Dewar

I can say that back when the Xbox 360 launched, I bought it because I wanted to play Oblivion and I knew that if I got a console it would just work, rather than having to mess around with technical specs and such. There is definitely a draw to having an all in one package, software and hardware the same company, and the exclusive software that comes along with it. On the direct comparison line, that laptop you linked has a crappy 5400 rpm drive that will perform significantly worse than the Macbook and drain more power to boot. It also weighs three times as much and a worse resolution screen. I can say from working with a lot of business users that weight and start-up time mean a lot to folks. I've been known to carry around a 15lb laptop walking to and from class in my college years, but lots of users will complain about having to carry an extra couple of pounds to and from the car. I should note that I hate apple products (comes from growing up near Redmond) but I do understand the allure. Edit: This ultrabook might be a more apt comparison: http://store.acer.com/store/aceramer/en_US/pd/productID.305568800 It's got a more powerful processor than the MacBook, but weighs more and less battery life (if you can trust the battery life estimates at all)

I... don't understand. So many of the individual things said in that article make sense, but then to assemble them all into... whatever it was that they were doing. My brain hurts.

Finally getting near the end. There was some water, and a bunch of decisions to make. I still really really hate Morrigan.

Star Wars is pretty cheesy to begin with.

I read that book. The art on the page for the actual ship is so dumb. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darksaber

I love my set, but I've not really used great knives before, so I don't have anything to compare them with.

Man, I completely missed Hockey this year. I just haven't had a lot of time to watch sports I guess. I hope Seattle gets a team eventually so I'll have more reason to follow it closely.

In Dragon Age, I was too good at the romancing and hit a bug where I got too high of a relationship with Leliana before her "loyalty" mission hit, so that mission never came and thus the romance didn't consummate. By the time I realized the problem I'd already made it through a couple of tough endgame fights that I didn't feel like repeating, so that's the way I ended. It felt very realistic, a connection was there but things just didn't line up right, even if it was a glitch that caused it. When it came time to play Dragon Age: Inquisition, I went back and forth on how to setup the stuff in the Keep. I ended up fudging it and saying Lelania and the Hero of Ferelden had a relationship. In the end, it was the right choice because Lelania has a few lines here and there missing the Hero, and it's still a wistful missed connection. At some point I had intended my actual Inquisitor to be all business, but so much of the interesting dialog is to be had behind the <3 options, that I ended up flirting around a bit. I had a fling with Iron Bull, but despite being told that it was fun scene, it didn't actually deliver what I wanted out of a relationship. Now I'm about to fight a duel for Josephine's hand in marriage, and thinking I should have kept with my original idea of just not bothering *shrug*

Yeah, the logical part of me understands that it doesn't have to be that way, certainly. I also know that I have a lack of perspective on the issue. At the same time, kids getting in trouble for calling other kids names is stupid. There is a line between physically/mentally damaging and "kids will be kids;" it's a tough line to track. I guess I ended up pretty nihilistic from my experiences, but I feel like enduring that crap has been useful in my later life where I just don't put up with that anymore, period.

I bought it, but haven't read it yet. I figure the first step is admitting that I have a problem?

Sarcastic Answer: Because we all have to put up with bullshit all the time, so best learn how early. Real Answer: Because you can't stop it from happening. See GG

I liked that episode a lot too, you got to see the characters in a different light for pretty much the first time (excepting mind control or strange alien viruses forcing them to act wierd)

Bullying is a weird subject for me. When I was in late grade school and middle school (age 9-14) I was bullied to the point of injuries and no one in the school system cared. I toughed through it and thankfully my parents were supportive and eventually pulled me out into home school. Part of me wants to say "I toughed it out, so can kids these days" but I also have to remember that I was very lucky to have parents that cared and a lot of kids don't have that support to help push through it. Plus, just because I had it hard doesn't mean that future generations should.

To be fair, his character point was supposed to be that that he volunteered to be one of the first folks tested on for the biotic implants and the lab rat/body horror thing, but Bioware failed to really make it come out in the first game. I accidentally killed him at the end of ME1, so I never got to see how he developed, but it had to be better than how Ashley ended up.

Mordin: "Human ingestion of tissue could provoke allergic reactions. Anaphylactic shock possible. So don't, ah, ingest." Garrus is the best. I would have considered Mordin if he was interested.

I've completed all the sigil puzzles in A and B, and have only run into a couple puzzles so far that have gotten me into an unwinnable state where I've had to reset everything. They're generally pretty good about putting ladders or cliffs to jump off to get you back to the start again. Maybe I'm just not getting stuck in quite the same way you are, but I've found it nice how it's fairly non-punishing. Except the guns and mines of course. I don't know why they decided to put things that can kill you into this otherwise relaxing game. If I have to weave between sets of floating mines one more time...

While Tapestry isn't a Q story, it does setup some character stuff for him that makes the finale make a bit more sense. I like Tapestry as an episode on its own though, so I'd recommend it anyway. Hide and Q and Qpid are pretty campy and silly, but Deja Q doesn't make quite as much sense without them, and I've always found them fun. In the end, I really like the idea that they were running with to sell additional DVDs before the new remasters came out of having a "Q set" and a "Borg set" etc. Those DVD sets were especially awesome because they crossed series.

Oh? Can you get more specific?

Nice, I miss being in the country where these sorts of things are more practical.

I think it would be worth it to see all the Q episodes, especially the pilot, as the good ones aren't quite as good without all the context, and the finale relies heavily on information from the pilot. Also, some of the plots carry over to later series as well as introducing some reoccurring enemies. Bolded for the ones not on SAM's list. "Encounter at Farpoint" 1x01 and 1x02 "Hide and Q" 1x10 "Q Who?" 2x16 "Déjà Q" 3x13 "Qpid" 4x20 "True Q" 6x06 "Tapestry" 6x15 "All Good Things..." 7x25 and 7x26 If that list is somewhat daunting, you could skip Hide and Q, Qpid, and True Q, especially if you're not interested in the Voyager and DS9 tie-ins.

Keep a close eye on the broiler, it doesn't take long. The main goal is to toughen up the bread so you can rub the garlic on it without it just punching through.

When I was young we took a road trip from our home, near Seattle and the Cascade mountains out to Omaha. It was seriously unnerving for me to be able to see the horizon like that. I imagine it would be roughly equivalent to a kid living inland for their whole life and then seeing the ocean for the first time. Thinking about it now still makes me nervous.

That's what I didn't like about Warcraft 3 and WoW. In Warhammer everyone is terrible, but in WoW everyone is just misunderstood. Sometimes I don't need to know that such and such badguy was abandoned by his parents and that's what made him evil.

Hmm, he doesn't have a Wikipedia page, he can't be that important.

Nice, I've been looking for a good speed test site for a while.