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Neighbours who "adjusted" their fence so they could hang out together...

What Rathe said - there is difference between meddling (see Russian bot farms activity in social media) and forgery (see any Russian "elections" of past decade at least) . Anyway, political humor, well, differs in quality recently, but I think this one's not that bad:

I'm still baffled by Putin's decision, which seemed to be very unlikely for his usual fairly calculated mind. I've talked with some more informed Ukrainians, and while officially no-one will ever confirm this, if Putins Russia just had a show of force and entered Donbas and Lukhansk, they were ready to give up on those provinces and the port city in the south. With Russians invading Ukraine and attacking Kiev, this is nations war at the moment and there is no chance Putin is going to achieve his goals without packing a lot of Russian bodies back home. (which by comparison might make Afghanistan numbers look like a footnote) The terrain might be a more flat terrain, but there are woodlands, swamps, etc as well as a lot of various spread out smaller towns with various buildings to use for ambushes. Big City fight will be a nightmare for Russian troops. These are not some low height building, low density towns of middle east... It's also a good thing that men there are not yet of the "soyboy latte" mentality and character. National pride helps too.

I got Mass Effect Remance Edition for free so I gave it a whirl. I played the original trilogy on PC and my code for ME:RE was for PC too. It's clear that the studio BioWare outsourced this to put in a lot of effort so I kinda feel bad saying it, but the originals were better. ME:RE's introduced lots of new bugs, mods for the OG games aren't compatible, but worst yet: a lot of the new lighting just isn't as thematic as the original. Anyway, confirmed what I've always thought: Mass Effect 3's biggest problem isn't the ending but how boring it managed to make the end of all intelligent life in the galaxy. Now to twiddle my thumbs until Elex 2 comes out.

Andromeda had its issues, true, but that doesn't take away from 6 seasons of the glorious campy goodness that was Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Plus, that show spawned the GOD-TIER Xena: Warrior Princess which gave us so much joy, including the single greatest sequence in cinematic history:* * This is hyperbole. The true greatest sequence in cinematic history is obviously ED-209 going haywire on Kenny in the original Robocop.

I began my caffeine addiction in high school. (Lived in a foster home with up to 10 people in the home. My brother would wake me up at 5AM so we could get the first showers. Coffee was the only way I could stay awake until the school bus got there.) Anyway, about a year and a half ago I saw an ad for mudwtr (mud water), a coffee substitute without caffeine. Recently I ordered a (very expensive) can to try it out. Keep in mind I've only used it for 2 or 3 days and prior I was on a caffeine detox. Taste: Cinnamon. In fact so cinnamon that it made me realize that it wasn't the pumpkin in pumpkin pie I didn't like but the cinnamon. If you're like me and not the biggest fan of lots of cinnamon then I'd recommend adding the coconut creamer to your order 'cause the coconut takes the spiciness of the cinnamon down several notches. Price: $40 a 30 dose can. I was raised like a child born in the Great Depression and spent my whole life drinking only the cheapest coffee, to me that price is staggeringly high. But, Effectiveness: It works. I don't get the sudden shot of chemical satisfaction that I do from drinking caffeine but I also don't get the jitters and crashing either. It does wake me up though not as fast as coffee or Mountain Dew or a Five Hour Energy. If anyone is interested, ingredients as seen here (not my pic):

Mass Effect 1 had the strongest main villain and the most stat, skill, and equipment finagling, but the shooter mechanics were super garbage and the classes all felt really similar. 2 had much of the stat and equipment finagling stripped out but ironically allowed for much more variety in playstyle because the classes actually felt distinct. Also, the shooter mechanics were improved from super garbage to acceptable. Also also, while the game lacked a strong main villain, the overall story about assembling a rag tag group of misfits to save the galaxy was duper duper fun. 3 was a mostly joyless slog and it had Kai Leng, so it can **** off. The astonishing stupidity of the Strachild multicolored explosion endings was simplty the flies circling the pile of $#!+. Andromeda... We don't talk about Andromeda. Beyond the memes, what is there to talk about? P.S. I like Kevin Sorbo.

Humour!

Selective reporting and wishful thinking that results in misidentification. To be fair position of Mariupol is not really defensible. I'm sorry but is this allowed? I thought we were all armchair-experts only?

Fighting when your side does not have air support and other side has, is hellish.

Wow, we're almost exactly alike. If just had any degrees on anything or any relevant experience, it would be like looking at the mirror.

