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You think Trump has a sense of humour? Ok.

Tariffs has not had yet effect long enough that they would show anywhere but in imf's prediction data which draws trend that shows that China will pass EU again in 2026. And EU would have survived economically full trade war with USA, now long term it means that EU will slowly lose its US trade.

I've finally got to properly playing Cyberpunk and it's a fine enough game, even if it has definite problems. Phantom Liberty, especially, is really quite good. However, there was something that I was finding off putting about the whole experience that I couldn't quite put to words, until today. Keep in mind that I had only passing familiarity with the setting before actually getting to playing this. Cyberpunk 2077 is essentially a bunch of 80s nerds pretending they are in the future. And that just messes with my suspension of disbelief.

Along the same vein, I would really like to be able to keep items on my Buggy when I hot deposit. I keep a certain number of basic items, like rocks, clover, etc., on my Buggy, and when I hot deposit they all disappear and have to be added again. It takes forever to get ready to head out into the wilds.

Pillars doesn't need 10 minutes pre-buffing phase... anyway, Paladin I think has the less need to be micromanaged.

Oh yes, indeed, you need to go to Defiance Bay to speak Engwithan... good for Sefyra Or you can kill everybody and turn yourself in a very very bad person

And the worst of all: The Bear Cave! Yep, going to sewer can be done whole by stealth No battle needed. Yeah, with a lot of cheese on top. I've manage to clear (i.e. kill EVERY foe) all areas before Caed Nua PotD SOLO with a Paladin. With a Cipher it would have been even easier

Witkoff specifically said "Article 5-like." Emphasis on *like*. He then expanded on this by saying it would be something like Article 5 without NATO. And personally, I think Ukraine would be way better off with exactly that: Article 5 without NATO. Because I don't have much faith at all that NATO would actually fight for a country that is invaded by Russia, and by this I specifically mean NATO members like Germany, France, and Spain. The US, even under Trump, will fight. It's the Europeans I don't trust -- at all. So Ukraine is better off with an Article 5-like bilateral commitment from the US, which does *not* need to include US troops on the ground in Ukraine. It is indeed Europeans who should shoulder all of the burden of putting troops on the ground, precisely so that it ties them to Ukraine's defense. It is European fecklessness and free-riding that has brought us to this point in the first place.

Now this is what I call a trailer. ...and yes, finally a PS5 release.

Awesome idea!

Role & Distinction Orb Weaver = Combat mount (stuns enemies, summons allies). Jumping Spider = Mobility mount (master of climbing, falling, and leaping). Designed to solve fall damage frustration and unlock vertical + gap traversal as a core mechanic. Abilities Web Crawler Mode (Toggle) Activated with a simple toggle, not tied to surface type. Lets you crawl up walls and ceilings at any angle—even smooth ones. Power Jump (Hold Jump / A Button) The longer you hold A, the further you launch. Uses stamina proportionally to distance jumped (up to all 6 bars for a maximum cannon-shot leap) and will cannon you further on a parabolic scale the more stamina you use. Great for crossing the park’s massive gaps or reaching high spots without building ladders. Encourages strategic stamina management: small hops are efficient, big leaps are costly. Fall Immunity (Passive) As natural pouncers, Jumping Spiders negate all fall damage. Ideal for risky exploration, allowing fearless descent from picnic tables, tree branches, and birdbaths. Balancing Factors Power Jump cooldown: short reset time keeps it from being spammed endlessly. Note: Cooldown only applies on a full 6-stamina jump. Smaller jumps can still be chained if stamina allows. No direct combat power: unlike Orb Weavers, Jumping Spiders don’t stun or fight well—they’re purely traversal companions. Attraction mechanic: a full-charge Power Jump creates a loud “impact thud” on landing, potentially alerting nearby hostile insects (risk/reward flavor). Narrative Fit Jumping Spiders are curious, energetic hunters—perfect for a mount that feels eager and agile rather than terrifying. This also means they could be tamed directly, rather than requiring players to steal an egg. Likely found in sun-exposed vertical zones (tree trunks, fences, siding of the shed), making them thematic and challenging to tame. In Arachnophobia Safe Mode, they could appear as balloon-animal grasshoppers or crickets. Summary The Jumping Spider Buggy gives players unprecedented mobility: Toggleable Web Crawler for safe vertical climbing on any surface. Stamina-based Power Jump with charge scaling—small hops to mega cannon leaps. Fall damage immunity, eliminating one of the game’s biggest frustrations.

