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Sochi 2014: the dearest Olympics yet but where has all the money gone? "The initial $12bn cost has risen almost five-fold, with critics putting much of the inflation down to the corruption endemic in the Russian construction industry. The opposition figures Leonid Martynyuk and Boris Nemtsov...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-carolina-1961

IIRC they got out of the business some years ago; there were a few lawsuits flying around at the end and the company was sold or renamed or something, it was pretty confusing at the end with who ended up with what. The bottom line is that the Chinese competition won.

Very minor spoilers after the link, I guess: Grand Theft Auto 5 takes aim at Call of Duty http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...t-call-of-duty

A quick visit to Wikipedia would prove you right: "Elite was a hugely influential game, serving as a model for more recent games such as Space Rogue, Eve Online, Freelancer, Jumpgate, Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Wing Commander: Privateer, Pardus, the Escape Velocity series and the X series...

It picked up a 7/10 review: "Card Hunter is a little creased, but I can't say I mind. It has a lot of potential and I'm interested to see how it grows, because it's a game that's all about trying new things: new tricks, new combinations, new possibilities. If you don't enjoy testing your luck...

It depends how much mess you want to make... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project...ar_propulsion) One interstellar Orion design had a mass of 400,000 tons, 300,000 tons of which was "fuel" i.e. nuclear bombs, and it would take 133 years to reach Alpha Centauri without slowing down. The...

All sorts of shenanigans are possible with this plan. Assad can gas more people and then say "See it wasn't me all along; all my chemical weapons are in Russia!" The US can hold Syria to account on following the plan to the letter and use any deviation from it as an excuse to launch a strike...

If it comes down to whether the chemical weapons are put beyond use, you are correct, because the plan is practically impossible: Viewpoints: Can Russia?s chemical weapons plan for Syria work? "Securing Syria's chemical weapons could be done rapidly, if the international community had...

That brings to mind the "War" episode of the Day Today

Obama's Syrian mission creep? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23947881 "In a heated phone call between Secretary of State John Kerry and Democratic members of Congress, one of them warned that the administration had "collective amnesia" about the lessons of Vietnam... This is...

Hmm I only skimmed the article but it didn't seem to mention the two rather large British / NATO bases on the island of Cyprus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrotiri_and_Dhekelia "The United Kingdom has shown no intention of ceding the base areas in their entirety to Cypriot control.... As...

It looks like the fairly massive Kickstarted version of Ogre is finally about to ship. This used to be a fun little wargame once you got a couple of the expansions. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-edition/posts http://www.sjgames.com/ogre/products/ogre6e/

"Pressure on Cameron for new vote on Syria strikes David Cameron is under increasing pressure to return to Parliament for another vote on British military action against Syria " http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...a-strikes.html It seems some people are determined to have their war...

Funnily enough, the last time a UK government was defeated in a Parliamentary vote over military involvement was around about the time that the United States achieved independence. This puts David Cameron in the same boat as Lord North.

It's pretty funny seeing some of the government reaction to the vote. It's almost like they had forgotten we're supposed to be a democracy...

The vote was probably more about Iraq than Syria. It's only the third time since WW2 that the UK won't join in a US action when asked - the other two were Vietnam and Somalia.

UK government loses vote on provisional authorisation for military intervention in Syria. Cameron will be furious. *edit* Quick update from the Telegraph commentary: "It makes any British action on Syria highly unlikely. Ed Miliband asks will he confirm he will not use the Royal...

The S-300s aren't in Syria yet - although if any kind of strike does happen I imagine the Russians will move forward the delivery date, as retribution. However, the minute those missiles arrive the Israelis will try to take them out, with no regard for consequences. They simply won't allow...

Things are starting to get really nasty as the UK parliamentary debate goes on: "A furious row between Downing Street and the Labour leadership has erupted after No 10 accused Ed Miliband of giving "succour" to the Assad regime after he moved to block an early Commons vote on military action...

