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Every once in a while, the results of rampant Russian corruption can even be just funny.

Hopefully you recover soon

I couldn't say. Never had a shingles vaccine. Got a tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and Diphteria vaccine a year and a half ago. I think it cost me $30 Australian or so (22-25 USD iirc). I really only needed the whooping cough vaccine, as it was all because of friends of mine having a baby and that thing is detrimental to the future of babies if you bring it to their home (I got to hold the little girl two weeks after she was born ). They didn't ask for it, but I thought it prudent. Only after she pulled the needle out of my shoulder did she (the pharmacist) tell me it could be a bit sore because it also had tetanus vaccine in it (which I had no idea about before getting the shot) But it wasn't exactly a financial burden (like 3 cups of Cappuccino at a cafe) and it was entirely optional. Covid vaccines have been free so far. Edit: Doctor visits every 6 months, getting prescriptions and requisitions for blood tests etc. are free. Because of my geezerdom I assume. Old and frail people like me need help after all

I didn't think Time could get more cringe than awarding 'you' the Person the of the Year in 2006, but that at least comes close. (Zelensky is a perfectly fine choice, but jesus f christ the Star Wars Poster Format should only ever be used ironically guys)

I doubt it. It sound like Hurl has term life insurance which typically just ends at after the term is up. Whole life insurance can be borrowed against, have money withdrawn from it, and you definitely get a payout at the end because it ends when you die. I'm not an expert though so while this is generally accurate there may be many exceptions and types of coverage that I don't know anything about.

I have to be honest that sounded like something malcador would say. Don't you get some sort of payout in the end?

I have too much life insurance because when I die I want there to be questions asked if I was somehow killed for the money, because there's no way I die of old age... and so more than just my enemies will celebrate my death.

Should probably go get that checked out to make sure there's no myocarditis.

I know a write a lot of negative stuff about the game but I did actually enjoy my time in it. I'm just disappointed by all the things that could have been.

I was interested in possibly doing an ancient for a little while. I opted for the Fury because of the Spell Pen. I figured if I am not a single class druid this would help my spells that I do have hit a little hard. I went single class druid for my Pillars 1 Potd run I was predominantly a caster but whenever i could would use firebrand but I want to try something a bit different this time. Summons with a ranger companion is really appealing however. I could just summon Storm Blights or whichever element I get still as a fury/stalker. I was thinking of Ancient/ghost heart for a little but want sure if my summoned pet would stack with summoned creatures from my druid. I am happy with the build so far as the Fury/stalker. The extra survivability/distraction of the stalker class and animal companion helps me actually exist in the game. I feel I can be adaptive in more ways than spell variety. Plus Firebrand and I had read about the endless paths greatsword prior to even starting this so incorporating it into my build is nice. I also might try to use the essence interrupter for the early game. For my weapon proficiency I took great sword and War Bows. I have to say it took my almost 3 years to complete pillars 1 bc I tried almost everything I can think of. This forum website truly inspired me to dig deeper into the mechanics of the game, and I found something I really enjoy thanks to it.

You are clearly unacquainted with American healthcare: I will just let my nieces collect the life insurance cheque.

Healing WoW dungeons is always fun, people rush too much. Second dungeon is essentially the zone, so you can fly around in it. Yes, a PUG flying around uncoordinated sounds great. Tank thinks he's a Space Marine and deep strikes into a group that's surrounded by patrols, we wipe. Repeat process about twice before a DPS quits and tells us we're all retards and homosexuals.

https://www.today.com/news/time-2022-person-of-the-year-volodymyr-zelenskyy-rcna60487 Zelensky has been named Time person of the year, a well deserved accolade considering Ukraines stand for freedom and rejecting the warmongering and tyranny of Russia

Lots of 'fun' end of year stuff: paying next year's road tax, automobile association membership fee, Amazon Prime yearly membership, Nintendo Online yearly membership, buying christmas presents, looking at last month's taxes and semi-fainting in the process. No, wait, that last one is a monthly occasion.

