Gorth

While waiting impatiently for next episode of Frieren, I picked up another anime to watch. "Metal Rouge" (not a typo, it is a colour, not a profession reference). Looks a bit inspired by Bladerunner and very much inspired by the old comics by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius (Jean Giraud) Very intriguing

I was about to make some lame joke about putting a new spin on an old story. This just looks... bad? Like really really bad? Uwe Boll bad?

Some brilliant quotes "Pegging isn't new for me friendo... but it is for Disney" & "I am the Messiah, I... am... Marvel Jesus!..." I never saw the second Deadpool movie, but I loved the first one. Comedy according to my own tastes

I know I've posted pictures of the life outside of my place before, but this preying mantis sure was eye catching, sitting there on the mosquito net. Grabbed a measuring tape (with cm & inches just for good measure). Looked like it was doing stretching exercises, pushing its from legs (the "grabbers") way out in front of it's body. I went outside, just to check where the front end of the insect was before taking a picture with my phone (partly obscured by the door itself)

You can't make this stuff up... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68266447 "Donald Trump has said he would "encourage" Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its bills as part of the Western military alliance. At a rally on Saturday, he said he had once told a leader he would not protect a nation behind on its payments, and would "encourage" the aggressors to "do whatever the hell they want"."

@majestic that looks like a job for an AI to decrypt @Raithe my condolences Decided my new Samsung tv needed a bit more oomph!, so I ordered a soundbar for it. It is on back order and I wont get it for another 3 weeks, but it was AUD $700 off RRP, so I guess I can wait a few weeks (down from $2000 to $1300 while on sale)

This episode was hilarious I was rewatching an earlier episode... those noticeable ear rings Frieren is wearing, are there in the recent flashback scenes (less than 100 years ago) but they aren't there in the oldest flashback scenes (1000 years ago), but her master is wearing some conspicuously similar looking ear rings (as well as a matching pendant). Wonder if she inherited them from her master at some point in the story?

Indeed QFT

Entirely a thought experiment, not having any idea about the person involved, but... If he decides to remove Zelensky and declare the military to be the sole power in Ukraine (old fashioned autocrat style/military coup), would the west still support him?

I was looking for something completely different on Youtube (Drachinifels coverage of the Battle of Jutland) when the algorithm gave me this... Looks like a small series of shorts made by the studio for whatever purposes. About 1 minute each and you have to manually activate subtitles. Thought it was cute

Even if I don't care about WH40k as a game anymore, I still love the lore and the setting

Do you by any chance have the clear all cookies on browser exit enabled?

My doctor is a bit like that. A long shopping list of things for the pathology to test for But that is Ok, I'm like $35 out of pocket for that annual expense and it's nice to know that I don't suffer from anything cholesterol or diabetes related (among the long list of things being checked). Despite my childish demeanor at times, I'm not entirely young anymore So this frail old man needs to look after his body a bit, every now and then.

Frieren 19-20-21 epilogue/end of the first test Old man Denken didn't get to where he is just by giving up easily, so he is determined to take a bird from another group before the sun sets. Being all out of mana (magical energy), it comes down to brute force. Luck is with them and they stumble across a another team, who has lost a member (one of the dead bodies they ran into previously, killed by monsters). I.e. they have automatically failed, but still wont relinquish their bird Explaining his tactics to Richter... and what do you know?... a few bruised knuckles later, Denkens group also has a bird! Some of the other teams also get a lucky break in the dying minutes of the day... Ferns group also just hiding and waiting for the day to end now... Frierens group doing their own thing... We haven't really seen much of Stark for these last, several episodes, so we just get a glimpse of him too, getting stuff off his chest, sharing with a sympathetic tavern keeper

