New announced hero mechs - Fang and Flame

This might be my first purchase of a hero mech. Looks really rad!

Morgan Freeman and heroes in times of crisis.

I, in general do not like celebrities. I do not get star stuck like many people to me they are just people who happen to have a job that gets a lot of attention. Some stars can handle it others cannot.
Many of them use it as a platform ...and if you ask them their opinion you will get an earful.

Having said that I like Morgan Freeman the actor - I do not know what he believes or his politics ..I like his voice - very regal and commanding. He is a man that played God and I would like to think God has a voice as commanding and as powerful as MF. This quote is attributed to Morgan Freeman speaking about the deaths of the children in Connecticut:

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

I don't know the name of the guy that did this and I really don't care what his name is or why he did it ...I didn't even know about the incident until my wall started filling up with sympathy towards Connecticut.

There are heroes here in this incident as with all trauma there is a few who if asked before the day started if they knew they may die would they have jumped in would probably have no idea until that second they would jump in. Being a hero means you do something beyond what anyone else would do to show an amazing display or feat that is beyond what people expect at the risk of your own life to give up your life for someone else.
Super heroes - have powers that humans do not.
A firefighter is doing his job ...he become a hero when he risky everything, even disobeys his commander to rescue someone.
Captain Sullenberger was a pilot until he landed the United Flight 1549 in a miraculous way. He then became a hero.

In Connecticut:
A worker who turned on the intercom, alerting others in the building that something was very wrong. A custodian who risked his life by running through the halls warning of danger. A clerk who led 18 children on their hands and knees to safety, then gave them paper and crayons to keep them calm and quiet.



Columbine Victims - Columbine Heroes
Virginia Tech Victims - Virginia Tech Heroes
Aurora Shooting Victims - Aurora Heroes
Oregon Mall Victims - Oregon Mall Heroes
Sandy Hook Elementary Victims

Tactic Tip #107

So the other day our team is in a huge heated battle in Caustic Valley. Caustic Valley is a horrible place and really not worth fighting for but that is for the policians to decide ...we fight.
We also are losing ...the enemy is down to 2 mechs both torn up really bad we are down to ONE.

We had all thought he was either disconnected or AFK because he wasn't moving. He was sittign as if he had just landed from the dropship. We announce over com ...he is afk or disconnected ...leg him and cap us.

When they shoot him suddenly he springs into action. Now thsi is just sick ...he destroys both of them and our team which had for all intents lost ...was victorious.

Was it a trick? Was he really afk? Did I inadvertently give false information?

I do not know if this guy was just waiting or was in another window however it reinforces 2 things:

1. Communications are vital.
2. Dis-information is valueable if not unreliable.

Quotable Wednesday version 8.0

Bryan: "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."  TAKEN 2008

Classy line ....overquoted some may say. I feel many times running into a match feels this way. You join a match for a battle ...they sneak to cap the base. You have 2 choices really. Run back and defend or race to cap them first.

The strategy is deciding at what point you have overcommitted to running to the enemy base. I got "yelled" at by someone (not sure if it was a pug on my team or a enemy mech). Telling me what kind of person I was for running to base instead of fighting it out with the enemy.

Tactic Tip #106

Stay in the bubble of the ECM (Electronic Counter Measure)

 

This simple device limited to certain mech's has become a hugely popular and integrated tactic. I believe it will be nerfed  fixed but we will see.

 

What has happened is more people are using The D-DC Atlas (which is devastating) 4 of them are extremely difficult to manage or using 2 Ravens with ECM and staying in range of them so effectively you cannot hit them with missiles or jamming you so you cannot see any of them on your map until it is too late.

 

By staying with your team under the bubble of ECM you are effectively able to keep going as long as you stay with your teammates.

 

Here is how I see ECM

Your team EMC Jamming the enemy.

Your team has EMC Counteracting the Jam from the enemy.

 

It has become a game of who has more EMC or mechs with only ballistics and lasers.

 

Here is a new good fact I have found ...run only 4 man groups ...Yup you heard me run a 4 man group and you will launch more often and win more frequently.

Quotable Wednesday version 7.0

Mugatu: "I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”- - Zoolander

Seriously PGI adds 8 man groups back and ECM.

ECM makes me feel like a the whiners in the forums ...its so overpowered. It jams electronics or can obscure the enemy  from your view. It makes it very very hard to target the mechs from range.

A lot of losing. CRAZY PILLS!

AMD vs Intel

It is not every game I play that this even comes up. In fact, most gamers don't even know what they have ...will my computer be able to play it? Will it run on a mac? These are more common than "what processor are you using?"

I guess the thing with MWO is connection matter, memory matters, video card matters, CPU matters ...or does it?



Everyone knows by now that AMD is ATI now. Intel has its own video card division but most people when given the choice will choose a external video card ..In my case it has been Nvidia for years. I have never owned a ATI except for a home theater pc with an all-in-wonder card. I never was impressed with the graphics (probably due to the TV I was outputting to).
My opinion has been that AMD exist to keep Intel pricing down and to force them to remain competitive.  AMD has some really good technology but unless you are writing code to specifically take advantage of it there is no benefit. I still believe this to be true. The last computer I built (Jan 2012) I tried to build AMD but the Intel components were only 10$ higher - of course I went over my original build budget because I saw shinies and in reality I increased my own cost.
My wife needs a new pc and here is another opportunity for AMD.
I am looking at Sapphire's EDGE
http://techiser.com/sapphire-edge-vs8-mini-desktop-amd-trinity-cpu-153908.html