BruceVC

But thats not a bad idea, Alcatraz is a very famous prison and the US has lots of criminals Im not sure how it will be better than the maximum security prisons but its got potential

I finally completed Kingmaker after about 130 hours, its one of the best party based RPG I have ever played and its now in my Top 10 RPG of all time I have mentioned in previous posts what I loved about this game but I will summarize it combat is the best part of the game. There are dozens of different strategies and ways to win battles deep character customization and how you can develop a party engaging main narrative, lots of twists and turns and exciting developments lots of choices around how the narrative develops and how your choices influence certain outcomes great party and companion side quests and how you can engage and build your companion loyalty I ended up defeating Nyrissa on my third try. It was easier than I thought. She has high AC and lots of spells dont work against her so I did the following spread my party around so her AOE spells only hurt one or 2 people lots of buffs and healing was used during the battle I used Kalikkes earth burst ability on 4-5 level burn and that did loads of damage to Nyrissa because it doesn't require a hit She was wounded badly and she had to use Heal constantly until she ran out of Heal spells. Also by having to Heal all the time she was limited around offensive spells usage My fighters and Ekun did some minor damage to her but they mostly missed And then I used spells like Greater Shout which did hurt her But it was Kalikkes kinetics that did the most damage to Nyrissa, she was my trump card And the final ending for me worked out well. I let Nyrissa apologize but I gave the Crown to Shyka the Many so she died at the end. Im was happy with that because of all death and carnage she inflicted on various worlds But excellent experience and I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys party based RPG with a complex but worthwhile ruleset Now Im going to play Wrath, I download it last night. Im in the mood for more Pathfinder

Makes sense, they both part of the whole Dynamics training which is aligned to your work anyway

https://www.newsweek.com/maga-leaders-defend-americans-right-boycott-israel-2067909 This is an example of where the current Congress, or certain representatives , is too aligned with Israel and what it considers is anti-Semitism but this bill encroaches on freedom of speech What they dont realize is this type of bill fuels anti-Semitism because it adds to the whole narrative that Jews control the USA. " According to the lawmakers who introduced the bill, Lawler and Gottheimer, H.R. 867 "amends the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to include international governmental organizations (IGOs) in existing anti-boycott laws. The congressmen said in a January press release that the change "targets harmful and inherently antisemitic" boycott efforts undertaken at IGOs while also "extending protections already in place for boycotts instigated by foreign countries. However, critics warn the bill threatens the constitutional rights of Americans. The penalties under the legislation include civil penalties, criminal fines of up to $1 million and imprisonment of up to 20 years for supporting calls to boycott Israel. "

https://www.timesofisrael.com/waltzs-coordination-with-netanyahu-on-iran-strike-contributed-to-firing-report/ Waltz is being moved to another position and apparently the main reason for this is his relationship with Netanyahu and how its not aligned to what Trump prefers and specifically around Iran "Two of the people quoted by the Washington Post said that Waltz upset the US president by engaging in what the report described as “intense coordination” with Netanyahu on possible military options for Iran, prior to the premier’s White House meeting with Trump in February. " I do think the Trump WH is too close to Israel on several issues, it needs to be seen as more objective and whats best for the USA first But Iran is a threat to the overall stability of the ME and they cant be allowed to get nukes, thats a very important geopolitical objective. The issue is now what is the most effective and sustainable way to achieve this goal?

Nice and you saving money on food I love roasted duck, I love all duck dishes. One of my favorites is still Peking Duck I have cooked duck, it releases lots of fat and I needed to drain the pot but it ended up a good meal

Sound great, is the overall Danish experience better than what you were expecting considering how many other countries you have lived in? What specific Microsoft training and new certifications are you doing? I wrote M365 Fundamentals 2 months ago, its an excellent and required foundation exam for cross-skilling or working with M365 and then you select further exams to specialize. I am going to study Pureview which is the Compliance and Governance service that M365 provides Im want to get back into Microsoft from a consultancy perspective

And? You allowed to go into details, there are no forum regulations around this Whats it like staying in the old homeland again, is it nice seeing family again? Doing anything interesting and how have things changed now that you living in Denmark again

@Gorth Are still living in Denmark? If so will this be long-term ?

No thats inaccurate, Elerond try not be fooled by fake news and anti-US sentiment around the long-term advantages of this mineral deal Most of the minerals are not in Russian controlled regions, you can see from this map. Just look at the colour sizes

Russia has already made the US a similar offer The difference is the US investors will have more influence in the future of this mining than an investment in Russia It may not seem like it but this is good news for Ukraine and its future, its better to have greedy Capitalists committed to your country than not at all

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/30/ukraine-says-it-is-set-to-sign-minerals-deal-with-us This is huge development and doesn't get the attention for its relevancy around how its in the best interests for Ukraine For example once US investment starts there is no chance Russia will ever able to occupy Ukraine entirely " Announcing the agreement, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the creation of the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund was a signal to Russia that the Trump administration was “committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term”. “President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine,” Bessent said in a statement. “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

