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Oh absolutely. I am entirely contemptuous of Russian threats and demands of the US/NATO, and my response to them would be to give them both middle fingers and ramp up military aid to Ukraine even more. Today's Russians are such a bunch of whiney crybabies, especially given everything they have done towards others. Take for example their self-righteous outrage at even the prospect of the Ukrainians attacking infrastructure targets inside Russia and claims that such attacks are an unacceptable escalation, because apparently they can invade and literally destroy Ukraine building by building and city by city but Ukraine retaliating by attacking some Russian buildings is an escalation?!!

Happy Easter everyone!

A legitimate withdrawal of the Russian army would be the best news I have heard all year For me I just want to see an end to Putins War and killing of Ukrainians and the damage done to Ukrainian infrastructure. I also want the Ukrainians to be able to go home as Im sure they do Putin can spin it anyway he wants because the Russian people have no choice but to accept it anyway

Yesterday, in our media there are starting to emerge reports, that Russia is running out of supply trucks. And even worse, they are also running out of truck drivers willing to drive to Ukraine. Which means big problem for Russian war. And today, I have found this. Russian propaganda is starting to talk about withdrawal of Russian army, due to the goals being fulfilled

Was going to just blow the upgrade budget on a 3090ti but figured that my 8700K would bottleneck any large gpu upgrade, so I got the alderlake and built a whole new box and got 3080ti to hold me over, then I can go all out on the 4xxx series when that arrives. Upgrading from the 8700K was a good idea as the 12900K absolutely slaps (wish I held out a little longer for the KS version, oh well). 3080ti is still good too, I can finally play most vr games on the 8KX at full resolution. It's only 10% less powerful than a 3090ti and 60% less cost

The question is, how much of that 50 billion ended up in military and how much ended up in the pockets of corrupt commanders

The End of Escaflowne: エスカフローネ Simply "Escaflowne", not even a "the movie", and the why becomes clear the moment it begins. Back when I first started to watch The Vision of Escaflowne, I took note of the director and some of the writing team, like I said, they've been involved in various other projects that we've watched in this thread in some form or another. Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and some Cowboy Bebop. That the film was written by Ryōta Yamaguchi made me hopeful that it would be good. Ryōta Yamaguchi is a bit of a mixed bag though. He's consistently inconsistent, sometimes writing both the best and the worst episodes of anything he's working on. For Sailor Moon, that meant writing what's probably the funniest straight comedy episode of the entire run, where a series of increasingly improbable events cause everyone to join Usagi at home to make a mockery of their Clark Kent disguises, the transformations and the series' dependency on its formula. On the other hand, he also wrote that episode where Ami suddenly finds herself cosplaying at a video game convention and winning a fighting game tournament in spite of never having played before. For Vision of Escaflowne, that meant writing the second episode, arguably the weakst of the entire show (or, at least, the second weakest). Episode nine is also from him, which is the runner up, although it's probably not as easily gauged as the quality of the second episode is as it just happens to be wedged in between a run of really, really great episodes, and also, while the Sailor Moon episode with Ami playing video games was arguably not good, these two episode in The Vision of Escaflowne were merely "just" solid compared to the other episodes. On the other hand, he also wrote the introspective episodes where Hitomi saves Shinji Van from being merged with EVA Unit-01 Escaflowne and the absolutely amazing first part of the two episodes set in the ruins of Atlantis. That said, I don't think Escaflowne is bad, even with all the Dr. Phil seizures it causes. Arguably, it's worse than that. It was a bad idea. Invariably, watching this film evokes the echoing voice of The Transcendent One, when he confronts The Nameless One over the corpses of his companions. "Are they dead? Yes. Unlike you, they had but one life. They wasted it for your sake." They had the talent, some development problem and the buget for one film, and it looks so great, and yet it is wasted for the sake of an unecessary dark fantasy retelling of an anime series that needed none. There are also some inexplicable changes to the character designs, and I don't mean them looking differently, although that is of course true too. If the series was a hodgepodge of different anime series styles across different eras, this borrows from films of the 90ies. Hitomi and Yukari sometimes reminded me of, dare I say it, Perfect Blue. One of these changes is giving Merle the cat girl underwear. No, really, she went through the entirety of the series wearing nothing but a short dress, and it was visible several times that she doesn't wear anything else, and yet nothing in the series came close to this moment in the movie. Why? For the same reason the princess wears a crop top and hot pants instead of something appropriate for a princess. Admittedly, one does not often see scenes where adding clothes makes them sexually more charged. Quite a feat, all in all. Looking at this sceneshot also makes me wonder how she managed to put her underwear on. Ah well, it's probably a cat thing anyway. Allen and his gang look like a group of criminals from any post apocalyptic movie. The plot of the film is, well, can't even really call it even an abridged version of the series, can I? So, what else could I possibly add? This film should not be part of the Escaflowne universe, even as an alternate reality retelling. In a way, this is Star Trek 2009 all over again, althoug in terms of being stupid and ridiculous, Star Trek 2009 has this one beat by a mile. If this wasn't called Escaflowne it at the very least wouldn't cause Dr. Phil seizures, even with the increased silly fanservice. There are certain themes in the film that aren't handled badly, and some of the scenes with Merle and Hitomi were actually quite nice. The film is darker, gritter, more serious. Focused on some more action and loneliness, isolation and depression. It also does something else that's quite a feat, it's both more and less generic fantasy than the anime series. Sometimes, indeed, the films feels more like an Akira Kurosawa film than the sometimes fun, sometimes silly, but almost always really good fantasy romp that the anime series was. It's less generic European fantasy, even though it's still set on Gaea and makes much heavier use of Japanese aesthetics. That leaves the point of making this film. Star Trek 2009 at least was trying to revive a well known intellectual property to squeeze some more money out of it, and oh boy did that work. Escaflowne wasn't the commercial hit in Japan it was original anticipated to be. Stronger abroad, but still a fair bit short of the mark. What was gained from setting this film in the Escaflowne universe? Nothing but alienating the fans of the series. Did this win new ones? Maybe, but those would go and check out the series and just drop it. If it's not a cashgrab, has no meaningful ability to bring in and retain a new fanbase or expand the old one and has arguably nothing to add the the universe, the question becomes, then, as always with such things, the why? Why is this movie there? I have no answer, dear reader. None. However, to leave you slightly less disappointed, have a Lake of Tears song to tide you over:

