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Ah, yes, I was being unclear here: the "without prior notice" part was not meant in the legal sense, i.e. firing an employee immediately due to egregious misconduct, but the way it was delivered, on stage, right after the final performance of the tour. That is a point in time picked precisely for one thing, to hurt as much as possible. It was payback - for slights perceived or real, well, that is something else, but you'll get no argument from me that Tarja most likely had it coming, but I did and do think that the public spectacle the firing became was unbecoming and unprofessional of the group. How they dealt with Anette later just compounded that impression. No, that is probably right, there has to be a reason why the rest of the group basically made it about "remove Tarja or we'll leave", but regardless, that is not a reason to do this in such an unprofessional manner, and from what I have read over the years, she wanted to pursue other interests and would have left anyway. It logically followed with the rumor mill endlessly churning on about how Tuomas fired her over unrequited love. Not that I doubt that he was actually in love with Tarja, as Ever Dream is as good a love letter to Tarja as any, but the firing was certainly not over that. Anyway, that Tarja did not really want to be a part of the group any more was fairly evident for me in two things, first, I watched the End of Innocence documentary, which contained a lot of rather subtle clues about what she was thinking at the time, and second her attitude at the concert I was back in 2004, where we actually managed to stumble upon the group after the concert on their way to the tour bus. Sure, it was a long day as there were ridiculous promotional events all day long prior to the concert (at which she appeared to not really want to be there, basically half-assing her performance for much of the show), but the guys were not bothered by being asked for another round of autographs, and even agreed to taking some pictures. Tarja? Rolled her eyes, scoffed, and ran off. Okay, I get it, that is exactly the reaction I would have had if that happened to me after a hard day's work, but still, short of directly stating it, it's hard to telegraph "I do not want to be here" any clearer, and if that attitude translated into her behaviour on the tour, which is undoubtedly has, then it is no wonder that she was removed from the group.

We've got a storm warning here, I was real sneaky though, one of the trucks 'sploded a gasket at work so it'll be out of commission 'til monday so I took half of today and tomorrow off

Having a 12+th gen Intel CPU also helps with the decision. While the Windows 11 Thread Director doesn't significantly improve top end performance outside of some outliers over Windows 10, 1% and 0.1% lows in games are noticably better with Windows 11.

End of life for Win 10. It's no longer getting feature updates and at some point it will stop getting security updates.

Nightwish's current lineup is a curiosity for me insofar as it contains two artists that, due to their ability, make seasoned professionals at their respective crafts look like mere amateurs next to them: Kai Hato and Floor Jansen. Yet, here I sit, in the subjective way we all experience art, still wishing Tarja would come back, and I just cannot help myself, while Kai Hato's drumming is of a technical precision that is almost unmatched, Jukka's drumming was just more powerful. I think I said it before, I love Floor Jansen as an artist, but she just isn't what made me originally fall in love with Nightwish*. Alas. It is probably for the better, as that puts me in a position where I do not have to struggle with myself over essentially giving money to a group whose dealings with their vocalists have been, let's be nice, less than ideal. Firing Tarja with an open letter after the last concert of a tour and with no prior notice was already shabby, but throwing out Anette Olzon over feinting while pregnant is Elon Musk level low**. Sorry. Man, posting this I'll have the Nightwish fanboys come at me with pitchforks wherever I go. Speaking of Floor Jansen... *I even liked Anette more than Floor as Nightwish's lead vocalist. **I get it from a business point of view, that NA tour was important for the group. Guess that explains why I'm not a businessman, or the manager type.

Wow, you are actually a Bruce alt account...

This reminds me of how there have occasionally been calls for people like her to sort of come forth and do something remarkable in Russia, in the anti-war sense. If memory serves correctly, approximately 18 million people served Hitler's reich in Germany. And the total number of people like Oscar Schindler who went out of their way to save as many jews as possible is estimated to be about one hundred. That's how rare people like this are. Unfortunately, people who are prepared to set up and enforce places like the Ustase camps or the Partizan Sporting Hall raping centre in Foca are much, much more common. Which sort of doesn't augur well.

As said, I wasn't quite sure which, if any of the two were part of the WP. Maybe neither. But in the western mindset in the 70's it was regarded as commie/socialist territory and therefore only one step removed from eternal damnation Edit: Don't get me started on Albania and Hoxha (the only true friend China ever had, to the point where Albanian was the only second language being taught in Chinese schools, making it one of the worlds most spoken languages, even if just as a second language)

there is an undeserved and discouraging smugness which oozes from those it's so easy observations, no? is nothing particular clever or applause worthy 'cause some joker read online guides or has played wotr so many times they is aware o' every possible game exploit. those wotr sages feign surprise that not everybody is doing the protective luck and fortune hex exploits before boss battles, and 'course you all know the bane of spirit ring may convert your entire party's spell and weapon damage to irresistible force damage, yes? is our frequent complaint the game is tuned for difficulty bass ackwards. unfair difficulty encounters is appropriate for those players who know every loophole and is aware o' the less than obvious exploits, but core doesn't change unfair encounters save reducing the stats o' foes. what that means is players on core maybe don't need use every exploit but chances are they do need a few, or a guide, or help from a board community where they risk being mocked for not realizing how very easy __________ was. wotr is a role-play game which allows you to build characters and parties howsoever you wish, but if you build wrong or make poor crusade choices or, decide to do different than optimal, then you risk facing considerable gaming frustration. punishing the casual player is an odd design choice from our pov, but the wotr fanbase isn't exact rebelling or even complaining. HA! Good Fun!

our current favorite russian girl... woman. if you got time, her tiny desk performance is worth a view. and a fiona apple tune HA! Good Fun!

Some recent Nanowar of Steel

Top Putin Ally Says He ‘Will Not Hide’ Intention to Invade Poland Anymore LOL

So much good information, thank you guys! I'll take all this into account, I'm going with a party for a while, probably not solo until I learn more of the game. So thankful!

Ok, got my first cheap cloth wizard hat out of some chest. Also, ooo, pretty.

more wotc trying to manipulate narrative seems to be reading the same script

look, I didn't started mixing completely unrelated topics (vax, russia) togather. If you can't see that such statement is ment to invoke relation between these two I don't know what to tell you. Its like noting that 90 percent of bankers control most of the money and most ofthe bankers are jewis. Am I trying to imply something by it or not?

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/western-sanctions-push-russias-energy-revenues-lowest-level-since-2020-2023-02-03/ Some grim economic data for Russia from the Western oil price cap and sanctions

While playing with friends, the firefly head lamp blinds my fellow players but I do not want to switch out my head gear all the time just to turn the light off. Can you add a way to toggle the light on the helmet on and off?

The open letter does appear overly dramatic, but I have no doubt that the firing itself, without prior notice, was warranted. I am willing to reconsider if enough evidence to the contrary comes to light. (Not a fan of the band as such, although I think Ghost Love Score is a nice enough song, especially when sung by Floor Jansen.)

Oh... just saw the local news. I better take in my garden furniture. It's getting windy the next several days... https://7news.com.au/video/news/brisbane-weather/dangerous-conditions-ahead-as-tropical-cyclone-gabrielle-forms-off-queenslands-coast-bc-6319998941112 Luckily it seems like it's moving in a direction parallel to the coast, so it's unlikely to affect the mainland. But... just in case the weather guys got it wrong.

Gaziantep castle destroyed in earthquake.