Armstrong 1st MRB

That's strange, you'd think that with today's tech and after WWII along with the Cold War being two of the biggest spy games ever for refining techniques, you'd think that we could get good information on exactly what is going on in there and who is who, especially in a country that is in the state that Syria is in. I guess the CIA and other Agencies responsible for gathering military intelligence have gotten rustier than they've been letting on over the years.

That's bit of a leap to claim that every rebel in Syria is a follower of Al Qaeda or is an Islamic Fundamentalist. Just saying.

I had succession problems on my Ireland King due to Gavelkind and No Crown Authority, meaning I had to wait for my Grandson in order to finally change it to Primogeniture. My solution, kill off every single potential successor that your family has other than your immediate heir. Use plots to have people killed, or pay assassins in conjunction with your spy master if you want to take a risk. When my first son came to power after my king died, I had to kill all four of my own siblings before they grew up due to my vassals wanting to claim them for the throne. Its not really a solution though, as once you start marrying off daughters to foreign lords then your vassals just start to get them and their descendants involved, they'll go through every damn potential successor that there is regardless of who they are. So, an even better solution: ensure that you have a large stockpile of money(for Gifts, Assassinations, or Mercenaries) and a large amount of soldiers and Fiefs under your direct command which will be passed to your heir at all times. Gavelkind is good if you have only one son, that's what I learned from it, but since that isn't feasible in many cases do your utmost to ensure that you get the laws changed as soon as possible to Primogeniture, and maybe even Absolute Crown authority. But yeah, best solution to prevent succession crisis in my mind would be to kill all of your unneeded children or relatives, but the more realistic solution would be to just make sure that the odds will always be stacked in your favour if rebellion occurs. Or you can kill your vassals and replace them with Lowborn Courtiers or Lords who actually like you, in that regard you should also avoid foreigners for as I found with having to deal with Anglo-Saxon and Norwegian descended Lords on my Irish Lands, they are just a pain in the ass that you want to kill or breed out as soon as possible.

If you want to play as the real Martells, there is a very good Game of Thrones Mod for Crusader Kings II where you can play as any of the Families and they go from the time of the original Seven Kingdoms, to Aegon's Conquest, Robert's Rebellion, and The War of the Five Kings. They even added special features like Incest, Magic(Like Melisandre), and the Night's Watch, no Essos yet though unfortunately. I don't know if they have fixed their problems with the latest release of Old Gods, but I heard its a very good mod, and I intend to get the updated version when I'm sure its ready. Then it'll be time to make my own Red Wedding of the Freys, Boltons, and Lannisters. King in the North! What year are you at in the main campaign though? The Mongols aught to deal with the Russians and maybe even the Germans if you're willing to be paitent.

I went out to see this film for my 19th Birthday, I had liked the looks of the trailer right before Django Unchained when I bought it on Blu-Ray, and I knew and enjoyed the work of many members of the cast. I also liked the potential behind the ideas that they used, a group of expert magicians using their skills to pull off some grand feats and get out of situations that would be otherwise impossible to get out of all for some greater goal. I felt that they could have done a good job with this movie, and I doubted the bad newspaper review my friend showed me about it since I don't trust newspaper movie reviewers anyway after their crappy reviews didn't align with how I judged the quality of the movies I'd seen. Unfortunately for me, the papers got it right for once. They said that the biggest problems with the film was in the plot, and after watching the movie, I can safely say they were right. See, I loved the first fifteen minutes of the film, I loved how they introduced us to the four magicians and brought them togather right in the beginning in what I thought was going to be a story where we followed them and were supposed to grow attached to. Well, for those who haven't seen the film, I can tell you right now, ignore everything that you see before the title hits the screen, and every other scene where they show those four characters, because as interesting as they are, you're not supposed to be interested in them. You're supposed to be interested in the story of the Police Detective and his French Interpol Partner who is trying to bring them down, and that of a Magic Show Critic (Morgan Freeman's Character) who to me was probably the more interesting of the two to watch. I couldn't believe what the writers must have been doing when they wrote the plot for this movie, because its crazy. Characters and plot lines are dropped and picked back up at almost random points, long stretches of dialogue (particularly from the French Interpol Agent) which may be supposed to evoke something profound or emotionally stirring in us as the viewers get boring, the tricks which are very cool and are attempted to be explained are not fully explained, reasons behind what certain characters are doing in the grand scheme of the story are paper-thin at times; and to cap it all off, the big twist at the end is a mix between completely random and just plain textbook in a bad way. I don't know how many of you guys saw it, or intend to see it, but I'm glad that the workers at the theater didn't even check my ticket so that I can get a refund(which I haven't take up since I'm a fool like that). I'm dissappointed in it more than anything though, because I think the film could have been amazing; but it turned out to be just full of nice flash and paszazz which I believe failed to execute itself in a good manner. Its scary to me too, because they were able to fool me into wanting to go see it immediately after I saw the trailer and to pass down what other people said about it beforehand(Not that I pay much heed to other people's opinions on a movie I intend to see anyway before I see it.). If more movies are going to come out like that, I fear for what the business is going to become.

