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Watched two low budget horror films THE STRANGENESS (1980) and BLUE MONKEY (1987) The Strangeness is almost student film level of lowbudget. A group (A company rep, a mining engineer, a pair of cave guides, a geologist and a writer and his girlfriend/collaborator) go to open a mine that closed decades ago after the miners refused to work any more amid disappearances and tales of a monster lurking in the mines. Despite skepticism, it is a monster picking off the group one by one. The plot is a little thin and padded, something that low budget films often happen. But it leads to some missing backstory that might have been interesting to see rather than some of what they did. Blue Monkey is essentially THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD in a hospital. A series of events with a sick man leads to a potentially apocalyptic outbreak and a pair of giant insects. A fun throwback to 50s Era monster movies with 1980s effects.

Well, if one's on the extremely far right-end of the political spectrum, everything and everyone else looks left. Besides, if one just excludes economic politics (in which the AfD is hilariously out-capitalist-ing the FDP) like the far-right populists generally do, backed by wealthy people as they all seem to be, the mainstream opinion of simply accepting other forms of family or concepts of living together outside of what politicians in Germany call the "core" (father, mother, children) family is something that can be seen as left insofar as the left leaning parties are the ones pushing for more sociall progressive policies. It's not like the CDU (or our equivalent, the ÖVP) were at the forefront of opening marriage for homosexual poeple. They hemmed and hawed until they were just forced to. Angela Merkel was chancellor at a time where society as a whole moved towards more understaning and acceptance of alternative ways of life. One act of accepting refugees might have caused a cascade reaction landing us in some dangerous waters in this day and age, but left-wing does that not one make. Certainly not the CDU, and even less their Bavarian appendix.

I would assume that it depends on the brand/business/product. For ABC/Disney, it's probably safe to say that they would have more left-wing people in their camp than right-wing, so yes, I would imagine they would've been much better off just quietly ignoring all of this. There are enough other significant voices out there saying so much worse about Charlie Kirk than the nothingness that Kimmel did (his comment didn't even really directly concern Charlie Kirk but rather the shooter), this shouldn't have even been on anyone's radar, especially given the kind of audience Kimmel has in the first place. Foolishness all around on the decision-makers at ABC/Disney, though I do understand that the threats between FCC and Sinclair/Nexar were probably persuasive in the moment. ABC/Disney will still have to sort that nasty business out.

I'm really curious which side has the biggest impact, though. Purely based on feelings, I would say that right wing "boycotts" never amounted to anything at all. The famous "Go woke, go broke" is basically non-existing as far as I am aware. Maybe Disney rolled back because the push back from the "woke" crowd was a magnitude bigger than the other one. Right wingers seem to be just really very loud snowflakes (or russian bots lol).

Political satire like the Jimmy Kimmel show should probably be migrating to streaming channels where the FCC has less control. That will keep them more independent of a thin-skinned President. They can always license it back to the networks for broadcast.

More and more, I think corporations are learning the hard way that doing anything to draw political attention to yourself in this polarized climate is pretty much always the wrong thing to do - you do something to score points and you get the other side angry at you, then you walk it back and now both sides are angry at you. You could've just done nothing and sat quietly in your corner, blissfully happy that nobody was thinking of you being political in any meaningful way.

I need to try Wartales again.

Looks like Jimmy Kimmel is coming back Wednesday, which is was either the plan all along, or Disney desperately trying to hit the undo button after getting lambasted by everyone that isn't on Team Maga. My guess is the latter.

Wartales has a new expansion coming out that lets you create your own fief. I've been playing through the Pirates of Belarion and enjoying sailing the high seas. I also started a new game of Return to Moria. It has been awhile and they've added a lot, but the big thing I'm looking forward to is the next expansion, which will add other dwarves and exterior areas. So my dwarf has been swinging his pickaxe, singing some songs, and preparing for company.

When he loses it tends to happen in the lower courts, then win when it is taken to the SCOTUS, the final authority. The difference is that the lower courts are populated by both liberal and conservative justices selected by various Presidents, whereas the SCOTUS is majority conservative with three of its members selected by DJT. What shouldn't be happening is so many of his decisions needing to be validated by the court system. It seems to be part of DJT's personality to try and skirt legal restrictions as much as possible. What will be particularly interesting is whether his tariff packages survives appeal at the SCOTUS. Technically it shouldn't, since the required emergency conditions just don't exist.

Germany had the middle-right CDU for 16 years (Angela Merkel's party). We sure as **** weren't dominated by the left, lol.

