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Here's an extremely interesting piece on the war and Russia's military capability in the light of it. Note the date: this is slightly old now, but still worth a read. We can be thankful for the fact that Russia is based on corruption and theft, and the entire society is rotten. Otherwise things would be a lot worse than they are now. An especially hearty recommendation goes for @kanisatha. This, in my view, is proper writing. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00396338.2022.2078044#.Yveg_FmrhUc.twitter

Russians and their homophobia. Not too long ago, a russian user on a different forum called me "Fritz" as derogatory slang (because germany) and said my added features in Fallout 1in2 were "homosexual" - makes me think that the socialist fraternal kiss between Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker must have caused a real generational trauma to them.

As I imagine is the case for most people these days, I am a conflicted individual with a mess of feelings and ideas...which is particularly relevant right now because it is making it extremely difficult to effectively get across all of that which I am trying to convey in an intelligible manner. Like with the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian conflict, I personally occupy multiple perspectives that are at odds with each other. My previous post are two of those perspectives, the former of which (the first half of the post) wherein I keenly feel the fury of the anti-Trumpers, who are largely so completely beyond the point of caring about the particulars of the U.S. political and legal systems that have allowed Trump to avoid personal culpability for his actions thus far. We simply do not care anymore, the pain has been too long and too extreme for "don't hate the player, hate the game" to be enough, particularly when many of us already held a cynical disgust for the system that makes this the current reality in the first place (and again, when it is also simply not feasible for the system to be changed anyways). But as you pointed out, that is the exact feeling experienced by people on the opposite side with regards to Obama, Hillary, Biden, and so on...which is what the latter half (the second perspective) of my previous post was for: the recognition that on some level, we are all too far gone, that way too many of us are experiencing a kind of visceral wrath that is making what should be important (law and its consistent application!) feel a terrible obstacle getting in the way of actual justice...and with the way things are going (and being completely unable to affect it), it is only going to get worse. The first perspective also contains my anger at the current Supreme Court, where it is becoming increasingly difficult not to feel as though a tyranny of the minority taking away fundamental rights, regardless of their legal reasoning or process by which it happened, should be met with the exact response necessary to reverse it, and damn the consequences. And yet...not too long ago, by means of a third perspective opposite to the first, I also expressed a terrible fear of what might ensue if the Democratic Party gains a large enough control of Congress to finally eliminate the filibuster and seize control of the Supreme Court through it. Why? Well, I can only speak for myself: I am not for throwing the entire rule of law into the garbage can because I want to see Trump finally get his due...but is there at least one part of me that is, one that can speak louder than the others at certain times because I am not a judge or lawyer trying to take a measured approach to everything? Yes: in fact, that part of me is strong enough that I don't believe I could ever be either a judge or a lawyer, as I would be fundamentally incapable of doing my best to fairly view or defend someone I believe to be a murderer, rapist, or any number of other detestable qualities. As I said, you have a perspective and background that the rest of us do not, that many of us could not ever have because we're simply not that kind of person (or maybe because we've grown up in a different kind of social/political environment that has made that perspective all but impossible for us to attain). Too many of us are just tired and angry and want the problem to simply go away, and that's often the feeling that comes to the forefront when we're posting random crap we feel but do not think deeply about to a message board as a kind of outlet for said negative feelings. Which is likely why... ...responses like this are so often necessary to what people post in here - when it becomes obvious that while someone may have had a deep feeling that made them post something, they did not have deep thoughts behind it that would be able to fully rationally explain it to a non-like-minded person. You might be able to make someone as conflicted about these matters as I am see some reason (and to be clear, I do think I agree with everything you said), but...that's only me - it's pretty easy to influence me on political matters precisely because of how conflicted and unsure I am.

I'm a pretty optimistic guy, but even I know better than to expect JA3 to be good. I think a big problem is people focus on Ivan, Fidel, and all the other characters as being important to making a JA game. They aren't. It is important to have a colorful cast of characters. It's important to be able to develop them over the campaign. That's it. The strategic map looked ok at the end. The camera seemed off in the combat shots. The inventory and equipment modification scenes seemed incomplete. I'm not going to hold my breath. At the end of the day I'm getting a better tactical combat experience from Xenonauts 2, Battle Brothers and Wartales. These nu-Xcom style games offer a fun cinematic combat experience, and maybe JA3 will fit that mold. But I'm not holding my breathe.

we find alligator meat palatable and even delicious when prepared by somebody who knows what they is doing (not Gromnir,) though am thinking there is an over reliance on serving gator deep fried here in the US. as such the tin o' crocodile pâté don't particular scare us. alligator liver were a unique culinary experience for us, one which we never wish to repeat... evar. HA! Good Fun!

