Peaker

There is no such thing as a plea of innocence in my court. A plea of innocence is guilty of wasting my time. Guilty. -Lord Inquisitor Fyodor Karamazov

I'm, as always, rooting for the Martells, who haven't yet made an appearance, but soon will. Hopefully they don't fuck them up in the show.

The books are a different experience, you get a lot more background material on the different families and you can understand certain things that are kind of just stated in the series. That said the series are very well done and generally very accurate. I recommend the books themselves strongly, you won't regret it. Personally I read them all within 3 weeks, I just couldn't stop myself.

I knew what was going to happen the whole time yet I was on the edge of my seat thinking "Is it now? Or now? OMG WALDER DO IT ALREADY!!!!" In the books though, Robb's wife doesn't die...and her baby doesn't get stabbed either. That was rather gruesome.

Rome Firefly Kings (A weird show that ran only for one season that basically set the story of King David in a modern setting.)

The fact he's decorated or not doesn't change anything to his argument. What you're trying to do here is an appeal to experience, which is a common logical fallacy. Ideals and money aren't the same thing by the way. I said there were a multitude of factors in play, not that profit wasn't one. Let us tale the crusades for example. There was definitely a religious reason, to chase the infidels out of the holy land, or so they said. However there was also a monetary reason, to partake in the riches of the middle east and open routes to the east. And there was a more social reason that pushed the church to advocate crusades, in order to reduce the infighting that was rampant amongst Christian lords back then. The same analysis can be made of World War 2. Sure there was the Lebensraum incentive, the will to secure territory for the Germans to the east, however the revanchism that was prevalent in the population following the Versailles treaty also played a role, as well as the German military-industrial complex which wanted to seize the rich ressources of the east and make more weapons in order to propel the German economy out of the financial crisis it was stuck in in the 30s (A situation which is not unlike post-2008 America). Then there was the much spoken about racial imperative which played a role in making a war against the Soviets and Poles popular. Maybe you shouldn't be so disdainful of college Richards, we learn quite a few interesting things, most importantly the ability to be critical of the information that is presented to us. It also happens that my major is in Conflict Studies and Human Rights (See, that was an appeal to experience, bad). My point stands, you can't reduce a war to a single factor, to do so is simplistic. Does this Major General have a point? Certainly, but it's not only that.

I read the excerpt you posted, but my point stands. This guy is saying war is being waged for corporate and banking interests, to make money in short, and I'm saying it's not as simple as that. While definitely profiteering is a facet of conflict, it's not the only one, and it's easy to place all the blame on the war profiteers and the billionaires that own parts of the military-industrial complex.

It's easy to brand war as simply the expression of corporate and personal interests, and that is the view that most of the left wing seems to have adopted these days. However, scholars have been studying war for millennia, it's causes, it's purpose etc... and we still don't have a definite answer. While personal and corporate interests definitely played a role in the US's latest wars, I do not think those are the sole factors, or even the predominant ones. Clausewitz, Machiavelli, Wilson and other theoreticians of international relations and warfare would each have different answers because such a phenomenon isn't so simple as to warrant a simple mention of "Yeah it was all for the oil.". Then again it's perfectly legitimate and desirable for citizens to ask such questions of their government. During the city-state days of Athens the citizens voted on whether or not the city went to war or not because such important decisions could not be entrusted to a single person (Because they affected the whole of the city). More involvement by the people leads to a stronger democracy. And now I am going to shut up before I start talking about Taylor and soft despotism.

Microsoft's Stock lost 0.66% while Sony gained a whooping 9% after yesterday's announcement.

My big issue is that for me console gaming has always been a social experience. I am by far a PC gamer, but I can't count the times when I took my copy of Bushido Blade 2, Final Fantasy (Whichever number) or Chrono Trigger to a friend's house and we played the hell out of that shit for days. Now, I would have to bring my whole console, if I understand well. Also, there seems to be a big focus on Sports game on the Xbox One, which really isn't my genre. If~ I buy the next gen, I will probably buy the PS4 if they have free online play, and don't basically do the EA style of DLCs where you have to pay for everything. I heard you will have to buy the Kinect separately and thus pay for many of the functionalities that they market their console on. No retro compatibility sucks, but isn't really a surprise. I will be waiting for the PS4 and reserving my judgement until then, though the lineup of games seems interesting thus far, I like the Cyberpunk one, hoping for a good new Final Fantasy (Hahah who am I kidding.) and I've always liked the Killzone franchise. Mostly I will favour the side with the better quality RPGs. I will not be discarding my gaming PC anytime soon though.