51-49 I guess the rankings go Reverends > Werewolves > Vampires

Didn't have a problem with Sea Lashed Crypt, Grave Calling makes this fight pretty easy. You can buff accuracy to insane levels vs vessels (psychovampiric, borrowed instinct, +15 from GC) and crit nearly every hit to paralyze individual enemies. Fun fact, you can start the fight with summoning the instruments of death, then attack one yourself to rebuild phrases (not focus unfortunately). The bow in particular is easy to crit IIRC, think its deflection is around 80. Anyway this tactic can be useful while waiting for enemies to come to you if you start far away. Zerg the fampyrs, their will is pretty low to begin with. I reloaded a save and had 131 accuracy at that point, and had 85% chance to paralyze from the get-go. Use a psychovampric shield or borrowed instinct and it becomes 100%, and they stay paralyzed about 10 seconds. The basic strategy with big groups is out of combat cast psychovampiric, when combat starts summon the instruments of death, they buy you some time to cast borrowed instinct and then you mass paralyze/charm/stun what you can and punch the rest to build focus and phrases, use soul annihilation on the troublemakers and keep mass paralyze/charm/stun when you can. Menzaggo- didn't have a hard save at this spot so don't recall his stats or resistances but I do remember I snuck past him and started in the northeast corner so I didn't get surrounded by the alguls and fampyrs. Basically you just want to keep your enemies in front of you so the invocations get as many as possible. I did this fight in one try and can't recall more than that beyond the basic strategy outlined above. Trial of the Naga, just redid that. This fight is hard mostly because of Vela IMO. What I ended up doing is sneaking as close as I could to the back right V thing where all the poison naga are, I cast psychovampiric shield on the shaman pre fight then borrowed instinct, positioned myself so the paralyze cone would hit all the poison naga, paralyzed them, paralyze lasts about 10 seconds and they are easy to paralyze or charm once your buffs are up (I usually prefer paralyze because of the cone size). Problem here is the flame naga archers. The flame naga marauders can be paralyzed easily. The archers also don't come too close, but there were only a few of them, and stun does work, particularly if you upgraded it for +15 accuracy, and it pushes them back. I had Trixie as pet so I could move a little faster but the biggest weakness of this build is you can't move around a large battlefield quickly. No Quarter on Rakhan Field boots works for shorter fights but it is 1 / encounter so I used boots of speed, combined with Trixie it is +50% stride. While the poison naga were paralyzed I zerged the totem, mostly ignored the flame naga sorcerer, the drake he summoned was actually targeting the poison naga which while weird was helping me. Maybe because that's where I used withdraw on Vela... anyway, once I got to the other side I took out the archers or stunned them while re-paralyzing the poison guys then taking them out one on one. Tough fight and I don't think I can do it 100% yet, guess like 80%. Need to think about how to kill the archers and poison totem faster. The bog oozes are a bigger pain than the drakes IMO. They didn't get through my defenses much, besides deflection, but switched to Devil of Caroc / devil's due which heals about 8 per crit, didn't get below bloodied. Could also use Aldris Blade of Captain Crow which heals on crit but I went fists, didn't want to worry about breaking it. Not sure how much Aldris heals, description says 8, but it is probably more, usually dawnstars and/or might are applied to get about double that. Can't pause unfortunately so hard to find in the combat log... EDIT: You can actually bait most of the nagas with traps and take them out at the bottom of the arena one at a time. Boring, but makes the fight easy. @dgray62 I am playing POTD upscaled solo with all trials except wael (because I need to see stats to figure out the build) and iron (because I haven't perfected it). Have had to reload some as I'm still figuring this out but I think it might be possible for an ultimate run. I did the megabosses with no reloads. SSS is the hardest I think. And the early part of the game where you have to sneak everywhere, have had to reload several times from misclicks. I'm sure troubador / psion is more reliable because of all the passive focus regen and passive phrase buildup from brisk recitation, but is that not like, really boring? I mean to each his own but I tried watching a troubador/psion ultimate run and it was 100+ hours or something. Might have been you for all I know. IDK I'm just trying a combo I haven't seen used much and I like the more active focus/phrase gen

Good riddance.

I used to dump RES, but once I tried playing a FF monk I came to realize that I really under-appreciated this stat. It boosts deflection and will, and reduces hostile effects durations. The difference between a RES of 5 and 25 makes a big difference in how sturdy your character is.

It's because many of these missiles are old nuclear-armed missiles from the Cold War, which were decommissioned after the end of the Cold War. So their nuke warheads were removed, and then the missiles placed in storage. Now, when those missiles are returned to operational use, there is no conventional warhead available that can be installed in them.

