budgie
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Posts posted by budgie
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AFAIK the M4 was slated to replace most M16, but that was just a matter of giving the infantry a shorter weapon. the M16A4 is just as modable as the m4 (I've seen shots of the guys in iraw with all the same kit:flat top and scope, laser pointer, flashlight and GL all hooked on to the RIS handguard). Incidentally the Marines seem happy with their M16A4s and in no hurry to change. Then this XM8 thing came along and all I can say is I'm glad its on hold. I know it's basically a G36 but the G36 is sexier. I don't like the XM8 cuz it's ugly.
The reason (I read in TIME) troops in the beginning of the Iraq war were picking up AKs was mostly for ammo. The rush to Baghdad stretched supply lines thin and guysw ere running out of ammo for their issue weapons so they picked up guns and amm from the vast chaches abandoned by the Iraqi army. They also said the AKs were less likely to jam - which of course they're well known for being.
Having read oodles on the AK47 and its variants I can rattle off with confidence the main reasons for popularity:
Cheap: Easy to produce in vast numbers
Simple: Any fool can operate and minimal training to strip and clean
Makes 'every man a machine gunner' if need be
Basic: Can be made in Afghan or Pakistani village workshops with simple toolings
Reliable: Due to simple design is sturdy and less prone to malfunction
Effective: They say the 7.62 versions in particular have excellent stopping power
Available: Made and distributed in vast numbers by Soviets then Chinese through ideological conflicts of the cold war
Symbolic: As the preferred weapon of third world armies has also found it's way into the hands of guerillas/freedom-fighters/terrorists worldwide. Widely percieved as 'the weapon of the little guy'
As far as I know the lows are that it must be heavy by today's standards - a pound or two more than an M4; because if the wide disparity in manufacturers and methods quality must vary a lot; also most people have written that it's not particularly accurate esp. at long range - again see quality as I doubt one slapped together in a Peshawar workshop is as good as one machined on a production line in North Korea.
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Well guys I've just finished the first two levels on my brand new copy of Doom3 and I can confidently say it is all it was cracked up to be. The Graphics are gorgeous (I'm running on a P4 2.53 with GeForce FX 5200 at 800x600 with full effects and details) and the sound is very high quality.
Doom 3 was never meant to be the be-all-end-all and I believe it has stuck faithfully to its roots. Remember that nail-biting, gonad-shrinking fear of creeping around a dark moonbase not knowing when a demon is about to leap from the shadows? That was 1993 and the game that changed gaming forever. Well that feeling is back and even scarier given the creepy music and shifting shadows.
There are new bells and whistles - the staple 'storyline with cutscenes' that drive linear shooters from mission to mission. The music is eery and creepy and the Mars base environment is lifelike and and believable, with atmospheric easter eggs like dirty toilets you can flush and a TVs play a galactic CNN-like news service.
There are actors and humorous tidbits to lend atmosphere as well. The creeping fear of being alone in dungeon-like surroundings while nasties stalk you has been done before and done well - in Wheel of Time and Alien Vs Predator - but remember Doom did it first and the other 3D shooters have ridden on id software's shoulders ever since.
I only hope that GR2 so faithfully lives up to the promise of its predecessor. Doom3 is not groundbreaking (although the near photorealistic graphics are a great leap forward) but you'll get a good scare, have some adventures and a few laughs, and be impressed by the sights and sounds. It is a polished, well-crafted game that is ambitious but remarkably unpretentious: Doom is what you paid for and Doom is what you get. And for $35 you get at least 20 hours of it which puts it ahead of a lot of recent shooters in the value stakes. Doom3 is a faithful, product-improved sequel and that alone is rare these days.
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I'd still like to see a shot of this uniform on real terrain. Not that blue prototype - some of the green stuff. I wanna see how it stacks up in the trees or against the sand.
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Actually it is mentioned. But there is a mass of political controversy and the apolitical Japanese people rarely get in the mix. On one side you have the academics - teachers and professors who believe history in all its ugliness should be taught; on the other hand there are the conservative elders of Japan (including the government in this highly patriarchal society) who sincerely believe that the Japanese don't need to know the bad stuff their ancestors did lest it damage their national/ethnic pride.
