BruceVC

Actually I have raised that question on Codex many times but its more directed towards Vatniks and anti-Western people who all live and benefit from the lifestyle that Western countries provide and I ask them " if you love Putins policies so much and Western countries have become degenerate why don't you immigrate to Russia. If you think Western countries have the same lack of freedom as Russia then whats stopping you? Get your migration going ?" And of course no one wants to emigrate to Russia, they just Internet ideologues. And yet anyone can emigrate to Russia if they want, Putin has said he wants like minded people to emigrate to Russia and Russia has offered to absorb white Afrikaans farmers from South Africa https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/why-russia-is-wooing-south-africas-white-farmers/2018/09/23/3308a7c4-b6a3-11e8-ae4f-2c1439c96d79_story.html But some Americans have immigrated to Russia to escape the " tyranny of LGBT rights ", this guys looks like a fantastic neighbour

The failure of Congress to agree on the latest border deal is ...a joke and just highlights culture wars disfunction and people playing politics instead of whats best for the US Biden and the Dems failed to do anything meaningful over the last 4 years and even repealed prudent Trump policies like " remain in Mexico " But the last 3 months committed people from both sides have been working on a deal that addressed many points of what the GOP wanted or asked for Trump then jumps on his theater soapbox and basically destroys the deal because sycophant MAGA Republicans do everything he rants about because of the base and they dont want to lose support So the best deal to come out of Congress in decades is torpedoed and both sides will blame each other but both sides share responsibility for the disaster the border has become The border crisis will continue because for many people in Congress they not really concerned with fixing problems in the US but rather what the optics look like for the 2024 elections

I dont know how accurate that is because US culture war garbage is spread by people in the media on both the left and right but it doesnt apply to everyone in the media. There are still people in the US media who have integrity and believe in the important role the media is supposed to play which is about reporting on events in an objective way as much as possible But what does concern me is how so many people consider Carlson to be a paradigm of truth and literally only believe what he says, they dont even trust Fox anymore and if you are Conservative thats unusual. We should try to have a wide range of sources around the media and always be prepared to question or confirm a story But its like personality politics and personality media is more important than objective reasoning

No , you dont understand Carlson cares about THE TRUTH, he is not controlled by the deep state like all other media in the US....remember how he exposed the cheating in the 2020 elections with the Dominion voting machines No one knows anything about Putins opinion on the invasion and only Carlson can bring us Putins truthful views

I like to give people the benefit of doubt and hope they do understand there own argument, what he is talking about is the normal BRICS narrative and anti-Western rhetoric and I have heard it all before on Codex and I have had several debates on this same topic but I still am interested in the questions I asked And there are several common points that always get raised around the BRICS narrative and this gets repeated in SA by BRICS activists and one of them is where people confuse GDP and GDP PPP where BRICS is ahead in GDP PPP but not GDP compared to the G7 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-comparing-the-gdp-of-brics-and-the-g7-countries/ But that debate is a distraction because both GDP measurements for BRICS or the G7 is not because of specific or unique trade deals within BRICS, its normal trade and economic activity that would exist even if BRICS didnt exist So the data is correct but not the reason for the data. Which is why I always ask the same question " what is the real economic benefit for being part of BRICS" , what is the BRICS equivalence to the EU single market or AGOA for Africa? Because then you can say " these are the specific economic benefits to join BRICS " but if there arent any substantive benefits then it will continue to be a talk-shop

Oh I know all about BRICS, I live in a BRICS country What are the specific economic benefits for being part of BRICS? What trade deals does BRICS provide that only BRICS members get access to ? You can trade with any BRICS country and it doesnt matter if you part of BRICS or not part of BRICS because normal WTO trade rules is used For example AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act ) is a specific trade deal between certain African countries and the US but it has real trade benefits that help African countries because they get reduced tariffs to sell there exported goods in the US https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/trade-development/preference-programs/african-growth-and-opportunity-act-agoa What are similar economic benefits for joining BRICS, I am not looking for broad generalisations or rhetoric like " The result is a growing multipolar global economy, with lots of bilateral trade and economic blocs outside the influence of the U.S." What does that even mean , any country can trade with any country in the world . The US doesnt control that but whats more relevant to this debate is I am looking for specific trade deals like AGOA that apply to BRICS members. You can find me any unique benefit that applies to BRICS members and I will read them For BRICS to become a meaningful and beneficial economic union it has to have some sort of common institutions like a Central Bank which controls monetary policy for BRICS like the EU and the ECB, BRICS doesnt have a shared currency and it has countries that have very different types of governments so the legality of economic policies cant be enforced within BRICS like how the EU successfully functions around internal EU trade on things like tariffs for EU members But the point is just post some links about what specific economic agreements you get from joining BRICS and these are benefits that if you not a BRICS member you cant get

36 hours in to Deadfire and its still lots of fun My party is level 12 and I use the skull quest rating system to decide if Im ready for a quest and its generally accurate. I decided to do the Bekarna's Folly after robbing from Arkemyr And I ended up having one of the hardest and most exciting battles with the foul and arrogant lich Concelhaut, he slaughtered me the first 2 times but then I changed my strategy. I kept my party at the bottom of the stairs as you enter the roof of the observatory but sent Eder in solo mode to draw aggression and run away back to the rest of my companions That worked and I was able to separate Concelhaut allies and defeat them all in 2 separate battles , it was still really hard but I was victorious I love the strategic nature of these types of hard battles in party based isometric RPG. I enjoy how literally each turn matters and how you assign combat tasks to your party and then you wait to see the results

Chicken livers on pizza is delicious, you can also make it hot with chilli's and red peppers and peppadews, Im not sure if you get peppadews in Austria? They an SA export but really popular https://www.peppadew.com/products/

I have started making my own pizzas, I dont make the dough but I buy a fresh good quality supermarket pizza that you cook for 20 minutes with standard Margherita base or 1-2 other ingredients but then I add other toppings This allows me to be more creative and experimental This weekend I cooked fresh chicken livers and added that with onions and banana. Then I always add extra cheese and this really enhances the taste because I have used mature cheddar, gruyere, blue cheese or goat cheese but it always differs. So the pizza will always have Mozzarella and one other type of cheese

You mean like BRICS, I have heard about it? Its all about creating a more equitable and fairer world and giving the Global South a seat at the table. And its deeply influenced by China and Russia and these are examples of countries that have always cared about global inequality, because they not Western countries, so it has to succeed and then the likes of Saudi Arabia should also be joining BRICS. Another fine example of country where human rights and a multipolar world matters

No its not that bad as the Newsweek article suggests, this is an updated article 1 week after the Newsweek one https://www.politico.eu/article/commission-declares-victory-in-million-artillery-round-mission/#:~:text=The EU executive's de facto,has hit the magic number "The EU executive's de facto defense commissioner, Thierry Breton, pledged last year to get a million rounds of ammunition ready for supply to Ukraine by the close of March 2024, and while actual deliveries to Kyiv are way below that figure, he now says that manufacturing capacity has hit the magic number. "We are already at this level today, in other words — we are two months ahead of schedule in our capacity to produce more ammunition in Europe, of course for Ukraine but also for our own security," Breton said Wednesday on the sidelines of a defense ministers' meeting in Brussels.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/experts-react/experts-react-three-us-servicemembers-were-killed-in-jordan-will-the-us-strike-back-at-iran/ We know about the US response to this yesterday but Im not sure if everyone is aware that US interests in the ME have faced over 150 attacks since 7 October by Iranian proxies Now the justification for this seems to be "but look at what Israel is doing in Gaza" and I find that hand waving unconvincing. Israel is not the US and Iran is not the Palestinians or Hamas Iran is continuously provoking the US and escalating tensions with the US and we shouldnt be surprised how the US responds

Im 20 hours into PoE2 and still loving it I appreciate the whole design of finding islands and exploring them, its a good way to motivate exploration especially if you need supplies on a long ship voyage I also decided to implement Level Scaling but only upwards, this was strongly recommended from people on Codex who pointed out combat becomes too easy if you dont do this and the level scaling is only by 4 levels so you wont find a level 10 rat, if the rat is level 2 it will only scale upwards to 6, which is silly and unrealistic Anyway it has made me much more strategic in battles. I was using the AI most of the time for my companions and now Im micromanaging more Im also really enjoying the broader narrative and interacting with the gods and understanding what are Eothas motives, I can see myself having to make huge and difficult decisions later on similar to the end of PoE1 but this time I understand more about the lore and history of the game world so my final decision about who I support should be better informed Im pursuing Romance with Xoti, Im helping her with her soul burden journey and I love her cute Southern accent

Its hard to read intent but you dont seem happy? Ukraine needs funding to continue its defense against the Russian invasion and this aid is a huge part of a successful Ukrainian military strategy This is good news and well done to the EU, here is an updated link about this https://www.dw.com/en/eu-leaders-reach-deal-on-50-billion-ukraine-aid-package/live-68140069#:~:text=Just one hour into the,in Brussels in mid-December.

@Malcador Dont you remember what we all thought before the invasion of Ukraine? "Of course Putin wont invade Ukraine, no chance of that. Stupid Western intelligence, they always lie ...remember WMD in Iraq " ...and look what happened We cant assume anything when it comes to Putins warmongering and nationalism

Good post Gromnir and very good insights on this matter , especially this part " so ask self if the current kerfuffle were genuine analogous but it involved the malfeasance o' uk diplomats, cia agents, catholic priests or some other group you is justifiable suspicious 'bout. would you be defending all the innocent cia agents who the cia did not immediate fire when the story went public? would you be defending the larger organization who fired the folks caught doing something wrong? " Lets try not to defend and handwave this incident. Its a problem what happened and we should unequivocally condemn it like we do with all other similar things when the CIA is involved or UK diplomats

Yes but net profit is part of sales, you cant have any profit without sales And once a game is completed gross profit and net profit will be a big part of the overall revenue because operating costs and cost of sales arent much especially with digital downloads Thats why revenue is always at the top a standard P&L statement and then you deduct expenses and tax to end up with Net Profit

Correct and sales figures matter. They literally are the most important factor in the sustainability of any gaming franchise or development studio. Nothing matters overall as much as sales figures, marketing and reviews is only part of a products success

Monty Im surprised you of all people is commenting on something you havent experienced? You know how this works, objective criticism is fine but need to play a game before you can criticize it Its like a restaurant, would you take seriously a review of it from someone who has never been there before?