My big issue is that for me console gaming has always been a social experience. I am by far a PC gamer, but I can't count the times when I took my copy of Bushido Blade 2, Final Fantasy (Whichever number) or Chrono Trigger to a friend's house and we played the hell out of that shit for days. Now, I would have to bring my whole console, if I understand well. Also, there seems to be a big focus on Sports game on the Xbox One, which really isn't my genre. If~ I buy the next gen, I will probably buy the PS4 if they have free online play, and don't basically do the EA style of DLCs where you have to pay for everything. I heard you will have to buy the Kinect separately and thus pay for many of the functionalities that they market their console on. No retro compatibility sucks, but isn't really a surprise. I will be waiting for the PS4 reveal and reserving my judgement until then, though the lineup of games seems interesting thus far, I like the Cyberpunk one, hoping for a good new Final Fantasy (Hahah who am I kidding.) and I've always liked the Killzone franchise. Mostly I will favour the side with the better quality RPGs. I will not be discarding my gaming PC anytime soon though.

So as all of you hardcore TW fans are preordering Rome 2, I descend from the heavens with an awesome offer: http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/ca/en/pc/g...al-war-rome-ii/ On this page you will find a 25% off voucher on the preorder of Rome Total War 2 if you order it through their website. The activation key will be made available on the release date.

I agree Zorbanos, it always put me off that Sparta and Athens were in the same faction. What sucks is that they're DLCs factions, what the hell.

I dearly hope they reworked the factions so you don't have old Kingdom Egyptians during the Ptolemaic period. Also, I hope they don't have Roman ninjas again.

So I recently discovered this band, composed of two USAF fighter pilots who embarked on a quest to write new fighter pilot songs since the old Vietnam War ones are dating a bit. Here are two that I quite enjoy, look them up, they're rather good. I dropped the Bomb: The legend of Shaved Dog's Ass (The best wingman there ever will be): Oh yeah, songs do include strong language, be forewarned.

Yes, yes they are. Here at least any police officer has to identify themselves and show their badge on request. Something that wasn't always respected during the student protests last spring.

Maybe they'll make a game about Han Solo, and then you will have to pay for a DLC if you want to play Han Solo.

Italian cheese bread Brie cheese Steak Honey and (spicy) mustard sauce (Since it's in a single sauce, it counts as one right!?!)

Stone, gun crimes are far more prevalent in cities than in rural areas. Canada does have cities and that's where most of the (very little) deliberate gun violence happens. Furthermore, you would be surprised as to the level of law enforcement there is in our rural areas. Not to say it's patrolled or monitored as much as cities, but the RCMP or the SQ in Quebec does a pretty good job. As I have already mentioned in other threads, countries with more stringent gun laws enjoy a reduced level of gun violence per capita. Of course criminals arm themselves with knives and bats, but those are much less lethal and can be managed more easily by law enforcement and citizens alike. When I went to London, the largest city in Europe, the only cop I saw that had a service weapon on him had an MP5, and that's because he was guarding the Horse Guard Barracks. The rest had pepper spray and cuffs. In Japan, policemen are trained in a program of non lethal martial arts, and keep a handful of service weapons at the police station, which they check out only if there is necessary cause. Japan says that it helped reduced the aggressiveness of suspects and to de-escalate the level of violence. Now I can hear the cries of "America is different, we have our own history etc..." from 10 000 miles away, but the truth is...you really aren't. Violence is a pretty homogenous concept in Western society and with globalization, our cultures are intermingled much more than what is generally accepted. What I rather see is pro gun lobbies stirring up the public fear (As with everything, there's just so much fear on demand on American TV) in order to attain their public objectives. When a society forms, something called the "Social Contract", according to John Locke, forms. If your social contract depends on the unalienable right for every American to own an M60 (Exaggeration intended), then I don't envy you. However, as long as people are satisfied with the current situation, or judge that it would be more trouble to change, then thing will say the same. Sure, a lot of gums will flap, but things don't change without the awareness and action of the entire society.

Proselytizing is very different from "sharing your faith". Besides, the blog this is sourced from has a distinct "Christian-fundamentalist" vibe, and the author of the article denies the separation of Church and State in the constitution in the last part of his assessment, so I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is. EDIT: Apparently it refers to all faiths and only concerns proselytizing (So going out and trying to convert someone), as opposed to counselling someone who came to the chaplain for help.

Veeeeery nice! You can go anywhere now!

Montreal will not win the cup again for the next 10 years. I base this prediction on absolutely nothing except that I dislike Montreal. If we were to get another team in Qc City though... If Detroit doesn't get in, I'll be rooting for Vancouver I think, on the off chance I watch the playoffs at all.

Soooo true.

I agree with the first part of your argument Marchese, a local crisis is no excuse to suspend individual rights. Sure what happened was terrible but we're talking about two suspects, not a general armed insurrection by an extremist group which would require using emergency measures. As for the second part, well the guy was exactly that, a suspect, who resisted arrest. Pretty self explanatory why they shot him, especially since he plugged a policeman full of holes.

It actually killed and wounded more people than the Boston explosions, however it's likely this one was accidental.