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I started messing around with text to image AI image generation and, while it's far from perfect, it's both thoroughly impressive and more than a little terrifying. My input was "Neil Breen drawn in the style of Boris Vallejo" and this is what was generated: Now that you've seen it you can't unsee it. You're welcome. Edit: I think I have a new profile picture.

It has been over a year....maybe 1.5 years... *Win10....check for updates...Restart* *PRAYS*

It all depends on how well/if offensive will make any impact - if there will be at least some gain of territory support will remain

And another GOG freebie in spring sale. People say it is casual metroidvania https://www.gog.com/game/alwas_awakening

Another reason for me not to buy Diablo 4. They already want 70 bucks for the game, and then still try to fleece me for more. No thanks, it's too big of a turn-off for me.

I was able to uninstall it and it does seem to actually be gone, but a broken/ghost shortcut remains in my Start Menu, and it doesn't seem to be easy to remove based on what I've read online. I think this bothers me more than just having it installed. My primary PC uses Windows 10 LTSC 2019 which didn't come with Edge at all, but my secondary PC uses LTSC 2022 which did. Hmm. Winaero Tweaker and ShutUp10 (both of which I highly recommend both for reverting and changing various Windows settings/behaviors) come with settings to at least prevent Edge from invisibly loading and prefetching crap automatically (even if you literally never use Edge), but no actual proper uninstall. (e): Running this short and clean-looking .bat seems to have done the trick for me, though I know not what other consequences might arise from it throughout the rest of the OS, and it seems to be targeted specifically at post-2019 LTSC versions: https://gist.github.com/ishad0w/d25ca52eb04dbefba8087a344a69c79c/27e1e32a40c82f5dc46a81dca87ba8842616ae03#file-microsoft_edge_uninstaller_21h1_ltsc-bat A comment at the bottom suggests this .bat has been superseded by the linked "Aveyo" Edge Removal .bat.

I do it on the regular.

Went home a couple of hours early from work to see if me and my father could snap some photos of Venus, Jupiter, Mercury or Mars, and against what the forecast said earlier... clouds.

Basically how he sees himself in his films.

Well, wouldn't say people are bored here in Canada, definitely is less energetic than 6 months ago, way less than this time last year obviously.

Vapourware until proven software.

HEAT round --> penetrator copper jet at 5000ºC --> vapor trail on a cold day. (I don't really know know but I'd say it's fairly safe assumption that's what it is)

