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OK, I found Ciri on the last screenshot. Still looking for her in the others.

Never thought I'll be posting Half-Life screenshots again! Half-Life Alyx in 2D 8K (thanks to console commands) part 1

Ever notice how the majority of my good news stories have critters in them? Here is another one: Delivery dog offers curbside wine pickup during the coronavirus lockdown

Ferret and his human friend have summited Colorado's 11 highest peaks together All you need to know is the ferret has his own tent!

Bah, camera is too centered on him, so unless one has a major crush on Reedus (I don't) it's still too limited. Not replaying those funky combat chapters or those movie-long cutscenes to try there - plus those would be really spoilery. That's enough of that.

If there was ever need of more proof to how massively the government blundered this whole thing, imagine trying to instigate another war with the Middle East in the middle of a pandemic and economic collapse.

I hadn't heard about this, thanks for posting it. A pity that the COVID crisis is letting things like this fly under the radar, but I doubt that'll be the last time we hear about it. Huawei has its tendrils firmly wrapped around the internet infrastructure in many countries, and they will be in a tough position to refuse implementation. I predict that, as per usual, the EU "recommendation" to watch Huawei will amount to nothing and the bunch of cronies, incompetents and lazy asses appointed to do it will instead let the Chinese further their agenda unopposed. And developing countries don't even have that layer of "protection". I'm bringing this conversation here, where I feel it belongs, I hope you don't mind.

I read an elaborate conspiracy theory yesterday regarding hospitals and liberals in the government conspiring to classify all deaths, regardless of manner, as COVID so as to make Trump look bad by inflating the numbers of a virus that is basically just the flu. The mind boggled.

https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-30-china-huawei-new-ip-proposal.html https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/nato-warns-new-authoritarian/ Free access to information for everyone is the bane of every government. Even the "free" ones. Especially ones like China. I think what they are proposing will be found attractive to a lot of places.

Mystery man leaves doctors, nurses in tears as he holds sign up to hospital window

Do numbers mean nothing to you monsters?!

am suspecting we need clear some code and then may go back to driving as usual as there is no symptoms which would alarm us. first thing we did were to check to make sure the gas cap were tight, but am knowing even if such were the problem, address problem alone wouldn't make the engine warning light disappear. being a cheap bastard, ordinarily we would go to a friend who has the appropriate computer hardware/software to identify the code before we even consider taking to a shop. nevertheless, you got a point. with how bad the repair guys is hurting, throw a little business their way couldn't hurt. silver lining: gives us an excuse to drive one o' the buicks for a couple days. HA! Good Fun!

Look at it this way, if they succeed, they can award themselves the Nobel Prize. If they fail, they can get the Darwin Award. Win/Win

Desperation. He has a very poor grasp on the cyclical nature of U.S. history and thinks rugged individualism is the solution to every crisis we face. If he had it his way, he'd remove Lincoln and FDR from the history books. He has always been 'ruggedly' consistent in his views though so I'll give him props for that, lol.

The patches don't give extra topics, they give Aloth more positive responses to the ones he already has and it has removed some negative ones that were questionable. I've had no issues with him anymore. As long as you don't go for traditionalism or irrisponsible and respond dutiful and such you're good. He likes it when you say stuff like: I HAVE to do this. Doesn't matter what it is, whether its sacrificing babies or watering the plants. He goes well with Maia. If you please her, then you will likely please Aloth as well. He doesn't like joking around, but he does like getting things done and going for it. Acting high and mighty (pride) is no good.

Him and his son have lost it Reefer madness I think

I have no time or respect for the illogical ramblings of Ron Paul.....his own son has got Corona, what more evidence does he need to accept people like Fauci know exactly what they talking about ? What has actually happened to Ron Paul...he never use to be so conspiratorial and uninformed?

Dual wielding rapier and dagger is an excellent combo, since you you can get a very good dagger and rapier early in the game. You can also dual wield stillettos which somewhere between a dagger and rapier. Either way you need a backup weapon for Pierce resistant enemies. In this game dual wielders are more offense oriented and they tend to be low defense, but that depends on your class. The beauty is that any class can dual wield, whether it's a fighter or a wizard. It's up to you to flesh out you character concept. Each class has its ups and downs. If you are playing on normal or hard, any build can be made to work. And if you screw up, you can Respec. The deadfire pack adds some nifty pirate gear. A hat, a belt and some clothing that's pirate like. I actually built a swashbuckling cipher dual wielding with the company captains hat!

