Gorth

I hate to bring this to you... but there is a difference between nuclear powered submarines and nuclear armed submarines. Shivering at the thought of the next Scott Morrison having access to nuclear arms The only things special about nuclear powered submarines are their range and their price tag (about 0.1 of Australia's GDP the next 30 years)

How I imagine an Australian submarine fleet...

Yeah, a long part about the inherent discrimination in the financial policies, but she summed up my own thoughts pretty well in the first couple of minutes. "Nobody went to jail", which is where they all went wrong. All those bank CEO's, executives and members of Board of Directors that just got their sorry asses bailed out (at tax payers expense, and it's mostly the poor who pay tax in this world) and a handsome bonus for a job well done instead of 10 years behind bars. Edit: Never mind the complete unwillingness to learn any lessons from an even very recent past. Makes you wonder what kind of lobbying it takes to make those who otherwise had the power to stop them, just ignore the issues and sometimes even help facilitate them. A college spot for your third kid?

I'm not normally a fan of PvP and generally avoid it in games... but I do have a blast playing the large scale "PvP" in Guild Wars 2. Just something fascinating by scores of people fighting, sometimes hundreds around a truly contested objective like "Stone Mist Castle" It's a game mode called WvW (World vs. World) and pits servers against each other on a set of maps where 3 teams fight it out in a all vs. all (i.e. team vs. team) kind of way. Featuring sieges with catapults, mortars, ballistae etc. trying to break down walls (or repair them), fighting over supply lines, outposts, castles and sometimes citadels. Much bloodshed and much violence. Unlike the PvP arena where you have a limited selection of gear and skills (to ensure fair fights on a small scale), on the large scale fights, anything goes for your build and your gear. Structured groups are well organized with the role assignment for buff, heals, area denials etc.

Not politics per se, yet... the results of the inflation fueled interest rate raises. An interesting take on why major banks have started failing (again) for lay people like me

Good to see you again @Guard Dog... I suppose that is what happens when you move from warm to arctic climates Just kidding, whatever it is, get well soon Edit: I'll even light a candle for you and pray to Nurgle *) for your health *) Nurgle may have additional terms and conditions to be revealed to you at a later date

Wanna bet, those people were born after 1968?

Fun thought experiment... name a country that both China, Iran and Saudi Arabia hates

Interesting... so the Saudi's and the Ayatollahs may have decided they have common enemy it's worth uniting against?

Don't worry, it only gets worse after the "dreaded Half Century" mark... enjoy the ride towards it

Up to ninth episode of Tomo-chan is a girl. Most fun I've had in a long time. Carol (a friend of Tomo and Jun) is the proverbial "dumb blonde", that really is anything but dumb... at least when it comes to human relations. If the guy Carol has her eyes (a guy named Misaki) on is interested in Tomo, it's time to pitch in and give Jun a forceful shove (with a sledge hammer) in the right direction (figuring that if Jun and Tomo hook up with each other, her own intended boyfriend will stop looking up to Tomo).

Speaking of old films... I think I need to go looking for two Charlie Chaplin films that I remember from a long time ago and could use watching again. The Great Dictator and Monsieur Verdoux. The latter being a very "atypical" Chaplin movie (he plays a serial killer, justifying his actions as being just a small scale version of what national leaders do).

Heya... just a heads up, that this looks like the kind of issue best handled by the official support channels (these are the "unofficial" ones, where it's more often than not users sharing tips and work arounds) The official support for Outer Worlds is handled by Private Division https://support.privatedivision.com/hc/en-us/requests/new In the first drop down box, select the Outer World DLC and fill in the rest as required. You are more likely to get help this way.

Sounds similar to a certain Bioware SW MMO... except it was Bioware executives making the call as they hadn't been acquired by EA at the time.

I remember playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl when it came out (although it was about 20 years after the disaster, it was somehow still "fresh in the memory") Loved the game. Was a bit on the hard side I remember. Used a cheat mod to beat the game eventually (immune to radiation and enemy bullets), getting a bit frustrated and impatient towards the end. Just wanted to see at least one of the endings

Oh, I know. I always wondered about this old story about the constitution only being for white, male land owners. Well, it is based a bit on a true story, even if not written explicitly in the constitution. It just turned out to be a convenient tool to enforce that (i.e. only white, male land owners could vote) From The Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/elections/right-to-vote/the-founders-and-the-vote/ Eventually, the framers of the Constitution left details of voting to the states. In Article I Section 4, the Constitution says: The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations. Unfortunately, leaving election control to individual states led to unfair voting practices in the U.S. At first, white men with property were the only Americans routinely permitted to vote. President Andrew Jackson, champion of frontiersmen, helped advance the political rights of those who did not own property. By about 1860, most white men without property were enfranchised. But African Americans, women, Native Americans, non-English speakers, and citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 had to fight for the right to vote in this country. I.e. I still think it was a country founded on in part racism (slave based agricultural economy in parts of it) and in part lack of equality (very narrow and unequal selection of citizens who had a say in the running of the country).

