BruceVC

These types of comments dont help with good relations even if they valid. Its the same as Saudi Arabia and public criticism Biden must practice more quiet diplomacy

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/blinken-wrap-up-rare-visit-china-may-meet-xi-jinping-2023-06-18/ The US and China had an important meeting to improve relations. This matters to the stability of the overall global economy and also as Russia continues to be isolated from Western economies Its interesting how the Chinese respect the US and wanted to create the right impression for Blinken, to quote " Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed "progress" after shaking hands with Blinken at the Great Hall of the People, a grand venue usually reserved for greeting heads of state "

But this is about the reconstruction costs once the war is over, not military aid? And its exactly what I expect. It will be a combination of loans and private sector investment

https://www.gamingbible.com/news/starfield-map-could-be-biggest-thing-ever-seen-863802-20230612 I wonder? Here is some further information about the map and planet exploration The planets will be procedurally generated and then there will be specific activities and encounters

https://www.gamingbible.com/news/starfield-new-atlantis-biggest-city-bethesda-ever-made-821858-20230612 The main city in Starfield, Atlantis, is the biggest city Bethesda ever created With the 1000 planets and cities like this Starfield is going to be a Modders paradise

But what if he made a podcast saying ShadySands is the cleverest and most handsome person in the US, would you watch it then?

Its an interesting question about the Versailles Treaty , lets say the Ruskies agree to terms. Its simpler than WW1 because all they have to do it leave Ukraine, stop the active invasion and end the annexation of the 4 x Donbas regions. But Crimea can stay Russian, that would be my compromise from Ukraine Because Russia is not going to lose like Germany did, no one is going to invade Russia, so the peace agreements should be simpler

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/art...point-african-plan-to-end-russia-ukraine-war/ Here is the African leaders 10 point peace plan, in summary Both leaders must listen to one another; The war must be settled through negotiations and diplomatic means; There must be a de-escalation of conflict on both sides; The sovereignty of countries in terms of the UN Charter and internationally recognised principles should be recognised; There needs to be a guarantee of security for all the countries involved. This issue has been raised by all sides; The movement of grains across the Black Sea must be opened up to remove blockages so that commodities can reach markets; Humanitarian efforts must be set up for those affected by the war; Prisoners of war must be released and children returned to Ukraine; There must be reconstruction of the destruction caused by the war; and Further engagements should be held to encourage more dialogue through the Africa Peace Mission. It has some good and reasonable ideas but I cant see Putin agreeing to it because his political and ideological future is aligned to this war. If Putin drops dead tomorrow Russia will continue but the war needs some sort of victory for Putin's nationalistic aspirations to be sustainable But he wont agree to the following without a semblance of military progress which the Ruskies haven't achieved yet The sovereignty of countries in terms of the UN Charter and internationally recognised principles should be recognised; Prisoners of war must be released and children returned to Ukraine There must be reconstruction of the destruction caused by the war

Im about 20 hours into DFU ( there doesnt seem to be a way to track RL game time ) and Im still loving it I have taken a certain approach to the game which includes join as many factions as possible and do all the quests I can until I get bored then I will focus more on the main quest. ( but I did initiate the Lady Brisienna main quest ) I have explored and completed 2 dungeons so far and both were for faction quests, Im getting better at understanding dungeon design and I am using the map effectively to find secret doors and other things Im a Dark Elf Battlemage which is a nice mix of magic and combat and I have just reached level 3. I really enjoy creating spells, DFU extends magic services at guilds and makes it worthwhile I also appreciate the constant lack of gold I have, I still havent bought a horse or cart as I decided to invest early on in spells and weapons for effective dungeon exploration. My spells list includes cure poison, diseases and paralyzation light open door levitation recall various combat spells But I will be buying a horse and cart as my next major shopping list items. DFU is a really complex and absolutely entertaining game and the DREAM graphic updates really enhance the visual and aesthetic experience. Here are some screenshots and consider the original jagged graphics and how this game was released in 1996 ( I quickly used my phone so excuse the yellow light at the top , thats not normally visible )

I agree and the general consensus in SA is the security people didnt submit or register the proper paperwork for all those weapons So I dont blame the Polish response because our credibility is also in question after the Russian ship incident which has been classified As I said several times, when its comes to many of our foreign affairs decisions we are our own worst enemy

That makes sense, the longer podcasts I have watched is only during load shedding because my fiber works and so does my phone and laptop (load shedding is normally 2 hour windows 2-3 times\day) But I dont generally watch any podcast longer than 20 minutes in RL, I prefer to spend my free time socializing, doing leisure activities or gaming

True, in any Democracy people tend to blame the elected government for domestic problems. Even if they not responsible

