Gorth

Speaking of overseas... this is what Burger King looks like in Australia: The name was already taken when Burger King knocked on the door and the owner refused to sell the name. So BK had to change their brand name here.

It's been a while since I posted something here. In the meantime, I finished Mieruko-chan 12 and Death Parade 10,11 & 12 Death Parade 10 is part more exposition about arbiters, Nona the supervisor and the afterlife plus a game of cards between a nice old lady and our dark haired woman (who now has a name, that I can't remember because it's so long since i watched it). Yes, the junior arbiter is up for judgement as it is not allowed for humans to stay in any of the bars in the tower. They slowly decay and turn into dead mannequins if dragging it out too long. The episode ends with the old lady winning and getting reincarnated. The dark haired woman regaining some of her memories from before she died. Episode 11 is about the dark haired women regaining more of her memories. Decim asks her to put on a skating outfit and do some figure skating. She remembers she used to be a professional ice skater until a knee injury ended her career at a young age. She managed to hide her following depression from her closest family and eventually slit her wrists one day (which is why she's now where she is). More stuff happening to the side characters, but this is sort of the main plot atm. (to be continued in a follow up post)

My memories are a bit fuzzy, as I would have been around 8 years old at the time... I for one sure didn't worry about much other than the ever present danger of nukes raining down on us without warning. Parents have a knack of hiding concerns from their kids, so if my parents were worried, they didn't show it. The adults in the neighbourhood was split between celebrating the lack of cars and the freedom to not constantly worry about traffic or having to go visit some distant relative on a Sunday to the grumpy ones who felt mortally insulted by having to actually walk or use a bicycle to go somewhere. Especially those who had bought comparatively expensive cars. The kids had other worries. Europe was still separated by borders, so international travel wasn't really a thing anyway and the airline industry was in its infancy (compared to today), so nobody paid much attention to whether flight prices jumped up or down anyway. (Party) politics didn't interest me much at the time. I remember hearing about how the Vietnam war was drawing to a close and eventually ended, with dramatic footage of the staff evacuation form the Embassy on the TV news as well as the latest blah blah about OPEC. Not really comprehending the nature of OPEC at the time though, other than they were trying to do some kind of blackmail to get oil prices up. At least, that's how it was presented, I wasn't a critical viewer of news back then, as the state run TV (DR - Danmarks Radio) only had one TV channel with one news segment around 7PM or so. All in glorious black and white. Nobody really worried about electricity, as Denmark was relying exclusively on coal power (imported from southern Africa). Speculation on my part: I guess nobody really made the connection that the bulk carriers who sailed the coal up there needed diesel to run Bear in mind, that's the point of view of someone who wasn't even a teenager yet. The cold war sort of overshadowed most other concerns. Edit: The informational stuff about what to do in case of nuclear war was repeated daily on TV, seek the nearest bomb shelter (always note where the nearest to your current location is at all times), if not viable, seek shelter behind walls, away from windows, which should be covered by white cloth as should yourself if possible. Have iodine tablets in your medical supplies and how to treat burn injuries. When I got older, i realized how silly that all was, as a nuclear war wouldn't be survivable anyway. Edit2: The riots and demonstrations in Copenhagen against the Vietnam War was the second main event of the time, together with the Cold War mentioned above, sort of overshadowing the oil crisis a bit at times when it came to media attention. Edit3: Another thing I remember from the news at the time was a lot of debates about upgrading nukes. Nato was discussing upgrading something called Pershing something to Pershing something else in West Germany (which was a country back then) as a counter to some Soviet SS something... Yeah, not big on the specific tech details at the time. I just knew it wasn't going to increase my chance of survival

Bruce, I'm old enough to remember "car free Sundays" when that happened It was actually quite nice though. No cars around, going for nice walks to the local park with my parents. Throwing old, dried bread chunks at the ducks. The world could use a bit more of that.

