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Some months ago, there was a really good article in my daily newspaper by a Russian journalist who had gone through his circle of friends and acquaintances and explored their ways of thinking and justifying the war (or not). The most fascinating, frightening and sad group was what he called the "Z people" who were not open to any kind of discussion and who were able to either ignore or rationalize away any counter-argument presented to them. So while some people were able to openly ponder a question such as "But why did we need to invade?", the Z people either brushed it aside or had an answer that was clearly illogical or absurd but still convinced them completely. Of course, this is a fairly common phenomenon: when you discuss climate change, for example, there are some people who are completely convinced of their position and equally unable to even rationally consider other views. So it's a question of psychology rather than education, intelligence or interest. It's also fascinating that people's thinking can be compartmentalized so that while they may be very intelligent in general, they can also be completely "stuck" in some areas of their thinking. A good example would be someone like Frank Zappa whose unrepentant attitude towards smoking could not be swayed no matter what; in fact, he once said bluntly: "I am not buying the data", when the hazards were pointed out to him. The sad thing about this kind of thinking in Zappa's case, for example, was that his scepticism towards governance and officialdom was in itself perfectly justified: the US government really does have a terrible record when it comes to lying to its citizens, and Zappa himself had some pretty awful early experiences with how arbitrarily and unjustly the US can treat its people. But obviously it does not follow from this that the government is always lying. When it comes to lying, misdirection, false information and so on, Russians are in a much worse place than quite a lot of other people in other areas of the world -- and this makes the current situation so much more sinister.

I'm not a fan of just dropping a Youtube link and a here you go, bye kind of post... there are lots of videos out there now about the war and it can be a bit hard to filter the interesting ones from the 117th iteration of a subject covered exactly the same by 116 previous videos. This one caught my interest when I watched it, because it's a guy collecting info (no not "doxxing", but trying to create a profile of the mindset of Russian soldiers) from social media posts. Very interesting (and sad) IMHO. He shows a number of different examples...

I have a couple of ideas I was toying with, wanted to know what others thought. My main idea was a medallion, a way to combine or wear multiple trinkets at once, for example have a necklace of sorts with slots that you can assign trinkets to. I thought it would be cool to be able to get the buffs of 2-3 trinkets via the use of an endgame item (for those of us who just want to be powerful lmao) I also kinda wish that the tuft had a dedicated slot, the amount of times I've jumped without a trinket equiped instead of a tuft is embarrassing.

Another exciting day of

Yeah, luckily no real headache, already organized a towing for tomorrow and contacted the insurance, the shop will organize everything else. Turns out the police exaggerated a fair bit when they talked to me. I mean, yeah, the damage looks pretty wild but is mostly the plastic around the front of the car. Everything else seems largely intact, also no visible damage to the engine compartment or the axles, and absolutely no scratches anywhere outside of the impact area. The truck seems to have ripped my left front fender and with it the front bumper off - stuff that's pretty much just lightweight plastic on modern cars. Will know more once the shop's and insurance's assessment of the damage is done, but it looks like the car isn't totalled. Well, on the bright side, I can now stop agonizing over dropping the comprehensive insurance plan I have. No real point in paying a premium for full coverage after the repair. Or anything, in case it's a goner.

Encased. Replayed the last act for the mayoral elections. The elections themselves, gaining backing of the Wings within one long dialogue while decreasing their support for the other two candidates*, were reasonably interesting, though there was not much to do afterwards nor it was clear how to complete the quest after it was marked as "Completed" in the Journal. The terminal for City Projects was hidden in the corner of the area and it did not seem to be possible to utilise the PC's funds for them, while the projects themselves provided only Reputation bonuses for one of the Wings. On the positive note, the ending slides included one more for Junktown. On an unrelated note, it is possible to increase the reputation with the companions by bribing them when they are out of the active party. *I greatly appreciate the ability to save mid-dialogue, especially if it is long. Tried to continue my playthrough of Expeditions: Rome. I was able to gain the second rhetoric skill successfully** and reach Africa. Somehow the only positive thing I can say about the game is combat. The inventory management and crafting, the legion management, the timers for everything, the voiced dialogues feel like pointless bloat. **there was 1 line from 1 NPC at 1 point suggesting to do so within a very limited time frame (after the first time-skip but before leaving Rome).