Happy to answer. I'm a professor with a doctorate in international relations. My academic focus is in international security and conflict, and international rivalries. My research focus has been on nuclear weapons proliferation, but in recent years has shifted to the emerging US-China rivalry. Prior to my doctorate, my bachelors and masters degrees are in aerospace engineering. Separately from my academic interests, I've long had a passion for WW2 and Cold War history and military affairs. I was in my senior year in college when the Berlin Wall came down, and at that time knew the full orders of battle of NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in Europe by heart. Used to do a ton of Cold War wargaming with my friends in college.

I consider the news that Putin has upped his nuclear forces alert status to be more evidence that things are not going so rosily for them on the ground. Plus, now some of those sanctions measures are actually beginning to bite. Backlash against Russia around the world is growing. Even China is now softening its pro-Russia statements. Putin is beginning to feel like a cornered animal, and to be frank that is the most frightening scenario of all: that Putin starts to feel like he's losing, and given that the one thing he will never accept is losing face, he does something truly psychotic like shooting off a couple of tactical nukes.

It's so silent outside... for the first time in 4 days and 4 nights, my roof isn't getting hammered by rain. It's been literally non-stop torrential rain since Wednesday https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-27/queensland-severe-weather-rain-flooding-bom-warnings/100864896 Brisbane river rising, Australian Defence Force evacuating areas, people dying... generally very wet at the moment https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-27/wivenhoe-dam-level-rising-staged-releases-more-rain-falling/100865762 Wivenhoe Dam capacity above 180pc and rising despite staged releases, more rain falling Looking at the bright side, the bush fire chances are very low at the moment

From my understanding, it's the type of meddling that's vastly different. The "meddler proof" in regards to Biden relates to electoral fraud in specific false votes, dead votes and the like. Mail in ballots not being fake, recounts actually being valid, etc. The "Russian meddling" query relates to social media manipulation, email hacking and revealing/faking scandals to cause people to react and vote for someone else. You can report what people are talking about without saying that what they are talking about is false or fact. Then people see it on their news feeds, hear reporters discussing it, and automatically it gets shifted into the mental box of "its a true thing because people are talking about it." If you use Facebook algorithms to keep feeding specific stories to social groups you can affect the way they behave. So I wouldn't classify it as direct hypocrisy there. Still, onto other things...

My logic was to come up with a name that reflected what I encountered on the island. Thus, one of them was "Cannibal Island", another one was "Tuk-Tuk's Island", and so on.

Kharkiv is secure after all. Another case of recon element launching a probe attack that was reported as full scale assault.

My feelings about those games are very complicated. I feel like the first game had the most right elements...but some quite poor execution in a lot of those elements that made it not quite always work, but not badly enough that the game collapsed in on itself. Space exploration should be fun and exciting without feeling like it was randomly generated or copy and pasted; there should be a good helping of interesting characters as well as dialogue/narratives/outcomes for said characters; there should be an interesting plot that can either be justifiably low-stakes or high-stakes; general gameplay should be fun without feeling repetitive. They, probably unfortunately, went with extremely high stakes right off the bat...which creates the classic problem of constantly needing to make subsequent entries even more higherer stakes than the last, which...had the effect that it had in the third game. Whoops. Characters didn't quite get the attention they deserved, and their outcomes were awkwardly and very hamfistedly railroaded (the fact that you can't even choose not to romance someone when your options as a male character are Liara and...Ashley, is quite frankly absurd; it's about just as bad if you're a female character with Liara and Kaidan, becuase Kaidan and Ashley are both less than ideal, so if you don't happen to like bright-eyed Liara or you simply just don't feel like the romancing type at all to begin with...well, oh dear oh goodness). Space exploration that wasn't corridor/wall-barrier fighting almost entirely happened inside of the Mako. The equipment system was an incredible chore. Still...for 2007, it did enough right that it still felt like a pretty novel cinematic action space game at the time. Second game got rid of most of the space exploration stuff (boy, I sure love launching them probes and wandering through and/or fighting in endless corridors...), but you got more and better character stuff in return, plus the main plot actually was a solid enough follow-up to the first without escalating things to the point of absurdity...too much corridor/wall-ducking shooting and not enough meaningful exploration by far, but it did enough right to still enjoy it. Good lord, what in the hell happened in the third game? Mediocre to terrible character stuff, very bad and way over-escalated plot that the writers couldn't figure out how to deal with, a veritable endless gauntlet of no longer fun repetitive shooting in corridors...and when it wasn't in corridors, it was in wide-open spaces with enemies pouring in from every avenue and where you're getting hit from a hundred different angles which is also not very fun. The exciting space exploration stuff is dead, the fun character stuff is dead, any remains of an interesting or compelling plot is dead, and the shooting gameplay has so incredibly worn out its welcome by then - especially in the absence of other enjoyable elements to make you care in the least bit. It's just brutal...and all the while, the game is acting like it's some kind of high art with the embarrassing ending and the dream sequences and...oh gosh, I just remembered the pathetic samurai dude... On second thought, let's not remember anything more about Mass Effect 3.