if it makes you feel better (unlikely) is a poor kept secret o' the defense bar that a significant % o' those anonymous tips which lead to capture o' criminals is calls from attorneys and they is either giving up their own client or using info from their client to point the cops in the direction o' some other bad guy o' whom the police were unaware. we personal couldn't do family law; was where we drew the line. could not bring our self to be part of a legal action which would intentional/accidental burn down a family. had done criminal brief and then we moved on to con law where our typical client were religious "extremists," followed close by white supremacists and gangs. perhaps curious, the only identifiable group o' clients we ever regretted representing were strip club owners, 'cause is one o' those unfortunate facts that a majority o' strippers were victims o' abuse as children and once they become strippers they is seeing abnormal levels o' domestic violence, drug use, mental illness, etc. point is, we had loathsome clients, and is not as if we could complete compartmentalize which is why we wouldn't do family... and why admitted after the fact we suffered some significant remorse 'bout representing strip club owners and strippers. never had to defend a rapist, but am suspecting that woulda' been difficult for us. am not unsympathetic to a point o' too much to bear. 'course we got the loons who somehow see all politicians as inherent broken and or want 'em all locked up yesterday, regardless o' due process or proof. you are willing to question your beliefs, which puts you significant ahead o' the curve. HA! Good Fun!

Please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck...

Also, an earlier piece on how the Bucha atrocities are viewed by people participating in Russian social media groups. In a nutshell: it's not pretty. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2022.2074020?src=recsys&fbclid=IwAR1bQJ_pW8EZ1Mvul_6C5EndLWUZAQaQ3IGs92KdjrBRgb_LtT6rx4WcEwc

The white meat from crocodiles is actually quite delicious (imho) Edit: so many T-Rex’es can’t be wrong, lizard meat is good

am only 90% convinced you are joking. HA! Good Fun!

On the contrary, my drinking horn not only has a stand, it also has a holster. If you're somewhere without a table to set your bottle or mug down you have to occupy one hand with your beer. Meanwhile, I can holster my beer and have both my hands free. I add the nail clippings to my meals for extra crunch.

About Gothic remake... if it's anything like the demo from a while ago.. no thanks. About JA3 ... I'm highly skeptical. The biome looks interesting, but ugh, yet another nu-xcom combat system. I dunno man.

It surprises me how many people I know would immediately say no to crocodile and yet its very tasty, the last time I had it was 2 years ago and it reminded me of chicken ?

"A man drove his car into a barricade near the U.S. Capitol early Sunday and then began firing gunshots in the air before fatally shooting himself" Makes it sound as if he accidentally shot himself. Hope that was the case, would be hilarious.

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition - I'd forgotten how *massive* this game feels and it's also surprising how well it's held-up over the years.

Yes, I agree with @Okkes, the FF/SB combo is very strong and sturdy so long as you max RES. If using CP biting whip is definitely the best choice. There's great synergy between the two subclasses since the cipher lingering echoes will extend all of your afflictions, and enfeeblement will extend all negative effects, including borrowed instincts. I also tend to take as many passives as possible. Crucible of Suffering is great for a near constant boost to defenses with FF. And with your high defenses you'll often reflect missiles and spells with soul mirror. And Hammering Thoughts is essential, of course. But I feel your pain regarding the loss of trickster. If triple classing were possible in this game, the first thing I'd try would be FF/SB/trickster.

Based off of what?

There are starting to emerge rumours, that higher rank russian officers are starting to flee from the west bank of Dnieper in Kherson Oblast. No official statements on this yet, but interesting news nevertheless.

Forbidden Fist - SB combo so powerful, especially in harder fights when it matters. You can also go with biting whip(%20 raw lash with Community patch) watchers blade combo which i found better than Stalkers patiance.

So I did some more testing to figure out good ways of gaining wounds via hostile effects expiring on Forbidden Fists. Based on this recent thread by Tomucci, I can corroborate that using resistance affliction gear such as Defiant Apparel (for Perception Resistance) and also Engwithan Bracers (for Dexterity Resistance) will not give you a wound if it downgrades an affliction effect, which is really unfortunate. Using the test examples in that linked thread, hitting a Forbidden Fist with Chillfog while wearing Defiant Apparel and Web while wearing Engwithan Bracers won't give you a wound once their effects expire. Immunity to afflictions will also not grant you a wound, but that is to be expected (I tested it anyway in the hopes that it worked in the funky way that Immunity to Disengagement worked). However, the push/pull immunity from the Upright Captain's Belt will work with Pull of Eora and still give you a wound. I think I read about this in another thread by Boeroer, so credit to him for that idea, I just tested to confirm it works. Imagined Pain is also a great way of generating wounds as suggested by Constentin. It's not unique to Forbidden Fists, but it's really useful for this subclass since you tend to have high defenses due to stacking resolve and having Crucible of Suffering active most of the time. In fact, Imagined Pain makes Pull of Eora doubly effective here because you will now gain wounds even if it misses. The trick then becomes reducing the duration of each instance of Pull of Eora on yourself so that it can apply again for the next time it ticks and hits you. With Clarity of Agony active, I was able to get an average of 8-9 wounds from one casting of Pull of Eora. This was just with testing with affliction resistance gear so I'm sure you could get even more wounds with better optimization. I think with how quickly Pull of Eora ticks, the short duration of it's effect, and the relative harmlessness of having reduced stride, this is my ideal spell to use with Forbidden Fists for wound generation, and it's a spell that I tend to cast frequently anyway. This is slightly off topic, but I also discovered during testing that Soul Mirror reflects spells. I always thought it only reflected ranged weapon attacks, but I was using Necrotic Lance and Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring and was surprised to find that they bounced back to hit my friendly wizard when I used it against my monk. Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring is especially weird because I could also cast it on an enemy, have my monk step between them into the beam, and then it would start reflect back into my wizard. Moving my monk would then produce a separate beam that bounced back at the wizard (see the screenshot below). Not sure if that effect has been documented elsewhere online, but someone might be able to come up with a cool way of using this if it also applies to other beam spells. Maybe a way of first making the caster resistant or immune to the damage type and then creating an extra free beam?