Fauci is Deep State

Im pleasantly surprised how Russia is helping other countries....since the USSR collapsed humanitarian assistance to other countries is not there normal way, they also sent medical staff to Italy https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-russia-italy-idUSKBN219081

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/russia-sends-medical-supplies-coronavirus-159009 Russia is sending a planeload of masks and other supplies to help the United States fight the coronavirus pandemic as the number of cases threatens to top 200,000 across the country. The plane will arrive today, after President Donald Trump accepted an offer on Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin to send personal protective equipment and other gear, a senior administration official confirmed to POLITICO.

I found that, while irksome, the growing level difference in no-kill runs can be managed by abusing the Blood Shield (iirc, not sure if that was the exact name) power. Each level invested allows you to absorb one enemy hit regardless of damage or stat differences, which is a godsend when enemies start two-shotting your character. With proper point use, you can set up an easily renewable safety buffer to fight back and make mistakes which imho significantly flattens the difficulty curve of the game.

No conspiracy theory is credible to me if: It requires a high level of intelligence to conceive If it requires the cooperation of a disparate group of people to achieve. Now I WILL consider them if the theory is describing success by accident. A serendipitous blunder that comes out well despite all odds. I'd far more believe the moon landing was a botched attempt to reach Mars that got lost rather than a hoax altogether!

I just finished Vampyr and it was a good game and enjoyable experience, its gets a solid 70/100 on the globally trusted and highly respected " BruceVC gaming rating score system " Initially I was frustrated when I battled to beat certain Bosses like Fergal but then I realized it was because of the level differences, he was 18 and I was 13 or so and I accepted I would have to feed on people who I liked but I needed there blood to advance and save London. I felt guilty about certain civilians I killed but I justified it as I was saving the country so I considered it there sacrifice to save many more people

I just read Vinton Cerf, one of the two inventors of TCP/IP has COVID-19. From what I read it sounds like he's in bad shape. Ironic. He is being killed by a virus caused by the disgusting eating habits of a country whose government it trying to undo his greatest accomplishment. It's almost symbolic.

I mean, I'm not panicking, and I haven't been crushed by despair yet. Still, when you consider the estimates that (off the top of my head, not sure about the accuracy, could be misremembered internet stuff) 50 to 70% of the human population may eventually contract some form of the virus, it isn't exactly uplifting news. But yeah, you're right. Gotta keep moving somehow, if only because I wouldn't want to sadden my old boy.

Why do you think you will die this year....what about your dogs, who is going to look after them?

I think there are at least 6 fixed (without the ones in Ukaizo) and you can get more as random treasure or loot from enemies (grater sand blights, Belranga's spiderlings). Belranga's spiderlings are unlimited but have a very small chance to drop adra ban (probably around 1%) so you have to kill hundreds of them (before they kill Belranga themselves...) - it's probably the best spot to farm adra bans with a specialized party if you want to play legit. If you only care about the achievements you can just save your game, enchant the item you want, equip it on a lvl1 hireling, export him, reload your game and import again the hireling with the enchanted item.

Ok, changed my mind on image quality. Once you figure out how their aperture, focus length and other settings work it's not bad actually. At least on the PS4-Pro/4k. Going to take creativity to get cool shots that don't feel completely Sam/Reedus-centric. You can remove him from a shot but I mean I'm terrible at "scenic" stuff, pfft. Anyway, it's not a 1000's of shots game like FFXV (combat animations are few and repetitive) but I suppose I'll use it a tad more than I thought I might.

oh sorry, i got my replies mixed up - i thought you were referring to the consumable usage bug, not the "stuck doing nothing" bug. my bad. yeah i very occasionally get the "stuck doing nothing" bug and x-cancelling does fix it.

Too bad it wasn't made by Microsoft. If it was then the 3rd installment would be called Drakengard One and, oddly enough, that title would actually make some sense, chronologically speaking.

