my battery seems to drain equally no matter what I have on or off as far as GPS/Wifi, so I'm leaving it on. Kinda creepy. Makes me think that they're just always on no matter what I tell them. I wouldn't be even a little surprised to find out that that's the case. Google Now just got pushed to a bunch of my friends' phones in the past couple of days, and it's funny trying to watch them makes sense of it. It's funny watching Google try to make sense of it. I think the idea is "Get the ultimate data-gathering service into play now, and figure out how to make it sound appealing to users later". I have been experimenting with it and trying to see if it's got anything to offer. I've mostly come up empty, but there are a couple of neat things going on, even of the whole thing isn't fully cooked as far as the options go. I do like that if you take a steady commute it tries to show you different routes and travel times. That's really the only thing it's done that I've found very cool. The weather card is nice too, and I'd like it if they put the slider on the card itself, though it's quick enough to open the window.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/07/03/world_cup_player_introductions_a_deep_analysis_of_how_soccer_players_fold.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-congress-is-in-session/2014/07/01/0f9e9dbe-015a-11e4-b8ff-89afd3fad6bd_story.html Interesting for a couple of reasons, but depressing for the comment section.

It's amazing how much the US team is being coddled by the media, and I hear that UK media are similarly patronizing. It certainly was an admirable rally, but with the exception of a few players, they really didn't put on much of a show. Speaking of those few players, this is for Tim Howard: As with the movie this clip i from, his skills don't guarantee a win... Still though, what a night for him.

I'm fairly certain we won't see eye to eye on this specific point, but I need to make sure that I am being understood as intended before letting it go. I'm not citing the invalidity of their religious beliefs as a basis for saying that their religious beliefs don't qualify them for these specific exemptions. Hobby lobby has two separate beliefs (ridiculous as the beginning of that sentence is) that bear on their stance on these 4 contraceptive methods. One of them is a religious belief that prevents them from participating in anything abortive in nature. The other attempts to be a scientific sort of assertion about when a pregnancy occurs. You can't combine the two just by saying "religious" in between them, or by saying the scientific assertion is religious because the person that holds them is. If someone is trying to argue that the thing they don't want to pay for is something that they believe is against their religion, they should be able to demonstrate that that thing is what they say it is, which in this case is abortion. What's not to stop abstinence from being abortion next? Or the 16 other contraceptives that they are agreeing to provide? It's a misunderstanding of the methods in question, and I don't think it should be confused with religious belief or protected as such.

Thanks for that. I should have just investigated the term more closely, as I wasted as much time as it would have taken if not more writing that first paragraph. I'm not saying their religious beliefs are wrong. There is simply no such thing as a religious belief about IUDs or the morning after pill. Not even a false one being presented. The argument seems to go: HL: "Our religion dictates that abortion is wrong, and so the morning after pill is wrong. As such, we won't be touching those." Doctor: "Actually, these things aren't abortive in nature, they preventative. They don't qualify." HL: "I don't care, I'm telling you that I think that it is an abortive process, and so I'll be expecting protection against it anyway since it's my religious belief." That is not a religious belief about those IUDs, it's a misunderstanding of the science behind a medical procedure. HL had said themselves that they aren't against contraceptives, they just don't believe that 4 of the 20 items being offered fall under that category. The parameters that they used to define that categorization were roughly "Life begins at conception", and the philosophy goes back to a Bible verse in which someone ejaculated on the floor. Not that that's relevant other than to point out that they should probably be against all contraception. The relevant part though, as that they don't have an earnest religious reason for their "deeply held" beliefs in regards to these 4 methods. It's a challenge of a process that has been thoroughly sussed out, so that it would be redefined so it too can be ignored on religious grounds. Honestly, I think they would have a better argument if they would rather forego all contraception, as at least there would be consistency. They are just deciding that they get to define when a pregnancy begins, rather than the people who have observed and taught us how and when it begins. The hormonal procedures and birth control pills that they are ok with aren't any less physiologically disruptive than Ella or or Plan B. Certainly the vasectomies they support are more so... Nothing on that list though ,aborts a pregnancy. The problem here is the idea: "Yeah, but the sperm already went into the body with this one." The part about corporations having religious beliefs is of course monumentally stupid (or dishonest, if we're being cynical/real about it), but the Supreme Court decided that a while back that they are people, and that money = speech to boot. I'm not surprised by it in the least.

