Gorth

Finished Ergo Proxy. The ending was full of revelations, biblical and otherwise A great story. I might have binge watched it a bit too much at times, so little details go lost. I think I've going to re-watch it from the beginning and use my knowledge of the background to pay more attention to the countless little details I missed along the way. Like why some proxies destroyed their own domes, why did Romdeau nuke Mosk? What was that about humans somewhere in space, were they supposed to come back to Earth some day etc. Dozens upon dozens of little detail I hope to pick up during a second watching of the show. Edit: don't get me started on clones and is there a connection between Monad Proxy and Re-l, between Proxy One and Ergo Proxy, so many questions... Edit2: Looks like a decent explanation of the plot: https://cureclover.livejournal.com/759.html

Does that include the Argentinian 'General Belgrano' (which was a WWII cruiser)? No idea what size the Moskva was... Edit: Nevermind, I found the wiki pages for both, the Moskva was slightly larger by around 2000 tonnes

Definitely not if they harbour some ambitions of joining the EU some day in the future. Won’t happen without Germany’s consent

Getting close to the end of Ergo Proxy (at least I think so, episode 22 out of 23) I did manage to get lost a few times in the last handful episodes. Let's just say things got a bit too abstract at times and went over my head But from what I could gather, Vincent/Ergo Proxy was in love with another Proxy, Monad Proxy, but killed her. For some reason (part of what went over my head), Proxies always feel compelled to fight to the death when meeting (that sure makes for some interesting relationships). To protect himself from going mad, Vincent ended up with multiple personality disorders and "Vincent" is a manifestation of that. The little group did make it to Mosk, just to find an old nuke crater, as it was destroyed by Romdeau, after the latter had invaded and absconded with something. It's on the return to Romdeau, things sort of starts to get explained. Ergo Proxy btw. is the founder of the Dome (apparently all the 30 or so domes were founded by a Proxy), created in some distant past together with a handful of followers. He's effectively a god to the citizens and the administration. In this case, the god that abandoned his people and wandered off as Vincent the immigrant. Ergo Proxy kills the administrator and leaves again, effectively dooming the dome (bad pun) to extinction. The administration is what controls the artificial womb, that replenishes the population as well as manages the day to day business of running the dome. At this point, groups of human militias and gangs are running amok through the dome, killing all autoreivs (Entourages) they can find, cogito infected or not in what can best be described as creative brutality. (leaving out 4/5 of what is happening and trying to focus on the very core stuff going on, including the visit to Smile Town where some of the exposition comes from) Ergo Proxy (aka "Vincent") A world is coming to an end... Edit: Two different trailers, just to show the difference between original voice acting and english dubbed version (as usual, I prefer original voice acting with subs)

Continued from previous episode:

Life... to be continued:

Agreed, for all its potential and rich background, the GW universe has produced very few "quality" games. Vermintide, Mechanicus and Mordheim: City of the Damned are fun, but there are a lot I haven't touched, as the reviews were out horrendous or just not a type of game that appealed to me. Worst I ever laid my hands on (many years ago) was a Tau game obviously written for consoles. Fire Warrior (or something like that) iirc. Frustrating when considering how much potential it has for quality great tactical combat games as well as CRPG's

As @Lexx said, it's a tabletop wargame. Same universe as the Warhammer 40K tabletop wargame, but set 10000 years before, during the time of The Horus Heresy. There was a thread in Way off topic for movies and graphics for Games Workshop games, but I try to keep that one for fan made artwork and put the commercial stuff (made by or published by GW) in the game section.

Sort of old news... but worth a watch for a Warhammer 40K 30K fan

In the same boat so to speak... 2.5-3 years since the last common cold. I love it. One of the perks of working from home I guess, you don't get exposed to all those people in the office and trains.

Just continuing from past thread...

Umm, yeah. This path ends here... more righteous stuff this way

Not just The Times... https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-purges-in-putins-shrinking-inner-circle https://www.timesofisrael.com/putin-said-to-be-conducting-internal-purge-of-military-generals-intel-personnel/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/putin-purges-russian-intelligence-as-military-elite-suffer-devastating-losses https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-rumored-to-be-purging-kremlin-officials-over-ukraine-invasion-2022-3

I'm no fan of Macron, but I personally hope Marine Le Pen doesn't win. The world has had enough "Trumps and Trump wannabes" for a life time. On the other hand, it would be entertaining following news from the EU (and the possible implosion of the EU) if it were to happen Edit: EU the organisation, not the region

I couldn't imagine Russia would be so stupid as to actually invade Ukraine. And when, I couldn't imagine Russia would be so stupid as to try to reach Kiev through the Pripet marshes... (substitute Russia with Putin) Edit: Anyone who ever played a WWII wargame covering the eastern front knows the significance of those marshes... they are everything the allies thought The Ardennes was, i.e. impassable for armies, hence the long, unwieldy columns of troops and tanks