I play it, probably the best medieval Dynasty simulater out there that I have seen. I've got two games on it going right now. On one, I've conquered all of my rivals and became King of Ireland and am now planning to take the rest of Britannia, and on my other I am a Norse Pagan who I just made King of Norway and am now trying to crush the family that historically becomes Kings of Norway and convert it to Catholicism. Its just so fun playing with how things turn out in different scenarios compared to how it occured in history. Once you hit the start button from whatever date you choose, things will not go the same as history intended, or even the same way that they did the last time you played from the exact same date. Its a great game, and I reccomend the expansions Old Gods, Sunset Invasion, Character Creation, Legacy of Rome, and maybe even Sword of Islam or The Republics.

Every Revolution in history has moderate and radical elements to it, whichever one will come out on top at the end is anyone's guess. One thing I am sure they agree on is that they want to see Assad deposed, and given that he is probably now using chemical weapons on his own people, I think its fair to go in and supply them with material aid to even the playing field so long as they are okay with pissing off Iran a little bit more. I wouldn't start making judgements that all of the Rebels are all looking to get back at the U.S.A. after they are done with Assad though, because I'll guarantee you that all of them aren't. I have a theory that the North African and Palestinian Islamic nations for the past few years have been experiencing something similar to Europe's overthrow of Absolute Monarchs. They want to be free of these guys who have been in control for decades upon decades, and I think they should be given the chance to have it. That's just me though, the other course I'd suggest would be to just let them all sort it out themselves. Unless Assad is commiting mass genocide of his people, I don't think the world has any other legitimate business over there

I don't exactly know what you're talking about in terms of games, 1st Lt. Goodwin. The PS3 has had a bunch of very good ones enter their library in the past year. Look at games like Heavy Rain, Infamous 2, and more recently The Last of Us. Just about every PS3 exclusive I've played has been good, though I will say that there are less and less exlcusives, many are becoming cross-console or even multi-platform, even PC games to an extent.

Sorry, Lt. Col., but I think those of us that have finished the game feel that the ending isn't worth spoiling to those still playing who are interested. Maybe I should just put (Major Spoilers!) after the title to make it simpler? In reply to your comment, Morton:

I agree with his actions, partially because I could sympathize with him at that point. If it had gone otherwise I think he would have had a breakdown and we'd see an ending even more sad than what it was. Truly this is an excellent game, and I cannot wait to replay it again for more stuff and to see where Naughty Dog will take this.

Thank you guys, I'll be sure to enjoy it.

Its is PS3 Exclusive unfortunately, as for me I've been playing non-stop as well. I have made it to the University of East Colorado and I am still loving it. I played the multiplayer as well and its pretty damn good for a game that has put so much effort into the single player, only played a few four vs four survivor deathmatches though. The game hasn't made me cry yet, I've had a few close calls at the very start, and the Radio tower shocked me, but I have a feeling that i'm going to be balling at the end of it, I just that feeling. People said the game reminds them of The Road, but personally I find it to be more like Children of Men in terms of emotions provoked and storyline in my opinion. Anybody with a PS3, if you guys haven't bought this game, get some cash togather and buy it!