if your neighbor has a vicious dog and you pretend as if the dog is friendly and tame knowing such ain't true, then when you refuse to change your behaviour and get bit by the dog, predictably, you gotta accept some blame. sure, the dog's owner is no less at fault 'cause you are an obtuse dullard, but you need embrace responsibility for your injuries. it were years past that bill gates predicted a china born pandemic. the obama administration warned the incoming administration 'bout the possibility o' a pandemic emerging from china during the transition exercises when trump were moving into the wh. Is China Ground Zero for a Future Pandemic? Diseases like Ebola and avian flu are some of the biggest threats to global security — and lack of funding puts the US at risk many people with expertise saw this coming. HOWEVER, another sars kinda coronavirus were actual one o' the lesser concerns. is literal millions o' coronaviruses and almost none o' them pose a threat to humans. given chinese resistance to consuming less than "fresh" meat, and the huge populations o' china which is not particular spread out 'cross their geography, the dangers o' a pandemic spreading from china were well documented. even so, the likelihood o' a lethal coronavirus making the leap from some wild critter in a market in china or elsewhere, while recognized, were considered a lesser danger. in retrospect, the coronavirus threat were underappreciated, but is easy to point fingers in march 2020. yes, china hid the dangers o' covid-19 from their own people and the world. even so, in january 2020 the US government were getting strong intelligence reports confirming that the predicted nightmare scenario o' a pandemic o' chinese origin were already happening. fact folks here in north america, including kanada and mexico, reacted so slow in spite o' forewarning is arguable criminal negligent. am not giving china a free pass. china badness does not absolve trump or trudeau. oh, and when this is all past, if we as a species pretend as if the danger is past and ignore the future danger from the next global pandemic, then we deserve what lies ahead. even if china closes every wild animal market, their poultry and pork production is gonna continue to represent an existential threat. oh, and americans don't get a free pass from Gromnir. US domestic animal production is gonna need serious attention in the coming years if we wanna prevent a north american born pandemic, but please read the 2017 smithsonian article we linked. we got lucky with covid-19. am knowing how callous that sounds, but covid-19, as bad as it is, coulda' been a far more lethal disease. we are lucky 'cause we are getting a chance to fix our mistakes. blame entire on china may make vol feel better, but if such vindication means US and kanada reacts with insufficient vigor in preparing for the next pandemic, then it is utter misguided and unacceptable dangerous. woulda' kept this in the other thread, but am responding to vol. Trump says he wouldn't have acted differently on coronavirus without impeachment what a cheap and cowardly dodge. surprising he is adopting this argument as it suggests weakness, no? HA! Good Fun!

Trump with a sobering pivot today: “It's not like the flu. [...] I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks.” White House now officially projects between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths...IF states and people follow these "social distancing" guidelines.

Dune. I would have said Frank Herbert, but everything after the first Dune book...

Yeah - +2/+2 for Pale Elf and +4 for Fire Gidlike would have made more sense. I personally like mods that only enhance the UI best. Thus I think the Enhanced UI mod is superb and I wouldn't want to miss it. Obsidian should have bought and integrated that mod right away when it popped up. Community Patch also has an UI aspect: it gives all passives their own unique icons which helps a lot to find and distinguish passives visually. I wonder how drew all those fine icons though... The "fixes" of Community Patch are not pushing powergamimg at all. They alter some stuff so it makes more sense. E.g. Forbidden Fist ability gets properly tagged as weapon ability so that it can generate focus and work with Swift Flurry (doesn't do both in the vanilla game which is odd). More conistency with priest keywords and so on. There are buffs (of unreasonably bad abilities) as well as nerfs (e.g. Blade Turning ending on movement to end abuse with forced disengagment - that change got even introduced to the opriginal game with an official patch). Good thing is you can turn on/off all the individual mini-mods separately. So for example you can only use the passive icons and nothing else. Besides those I don't use mods, especially not those which make classes "cooler" or more powerful.

Greetings employees of Halcyon, We have some news to share with you regarding the Nintendo Switch release of The Outer Worlds! Currently, we are looking at a launch date of June 5th, 2020, and are excited to be able to bring a new group of spacers into the Halcyon Colony. This release will be available through either a digital download or with a physical cartridge, whichever you prefer. Visit the official announcement for more details regarding this release! Have fun out there, spacers!

Since working from home this week, I've been busy sorting stuff out to work on different projects in my spare time. The double garage is converted into an open plan home office with three computers desks, ten cabinets, some small tables and various other things. The entire garage has carpet tiles so it looks like an office. It feels so weird to be able to sleep in and just walk downstairs into an open plan office and start working. But it's great to take a break and watch some YouTube videos or work on something else in my own time for an hour or so and then go back to work. There's a lot of retro gaming projects with old computers and game systems that I've been working on. Also, been going through my comic book collection.

Michigan State Rep. Isaac Robinson dies of coronavirus. For those of us here that get sick (and it is statistically very likely at least some of us will), keep in mind that the line between "I'm alright, hanging in there" and "welp I guess I'm dead" is notoriously thin with this thing. There have been a number of cases where people thought their sickness was manageable and not getting worse for a few days, and then suddenly were overwhelmed and dead within just a few hours. Be very proactive in monitoring yourself (...and loved ones if they get sick). Going to the hospital during a pandemic sucks with all the risk factors, but if you're legitimately going to die at home anyways, you might as well try.

Turn off AI: tada! It works. AI seems to want to do other things than drinking boring potions. Fun fact: although I have thousands of hours in Deadfire I never encountered this bug. Because I neither use AI nor do I use potions. Double tap!

