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Wow, the epidemic is now spreading to other posts!

HA! Good Fun!

Many years back when I was...a junior? in high school, I was doing a sort of silly "team-building" and trade skills-familiarizing program during the summer, and early into the program, we had a day where we did a height-climbing activity sort of for fun and sort of as a challenge to ourselves. Basically, we had to climb a 7-8 story tower while wearing a safety harness - it'd be a joke for any real climbers, but for someone totally unexperienced like myself (who's also terrified of heights), it was a daunting, Herculean task. My entire body had just about turned to jello by the time I made it all the way up (just about lost all control of my legs), and I almost passed out. Got made fun of by one of the other students for it, too - but the kicker there was that he absolutely refused to try to do it himself because "he just didn't want to" (and obviously, we all knew it was because he was a total hypocrite chicken himself). He almost got kicked out of that program for bad behavior several times, and went on to become a super senior (he was a year older than me so I still saw him around when he should've already graduated) and then later started working at a local Gold'n Plump. Felt like a bit of cosmic justice there, the rat bastard. (e): On reflection, it was probably more like 5-6 stories, not 7-8. It was really tall, but not like "this is literally impossible for someone who's not already a climber" tall.

This whole mess wouldn't be so bad if the new Star Trek was any good. But it's not so things really suck right now. Thanks to Gromnir for the opera link, it really kept my MiL occupied and it's nice to have one less thing to worry about. Denver went on lockdown but the idiot mayor caused a huge panic when he announced that liqour stores and dispensaries weren't essential. Didn't take long for that to get reversed. Glad I live in Lakewood for once because something about a thousand dollar fine for breaking the order doesn't sit right with me even though I agree with the order.

I think she would have dumped Bruce for sonicmage tbh. On topic, apparently they're floating shoving 6 trillion into wall street to delay its collapse long enough for some folks to cash out. Money printer goes brrrrr indeed.

Star Trek sure had some lazy aliens.

But even that wasn't for the economy

BBC - Thousands volunteer to help the NHS

I think you are referring to stock buyback choices some companies did, not shareholder\dividend payouts and yes its unethical as it utilizes extra money to artificially boost the share price when in fact extra money should be kept in a fund for exact;y this type of crisis where workers/staff may need to paid for 3 months but they arent able to generate revenue Paying out dividends now is just silly and massive waste of capital considering the reality of the global economy

You have to interrupt their action to restore discipline - that means you have to hit them during their attack phase. If you hit them during the recovery phase it doesn't count as interrupting their action. To interrupt a melee attacker it's very hard because the action window is very short. Casters are the main candidates for interrupting (when you're successful they also lose their spell).

At least when I'm up really high there's probably not any sharks trying to eat me. Probably. Though I am that much closer to lightning. Days like this I wish lightning sharks didn't exist.

If you upgraded those invocations, you need to look at a higher "tier" level, not the level that you originally got them at. This is just a thing for chanters - upgrades for invocations I think in the background are actually just new invocations that delete the older invocation, so they only just appear at the higher tier (even though they have a cheaper cost than expected for that tier). This does mean that if you have a keyboard shortcut for an invocation, you need to update them after upgrading it.

I'd rather play the 2012 movie and make controller noises with my mouth.

Sadly, I have a crippling fear of heights, and it has often gotten in the way of visiting many awesome places. I try to fight it as much as I can, but it often feels like no amount of rationality is able to drain that feeling of going numb in all of your limbs and... well... just falling. No matter how unrealistic or ridiculous it might actually be. Some years ago, when I visited Preikestolen in Norway, I was able to hike all the way up to the rock formation, but since the main draw of the place is that it looks like this, I was hell-bent to get to the edge and look down, phobias be damned. It was a bit too much. Every small gust of wind was like a tornado, just waiting to suck me into the abyss. I was so numb I ended up crawling to the edge on my belly just to have that mental reassurance that I won't inexplicably be blown away by some random act of fate. In the end, I didn't make it. I did look down, but it wasn't a fully vertical 90-degree look I was going for. I wasn't able to reach the edge either. One day, however... One day.

Began a tactician/forbidden fist to test tanky dps build, self heal+forbidden fist as an interrupt to restore discipline. Not sure if it's worth it. Seems tough to manage for synergy. Thought maybe I'd just run in and, if I got flanked, I'd benefit from the shaken and confused running out, then interrupting with forbidden fist among others to restore discipline. Maybe not low enough int. Not sure if the discipline is being restored, either.. Gonna play something else for now, but if ya know anything about synergy for this build, I'd appreciate some input!

