Gorth

….scribbling down notes on a napkin

Unless I become a convicted terrorist, I’m sure my citizenship(s) will stay just fine More than could be said about my old workplace There are plenty of jobs in Melbourne but I don’t want to live there (yes, I’m picky like that). I’ll spend a year or two in Europe while keeping an eye on QLD, seeing if something doesn’t pop up some day. Not the first time I move to Europe because of work (stayed there two years last time)

In the process of moving to Europe... almost finished packing things down for the removal guys. I lost 5kg the last week and a half I blame the stairs. Sooo much running up and down stairs all day long with your hands full, trying to fit your belongings into removal boxes.

I wouldn't call close to half a million people fleeing the HTS for "popular support". It looks like a replay of Taliban taking over Afghanistan with all their promises of respecting human rights, education for women etc. (HTS is nor more no less a terrorist group than Taliban is) Edit: Expect Syria being in some kind of civil war the next 20 years with Turks fighting Kurds, HTS fighting moderate rebels in the south, where they aren't supported in the same way by Turkey, everyone kiling Alawites (just for old times sake) etc.

Looks like the Syrian population doesn't have quite the same faith in CNN interviews than some do... https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7kk30rdjpo (skipping parts where Syrian army representatives tries to pull an Iraqi information minister stunt about there being no rebel troops here) "More than 800 people are estimated to have been killed in the fighting, according to the SOHR. According to the UN, at least 370,000 people have been displaced so far - with many, including Alawites, fleeing the rebels' approach. The UN said the fighting was also "worsening an already horrific situation for civilians in the north of the country" From a different BBC article, that 800 number included 111 civilians, the majority being combatants. And not to diminish the value of human lives, 800 deaths is not a lot compared to first time around. To me it indicates more running than fighting? Edit: I would not be surprised if civilian casualties starts spiking after HTS has taken full control. Lots of old scores to settle. Alawites to exterminate, Kurds to genocide out of existence (on behest of their Turkish overlords and backers), any which person first gets called "a witch!" by their neighbour to settle old scores etc... Could it spill over onto Iraq too? I'm sure the Yazidis would not be excited at the prospect.

After being put on display in the last episode, the three kids ends up in the school nurses office, presumably to check if they are being bullied or similar traumatic experiences. Queen Sensei (the "nurse" with the whip) makes for a striking figure (left out the scene where she starts whipping a guy and tells the kids entertain themselves) Airas friends stops by and drags her back to class, where they all get themselves worked into a frenzy, helped by the false rumours Aira spread earlier. She decides to "come clean" and stop the torch and pitchfork mob in its tracks. Sadly I couldn't find a video clip of Aira banging her head against the bench, as it was quite funny Momo and Okarun gets a heart to heart talk, about how he ended up pinning Aira to the ground the moment Momo stopped by. It ends in a bit of awkwardness Momos friends similarly arrives, meeting up with Momo and Okarun. They put on a little "detective" show, illustrating what they think is happening. Fun little sequence with 60's style effects They almost correctly arrive at the conclusion it's a love triangle with two girls fighting over a boy. Only way to explain how all three ended up in the hallway in various stages of nudity This would also explain (to her friends), why Momo seemed to study the mantis shrimp so intensively in the class room Similarly Momo and Aira have a brief conversation, where Aira confesses to not hanging Momo out as the source of evil in school. This is also around the point where the gig worker shows up again (the poor mantis guy with hard punches from previous episode) He looks weird and is covered in a white liquid running off him (more about that in a moment)... We get a bit of backstory. Gig worker is a [$@$@] from [$@$@], who needs currency really badly. His wife died from a disease, which his son has inherited and requires him to constantly taking ****ty jobs as bodyguard etc. to pay for his treatment They try to explain to Seiko that gig worker is an alien, but she'll hear none of it, he's just a "Kappa" The disease is a kind of hemophilia, causing them to bleed to death. The kids take pity on the gig worker, taking him home to Seiko (Momo's grandmother) and patching him up (the white liquid was his blood). Seiko makes sushi for all, with a typical Ayase household dinner to follow Seiko identifies the blood of gig worker as being similar to cows milk. Hence, he may not need to work himself to death to provide for his son home on [$@,$@] Gig worker is overjoyed and we get a scene where an UFO (or UAP if you ask Okarun) beams up a cow and flies away, promising something along the lines of eternal friendship A funny scene involving the three kids, Seiko and money for new school uniforms, followed by the doorbell, where a young man shows up, Jiji... turns out to be Momo's childhood friend and first love (leaving Okarun flustered)

