BruceVC

Interesting video, I like 20 minute videos that are succinct and explain the point they trying to make clearly I didnt know much of what he mentions, especially the interesting part around the history of why Germany keeps its gold in other countries but it makes historical sense juxtaposed to the fears of Soviet invasion I agree with several things he says and then I dont think his concerns will be realised Germany should be keeping its gold reserves in Germany, that makes sense. I doubt all the gold that Russia and China have been buying lately is not stored in there country I did some quick research and most of Germanys gold is now kept in Frankfurt. And the transfer from NY was completed in 2016 which was several years ahead of the original 2020 schedule https://www.bundesbank.de/en/tasks/topics/bundesbank-completes-transfer-of-gold-from-new-york-647150 " Last year, the Bundesbank transferred a total of over 216 tonnes of gold to Germany from storage locations abroad: 111 tonnes from New York and 105 tonnes from Paris. This means that since 2013, the Bundesbank has successively relocated just short of 283 tonnes of gold from Paris and 300 tonnes of gold from New York to Frankfurt am Main. As at 31 December 2016, 47.9 percent of Germany's gold holdings were in storage in Frankfurt, 36.6 percent in New York, 12.8 percent in London and the remaining 2.7 percent in Paris." So basically 37% of Germanys gold is still kept in the US as you can see from the table in the link But he raises worrying points around gold investment and paper contracts, allocated and unallocated investment in gold We dont really invest in gold, all our investments are properties, bonds and shares but it makes sense what he warns about. If a country wants to recall its gold and the holding country cant produce it that could crash the paper and unallocated value of that type of gold investment. Thats basically what he is talking about Moral of the story, ideally keep your gold at home as a foreign reserve if you a government and as a gold buyer make sure you buy allocated gold and avoid the paper contracts. Also we know most banks would battle to provide all the money if every single customer suddenly said " I want my investment withdrawn now " so trust is still important and so is an understanding of how banks work and what they can or cant do immediately around mass withdraws But good video, its definitely though provoking

Im about 210 hours into Skyrim\LoreRim and its time for another update Im on level 49 and Im very happy with how my level advancement is slowed down. As I mentioned in previous posts LoreRim is about exploration and completing quests because you get limited XP from combat so you have to explore which I love I have also started going back to try to complete hard enemies and I have been mostly successful but 1-2 enemies I still cant beat which is fine LoreRim strongly suggests you dont save and restore in combat and obviously no save-scumming. The main reason for this is because it can break save games because of all the scripts that run. You also not suppose to alt-tab for the same reason. Saying all that I have ignored this and I save and restore and alt-tab all the time and I havent had any serious problems. But what you suppose to do is use a campfire and when you die you always get resurrected in a temple or your last campfire So I always setup a camp before any difficult dungeon, if I die I just respawn outside the dungeon and then I re-strategize. Thats the suggested approach for hard enemies Anyway I decided to go back to defeat Movarth the master Vampire who had been terrorizing Morthal and transforming citizens into Vampire thralls It was the hardest battle I have ever had in any single character RPG but I succeeded after about 4 hours and I just succeeded, I did the following I had all my 4 companions with me for the battle who are Gore, Auri, Remiel and Katana. These are all included LoreRim mod companions with thousands of lines of dialogue and dozens of interesting and varied side quests I buffed up on potions, oils and used summons Movarth has about 12-15 Vampire thralls so I killed them in groups first but I was defeated but I respawned outside his cave. I did this twice to make the main battle easier Finally it was just him and one tough thrall and I used my dragon shouts and normal combat skills and I used a passage so he had to attack me from the front and blocking helped At the end all my companions were defeated, I had exhausted all my potions and I was on 10 health and low stamina but I was able to kill him. Katana has a shade which spawns when she is defeated and that helped me as well As I said, hardest battle I have ever had in these types of RPG And then I have defeated about 7 dragons which are always tough but I have an effective strategy, I see what breath they using and then I buff that defense and use the appropriate oil or spells opposite to that because typically thats means the dragon has a weakness. So a frost breathing dragon is more susceptible to fire attacks. It works more or less but these dragon fights always require thinking and using the right items LoreRim has dozens of unique and interesting features and improvements to make your game more interesting, for example each deity has different side quests and blessings and you need to work on these to advance favour but you can swop anytime to another deity at a shrine if you want. Im currently a follower of Hermaeus Mora and on certain enemies you find these Eldritch Pages that contain lost knowledge for about 8-9 different books and you need 8 pages to create an Eldritch Book and that grants you increased magic benefits. So I am working towards that but its random which pages you find and Im only on 5 pages for 2 of the Eldritch books and the rest are about 2-4 pages And then I just started the Dawnguard DLC, you can only start this DLC once you defeat Movarth because of how hard Vampires are. So I will participate in this DLC while Im busy with the main quest. I am leaving Dragonborn for later but I do go to Solstheim for other quests. I like the whole Morrowind interaction So far LoreRim is still the best sandbox and open-world RPG I have ever played and its highly recommended