After few days of break, I have again ventured into the world of Eora in Pillars of Eternity. I have finished the Iron Flail Fort and even though there was big slaughter, while getting to the leader of the camp, I was able to call for a truce, and we were able to finish the misunderstanding in a peaceful manner. Now I am back into the Durgan's Battery to prepare the cannons, for something, which might or might not come I let myself be surprised

The actual ballerina stuff was fine. It's just that...I do not find Natalie Portman a believable or compelling actress in the slightest, and consequently almost always find her characters unlikable in whatever she appears in (a small-but-not-totally exception for her character in V for Vendetta, I guess...and she was good in Leon as well), and it kind of snowballed from there on pretty much every front because of it. Laugh-out-loud CGI stuff that's supposed to be fueled by her inner struggles which I just did not care at all about, everyone in the movie is insane (and/or a scumbag) which fuels the ludicrousness even more, unreliable narrator (which would be fine with a character you like - not so much one you already dislike to begin with, just annoys me with her even more). I've seen Perfect Blue, the movie Black Swan is heavily based off of, and while Perfect Blue had its own set of problems, I found it a waaaaaaaaaaay more enjoyable experience. I really just need to give up and accept the fact that I'm not going to like anything Natalie Portman appears in, I guess - she's pretty consistently been a movie-ruiner for me.

I miss oby, this would be a good time for him.

That's Fake News. Lions wouldn't stand a chance with bears that are already there.

attractive nuisance. funny bit o' law which basic means that even if you diligent warn people o' dangers, 'cause kids is stoopid you need take extra precautions. construction sites is most notorious examples. plaster warning signs 'round equipment and hidden dangers ain't enough to protect contractor 'cause is a given kids will ignore such signage and play in construction sites. contractors gotta take extra precautions beyond what is strictly reasonable 'cause there will be those kids who ignore good advice regarding dangers o' heavy equipment and nail guns and thin bits o' plywood covering holes filled with stagnant muddy water and bits o' metal and/or glass. legal reasoning is that kids is dumb and they cannot help themselves so contractors need be a bit more responsible. is sad but true that the reasoning for attractive nuisance applies equal to snot-nosed kids trespassing at construction sites as it does to 20 and 30 somethings who is faced with point-buy v. re-roll in a crpg. the path to self-destruction is easy to see, and for little kids and gamers, is impossible to avoid? HA! Good Fun!

apparently Inuits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senicide

Depends on what you've smoked.

I've always treated the packaging as dirty, so dispose of the envelope/box immediately and wash my hands after.

@Boeroer I didn't took into consideration my level at all, I have to admit. Maybe I'll do a few side quests in Defiance Bay before going to the White March, to get at least a couple more levels (I'm currently level 5, I think).

A tube that did nothing but eat and poop is your oldest ancestor Sounds about right.

Yeah, granted that I don't know how they will design this, but it should be noted at character creation or you'll have many people complaining about how easy the game is. I doubt the vast majority of people playing this game will have the game mechanics knowledge about this.

I'm working. In fact, i've done all technical work, but need to do more tests - it will take some time. List of fixed weapons/abilities: Sun and Moon (not sure if it has any problems, need to test) Grave Calling Sabre Frostseeker Frostfall (BoW) Shattering Head AOE Dragon's Dowry Sunlance Summoned Fire Stag melee attack Firebrand Essence Interrupter Thundercrack Pistol Conductive Blast Attack Storm Rune Shot Lord Darynn's Voulge Hel Beckoning Tell me if i missed something.

Unless you're a skald or a troubadour you can forget about offensive invocations because they take long time to recharge. For the common chanter the most efficient invocations are the buffs and the summons (only animated weapons are worth at high levels because they're the only summon scaling with your level) which usually last until you get your phrases back. For chants the best are Ancient Memory (strong passive healing), Aefyllath... (very strong if if your main damage comes from weapons), Old Siec... (works great if you have a party with lots of AoE dmg or a bloodmage), Her Courage... (for more tankiness), etc - these should be your main options depending on your party.

in retrospect am seeing how tchaikovsky would be an effective distraction for a bored babushka, but were not our goal in posting. regardless, am glad it helped. april 1 will be nixon in china, which am admitting we only know one aria from the entire opera. will likely check out tannhäuser as well. not a sooper popular wagner opera, but were a kinda/sorta/slight inspiration for gaiman's neverwhere. only have seen one performance o' tannhäuser and were not met quality. aside: fact comrademaster didn't dr00l all over himself when presented with a freebie link to the 2007 met performance o' eugene onegin makes us serious question his cred. HA! Good Fun!