I could be mistaken, but I understood this decision to apply only to very small businesses. It's a terribly slippery slope though, and Justice Ginsberg pointed out that there is nothing about the logic being employed in this decision that applies exclusively to small businesses, despite the deliberate wording of it. So while Hobby Lobby might ironically not qualify for an exemption at the moment, the precedent set gives them a platform from which to bitch more in the future. So yeah, I know the distinction isn't especially significant in the scheme of things, but I felt I should mention it. Again, unless I'm mistaken (and someone please correct me if I am), it's not quite as horrible as it seems... yet. Not that it makes the decision any less asinine, or the arguments any less dishonest. I will say that I'm a bit more receptive to weird exemptions from certain things when it comes to mom & pops with literally a few employees. Only slightly though, and I'm not sure this is one of those cases... I'm not especially surprised though, not by this court. I'm honestly more surprised that they were split that closely. I'd not have batted an eyelash had I heard that they unanimously ruled that contraception be a voluntary provision for every corporation, and that the FDA, doctors, pharmacists, and everyone who wears a white coat to work must write an apologetic letter to Hobby Lobby. Here's a nice little bit of intellectual gymnastics from Justice Alito: "In this case, the companies’ owners say that four of the 20 contraceptives approved by the FDA work after an egg has been fertilized and thus are abortifacients. While many, if not most, doctors and scientists disagree, Alito said the point is that the owners believe offering such services — such as the morning-after pill and IUDs — violates their religious faiths." I guess that's how we make our decisions now. Don't worry about science and the observable universe, it' what you arbitrarily believe that is important now, as long as you can tie it even tangentially to religion, and as long as that religion is some brand of Christianity. Tangentially is a generous word to use for this silliness, really. The Bible(s) don't say anything explicit about contraception, it's mostly just a false conflation of "religious" people and the values system that has prevailed in those religious communities. Just to make sure that I was correct about that (spoiler alert: I am), I checked a few sites out, and all I found was a bunch of very selectively interpreted and extrapolated nonsense, most of which only actually references a single verse that sounds like it applies to the act of male masturbation as much as it does to contraception. That shit isn't convenient though, so we'll just leave that there and keep what we like. How common is that theme, after all? I know a lot of religious people, and I see a lot of them on TV and read a lot of their words on the internet. They're usually not especially virtuous, and often far from it. By their own standards they're largely sinners, yet they don't let that stop them from chasing everyone around with a bag of stones when it suits them. Many of them are casually religious, and that's when you really get to see the convenient adoption of beliefs and practices at work. Watch these people fuck their way through partners until they get married, and even through marriage, then watch these same people talk about how ungodly homosexuals are for existing. They can turn their heads when it comes to divorce (in that sacred institution that they swear is constantly under threat by same-sex couples), but try to challenge them on a wedge issue that some shithead overemphasized for political capitol, and watch their religious beliefs suddenly become "deeply held". Kiss my ass with that bullshit already.

Damn. This comment simultaneously reinforced and made me regret passing on the Steam sale. I've been meaning to get back into the series with an online game (I know there has been at least one already, but the titles have been confusing me for a few years now, and I'm not sure if any others do too), which is why I passed. That recommendation is hard to ignore though... I might have to jump on it next time it gets cheap. As far as GOTY, I have to review what I've played and get back to this... I feel like it's been a weakish year.

I just came in here to see if anyone had posted a link to that lunatic's remarks. That's pretty desperate, even for her. I guess outrage hasn't been paying as well in 2014, and she needs to step her game up. I can't wait to see how low she winds up stooping before people finally stop listening at all.

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jun/27/world-cup-uniforms-inspired-by-game-of-thrones-families

GOG has been very nice as well.

Potential release date.

I feel like such a sourpuss lately when it comes to games... I don't really have a lot of good to say, which makes me feel bad for coming to be a stick-in-the-mud in this thread. This series in particular though, I think I'm officially finished with. After sticking with Watch_Dogs for as long a I could stand, I figured I should finally get around to playing Assassin's Creed 3 while I still had Ubisoft's E3 advertisement installed on my computer. Plus I could get to Black Flag already, which I recently snagged, as it looks really cool. I didn't last more than a few hours. The whole thing felt like a chore, and way too familiar. It was one of those moments in gaming that made me wonder how it is that I've been playing video games for as long and frequently as I have, considering the limitations of what can be done with a screen and a control interface. Not even the time/setting was enough to keep me interested. It's possible that I just became sour towards the entire thing quickly and didn't give the plot enough of a chance, but that was coming off as incredibly standard fare as well. I think I've just played too much AC. I skipped Revelations because I needed a break (I'm pretty sure they announced it while I was playing the fairly-new Brotherhood), and figured AC3 would be the perfect breath of fresh air to get me back in. I think I've just done it enough times though. It's nearly impossible for me to give a shit what piece of Eden (or whatever it's called) is going to be discovered at the end of any particular narrative, as it's all already left me with the impression of taking the greatest number of chapters possible to get from A to B. At the end of the day I feel like they just bombarded me with something I enjoyed until I couldn't stand to look at it any more. Not that they are a model for productivity, but compared to SE, there were about as many (main, "canon", even though the term doesn't apply to FF as well) AC titles in a single console generation as there were FF titles since 2000. Or maybe SE does have a pacing that I prefer, even if it's for all the wrong reasons (delays and general lack of any direction, typically). When people complain about people who don't want to have to install Uplay (or Origin, though I understand that one is less problematic), they often question why nobody cares that Valve has a similar service. Aside from the fact that people did and do care, I can personally say that I'd much rather do business with the company that makes two great games in a franchise over a long period of time than the one that does everything they can to promote a sort of palette-swap (to the point where when they finally develop a new game it still kinda resembles AC in ways) development culture status quo. I'm really not crazy about these guys who make games in a series every 14 months on average, and sell you new DLC every 8-12 weeks on the way to the next title that will make your previous game and DLC (especially if it was online-oriented) obsolete. Unfortunately, they seem to be the ones most interested in giving platforms like Steam competition. Anyway, aside from all the shit I just talked, I still might decide that I'm ready to give Black Flag a whirl at some point. A couple of friends told me that they liked it much better than AC3, and I did already buy it, it can't hurt to fire it up at least once. It'd be wasteful not to. I'm pretty sure I'm really far away to thinking about their latest AC endeavor though. Ubi and I can talk again when I hear some news on Beyond Good and Evil 2 already (or just something else that I enjoy). I'm sure we'll be playing Assassin's Creed Deep Space Nine by that point.

