xzar_monty

I just read a good article where a military expert made the same Hitler comparison (while pointing out that earlier on in his war, Hitler made good tactical decisions, unlike Putin). However, the military expert also pointed to the fact that no sources have been properly reported, which suggests that this may be wishful thinking comparable to reports about Putin's ill health (which themselves may or may not be wishful thinking). So there's that, and that's unignorable for now. The expert also kind of agreed with you in the sense that if the reports are true, they certainly appear to be good news for Ukraine. I suppose we'll find out eventually. Damn fog of war.

Apparently they do, yes, so that was my bad. (I'm not going to disable my adblocker, so I'm not clicking on any of those links, so it seems I'm ignoring them more comprehensively than I should.)

This is my uninformed take on this as well, although it would be extremely interesting to know the details (which I'm unlikely to get to know, but what do I know).

Also interesting how the natural counterpoint (i.e. coming out every time in a knee-jerk reaction) to Russian propaganda is a "British tabloid". As if someone here is using that a source.

That was interesting, thank you. May we, during these rather horrifying times, express our thanks to Russian corruption, ineptitude, poor planning, lack of foresight, logistical failures, strategic blunders and all the other things that have made this a much less horrifying period than it could have been.

Of course it was. But that claim has been presented here at least twice in all seriousness, which is a bit baffling. My sense is that right after the initial attack was repelled and revealed as a bad idea, Russia resorted to its age-old tactics i.e. wholesale destruction of anything it can destroy with no regard for civilian life, civilian infrastructure or basically anything. One interesting thing about this is that while Russia appears to want to conquer Ukraine, it clearly has no interest in Ukrainian buildings or stuff like that, as it's quite happy to destroy everything.

The author profile on the right mentions that Esocbar is the author of "countless books". As books are my profession, I had to check this out. I may have got it wrong, but apparently "countless" means "seven". That's nothing compared to Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Georges Simenon or, shall we say, "countless" others. It's the little things like this that really add to the credibility of a writer or the website publishing his stuff.

And here's another interesting piece of information. Particularly relevant against the claim that "actually Russia isn't doing that much damage and most of all, it makes an effort to limit the damage it causes". Sure it does, sure it does. Of course it's still true that Russia is not going all in. But this means very little.

This is something quite extraordinary and highly recommended. I wonder if a change of some kind is happening or about to happen inside Russia, as far as the war in Ukraine is concerned. Look at what this fellow says. (I have seen that female presenter / TV personality before, during this same war. She is, quite frankly, frightening. What I mean by this is that any professional on any TV channel should maintain at least a semblance of impartiality, for the cause of journalistic integrity. That should be a given in her profession, as absolute as the fact that a medical doctor will not talk about his patients' problems in public. I understand you can perhaps see something similar on Fox News and worse, but I've never watched Fox News so I don't know of any examples.)

That article describes Lavrov as "a diplomatic master", which instantly gives the whole thing the seal of ultimate credibility. I hope you're all aware that I'm a chess grandmaster and a master chef. I mean, I know the rules of chess and I can cook my own food.

I hope this is not true. If it is, it takes a kind of unprofessionalism to new levels, again. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/16/putin-involved-russia-ukraine-war-western-sources

Genetically, btw, as most of you probably know already, Africans in general and some "black people" in particular (pygmies and bushmen, especially), are extraordinarily diverse. To exaggerate it slightly, we might almost say that there is more genetic diversity in an African village than in the whole of Iceland -- or the whole of China. The rule of thumb is that there's most genetic diversity in Africa, especially eastern Africa, and the longer the walking distance from there to any other place on the historical globe (pre-1700s, or something), the less diverse the population in that place is.

Christ but he sings well live. Frankly amazing. (It was always funny how some of the 1980s rock bands, for instance, had vocalists who couldn't really pull it off in concert, Vince Neil and David Lee Roth being good examples. Dio certainly could.)

This made me sort of laugh. I'm not pining for a PoE3, especially, but damn I'm a limited guy: I can only get enthusiastic about a certain brand of cRPGs, and there just aren't that many around. It's a shame. It's also completely my fault, I know. But I mean, BG2, PoE, PoE2, P:K, P:WotR and that's about it. I'd like to have a few more good ones... (I do have Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness installed, but I haven't tried it yet. P:WotR is getting less and less interesting all the time, the writing is just not very good.)

Sauli Niinistö, the president of Finland, has gone on record saying that "You caused this. Look in the mirror" is his response to Russia's (expected) outrage at Finland (probably) joining NATO. Things have certainly changed. I cannot remember any Nordic leader being that blunt towards Russia during my lifetime.

Very good indeed, both of them. Apparently Dio was also 163 cm. I think the one who could jump highest, at least in the studio, was Klaus Meine. There's a ridiculously high C or C# at the end of Now! (from Blackout). I'm not going to check, but I think it's higher than Dickinson's scream in Gangland (from Number of the Beast) or the background harmonics in Flash of the Blade (from Powerslave). Dio doesn't reach as high anywhere, I think. I invite anyone to correct me, this is from memory.

@Mamoulian War: D'oh. Here's an interesting thing: you would sort of think that this kind of stuff was done with at least some amount of subtlety and care. But it's not. It's once again in the great tradition of editing Kirill's watch from the picture but neglecting to edit the reflection of the watch on the table. It's so amateurish that it's actually quite hard to believe. Hmm. I just saw a video of a Russian column of tanks getting severely beaten. One of the tanks had its top seriously blown off, I suppose it reached an altitude of 100+ meters, high enough to start a Special Airborne Operation. Dang that was brutal. I'm sure anyone can find this video if they want to. The Ukrainians appear to have better weapons now.

I wouldn't trust this (heck, if Putin said it's two o'clock I'd check my watch), although I'd wager that at least somebody is going to get something. Let us keep in mind that Putin has stressed how conscripts would not be used in battle, although they definitely have been used.

Look at Ronnie James Dio. He was a very small guy but dear god what a voice. (Apparently, he used to play the trumpet when he was young. Must have given him some serious lung power.) Dio was also one of those weird fellas who sang really high but his tone was such that he sounded really masculine even high up there. Just brilliant. His pitch was astonishing, too.

There are, indeed, those of us who are somewhat removed from the war and those who are more closely touched by it. Happy to hear those news from you.

Was it really a no-show from Gerasimov? If so, that's something. Shoigu was there, for sure. Also, flyovers cancelled "due to weather conditions". Definitely not due to weather conditions, as far as I can tell, but why, then?

It keeps snubbing so many important names that the whole hall, in my view, doesn't deserve respect. After all, it's very much a creation of Rolling Stone magazine and related aesthetics, which I'd argue are anything but good.

One of the most enjoyable songs ever to play (on the drums).

Ok, I understand now, thanks. I disagree, but that's fine. I don't want to have all that information on display, because it'll make me feel like everything is based on calculations (which it is, but I prefer the illusion of a living world inside the game).

Regarding the "mysterious fires" around Russia: it would be great to get some statistics on the amount of fires in Russia in, say, the past ten years. It's a huge country, so there are bound to be plenty even at the best of times. We are now living in times where probably most of these fires get reported internationally, but as long as they are a) not in military or other strategically important locations and b) not particularly close to Ukraine, I'm inclined to think it's business as usual -- unless statistics show that the number of fires has gone drastically up. I am reminded of the tragedy of the married woman who genuinely slipped and hit her head on the cupboard, getting a black eye in the process. I mean, nobody believed her.