Guys... lets move the general politics discussion to the general politics thread... (going to move some posts) Edit: I think the bulk of stuff not related to Ukraine and/or Russia is moved to the politics thread now

Are you saying it wasn't? Last time I checked, such basics as a constitution that protects all people living in your country and give them a vote (this includes women btw) is part of a society based on equality. Institutional slavery as part of the economy and the lack of civil rights for the female half of the population in my book justifies saying it was in part (because absolutes are bad) based on racism and inequality. And in before the expected "but slaves weren't citizens, of course they shouldn't vote", the slaves weren't in the country voluntarily. But they weren't offered a choice of leaving until 186...something when Lincoln made a proclamation on the subject). Not allowed to leave, not allowed to vote, no constitutional protection, I call that inequality (which was in place when the country got founded). Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote in 1869, a few followed soon after. The majority of the country didn't allow the female half of the population to vote until the early 1900's. That isn't "founded on equality". They got better since, sure, but from a historical perspective, no.

Why wipe out England? They do a great job themselves. No need for Van der Leyen to start any "cancel UK" campaigns... as for left wing extremism, they are not an urban legend, Europe had those. Germany's "RAF" and "Baader-Meinhoff", Italy's "Brigate Rosse", Northern Ireland's "IRA", France's "Action Directe", Judea's "Peoples Front of Judea", the Basque "ETA" etc. Most of these were very active in the 70's, some survived into the 80's. Today's threat to democracy comes from various extreme right wing and nationalist organizations (way too many to list and several of them are actually represented in their respective national parliaments). Most young people don't understand why The Northern Ireland peace agreement is a big deal still today, because they didn't live through some very bloody years in the UK (3000 dead and close to 50000 wounded). It's something that simmers just underneath the surface and is kept in check by improved living standards. I.e. paper thin and may fall apart if facing a crisis. I think there is a decent reason for European countries being reluctant to get dragged into wars, because once they get started, they get very enthusiastic about it. As for pronouns, I'm sure You ****ing **** is a perfectly valid pronoun... I learned a lot about the LGBT community after moving back to Australia in 2016, as my best and closet friends now are lesbian girls (and a single transgender woman). It makes for some interesting company and they sometimes joke about it when we go somewhere (restaurants, theater, whatever) that I'm the odd one out in the group. Not for being a guy, but for being straight

Third episode of Tomo-chan is a girl... Ok, I'm too lazy to write an episode by episode guide and someone already described what happened in the first 3 episodes https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21210326/episodes

Most of them are ageing German tourists anyway, aren't they (minus the odd Florida Man)? A slow news day when the only occurrence of the word Ukraine on the BBC front page is in an article on rehabilitation of wounded soldiers and Al Jazeeras main story is the growing love affair between Russia and China.

The one I was thinking about (from around 1850)... The Tricolore dates back to 1794 or thereabouts. So yeah, I suspect someone got a bit too sensitive and started looking for patterns where none are (or none are put intentionally in place). Edit: Doesn't mean that there couldn't be more behind the story than just a French company using French colours. Sometimes there is more behind a story than obvious click bait. I just remembered the yellow Russian flags from history books featuring paintings of battles from the Napoleonic wars. Iirc it kept the yellow colours with various combinations of white and black added to it up until 1917 after which it was mostly red. Disclaimer: Sometimes battle standards are different from national flags (e.g. the Confederate States of America)

I'm fairly sure the Tricolore predates the Russian flag by more than a century... I don't remember the details, but I think the Russian flag used to have a lot of yellow in when it was The Russian Empire, like yellow with a black Czarist/Imperial Eagle on it

Watched second episode of Tomo-chan is a girl... I think I'm getting seriously hooked on this series. Short version of the background, Tomo, a rather tom-boyish girl has a crush on her childhood friend. Problem is, for him, she's just another "bro", to be butt slapped and fist bumped. And no, that description in no way does justice to the characters, the story or the side cast.

Speaking of right wing governments… Netanyahu is on trial for corruption, nothing new there. Like his brother in spirit Trump, he wants to bend the rules and take direct control of the judiciary. No surprise there either. What is surprising is the Israeli airforce not agreeing. Reservists are going on “strike” to protest the changes. I guess losing the support of the IDF is not good for wannabe totalitarians? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/6/israel-air-force-reservists-to-skip-training-in-netanyahu-protest