this is why it would be so great if crt were actual being taught everywhere like republicans, fox news and bruce would have you believe. crt removes the questions o' moral turpitude and blame in the analysis o' discriminatory laws and practices. as causal observes it is ez to believe cultures o' bigotry is being diminished by natural forces o' social evolution-- things is better than they were 50 or 100 years ago, yes? improvements is dramatic for many minority groups and for women. mistake. would be nice to believe our generation is somehow better and more enlightened than the previous one(s). *shrug* crt don't have the conclusions and ez answers most people want, but it does require analysis o' actual change and when studied critical, it becomes apparent change is resisted by those in power who current benefit from banking practices, laws and customs. "me and mine." does such an observation shock anybody? motivated self interest is hardly a shocking concept. if you wanna see meaningful cultural changes, is best to look to economic factors, and unfortunate, since before the great recession, the economy has not been improving for a large % o' working class americans. white and working class americans has a considerable amount o' political power. wanna look for an explanation as to why bigotry appears to have become worse in the last decade or two, then is best to look to economic factors. crt is not just 'bout race. applies equal to women and lgbt or any other group which has had to overcome systemic obstacles to economic parity. "me and mine." particular when those folks become fearful, they resist change even if it would benefit the economy as a whole to do so. serious though, we do wish crt were being taught everywhere. would be refreshing to have discussions o' systemic racism and bigotry w/o all the baggage. also Manhattan Jury Convicts the Trump Organization of All Charges Alleging More Than Decade-Long Tax Fraud Scheme A spokesperson for the Trump Organization tried to pass the blame to Weisselberg in a statement, citing his trial testimony. “Mr. Weisselberg testified under oath that he ‘betrayed’ the trust the company had placed in him and that he, at all times, acted ‘solely’ for his ‘own personal gain’ and out of his ‘own personal greed,'” the spokesperson said. “The notion that a company could be held responsible for an employee’s actions, to benefit themselves, on their own personal tax returns is simply preposterous.” ... In addition to criminal liability, the Trump Organization also faces an active civil lawsuit filed by James this past September. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron put the Trump Organization under court monitoring until the case is resolved at trial next year. HA! Good Fun! ps the conviction makes almost unfathomable any kinda continued existence for the trump organization. period. is not a situation where he could rename and move to Delaware. as such, this news is much more significant than some may understand in the moment seeing as how trump were not a named defendant... and the legal situation for trump personal only gets more dire.

I really like OP (Obsidian Owl’s) post. I think it’s awesome how much love and care the dev’s have put into the game, and with a little more tweaking I think it would be a perfect game! PROBLEMS- I totally agree that the upgrade system needs to be revised, especially with tier III. (I think I’m ~in day 380ish within game, and that’s with very seldom sleeping.) I don’t care as much about base building, so the majority of my time has been grinding for resources. even with picking up almost, if not all of the tier III stones, I still only have one or two weapons at level 9, a small handful at level 8, and finally have most of my weapons/tools to level 7. I thought twinkling shells would have been the hard part, but really it’s been Supreme whetstones. It looks like Supreme plates are decent, I’ve gotten a decent amount from grinding ladybirds, and I’ve loved that they also drop ladybug parts. I haven’t loved the ox beetle drops though, it’s felt like I get about 1/3 horns for my trouble. The drop rate with ladybirds are also pretty low, but at least one occasionally gets 2 in a drop, with good concentrations of ladybirds in specific spots, and usually quick to defeat. Another problem with this system is armor vs weapon balance when it comes to upgrade scarcity. I would much rather easily have five level 9 weapons and one level 9 armor vs the opposite which we have now. With bug weaknesses and resistances being as they are, it’s best if one has a specific tool/weapon for the job. Contrasting that is armor can fit into many/most different situations just fine. One more change I would make is to the “natural” weapon flavors (mint mace, spicy coaltana, salt morning star, sour ax.) Each has their own flavor, so why do they take mighty globs instead of their candy elements? This just makes them much more grindy (2 stones per upgrade,) which takes away whetstones to upgrade the other weapons/tools. I do most of the playing and grinding, and a friend occasionally joins me to play through the mission bits. Between us both, it’s taking far too long to get all the upgrade parts we need to get a full arsenal upgraded. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS- Perhaps the dev’s could change the upgrading system to be more like the glue masher with multiple types of bugs to fulfill the whetstone/plating requirement for each tier. Or like OP’s idea about having each tier of ant part contributing to their respective tier of upgrade material. Regardless, I think the rocks SHOULD respawn like all the other materials, even if it is 2-3 in game days. In the meantime, at least please fix the drop rate of black ox horns to 100%, or near that % but with the chance to drop 2? Pretty please? CONCLUSION- Thank you to any other players or dev’s who took the time to read this long post! I am a humble enjoyer of this awesome game, the devs would know much more about balancing the game than I. This is my first ever discussion post about any game on a forum, which hopefully shows just how passionate I am about Grounded! Thank you devs for all your hard work! TL;DR- Dev’s, Please fix the upgrade grind!!!

https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5v9xy/the-freight-rail-labor-dispute-was-never-about-sick-days Some insight into the rail labor issues. I have a friend who used to work on trains who quit(after surviving two rounds of cuts) because it was more a lifestyle than a job and he wanted to see his kids grow up.