Frieren episode 21... too many things happening to summarize in one post, so putting the wrapping up in a separate one afterwards. A word about their weird names. Whoever wrote the manga has an obsession with German words and all names, people and places (except one), that I've seen so far has been a German word that somehow summarizes it. I.e. Frieren (being cold, I assume in the meaning uninterested in the world), Fern (distant), Eisen (iron) the warrior, Heiter (cheerful) the jolly and perpetual drunk priest etc. Places that translates to the end (literally the northen end of the world), farthest away etc. Same thing goes for all the mages taking the mage test. Names that summarizes their personality. A bit jarring when you speak German Frierens team mates are the two girls Kanne and Lawine (meaning jug and avalanche, the former can manipulate existing water though she can't conjure it up and the latter specializes in ice magic). One of Ferns team mates is Ubel (mean/bad) and I don't remember the guy with the glasses name. The group Frieren is fighting is led by the old imperial court mage Denken (thinking), besides Laufen (running, the super fast moving girl) and Richter (the judge, not sure if it has other meanings when translating to English) The idea behind this particular test popped up 50 years previous, instigated by an old elf. Who just happens to Frierens masters master (Frierens master was named Flamme, i.e. "flame"). Flamme's master was Serie, who comes across as being ancient at a time when Frieren was an apprentice. She claims to know the content of almost every grimoire in existence and as a reward to those who pass the exam, she'll give each successful test taker a spell of their choice (like a genie in a bottle, fulfilling any wish you may have). Serie made the same offer to Frieren a millennia ago, but Frieren declined, finding the search for magic more rewarding than having it bestowed upon you. Having separated Kanne and Lawine (Frierens two young companions), Richter first wanted to kill one of them, to make the group automatically fail the test and seize their bird (at this point they have already stolen the bird, but they want to remove any reason for them to fight to retrieve it again). Denken orders him to not kill anyone, just keep them busy until sunset. And so he does... as mentioned in the previous post, a barrier keeps the elements out of the test area, which leaves the two girls at a major disadvantage. Richter can manipulate rock which are in plenty supply, but the barrier keeps the main tool needed by the girls away. A rather one sided affair... Old man Denken in the meantime, realizes he may have bitten off more than he can chew... Desperate measures... It was inevitable Just to establish her dominance, Frieren literally kicks his butt Seeing the old man lose, Richter decides he now needs to get serious... In the meantime, Frieren decides it's time to get their valuable prize back. She know Laufen (the fast moving girl) is hiding nearby and threatens to kill the old man if she doesn't hand back their bird. Laufen doesn't know Frieren, so she thinks she can pull off the same trick twice and snatch the old man away from her. It didn't quite work out as planned... After tying up the two mages to a tree, Frieren enacts a plan she made yesterday to help out the two young mages in her group... and destroys the barrier Serie put there 50 years earlier... Serie seems a bit bemused by that, when she senses the barrier coming crashing down Suddenly getting access to plenty of water means, the tide has literally turned against Richter... all half a million liters of it... and the sun is setting soon, marking the end of the test. Just rewards are handed out

I would say 19,20 and 21 sort of belongs together. 20 feels particularly "odd" because it has no start and no end. Like it was meant for a single 70 minute episode or something... 19 sets up the scenario, 20 is the various groups learning the nature of their target, stalking it and trying to work out how to get it and 21 is the infighting between some who has caught the elusive bird and those who wants to take it by force because they for various reasons are unable to catch their own. Also, a group can only pass the test if the group is complete. If a member dies or leaves the test area, the entire group fails the test. Around the test area is a barrier that keeps spells in and rain out (the latter being important in episode 21) My own little recap of 20... Ferns group has a run in with another group, which tries to take their bird by force. One of the mages tries to take on Fern head on. Sort of a bad idea. When one of the mages team mates asks Fern what she did to her (since she didn't come back)... Except, the Fern we all know and love is not a cold blooded killer... Fern does have quite the poker face (and dead pan line delivery) though... Fern's "special ability" is she can instantly cast a gazillion spells, offensive and defensive, hence why Frieren always let Fern deal with the monsters they encounter (it's faster and they waste less time) Looks a bit like terraforming, but it was just a poor sucker of a mage getting in the way of Ferns artillery barrage This guy starts to feel a fraction of what Stark gets exposed to on a daily basis... Frierens group also has their own problems... another group led by the imperial court mage has their eyes on the bird caught by Frierens group... The specialty of the young girl confronting them is a spell that makes her move lightning fast Frierens group is now one bird down... (will make a separate post for episode 21, which also wraps up the first test)

