I tried Firaxis's XCOM as soon as I could, seeking the flexibility of the first two games; the devilish plays you could pull when in a tight spot (prime alien grenade - toss at buddy - buddy picks it up - buddy lobs at alien), shooting or running as your speed (TUs per turn) allowed, switching equipment on the field, breaching walls for your teammates... all were fond memories worthy of revisiting with a modern engine.

The first cinematic of the landing scene gave me a huge grin, and it was mostly disappointing from then on. Its walk-shoot-shoot; you die with the gear you brought; you can't shoot at walls because they've done nothing to you. I played four missions and didn't get to experiment with classes or see whether you could ever learn Mind Control.

My hopes are now on UFO: Alien Invasion. Bit rough around the edges but coming along nicely. If you share my feelings, give it a go.

Because e- is for Electronic. Unless the Internet (or, <deity> forbid, Apple) had something to do with it.

Also, obligatory "yeah, that'll work".

You don't write on books because it's permanent and possibly damaging; Post-Its caught on as a way to work around that.

The (e-ink) Kindle solves the speed+versatility vs power+weight compromise by specializing in a task that requires little of the first two. Arguably, virtual Post-Its don't require a change to that compromise; a better, more interoperable implementation doesn't cost extra.

PC integration? Sure, just sync in a simple, flexible way (i.e., not iTunes) to a PC/Mac app or to your account through the WiFi link you already have on board.

Speech recognition? Now that's expensive, even more if done offline. At that point you should consider a tablet.

At the risk of being modded into the ground, how is this Slashdot material?

My method takes six steps, tops: http://i.imgur.com/Ot0mJHf.jpg

I could mention a few things that I've enjoyed, but for every show there's a crowd that'll deem it too crass, too silly, or not smart enough; and then there are those who simply enjoy lamenting the state of things.

Anyway, there's dumb, dumber and dumberer. There's something to be said against a show that can be recognized at a distance by the train of canned laughter pulses (yes I know, "filmed in front of a live audience", just like your gummy candy is "made with real fruit").

The Chinese Ministry of Culture reports a 3-point increase in the average urban IQ.

It appears you missed a (silly) reference there: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wik...

The Venezuelan government hasn't published violence statistics for years, so NGOs and journalists query the morgues every week. But that doesn't stop the nomenklatura from denouncing the state governed by the most prominent opposition candidate as having "the most murders" (it's not clear, and not too relevant, whether they mean count or rate).

https://dl.dropboxusercontent....

Try this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent....

https://dl.dropboxusercontent....

Normally you'd wait for the inspector to come, then make your proposition. If you can't even see him, you'd have to find out who he is and pay him a visit, o bribe his boss, which costs more.

Arguably less than the reduction in the factories it'd catch during its service life? Even if it were a pick-up truck the tradeoff is just silly.

But the thing here is that it's easier to check on a big industrial park or mining operation from the air, and a lot cheaper if the aircraft doesn't have to carry a pilot and an observer.