I was watching some polling data on Smerconish for the 2024 US elections and 65% of people polled think Biden winning would be an absolute disaster for the US and 56% think the same about Trump Has there ever been a US election with the current candidates being so unpopular? Personally Im disappointed that the Dems cant come up with an alternative to Biden but thats mostly because of his age, I dont think he has done such a bad job considering global factors like the virus and the war in Ukraine that has influenced certain realities, like inflation, in the US. I would definitely prefer Biden again to Trump

ad "Mein Kampf". I doubt I would like it, even if I haven't read it Gorthfuscious you being naughty this weekend but you right, there are book I wouldnt read and dont need to but I will criticize the content But I am talking about generally

I agree with your sentiment that you cant criticize or handwave something like a book or a podcast if you havent bothered to watch it or read it. Thats obvious but the reality is its also unreasonable to expect people to watch a 3 hour podcast. So what I try to do is only post 20 minute videos\podcasts or summarize where in the clip people should watch. What I would suggest is make bullet points of the key takeaways from a 3 hour podcast from Rogan because I find he makes interesting points and like Jordan Peterson I agree with some of the things he says and disagree with others But also this forum is mostly liberals\Dems and even if Rogan says something valid its unlikely most people will acknowledge it which is a reality of current US culture wars where both sides refuse to concede the other side is correct even when they are And Im not being rude, its just an honest observation

I watched most of the Q&A with the African leaders and Zelensky and I thought they did a good job at explaining what the peace mission is about considering the circumstances They came across as very empathetic to what is happening in Ukraine but I dont think this mission is going to achieve much but its well meaning with good intentions and at least Africa is trying because this war has a direct economic impact to several African countries

Our president has been to Kiev now and they went to Bucha to see the massacre of civilians And then he is off to St Pietersburg to see Putin, so he wasnt really delayed in Poland. But the SA journalists are still stuck on the plane and they really upset. I feel sorry for them but they getting Burger King for free so its not all bad

I was just listening to something on the local SA media about this, people are saying Poland grounded the plane because they worried it may have weapons and military equipment bound for Russia like the allegations of the Russian ship I find it hard to believe anyone would seriously think that the plane carrying our president would also be smuggling weapons to Russia It sounds ridiculous considering the furore the ship incident caused

I am surprised they did this the Ruskies...so much for BRICS friendship

US vs SA president Very similar around travel security, you right But its expected to have a small security team if you the SA president. He didnt need dozens of people and apparently there were over 100 people on the plane counting the SA media

I am watching several very entertaining series that include 1883: this is the precursor to Yellowstone and its about the dangerous journey the Dutton family took to eventually end up in Montana. Its excellent and is one of the best Western series I have ever seen Weeds: I never watched this series and Im on season 2, its hilarious and very easy to watch and enjoy Better Call Saul : Its not bad, I am battling to really get into it but I heard it gets better Tulsa King : Its a crime drama with Sylvester Stallone as a mobster who just got released after 25 years in jail and starts creating a new crime empire in Tulsa , its got potential and so far so good Blue Bloods S13: Police drama set in NY and its brilliant as usual Your Honor S2: An excellent crime drama set in New Orleans about the mob and a judges fall from grace. Its brilliant and highly recommended

Okay exciting update, our president has arrived in Ukraine !!!! Only SA journalists and most of his security personnel are detained in Poland. But our media is so uniformed about the war. They asking " but is he going to be safe in Kiev without his 100+ security " They clearly dont understand the nature of the war because no amount of onground security personnel is going to stop a Ruskie missile...the SA media probably thinks there are ongoing battles within Kiev like Bakhmut ?

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/developing-dispatches-from-ukraine-news24-joins-ramaphosa-peace-delegation-on-the-ground-20230615#:~:text=WARSAW The SA plane carrying our president and lots of security staff and journalists is stuck at Warsaw airport for some sort of legal\arms infringement. This is part of the peace mission to go to Ukraine and Russia....its off to a great start

I have some exciting news , I am playing Daggerfall Unity for the first time properly (I tried it 18 months ago but I didnt do proper DFU or mod research and I stopped after 8 hours or so) This time I was motivated by the numerous discussions on Codex about DFU and I spent about 12 hours watching DFU mod videos and reading up on mods on DF workshop forums. I am using DREAM with all the relevant presets and I have about 100 mods installed and so far, 6 hours in, Im having a great time and all my mods are working as expected. I am using Vortex mod manager and I did have to confirm files were moved into the correct locations but that wasnt for all my mods I watched videos like this around suggested mods And then the mod community is incredibly helpful and people go so far as to create this link with is an excel spreadsheet with different mod builds that are suggested and what may conflict with what mod (use tabs at the bottom to see the different builds suggested ) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...ToVGliR7oesLEaSlWrT23JS3I/edit#gid=1397230399

As long as you and @Gorthdont forget one of the worlds most irrefutable axioms " better dead than Red" Remember we lived through the Cold War and those lessons of the historical failures of both Communism and authoritarian systems often get forgotten or ignored by the younger generation I guarantee you if you ask the younger members on this forum like @sarex, @Bartimaeus or KP what was the Cold War they will say " thats the war on climate change ..right "