I’m not against the buggies needing additional care, but I’m not a fan of the grass idea as a default. The medium to large insects wandering around in game have the grass move around them due to their movements. It would honestly be a bit weird that our buggy didn’t have the grass move. If the developers wanna add in an option where grass doesn’t bend for buggies, I have no issues. I do like being able to choose additional challenges, especially when replaying and what you are proposing would definitely change the way the game feels which could make things interesting. Perhaps our mounts should need food and water. I feel like they should be able to slurp regular nasty water without ill effects though not the stuff in the toxic ant hill. And there are food sources as you’re wandering whether it be the human food that spawns, mushrooms or them being able to eat bugs we kill. For bases we should be able to have feed/water troughs. There are ways to add an additional needs without it being a major disruption to gameplay. I suspect this might be a feature that players will want the ability to shut off. It’s definitely gonna feel too “micromanagement” to some. On a different thread it was proposed that there be some consequences to constantly keeping our characters up for days on end. I certainly don’t wanna have to make my character sleep every night, but I’m not against having a debuff if I make them pull a three day bender. Continuing on that thought path, maybe our Buggies should need rest once in a while and that would give us a reason to swap them out.

https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/EU/CHN/USA The EU has passed China in nominal GDP, good economic news for our European members @Elerond It looks like the EU will economically survive the US tariffs. This should put you in a good mood

Tales of Xiliia Remaster will be released in October 25. I was so hyped for this, but this time no PS4 version, and as always Bamco ignores GOG. Steam will be probably ridden by Denuvo again, so unfortunately, this will be 1st Tales of game released in the West, which I will have to skip

Borderlands 4 "min. requirements" include Intel Core i7-9700 / AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, 16gb ram and RTX 2070 / AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, with 100GB SSD space. Recommended = 3080 gpu. And ofc probably that's for 1080/60fps. And UE5 engine. And Denuvo this time. Especially annoying (to me/some others) in this case because BL's graphic style did not need uber upgrading re: graphics/lighting/shadows. It was never going for realism etc. Don't know if they're offering RT but BL definitely doesn't need that either. No one played BL series for the uber graphics. I'm sure I can still play it at 4k/DLSS/medium or something, like I usually manage to do, but hubby's out of luck till he upgrades (if he does). A ridiculous $130 "super deluxe" pre-purchase version for what amounts to the "seasons pass" of yore. So they've doubled the price basically for the season-pass dlc/extra chr. classes/other post-release content ($60 vs $30). I wonder if post-release, the separated pack pricing will still = $60ish or it'll end up being more. Or maybe they'll price it into 20 different dlc. each new area/mission dlc, $20x4, extra chr class, $20x2, etc. Wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, sale-price for sure.

Security gurantees need willinges to send troops otherwise they aren't security gurantees. Selling weapons does not work as security gurantee, it is just way to make amrs trade look better. Logistical support for European jets could make security gurantees by some European countries easier, but mostly that is empty talk as USA does not have logistical capacity in the area where those jets needs to operate and USA does not have plans to have logistical capacity there. So USA will not provide any security gurantees for Ukraine in Trumps current pland.

Today I visited this forum and posted a bunch of YT links, since I od'd on k-dramas for the moment and went back to random YT. Hubby got his round of back injections - the ink they used to make target dots on his back is quite persistent, hehe - but it didn't do anything for him. Now he's waiting for the appointment call re: the 2nd round/attempt. He's pretty discouraged/depressed re: life right now, etc. I've offered to sledgehammer hubby's foot or something, so then the back pain wouldn't be on his mind anymore, but he didn't seem to go for that idea

Looks kinda funny/hearwarming.

Yup.

For those that don't like Disney-ish styled pop songs, here's a "hard rock" cover of Golden. It's not bad.

Uncontrollably Fond was so good. Not much a fan of period drama or fantasy stuff either, but I'm sure gonna give it a try.

Oh ,also also - this is pretty much me re: k-pop demon hunters. The movie is still only "somewhat above average" to me (CGI animation detail being it's major highlight perhaps) but a few of the songs that didn't initially impress, have grown on me to the point they've been put the "on endless repeat, sometimes" list. I suppose it's kind like my reaction to Frozen (it's entertaining but mid, but that one song grew on me) S. He's bit here is because he does the orange-haired demon in a Danny Phantom Your Idol cosplay. which isn't bad visually - it's almost 9million views and they're doing sodapop next. The fandom of this musical film and the songs is kinda nuts, lol.

Oct. 3rd. Looks to be largely set in modern times, vs. period drama, if you're wondering. Ancient genie with Suzy as his new "three wish" owner. It's been 10 years since Uncontrollably Fond ripped my heart out. Not sure I'm a fan of the genie (I think he's more like a devil - Iblis) concept but I hope it'll be good. Also, I still haven't watched all of Fallout1 series. >.> That Vegas-y trailer for 2nd season looks promising tho!

Dang!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/19/what-security-guarantees-might-ukraine-get-in-return-for-a-peace-deal The US doesnt need to deploy " boots on the ground " to support the EU in security guarantees for Ukraine End of the day this is a proposed US\Trump peace plan and we need to see how it unfolds and what is agreed on "Trump has promised to coordinate a Europe-led peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. “When it comes to security, there’s going to be a lot of help,” he said on Monday, sitting next to Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. The US president made clear European countries would be expected to carry most of the burden. “They are a first line of defence because they’re there. But we’ll help them out,” he said. Ukraine wants to buy $90bn worth of US weapons and says they could form part of the security guarantee. Overall, however, Trump has been vague about how much the US would contribute. He has ruled out Ukraine’s membership of Nato, which Kyiv believes would be the best deterrent against a future Russian onslaught. There seems no prospect the US would send its own troops to take part in a peace-keeping mission. One more realistic option would be for the Pentagon to provide logistical support to a proposed “sky shield”. The plan envisages an air protection zone in the west and the centre of Ukraine, including over the capital Kyiv, enforced by European fighter jets. "