I learnt an important lesson about finding items and then cleaning screens when you leave an area in Kingmaker I have mod configured that gives me an option to clean every area of items I leave and it helps with save file bloat and makes the game more stable Anyway I am busy with the Varnhold Vanishing quest and I am finding the Sisters for the barbarians and at the end you go back to the barbarian camp and the Sisters end up attacking you. I killed them and looted some items and then left for Valley of the Dead and cleaned the area in the barbarian camp But I didnt loot the one Incense Burner and you need all 3 to enter the Valley , I missed it and I ended up cleaning all items. Luckily I save regularly and I just restored to before the Sisters battle. But the lesson of the story, I am now very careful before I say " clean " when I leave an area because this one oversight meant I could unintentionally not being able to finish the game

How would Russia be admitting strategic defeat when it gets Crimea and Donbas and Ukraine wont join NATO?

Im not sure why this is such a terrible peace plan Its exactly what has been discussed many times, Russia keeps Crimea and Donbas and Ukraine wont join NATO Ukraine keeps 80% of its country and can join the EU when it meets the requirements It seems the most reasonable suggestion where both sides make compromises

I configured Kingdom Management to auto, I regret that now because I think I would have liked to try my hand at managing my kingdom but once you set this option you cant change it So the AI makes all decisions around my lands and so far so good

Yes his sexual deviancy only added to his nefarious character, very accurate cartoon But the show also creates nuance in personalities which I appreciated, so for example Banner starts off as this dumb Scottish thug but then you see everything he does is just for his family and he questions what Whitfield is doing to those women. You can see how conflicted he is and he ends up redeeming himself at the end IMO 1883 was better for me than 1923, both are great but 1883 captures the harsh reality of how people made the trek to the West and a better life.

Did you end up watching Interview with a Vampire on AMC? Initially when I saw it was a black Louis I thought " here we go again, how are they going to explain how you ever had a black plantation owner in Louisiana in the 1800's " and I assumed it was going to be a complete woke revisionist failure But they created the new Louis really well in a convincing way around his history and how he faces bigotry apart from everything else And I really enjoyed both seasons . Deep themes around true love and relationships and how Vampires would and could experience these things. But they dont avoid the dark nature of Vampirism and how tragic and lonely it can become

I really enjoyed 1923, I think the idea of Spencer saving them is intentional considering his past as a hardcore soldier and lion hunter. The rest of the family are ranchers It made sense to me but the incredibly difficult journey that him and Alex made to get back was epic and how it ended was both evocative and really sad Its all based on real historical events in Montana like the rancher wars and Native American religious schools and the abuse that occurred in them The Dutton family are fictional. But damn didnt Timothy Dalton play a real degenerate that you can only hate Have you watched 1883, its excellent and its the start of the Duttons journey and the prequel to 1923

Oblivion is a great game when you can mod it and fix its systemic vanilla flaws like level scaling Bethesda is saying this version wont support mods which makes its a non-starter but modders are disputing that already https://www.ign.com/articles/the-elder-scrolls-4-oblivion-remastered-mods-have-already-been-published-online

https://www.investors.com/news/bessent-us-china-trade-war-unsustainable-trump-tariffs-sp-500/ Not a surprise, Bessent acknowledges China trade war a bad idea Markets had some recovery just on this sentiment. Its clear investors want it to end " Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly told an event hosted by JPMorgan Chase that he expects the U.S.-China standoff to de-escalate, characterizing it as unsustainable. The Bloomberg report, which suggests the Trump administration is looking for a way to climb down after ratcheting Trump tariffs up to 145%. That helped fuel a soaring S&P 500. "

I was under the impression that Trumps doublespeak and selective interpretation of facts was a reason for criticism? But that should apply to both sides Shouldn't it be normal to believe in fair and balanced opinions?

Its a great question and only American voters can answer that because they will vote on the successes or failures of Trumps presidency So we will see in the Midterms, personally I think Trump has created too much chaos, inconsistency and criticism for this positive development to balance out But we will have to see, the strength of the economy and overall inflation will be the deciding factor in support for Trump in the midterms. That can negate or worsen everything else

Yes the GOP blocked the implementation of Bidens bipartisan border policies at the end of Bidens presidency But the Dems only did this at the end of Bidens presidency and this was the problem, they failed to anything meaningful about the border and its one of the reasons that the Dems lost so badly in the election Its important to try not to be obsessed with all the SM drama and outrage around Trumps presidency. Focus on what delivers on, like this, and what he fails on around actual outcomes For example the global tariffs are very inconsistent and confusing and not a good idea But no reasonable person would suggest the Dems took the border seriously or did anything significant about illegal migration numbers into the US These new numbers reveal a much more positive story and shows border policy success. We just have to wait and see if it is maintained

I just has my most difficult battle around strategy, it was the Womb of Lamashtu quest And it was at the end where you need to split your party, lucky I double up on roles but it was very tough. The hard part was the second battle because I hasnt rested and my party was wounded and low on spells. But I used scrolls, potions and then a Wyvern summon that helped distract all the monsters that appear Havent come across him yet but I see he should be available in my city