Whatever you "have to" say about Arestovych, he is still 1000x more reliable source than anything, that has ever come out of Russia

Richelieu was never about personal power for the sake of personal power, it was more about his personal views of what was needed for the betterment of France, and his personal power was just about having the levers to move things so France was more secure and increasing it's power and influence to ensure that. No film adaption really captures that. And then we have the joyful fun of such turns as Vincent Price and Tim Curry sinking into scene chewing villainy, and for some reason they always cast the obvious Femme Fatales as M'lady, ignoring the actual book descriptions. It is interesting to see how different generations take a stab at the adaption:

That looks fantastic. I'm totally down for a new Musketeers movie.

For a lengthy (but arty) and kind of amusing tumblr post: https://at.tumblr.com/elliottkay/dduane-fostertheory-olderthannetfic/c2epp38bmmrd That starts with the premise older lotr illustrations sometimes depict éowyn wearing ridiculously small armour. apart from the problem general sexualisation of the only female character (who really does anything), there’s another hilarious thought: éowyn pretended to be dernhelm, a man. to fit in, she must have worn men’s armor. so the armor in the illustrations is normal for rohirrim.

Scientists Confirm You Can Communicate With Your Cat by Blinking Very Slowly : ScienceAlert

Pfft, we've had carpet that will generate electricity as you walk over it for decades.

The conspiracy theorist 'worldview' and the language of their argument So... basically then it's a giant circle jerk.

Have added creatures from lax1, lax2, lax3 and laxg packages. (later will add the remaining ones) Have added "Abilities" column. And updated the spreadsheet. Note: final defenses are calculated using: levelCoefBonus = 3 * (baseClassLevel - 1); fDeflection = baseDeflection + levelCoefBonus + (baseResolve - 10); fFortitude = baseFortitude + levelCoefBonus + 2 * (baseMight + baseConstitution - 20); fReflex = baseReflex + levelCoefBonus + 2 * (baseDexterity + basePerception - 20); fWill = baseWill + levelCoefBonus + 2 * (baseIntellect + baseReflex - 20); And everything looks fine,.. except for Dorudugan's deflection:I get 117/165/130/152, while he's real defenses are 132/165/130/152 Have I missed something? I have figured the cause for deflection missmatch. It is because of equipped shields. 23 out of 320 creatures have shields (that add somewhere around +6 - +16 deflection), and 3 of them also have 1h and shield style talent. I have updated the spreadsheet. P.S. Btw... even the bestiary doesn't take shield's deflection into account ^^ Here's an example (117 def, when it is actually 132) P.P.S. Some interesting finds (based on 320 creatures that were added so far): Edit: Added all creatures: 360 total. And here are the updated stats: - the average pierce AR is 8.26. And 17 creature types are immune to it. Mostly skeletons. - the average slash AR is 7.73. And only 3 creature types are immune to it. Specifically earth blights. - the average crush AR is 7.49. And only 5 creature types are immune to it. Specifically bog oozes and tentacles. (also most sigils/obelisks are immune to pierce/slash) Average creature defenses are: 55 deflection, 65 fortitude, 60 reflex, 59 will. It is quite rare to meet a creature with lower fortitude than their deflection, especially among high lvl/hp creatures. That's because of their high attributes. MIG+CON contribution to fortitude is 4 times higher than that of RES on deflection. - there are 37 creature types immune to Burn. But the rest have the average 7.20 AR. - there are 17 creature types immune to Freeze. But the rest have the average 7.70 AR. - there are 09 creature types immune to Shock. But the rest have the average 7.35 AR. - there are 08 creature types immune to Corrode. But the rest have the average 7.59 AR. Also: water damage: - stuns Lesser Flame Blights, dazes regular Flame Blights and staggers the Greater ones frost damage: - enfeebles Magma Oozes - heals Greater Ice Blights and rathun Frostcallers - stuns Lesser Flame Blights, dazes regular Flame Blights and staggers the Greater ones shock damage: - stuns Lesser Sand Blights, dazes regular Sand Blights and staggers the Greater ones - heals Greater Storm Blights fire damage: - terrifies Lesser Ice Blights, frightens regular Ice Blights and shakens the Greater ones - heals Greater Flame Blights, Fire Drakes, Elder Drakes and ofc Dorudugan Some immunities: - 64 creature types are immune to poison - 39 immune to disease - 5 immune to flanked (3 eotens and oracles) Lucia Rivan has passives from 5 paladin orders: Bleakwalkers, Goldpacts, Darcozzi, Kind Wayfarers and Shieldbearers.