Keyrock

I don't know if I've done it here, but I've criticized Biden for refusing to debate the other democratic candidates. I will similarly criticize Trump for refusing to debate the other republican candidates. That said, from a purely strategic standpoint, Trump can afford to not debate because his lead is so overwhelming. As @PK htiw klaw eriFpointed out, barring a felony conviction disqualifying him from running, Trump is almost certainly winning the nomination, and comfortably so. This may turn into an audition for VP and thus a contest of who can defend Trump the best. it's being hosted by Fox News so they're probably going to get tossed a bunch of softballs rather than get asked hard questions about important policies, but that's how these things often go.

Ron DeSantis is the governor of Florida. Tim Scott is a senator from South Carolina. Nikki Haley is a former UN ambassador. Vivek Ramaswamy is an enterpreneur, no political experience AFAIK. Mike Pence is a former vice president. Chris Christie is a former governor of New Jersey. Doug Burgum is the governor of North Dakota. Asa Hutchinson is a former governor of Arkansas.

For anyone interested, the first republican primary debate is being held tonight in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 9 pm eastern 6 pm pacific. On TV it will be on Fox News and on the streaming side it will be on Rumble's RNC channel. Here's the expected list of participants: Ron DeSantis Tim Scott Nikki Haley Vivek Ramaswamy Mike Pence Chris Christie Doug Burgum Asa Hutchinson. Conspicuous by his absence from that list is former president Donal Trump, the frontrunner for the republican nomination. He will instead be counter-progamming the debate with an interview with Tucker Carlson on Twitter X, because of course he will be. Do with that information what you will.

I've been operating on the assumption that I'll be making a new V to play Phantom Liberty the whole time. Hopefully it's still possible to continue with an existing V for people that want to do that, but I'm wiping the slate clean.

I defeated Legion, an optional boss in Remnant 2. It was a really good boss fight, very well designed. I've been impressed with the boss fights in this game, they all feel very different and many of them have interesting mechanics, that goes for the special enemies, champions, if you will, too. Some lesser and/or lazier devs just go the route of making bosses colossal bullet sponges; the lazy way of making a boss fight feel like a monumental task is just to give them a metric ****ton of HP. Not here. Bosses (and some special enemies) are challenging because they have a gimmick (sometimes more than one). I won't spoil anything, but on my first 3 attempts fighting Legion I got OBLITERATED. i don't think I ever got Legion down to even half health. On my 4th attempt I figured out the gimmick and beat Legion on the next attempt after that. It was no cake walk even when I understood what I had to do, but it was no longer the seemingly insurmountable challenge. Gunfire Games know what they're doing, this is an expertly crafted game.

@Gfted1Mildly is the operative word here. A really pronounced cross-eye is distracting, but a subtle cross-eye is attractive to me. Small imperfections, well, some of them, are where I find beauty. When I see someone who has caked on a ton of makeup to cover up any and all blemishes, or a heavily airbrushed picture, or a computer generated face where it's "perfect", no blemishes, everything is completely symmetrical and/or well proportioned, I find that unnerving a bit. It just feels... Wrong, for lack of a better word. I guess I'm just weird like that. This is going to date me, but when Jennifer Grey got a nose job she became (probably) more "traditionally attractive", but I found her more attractive with her old "ugly" nose.

Military Industrial Complex - Ruining the real world and video game worlds alike

If my boy Zhu Bajie makes an appearance this will be GotY whatever year it comes out. Playable Zhu Bajie with the rake = Game of the Millenium.

I find mildly cross-eyed to be an attractive feature on a woman. That's probably not interesting, it might be weird, but it's most definitely random.

I have no problem with the pay extra to play the game <insert number> days early scheme. If people want to pay more money to beta test the game for the rest of us, more power to them. Where I would have a problem with it is with competitive multiplayer games, because getting in early to get a handle on the meta as soon as possible is important for those games. I generally don't play competitive multiplayer games much and when I do it's at a level where getting a 4 day headstart on the meta doesn't mean anything. And now for something completely different:

If it's the case that they have pilots that flew MiGs before then I would presume that would significantly reduce the necessary training to fly a F-16.

Does Ukraine have fighter pilots? I'm no expert but I'm operating on the assumption that flying a modern fighter jet is not a trivial matter. I imagine that it takes months to train someone how to fly a fighter jet. You can cut that time down some if the person you are training has flown some kind of fighter jet before.

First fake sugar then fake meat and now counterfeit cheese curds. Is this what the world has come to?

Patch 1.1.0 released today. What makes this patch notable is that it includes the first batch of modding tools.

5 years ago today Valve released Proton, their compatibility layer based on WINE for running Windows games on Linux, forever changing the gaming landscape for weirdos like me that run the operating system with the penguin mascot.

What I've noticed about the worlds in Remnant 2 is that the procedurally generated worlds seem less procedurally generated than anticipated. As I'm running through a second version of Yaesha in adventure mode, a lot of the maps feel familiar. There are some areas I never visited before that I can now go through in adventure mode, but the areas I have already been through look very similar. There are some changes in the layout of the levels , but otherwise the levels seem nearly identical.

@Gfted1Fake news.

Skin condition it is, thanks.

Is that war paint or a really horrible skin condition?

Wisconsin came up in a different thread recently and, by coincidence, a Culver's just opened 5 minutes from where I live. I don't know if it's the first Culver's in Cackalacky or not, but I don't recall seeing another one here and I drive all over the state for a living. This is my first visit to a Culver's in several years, since the days I used to drive up to Wisconsin somewhat regularly. Anyway, I got a deluxe double and cheese curds. It's definitely an above average fast food burger, but the cheese curds are the real draw. We should have a fast food exchange. Since there are now Culver's down here, they should bring Cook Out or Bojangles up to the frozen north. While we're at it, bring Tim Horton's down here.

The PvP looks hectic. If they have a halfway decent spectator mode this could have a shot to make it as an eSport.

I used to drive to Wisconsin fairly regularly when I drove over the road. It is a fairly flat state. Lake Michigan is lovely, though. Also, cheese curds are awesome. We're not immune to wild fires where I live, we had a fairly sizeable one 3 or 4 years ago, but it's pretty rare because of the humidity. The flip side of that is that said humidity makes July and August oppressive. I'm with you on the speed of life. I used to live in Connecticut and everything up there was go go go and everybody is crammed together and stressed out. It's not quite as laid back here in Cackalacky as it is in the midwest, but it's waaaaaaaay more laid back than Connecticut, that's for damn sure. Much lower cost of living too.

Benefit of living fairly close to the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, there's no shortage of awesome hiking trails here.

Eagle Rock Shorter hike than I anticipated. It felt like cheating. You shouldn't get a view this lovely for such a short hike. https://imgur.com/a/2xdzyoq