I just started playing this game and have made it almost to the point where last year's E3 demos showed. It is absolutely kick-ass. The combat is visceral, the dialogue and voice acting is great, the pacing is upbeat in some parts and slow in others to match the scene, and the suspense and panic in some parts is pretty knarly. I haven't tried multiplayer yet, but it looks cool too. Definately reccommend buying this one.

Yeah, I liked parts of it, but the bit on miracles stuck with me because I find the logic to be simple and flawless.

Very nice trailer, I've never played any of the Tom Clancey games, but I must say that trailer looked fucking outstanding. I agree with everyone else though, it would be pretty cool if we grouped up for it. We'd probably be more organized than most groups starting out. I also wouldn't worry about paying for membership, with the amount of money that MMORPGs make off of sales alone nowadays, many of them don't need them.

Anti-semitism has to be one of the worst things to still hang onto at this day and age. The Jews aren't planning anything, they're good with money because their ancestors have had to scrape a living out of next to nothing for over a thousand years. Not to mention the fact that its basically impossible for all Jews to be involved in something like a major conspiracy, human individuality of opinion makes it so. Not to mention the fact that its a dated and stupid concept to hang on to in my opinion. "Bolshevik regime"? Is this guy communicating to us from the Cold War Era? Fear of communism and socialism is another stupid phobia that I think people shouldn't bother putting faith in, some social services and social security would probably be better for all of us than what we have right now. As for the surveillance thing, yeah what he said is a very good set of valid points and you guys should take it upon yourselves to raise hell against these unnecessary measures which are being upheld by unstable reasons at best. However, don't let fools like this guy be at the head of it, please.

Mr. Aaronovitch asked a very smart question, and I don't think it was right of Mr. Jones to snap out at him like that. Not that I trust most of what he says anyway after he tried to disect the movie Prometheus as the blueprint for the Illuminati's plans of what they want to do. As far as I know, Ripley Scott has no connection to any conspiracy group, and I'm quite sure that the Illuminati are interested in other things besides Aliens, coming from me who has an Uncle who is a member of a Masonic Lodge. If you want to convice people that a conspiracy theory is true, you have to be able to have a level-headed debate with clear evidence to prove that it is true to anybody who might question you. This guy should look up David Hume's theory on miracles, its a great concept of proving how things that seem unbelievable could be true. Its what I think conspiracy theorists should strive for, presenting enough damning evidence to everyone in the world that there is no other explanation that it has to be part of a conspiracy.

I'm going to get a PS4, the games Sony has had behind them have always been awesome, and they've just proven that they can once again outdo Microsoft. Cheaper product, better deals on multiplayer, better handling by the looks of it, and what I think will be better games. I'm waiting on Infamous: Second Son Watch Dogs Dragon Age Inquisition (Hopefully EA doesn't fuck it up for Bioware like ME3) The Witcher: The Wild Hunt (Finally they are selling to the Playstation crowd and not just Xbox exclusive and PC, but I'm contemplating getting a new PC for this goliath rather than switch it to a console and waste all my time spent on the other two) Assassins Creed 4 (I'll eventually get, even though I'm not that hyped for it right now) $400 though? That's cheaper than the PS3 was when it was first released if I remember correctly. I think it was $500 when it first came out.

Me too, by what I've seen many of the main characters will be back (Arya, Victarion, Theon, Brienne, Sansa, Tyrion, and Davos all have confirmed chapters) and the first things he'll do is tie up the loose ends he left with Dance of Dragons, namely what happenned at Winterfell, and what happenned at Meeren. I'll wager that they'll be selling copies of that damn book so fast that they'll be paying the shippers double to get them out faster.