For the random amusement: Elden Ring's ‘Let Me Solo Her’ Becomes Total Internet Legend (kotaku.com)

I am sure this is just b.s. PR. Russia will try to have its cake and eat it too, by "withdrawing" their troops but continuing to occupy large swathes of Ukrainian territory which they will claim is *not* Ukrainian territory, and in this way try to finesse their claim of a "withdrawal" to then demand that Western sanctions be lifted. But at least the US Administration is already on the record saying our sanctions will not be lifted until "every square inch" of Ukrainian territory is vacated by Russia. Furthermore, I am quite certain, again only speaking for what I expect the US to do and not other Western states, that we will argue that Russian assets under US control will be used to settle any Ukrainian reparations claims against Russia. This would have to go through the US courts, but there is plenty of precedent for it.

Well, for the record, I never bought into the 'Russia-will-win-easily' hype.

Mexico gives you a great bang-for-your-buck and this will be our first time to Cabo, so were pretty pumped. Although now looking at the map I wish we would have checked the prices to Acapulco. Ive always wanted to go there! Oh well this one is already booked so maybe next vacation. The friendliest place Ive ever been to is in SAmerica, Chile. The people there were just sublime. Of course that was the early 90's so things may have changed.

Its in the Southern tip of the Baja peninsula: We usually go to Cancun (far right of picture).

Speaking of which, just last night my wife booked us a week long vacation in Cabo in August. Were doing our typical stay at an adults only, all inclusive, resort. w00t! Were a little burned out on Cancun and the Pacific beaches are much nicer. I just hope the reefs arent torched yet.

antisemitic or just ignorant? choices. HA! Good Fun!

Oh yes, we've talked about it. There are... unresolved problems... between us that complicate things like that. That is a long conversation. We'll see how it goes. As far as actually retiring next year that is also depending an a number of things. I have a 401k, IRA, and eventually SS to provide an income once I'm 65. If I pull the trigger in 2024 I'd need 12 years of modest income off investment to make up the gap. It's do-able IF somethings already in process continue to go my way. We'll see. It's more of a hope than a plan at this point.

It's also an episode that can be used to showcase just how impenetrable the show sometimes is, unless you have studied certain aspects of art, (classical) music and culture. There's the easy part, the story about the prince who knew no woes in both past and future - that is clearly meant to be Mytho on his journey of self-discovery. With emotion comes comfort, as well as pain. The fire festival in the episode is either about what's nowadays Easter Fires in central Europe, lighting fires to chase away the darkness, or what eventually turned into the celebration of St. John's Eve. Thematically the former is more fitting, but dancing around the fire is more the latter, but she show itself also makes heavy use of central European (and Germanic) folklore, more than northern. Very significant use of music by Richard Wagner too (the piece is related to Siegfried, itself based on the myth of Sigurd, which has Siegfried eventually reforge a broken sword to slay a dragon, hint hint). Then there's the whole metaphor that begins in the opening scenes when Fakir (a case of meaningful name) stares into his mirror, and finished when later Mytho is found sleeping next to a lamp. The Mirror and the Lamp, a book by Meyer Howard Abrams. Go all that while watching the episode? Yeah. Neither did I. The Mirror and the Lamp bit I stumbled upon while reading up on the episode. English examinations of literary criticisms aren't exactly my specialty.