Absolutely. I find it terribly cheesy. To be fair, I'm pretty sure cinema abused it well before video games became good looking enough to. It's kinda like this for me: It's mostly the "THE END IS NIGH" kind of graffiti that conjures ridiculous imagery for me. I wouldn't pick on it if I didn't see it with fair frequency, but it seems like it's pretty common to imagine that desperate individuals, in times of greatest distress, will naturally turns their attention to scrawling phrases on a wall. Preferably in something that looks like blood. Either that or it's pretty common to lean on a tired-ass trope that one can almost set their watch by in certain types of movies/games.

Has anyone brought up post apocalyptic graffiti yet? Not just in those settings, but wherever people are in despair and / or crazy, it seems that the first thing they do is scrawl on the walls in places where passersby night come and get creeped out.

I used to use Appy Gamer quite a bit, and was definitely pleased with its look, functionality and customization options. I certainly did encounter the duplicate stories, but it didn't kill the experience for me. I think I just stopped using it when I just stopped checking game news as much. I'm sure that'll pick up again eventually. There are other apps in the "appy" line too, as I recall. I think a general tech one is one of them, and there may be others besides that. And Swiftkey is awesome. It's going to be even more of a lifesaver now that I'm finally moving onto a new phone today after clutching my current one for years because of its awesome physical keyboard. At least I'll have a familiar interface and a solid predictive game right out the gate.

I wish I could play it for the first time again.

Hard for me to give a crap about John Snow at the moment with the Tyrion's little neck hanging in the balance. I enjoyed the episode despite that though. Totally unrelated, my friend forwarded me this, which I thought was pretty neat.

It seems hard to imagine that someone hasn't mentioned it in here, but my thread search didn't reveal anything, so here is a link to the Escapist "Game of Thrones Abridged" series. Sorry to be Mr. Years-Late, but I only started watching a month or two ago. I'm deciding to forego the books, as I'm quite enjoying having all of the twists of the show work on me. When it's all over I'll dig into them. In the meantime, I'll just have to carefully traverse the internet to avoid any (more, as Joffrey's death is the spoiler that made me finally start watching so as to avoid any more) spoilers. I'm not sure if tags were necessary for that...

The atmosphere is one of the only things I'm really appreciating. The little details of what people are doing are neat. I witnessed a few interesting things, including a freestlye battle and a sort of rooftop party, with two of its members slightly separated from the rest (down a staircase, but still outside with them), but occasionally shouting across to the others and laughing before going back to their private conversation. A lot of that goes to shit though, once you get into a car and 8/10 visible people decide that they immediately want to either cross or stand in the street aimlessly. The pedestrian behavior is just a bit bizarre once you're in a vehicle. I understand that most open world games have AI that are made to look casual as they interact with you in a special way compared to everyone else, but it's so painfully obvious in this game, to the point it's a distraction both for how much it kills the mood and for how annoying it makes the game to play at times. To get back to the awesome in the atmosphere though: The map. Big, detailed, and gorgeous. I'm on the fence in general so far. I have some fun with things here and there, but certain elements are ruining the experience. The criminal convoys are driving me up the wall in particular... I think I'm gonna try to leave them alone for now until I have more abilities... Not that the ability tree looks especially promising or exciting so far. I can't shake this feeling that that this game is the uninspired child of Assassin's Creed and GTA. Even the shape of Aiden's stupid outfit reminds me of AC garb as I freerun through Chicago, and all 50 of the outfits available for purchase seem to be nearly identical so far. I don't know, it feels cheaply conceived, from the gameplay to the bland-as-fuck story and characters. Like an outline that a competent author handed off to some team to bring to life. Like I said, I'm on the fence. I'll like it for an hour, get stuck on a convoy for an hour and hate it, then watch a bit of cutscene and roll my eyes and shut it off. I have spent lots of time being entertained just by reading little details about strangers, but even that started to wear off. Anyway, here are my screens so far.

I totally negelcted Ping throughout the game, along with a few others. I'm not proud to say it, but I didn't switch up the repertoire and experiment nearly as much as I should have or expected to. I mainly tweaked where necessary, and used functions passively (I unlocked those slots first) much of the time rather than combining them. I haven't discovered a single 3-piece combo yet haha. Unless one of the tests had me do something like that, which is totally possible. They share some nice combos with you via those things... I don't know why I insisted on playing like such a square. I'll try to live it to the fullest on the NG+. I definitely have to try that one you suggested. I had a feeling that there was probably some awesome draining combo or two to be put together. That could be a game-changer.