Good thing for that I am not really a big multiplayer fan myself, so I'm just grinning with delight that Playstation wiped up the floor with Microsoft. Just goes to show that just like the Xbox 360 and PS3, whatever Microsoft can do, Sony can do better. PS4 will be on my wishlist along with a couple of games I am highly interested in: Infamous: Second Son The Witcher: The Wild Hunt (Though I may get this for PC so that I can upload my previous data, which means I'll need a better PC) Watch Dogs Dragon Age Inquisition Before that though, I'll enjoy Beyond: Two Souls and The Last of Us as excellent send-offs for the PS3.

Winds of Winter should be out by this Christmas if what I've heard is correct. I'm glad that by the sounds of things they saved Oberyn Martell and the battle at The Wall for the second half. How far did they get along in Daenyares' story? Is she at Yunkai yet?

Make sure that there is no reasonable doubt in your mind that the convicted committed the crime, don't be satisfied just because everyone else is. Jury duty may take up perople's time, but its a person's future you are determining for them, so its not really something to be taken lightly. If you have any doubts that the prosecution cannot satisfy in their presentation of the case, then vote not guilty, I say. Oh, and be wary of persuasive lawyers. Just because they say something very well doesn't make it any more true.

I agree with what he is saying, I think in many cases throughout history, war (not civil war) has only benefited the few rather than the masses. The first wars were waged by rival chiefs and local rulers for more land and resources, then it became about prestige and who pays tribute and taxes to who, and now we have modern war; where its corporate or business interests covered over a shroud of legitimacy. This legitimacy spans across both the public and the military itself, the soldiers are told what they are doing and are given tasks that fit the logical pupose of fulfilling that goal, but that doesn't mean that the grunts are told the whole story. Lets look at the current wars in the Middle East and why the UN is over there. Oil is the common assumption, and that may be a side goal, but I believe that they are there for other reasons that involve spheres of influence. Before the wars in the middle east, the U.S. (And the UN, we might as well include them too) didn't have a substantial foothold anywhere in the theatre. Now, since the Soviets were gone they couldn't use them as a reason to go in, but we all know the reasons they ended up using. Currently there are over 112,000 troops in Afghanistan alone, over half of them are U.S. troops and although they are promised (along with our Canadian troops) to come home soon, I doubt it, and I'll tell you why. My Anthropology Professor explained it to us, he said that it is in the UN's interest to have a large force stationed in the Middle East, along with numerous military installations and various other forces stationed around in and around it because although Afghanistan and Iraq are no threat to them, what if Iran, Pakistan, or another country in the area were to act up? Then they have a quite substantial army is within spitting distance of the border. It gives them a huge amount of influence and control over the area, even if it is not a openly stated fact. Its a valuable position to be in if they ever want to try to influence things to their desires. Not that it benefits the soldiers dying over there weekly or their families.

Who do I root for now? The Lion. Never Nay, the Targaryeans will reclaim their Empire with Fire and Blood, and so long as one Stark yet lives I will continue to root for them to reign in the North. Speaking of Season 3 though, I saw a review that an editor made in our local newspaper, and I must say I was not impressed by it. The man had not watched all of seasons 1 and 2 fully, he hadn't read the books, and he wasn't too enthused about the premise or the setting to begin with. Why the heck he would even try to comment on the third season without at least having watched the others I don't understand, HBO barely has enough room to fit everything they need to without having to backtrack over what has happenned with any high degree of detail. He made comments on the growing lack of nudity which he said is common in HBO series (which if he had read the books it would make sense as well, because there is less as the books go on; and HBO went beyond it to begin with anyway). He also thinks that Joffery is like a villain pulled out of a cartoon, and other than that I cannot remember anything else other than that he said that the people he talked to liked the first season better than this one, even though they still enjoy the series greatly. I understand where some media outlets try to provide a unique perspective by making people who have no interest in a film's genre or premise watch it to get an unbiased opinion, but I think its a double-edged sword when you have a guy who is thrown into the middle of a series and has less than a full understanding of what is going on when he already isn't enthused about it. I don't know, and I don't care, I'm stilling going to by this damn season when it comes out.