I wish! Maybe with the forkcat art The feedback is silly positive. If I did have my own island, we'd be doing obsidianite lan-parties. Beach in the morning, Alpha Protocol Speed Run Tournament by night

I've been thinking of this for a while but i've been wondering how new unusual ants could be introduced into the yard and got an idea. There could be an ant farm somewhere in the yard maybe fallen out of the house window that could bring non-native ants to the yard. This could include bulldog ants, army ants, or maybe even bullet ants. Really I just wanted to submit this idea to get the thought out.

There are also shock absorbers in the fronts of some cars, between the frame and bumper, that might have been damaged and that can't easily be replaced in all cars.

I was thinking of an idea for a soft cushion pad (hi crow feathers) that would allow you to jump from any or most heights and land without taking damage. Would be useful for places we frequently jump off of, and to save a bit of dandelion tuft for when you're actually out and about exploring. We have elevators on our worlds that have a good way up, but not down.

Thanks @Kaylon and @Okkes. I'll try the CP (and carry a backup hunting bow just in case).

That can be tricky. It may not look like a lot of damage but if the frame is bent they will total the car.

I would say it's good, as you were not in it. You will have a little headache having to deal with insurance and get a new car, but that's it.

Today, on his Telegram channel, he's talking about the possibility of a civil war in Russia, pointing out that "We are in such a situation that we may lose Russia". He is also disappointed that the children of the Russian elite have been protected and not been sent to the war like ordinary Russians. So I would take whatever he says in a fairly high-sodium way.

Analysis of the battle of Bakhmut by Russian independent newslet Verstka, they are estimating number of Wagner fatalities in tens of thousands…

Thats a good video and its a perfect length, its not unsurprising to see the different views and how the war has shaped those views. You hear everything from normal fatigue to warmongering I found the PTSD guy particularly evocative and haunting with views on life and how war has changed his world view

Martial characters will also scale up their abilities. I've encountered monks with skyward kick, for example, on upscaled fights with Huana faction ships.

Can relate to BL burnout - I overplayed both BL1 and BL2 a lot myself. Without hubby I probably would've waited a year to try BL3. Hubby, btw, also thinks BL3 is mediocre vs. the previous. He just doesn't game often enough to 100% burn out, so they're still something he can pick up once or twice a year for 2-4 weeks and then he goes back to being a total not-gamer for months again. At least they made the "town/shared by all chrs stash" 500 items big. No "mailing" items to other chrs or mules 4 at a time or whatever. I think that's the best thing about it! Hahaha...

I played Borderlands 2 on repeat for years. Mostly coop with 2 friends. It was just awesome. Did some of the "raid bosses" too in the DLC. Some very nice, challenging fights for a little group. I think I got stuck in whatstsname OP3? I tried OP4 several times, but in the end I just couldn't be bothered to go through it again, just for the sake of leveling all the enemies up on a future play through. The Prequel was our preferred game after BL2. BL1 was Ok and BL3 was... I still never made it past level 2 on a character. After spending so much time with the characters in BL2 and the best villain I've ever met (Handsome Jack), the writing and characters in BL3 fell more flat on it's nose than a wet noodle on a Teflon plate.

Obsidian turned down an offer to make a Star Trek rpg for Zenimax in the past.

I think that was supposed to go in the unpopular opinion thread.

Similar idea, less exaggerated weight at the end to length of handle ratio. The steel mace is essentially the same thing as the gada that's been a training tool in India and Pakistan for a long time. The Persian Clubs that The Iron Sheik used to swing in the ring were a similar idea, though, again, less exaggerated:

Indeed. Very short ranged, but still ranged. This also means it works with Driving Flight which makes Rager an appealing multiclass. The poison DoT doesn't suffer any dmg malus like the initial, direct dmg does with projectile jumps. No - but imo Eternal Devotion lasts a pretty long time for a 1-point ability. The Bleak Walker's FoD attack is keyworded with fire and acid and thus also gets +1 PEN from Scion of Flame and also Spirit of Decay. It has nothing to do with the lashes themselves. The ability attack or the weapon itself must have been keyworded with the fitting elemental words in order to protif from such PEN abilities (and also from PL boosts such as Otto Starcat pet or ACC boosts such as from the Ring of Focused Flame). Putting simply a lash on attack does nothing in that regard. So subsequent attacks after the FoD attacks will all have a burning lash, but they will not work with Scion of Flame unless you use a weapon that is keyworded with fire (not Cobra Strike) or use a fire spell. By the way: Eternal Devotion of the Bleak Walker only gives you the burning lash for some time as buff. The Black Flames' corrosive lash only gets applied to the initial FoD-Attack itself. The following lash buff of Eternal Devotion is burn-only - like with any other Paladin. So your spells will have burning lash only, not corrosive. You can get a corrosive lash on spells only with the help of Blightheart (bound to Wizard class). Iirc Cobra Strike doesn't have the acid keyword itself. Meaning auto-attacks with it will not profit from Spirit of Decay - but I am not 100% sure. I'm pretty confident that the DoT it does is keyworded with "poison" - which means that certain enemies will be immune (mostly undead and constructs, but also some Naga stc.). So all in all you will get +10 ACC from the Ring, +1 PEN from Scion oF, +1 PEN from Spirit oD when you execute FoD (Bleak Walker) - but none of that if you auto-attack just with the burnung lash of Eternal Devotion on you (unless Cobra Strike is keyworded acid, then +1 PEN - as I said: not sure). If the poison DoT is keyworded with poison (again: I'm pretty confident that it is) then it will work with the Mask of the Grotto Deep's PL bonus. For me this would be a must-have iem - not necessarily for the mechanics but 100% bc. of thematic reasons. Same that all Arcane Knights have. Can't think of anything special. Just thought that pairing Brand Enemy with Cobra Strike's DoT should work well. By the way: the poison DoT doesn't stack like Bleeding Cuts or Deep Wounds do. But new hits will prolong the duration. But in general dps-wise it is benefical to hit multiple enemies one after the other with the DoT instead of focusing on a single one. Also AoE-attacks with it would be great. But nothing comes to my mind except Driving Flight as a kind-of AoE (not really, but you know what I mean). Due to the high base dmg Streetfighter would be better than Assassin (unfortunately, theme-wise). Assassinate or Backstab only work during invisibility/stealth - and that will break as soon as you hit with the first cobra strike. Streetfighter's bonuses apply as soon as you are either flanked or bloodied. Both can be achieved fairly reliably if you use some movement abilities (Escape into crowds) and/or self damage (see Blood Sacrifice). A spellblade will never be as sturdy as an arcane knight. But you can always use invisibility or Escape to get away - for a damage dealer that's acceptable imo. A Bloodmage/Streetfigher will do considerably more damage than an Arcane Knight. Downside would be that he will be more squishy. Pick your poison (pun intended again ). You could go a more safe route with a Spellblade and take Trickster instead of Streetfighter or Assassin. :shrug My pick would be Streetfighter. Or maybe either Arcane Archer or Stalker.

More bugs would be cool. But we need the fence to bust open somewhere opening another yard with new ecosystems. Hopefully a rundown house that can be fully explorable. Maybe use pipes inside the walls to go upstairs. Maybe a rat boss in the kitchen. Use rotten food to summon. Old pet tarantula or scorpion loose somewhere as a random boss/Hazzard. Some daddy long legs here and there. Maybe an underground base building area. Trapdoor spiders possibly hiding entrances to random loot chests. Like in the middle of the basement leaving room for attacks from all sides. Maybe a grasshopper mutation allowing for higher jumping. Maybe a new bubble gum arrow that forces flying bugs to land for a moment allowing for a quick melee attack. Allow new buildings with lab equipment and electronics. Some more weather would be cool. Maybe once in awhile it rains and floods some sections temporally.

Busting open a fence would be amazing to expand the yard, and an "Under House" Biome, after the under shed was so terrifyingly brilliant. House Spiders... *Shudder*

Tina Turner, 83

Years ago my truck got rear-ended at like 4 in the morning. It did some damage to the frame and because of that it would set off an anti-breakin thing that would require the keys to sit idle in the ignition for 5 or 10 minutes to reset. Very frustrating, especially in the hot and humid summer. Hopefully the car isn't damaged like that.

I was actually thinking we were going to get clean sweeps in both the NBA and NHL finals. That would be pretty bizarre.

The day is off to a really good start when the police knocks at your door and tells you a truck just plowed through your parked car.

I wonder if all the reactionaries who bought Hogwarts Legacy to spite "the left" due to the call for a boycott ended up liking all the wokeness in the game. A transwoman as owner of the Three Broomsticks and her character arc one giant call for easier access to transitioning, male characters being able to walk into any of the girl's lavatories, every minority under the sun present in rural Scotland... that must have hurt.