I always wondered if the Address that volourn once posted on the forums was his actual address (calling people out to come and get him) On a more serious note... wondering where this is heading. I guess Putin got at least one thing out of it. Direct communication. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59818978 Tangential to Ukraine, but still somewhat related: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59306223 Germany trapped between a rock and a hard place. Gas prices becoming a destabilizing factor in society, yet caving in to US and Ukrainian demands to not remove Ukraine from having the finger on the valves (and lots of free gas, which gets stolen by tonne). What will the new German chancellor do? Make his own people happy or the Ukrainian government (I somehow doubt the stolen gas and the billions of dollars of "transit fees" in any way benefits the common man in Ukraine)

I used to have a number of really annoying individuals on my ignore list before picking up the moderator hat. Luckily they all seem to have drifted away over the years. It is/was a good feature even if very poorly implemented in the board software. I wish it was as effective as say, the block/ignore feature in some mmo games. In guild wars 2 it only stops short of not rendering the characters of blocked accounts in game no, blocking people is not a good idea when you that extra little bit of responsibility here

Plundering my wallet on a monthly basis is reserved for the local Red Cross (https://www.redcross.org.au/) and Foodbank QLD (https://www.foodbank.org.au/QLD/the-foodbank-queensland-team/?state=qld), both of which needs all the help they can get up to the Christmas Holidays

I’m really trying… but I don’t remember watching a single movie released in 2021 edit: nor 2020 for that matter. Mostly stuff bought on dvd. Deadpool and Valerian being the last two I bought. A bit behind the times

The chip manufacturers are lagging behind. New chips shortage in Japan... https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59750613 Supply chain issues and a world wide shortage of lorry/truck drivers to blame.

It could also imply that time isn't a linear thing?

Credit cards says Hello! No, not serious. It made perfect sense during electronics classes in Uni. The only way you could really design filters and work with frequencies. I still balk at Fourier Transformations. I effin hated that last bit.

As the titles says... if someone doesn't like Christmas, just skip this thread, it's not for you. I'm not religious, but I do like the celebratory mood and spending time with friends, drinks and good food. After a few years of lock downs, social distancing and face masks, we could all need a bit of quality time with family and friends I think. So, enjoy the social get together if nothing else. Remember 2022 is pronounced twenty twenty too

It also keeps a log of editing history, so all versions of a post can be viewed for audit purposes, even if trying to blank out the post after submitting edit: I.e. the internet never forgets nor forgives

They may be an acquired taste. But my two favourites so far (out of a very limited selection) are probably Made in Abyss and Death Parade

Finished what turned out to be a double episode of Death Parade. A moderately complex story about a cop and a young man and the people they killed, why they killed them and also what the connection is between the two. The young man killed another young man who raped his sister and effectively destroyed her life. He also killed the cop, without knowing he was one, because he was the one pointed out by his sister as the accomplice of the rapist, just standing there, watching. Turns out the cop was secretly a vigilante, stalking people like the rapist, so he could kill them after the deed. Ironically, the young man beat him to it and also killed the cop, because he just allowed what happened to his sister. A story with no happy endings for anyone. No idea who went to what elevator... Morale of the story? Life sucks and then you die. Edit: Looks like Mieruko-chan 12 is out, so I guess that one is next on my to watch list.

I’m sure there is a kennel set aside for Trump to spend eternity in when he passes on some day

Finished Death Parade 7+8... Episode 7 was a bit "different", as in not so much the life and death struggle for your soul in a game, as it was a "get to know the cast better" kind of episode. Very nice actually. The afterlife looks like one giant bureaucracy, where everything is follows procedures laid down by powers unknown since nobody knows when. Each and every worker with a specific (and unending) task. Nona, the supervisor arbiter has apparently been a bit naughty and when Decim was created, Nona added a little bit of humanity to him. Looks like she has a bit of a rebellious streak in her and resent always being an unchanging puppet to a system she has no say in. We also get to know a fellow arbiter of Decims (whose name I can't remember from top of my head) and the "groupie girl" from the previous episode has been assigned to him. Apparently he wasn't able to make a final call when she there the first time. The idol guy had it coming and went straight down, but... fangirl get an extra chance to prove she deserves a second chance. Episode 8 is first half of a story arc stretching over more than one episode. Two guys, an old cop and a young man shows up. Both of them killers. They story about who killed who and why is very complicated. No wonder they need more than one episode to untangle those threads... I can't remember if I mentioned that the dark haired women found out her own name. She's a human and as such doesn't belong in this place. All humans who either gets processed or stays too long start deteriorating and turn into mannequins. Usually their souls are sent on an elevator to a final destination before that though. Edit: As part of the back story, we find out who the previous bartender was, she retired because she had an alcohol problem... Edit2: The Bureau of Information is the department that stores the memories of the deceased and are responsible for sending samples to the arbiters to help them with their judgment. You get judged by your memory and how you react when put under extreme pressure (hence the random games where people who are somehow familiar to each other gets pitted against each other, believing the winner go to heaven and the loser to hell, which is actually not necessarily the case).