The Holy Hand Grenadier (OK, so he is really a holy hand mortar maniac… but I wanted the Monty Python reference!) Class: Holy Slayer Subclasses: Goldpact, Kind Wayfarer, or Bleakwalker / Streetfighter Description: This is a very straightforward build. You use blunderbuss modal to activate streetfighter’s amazing speed boost. The hand mortar and fire in the hole are both AOE weapons and can be used to quickly spread afflictions and Damage Over Time (DOT) to your enemies. Paladin provides a ton of defense which helps offset the downside of constantly fighting under the distracted affliction. The hat and rings make your FoD laser accurate. You can quickly move around the battlefield with escape, and your zeal will feel nearly endless for AOE ranged full attacks. Use escape to get really close, have a nice deflection, and blast enemies with hand mortar. I went with Goldpact for a more balanced, survivable build; however, if you want to maximize crowd control and AOE (Area Of Effect) DPS (Damage Per Second) I recommend Bleakwalker. The added corrode damage and sicken affliction are extremely strong when applied as an AOE. Goldpact is going to add a tremendous amount of armor which is going to go a long way to keep you alive and helps offset some of Streetfighter’s inherent weaknesses from fighting distracted. Kind Wayfarer is also great since you will be using Flames of Devotion often, but can sometimes work against wanting to stay blooded. The choice is completely up to you, the build works great with any paladin subclass, but if running Goldpact with exalted endurance, it gives you a way to keep your health at 50% in relative safety without worrying that your next FoD is going to drop your dps. Race: Human (Any will work) Race is very unimportant to this build. Pick what you like. I went with Human for the DPS boost while blooded, which is a state we like to be in anyway! Attributes – No Berath’s Might: 16 Constitution: 10 Dexterity: 10 Perception: 18 Intelligence: 18 Resolve: 6 Attributes – With Berath’s Blessing (Recommended) Might: 16 Constitution: 10 Dexterity: 10 Perception: 18 Intelligence: 18 Resolve: 18 Attributes – With Berath’s Blessing (Min Max DPS) Might: 20 Constitution: 8 Dexterity: 16 Perception: 20 Intelligence: 20 Resolve: 6 I personally hate min-maxing, so I made my character well rounded with a high resolve and nothing truly weak. Dexterity is unimportant to this build as you will get tons of speed from the synergy of streetfighter and powder burns. I like to run with a chanter in my party running Sure Handed. This build will also always dual wield. This game has a funny way of stacking speed where there is a diminishing returns on gains past a certain point of speed increase. I would keep dexterity as close to 10 as possible in your stats since the gain is quite marginal with so many sources of reload speed. Abilities: Level 1: Sworn Enemy, Flames of Devotion, Crippling Strike Level 2: Lay on Hands Level 3: Deep Faith Level 4: Zealous Aura, Blinding Strike Level 5: Two Weapon Style Level 6: Escape Level 7: Sworn Rival, Arterial Strike Level 8: Gouging Strike Level 9: Eternal Devotion or Shared Flames (if in party) Level 10: Exalted Endurance or Focus (your choice), Level 11: Strike the Bell Level 12: Finishing Blow Level 13: Deep Wounds, Psion of Flame Level 14: Eliminating Blow, Pierce the Bell or Ring the Bell (more dot damage) Level 15: Withering Strike Level 16: Virtuous Triumph, Toxic Strike Level 17: Improved Critical Level 18: Uncanny Luck Level 19: Stoic Steel, Death Blows Level 20: Whatever you want I took Strike the Bell for even more DOT stacking, but this is completely optional. Shadow step is one option, but IMHO the paralyze affliction doesn’t last quite long enough for the heavy guile cost. The core of this build is the combination of dual wielding aoe blunderbusses with rogue debuffs and using paladin’s great defenses to make you less of a glass cannon. There is actually a ton of room in the above abilities depending on your personal preferences. I stuck to ranged, so I skipped riposte and persistent distraction; however, you could easily work them in by dropping withering strike and toxic strike. You will have a ton of great damage abilities and sometimes it’s nice to have DPS do some off-tanking. Proficiencies: Blunderbuss Skills: Athletics, Explosives, History (if using Giftbearer’s) Weapons: Set 1: Hand Mortar and Fire in the Hole (upgrade for bonus damage <2m and projectile bounce) Set 2: Your favorite dual wield combo of melee weapons (Modwyr and Duskfall are great) Other Useful Gear: Head: Acina’s Tricorn, Ranged accuracy and reload speed Ring: Ring of Focused Flame, more accuracy with FoD Ring: Ring of the Marksman, more ranged accuracy and penetration Armor: Anything that improved recovery or action speed. Devil of Caroc and Miscreant Leathers are both great.