Gorth

That's how I feel when walking home from the gym (to be fair to myself, being not just 30+ but mid fifties I give myself some slack in that regard, some things just were easier at 20, including recovery times for my body)

Is "autonomous sensory meridian response" intellectual speak for erection?

Live long enough and you might eventually arrive at the conclusion, that the world isn't all black or white. Just extremes and everything in between... /wisdom of an old man (me) just like there is no truth or "right way" of doing things. Depending on your personality (part genes, part environment, optionally whatever your spiritual beliefs adds to it), we can try to do the best we can to achieve what we want in life. Sometimes the means to the end doesn't justify the means according to our own values. Sometimes, the end justifies any and all means. My way of saying there is no right or wrong answer to your question (crap, I really should've gotten into politics! ). If you asked me specifically, I would say yes, there are things people could learn from a unified society, but then I grew up in one. Denmark may be small by today's world standards, but it was a homogeneous society at the time with a very strong "social contract", compelling people to do what was right (according to the values of society back then). My inner anarchist want's to dismantle large and powerful political systems however, so a bit of conflict of interest there. Maybe it's all about the scale of things.

I never had the nerves for Ponzi schemes. Which is really what crypto currencies are. As long as you can get someone else to join the bandwagon, you make a profit. Eventually, when reality knocks on the door and it collapses, there are no gold or currency reserves to support it and those at the end of the food chain are left penniless. In the meantime, it's great for money laundering and tax avoidance (the last big hit Bitcoin took was when China outlawed crypto currencies and a number of wealthy Chinese suddenly had to either pay bribes tax or divert their income to overseas trust accounts

I don't know why they always make me think of this other band. They are not the same (other than the slightly dark, gothic look), but maybe I just bought the cd's in the same time period. When cd's started to replace vinyls...

About Blood-C, the one and only season is a very slow starter. The first 2-3 episodes are mostly introducing the cast. @Bartimaeus it is indeed as you say. But as the episodes happens, more and more puzzles of a jig saw falls into place and nothing is as it seems. There is a reason why she's so happy go lucky just as you eventually figure out bit by bit the reason why she is so clumsy one moment and a Katana wielding samurai, slash athlete, slash killer, slash completely unaffected by the death of all her friends the next moment. Around episode 5 or 6 (iirc) , you realize as the viewer that everything you thought so far is wrong (/end of spoilers in case anyone wants to watch all 12 episodes some day). I actually mostly enjoyed the story and the twist more than the endless gore and innuendo.

No idea what Blood+ is (sounds like I'm not losing out on anything) A relatively harmless trailer: (for more action, there is a death count video on Youtube showing the first 274 gory deaths) The other one, Made in Abyss: (English dubbed, I have a subtitled version instead)

I *think* there is a season two. But it's currently only available on blu-ray in the wrong region (for me that is, my drive is region B, whereas season 2 is only available for region A as far as I could find on google). So, it's a no go. Not going to buy it... waiting for either a dvd version (I have a multi region, stand-alone dvd player) or a region free blu-ray version. Season 1 just sort of "ends" mid journey (simplified explanation)

I’m not much of an anime fan to be honest, but since Ghost in the Shell was new, I’ve watched two series, that I liked: Made in Abyss and BLOOD-C Both are probably what you would call an acquired taste, but hey, I quite enjoyed the stories (although Made in Abyss could definitely do with some kind of real closure)

Australia is in many ways a third world country with a first world economy (not kidding)

Slightly larger than a rifle... looks like Japan is finally starting to move out of the shadows of the past. A bit about the first two Japanese built aircraft carriers since WWII

I see two possibilities for this... it becomes a rare collectors item owned by some social media mogul. Alternatively, it becomes as common as the penny is today (the Weimar Republic sends its regards) PS: Not to be confused with the common penny, which is something different entirely, an Imperial tax introduced in 1495

Got my second Pfizer shot 45 minutes ago. Still alive to tell the tale

For import stuf like my rental bond or government health site etc I provide correct information. Steam, Instagram, Origin, GOG. Google and the likes? Nah. It does amuse me a bit getting birthday greetings throughout the year though

Having your own domain can be nice. I've owned two domains for close to 20 years, one being my main email contact and the other being <my family name>.com... the latter just for the heck of it. I also own two domains (for 10+ years) , which I hope some day, some year, to put a proper website on as a memorial stone to one of my favourite games (the original two Planescape Torment domains). Sadly, I'm no web developer, but I hung on to those ever since I bought them off the previous owner in the naive hope, some day to get around to it. On an unrelated note, in the completely "random" category. Why all the best maps used to be Russian (note, the video title says 'Britain', but it turned out to be a lot more than Britain)

Nice. Living just on the south bank of the river (same side of the river as me). Fortitude Valley is a nice place to spend an evening. It has all the bars, theaters, night clubs etc. Located on the other side of the river from his place.

Mate, happy to meet most forum members in real life with a few notable exceptions (which doesn't include you) I'm an omnivore and feel no religious obligations to avoid alcohol. By all means, lets meet somewhere for some nice food, have some drinks and some long chats if you make the way over to the far east (relatively)

I do indeed. Around 10km south of the city centre. Close to the "Chinese" neighbourhood no less. Lots of decent Asian foods, both takeaway, small restaurants and grocery stores, to be had (I really need to try out the crocodile meat some day) Edit: Close, as in about an hour on foot away... https://www.mustdobrisbane.com/features/sunnybank-brisbanes-little-asia

Much of it isn’t necessary “illegal” (even if unethical), but it shows how big an industry money laundering is for the UK. People used to point at Swiss banks, but they seemed to get their act together. You want to hide or launder money today, the UK is the go to place. Gibraltar, Isle if Man, Cayman Islands etc. Oh yeah, “City of London” too, although they used to be a bit more picky when the EU Commission was looking over their shoulders every now and then. Not any more though.

The figure is a bit confusing (and a bit misleading at times), because it shows the size of debt as percentage of global debt but colourises them according to debt per gdp (two very different things). I.e. as a rule of thumb, the more " yellow", the more a country is in danger of defaulting on interest payments to lenders (or bond owners, or whatever the source of the debt is). The US, Japan and Italy are countries to watch for short term danger, China, France, UK, India and Germany are worth keeping an eye on for the medium term risk (simply because of the size of their debts, even if not that impressive compared to their gdp). Edit: The figure also only shows government dept, not "national debt"... lets say you're interested in the figures for China f.x. The government debt is 67% (approx) of the gdp. However, all added up, the national debt is 300% of gdp. Hence why it's a medium term risk. Ignore at your own peril... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-debt-idUSKCN1UD0KD (Reuters) - A key gauge of China’s debt has topped 300% of gross domestic product, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), as Beijing steps up support for the cooling economy while trying to contain financial risks. China’s total corporate, household and government debt rose to 303% of GDP in the first quarter of 2019, from 297% in the same period a year earlier, the IIF said in a report this week which highlighted rising debt levels worldwide.

I'm not sure why, but it first happened about a month ago, that someone came knocking, thinking it was different Obsidian... Maybe Google search is just suggesting something that matches the search criteria?

Don’t get me started on Fox “News” hosts. Most brain dead performance I’ve seen was some completely empty headed individual going on and on about what kind of socialist hell Denmark is, going the same way as Venezuela. Because of such atrocities like free healthcare and free universities. Two different takes on taking the misinformation apart. A Danish politician and a Danish news anchor (with a bit more integrity than Fox)