Not from the same caster. Limit is one summon spell per caster, though that summon can be multiple things (like animated weapons for chanter). I would prioritize Essential Phantoms, since they do weapon attacks where Substantial Phantoms throw in low level spells that may or may not be effective. What you want to do with phantoms is summon a good weapon then make the phantom, and they'll have the weapon. For instance you can cast Concelhaut's Draining Touch, which is normally good for one attack, but if you cast Essential/Substantial Phantom before using it then the phantom has the Draining Touch for the duration, which is one of the most damaging attacks in the game (only beaten by forbidden fist I think). It does target will though, which normally is one of the lower defenses but not in Oracle's case. Probably good vs the soul mirrors though. Caedelbald's Blackbow is also a really good weapon for phantoms, and Citzal's spirit lance as well. Kalakoth's Minor Blights for things vulnerable to elemental damage. So basically at one time you could have up a phantom from Fassina, a phantom from Aloth (or tentacles if you prefer), and a spiritual ally from xoti. Withdrawn characters do not take damage. They are untargetable, stunned and invisible and AOEs will miss. Invisible characters are also untargetable and shouldn't take damage from AOEs, but you have to be careful because as soon as that character does something construed as an attack, they lose their invisibility, though sometimes the graphics make them still appear invisible. And this isn't limited to just attacks, could be something as innocuous as a flame shield or using blood sacrifice. No, insect swarm just removes their stacks of concentration and does raw damage over time. The DOT doesn't interrupt them though. Unless they have a lot of concentration stacks I wouldn't bother with insect swarm. You would have to be casting something else to interrupt them (check spell description to see if something interrupts on graze/hit/crit or nothing), or using abilities like a fighter's mule kick (interrupts on graze). Arcane Reflection does a lot to protect you from their nasty spells. Personally I'd focus the Oracle first but whatever works for you. One way to kill everything at once is make sure Eder has Hold the Line, give Aloth Upright Captain's Belt, and have those two fight the Oracle up close, Eder with his weapons and Aloth with Citzal's Spirit Lance, which hits in a fairly large AOE. Fassina can throw down a pull of eora on top of or near the oracle, and it will pull the oracle as well as any scavengers of vision and soul mirrors who get close by. This groups them close enough together that Citzal's Spirit Lance attacks will hit five or six at once. Another spell you may find useful here is Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon, it targets fortitude, does decent damage on a small AOE, so pull of eora helps, and it drains them. Have Fassina cast Combusting Wounds as well, that damage can rack up really fast with hazard spells like Wall of Thorns or spells that hit a lot like Minoletta's Minor Missiles, pulsing spells like Chill Fog, etc. Concelhaut's Draining Missiles is also really useful in this fight. It is like Minoletta's Minor Missiles but does raw damage vs fortitude and restores as health to the caster. It's in the Ironclasped grimoire. This is where stacking defenses will help. Like if you cast all those spells I listed for Aloth he will be very hard to hit, and some of the soul mirror's spells will be reflected (not AOEs though). They cast Meteor Shower which seems nasty but it targets reflex, and reflex is usually very high. One's approach to a fight depends on the capabilities of your party. I don't know what level you are, how items are distributed, abilities picked and so forth, so it's hard to say exactly what's optimal for *your* party. When I've fought the Oracle I always had enough defenses to just blitzkrieg the thing, by the time the soul mirrors are hassling me he's already dead. But if that doesn't work for whatever reason, use some CC spells. Have Fassina cast Slicken. Aloth can cast it too if you want. It's great for interrupting groups of enemies and has a fairly long duration, and Slickens from multiple sources stack. If you had a chanter or cipher you'd have some more CC options, like various charm, mental binding, thunder rolled like waves on black seas etc. Pull of Eora isn't hard CC but it does disrupt their movements and interrupt them sometimes and make landing attacks easier. You can also try hard CC like Gaze of the Adragan, but my experience with this is the duration is usually not long enough to bother, and it rolls vs fortitude which is normally pretty high. You can also try the 2nd level spell Fetid Caress. It paralyzes the target for about twice as long as Gaze of the Adragan, but it is single target (much lower spell level though). Also you could try Maura's Writhing Tentacles, they don't last as long as Phantoms but the tentacles immobilize things they hit. Rynrgim's Enervating Terror is an AOE weakened/terrified (if they're terrified they can't use abilities). Wall of Many Colors is really really good but it's an Illusion spell so Fassina can't cast it. Aloth can, but he can only have one wall up at once so it would take down a wall of draining. If you have Ninagauth's grimoire, there are some good CC spells in that also. It has slicken, Ninagauth's Shadowflame (ice fireball that paralyzes), Ningauth's Freezing Pillar. Death Ring will kill things Near Death in a very large AOE. You might also try using Temporal Cocoon on the oracle or soul mirrors. It doesn't do damage but it takes them out of the fight for a decent duration. And if any of your guys have arcana you can use scrolls. Great Maelstrom does a LOT of damage in a big area, Tornado is a large AOE that does damage plus long knock up interrupt. I haven't tried it but Scrolls of Great Abjuration should theoretically destroy the soul mirrors so long as they are below your level, which I think they would be if you're on normal difficulty and L20. They're a little expensive to craft and require a lot of arcana but scrolls of great maelstrom and tornado can really turn around fights. If you have The Left Hand of The Obscured gloves (from memory hoarder) that gives like +3 arcana in addition to the chance to terrify, would be great gloves for a fighter/mage like how I'm envisioning Aloth. TLDR -- try scrolls of tornado and great maelstrom! And maybe scrolls of great abjuration. And to get an idea of what I'm envisioning for Aloth, watch my buff routine and how I use pull of eora to group enemies for the lance to hit them. Granted this was an ultimate run and I had procced a bunch of things that make me like Super Aloth, but maybe it will help? When you stack enough buffs the lasers just bounce right off of you. In retrospect I misplaced the Pull of Eora slightly, should have cast it in front of the Oracle instead of on top of him, but you can see when he dies how the soul mirrors instantly get sucked in, losing concentration and being interrupted. It's a really fantastic spell and the only one I memorized in this run. Oh you are right. You can pick 50h reflect gaze or "immunity to gaze attacks". My guess is the immunity works like spell resistance and the log says you're immune or resisted it, whereas reflections first show as misses i think. I'm actually not sure how gazes are treated. I'll test this out later but I don't have any convenient saves near this fight so will have to go through whole DLC. Does Arcane Reflection reflect gazes? I would think soul mirror would. It reflects all kinds of things including instant attacks like thorny roots. I definitely feel like Arcane Reflection is immensely helpful in this fight though. Even if it doesn't help with the gazes it blocks a bunch of crap from the soul mirrors.