My friend and I went to the theatre last night, seeing something called A Midnight Visit https://amidnightvisit.com/ A kind of alternative theatre where the audience mingle with the performers and experience things up close and personal. Ostensibly about experience the dreams and life of a recently deceased person. Lots of things taking place simultaneously and people can wander around to experience different aspects of it. Someone said if all the performances were serialised if would be nine hours, but the audience only get an hour and a half. You do get a voucher at the end for 25% off if you want to experience the show again. I’m sold Dress code was practical clothes, for climbing through narrow underground tunnels, climbing, walking on graveyards etc. Show was kept in a style, like straight out of something Mr. Poe could’ve come up with. Gothic horror. Black face masks were offered to those who had white or coloured masks because of a recent tuberculosis outbreak in town

Death Parade 6... Both sad and funny at the same time. A young girl gets pitted against some kind of "Idol" pop star. Unfortunately she's a "true fan girl", in the most frustrating way. Like wanting to pull your hair out while running, screaming LALALALALALA off a cliff kind of annoying. Not because she's evil per se, just completely switching her brain off when it comes to the object of her worship, said pop star guy. Who just so happens to be a womanizer and a creep of the despicable kind. In the end she offers to forfeit the game for her idol, but in a moment of weakness, he tries to save her. He's still a piece of scum of course, being the cause of someone else's suicide (her sister was apparently the one who sent the guy to the arbiters bar in a little payback action, involving a bomb). Todays game is something where they have to put hands and feet on some coloured dots on the floor. In the end, the arbiter (which is not Decim this time, but one of his colleagues) decides they take to long and suddenly all the dots have negative effects, from scalding steam and lava floor to insta deep freeze or the floor completely disappearing, revealing a very long drop to a bunch of spikes at the bottom of a pit... It ends before we get any hint where either of them is headed though.

Umm… welcome to 1921 G?

Was sitting outside in my backyard late last night, enjoying the mild weather (around 22c at 10pm). Watching the local wild life. Possums running around on the fence, a big rat beating a hasty retreat out of my garden when it noticed there was someone there and then I noticed this "little" fella on my wall. Trying to figure out what species it is. It's fairly large at around 10-12cm... doesn't really look like neither walking stick insect nor a mantis (that I recognize)

Finished Death Parade episode 5... Hints (but no facts) about the dark haired "assistant arbiter's" possible background. Shown as a children's book. Decim (pronounced dekim as far as I understand it), the bartender gets tested by upper management. Turns out the dark haired woman (who still has no name) is actually a human and that's unheard in that particular work place. Nona the supervisor arbiter is the one doing the test. We also get a glimpse of where the bar is located, inside a giant tower. Nona and some unknown being is playing a rather creepy game of pool (which Nona seems to constantly win) with the 9 planets of the solar system instead of pool balls. In a semi casual remark, Nona tells him to ask God why she always win to which he replies with an ominous 'God left a long time ago' (not verbatim, just the gist of it) I suppose the jury is still out on whether Decim passed the test. Nona meets up with some other staff in what looks like a control room, discussing operational issues and numbers. Looks like the are currently expected to process 7000 cases daily with the current death rates...

Tip: Enable the Youtube subtitles, or you miss out on important information

Don't feed them after midnight and don't let them get near any water...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-59676772 Twitter go home, this is the real thing... Bird songs bump stars off Australian music chart An album made up entirely of the tweets and squawks of endangered Australian birds has debuted in the top five of the country's Aria music charts. Songs of Disappearance is surpassing the likes of Abba and The Weeknd - not to mention Christmas favourites Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey. Created by BirdLife Australia, the album features the birdsongs of 53 of Australia's most threatened species.