Not the official video, but someones "lyrics" version. Picked this one over the original, because lyrics

I’m on a quest to find my favourite vodka. So far, I’ve tried Polish, Russian, Swedish and Australian vodka. Just opened a bottle of Japanese vodka (I do love Japanese gin). Some day I’ll appoint one of them a “favourite” edit: doing a bit of weekend cleaning, washing the shelves in the cupboard with soap and water. Noticed I have an Icelandic vodka too, to try out after the Japanese one. Didn't say anything about being fish based

I did *not* have sex with that woman… True. No idea how notorious a liar the Biden government is. Obama probably benefits from “relativity” because it felt less awful than what came before and after? But there was still something about extrajudicial international killings picking up under his watch…

Just a quick recap of Frieren 19, while waiting for episode 20 to show up (hopefully available tomorrow morning, local time)... The test takers for the first class mage exam, got split up into a number of groups of 3 mages each. The goal is to capture an elusive bird within the time limit (a few days, forgot the exact number). The bird is lightning fast, tough as nails, moderately resistant to magic, highly developed magic detection skills (in this universe, magic is a manifestation of "mana", some beings have it, some don't, those who can actively shape it tends to become mages). In short, a bunch of mages trying to catch a bird that is fast and elusive, spotting a mage from a mile away and making a run for it... Frierens group holds a strategy meeting... and in the end, agrees to Frierens plan (she got inspired when one of the young girls mentioned something about being able to manipulate water) The plan? "Poison" every water hold they can find with mana, so the birds will have to come to a water source of Frierens choice... I didn't make screenshots of blood and gore, but it happens too. Monsters prey on the test takers, using their corpses as bait and there are no rules that stipulates test takers can't kill each other, then take the bird from another group that may already have acquired one. Frierens group realizes all of them will be up in arms and come after them when they have cornered the market so speak, leaving only one place to catch the birds. Frieren has learnt a powerful bird binding spell, that should overcome the birds magic resistance. Problem is the spell has a 50cm range Hence why they needed to narrow down the possible locations for the bird to seek water. Frieren puts on the statue act, sitting at the pond shore pretending to be a rock The spell worked At this point, Ferns group has also captured a bird and general infighting breaks out amongst the mages and blood start flowing. Ends somewhat abruptly... and now waiting for episode 20

Just 50 from the world of domestic politics... https://www.crikey.com.au/dossier-of-lies-and-falsehoods/ Then there are of course international politics... similar lists from Trump, The Bushes, Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin, Modi, Bolsano etc... Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq? Brexit will be a net positive for the UK!, We will not invade Ukraine... etc. etc. All in all, whenever a new state leader swears to serve his people (when he really means serving the interest groups that got him/her in power) Then there are all the corporate ones... Former and current CEO's of Boeing, most bank CEO's and the majority of their executives, local telco CEO's lying about data leaks, outages and impacts on emergency calls etc. The church lying to the public for half a century and denying that the worlds largest pedophile ring is not doing anything wrong and diligently investigating claims to the opposite... All of which only gets exposed because luckily some journalists still dig into these things. Feel free to add to the list, but those were just what sprang to mind within the first 15 seconds. Could probably write a thesis if I felt like putting the effort into it.

If it interests you, I do consider myself one of the masses. Hence why it p.....s me off no end when I feel constantly lied to and spend a lot of time and effort fending off attempts to deceive me

While Drachinifels is my goto internet historian for all things naval warfare (iirc, his native language is Portuguese, so I guess he's either Portuguese or Brazilian), my second goto channel would be Ryan Szimanski (sp?) and Battleship New Jersey https://www.youtube.com/@BattleshipNewJersey For all things civilian shipping, designs, history, disasters, famous people etc. my goto channel would be Oceanliner Designs https://www.youtube.com/@OceanlinerDesigns It sort of sprang to mind, I've been subscribed there for a while and a recent video told a story I remember hearing many years ago about "Miss Unsinkable", a nurse that survived all three sisterships, Titanic, Olympic and Britannic edit: Not sure I would board a ship if I saw her boarding it