Maedhros

What's up with that blue-green filter? Looks ridiculous.

Went on a 15 minute hike with my son, up to the nearby Stave Church. My (soon-to-be) 2 year old son loves to yell "KIRKE!" (church) whenever he sees one, and can stare at them for minutes. Fun fact: The stave church is a reconstruction, after previously being burnt to the grown by the infamous Varg Vikernes. For the curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stave_church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantoft_Stave_Church

Installing The Old Republic. Haven't tried it since release pretty much. Which classes have the most RPGish/fun storylines?

Isn't the point that Disnleyland IS affordable, thus being extra hurtful that they can't afford it? The contrast being the higherups enjoying their family holiday there, while they had to postpone getting kids.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-03/blizzard-workers-share-salaries-in-revolt-over-wage-disparities?srnd=technology-vp Based on the last decade of Blizzard greed in World of Warcraft, this doesn't surprise me at all. I guess it's similar to the top restaurants in the world where so many people will apply, and want to work there that they can justify paying such low wages. Still feels rotten though. @Keyrock Crusader Kings 2 is probably my most played singleplayer game of all time. I keep finding new ways to challenge myself in it. I just hope CK3 won't require tons of patches and DLCs to be as good.

It's not really relevant that it's from the Guardian. They're just referring to the study from CSIS (centrist thinktank - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Strategic_and_International_Studies) https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/200616_Jones_Methodology_v3_0.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/us-rightwing-extremists-attacks-deaths-database-leftwing-antifa Guardian piece on politically motivated violence in the US. TLDR: "0 Victims killed in anti-fascist attacks since 1994 21 Victims killed in left-wing violence since 2010 95 Victims killed in jihadist attacks since 2010 117 Victims killed in right-wing violence since 2010 329 Victims killed in right-wing violence since 1994"

Is it of your opinion that Trump lies less or the same as other politicians or are you just playing the devil's advocate? I base it on having eyes and ears. That the various factcheckers confirm my belief isn't really important to me. That being said. It depends on how you define a lie. Does Trump truly believe his father was born in Germany, or is that a lie he keeps repeating to save face? Like the guys above say, it's hard to know which of his untruths are intentional and which are not.

Trump is a notorious liar who lies even when he doesn't have to. The amount of lies is unprecedented. Yes, the media gets a ton of stuff wrong, and other politicians lie too. Doesn't mean Trump is not a special case.

Christopher Tolkien was awesome, and sought to understand, preserve and present his father's work. Brian Herbert on the other hand exploits it. I wonder if he's involved with the film? Hope not.

How one of Twin Peak's theme songs was written

Has antifa even killed a single person?

So Trump retweeted a video where someone yells "White power!" several times. Why wouldn't I be surprised if this was just to draw attention away from something even more ugly?

Bill Gates saving the planet so there'll still be people around ready to get microchips implants.

Re-reading the Dune series. Probably 15 years since I last read them. I enjoyed them just as much as I did the first time around. Most people seem to have only read the first one in the series, but I really enjoyed #4, God Emperor of Dune this time around. A guy turns himself into a giant worm, and rules the galaxy as a peace-enforcing tyrant for 3500 years to save humanity. What's not to like? “For what do you hunger, Lord?” Moneo ventured. “For a humankind which can make truly long-term decisions. Do you know the key to that ability, Moneo?” “You have said it many times, Lord. It is the ability to change your mind.”

Rapper Killer Mike says build, not burn.

"Just to be a contrarian ass"? I thought from the get-go that he said he did it to protest the oppression and police brutality against blacks in the US? Image seems relevant if so. Edit: Haha, thought ass was the censored word. Need to learn to count letters.

All this talk of Star Trek made me think of this. -- Started watching "What we do in the shadows" on HBO. Funniest thing I've watched so far this year. Apparently there's a film too, gotta check that out as well.

I have a feeling most of you strongly dislike stuff like this, but I'm unashamedly in love with this new song by Aurora. Very different from her other stuff, which isn't nearly as "traditional" as this, but it worked for me.

Haha well, maybe this lockdown actually means he'll get the time to write the damn book!

The last season makes the couple of seasons before it even worse. I find myself not wanting to ever rewatch it due to how terrible its ending is. That zombie episode with Sam/Brienne/Jaime constantly surrounded by zombies but not dying is the prime example of the showrunners giving up, and giving in to cheap tv tricks. There is no dialogue anymore, no organic development...just a cluster**** of major events happening without proper buildup, and character development as a result is a total mess. I actually look forward to the remaining book (I think he'll only manage to release one more before he goes) to see what could have been.

I've learned that only two things seem to stop me from sleeping: If I'm not socially active during the day (internet forums doesn't count, sadly), or if I eat too much chocolate in the evening. I used to really struggle before I started working as a kindergarten teacher.

Always looking for good excuses to post clips from The Wire (made by a former cop). It makes a pretty strong suggestion that the police aren't really to blame, not even the top brass. They just do what they have to, to please the politicians in charge (more convoluted than that, but oversimplified). "It's the chain of command baby, the **** always rolls downhill."

Yeah that's pretty fair overall. I think it's also fair to say that Progressives in the US are Scandinavian wannabees. Whenever I see AOC I think she must've been a Swede in a previous life.