Congrats on reaching the top and not quitting! I know the feeling that you're describing here all too well, and the fact that you managed to overcome it was no small feat. Also, the guy was indeed a douche. Screw him.

Governments should not pay a dime to companies who do huge shareholder payouts in these times.

I'd expect a lot of that to come

Check out Spirit Lance + Mule Kick for laughs. Clear Out + Lance is quite jawdropping. Also Spellblade is nice. You can give him a rod + Blast, I'd recommend Watershaper's Focus, and then apply Deep Wounds, Arterial Strikes, Gouging Strikes and most notably Toxic Strikes in an AoE. Once Ondra's Wrath gets triggered it gets all the goodies from Rogue like Deep Wounds, Sneak Attack, Deathblows etc. That way you can apply rogue stuff in an AoE with rel. little Guile before (or after) you run out of wizard spell uses - which is nice in the early game (where spell uses are so scarce). Nannasin's Cobra Strike has high base damage and is very good with a Spellblade. Very powerful single target tool. Concelhaut's Draining Touch (do not learn it, use it from a grimoire and switch the grimoire after summoning in order to keep it for the whole fight) has the highest base damage of any one handed weapon afaik and targets Will instead of Deflection. It also weakens the enemy and drains health. Give Aloth a club + modal in the offhand, summon Draining Touch and switch grimoire, cast Miasma, then attack the debuffed enemy with Full Attacks like Crippling Strikes. He will have absurdly low Will and Draining Touch will nearly always crit, doing very high damage. So - Aloth can be great with all his possible multiclasses.

Meh, I kind of loathe the term 'ethnicity' and 'race' since they seem to mean whatever is convenient at the time and are used subjectively all the time. Despite all the inbreedings and invasions- romans, angles, jutes, saxons, vikings and rebadged vikings- there's no significant objective difference between English and other Celts- it's all learned stuff like which language they speak. Same for the Russian/ Ukrainian/ Byelorussian ethnicities. So far as I'm concerned they're all Celts or Ruthenians/ East Slavs because there are scientifically discernable differences between those groups, but not between the subgroups.

well, am gonna hope folks take this serious and we starve the virus 'nuff so we can get to whatever is the new normal sooner rather than later. largely automated workforce and ubi? not anytime soon, but maybe this kinda thing gets us headed in the right direction. in any event, good luck. we went and did shopping for folks this AM. none o' the area stores have 24 hour availability anymore as they need shut down for deep cleans every eve, so we were at a "local" store at 6AM. local for us is a 25-minute drive. mostly older folks were clustered at the entrance o' the supermarket when we arrived. we got more than a few grocery stores which offer senior hours, but most is doing such on specific days as 'posed to entire week. anyways, we get to store at 6AM and manager announces to those assembled: almost no tp; few paper products in general; produce and egg deliveries would be taking place at 9AM; fresh meats were well-stocked. we did manage to get kleenex for a few folks on our list. there were a couple bags o' jasmine rice on shelves. nothing else for rice folks. couple bags o' black beans were all that were available for legume lovers. no potatoes. frozen vegetables were in short supply. prepared frozen foods were plentiful. could fill your freezer with frozen pizza if you so desired. milk were well stocked. plenty o' apples and lettuce and bananas. tomatoes were abundant and looked surprisingly good for the season. a few varieties o' soups were absent, but most were available and in numbers. hit and miss. weird part were how in spite o' fact the shoppers were mostly older, they had almost zero respect for social distancing, even those people wearing masks and gloves were crowding together. literal had one woman brush past us to get at the yogurts she wanted. weren't just customers neither. we asked bakery guy which packaged bagels were cinnamon-raisin (decided not for Gromnir btw) and the guy came out from behind his counter and got in our personal space in a way we wouldn't like even if there weren't covid-19 to worry 'bout. we had specific asked if he could point out the desired bagels "from a distance." dunno, feels like older folks in particular ain't taking social distancing serious and others is almost going out o' their way to show they ain't scared. regardless, shopping were quasi successful. next week am gonna try for a costco run. we could personal avoid shopping for a month (or more) w/o trouble as am well and good stocked with everything but stock-- chicken, beef and vegetable. our senior friends feel bad 'bout us doing shopping for 'em so am suspecting they keep their lists brief so as not to overwhelm us. have pointed out how is better for everybody, Gromnir included, if our friends have us do shopping which will carry 'em through at least a couple weeks, but is so tough for people to accept help. HA! Good Fun!

