Pixar's corporate masters are the reason for this sequel. All hail the great and powerful Mickey Mouse.

If there's two things I could get behind as mandatory U.S. Citizen experiences, they'd be 2 years in the military, and 1 year working some drastically crappy retail or service economy job.
I don't care much if suffering builds character; I think the real value is in cultivating empathy.

Would really be Freedom though, would it?

Basic Training and a Christmas season, maybe two is enough.

I already have both of these. Just for the country above the USA.  Might not be a bad idea, if only to improve cross-class interactions.

Sweet satisfaction.  Thanks!

What's crazy is that Netflix is putting up all thirteen episodes of the first season on February 1st. As a customer i heartily approve.

And I should have read ahead before replying. Still, I hope the American version is half as brilliant.

House of Cards: This is, as far as I know, all-new. Looks pretty awesome.

“You might think that, but I couldn't possibly comment.” All props to netflix because that looks shiny and glorious. But this is the American remake of The Office, just with the excellent BBC series also named House of Cards. Kevin Spacey's character is This magnificent bastard.

Final book in the wheel of time series and spellbound are the two books I am most looking forward to next year. Interest has not waned one iota. Have a locked in date for only one of those two, but am eagerly, yet patiently awaiting a solid due date for the other.

Just a comment on the classes. If I'm reading your new skills list correctly, then the Assassin and Scout should have Acting (instead of Blend, which is no longer an individual skill) as a class skill.

Enter the following into Google: 2 sqrt(-abs(abs(x)-1)*abs(3-abs(x))/((abs(x)-1)*(3-abs(x))))(1+abs(abs(x)-3)/(abs(x)-3))sqrt(1-(x/7)^2)+(5+0.97(abs(x-.5)+abs(x+.5))-3(abs(x-.75)+abs(x+.75)))(1+abs(1-abs(x))/(1-abs(x))),-3sqrt(1-(x/7)^2)sqrt(abs(abs(x)-4)/(abs(x)-4)),abs(x/2)-0.0913722(x^2)-3+sqrt(1-(abs(abs(x)-2)-1)^2),(2.71052+(1.5-.5abs(x))-1.35526sqrt(4-(abs(x)-1)^2))sqrt(abs(abs(x)-1)/(abs(x)-1))+0.9

Didn't know what to expect... Big grin after clicking search. That was great.

And on that wonderful note, I think we've reached the limits of civilized crafty style discourse. But I'm not a mod. Didn't like my own tone there. Sorry.

Safely ensconced in my government-run universal healthcare system, with its bulk-billing system that means I don't have to pay to see a competent medical practitioner, functional public hospitals that will treat me until I'm well, and pharmaceutical benefits scheme that keeps the grossly inflated price of medication affordable, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at a statement that supports the belief that a government can't or shouldn't provide such services.

Everyone but Americans in the developed world has some form of universal health care. Mine is Canadian and I have a very hard time even understanding how it took this long for the USA to get even the half-hearted version that they have now. Every outcome that benefits your average citizen (barring your extreme corner cases); child mortality, obesity... etc., has better results in countries where universal health care is a given. I admire America for many things but this part of their system will always seem a little crazy (I understand that there is enormous pressure from the private insurance industry to keep things the way they are.) Nevertheless, maybe they'll get there in increments. There are many things private industry does better and more efficiently than governments, I don't believe health care for an entire citizenry to be one of them.

Thank you very much! Bookmarked.

Alphas is back for season 2.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

I just finished this and really enjoyed the series.

Had a regular gaming group at the time and had been looking for a modern game to supplement our dnd game. I can't actually recall exactly how Spycraft came to my attention, but the cover art was arresting. Joined the forums at AEG and the rest is history. Absolutely loved the class tables and the feat system was simply elegant. Silver and Black lines became an automatic buy for my gaming budget. Loved that I could actually do ninjas and superspies as I envisioned it, with the system actively helping me.

I've bought every Crafty book since. The fantastically congenial forums in every iteration, helped immensely as did the presence of the Crafty3 (at the time) on those forums as active participants. Never regretted my support.