yo peeps! your king has returned... again...

CHEERS!

No hurricanes in the area of beautiful Los Angeles.

No one else is posting much. TBH, I've been very busy with work and various tasks around the house.

Banned because I no longer have to worry about the hurricane, because I'm back in England with fantastically boring weather. Not much sun, but not much in terms of hurricanes, tornadoes, or even thunderstorms.

However, still wish I was still on holiday in America.

Sorry buddy, Zion Canyon takes the pedestal as my favourite place on Earth. I'll never get bored of it

Does Britain have a reputation as a really safe and calm place in the States by the way?

A whole bunch of people we met seemed really shocked by the riots, as if it somehow couldn't happen in Britain. A fair few people told us that they didn't think British police ever carried firearms. Of course, most don't, but there seemed to be this vibe that Britain was a cheery, safe place where a policeman just needs to give you a tap on the wrist to solve any crime.

What you need to consider here is that there are basically two ways to acquire a firearm: 1. By bein a long-standing and respected member of a hunting or target shooting club. 2. Illegally.

Naturally, people in the first group account for a tiny minority of the population, and the sort of people attracted to such organisations aren't usually the type for committing violent crime. People in the second group will be pretty deep into crime over here to even be thinking of importing firearms. Keep in mind that most murders in Britain are through stabbing, and almost none through shootings. Your average crim on the street, even if he is a gang member, will be carrying a knife. The closest we get to "gang warfare" is a group from one gang stab a bloke from another gang.

Armed criminals will usually either be mooks who are given guns by their drugs-trade masters (eg to "defend" something important) or those who are paranoid and in over their heads. The police will usually know exactly who these people are before taking action.

If somebody is known or suspected to be armed, then the standard way to deal with them is with armed police. Usually there won't really be a fight. The mooks will shit themselves, drop their weapons and make themselves look harmless just in time to be arrested, or get shot. If it's somebody from the other categories (recent case was a bloke in the back of a taxi was stopped by armed police on suspicion of being armed. He panicked, shot one of the officers and was promptly totalled by the second officer. The first officer was unhurt because the round lodged in his radio. The man with the firearm had no importance whatsoever. In fact, all he was guilty of was illegal firearm posession, so he didn't need a firearm really, unless he thought somebody was after him. It is thought that he simply had one due to paranoia, which explains why he flipped out when the police caught him.) then most likely they'll either panic and attack, or see that they're in deep shit, and let themselves be arrested.

However, for everybody else, a policeman and his trusty baton will solve all problems.

I was actually under the impression that you flat-out couldn't own a firearm in Britain- even if you were a hunter or target shooter.

Probably the biggest thing is, though, that I don't think that the situation is going to last- while the baton-bobbies are adept at most situations, they do have to call for backup from armed officers if they encounter an armed (or suspected to be armed) suspect.

In the US, since all the cops carry guns (except traffic cops, but they have a different task in general, that of directing traffic instead of peacekeeping- though AFAIK they're still required to be competent marksmen and firearm operators), they can respond to pretty much any threat- and if they can't handle it, then the SWAT teams get called in.

That said, Britain must have some serious customs security if most gang "wars" are by knifing/stabbing, rather than the drive-by shootings that I'm more accustomed to here in LA (though I don't actually live in a neighborhood that's experience such- but I do have neighbors who have more expensive&luxury vehicles than brain cells).

OTOH, Britain is also an island, so it's probably quite a lot easier to maintain a chokehold on importation regulations than the US, where illegal immigrants and drug cartels can dig tunnels under the border fence and get in.

+1. Though I actually gave it for the first reply.

Hello all, I haven't abandoned you, I just got internet back 2 days ago.

And dang it, one of the few movie references I would have got, and I missed it...

And it seems prince lampy was only trolling his return.  sigh.

-Twi

MORPH POSTED!?!?!

The end is nigh!

.....

Srsly. It is.

........

In other news, I've been playing the demo for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine through OnLive (as I lack sufficient hardware POWUH to play most of my games), and I must say this.

W40K:SM IS MADE OF PURE WINSAUCE. When I first played it, I had this feeling of total excitement- a feeling I have not had for a game in a very long time. Perhaps ever- can't remember.

Apparently the campaign is supposed to be about 8 hours for a single play-through- and 30 days after release Relic sets the "Exterminatus" last-stand-survival-style coop mode upon the community.

I'll also note that 2nd 'Leftenant' Mira has made it to my list of "vidya game babes I'd totally go for". Which previously consisted of Alyx Vance (of HL2 fame), and perhaps Miranda Lawson (of ME2 fame).

That's saying quite a bit.

Also, am I the only one who thinks that:

1. Titus is quite the cool-tempered, tactically/strategically thoughtful super-awesome Space Marine;
2. Sidonus is absolutely badass and quite witty- I present as example the following two quotes:
    "Worry not captain," [fires boltgun at off-screen Ork(s)] "I've left some Orks for you.", and-
    [upon acquiring the Vengeance Launcher weapon] "Vengeance Launcher? Sounds promising."
3. Leandros has some kind of nasty bug rammed up his bungus. Srsly.

I just wrote it that way because I actual like the pronunciation; not necessarily more than the Ameri-English pronunciation, but I do like it- and it's a great way to add character/flavor to the game for Ameri-English speakers.

*looks around slightly* Why yes, yes I do.

I don't really get it either.

Oh no, Leandros is by no means old- in fact, insofar as the plot is given by Wikipedia, Leandros is actually the youngest of the group- and Sidonus, who's older (probably much older) than Leandros seems to have perfectly functional social skills.

Also note that, if you happen to have read the Ultramarines novels, the Titus/Sidonus/Leandros trio parallels the Uriel Ventris/Pasansius/Learchus trio of said novels. There are a few exceptions- notably, Leandros turns Titus over to the Inquisition, whilst Learchus reported Uriel to the Chapter Masters- though this may be due more to the fact that each captains' circumstances are different.

Also, I don't think that UM: The Movie characters offer quite a good comparison. Mostly because the movie, while entertaining, completely botched a few aspects of the fluff.

As I said on the Banned Game, I am singing in a choir on BBC One (basically our main national TV channel) in memory of those who lost their lives on or because of 9/11.