ADDITIONAL IMMERSION IMPROVEMENTS 1. When the game begins in multiplayer, there are four beds, but three players spawn in the same bed while only one spawns separately. This looks like a bug and should be fixed. 2. In single-player, seeing multiple Omni tools but only being able to pick up one breaks immersion. In multiplayer, the system automatically gives everyone an Omni tool once one person picks it up, which makes no sense—what about the other Omni tools on display? Suggestion: Only display four Omni tools in total (since multiplayer is capped at four players). In single-player, the player can pick any one of the displayed Omni tools; once chosen, the others should lock, and a dialogue should appear if the player tries to pick up another. In multiplayer, each player should manually pick up one of the four Omni tools displayed. 3. The roasting spit background UI is too large and unnecessary—removing the background color would be cleaner. Overall, the UI needs a major overhaul. Many menus feel barebones yet cluttered. For example, the death screen has too many options. Keep it simple: no more than three key options (similar to Minecraft’s respawn menu). Minecraft’s success partly comes from simplicity, while Grounded overwhelms players with unnecessary buttons. 4. Milk molars should be placed logically. For example: Inside an ant nest (ants could have carried it there). | In a soda can or near points of interest. | Scattered in the open world, like discarded teeth. Logical placement makes exploration more rewarding. 5. Collision Issues Please fix collision problems when walking through stacks of grass planks. This issue was never fixed in Grounded 1 and should be addressed in Grounded 2. 6. There should be a limit of three backpacks per player. After three deaths, the oldest backpack should despawn. Otherwise, death becomes an exploit with no consequences. Similarly, when players craft and throw dozens of spears, the UI fills up with spear icons, becoming overwhelming. Limiting backpacks and reducing clutter would add more challenge and immersion. --- Other Suggestions • Add more dialogue from the kids reacting to being shrunk again in multiplayer. • Introduce a creature that hunts players who sleep in the open without protection. • Rename menu/UI options for clarity: Quit → Return to Main Menu Super Quit → Quit Huck → Throw • Allow stamina recovery while walking (not just when standing still). Check Breath of the Wild for reference on stamina balance and UI. • The pulsing red color when at low health is oversized—it visually clashes with the hunger and health bars. • The “Superbuild” takes longer than standard building, which feels backward. Make the superbuild faster instead. • Remove unusable chests, such as the ones in the ant cave, since they serve no purpose. • When riding the buggy, allow players to collect items from the ground consistently (some areas prevent this). • Add more bug types and variants for diversity. --- Final Note It feels like features are added without considering logical consistency. Focusing on immersion and logic first would make Grounded 2 the best survival game of all time.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-updates-afd-tops-poll-with-highest-support-ever/live-74072701 For fun, go watch some right wing Americans "discuss" this topic. Apparently Germany has been dominated by the far left for decades.

Hmm, what to play, Endless Legend 2 early access, or new Stellaris DLC? Ended up playing Deep Rock Galactic Survivor instead.

Finished Silk Song. The final fight is pretty cool, although it will probably make @Lexx tear his hair our, or rage quit again. Unlike with Hollow Knight, I can't see myself tackling the Steel Soul mode (hardcore mode, i.e. only one life, then game over). I mean sure, it's probably possible to save scum by copying or use a speedrunning training mod, but that isn't really the point of the exercise. I guess simply finishing the game with any% would be doable, but a 100% Steel Soul run? Yeah, count me out.

It would be my second guess

It would be my second guess

And what is the bug? The prizes for Family Pride quest are indeed the two weapons you mentioned...

I started the public playtest (on Xbox Series X via Game Pass) and wanted to try fighting Axl. I went to the empty terrarium and picked up the shop recipe, but it didn’t unlock the Poached Roach Roast. Screenshots attached.

First both Houses are entirely toothless. Entirely. They will either endorse whatever comes out of this administration, or ah-hum their way to the apocalypse, with vague hand wringing about norms and civility. As for the courts, the system is slow, but the Supreme Court has already clearly shown who it stands with. Congress, lol.

I want to ask you something Trumps presidency has had several examples where he has been accused of ignoring the Constitution like with National Guard deployments and deportations And then these actions get challenged in the various courts and sometimes Trump wins and sometimes he loses Do you consider that the same as him ignoring the Constitution around a third term? In other words do you believe its irrelevant what Congress thinks or what the courts will rule if Trump decides to stay on as president? Do you believe he can decide something as fundamental as ignoring the 2 terms rule and it will become a reality I believe Congress and the courts in the US can and absolutely do have final say on what any US president can or cannot do on many things

Yes and that would be the worst possible outcome for the US and the reality of Democracy Some dystopian event where Trump seizes power militarily and becomes a leader for life with no more elections I cant imagine that ever happening but I understand the concern

@BruceVC I don’t think Trumps ambitions are relying on getting elected for life, just on being able to seize power for life. Those tiny cogwheels inside his head trying to assess whether or not his interior police/national guard goons will help him do away with the pesky election process or whether the regular army will oppose it (I get the impression that US veterans are not fond of him) edit he has repeatedly shown little interest in following rules other than when it benefits him. Insurrection, hello?

It's very fortunate then that the GOP hasn't been ignoring the constitution with no consequences, so far. We really dodged a bullet here, thanks for the help.