How witty and original.

As someone who has written a fair amount of sales copy for services, I can tell you categorically that "professional" means that we intend to get paid for it.

We invaded them to gain access to some empty desert?

I've heard it all now.

I actually thought this had been resolved a while back - maybe I just heard of a theory and took it for fact.

As I understand it, what happens is that someone dies/falls into a deep coma with a source of ignition nearby (eg they are smoking at the time, or near an open fire). The human body then burns very slowly over many hours as kind of an inside-out candle - clothing acting as a wick and human fat as the wax.

This fits with the facts that it tends to be older people living alone, there is little damage to surroundings and some extremities are often completely undamaged.

Not really a cause of death though...

While I agree that Gadaffi must certainly have had a significant degree of support, and also that the various armed groups of rebels are currently fragmented along tribal and ethnic lines, I think that this view can be pushed to far.

To see this as simply an East vs West civil war is to ignore the very definite large-scale support the rebels have received in and around Tripoli. The TNC in Benghazi have been adamant that they fight for the freedom of all Libyans, not for secession or to settle old scores - and while the fact that they need to say it indicates there are fault lines there, there has been nothing really credible to say that they are a) not sincere or b) being rejected on these grounds.

Tribes obviously play a part, especially in rural areas, but Libya is plainly not simply a tribal society - intermarriage is common in the big cities, and this is where the initial uprisings happened. There is a nation of Libya, on top of the other regional, ethnic and tribal identities. This was what initially took to the streets against Gadaffi at the beginning - it wasn't dispossessed tribes, or rebellious Easterners, it was the young people of Libya inspired by events in neighbouring countries.

Building a new society in Libya is a massive challenge, and there are huge potential problems, but I doubt it is as impossible a task as some think. The basic building blocks are there, and the desire from a large segment of the population. Massive oil wealth isn't a bad thing either, since the new government will actually be able to satisfy some of the key economic demands, unlike in say Egypt or Tunisia.

The whole thing is a farce. "Rebels"? They're jihadists. Gaddafi and anti-Gaddafi forces readily kill civilians, they yell "allah hu ackbar!" when firing their weapons. Terrorists all around, including NATO. We should GTFO at once, Obama got us into another mess we shouldn't be involved in.

They are terrorists because they shout "God is Great" (one of the cries of the revolution across the Arab world, and even used by those protesting against the Mullahs in Iran)?

I'd hate to see your reaction if you heard some of my countrymen singing are national anthem, God Save the Queen.

Meanwhile, people who have lived in the country, for the most part, beg to differ.

Course they do, bloody obvious given the events of the last six months isn't it?

Actually no. France, with NATO backing and U.S. participation will be in charge from here on out. The problem with Libya was that it had a stable, successful socialist economy - and was doing too much business with China. That's been fixed now, thanks to an insurgent force recruited, funded, trained, armed and directed by a NATO coalition, operating under active air cover and full spectrum propaganda provided by the aforementioned foreign powers.

Typical rubbish. There are no foreign troops (in significent numbers) present in Libya, nor likely to be (the Libyans don;t want them, and no one wants to provide them).

Successful socialist economy? A population of a few million, and massive oil wealth, mean that it wasn't the poverty ridden hell hole it otherwise would have been, but compared to its potential... Anyway, Gadaffi left his socialist phase behind him a long time ago.

I'd loot food if I was hungry.

I wouldn't thieve shoes from fucking Footlocker because I'm not a shit.

Would you?

I'm with you on that. Sure AAA games from the major publishers may be somewhat bland (still good in many cases though), but the Indie scene is making the running so well that it hardly matters.

It also is something of a US/western thing. I'm becoming a real fan of Russian game development, there have been some absolutely fantastic Russian games in the last few years. Ice Pick Lodge's The Void for example firmly answers the question "can computer games be art?"

Honestly, this is a great time for computer game development, at least on the PC. We've got good, solid AAA games with huge budgets, and a burgeoning Indie scene turning out more innovative new types of games than I've ever seen. Added to that is maturing games industries in Eastern Europe and Russia bringing a new perspective on games. Hopefully this carries on, or we may look back at 2011 as a golden age.