gonna need be more specific. is part o' the problem. we see general grievance that trump is bad and that heads should roll. ok, for what exact? after more than six years bartimaeus, not a lawyer, is no doubt quite aware trump were not gonna be prosecuted while President. if that hasn't sunk in by now am not sure how to help. that were the point o' the mueller kerfuffle, yes? mueller couldn't say trump were possible subject obstruction of justice charges because he could not be prosecuted until after he were no longer President, and it were deemed manifest unfair to formal accuse trump o' obstruction w/o giving him the chance to defend in court. so mueller says he couldn't rule out the possibility o' obstruction... which is effective accusing trump o' obstruction as he didn't rule out as he did with the conspiracy (and not collusion) charge. and yeah, impeachment doesn't work the way it is designed, but you know the solution: change the Constitution. so what we are really talking 'bout is two years, and not six. has been less than two full years since trump has been President and functional immune to prosecution. in that time he has been facing constant legal battles. serious, what do you want from the folks in georgia, ny and washington dc exact? you want 'em to punish bad people? well that ain't their job. is best you are disabused o' that notion sooner or later. we keep trying to explain how law and right ain't same and it is water off the duck's back. need be a violation o' law for prosecutors to act and there must also be a chance o' a successful prosecution for those officers o' the court to move forward with charges. so name the crimes and the villains and the evidence prosecutors is ignoring that ordinary folks would suffer incarceration in the same situation. bad men telling lies and being corrupt ain't enough. sorry, but it just ain't. and why exact shouldn't trump get same process benefits as any other nogoodnik? lexx stated he don't care. no different than "lock her up"? you feel same? everybody wants the bad guys to get their comeuppance and we wonder why the system makes it so ez to elude justice... right up until we are the ones being false accused o' a crime and then we are mighty grateful we get a lawyer no matter what and that we can stay quiet during a police interrogation and that cops need probable cause to get warrants. the rage at them is all too often misplaced and misguided. better make sure you understand that you could be one o' them due to mistaken identity or accident or a multitude o' situations unanticipated. HA! Good Fun!

@Malcador Happy birthday!

This lunch contains no alligator nor any crocodile:

She is soooooooooo cute.

I'm trying to figure out how it would work without the animals and all I'm coming up with is just implying it via trophies the predator has while having had him moving up to hunting the French trappers by the start of the film. On the whole, I think that would have made a worse movie than the CGI animals and Naru still needs the encounter with the lion to make the story work. I'm less concerned with accuracy (especially in a movie featuring an intergalactic 18-year old trophy hunter) and more concerned with how the movie works, and it does despite the wonky archery or cgi animals.

We used to have a poster who complained that Bioware made all the women in DA:I ugly or with male skulls to push some hidden trans female agenda.

Also, today emerged rumours, that one of the most prominent collaborators in South Ukraine, Oleh Shostakh, had a very explosive day today in Melitolpol. The guy is one of the main organizers of sham referenda in the South. Let’s eagerly await now for some indeoendent sources to confirm or deny the claim. https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-08-12-22/h_570cc7f061c21c3e18909c1487b204e7

This game seems to have excited enough people for long enough to make me curious about it… I’ll have to check it out more when I get home again (currently travelling interstate) Edit; what can I say? Missed the smell of kerosene and the queues at airport security

The first 30 seconds. I like how near the end of those seconds, you see one cat who's a little confused trying to figure out where the last unclaimed bowl is - it's a little random and they do not, apparently, always use/grab the same bowl/step every time. Edit: when I had 9 cats, they were nowhere near this "polite" about many dishes of food put on the floor at once. >.>

I don't know how to feel about a Gothic game with anyone other than Piranha Bytes making it.

https://www.pcgamer.com/classic-style-rts-tempest-rising-hits-in-2023/ That music ****ing sucks.