I don't think either Cameron or Milliband have been very effective in the debate. Cameron was in "spoiled brat" mode for having to explain himself, while Milliband looked like a ditherer. All in all the MPs will vote on party lines, and it will come down to whether the Libs vote with Cameron...

There's a right political shitstorm brewing over this in the UK. The government has dug itself into a hole and is desperately trying to legally justify a strike against Syria, but the numbers may be against it when the votes are called. MPs got burned badly over justifications for the Iraq war...

"It is without modern precedent for a prime minister to lose control of his foreign policy, let alone decisions about peace and war. That, though, is what has happened in the past 24 hours. David Cameron summoned MPs to return early from their summer break in order to vote for British...

Yeah the news article seems to have tried to spice up the story with the sphere "vanishing". From what I can gather elsewhere it just flew apart, although that's interesting in itself given it was due to the spin speed.

University of St Andrews scientists create 'fastest man-made spinning object' "They were able to levitate and spin a microscopic sphere at speeds of up to 600 million revolutions per minute... The team balanced it on a laser beam in a complete vacuum and then spun it using the light...

If you're interested in the Russian military it's worth having a read of this: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute...es/PUB1069.pdf In short, the Russian military is still big and powerful but it also still relies on a lot of old equipment (by Western standards) and cold war tactics, and...

The Mighty Boosh get funky

In no order... 1. Stormbringer (http://io9.com/stormbringer-end-of-discussion-651385681) 2. Uther Doul's Possible Sword (from The Scar , and a mention in Dungeons of Dredmorhttp://www.dredmorwiki.com/wiki/Doul's_Possible_Sword) 3. The rocket launcher from Quake 4. The Porkolator from Hexen...

As long as there's a monster at the bottom of Lake Rathe, it's good.

Ray Mears would skin him alive, and probably eat him afterwards. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/cele...-than-him.html

It makes me wonder how many of the upcoming space sims are going to have Occulus support. - Star Citizen: is confirmed to support it (https://forums.robertsspaceindustrie...t-dev-kit-here) - X-Rebirth: looks like it might, but there's no promises. - Elite: "support is announced but no...

Yep, I was hoping the Priest in WoW would bring back that goodness but as soon as Sleep got axed the writing was on the wall, plus they didn't get illusions which were just hugely entertaining. Being one of the first to get Illusion:Werewolf on the server and getting a mate to run in front of...

One story is that he was suspected of carrying "encrypted thumb drives" (their words) from Snowden to the journalist. They obviously don't want any more surveillance program leaks, but by being so heavy-handed about it they've drawn attention to just how much they can legally get away with under...

If you assume that the second book really was patched together from previously-written shorter stories it makes a bit more sense. He writes one story about Kvothe the sex god then shelves it; later he writes another story about Kvothe the martial arts master, and shelves that. When he comes to...

It would only be a nightmare if they hadn't taken the possibility into account when designing the game. It would be a problem if you release content patches or expansions that involve a developer-driven storyline, but if the game is sandbox then content should be "bigger and more options," not...

Remember the Defenders of the Shard... (and ignore the terrible spelling in the quote :P) "During Asheron's Call's height of glory there was an event known as the "Shard of the Herald" this was he culmination of a series of events where 6 shards were destroyed by players which brought new and...

Eurogamer review: "In some respects, this is the game fans were hoping for: more of the same, with more features and the greater long-term appeal of character progression. In other ways, it's a slight disappointment, a game still suffering from technical issues that should have been the first...

My take on it: The random stuff starts with a single seed number (or maybe one seed per biome...). The client on your PC generates the world around you from that number, so all the memory-intensive stuff happens on your PC. Any changes to the world will have to be verified and stored on the...

Is the server down?

The first judgement has in fact gone in his favour, but both parties are still continuing to sue each other. If you are going to try this, then you should make it very clear that you have modified the contract, and where you have modified it, before you return it. That way it becomes much...