Jonanananas

That's more of a general problem with military interventions though. They very often have negative results and the question is whether to do nothing, which means the original atrocities will continue, or if you intervene and likely leave a country with new and possibly worse issues behind. In this case, I definitely don't want the US to intervene. There's next to nothing to be gained and a lot to be lost. It might very well lead to World War III if the US deployed their army there. I think right now the best course of action would be for the Ukraine to accept the temporary loss of territory, and to impose grave sanctions on Russia. Putin will never back down, but maybe the international isolation will make Russians realize where their president has got them and result in a strenghtening of the opposition. And I just don't think that control over the region for Ukraine is worth all those deaths that would be necessary, if it's even possible considering the fairly open support of Russia with troops and weapons. But Saq is right, really serious sanctions won't happen, because it would cost money which East Ukraine isn't worth in the minds of politicians and major corporations.

Lucy. I was skeptical, but tried to keep an open mind, despite the premise of the film (Humans use only 10% of their brain. Lucy gets an overdose of a new drug that increases that percentage steadily, resulting in her being able to use telekinesis, control other life forms etc.). Up to maybe 40% it was a somewhat decent action movie. It wasn't concerned about any real science whatsoever, but it was okay. But beyond that, it completely ditched having anything remotely related to rules. There were some pretty pictures, but the plot went completely out the window [hide=Spoiler for the end]In the end, she turns herself into a supercomputer to be able to pass on all the knowledge she has. And this supercomputer...produces an USB flash drive, then collapses. A simple memory stick. I just can't wrap my head around who would think that would be a proper ending[/hide]

A plain evil person? No. A racist? Yes. Because, you know, the definition of racism is having a negative view of other people based on their ethnicity. You said yourself that's the case with you, so yes, that would make you a racist.

First of all, while Israel has done some atrocious things in its supposed self-defense, that statement is way too simplistic. As for religion, of course it does matter a lot here. It's not the original cause, but it further enflames the conflict. If the citizens of Israel had been muslims from the start, there still would've been riots, death, war I believe...but not on the scale we see here... And by now, the conflict might already be solved. Gabe, I wish a safe trip. Let's hope there will be a ceasefire soon.

Wow, they pull it off the TV mid-season? Wouldn't have expected that. I hope they realize this is only due to the completely failed marketing and they will properly promote season 4. On the other hand, maybe moving to internet release might mean I can actually legally get these episodes instead of having to pirate them? Doubt it though, lol, it's probably going to for US only... Edit: Hmm Amazon, looks like there might be a chance :)

Nintendo is still around?Nintendo has the handheld market on lockdown and even though the Wii U got a slow start it's rising in popularity.Ahh, that makes sense. Don't personally know a soul with a Wii U and I just looked up sales and they're pretty dismal, but I'd completely forgotten about handhelds.. Don't really know what handhelds they still make but I remember the ole gamebody advance pretty well How big is the market for handhelds though? With high-quality games on smartphones, how many people will still spend their money on an extra hand-held?

So the premiere only got 1.5m viewers. Not a big surprise with a practically non-existent marketing campaign. Nick doesn't seem to like Korra. I guess it's unlikely we'll ever get more than the four ordered books, whether it's about Korra or someone else from the Avatar Cycle. Also, maybe because of this, they are indeed going to push out two episodes per week. That's bittersweet to me, on one hand I get more than only twenty minutes per week, but then it will be over on August 8th already...

That was a thrilling match to watch :) Schweinsteiger looked battered even before the face wound. Incredible that he kept going even with the last substitute still available. The Argentineans did play a great game as well. They were slightly superior for large portions of the game, but thankfully not enough to score a goal. In the end the win is still deserved I think. The referee did a rather poor job, but there were controversial decisions on both sides.

Into the Wild. Absolutely stunning movie based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, who decides after College to go "into the wild": He destroys his passport, social security card etc., spends all his savings and starts tramping and travelling on his own - down to Mexico and later to Alaska to live alone in the wilderness. Great landscape shots and a story that really gets under your skin. Definitely recommend watching this!