I mean seeing the rank hypocrisy from these leeches is always morbidly funny, but said grandparents are fine with their grandchildren living with 9 other people in a single bedroom apartment and no prospects to the point of actively opposing stuff like rent control, public healthcare, or student loan forgiveness so it seems to me the boomers couldn't care less about their kids' kids. Anyways looks like there's a stay home order for Houston until April 3rd. Unfortunately it looks like my job is an "essential service" so I still have to make sure the bougies have their pools running. No overtime or hazard pay either.

That sucks I'm lucky that I've got an employment that is quite essential, and won't get shut down, plus it's government owned so going bankrupt isn't really a thing. The only thing that could shut us down would be if enough people get sick, then again, Volvo has laid off 25000 people, but while talk of solidarity is going strong, they aren't allowed to come work for us because they aren't allowed to work during the layoff...

Fun Thought of the Day: Everyone is used to lineups at the grocery store... usually, however, it is at the checkout line.. now, the lineups are to get in. LMAO

If true that's the dumbest decision I've heard about this game.

Atlas Obscura - Paro Takstang, Tigers Nest Monastery

4E came up with abilities that fall into four different categories: At-Will, Encounter, Utility and Daily, and they do exactly that. You can either use them every round, once per encounter or once per long rest which isn't necessarily a day but never mind that. You can select new powers and replace old ones you don't like at level up. Utility powers can be limited to once per encounter or day depending on the power. It also made multiclassing weird. Multiclassing was a line of feats you took where you could essentially shuffle some powers around and possibly qualify for your multiclasses's progression paths later on but you'd need to multiclass within your role and to a class using the same primary stat for this to even work in any way. Work meaning to not gimp your character. Essentially you'd just take the MC feat not to roleplay something but to gain access to a certain class trait you'd like. In order to drive home how useless the first multiclass feat sometimes was, often they'd just allow you to pick an At-Will of your multiclass and make it a daily power for your character. An encounter power if you're lucky. MCing to Rogue allowed you to sneak attack once per encounter and gave thievery skill training. Later MCing feats allowed to swap an encounter, utility and daily power between classes. That is where it would get interesting, alas, is that really worth four feats? It also had the cookie cutter stat spreads. You had a couple of stat spreads to choose from in the PHB, but realistically only three of them made sense, and that are the ones where you can put 18 in your primary stat (with a +2 bonus for your race, choose accordingly or gimp yourself). Everything else is a bad choice. Every build path has a clear primary stat and depending on the complexity or your choices a clear secondary and perhaps a tertiary stat. Unless you roll for stats that leaves three viable choices under the rules: 18 13 13 10 10 8 18 14 11 10 10 8 18 12 12 10 10 10 The second one being the most common because you can have a 20 and an 16 in your primary and secondary stat. The first one looks deceivingly interesting but falls flat as you'll want to increase your primary stat by leveling up and racial bonuses come as even numbers. It's pointless to have two 13s there, that's dead weight. In order to fix the weird multiclassing later revisions introduced hybrid classing - a concept where you're two classes at once, but with one character level and special rules for all possible combinations. A veritable nightmare to work with. Mixing abilities is a pain the arse, the rules aren't at all clear especially when it comes to level increases and eventually you'll just wish you went single class instead. Plus the actual amount of viable hybrid builds is somewhat limited and further constrained by what's already in your party. I played a Warlord/Cleric combination specifically to combo buff and increase group mobility. It's not a good combination in general but it worked for the party. You can even top that off by taking the MC line of feats on a hybrid. Hm.

Fridge died yetserday, so that's great timing. Got a mini fridge to help tide us over but that's one hassle I can do without.

Conference calls all day and then my wife got laid off The small business she works for just couldn't survive any longer without customers