On paper local school board are free to choose whatever textbooks they use to teach their kids. This should mean that they could gain access to a wide variety of foreign and local publications that address the nasty stuff. However the Education ministry - stacked with conservative bureaucrats, not academics - vets all texts and censors and recommends changes. Hence the invasion of China becomes an 'advance'. The attack on pearl harbor becomes a desperate measure by a country stifled by embargos and blockades. The conquest of Asia is an attempt to 'liberate' neighbors from western colonialism. The 'comfort women' are mentioned but at best are cited as prostitutes and at worst are simply not explained. Yes the Atomic bombing recives a lot more press and as I said reinforces their notion as victims. Pretty one-sided all round.
This is a result of decades of policy and started in fact with Gen. MacArthur's occupation. The Americans accepted surrender and left the government intact - weeding out only the worst abusers to be tried as war criminals. Even those executed such as Prime Minister Tojo were allowed to have their remains enshrined at the war-dead memorial at Yasukuni Shrine - a focal point of controvosy today whenever modern leaders go in remembrance. The Imperial household which was at least complicit in Japanese aggression was left alone. They were handed democracy on a platter and the politicians 'reformed' overnight. The American occupiers saw this as necessary to keep Japan's deep and rich culture intact whilst under occupation by a foreign power.
MacArthur's people also wrote the constitution of Japan which renounces war. This was the beginning of the Japanese self-image as a peaceful people - an image again reinforced by the sense of victimhood after the atomic bombings and defeat. This peaceful self-image would be shattered by admission of the crimes Japan committed to receive such harsh punishment. They have come to believe that peace is somehow in their blood and they could not possibly have been so cruel.
So in shame and denial, successive generations have in turn hidden, glossed over or whitewashed Japan's imperial past. A few people are vaguely aware of the details and feel some real guilt. A few refuse to accept it or have been taught that these are lies. Most often the refrain I hear from younger Japanese is that "We don't know, they didn't tell us." And that is true. Most simply don't know.
Where does that leave the Japanese today? Iris Chan's book The Rape of Nanking which examines that atrocity in horrifying detail and seeks to address the post-war cover-up still hasn't found a publisher in Japan after 6 or 7 years of trying to break into the market. Successive publishing houses have refused outright to take the job or have insisted on adding footnotes that dispute her claims (especially tallies of the raped and murdered). Japanese readers can get Englsih copies but the bureaucrats know that Japanese are not fluent English readers the way, say Malaysians or Filipinos are.
The powerful War Bereaved association - a lobby group consisting of retirees, veterans, widows (Japan has the world's oldest population and it's aging fast) and a few nationalist exremists pressures the politicians into visiting the war shrine at Yasukuni to pay respects and this infuriates Asian neighbours - imagine the German Chancellor paying his respects to the Nazis.
The genuinely peace-loving people of Japan cannot abide the PM sending troops to assist in Iraq as they see even peacekeeping as a violation of the constitution which States Japan's troops must be used for defense only and avoid setting foot on foreign soil.
All hint of the miltarist past is being systematically erased and long after the survivors of the war have passed on and the human suffering has ended the enduring tragedy will be the huge gap in Japan's history which its people are discouraged from learning about.
Here endeth
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When you take into account that Japanese is not a language of many colorful swear words like ours, that's a really bad mistake.
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You're preaching to the converted Para. But what few people outisde Japan realise is that they've glossed over their dark past and painted themselves as victims of western imperialism. They were able to do this by citing the examples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while ignoring their own atrocities across Asia which cost many more lives.
Yes they brought it upon themsleves but only insomuch as they were dragged into war by a rabidly nationalist government.
This doesn't make them right but do not underestimate how deeply the Japanese today have been taught to believe they were somehow right. America bears some blame for this by not setting the record straight 50 years ago, rather to let them define their own history. The Japanese believe that somehow they were right, and this is what maintains the rift between them and their Asian neighbors.
What I was trying to point out is that no matter how much this ###### us off (and it does bug me and a number of liberal Japanese to boot) it is far better than the loss of life and culture that would have ensued if the invasion had taken place.
Ugly as it was, the atomic bombing was the lesser of two evils.
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Yeah I'm not hoping for much...
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I still like to think that if the Japanese brass had been invited to a demonstration of the atomic weapon's capabilities they would have capitulated much the same as they did, but without the loss of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As it was, when compared to invasion the lesser of two evils was taken. Having lived in Japan for 4 years and returned as frequently as possible, I have a deep and abiding love for the place and I am glad that Japan didn't face total destruction in the war.
It is sad that because the Japanese were able to keep their country and government intact they've used the bombings to paint themselves as victims in the war and gloss over the atrocities of the past. But that compared to the loss of the culture and all those great people I know there being something different to 'Japanese' today, it is as I said, the lesser of two evils.
