xzar_monty

Funny thing is, reaching that high A seems to be a lot easier for him than it is for Gillan, but in terms of emotion, delivery and all that, he definitely is out of his league. He performs the song well, as a technical exercise, but he's got no depth. The world is full of better singers than Leonard Cohen, but you just try and sing one of his songs better than he does...

Are you trying to be my Ralph McTell, taking me through the streets of Drezen, showing me something to make me change my mind?

I don't know what the general consensus is, but I'd argue that after you return from the Abyss, having to do another bout of fighting on the streets of Drezen is not fun, nor is it a good design choice.

Here's a funny thread concerning Russian reports about their achievements. In a nutshell, a Finnish journalist (from YLE, the national network) points out that Russia claims to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers with a missile strike on a particular school in Kramatorsk. Well, this journalist happens to be right there and the place looks pretty normal. No ambulances have been spotted, etc.

When I wrote "With the current variables", this meant that one of the variables is "Putin is alive". Putin's death would change things, but we don't know if it would stop the war or change things for the better.

With the current variables, my sense is that the quickest way towards peace is indeed that as many Russians as possible die as quickly as possible. It is not pleasant at all, but does anyone have a realistic alternative in the current situation? Something completely unexpected may happen, and that may change everything. But right now, that's how I see the situation.

Ok, thanks! In that case, the problem was indeed in one of the conversation choices I have made earlier. No idea which one of them it might have been. (I did pass the check you referred to.)

Very interesting stuff from Germany: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/ukraine-crisis-germany-influencers/ History can be excruciatingly harrowing: in the 20th century, Germany was a kind of a scourge for Europe because of all the things that it did. And now it's creating huge problems for Europe because of the good things that it leaves or has left undone (both militarily and in support of Ukraine) and because of the things it has done in response to its earlier deeds (i.e. tying itself to Russian energy in an effort to work out peace through trade). No blame attached to this comment, just exasperation at how things can go.

Annoying how some of this stuff is designed. Apparently[*] I failed in rescuing Trever for my party because I happened to do the Battlebliss questline before having a certain conversation at the Fleshmarkets with Sosiel in tow. I would understand if I lost the chance of saving Sosiel's brother because of a conversational choice I'd made, but to have everything hinge on the sequence of actions is a bit arbitrary and impossible to plan for without blatant metagaming. [*] That's how it looks to me in retrospect. I could be wrong of course.

A video report on it below. And here's a link to an HRW article on one way that Russia uses surveillance technology right now: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/10/26/russia-uses-facial-recognition-hunt-down-draft-evaders

A Russian activist of sorts has pointed out that Russian surveillance technology is superb, especially in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Your face WILL be recognized, and they WILL come after you. The punishment will be severe. This is one reason why it's so very dangerous to demonstrate in Russia: the internal security service works much better than the army, and has better resources. And for good reason, too: Putin most certainly has his reasons to be afraid of his own people. Btw, do you have an opinion on that absurd video posted by that German minister? It is excruciatingly embarrassing, in my opinion. I understand it didn't go down well in Germany.

Speaking of which: apparently 25 torture chambers found in Kharkiv. I have not seen this info (coming from Ukraine) verified in what I'd consider good media, but certainly it doesn't sound like an exaggeration, considering Bucha and Russia in general. As for rape, Putin's Russia has throughout the 2000s steadfastly opposed every proposed improvement to dealing with rape-related (war) crimes, all the way up to the UN security council. It's heartbreaking.

It appears that Ukraine has managed to make a particularly effective strike, even though the numbers are not clear yet -- but the numbers mentioned by Russians are big indeed. I wonder if this is the biggest individual hit Ukraine has been able to muster. Storing ammunition in the same building with soldiers doesn't sound like a bright idea to me.

Not a very pleasant report on how the Russian army treats its own personnel. A Twitter thread made more readable by an app: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1609535843391377408.html

I am now in the Abyss, and I suppose something else has been changed, too, or else I just haven't been meticulous enough: the last time I was here, I was carrying a wand of Dimension Door, Mass, which was extremely helpful with the rooftops and all that, but this time I haven't seen one. I have no idea where I got it last time.

Ok, thanks. Tallies perfectly with what I remember: I used to be able to preempt even after the initial conversation. So my memory isn't failing, and there is no bug, either, it's just that they've changed things around a bit. So I went and waited for the Queen to arrive.

Putin's New Year's speech is, shall we say, quite something. Also almost certainly his longest, at nine minutes or so. Also, it's delightful that this same woman keeps appearing close to Putin, representing various professions according to the needs of the moment. In the New Year's Speech, she was a soldier.

Indeed. Or (as I've said before) if anyone wants to invade Russia, the perfect opportunity has been there for months: the western flank of Russia is open for all invaders, just go. But no one wants to. It's really very unfortunate that facts are irrelevant when it comes to paranoia.

So, apparently, the "special operation" is not directed against Ukraine. Russia is simply responding to a Western attack that has been in preparation for eight years and whose aim is to destroy Russia and enslave Russians, or something along those lines. It's absolutely mad, but I suppose there are plenty of people willing to swallow it. Remember, war is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. https://meduza.io/feature/2022/12/30/meduza-poluchila-metodichku-kremlya-o-tom-kak-propagandisty-dolzhny-podvodit-itogi-2022-goda It's odd to see all the takes people have on the conflict. For example, our Serbian contributor @Sarex recently suggested that a particular development in the war demonstrated the West's or NATO's desire to get involved. I thought this was a mightily peculiar way to look at it: surely the West and NATO (whichever it was he was alluding to) has had the best part of the year to enter the fight, to deploy troops etc. But it hasn't done it. If it really wanted to do it, well, I suppose it would have done it months and months ago. But Russia's take is surely far beyond that, it's simply absurd. I've said it before, but along with everything else, it's absolutely fascinating to see how Russia can be both an extremely brutal murderer and a completely innocent victim at the same time.

I wonder if anyone's seen this happen (@Gromnir perhaps?). Playing an Azata. Act III. The Queen has not arrived, but I am not able to do the Azata thing and go to the Midnight Fane before the Queen shows up. This is just weird. I can talk to the Hand of the Inheritor about a few things, but the option to start the Azata assault is not there.

@Gorth, as far as one hit wonders are concerned, she is a superb case. This is a brilliant song. I remember back in the day, when I worked as a music journalist, receiving a copy of her album The Cappuccino Songs. There was nothing there.

...and head to the gym, completely committed, on January 2nd. (Supposedly. I'm guessing a bit here.) Dang, if only it was possible to bet against other people's New Year's Resolutions. There'd be some serious easy money in that.

Btw, today[*] marks the 100th anniversary of the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century: the founding of the Soviet Union. [*] Another possible date is two days from now, December 30.

Whenever rumours are mentioned, I am reminded of an exchange in the Sandman comics: "Only a fool listen to rumours", says the first person. "Only a fool ignores them", says the second. Can't remember who they are, except that Morpheus is one of them. Anyway, excellently put. That's how rumours are.

What about Danes? Do they follow the custom of celebrating Christmas on the eve, i.e. 24th, or is the big day the Christmas day, i.e. 25th? There are interesting differences here, too. (In Finland, the big day is the eve, that's when children get their presents.)