Guard Dog

I have been a huge fan of Stellaris and have bought all the DLC on the day of release. They have all been worth the cost. Overlord is no exception but it is a bug infested mess. Nothing that crashes the game or anything terrible. More like features that don't work right or petty annoyances. It's still worth buying but I'd advise waiting for a patch. Paradox is pretty good about post release fixes so I doubt it will be long

This show is freaking FUNNY! Two thumbs up Killing it

The laugh wasn't what you said, it was that is was YOU saying it. Also, you are wrong in thinking I don't draw distinctions between different levels of villainy. One being better than another doesn't make them good however.

So, in other words they were all bad?

The image on the left is the Magellenic Cloud taken by the now retired Spitzer Space Telescope. The one on the right is the same thing captured by the James Webb telescope: Webb telescope's sharp views of the universe will change astronomy

That was supposed to be sarcastic. It DID make him a bad guy even by the standards of the time.

Well, he did completely ruin the 20th Century. No small feat considering it was fewer than 20 years old at that point. Of course I could just as well blame Roosevelt because if he'd stayed out of it Taft would have bee re-elected and Wilson would have f----d back off to New Jersey and never be heard from again. The US doesn't (probably) enter WW1. The war (probably) ends in a more equitable peace deal that doesn't completely destroy the Central Powers, and the conditions for the ascension of the Nazi Party (possibly) don't exist. Hard to say on that last one because the Great Depression was pretty much inevitable. But no Nazis means (possibly) no holocaust. No WW2 as we know it so no Israel in the post war years. THAT is a game changer in the ME and the different culturally Arab regimes will fight each other more than the traditional Sunni/Shia rivalries we had in our timeline. The British would exploit regional rivalries and likely still have a lot more influence in the ME than they did in reality. Possibly even into modern times. Would all that be better? Who knows. Wilson wasn't a bad guy other than being a eugenics believer and more than a little racist. But his intentions were not bad. I guess. He also couldn't predict the future.

Blasting out Earth’s location with the hope of reaching aliens is a controversial idea – two teams of scientists are doing it anyway Probably a bad idea. But, by the time the radio messages actual get where they are going and if there are aliens there, and if they are able to receive it and decide to do something about it it will be at LEAST 20k years and that is assuming they can travel FTL. Y'know that was a pretty neat problem from the novel Forever War. Two races of roughly equal technology fighting an interstellar war. Because of time dilation the ships that travelled less time were more technologically advanced.

Meh, I'm still holding out hope the anti-Christ is actually a giant meteor rather than a man. I'd rather the whole 1k years of darkness thing to be literal rather than figurative.

Oh good, this s--t has to come to an end sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.

This was a very good (if long) read: What did Medieval peasants know As I written here a hundred time I get annoyed when actual history is subverted or outright misrepresented for modern political ends. The "dark ages" following the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the beginning of the "high Middle Ages" period are good fodder for that because there is very little in the way of preserved history or writing. Also I've had a subscription to The Atlantic about 10 years ago and let it lapse. But it seems like they have upped their game in the past decade and are doing some interesting writing again. I may have to buy back in.

I've always loved cast iron cook wear. I have a full set in my storage back in TN. But it is definitely maintenance intensive.

This one looks interesting

Don't hold your breath on "the people" correcting any bad management by their political leaders. God help us all the day "the people" do more than elect the same types of candidates and bitching about why things never change. As for the rest of your point regarding the "defund" movement (and this also applies equally well to any question where "the people" are led into rabbit holes by politicians) I'll quote you an answer from a man far wiser than I will ever be: “The reason so many people misunderstand so many issues is not that these issues are so complex, but that people do not want a factual or analytical explanation that leaves them emotionally unsatisfied. They want villains to hate and heroes to cheer - and they don't want explanations that fail to give them that.” Thomas Sowell

Now reading: I have always been a big fan of memoirs, diaries, and eye witness accounts of historical actions. They offer an invaluable account of what life was like for the people doing the writing. But it must be understood they are not great references for actual history. A perfect example was one I finished a little while ago; Blood Red Snows. It was written by a man who fought in the Wehrmacht as a machine gunner at Stalingrad. You will learn nothing about the battle from him. Most of the time he didn't know where they were or what was going on. But if you want to get an insight on what life was like for a low ranking German soldier on the Eastern Front it's a great read. So far this book is in the same vein.

Sniper Super Bowl how cool is this?

As long as you are in Mexico Hermasillo and Monterrey are also great places for great food

It’s not real it’s just funny. Or at least I thought so.

I bet @Amentep never read THIS one!

G is working at Westby's today. They have a really nice restaurant there so I'm going to surprise her there with a nice lunch. She really needs to live a little!

Obstinance is part of our charm! Actually in the wonderful world of engineering all measurements are metric.

I think I've shared this one before but who cares, it's worth a repeat: