BruceVC

Im glad the Mueller report is out now, as most of you may be aware I watch lots of CNN and other international coverage of USA politics but Im tired of the constant coverage of everything Trump says or does. Its becomes almost an obsession at times, I obviously am not suggesting the likes of CNN shouldnt cover Trump but there other topics to discuss and analyze. It cant always be about Trump

If you suffer from Insomnia what do you find works best to resolve this, also do you sleep with your windows open because living outdoors this may help with fresh air? I am currently staying at my Dads place in a outer house and I am not suppose to open windows because of the risk of crime. Normally I prefer fresh air but at the moment there is a ceiling fan but I dont think its better than fresh air

At the moment Im also finding I should go to sleep at about 11:30 pm, if I go to sleep earlier I am not tired and just toss and turn. I then wake up at 5-7 am so in fact I am actually getting more sleep than my original post stated, I am getting about 5-7 hours This will change once I start working because I need to wake at 5:30 am so I should be going to sleep at 10 pm

Its a good thing when The creators aren't interested in implementing it The narrative doesn't support it in a way that isn't contrived The development of romance options would take resources away from creating other interesting role playing opportunities The development wouldn't support the creation of romances within the scope of the project in general I'm sure there are more reasons we could come up with. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a place for a well implemented and thought out romance or romances in a RPG, but that doesn't mean it has to be present in the game anymore than, say, swords or relationships with your parents. I understand your points, and perhaps my opening post was a bit sharper than it should have been, but here's my take if you don't mind a bit of a rebuttal. Romance is one of the biggest and most important aspects of the human condition. Some might call the search for love and acceptance THE single most important factor in that human condition. So completely divorcing this aspect of playing a role from a role playing game is essentially removing one of the biggest aspects of playing a character. Love, and the search for it, is one of the biggest motivators out there. Romance done well can add far more to a story than romance done poorly can detract from a story. (IMO of course.) Some of the best video games of all time have featured love as a central component, and I have a hard time listing a bunch of all-time great RPGs that completely ignored this aspect. A short list of my favorite RPGs of all time: Planescape: Torment - Has romances Witcher 3 - Has romances Jade Empire - Has romances Mass Effect Trilogy - Has romances Dragon Age: Origins - Has romances Kotor - Has romances Kotor 2 - Has romances Neverwinter Nights 2 - Has romances Dragon Quest VIII - Has romances...really, really bad ones but they are there. Star Control 2 - Has romance Final Fantasy IV - Has romance Final Fantasy VI - Has romance Final Fantasy IX - Has romance Persona 3 - Has romances Persona 4 - Has romances Fallout 1+2 - No real romances to speak of tbh. The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind - No real romances to speak of. Chrono Trigger - Has romance, but very little. I do get that romance in video games can be a challenge. I get that they can be poorly written. I get that they can be expensive and time consuming to implement. But the list of all-time great RPGs that ignores this side of the human condition is pretty damn short. This is obviously excluding games that fall more into the "action RPG" trope than actual RPGs. I like From Software's games but there's precious little roleplaying even if they are labeled as "Action RPGs" because it has stats and leveling up and stuff. I consider most of them to be all-time great games, but I don't consider them to be RPGs. Excellent points raised, I have also never understood this aversion to optional Romance in RPG, in fact I consider it a lacking design component if you create an immersive RPG but leave out Romance In RPG we can generally create customized characters, use multiple spells, create potions, craft weapons and armor, go on epic quests, interact with people, make moral choices , explore ancients lands ..the list goes on and on with features yet we...dont want Romance, why? Romance is a normal part of human interaction, emotion and defines part of our humanity so to exclude it seems counter productive to role-playing realistic characters who we like to identify with which is the essence of role-playing our own way. No Romance is the antithesis of an immersive and inclusive " RPG World "

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-reasons-why-good-sleep-is-important#section7 Im asking questions from people I know to understand how much sleep they get on an average per night , the link above lists several judicious reasons why 7-8 hours sleep is paramount to overall good health At the moment I am in transit and living in Durban as Im about to move to Cape Town in 2 weeks, I wont be working till I get to CPT. So the last 3 weeks I have been getting about 5/6.5 hours sleep per night but Im also back at gym and doing 45 minutes cardio per session and Im feeling great So how much sleep do you get or feel you need to be productive and or feel healthy?

I would prefer predictable. What we have is actually pretty stable. There is a lot of sound and fury and plenty of light from the burning dumpster to read the Washington Post telling us all how much everything sucks. But his worst impulses are blocked by the House and the Courts or his own hubris and incompetence. I'm sleeping a lot better with the House in the hands of the Democrats and the Senate in the hands of the Republicans. IMO that is the ideal split. We do best when they all neutralize each other. And i'd still rather have his judges over anything Hillary f-----g Clinton would have appointed. Things can always be worse GD, Bernie Sanders could win the Democratic nomination then the Democrats could win the next election due to exasperation at Trump.. Sanders is the " antithesis " of Trump but would be much worse for the USA (goodbye guns and weapons, first order of the day ) and its important role it needs to play in a stable, progressive world Come on, don't perpetuate the gun grab myth, even though I know you're just messing with GD here. Also, the world has gotten a bit less progressive due to the rise of illiberal democracy and the backlash from the right. And it's gotten a bit less stable in part due to that and in part due to Trumps abdication, and also because things are returning to the multi-polar Great Powers system that was the norm during the European colonial period and likely further back. You raise good points, yes I was joking about the guns but he has made unhelpful views around gun control which were more divisive than constructive, here is a good summary of some of the criticisms I have towards him. I believe he means well but just the 2.5$ yearly trillion cost of his "medicare for all " and his constant attacks on the banks are reasons I would never vote or support him. But its not personal, its purely economic and based on realistic implementation of his polices https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/politics/bernie-sanders-on-the-issues.html

I would prefer predictable. What we have is actually pretty stable. There is a lot of sound and fury and plenty of light from the burning dumpster to read the Washington Post telling us all how much everything sucks. But his worst impulses are blocked by the House and the Courts or his own hubris and incompetence. I'm sleeping a lot better with the House in the hands of the Democrats and the Senate in the hands of the Republicans. IMO that is the ideal split. We do best when they all neutralize each other. And i'd still rather have his judges over anything Hillary f-----g Clinton would have appointed. Things can always be worse GD, Bernie Sanders could win the Democratic nomination then the Democrats could win the next election due to exasperation at Trump.. Sanders is the " antithesis " of Trump but would be much worse for the USA (goodbye guns and weapons, first order of the day ) and its important role it needs to play in a stable, progressive world

Sorry to hear Malc, I know you very close to your dogs

You mean Ali (who's an anti SJW Nazi) dodged lots of punches while Trump doged his draft? Interestingly... nonsensical. Not nonsensical, more like "volosensical " But to be fair to volo he does makes good points at times and makes good calls , this is just not one of them

This made me laugh

But what difference would it make if the veto had gone through, the USA is not responsible for the conflict and all that will happen if the USA decides to not sell weapons to the Saudis is that the Russians ( or France, UK and China)will happily supply them like we have seen in Syria and the Russians aiding Assad. The conflict in Yemen is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran but is part the interminable Shia\Sunni conflict that the region is grappling with. And if someone is going to sell the Saudis weapons I would much rather have Western democracies doing it than autocratic states like Russia and China. The only people who can end the conflict is Saudi Arabia and Iran, not the USA

I just watched Black Summer and I think its the best " Zombie-Apocalypse " series I have ever seen, I got tired of Walking Dead but this news series is much more darker,brutal and frenetic

http://www.wtol.com/2019/04/16/french-billionaires-pledge-million-euros-help-rebuild-notre-dame/ Excellent news, 2 of Frances richest families have pledged over 300 million Euros to rebuild Notre Dame Its just not true that wealthy people dont give there money away to good causes

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-notredame-fire-idUSKCN1RR1UO Terrible news, I hope they can salvage this iconic and historically important building

Yes that quote is an accurate synopsis of the overall point Fareed is making and we are seeing this throughout the world, if you just take the EU and Merkels well meaning but flawed policy of taking in Syrian immigrants it has had serious consequences for the overall EU and some of its Democratic values and institutions I was wrong to initially support this generosity of the Germans but to be fair Merkels offer was 1.5 million, or so, Syrians and then suddenly millions more people from countries outside of Syria suddenly assumed they could also immigrate to the EU Add to that the EU also assumed all member states should just absorb these immigrants and there was no accurate assessment done about how the citizens in the EU really feel about this...trying to force integration led to rise of populist parties who are not all " far right " but rather recognize valid concerns like border control and then more irrational fears like the fundamental values and culture of the EU being undermined We see this in South Africa where we have porous borders and millions of undocumented people from failed African countries coming to South Africa and we simply dont have the resources to absorb them. This has now lead to some cases of violence against these foreigners and even though this is unacceptable and criminal the average South African is just asking for proper regulation of border control and our government to take responsibility for this refugee crisis Instead we get lectured and told by the failed African Union " we mustn't be Xenophobic and Afriphobic ". If the AU was actually doing its job and enforcing its own rules we wouldn't have so many failed countries in Africa or people living in poverty with no economic future . I feel sorry for these immigrants as I know why they leave there countries but that doesnt mean it should be South Africas responsibility to just take them in ..we battle to deliver services and create jobs for our own citizens. Its just not sustainable what is currently happening So now my view around immigration is " diversity and multiculturalism is fine but it must be seriously measured,controlled and realistically implemented" ...and it cannot be done at the expense of the citizens of the country people are immigrating to illegally

They don't really go into detail about it. Brief bits of people/news theorizing ancient small creatures that were trapped underground long ago and evolved bat-like existence, then released accidentally by exploratory humans. The usual. In the series they flock/attack in large swarms and are about the size of large birds of prey so danger is largely from vast numbers. Of which I'm dubious they'd have those numbers (from living in underground caves for ages) to be able to so rapidly cause a near-extinction level event or altered existence for humanity or even just the USA, as a whole. They certainly didn't look like diggers, for example. Must've been some really vast, entire planet-crust encompassing cave system the researchers stumbled onto. I watched this movie a few days ago, I enjoyed it and its definitely entertaining but yes its got some seriously illogical flaws if Im being critical....like how would they have survived for millions of years in underground caves without food? If you take the large number of them that are able to assault parts of the USA what did they eat all this time

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/democrats-need-an-antidote-to-nationalism/2019/04/11/0ba94fe2-5c95-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html?utm_term=.43731b611ce0 Good read about populist nationalism and why the left doesn't seem to know how to deal with it effectively, or offer a viable alternative, in numerous countries including the USA

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay, " forced Romance", thats the way all games should be ...day 1 purchase for me

No you're not. Yes I am, how else can I reject and criticize it if I dont know what her views are

There is no country in the world that would be comfortable with confidential Diplomatic cables being distributed to the world, this is not the way countries and diplomatic communications work. He also played an unequivocal part in undermining Hilary Clinton and ensuring the Trump victory, yes Wikileaks wasn't one of the primary reasons Trump won but it was contributing factor Assange decided he was would target the USA in an utterly selective and biased way ....he broke the law and now needs to face justice. I am glad he spent 7 years in the Ecuadorian embassy basically living in a room, as you mentioned this was similar to being in prison but a nice, internet-free, federal prison will be a better place for him so he can reflect on the harm he has caused

I might have something, but my fiance is a Lebanese woman with some very strong opinions on certain issues and we are likely on a watch list. You didn't respond to my point. Snowden could show how innocent civilians got murdered by the US military. They face no charges for that, despite breaking the law. So why should Snowden?The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime. Bruce will stan the former for eternity because behind the exterior of woke liberal he's a borderline fascist, and I'm being completely unironic. No KP you got it wrong, I am not a fascist. I believe in the rule of law and order but in times of war this sometimes becomes blurred so we need to look at each example of " violations of law " in the context of the situation and reality of the event Im interested in what you define as " strong opinions " of your finance ?

You didn't respond to my point. Snowden could show how innocent civilians got murdered by the US military. They face no charges for that, despite breaking the law. So why should Snowden? Snowden didn't reveal anything about the Iraq war or release confidential USA Diplomatic cables, that was Assange. Snowden released highly confidential information about Prism which is basically a super-computer used to ensure advanced cyber-security to protect the USA and its allies. Considering how cyber-attacks are on the increase and real this should be paramount to a country like the USA https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/06/12/heres-everything-we-know-about-prism-to-date/?utm_term=.d3e5c3eb4963 I cant respond to your point because Snowden was never in position to reveal " deaths of Iraq civilians " But I assume you asking why are allegations and or real accusations about killing of civilians in wars like Iraq and Afghanistan not addressed? They are addressed in most cases when there is a legitimate crime, see the links below. Saying all that it is not the official policy of the USA to kill civilians and sometimes there is collateral damage and mistakes happen in war https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/us/20soldiers.html https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2013-nov-16-la-na-nn-barbera-charged-soldier-20131116-story.html https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraq-2-us-soldiers-charged-with-murder/ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/03/201232222412129838.html

But why should Snowden face the law for "cyber espionage", when the US military murders countless civilian innocents, without ever having to face up to any sort of law? Snowden broke the law, but he did the morally right thing, much like Daniel Ellsberg did for example. Snowden wont face the same charges as Assange but he definitely broke the law and betrayed his country, he worked for the NSA and what he did cannot be condoned https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/06/11/in-nsa-leak-case-a-whistle-blower-or-a-criminal/edward-snowden-broke-the-law-and-should-be-prosecuted I have included a paragraph of the link around why he needs to face criminal charges " The U.S. government allowed Snowden to achieve a position of trust in an area of vital interest to national security. Anyone who has held a clearance, as I did a few decades ago, gets routinely briefed on the necessity for maintaining security. Cleared personnel are also briefed on ways to blow the whistle on illegality, unethical behavior and other wrongdoing – through company management, through the agency that grants the clearance or, if need be, by going to Congress. None of these paths involve passing sensitive materials to the press "

Absolutely, this would be another progressive development but Russia has no interest in respecting any USA extradition request so unfortunately this is unlikely to happen But Assange was always the primary instigator of constant " cyber espionage" crimes against the USA so this should send an important message that you cannot hide behind the Internet and assume you are untouchable when you break the law

How is him being arrested for skipping bail for sexual assault charges in Sweden , years later these were dropped, " breaking international law " ? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/9519767/Julian-Assanges-backers-lose-200000-bail-money.html He broke the law, not the other way around and now the USA can request extradition. This is not guaranteed he will be extradited as the law needs to be followed if there is a case for this but we can hope it does happen Also the Ecuadorian president simply doesnt want Assange in there embassy for repeated violations of his refuge conditions https://www.thedailybeast.com/assange-how-ecuador-finally-got-sick-of-wikileaks-founder-and-ended-his-refuge-at-the-embassy-in-london