I'm really liking this book so far, much better than book two. I like the question whether monarchy is still the right form of government in that age. I'm also liking the straightforward romances - They do not offer that much in terms of the story, but the other attempts, such as the love triangle with Korra/Mako/Asami or the weird relationship of Bolin and Eska really didn't work out so I'm happy they don't try their hands again on something they aren't good at. [hide=Last episode]I wonder what the deal with Lin is. There's clearly something more to this than just some old rivarly between siblings. And obviously, the big question is what the goal of the criminals is. What would they want from Korra?[/hide] Also, apparently we get another two episodes next week? Not that I'm complaining, but why does Nick want to push out those episodes so fast? Three episodes for the start, now another two back-to-back next week and presumably another two episodes for the final.

True, but how much of a difference would it have made? They didn't get many chances either way, and having RVP essentially not playing for the last 20? minutes would probably not result in a goal against them either. LVG obviously didn't want to rely on penalties, and I'm not saying that was wrong - But purely from hindsight, I think the other option might have worked better. We'll never know of course. Also, just watching Brazil - Netherlands. The very first attack from the Dutch and Silva already needs to foul to stop Robben from freely shooting at the goal. And the referee only shows a yellow card, but gives a penalty although it was outside the penalty box. What? The early goal won't make things easier for the Brazilians.... Edit: And just as I posted this, the second goal by Blind for the Dutch, standing completely free to shoot 10 meters away from the goal. (Preceded by an unseen offside though). Let's hope this doesn't get too devastating...

Of course, I'm not blaming van Gaal nor implying I could do a better job (not even remotely). But I think this particular decision may have backfired. I was only wondering what might have happened if he had not used his last substitute to replace RVP with Huntelaar and instead brought Krul again.

I think van Gaal either should have left Cillessen as the keeper in penalties against Costa Rica, or should have saved the last substitute to bring Krul again. A keeper that was substituted for penalties just one match ago will a) be under even more pressure to show he can do it too and b) not be as intimidating for the opponent and c) not be as much of a morale support for his teammates.

Wow...that match against Brasil was unbelievable. I did expect Germany to win clearly because of Neymar and Silva missing but I did not expect that. Well, I guess nobody did really. The finals are still another matter though. Germany played great, but Brasil allowed them to. We're definitely not invulnerable (although Neuer gets us close :P). I expect the Netherlands to go through today. Playing against them will be much tougher than Brasil

It is, but I'm not sure how much that would've fixed actually. I think he might have had the same issues as Özil and Götze, which seems to be the aggressiveness with which many games in this world cup have been fought. They seem not to be able to properly adjust to that. Though admittedly that can't be all of it...

I wouldn't be so sure about that. Yesterday's match didn't look spectacular, but if Costa Rica knows one thing, it's how to defend. The Dutch were essentially going up against 9 defensive players. And they still had some chances, even if it wasn't that many. With a bit more luck, they could very well have won it before penalties. Also, Argentina's style of play should suit them much better, when they can yield possession of the ball and wait for chances to strike quickly. I'm still betting on the Netherlands to go through. Brasil just started becoming a bit more independent from Neymar, but it's still a very harsh blow for them. With him and Thiago Silva missing, Germany has a good chance. The German team is hard to judge. Against Algeria, the defense was reeling, but against France it looked quite well. The offense rarely manages to create great chances, but one way or another, they still managed to score goals so far. It's not as beautiful as it used to be though, with creative players like Özil and Götze playing way below their possibilities and Khedira and Schweinsteiger still not being quite fit.

Dear Lord, the first 45 minutes against Algeria were the worst of our Team so far. Several serious mistakes, we're lucky we haven't received a goal yet. I hope that the next half will look better...

Not going to bother with trying to predict the goals, that would be pretty much wild guessing for my part. Not that my predictions aren't. Anyways: Eighth Finals: Netherlands - Mexico* Costa Rica - Greece* France - Nigeria Germany - Algeria Argentina - Switzerland~* Belgium - USA~* Quarter Finals: Brasil - Columbia~ France - Germany* Netherlands - Costa Rica Argentina - Belgium~ Semi-Finals Columbia - Germany~ Netherlands - Belgium Finals: Netherlands - Germany~ (Here's to hoping) All those marked with a ~ are those I'm very unsure about. All marked with a * are those I think will require extra time and possibly a penalty shoot-out. Edit: Wow, the Dutch are not doing well so far. Is this going to be the next sensation?