Accurate insights? I didn't know you were that sarcastic.

Started watching that one last year. Made it to 5 or 6 episodes, I think. Thought it was very.. cliche and somewhat cringe. I'd rather keep watching k-piano dramas.

Wrong phrasing on my part but I don't think giving out this information was terribly smart. The exact Russian capability to produce/refurbish equipment was subject to a lot of speculation on minimal basis so having numbers from the source is quite useful. Even if they come with the usual caveats of politician cherry-picking data they find convenient.

was disgusted by the ban abortion pill thing a while ago give up handmaid tale after 2 episode because of the laugable stupid setting when first season come out now it seems very realistic

Prominent Texas Republican helped cover up child sexual abuse by a judge/Baptist leader. I'd make a joke here but honestly I'm too disgusted to muster anything but searing rage. The sooner these vermin get their ticket to hell the better the world will be.

I don't mind cosmetics or this newer play a few days early stuff, if it's single-player. With the latter just being a choice of impatience over funds. There's no gameplay reason to spend extra. But online with some element of even minor competitiveness (ladders, "battle passes", whatever), even if it's just bragging rights and cosmetic rewards, it's much more dubious because it gives a distinct advantage to play/level/familiarize early. Now, I don't know what Blizzard is doing, maybe the first season/battle pass won't begin until a week after release day or something, which would make it less of a potential issue/advantage, but eh y'all know what I'm saying. I find pricing the seasons/battle passes more aggravating. I would occasionally do half the season progression in D3 for funsies to get/check out the season benefit/new game feature early (vs. waiting until season end and they dumped it into non-season play) then stop. I'd certainly not pay extra just to do that.

Kinda old post but you might be able to find him there.

To be fair, if they start mass producing T54/T55, they might meet the quota. No western tech needed for that one

What @Gfted1isn't telling you is that they have 250 fingers on each hand.

I can count on one hand the number of times an "always on" connection has negatively affected me. Wild that you guys are crashing and burning every step.

Oldie but goodie:

George r.r. Martin conditioned me to not get my hopes up with release dates. Until avowed is in my (digital) hands, I'll assume it will never be released.

^ There was once a time when people thought HammerFall was cheesy.

If it is only now it seems realistic, you haven't been paying attention.

My mother died last night. I'm, way too far away from Denmark to participate in any funeral arrangements, so I'll have to follow it from afar. Before anyone says condolences or similar, I mourned the death of my mother 3 years ago, when I realized, that she had for all intents or purposes that mattered "died" back then and no longer recognized my dad or any of her children. Her brain had deteriorated almost to a vegetative state long before Covid was a thing, so I'm sort of "over it" and resigned myself to the fact that she was "dead" back then and knew I would never speak to her again. It was just the empty shell of a body that got the memo a few years late. I might still get drunk tonight and pull out some old family photos