Since this game is not exactly new anymore, I would recommend dropping support an email on https://support.obsidian.net/ You are more likely to get a response there

Watched Dandadan episode 10... never mind what the offical title is, I kept thinking about old "Got Milk?" advertising (a few screenshots and captions to follow later)

Interesting to see where this one goes (the war)... Israel and Turkey has both ganged up on Syria by the looks of it. IDF killing Iranian backed militia leaders and infrastructure, Turkey backing the HTS, because a Taliban style government in Baghdad gives an old Islamist like Erdogan wet dreams, hence the Turkish army providing safe places and logistical support for HTS. I wouldn't be surprised if some western leaders also were cheering for HTS, despite being acknowledge and classified as a terrorist organization... The Syrian people seems to be less enthusiastic though, and the opposition to Assad... the Syrian people are "secular" by Middle Eastern standards and Assad seems to be the lesser of two evils (according to the BBC) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgpdpgz4kdo "It is too soon to write the Assad regime off. It has a core of genuine support. Some Syrians see it as the least bad option – better than the jihadists who came to dominate the rebellion. But if other anti-Assad groups – and there are many – rise up, his regime will once again be in mortal danger." I don't see the Kurdish forces allying themselves with Erdogans goons either, leaving out probably the second strongest faction (after the regular Turkish army currently camped inside Syrias borders, because internationally recognized borders only counts when its convenient for the powers that be, otherwise to be ignored) I wonder how the Israeli people are feeling about helping an Islamist terror group to power in Syria?

Split off from the Ukrainian "special military operation" thread....

Split off a number of posts into a new Syria related thread. An interesting exercise which may not have succeeded 100% because of the way the conversations were intermingled

I did do a quick google search on the types of crimes. The "gotcha" seems to be its limited to Federal Crimes. I.e. if he is sentenced for violating state laws, his pardons wont work Meybe he'll end up with local jail time some day...

Even if the crime is committed in the past, can the president pardon it if a sentence hasn't been passed yet? I.e. not "officially" a crime yet?

Yeah... some people were apprehensive at the prospect of facing Russia after Syria but before Ukraine. Sometimes the image in your head is more intimidating than reality once it gets put to the test. Besides Syria, Russian military units are also active all over central and western Africa. Maybe there is a Molotov-Ribbentrop pact equivalent for partitioning Africa? edit: between Russia and China that is

Man, that 10/11 obstacle when you have to move upwards again!

I've always been fascinated by old languages. Whether Basque, Celtic, Cobol, Old Norse etc.

I couldn't say, because I don't know enough about the forces trying to root out the entrenched part. But I suspect both decided the risk of loss of life of own troops outweighed any consideration for collateral civilian casualties (in both cases) edit: i.e. for me, there is no difference between Hamas in Gaza and HTS in in Aleppo, nor is there any noticeable difference between the approach of the Syrian and Israeli government when it comes to dislodging them

Are you saying terrorist groups entrenching themselves in urban areas, deliberately hiding amongst civilians bear no responsibility for the consequences? Genuinely curious, because most people claim the opposite...