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Talk about stopping power: Whenever this chick Samantha Wong in my office walks past, she's so fine I just freeze and stare at her. That's stopping power dude.
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Japanese air hostesses aren't overrated either
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If GR2 sucks, I'll give up gaming a re-devote my life to the pursuit of Japanese and Korean airline stewardesses. I've been gone too long...
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Uuh..yeah...something like that
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Sounds like incompatibility with another mod you're running. I recommend deactivating other mods one by one to find out which it is.
After you identify the mod, if you still want to run both, you could copy all the relevant files from Standard upgrade's folders into the corresponding folders in that mod and you should be okay.
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I slapped together a flat tableau of the new 3 color 'all terrain' pattern in MS paint. Someone with the right tools could turn that into a uniform skin...
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Now I'm getting thirsty you ######! Damnit, gimme another pint!
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The official lineup:
M4
Mk48 (basically a 7.64mm M249)
AT4
MP5SD
XM8 in green, black or pastel pink
OICW with 100 shot grenade launcher
Photon Displacement sniper rifle
M337 battlefield laser
Cybertronic heat vision scopes
'Mini Nuke' anti-armor hand grenades
Any other crap the XBox crowd ask for
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i reckion if people want to drive vehicles in-game then they (RSE/ Ubi) should make it so those people can mod it how they like.
I agree. This 'sequel' is shaping up to be GTA in green anyway so there might as well be a few car chases
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if you thought you were in desperate straits before, you now find yourself in a balls shriveling nightmare netherworld.
My colon is clenching as we speak....
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well Saddam has the same ideal with Bush as i do i hate Bush i wish to assinate him
problem is i dont have a genie to wish his assaination
[Goes to desert in search for a genie's lamp]
What exactly do you mean by 'ASSinate him'? Is this some kind of "Don't ask don't tell" thing? I don't this Bush is into that sorta thing. I dunno about Saddam...
Dude we should call you the Assinator from now onm
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And a very happy 62nd to Mr. Solo and Dr. Jones!
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Yeah baby-eating facist was my first pic too, so I took the test again.
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I scored:
Realist
Historical realist: President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Modern realist: Secretary of State Colin Powell
Realists…
Are guided more by practical considerations than ideological vision
Believe US power is crucial to successful diplomacy - and vice versa
Don't want US policy options unduly limited by world opinion or ethical considerations
Believe strong alliances are important to US interests
Weigh the political costs of foreign action
Believe foreign intervention must be dictated by compelling national interest
The categories are
Neoconservative
Isolationist
Realist
Liberal
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oh. I thought that 9mm pistol and SMG bullets were all subsonic anyway. So they can go supersonic too?
So with that drop in velocity, what's the effectrive range on an MP5SD? I understand these are usually used by HR teams who fight at extremely close ranges anyway.
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Dear Mr Bush.
I am a Senior Citizen.
During the previous successive administrations had an extremely good, well-paying job. I took numerous vacations and had several holiday homes. Moreover when Reagan and your father were in power I was supported financially in my business ventures and knew I could count in good governance from Washington. Under Clinton I was politely left alone but was still permitted to prosper under my own steam.
But since you took office Mr Bush, I have watched my entire life change for the worse. I lost my job. I lost my homes. I lost my health insurance. As a matter of fact, I lost virtually everything and became homeless. I lost both my sons in the Iraq War.
Adding insult to injury, when the authorities found me living like an
animal, instead of helping me, they arrested me. Not a speck of kindness for a poor old man.
Is this the new world order your father promised? I sweated and slaved my life away for America's interests and while I too benefitted, I was very disappointed to find that America no longer cares for my contributions. For a man who reputedly places such a high emphasis on personal loyalty, you have shown remarkably little to a lonely old man who was once a friend of the family.
Therefore I withdraw my support for your administration in protest against the way you have turned your back on me. I just thought you and your cabinet would like to know how one senior citizen views the Bush Administration.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
Sincerely,
Saddam Hussein
Doom 3
in PC Games
Posted
Yeah the graphics are great but the game play is very formulaic. They could have done more, but instead they only did enough and stuck to the safe formula. If they had taken a coupla risks, it might be more than a good but typical shooter with fantastic graphics.
Oh and all those mags that said Far Cry was the first of the next gen graphics engines, were so wrong. that is far closer to what we're used to that Doom3. D3 is streets ahead of anything you've ever seen in action