Phantoms of the Lost (Starting) First Talk (You get it, after you leave the Arena): Chorus of the Lost (Eothas! Stop) (Distracted / Hobbled) Sympathy for the Lost (Reach for Lost Souls) (Distracted / Heal) No Pity for the Lost (Search for your soul) (Distracted / Steadfast Inspiration) Second Talk Hasongo: Nothing Third Talk: Mercy for the Lost (Upgrade from Symphathy of the Lost - Fit inspiration) Commandment of the Lost (Upgrade from Chorus of the Lost) (Immobilize foes) No Time for the Lost (Upgrade from No Pity for the Lost - Reduce hostile effect duration and increases beneficial effect duration)

...there will be another homemade table (vs. boxes..) on the left side, so I'll finally have my "U". Meaning when done, from the doorway hubby might still get to see the top of my forehead. Long day. Time for bed.

You know what I've wanted to do? By an RV and spend the following twenty years or so living the gypsy life all over the US, Mexico, & Canada. Camp in State & National Parks, see everything there is to nee in North America from Cabo San Lucas to Newfoundland, Fairbanks to Key West. Like that old song:

No, it only determines which version of the "the Lost" ability you get.

They'd be utterly pointless to Ukraine- nuclear deterrent relies on MAD, and 2 warheads wouldn't even approach that. Guess you could kill a lot of civilians in Smolensk or Rostov even with a small warhead, but then the retaliation would be massively disproportionate. Might give some 'fight to the last Ukrainian'/ 'only good Russian is a dead Russian' types a chub though before all of west Ukraine becomes Chernobyl 2.0 and they switch to how much of a warcrime it is to use nukes, on people they like. They'd also be pointless on the Moskva. The nukes are designed mostly for hitting Carrier Strike Groups and the like and Montreux means those can't even get into the Black Sea in the first place. So, whose Black Sea fleet would they be for nuking? Ukraine's fleet consists almost entirely- and really, pretty close to entirely- of inflatables. Even for hitting land based targets they're almost pointless since you've got limitless better options in ground based missiles and Tupolevs.

When you first talk to Eothas below the arena, you have the choice to either reach out to the lost souls or push past them to find your soul. I was always under the impression that you have to chose the latter "selfish" choice to get back the gift of the machine and effigy resentment bonuses in Hasongo. But maybe I am wrong about this?

https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/04/what-lessons-china-taking-ukraine-war/363915/ Kanie posted this link 2 weeks ago or so and its the most informative link I have read that summarizes the numerous issues with Putins War

I was one those who absolutely believed that Russia would defeat Ukraine within a month, I wasn't being cynical or dismissive towards Ukraine but Russia spends $50 billion on its military a year compared to the $5 billion that Ukraine spends and Russia has been involved in numerous wars since Putin came to power and that generally improves and refines any military because countries learn through combat experience like the US since 9/11 Here is an old link from 25 February, read this to see the global sentiment towards this conflict and then compare that to the reality 2 months later. The Ukrainians have really exceeded most peoples expectations and seriously changed the perception of the effectiveness of the Russian army https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/25/europe/russia-ukraine-military-comparison-intl/index.html

Looks like sinking of the Moskva has started another purge in Russia And General nr.8 (this time 3 with three stars) had a state funeral since February 24th.

Anyway, we have already online the response of Finland to Russian threats, if they join the NATO. First Russia released video with the movement of coastal complexes to the border. The day after, Finns released this video And of course, one of the Ukrainian's TVs have already made a report about it If nothing else, we should give Putin credit, for completely obliterating the prestige and fearsomness of Russian army, which Soviet Union and himself tried so much to build after WW2

It's probably intended for internal digestion, so Putin can redirect passions over the struggling war effort to an external factor.

Russian threats to the US are meaningless, Im not sure why Putin thinks the West should or would care ?

Bummer. The Little-Known Role of the Soviet Union in the Vietnam War

Sure, Trump definitely spread fake news and misinformation at times But not even close to what we seeing from Russia, Trumps "alternative facts " were not about a war special military operation and used to justify the invasion. He focused more on hyperbole that was aimed at his base and not the global community and comments at the UN and UNSC

I have found one hour long video analysis of the possible consequences of long term conflict for the "west", Ukraine and Russia. It was worth the watch, and it answered a lot of my questions (e.g. why Ruble is still so strong). I would hope that here is at least one or two economy savvy forumites, which will watch it whole and point out to his strong sides and flaws of his analysis, and share it with us, I would be very grateful

No 3090 or 3090 Ti?