Talking about AI and fake news, I thought Pokrovsk had fallen to Russia weeks ago? Didnt Putin himself claim this and a Russian flag was hosted The one thing I have learnt about this war is not to believe any of the " updates " from either side until its confirmed and thats weeks later But I am still surprised by the Pokrovsk false narrative because even several Western media houses were repeating this https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/12/19/moscows-narrative-wobbles-as-ukraine-takes-back-kupiansk

Merry Christmas everyone and happy NY This is my best holiday of the year

Im not trying to justify Trump removing Maduro because of the nationalisation\theft of American assets, that is a BS reason. But I support Maduro being removed because he has destroyed Venezuela and lacks legitimacy as a leader. If he had won the last election fairly then I wouldnt be supporting this regime change because my point would be " the people of Venezuela voted for him despite his policies". Removing Maduro is in the best interests of Venezuela as long as the regime change is done correctly with a new government that has support of Venezuelans and regional and international support. All these things currently exist or will happen once Maduro is gone But forced nationalisation can definitely be seen as stealing from a country, you could have a state owned global oil or mining company that gets nationalised from a regime And then even private sector companies generate taxes so you now denying the country that tax revenue But the main problem with forced nationalisation on any level is how it is implemented. All foreign investment works more or less the same way and it should be protected under all cost. The process is typically A government invites foreign investment the foreign investor has to spend large amounts of money setting up the business they hire local people which now have a job and spending power they create ancillary businesses associated with the investment they pay tax in the country on the revenue they generate That is how the country benefits and its massive. But then a government decides " we want to own asset " but they didnt setup it up and pay for the initial investment Its theft and there is no justification for it. Agreed on nationalisation is different because the investor agrees to the ownership change or a different revenue contract. Thats what happened in Botswana recently with De Beers and everyone is happy https://www.angloamerican.com/media/press-releases/2025/25-02-2025

Chavez did implement forced nationalisation of several US oil companies that had been invested in Venezuela for decades. And that is theft But I doubt that is the real reason Trump is threatening Maduro suddenly Here is a link about what Chavez did and how it contributed towards the collapse of the Venezuelan economy https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/05/07/how-venezuela-ruined-its-oil-industry/

The way it should work is the president should have no ability to literally phone the DOJ and say " you must prosecute this person " and this should apply to any president Prosecutions need to be decided on evidence and whats in the public interest if there are many potential cases because any DOJ will have limited resources Im sure this is how it works in most countries that have a separation of the judiciary from the state? You will still get criticism from the public because citizens have there own opinions around who should be prosecuted but that decision shouldnt come from the presidency

But that's a problem isnt it, the reality that the DOJ becomes politicized It needs to be independent of political influence, its suppose to be independent. Thats how Justice departments in any Democracy are suppose to function In South Africa we call it the NPA (national prosecution authority ) and during the years of state capture from about 2013-2017 we had no prosecutions of political wrongdoing and we went through the worst corruption in the public sector we have ever seen because there was no system of accountability or consequence