I cant explain enough how much Im loving PoE2, its almost like Obsidian listened to my criticisms with PoE1 and addressed them. Im only 9 hours in but already I can appreciate the differences There lots of small things I love which I consider an improvement for my gaming preferences and they include you can select a different class if you want for companions when they join which is a small but significant change. I decided to be a Cipher for my main class so I made Serafen a Barbarian and he is one of my tanks I prefer how the Heath mechanics work It looks like you have Romance, finally !!! I love Xoti and her cute Southern accent I like the whole idea of a ship and island exploration design, I have always liked Pirate RPG And then I did load the first 2 mods and Enhanced User Interface is a huge feature because now I can easily access lore and mechanics and I have much better understanding of these things I really enjoyed PoE1 but I completed it without a good understanding or remembering all the lore and how ruleset mechanics work together, now that uncertainty is easy to reference One of the best things about PoE2 is its apparently longer than PoE1 and Im planning on doing as many side quests as possible so I get a full experience with this game

Yes and the agency is not going to be shutdown because of this, they suspending people and doing an investigation. But its work must continue but the UN needs to ensure it has the right focus

No people who work for any UN agency work for the UN, they supposed to be apolitical as far as relief is concerned. They dont take sides, have you ever of famine relief where UN only gives food to who they like? And they definitely not supposed to get involved in helping support terrorist attacks Did you read the link I posted? These are the main points The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Israeli authorities provided the agency “with information” alleging several of its employees participated in Hamas’ murderous rampage into southern Israel, when the militant group killed at least 1,200 people and abducted more than 250 others. "These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the Agency has been providing since the war began,” said Lazzarini. “Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world”.

I appreciate the post but this debate for me wasnt about who is right or wrong when it comes to our personal views The ICJ ruling for me is about a more important broader global narrative around things like the rules based order and how institutions like the ICC and ICJ have to rule on evidence presented and not on ideological or political bias or influence. And I do believe they do that in most cases So to summarize my view on this outcome this is a win for everyone because it demonstrates the independence of the ICJ and how it functions All I want to see from countries and people is consistency on opinions when it comes to outcomes from the ICC or ICJ And then countries must abide by these rulings if they say they support the likes of the ICJ and unfortunately for me South Africa has not been consistent But thats a seperate debate, I dont want to undermine or hijack this correct outcome from the ICJ

It doesnt concern you that several people within UNRWA could be involved in the 7 October attacks and apparently its a lot more than a few? There is an ongoing UN investigation and these people have been suspended The UNRWA is supposed to be a relief organization, its members shouldn't be helping a terrorist organisation plan attacks on Israel Maybe we should wait for the investigation from the UN before we pronounce on who is "evil " https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/26/middleeast/unrwa-fires-staff-members-october-7-attacks-intl/index.html

I just completed PoE White March 2 and like WM1 it was very entertaining, I prefered 2 to 1 overall. It also only took me 20 hours or so That means I have completed PoE1 in its entirety and I can share my views on the game. Some of this I have already mentioned in a previous post. The most significant positive about this game is Obsidian has been able to create a new fantasy RPG world and different mechanics around ruleset than most of us are use to compared to traditional D&D, I appreciated it but it took some getting use to. So for example any class can basically use any armour or weapon. The combat is a massive and main part of the game and I enjoyed it once you understand how abilities work, I didnt really like how you limited around healing in the normal sense and the whole health vs endurance mechanic was not preferable for me compared to normal D&D similar mechanics. But its not a big deal My favorite battles were with the Eyeless, I liked paralyzing them or using my Cipher and Stasis Shell to isolate them in combat and I really had fun with the strategic nature of hard battles Crafting was rewarding and made sense, there was nothing better than finding a high level ingredient like a Dragons Eye and knowing you can gain a major combat upgrade.I also liked how you can find important items to help in combat and increase stats and they not common so you really appreciate finding them The main narrative was one of the best parts of the game and I found it very thought provoking. I enjoyed most of the lore but I also found myself forgetting things like who a specific deity was, thank goodness for the encyclopedia ...it became my friend on a regular basis I can understand this game is an acquired taste, its not for all fans of fantasy RPG and the combat can sometimes feel draining, I dont like enemies appearing out of nowhere but its not all the time. I used pause and slowed the speed which allowed me to micromanage my party which I enjoyed. My main character was a priest and the game offered some interesting classes like Cipher which is lots of fun So in closing, great game and its gets a 75/100 on the globally endorsed "BruceVC game rating system " Now I plan to play PoE2 after a short break from this type of genre, how is PoE2? What is the consensus, better than PoE1?