OMG, that sound brought me straight back to the server failover testing meetings. Never again...

No sir, I'm an electronics engineer by trade and education. But I did get 5 years of experience in water management and ecology plus a little CE working for the mostly great state of TN. The first step will be getting electrical power restored to the eastern part of the country. Ukraine has 15 nuclear power plants. Six are in the hands of the Russians and three are damaged and inoperable according to AP. I doubt the Russians will leave the six they control in working condition. But even if they did the majority of the power infrastructure is destroyed in the eastern part of the country. Towers, substations, lines are largely destroyed. Just as a comparison following Hurricane Maria 88% of Puerto Rico was without electrical power. The power generation capability was still mostly intact (with the notable exception of the Guajataca Dam) so it was lines, substations and towers that needed to be replaced. Restoration took a massive effort by FEMA, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the Army Corps of Engineers, numerous US and Mexican based power companies and Co-Ops and the State of Florida, Georgia, and other state governments. It took two years before power was restored. Ukraine is likely much worse off. Power is the cornerstone on which all other endeavors rests. The next is fresh water. Heavy munitions use and shattered buildings, vehicles, industrial infrastructure and storage will have contaminated the soil. It's spring now. Snows are melting and runoff is reaching the natural water sources and aquifers so the water will be contaminated if it isn't already. I'd imagine the water treatment plants in the east are heavily damaged if not destroyed. So even when electricity has been restored this challenge must be confronted. Right now without water treatment there is no sewage and wastewater management so that is going to contribute to the problem and lead to disease outbreak an other miseries like pests and parasites. It's been two months. The people in the war zone are running out of everything. So humanitarian aid is needed immediately and a hell of a lot of it. Think of the effort that went in to the Berlin Airlift and multiply that by 20. Then there is the long term costs. Because of the demand placed by explosive growth in China there is world wide pressure on construction supplies like lumber and concrete. This was something we had to deal with in my last job. Add to that COVID labor shortages and supply is lagging demand by almost a year as of February last year. After Hurricane Maria the population of Puerto Rico declined by almost 12%. A lot of people moved to the US and stayed. There is absolutely no way to know how many people have fled Ukraine, been killed or deported/kidnapped by the Russians, but it's likely going to be a lot. And even after the war is over more will die from exposure, lack of medical services, etc. That will mean fewer hands to do the work. It also means the Ukrainian economy will be recovering for years because, like most European nations, it has a transactional economy that required consumers. The longer this goes on the worse it will get because the refugees in other nations will begin building new lives where they are and be unwilling to return to a shattered country where their homes and lives are gone. Like you said the devastation that will be left behind once hostilities cease is incalculable. It will require a multinational effort, trillions of dollars worth of relief and literally decades to rebuild. And likely none of it happens as long as Russia is still Russia and sitting right next door undermining the whole thing. And there is very little the rest of the world can do about that.

Updates : - Boar & Bear form : engagement bonus set to passive (so it stacks with active effects, as for Form of the Fearsome Brute) - Stag form carnage : reworked to an AoE triggered on Crit (including on main target) as Pet Stag companion (BPM made it works also on main target). => Base damage 10-18 Slash / Pierce, 9 PEN, 1.5 radius, scales as similar abilities (+5% multiplicative damages, +1 Acc, +0.25 PEN for each PL beyond 1). Why this change : I think the issue with "Barbarian style" carnage is that it is a bit pointless. It is much less focused than cat attack speed bonus, and more annoying, combo with few other abilities. I worked quite a bit on Barbarian to make carnage feels a bit like PoE1's (making Frenzy upgrades applies to Carnage hits, the making Interrupting blows working with BPM carnage crit). This, obviously, isn't easily doable with Druid Stag form. On the other side, I found this tweak for the stag pet : by working also on main target, it is an AoE passive, but also a Crit reliant damage ability vs main target. Crit fishing isn't easy with Stag pet nor with Stag form (except, well, entropy and some martial MC), but it is still much easier to build around (especially with a party) than a bit of raw damage around. Basically it is an extra Wildstrike Frenzy without extra property. Since it has to compete with things like Cat x1.33 attack speed, it has to be good enough. Finally Stag form working like Stag pet makes some sense.

Here are a couple of upcoming games I've following. Would be interested in people's thoughts: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1579340/Survive_the_Fall/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1478850/Vendir_Plague_of_Lies/