I would've expected more against a Portugal that knew it had no real chance of going further, and without a completely fit Ronaldo Maybe without the Boateng and Muntari issue it might have worked, who knows. But this way I think the best two teams made it, so that's good.

Pumped for Germany vs. USA. A good start so far :) A solid, but not an enchanting game by the German team so far. Though I guess that's understandable if a draw is sufficient for the group lead. Also one more goal for Ghana and my prediction will be true, even though I think the US team would deserve it more.

I seriously hope he gets banned for several games. Shit like this absolutely shouldn't be tolerated.

I'm not a native speaker, so I wasn't quite sure if World Cup was unambiguous enough, so I went with World Football Championship. Well, the second group game quite often has the favorites struggling, especially if they won the first game. The Dutch haven't done that well against Australia either. There were more surprises than usual for sure, but I'm sure some teams who haven't done that well so far will pick up when it comes to the knockout phase (or the third group match, if it is vital for them). It's difficult to compare, but right now my picks for the best teams would be Brasil, France, Netherlands and Germany. Some smaller teams like Chile and Costa Rica have done great, but I think that they will reach quarter finals at best, depending on the opponents in the eight finals. For Group G, I think Ghana might take it over the USA. With the bad goal difference, Portugal stands almost no chance of reaching the knockout phase, so I think Ghana will win that one. I also expect Germany to win against the USA. For Ghana to pass, they need to overtake the USA in goal difference, but for that either Germany or Ghana has to win with a two goals lead, which is definitely within the realm of possibility.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see many games lately, just Germany vs. Portugal and Spain vs. Chile. Germany vs. Portugal was enjoyable - in the first half. After Pepe got banned and the two goals lead, Portugal gave up. Germany played a good game, but Portugal didn't do much to disrupt that either. The group constellation speaks for us, it might be that the semi-finals will be the first match with a really tough opponent. The matches up to that won't be a breeze (this is the world cup after all), but should all be doable. This should offer some time to really get the system to work, but it might lull us in a false sense of security. Spain was disappointing. Okay, the loss against the Netherlands was harsh, but they really haven't been able to deal with it. The match against Chile was almost already lost before it started, and when Chile scored the first goal, it was over. I can understand that the team might not be able to offer the same quality it did in the last world cup, but they didn't even try. Congratulations to Chile though, they tirelessly worked to win this and truly deserved it. Pumped for the match against the Netherlands, this should be interesting. My predictions: [hide] Largely agree with BloodAngel: Group A Brazil Croatia/Mexico. I'm really not sure about this one, could go either way. I slightly favor Croatia. Group B: Netherlands Chile (I would have predicted Spain before yesterday...) Group C Columbia Ivory Coast Group D Italy England Group E Switzerland France Group F Argentina Bosnia Group G Germany USA (Depends on whether the Portuguese react like the Spanish) Group H Belgium Russia [/hide]

So, what do you guys think of the games we've had so far? There was some very interesting games that made this World Cup even more interesting. Spain got demolished! After they've won three major tournaments in a row, have they lost the determination to win this one as well? The Netherlands are all the more hungry though. I haven't really considered them a serious contender after 2012, but that match was amazing. A few other favorites haven't done quite as well either. Brasilia won, but without the referee's help that match might have looked quite different. Uruguay won't defeat them in their own stadium like in 1950 though, after their loss against Costa Rica they most likely won't make the eigth finals. England and Italy both were very good, even if Italy won it in the end. Personally I'm looking forward to Germany against Portugal of course. We haven't done so well in the last test games, but the first few opponents should be difficult, but not impossible, so we can get into the rhythm. I fear we'll make semi-finals or finals without winning just like the last few times, but we'll see. Also, what do you think of the referee's so far? Is it overdue for the FIFA to allow some kind of video evidence during a match? We got goal-line technology, but should it stop there after several controversial decisions this early in the tournament?