Maedhros

Where is the evidence? I suspect he'll try his best, but I don't see how he can win as there is nothing to support his claims. He'd whine about the opponent cheating even if Biden won with 90% of the votes. Hillary, in a moment of clarity, sums it up nicely here: “Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is rigged against him. The FBI conducted a year-long investigation into my emails. They concluded there was no case. He said the FBI was rigged. He lost the Iowa caucus; he lost the Wisconsin primary. He said the Republican primary was rigged against him. Then Trump University gets sued for fraud and racketeering. He claims the court system and the federal judge is rigged against him. There was even a time when he didn't get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged. This is a mind-set. This is how Donald thinks. And it's funny, but it's also really troubling."

"It could well be that at 10 o’clock on election night, Trump is winning in Michigan, he’s winning in Pennsylvania, he’s winning in Wisconsin, and he gets on the television and he says, ‘Thank you, Americans, for reelecting me. It’s all over. Have a good day.’ But then, the next day, and the day following, all of those mail-in ballots start getting counted, and it turns out that Biden has won those states, at which point Trump says, ‘See? I told you the whole thing was fraudulent. I told you those mail-in ballots were crooked. And we’re not going to leave office.’ So that is a worry that I and a lot of people have."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/03/robocall-election-day/

Because American politics is extremely important for the rest of the world, and for other countries economies. American politics is world politics. (It's also great entertainment). Edit: You seriously don't know who Boris is?

Yes, of course, it's a matter of perspective. THEY think they're fighting to change it for the better. All I'm saying is it's silly to say someone hates their country just because they want to change it, and because their opinions differ from yours.

Are we in the the Breitbart comments section? I'll ignore the good ol' socialism scare, but why do certain people always think wanting to change a country for the better has anything to do with hatred? Criticising your country isn't the same thing as hating it. To advocate positive change is the patriotic thing to do.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/22/us-trump-administration-signs-anti-abortion-declaration "The Geneva Consensus Declaration was signed by a total of 32 countries: Bahrain, Belarus, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eswatini, Gambia, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Nauru, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, the US and Zambia." The holy alliance.

Religion can be a factor, especially in a place where nearly everyone is religious and that adds to people's trust towards each other. However, in many parts of the world where religion isn't that important, you still have the same correlation of violence in rural/urban areas. Personally I think it's got to do more with trust. In places of conformity, there is less conflict and less violence. Also, it's not like irreligeous people don't teach their kids morals. Many of the most peaceful places on this earth are largely atheist.

Agree with your point on bell peppers. On a sidenote for those interested (none?), pyrazines in wine isn't inherently a bad thing, and it doesn't have to mean a wine has turned bad. Herbal aromas from moderate pyrazine levels in wine can be very appealing if done right. All the Bordeaux grapes have pyrazines for example. A Sauvignon Blanc can have an appealing "grassy" aroma, a classic aged red Bordeaux can have a delicious warm red bell pepper scent. The green bell pepper aroma is a trademark of Cabernet franc and not a wine fault. Extreme levels of pyrazine = bad. Moderate levels = can be good and adds complexity.

It's not fake, but yeah, people like to talk tough and it's probably nothing. I remember people talking about civil war the last couple of elections too depending on the result. There's a slight difference now with Trump showing signs of not wanting to accept the election result if he loses though, which could instigate more violence.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/09/23/patriot-coalition-far-right-chat-logs-violence/ Leaked chatlogs from far-right group "Patriot coalition"

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-54284952 - Magawa the mine-detecting rat wins gold medal!

Favorite song of the year, so far

Pretty much anyone and their mother can make a valid nomination, so these crazy nominations mean little. (and likewise the main prize for that matter, as shown with Obama and many others). Do we have a university professor here? If so you can make a submission. Nominate the Obsidian forums! https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/09/2600-year-old-wine-factory-unearthed-lebanon/ 2600 year old wine factory found in Lebanon. Pretty cool!

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/889pk3/facebook-threatens-to-pull-out-of-europe-if-it-doesnt-get-its-way I wouldn't mind!

Wow that's lame. Season 1 was a show I really enjoyed - there was clearly a lot of passion behind the project. Hope someone else picks it up if that's possible?

Political ads are banned here, both on tv/radio, and on posters outside etc (to avoid the biggest/richest parties dominating airtime), not sure how common that is around the globe? As far as I'm concerned, good riddance. I'm sure there's a lot of shady stuff on social media, but I prefer my exposure to politics be reasonable debates, and politicians actually talking about issues.

CK2 is such a great game, that I've played far, far too much. More developers should make Grand Strategy games with RPG flavour. However, I couldn't really get into CK3 right away, so I'm gonna wait for a few patches before I start playing. Right now it doesn't really feel any better than CK2, despite some welcome changes.

I thought book 4 was very good, and would make for a very fascinating film in the right hands. A guy turns himself into a Giant Sandworm and becomes the Emperor of the Universe for thousands of years to teach humanity a lesson, what's not to like? Book 2 & 3 less so, though they somehow managed to adapt those decently in that Children of Dune miniseries (that sadly doesn't hold up well CGIwise).