Started playing cyberpunk. The side quests are top tier honestly. Sometimes I have to double check its not a main quest it seems so substantial. Went with female V, sex scenes are weird, not sure I like being mounted like that. Edit: okay the Silverhand sex scene was also awkward so it's not just being mounted that's weird

I think Russia using Kadyrov's thugs is itself a very good indicator that things are not going well with their own forces. It is entirely possible that the Russian conscripts, and yes they are conscripts, are suffering low morale, from having had to sit in makeshift camps waiting for this invasion for several months to now fighting Ukrainians who they were told/promised would not fight back or would join the Russians against Zelenskiy. These conscripts were expecting to be greeted by Ukrainians as liberators, but instead they are fighting them tooth and nail, including even civilians taking up arms against them. So the Chechens are being sent in with the hope they will be more tenacious in the fight. Reports are quoting Pentagon sources as saying the Russians have already suffered up to 3,000 dead, and lots of armored vehicles, helicopters and aircraft lost. And that this is why now US and European governments are becoming enthusiastic about finding creative ways to really help the Ukrainians, because they believe we have a real chance at delivering a bloody nose to Putin.

Allegedly one of the top Chechen warlords have been killed in action near Hostomel...

I don't really mean to promote the idea that "everything is fake" per se, but rather anything from either sides without clear and outstanding evidence should be very skeptically considered. Between literally faked footage, footage and photos from other conflicts, outrageous official claims and literal transparent attempts at propaganda... Being skeptical should be automatic here. Does anyone know anything about the "Patrushev" military doctrine Russia reportedly adopted in 2018? Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it: If Putin is actually planning on making good on this doctrine, then we're almost certainly headed straight towards nuclear annihilation sometime soon (not necessarily from this Ukraine conflict, but...if Putin decides to push it even further with e.g. Finland...). It could just be a public game of chicken and therefore simply posturing (or the doctrine could've been mistranslated entirely), but it sure doesn't sound good in light of this war.

Germany to send weapons directly to Ukraine Given Russia's apparent preparations to resist sanctions, I suspect that direct arms shipments to the Ukrainians may prove a more effective measure.

And first negotiations start. Not sure what the point is, Lukashenko can't refuse joining in at this point and Putin will demand almost complete surrender. Maybe they just want to deny them the propaganda opportunity that all talk offers were rejected?

Yes and some people actually were cheering on this invasion because its all about Nazis. I promise you its true Comrade, they really believed that Oh and you know the Ukrainian president is Jewish but since when did the truth stop Putins misinformation and propaganda

When you going to eat your hat by the way? Here is a link that shows how some deliver on what they say but my advice is go to a local cake shop and ask for a cake made to look like a hat and eat that ? That is also fine because technically it doesnt have to be a real hat, thats what I would do in your situation ? https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/bitcoin-user-eats-own-hat-literally/

Kids on the first floor made ukranian flags with crayons and hung then everywhere, It's adorable.

It was a bit humorous during a chat, but it was mainly pointing out that men in Western societies are on average weaker. There are lower level of testosterone, lower sperm quality (you can read studies comparing current vs ones 40yrs ago), and on average in much worse physical shape, and those who do get fit, usually are weaker psychologically and use body mostly like women, for display. In Ukraine you have a large populace of rural, industrial, maritime and other labor intensive jobs and also a large part still tjinks that man is responsible for wellbeing of the family and family is important That said, you can prove me wrong. Zelensky just opened legal way to form foreign legions and have them operate under Ukraine authority. At the same time, France did this To sum up, the countries in the west can send more than just equipment if men there are up for it. Yoy can experience this first hand

Something else which I want to recognize is the thousands of Russians involved in anti-War and and anti-Putin protests in Russia and other countries And to protest in Russia is really dangerous because Putin doesnt really tolerate citizens expressing their displeasure with government https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/russia-ukraine-crisis/russia-detains-over-3000-anti-war-protestors-demonstrating-against-invasion-of-ukraine-articleshow.html

Okay I tried, in the interests of " hearing both sides " I watched RT for 10 minutes but the gaslighting and misinformation made me nauseous and I had stop watching or I would have sick But I tried so you can give me that at least

Those BUK air defence systems seems better at taking down civilian targets than military ones... (j/k) Way too much misinformation and propaganda on both sides to trust anything on the internet at the moment. After a few years of fact checking, some of the messages may stand the test of time.

Im pleasantly surprised, Anonymous is involved in hacking that I support ...I never thought I would see that day

Yes but this has been raised, Putin is not thinking rationally and this Ukrainian invasion was miscalculated I have seen from several sources that since Covid lockdowns Putin has isolated himself from most of his advisors because he has this irrational obsession with " not getting the virus " and that could be one of the reasons for this entire badly thought out invasion Thats why Macron sat opposite him at the end of that huge table https://www.firstpost.com/world/emmanuel-macron-sits-across-vladimir-putin-at-long-table-after-snubbing-russian-covid-year-10368021.html

Within the grounded game, I am a person who would consider quite useful the use of pulleys to climb construction materials when you want to build in high places since you can not climb the vertical stairs with grass plank or bad herb and build acorn or grass stairs is very slow with scaffolding so the pulley or some elevator for manual use would be very useful to climb this class of materials or even to another player or oneself

James "Cool Papa" Bell was on of those great Negro League players that never got to play in the MLB. Which is a shame because he was likely BETTER than Jackie Robinson. Satchel Paige once said Bell was so fast he could turn off the lights and be under the covers before the room got dark. In an exhibition game against MLB all-stars he once scored from first on a bunt. Or so his legend goes. Bell's career ended before Robinson made his first start. I would have loved to have seen what he could have done for a team like the Cubs or Pirates in the late 30's. After his playing career ended he went on to be a scout for the St. Louis Browns and was inducted into Cooperstown in 1974. After he passed away in '91 the street he lived on in St. Louis was renamed for him.

And this is interesting as well. Cyberwarfare at it finest allegedly Russian domestic stations have been hacked and are airing what is really happening at Ukraine I'll be glad if anyone can find trustworthy news in medias, which can confirm or deny this information. I found so far only some tweets.

Apparently Anonymous got their hands on 200GB of data of communication between Belarus weapon manufacturer and Russia. A big chunk of the data are allegedly people paid by the Russia to spread misinformation in other countries. If this is true, there will be a lot of "fun" going around in the next few days in central and eastern europe, and a lot of salty people trying to run away from Slovakia. Being an agent of enemy is punishable up to life sentence in Slovakia... The tweet is in Czech language.

An excellent article, mostly echoing my own analysis and conclusions: https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-war-russia-vladimir-putin-miscalculation/

Meatloaf:

Many Syrians have white flesh tones. Just saying. Sometimes it just boils down to history and culture.

Finished Solasta. It was quite enjoyable for about 50 hours, but I don't feel like having a replay right now. Got my money's worth though. The three dimensional movement was certainly a unique mechanic, and one that had been lacking in games of this style. Perhaps others will try that now? Maybe I'll go back in a few years and give it a go as druid.

Hello, I only yesterday found out that if I use "The Long Night's Drink" + "Thick Grew Their Tongues" with full linger overlap as a Troubadour and wait until both phrases have hit enemies (so both debuffs are on them for 10+ secs) and only then turn on Brisk Recitation the durations on the enemies will get refreshed to the max all the time as if Brisk Recitation were still turned off - but every 3 secs instead of every 6 of course. This allows full coverage of the effects forever - but I can still get fast phrase generation. This is obviously not the case when I go in with Brisk Recitation because then the effect placed on the enemies are only 3 secs short. So my tactic now is to go in without Brisk Rec. and turn it on as soon as the enemies are affected with both effects (usually after 6 secs). I don't know why I didn't notice before - but I guess it's because I didn't play a ton of Troubadours but preferred the other subclasses most of the time - and when I picked Troub I went for Brisk Recitation right away (see Troub/Psion).