Gorth

Last years chess boxing tournament in Berlin

Pfff, it's only Sydney that is about to go up in flames, nothing important Fire fighting planes have dumped some pink coloured fire retardant on the outer suburbs recently, as the fires were getting that close. Grab the fish (Nemo) and run.

Aussies don't need to go to South America to see impressive fires. Got plenty next door Queensland has gotten off "easy" so far with only 180.000 hectares razed, where as New South Wales had 1.65 million hectares razed by fires, battling a 6000 km "fire front". The summer hasn't even started yet, so it might end up being a bad year. Casualties has been "low" though, with only 6 people killed, unlike a few years ago during 2009's "Black Saturday" in Victoria (180 people killed) https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/22/australia-bushfires-factcheck-are-this-years-fires-unprecedented

...and here I thought prescription drugs were outrageously expensive in Denmark. Live and learn I guess https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/ranks-1-world-sky-high-cost-vital-medicines-191121224954634.html

I like The Guardian for some reason. Not sure why. I occasionally find myself following links to their articles. Otherwise, BBC is one of my two go-to sites for news. Horribly "russo-phobic" though. It's like reading a James Bond novel at times. My second "western" media news source is Al Jazeera. Their reporting style is very similar to BBC, but covering the parts of the world (and perspectives) that often gets ignored by other media. If I don't care about any truth or objectivity at all, but just for laughs, I'll see how low Fox can go, trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator in human intelligence. Rarely disappoint, especially the human troglodytes that seems to flock to the comments sections. Same morbid fascination as watching air disaster documentaries I guess?

I think somebody better call the Scandinavian governments and let them know, because I think they missed the memo there, about leftist systems not being sustainable

Rammstein live...at least one thing both Russians and Germans seems to agreed on appreciating Someone mentioned Cyndi Lauper. What can I say, the first half of the 80's holds a lot of nostalgic value for me.

Guild Wars 2... my Sylvari elementalist visiting the tropical paradise of Southsun Cove. Lots of volcanic activity. If you go down to the designated resort beach (complete with armed Consortium guards at the perimeter), your characters automatically lose their clothes Still, it sure is pretty at the beach, with lots of sunshine, sand and blue water

I found this fun little sports result and didn't really see an existing thread that fit the bill exactly, it's not one of popular local sports like the US NHL or NFL (or Basketball), nor a major international sport like FIFA soccer, which all have their own threads. Australia beat England in jousting 89-75. Come on England... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50284663

Latest acquisition was Code Vein. Not quite sure what to think about it yet. Controls feels a bit awkward. Like having to push multiple buttons on the right hand side of the controller when changing codes. I only have two hands dammit (edit: and one of those hands sits on an arm mounted on my left shoulder, not two hands on the right side arm) Nier: Automata felt so much more user friendly and easy to control by comparison.

I would love to see more info on those mid 1800's camps, because the only source I could find documenting something earlier than the British, were the Spanish in Cuba in 1890 (i.e. 10 years before). We are not talking about reservations or small plots of land, but fenced in areas with barbed wires and guards, neutralizing a captured civilian population. In the South African case, over 40000 women and children killed over a 2 year period (the men were deported off shore to remote islands in the Atlantic and elsewhere, to pacify them).

Poor Pluto...

Guild Wars 2 is still my main time sink, but when playing single player games, I'm sort of all over the place at the moment. Sometimes playing Tyranny, sometimes Nier: Automata, sometimes Code Vein and sometimes Conan: Exiles. (and Microsofts Solitaire and Mahjong games, as well as Master of Orion 2 quickies)

I suspect Bruce is a bit biased (as in completely), because we're talking about the RAF and England here I think the Americans best summed up their strategic objective, the city was full of factory workers, making it a strategic target. The goal, to kill as many people as possible and reduce the industrial output. Maximizing civilian casualties being the primary goal to accomplish this (the latter paraphrased by me). The English did the same thing in Hamburg (aptly named Operation Gormorra), even refining the technique, the "Firestorm" burning for days. The aim being to maximize civilian casualties. Between the two raids, estimated casualties varies, ranging from 75000 to twice the number (and that's the dead, countless more injured, maimed, dying later from their burns) Yes. that's from the country who was the first to systematically use concentration camps for ethnic cleansing (trying to systematically wipe out the Boer population)? War is dirty business and being on the winning side is always preferably when history is written. As for Churchill, I haven't watched the movie, but Anzac troops generally doesn't seem to remember Gallipoli favourably.

Moved to the stories section. Less problematic with any spoiler images. At least for now. Once the game has aged a bit, it's more likely to be less of an issue.

Sorry Bruce, not aimed at you. Some day we'll all miss the antics of the British Commons. I already posted a scene from "Yes Prime Minister" at some earlier point, not going to repeat it. Weird to think I left the UK because of the referendum result and now, 3 years later they are still arguing instead of just grabbing some handkerchiefs to slap each others faces with and duel it out.

Nooooo! I guess I would nominate Planescape Torment main theme and Guild Wars Two "Fear not this night" as my two current favourites. edit: Links

Met up with a friend yesterday, had Japanese food. Excellent Sashimi Then we went and saw The Joker. Wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. A Gotham City movie with no explosions, cape wearing super heroes or any of the usual trademarks. A very interesting movie about a naive guy, who gets gradually worn down by society, his mother, himself and eventually cracks after enough having taken enough abuse, both physically and psychologically. The trailer for Pavarotti looked like it could be an interesting movie too.

Not saying the people in the picture are Trump voters... but the similarity in the underlying mindset is worrying.

No statistics, just wondering, maybe there is a correlation between suicide rates, demographics and whatever stigmas exists in the local communities around such outrageous and alien ideas as "mental healthcare" and "seeking help", rather than always do the acceptable thing and "suck up adversity like a man!"?

Looks like the direct clashes between Syria and Turkey have been inevitable for a long time, especially with Turkey trying to do the land grabs around Aleppo. Russia and Iran will likely support Syria to a degree (probably limit overt support from Russia). Turkey seems to want to free the IS fighters, guessing on my part entirely, to re-arm them and sic them on the Kurds. Question is, will Trump aid Turkey militarily against Syria/Russia in such a conflict, especially if the conflict spills over the border into the Turkish side of it? Of course, Trump being the moron he is, I do not doubt that he would happily support Turkey, Saudi Arabia and their IS allies, and claim it was his plan all along for a better and brighter middle-east (regardless of how many billions of dollars he has now wasted trying to suppress IS).

Not quite as bad as when I played Swtor (but then, I played that for 6+ years before putting it aside). My Guild Wars 2 level characters just keep popping up, getting played for a long time, put aside and then new ideas manifest themselves in my brain, I just desperately have to try out how it looks and works. So many alts.... I'm sure Arenanet loves the money I spend in the cash shop for character slots! A rather sinister dude, the Deadeye sniper, lurking in the shadows, hitting hard with a long range barrage of damage and fading back to stealth. Edit: I almost finished the pre-cursor for the legendary weapon "The Predator", which is a fancy rifle, no doubt introduced with this class in mind And the other new guy (girl) on the block, a "Weaver", which is an elementalist that unlike other elementalists can combine and use two elements at the same time.

London has some excellent Fish & Chips! Just kidding, one of the few things I miss from the greater London area is the variety of restaurants and take-aways.

My much anticipated Metallica concert at the end of this month got cancelled. James Hetfield sent to rehab. Now torn between getting a refund or hang on to the tickets and wait for a replacement date to be announced at some distant future time.

I can't believe it took me this long to recognize an obvious Easter egg. I've been walking past this trio several times over the last year (A meerkat, a warthog and a lion cub, cue Disney music)