Yes, I think this is part of it. He tries to create a distraction from all the attention from things like Epstein and its for his MAGA base. But I also think he genuinely believes the DOJ was politicized under Biden and they targeted him specifically which they did in certain ways to stop him running as a candidate. But the difference is there was legitimate legal cases which he was found guilty of. His objective to prosecute James and Comey lacks the same substance so it just becomes embarrassing for the DOJ

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/justice-department-fails-twice-to-re-indict-new-york-attorney-general-james-ap-source-says I see for the second time a jury, this time in NY, failed to reindict the case against NY AG James Its embarrassing when the DOJ decides to prosecute someone and makes a sensationalized public announcement but the case doesn't even get to court Trump needs to rely on actual evidence and not emotion if he wants people to be successfully prosecuted

I just completed the dragon fight with Delphine against Sahloknir in LoreRim It was a good indication of what I need to do to win these types of battles and it was predictably hard I used this strategy used potions to buff against his breath made sure my companions had good arrows, I dont use archery. They hurt Sahloknir in the beginning and then they were defeated but they played an important part in initially hurting him used summons to distract him I ran away a lot and used the stone pillars to shield myself from his breath I used my Wabbajack wand to finally kill him when he had less than 800 health, its a Daedric artifact I got from the Sheogorath quest and its very effective but unpredictable. Sometimes it does damage and sometimes it can change the enemy into an animal or even strip armour but that effect doesn't apply to a dragon I ended up using loads of healing magic and healing potions so I need to stock up on those But it was a good and difficult battle I also had started a quest called Laid to Rest where the end monster was a Master Vampire trying to control the town of Morthal. I couldnt defeat the Master Vampire and I gave up after about 4-5 tries, I ended up wounding him when he chased me to the dungeon entrance but he teleported back to his area of the dungeon so I left. I will come back later to fight him but in LoreRim this quest also starts the Dawnguard DLC. So its a good indication if you ready to fight that level of Vampire and Im clearly not I love how LoreRim has no level scaling and there are many enemies you simply cant defeat and you have to run away until later

I decided to start the main quest in Skyrim\LoreRim I mentioned before that LoreRim uses the Alternative Start mods which creates about 10-12 different beginning outside of whole Helgen vanilla dragon attack and these alternate starts vary from shipwreck survivor, Vampire\Werewolf clan or bounty hunter so you can start the game with nothing if you want but they all have the same result. The main dragon quests dont initiate so you can explore the world and advance in levels without any dragon interaction. And then when you want to start the main quest you travel to Helgen, which obviously hasn't been destroyed, and you rent a specific room from the Innkeeper and when you wake up you go into Helgen and you witness the executions and the dragon attack and then normal Skyrim starts Sounds simple right? I had spent 120 hours on the game and I was on level 38 and I decided to do this but I encountered a major bug, I go to Helgen but there were no NPCS outside of Imperial soldiers and that means no Innkeeper so I couldn't initiate the main quest and the Innkeeper use to be in Helgen I spent about 2 hours troubleshooting the alternate start mods because they control this but I had no luck so I just restored back to a game before I discovered Helgen and then started the main quest because the Innkeeper was there, I lost 2 levels and had to redo some quests but it wasnt a major problem And then I had another bug finding the first dragon stone at Bleak Falls Barrow, I had already been there and defeated the Draugr and I couldn't access the dragon stone so I just used console commands to progress the quest to finish so I could advance The point of these stories is LoreRim can create some issues but now that I have started the main quest its progressing well, I am learning dragon shouts and I have killed 2 dragons so far. Easy ones and other dragons are still too tough unless its a scripted battle like the first one outside of WhiteRun. So I need to progress in levels more before I will be able to defeat tough dragons by myself with my companions But Im glad I have started the main quest, it adds an overarching level of excitement around what I need to do and I still can do dozens of normal quests I am also deciding who I should support in the civil war but Im leaning towards the Stormcloaks. There cause seems more reasonable and I dont like the attitude of the Thalmor. Also I have made so many friends amongst the Nords who are Stormcloaks I cant imagine them becoming my enemy?

Its almost impossible to predict what China will do but I doubt they will invade Taiwan China is not a warmongering country like Russia that believes invasions create hegemony, they use there economic power to influence there geopolitical aspirations and they have been successful at this They have had massive success throughout Africa by rebuilding infrastructure and then getting substantive mineral rights concessions. You wont find Chinese mercenary units in Africa or directly involved in wars like the Russian approach to Africa. Countries dont want to be on bad side of China not because China will invade them but because of the economic consequence

But you dont have an issue with ships being attacked in international waters? You support what the Houthis are doing in the Red Sea and that terrorism had been ongoing for years No need to pretend you really outraged. You fine with this type of military activity, irrespective of the legality, if a country you like is doing it

Yes, Gothic like ES scrolls are expected to have bugs when first released This feedback about how buggy it is comes from Codex and people playing it but I never take that too seriously You much more objective and you not prone to hyperbole and drama around how stable it would be But Im interested in what you think after 10 hours because the one guy listed about 10-12 bugs around quests and he had clearly played it for a while

I heard its got massive bugs and its almost unplayable . Im sure thats an exaggeration? But I would expect some issues with a first release anyway

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article313261442.html Maduro has been given an opportunity to leave Venezuela safely, he should take it. He can go to Russia and become neighbours with Assad Its the best outcome for Venezuela and the region. It would be nice to see Venezuela start to rebuild its economy and create a sustainable future for its citizens and Im sure lots of Venezuelans will come home like we seeing in Syria

I have decided to make an important and strategic change with my companions in LoreRim, I have left Viconia at an Inn and I have recruited 2 new female companions, Katana and Remiel Both these new companions are part of LoreRim and they very extensive, they have several side-quests and hundreds of lines of dialogue Viconia is a mod I added and she is limited in things apart from the same dialogue, combat skills and some sexlab options Katana has very interesting bounty hunter quests and is a good stealth asset Remiel is hilarious, she never stops talking and always has something to say. She is a Dwemer expert and she has already made a spider construct to help in combat called Scratch I also have a dog called Meeko Whats interesting is none of these 3 new companions is unbalancing combat and they get defeated more in combat than Viconia use to by herself. This must have something to do with how these are official LoreRim mods But by recruiting them I added a much more lively and interactive gaming experience for my travels and of course more quests

I doubt its got anything to do with that conspiracy theory I would assume its mental illness created by PTSD and it slowly got worse in the USA for various reasons and these National Guard were the target and he did it in DC because its symbolic

The way and the reasoning how and why Trump implemented tariffs was always a risk It was also unprecedented even though it had some "logic " behind it Trump used the fact that the US has a trade deficit with most countries as a reason to justify these sweeping tariffs which was the first time I can recall any government implementing tariffs for that reason As you mentioned tariffs are typically about sectors or one type of goods like steel. And the reason the US has a trade deficit with most countries is because it has the strongest consumer driven economy in the world so its an organic outcome because of overall strength of the US economy. So Trump and his advisors on this decided " its not fair " and we must tariff these countries. Having a trade deficit with a country is not automatically a bad thing because you need to understand the overall reasons and sometimes its by design, for example if you import oil you would typically find you have a trade deficit as opposed to surplus with oil producing countries which would be expected And then if you going to mass tariff whole countries then you must have alternative markets for these goods of you will see price increases and inflation rising But for me the tariffs based on Trumps reasoning didnt make sense and now we seeing the negative outcome. You see he has reversed certain tariffs on goods

https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker Economist has just released its approval ratings for Trump and its not good, its because of the real and perceived failures around the economy and inflation. And as we all know these were the 2 main voting issues for most Americans who voted for Trump I have also personally noticed a general anti-Trump sentiment on places like Codex which use to be mostly supportive of him in the dedicated thread. This forum is one of the few places where people still generally respect Trump and will sometimes give him the benefit of doubt My view on him hasnt really changed, he has had hits and misses but his misses are clearly undermining any good he has done. Of course it also doesnt matter what I think because Americans will decide his future and legacy when they vote. But he really needs to reverse things like tariffs which have negatively impacted the economy and inflation and the strict migration laws are also impacting domestic productivity in several states " Once the honeymoon is over, presidents tend to lose popularity quickly. But no recent president has fallen so low so quickly as Donald Trump. At the start of his second term public opinion was nearly evenly divided between those who approved of the president and those who did not. Things have since changed—his net approval is now lower than at any point in his first term. Rather than rebounding after the end of America’s longest ever government shutdown, Mr Trump’s popularity has continued to sink. Americans are particularly dissatisfied with Mr Trump’s handling of inflation and the economy, two issues which were key to his re-election last November. Young and non-white voters, many of whom abandoned Democrats because of concerns about the cost of living, are now souring on Mr Trump faster than other groups. It was those voters who fuelled Democratic victories in governor elections in Virginia and New Jersey—an ominous sign for Republicans before next year’s midterm elections. "

Im about 80 hours into Skyrim\LoreRim and its time for some feedback as I have learnt loads about the game and the LoreRim mechanics Its still the best experience I have ever had around an open-world and sandbox RPG I have ever played. But a couple of points outside of previous posts LoreRim and Requiem basically address and fix every complaint you have ever had about Vanilla Skyrim. No more level scaling and massive overhauls of classes, skills, magic, factions and dozens of new quests and NPC I installed a mod called Levelling Freedom to increase XP gain for each level which you can change anytime to increase or decrease the amount of XP for each level, I set it on 1400 for each level. I did this so I can explore more of the world without levelling up too fast because exploration for me must be rewarding and worthwhile I have an NPC adult companion mod , Viconia from BG, which joined me from level 5 and she has helped me a lot in combat but she doesn't unbalance the combat because she often gets defeated in hard battles I haven't started the main quest yet, Im going to do that on level 40 because of how hard dragons are and Im on level 31 ATM There are some excellent quest mods added that include 4-8 hours of additional time just on each of these quests. So LoreRim is a massive Mod collection if you want to complete most of the game. Im talking about potentially hundreds of hours of gaming Because there is no level scaling I do have easy battles now that end in seconds which is by design but there are loads of very difficult enemies that can kill me quickly if I dont prepare and plan my strategy and that is normally something you do in isometric, party based games like BG, PoE or Pathfinder For example last night I ended up fighting a Vampire Mage and I only beat him on the 5th try by taking several buff potions, enhancing my weapon and using Summons to distract him. And combat challenge in ES games is important to stop the game becoming boring So its been an overall excellent experience with LoreRim. Further updates to follow

We already know how people are trained and prepared when they engage with Trump but its always weird to see it in action. This leak is from Witkoff to the Russians and what they need to say to him Two key points, its embarrassing how insincere and expected this type of engagement with Trump is but it creates results. Witkoff seems very close to the Russians but you could argue he just wants to get agreement on the latest deal and he knows how mercurial Trump can be and how you need to engage with him

But as I mentioned what surprised me was the reaction to this first " peace plan " as if it was a done deal And we have been through this before so its not unprecedented. I have stopped quoting Trump on Ukraine because of how many times he has said things and then backtracked, I got tired of being interested in something that didn't materialize (like the long range missiles ) The EU and Ukraine will always need to accept the terms and then it goes back to Russia. After those steps then we can objectively commenting on the terms

Educate me, how did Ukraine serve its purpose and who did they serve? I have followed this type of opinion before and it always has holes in logic and historical consistency and of course generally ignores the reason Ukraine is getting support from the West, Russia invaded a sovereign country that is on border of the EU and this country has direct cultural ties to several East European countries with a history of Soviet occupation. So a Russian invasion of Chechnya would not get the same interest or support for understandable reasons But go into details?