I'm sure the people of Aleppo will be much happier under their new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Al Qaida and Isis) overlords After all, Afghanistan is such an exemplary society edit: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce313jn453zo

Talk about validation... quoting yourself So, where to start? Like most episodes, no write up of what's happening does justice to it. Best recommendation is, watch it for yourself! Last episode left off with the aliens (Serpoians) ripping off Okaruns clothes and bringing out the bit snipper to harvest his banana organs... Aira came to the rescue, showing her newfound abilities granted to her when Silky's Aura got transferred to her. The got a light beating and let go of Okarun. The main theme of this episode: Yes, Okarun spends the entire episode from start to end, literally butt naked (this also led me to leave out most of the screenshots I made watching it, because I was too lazy to censor all of them) The aliens strike back and use their psychosomething powers to create a field, that nullifies both Okaruns and Airas powers of transformation (using Turbo Grannys and Silkys powers respectively). They call this particular containment field for: Suddenly Momo appears, she has a the power of disabling the Aliens special powers... as long as she stays focused that is Much hilarity ensues when first Aira uses Okaruns real name (which rattles Momo) and later Okarun uses a well known quote from Ken Takamura, both times causing her to lose her concentration and the aliens get back in control. That Mantis guy from last episode is back. At first Aira and Okarun together beats him up, but the aliens force feed the poor gig worker an energy drink ("Regain"), which seems to have been a popular thing in the past in Japan (a lot of local cultural references, which I had to look up, seeing what the energy drink and the ads for it was all about) And the hired labour sets about kicking some butt, not just Okaruns exposed butt, but everyones butt (I added the dark spot) With Momo's aid, Aira and Okarun can now both transform and use that to create a ballet of butt kicking, sending the mantis flying. This is where Nessie shows up, the other hired help brought here by the aliens. Their environment suddenly turns into bottomless waters, with walls and ceiling made of water. The three tries to make a run for it, chased by the mantis, Nessie and the aliens.... Aura is developing a bit of a crush on Okarun The water column behind Momo and Okarun is/was Aira, getting caught from beneath by the mantis guys punch, sending her flying through the ceiling Momo uses her psychic powers to ride Okarun like a dolphin, giving chase and they pull Aira out of the water. After checking everyone is alive, she orders Aira to strip, as well as doing so herself, to reduce drag in the water, because the two girls are now going to ride Okarun at high speed while dodging laser beams. Aira is not amused, but Momo couldn't care less... The aliens have merged themselves as well as Nessie and mantis guy into one monstrous being that packs a punch both at a distance (shooting underwater laser beams at the kids) as well as knocking the stuffing out of Aira as she tries to break it's neck, so stop it from shooting beams at them... Momo, being the brains in the group, comes up with a plan on how to beat their pursuer. She confronts it and like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, gestures to it to take its best punch at her. Using knowledge imparted in a previous episode about mantis shrimps, she creates an air bubble between the mantis' fists the moment it strikes and causes it to injure itself (because there's suddenly no resistance from the water when it strikes) All three cooperate to create an unstoppable juggernaut, that manages to escape the void domain create by the aliens. Lets just say they end up in an "interesting" position. Fun and giggles and some jokes. Okarun notices they are on a hard surface, Momo starts giggling and thanks the hallway floor, and also thanks it for "being so hard"... while they are both laughing, they realize they have not only left the water, they are back in school and surrounded by gawking students wondering what two naked (more of less) students are doing on the floor? Comical relief as they run away from school, joined by Aira, also just in her underwear And that... only scratched the surface of what happened edit: completely related, got this video recommended on youtube

Watched Dandadan episode 9... I'll add more details and a few pictures later (if I manage to stop laughing). Some censorship required as Okarun spends the entire episode butt naked

I'm fairly sure a game like GW2 does well, despite featuring not just same sex marriages, but some of the best inter-species erotica literature (no kidding) I've read... one of the NPC's (Snargle Goldclaw) in the game is an author that writes literal soft porn novels featuring the "interactions" between the different species (and mixing the genders too for good measure) in Tyria (the GW2 world). The pitchfork mob seems to focus on one game at a time. Can't risk running out of views on Youtube

Blame it on my age... I grew up with games having exactly one release! It either worked or it didn't. If it didn't you would not buy more from that developer (you probably also developed some thick skin and high tolerance threshold, anything short of a game breaking bug that would corrupt your save was not considered a real bug)

I had actually considered getting STALKER 2, but... my favourite game reviewer gave some damning feedback. Maybe in a year or two, after a dozen patches?

...and baby seal skins, wont anyone think of the baby seals???