Finished episode 15 of Ergo Proxy... a few episodes of bizarre musings over existentialism and an episode, I suspect was an info dump of sorts. The Nightmare Quiz show. Without introduction, Vincent, Re-l and their diminutive sidekick, the cogito infected autoreiv "Pino" (which I suspect is some kind of reference to Pinocchio) are in the middle of a jeopardy show. If they win by scoring enough points, the quiz show host die, if they don't get enough points, the contestants die. Most of the questions are trivia type questions, but every now and then, a relevant question gets sneaked in, like how many Proxies exists and the correct answer is 300. In an exciting finale, Vincent just manages to beat the score before the time is out (and the quiz show host gets killed, after 20+ successful shows) It ends as abruptly as it began and next episode picks up where the story left them, currently stranded in the wasteland on their way to Mosk, as the wind has died down. For all their tech, their vessel is wind powered and the dead calm leaves the little group in the middle of nowhere. Probably my favourite episode so far, as it's almost like a text book examination of the psychology behind the group mechanics. Pino, the autoreiv is acting like her original programming, like a slightly unruly 8 year old girl, Re-l tries to figure out more about Vincent, which is now known to be a Proxy, even if he doesn't seem to be aware of it or remember it himself. She complains about leaving the toilet seat up is how he asserts his manliness and pushing him off their vessel and watching him fall results in a note in her book "Vincent is left handed" because of the way he braced for his fall. Probable the first time during the show so far I laughed out loud Oh yeah, Re-l insist that her 3 minutes of water rationing for hair washing is not good enough and she wants 2 minutes of Vincents, because he's got short hair and can wash his much faster The whole episode is just so well put together, how they get stressed and get on each others nerves. Some definitely more than others. In the end, the wind suddenly starts picking up again and they are on their way. There is definitely something fishy about this otherwise nice Vincent guy!.... Vincent in his Proxy form... Re-l's head is just about to explode, trying to work out the mysteries of what the Proxies are and why they exist Edit: Re-l was originally accompanied by "Iggy", her entourage (which is the term used for personal aide type autoreiv's as far as I could work out) when setting out searching for Vincents trail in the wasteland. But he was infected and developed personality disorders, like both having a crush on his master and wanting to dispose of her. He ended up in... a non functional state.

Where is Borderlands 2 the Anime???

For some truly criminal acts against art... or whatever. Definitely some creative editing and sync'ing involved

Since Australian Federal elections are happening next month... new Honest Government Ads!

Finished episode 10 of Ergo Proxy... Vincent runs into other humans and autoreives (androids) in the wasteland. These are fighting each other, but Vincent gets shelter and some much needed food from the troopers (he had consigned himself to death by starvation before running into them). He's ostensibly looking for the place of his birth, a dome named Mosk, but runs into two other domes who appears to be in perpetual war (the human troops and autoreives fighting it out). Being incarcerated and then helped to escape, things happens fast and surreal for a while, turns out there are multiple "Proxy's", whatever they are. Seemingly also having some kind of aspect linked to them. Proxy of the Moon, Proxy of this and proxy of that. Turns out Vincent is not who he thought he was. When confronted by some questioning, he can't remember further back than he originates from Mosk, but can't remember what he actually did there. Accused of deliberately erasing his own memory, he eventually realizes he himself is a Proxy. Ergo Proxy, the Proxy of Death. Re-l catches up with him (she seems obsessed with finding out the truth about what's going on, which I suppose make her a good detective) and that's about where I'm at... Edit: Also a bit more background on one of the antagonists back in the original dome where the story start (the dome's name Romdeau btw). This guy, Raul is a very ambitious man, managing the bureau of security and doing the administrations every bidding while serving his own ambitions along the way. The Proxy that escaped in the first episode was apparently part of a project he was supervising and it originated from another dome, where Romdeau units had seized it forcefully and brought back to their own place for research. Of special interest being not their monstrous shapes or fighting capabilities, but their cells, Amrita cells, which have unique regenerative abilities (like the Mexican Axolotl)

Tyrion Lannister...

Which brings me back to a post I made not long ago... your government should always be challenged. Questioned. Examined. it's motivations cross examined. Held accountable. If not, you have willingly given away your rights (cue: death of a system run by the people).

It's like a bad dream you can't wake up from Hi @alanschugood to see you around again!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-60951030 There is something rotten in the state(s) of... Australia Australia election: Enter a lacklustre advert for democracy There has long been something Biblical about the prime ministership of Scott Morrison, a Pentecostal Christian who declared on the night of his bolt from the blue victory in the 2019 election: "I've always believed in miracles". Since then, much of his term in office has read like chapters from the Old Testament. There have been fires, floods and the pestilence of a global pandemic. Even his defiant stance towards China has a Manichean frame: a good versus evil struggle between freedom and authoritarianism - the "great polarisation", he calls it. Recently, he sought to imprint his faith-based politics on Australian law, by pushing unsuccessfully for a Religious Discrimination Act offering legal protections to people of faith who made "statements of belief" - a charter, claimed its opponents, for the homophobic and transphobic. Just one long BBC article highlighting the tip of the iceberg of Morrison's numerous Faux Pas's As for why the opposition isn't outright stream rolling the Liberal Party, they are still heavily backed by the church, the resource and fossil fuel industry and ever present Murdoch Media (making it a David against Goliath fight)

My effective tax rate is somewhere around 35% (averaging out the income brackets, which gets taxed differently for each bracket you pass through). I do have a private health insurance in addition to that, costing me around $300 a month. It's technically optional, but if I don't have it, I get taxed more to the point where there is no difference money wise. It just gives me the perks of a private health insurance. Still nothing compared to the very expensive German mandatory health insurance Funny thing, when you compare tax rates in European countries, there are things they sometimes don't tell you. Both Germany and England have some hefty "hidden" taxes. In Germany it was the health insurance, which is not part of the official tax rate, but it's also not optional (and the amount you pay depends on your income). In England it was the local council tax. Bloody hell that was a lot Edit: Tax rates in the Scandinavian countries (I'm not familiar with Finland and Iceland) sounds like it's very high, but compared to aforementioned, it includes more Edit2: I better correct myself, I'm not actually sure if the Aussie health insurance premiums are income dependent, I might have mixed that up with the German health insurance which was...