Gorth

The very idea that something can be beyond the control of The Party is probably very offensive to them.

I enjoyed Dark Matter and was really pissed off the last two seasons got cancelled (an arc of 5 seasons was originally planned when the project started)

Congrats on qualifying As for Italy... I can't find the link now, but the BBC pointed out some structural problems that has existed for several years now. Winning the UEFA Championship masked these problems for a while, but then they returned with a vengeance. The article looked at the lack of youth and grassroot work, how no Italian club teams have won anything for more than a decade and how insignificant the number of *young* players is in the system. Basically Italian football is dying of old age with no young stars to step in and step up to the plate

Just itching to get out of my hotel room. I can pick up the keys to my new place tomorrow afternoon, but the removal company can't deliver my furniture until the day after tomorrow. So, staying put for a few more days. To add insult to injury, the torrential rain is back and there is no going for a walk anywhere to relieve boredom

Yeah, World Cup, not World Series. This one has a lot of foreign teams in it

Some UK think tanks thoughts on the change of strategy... Russia's aim is slow and methodical capture of towns - military expert Dr Jack Watling, research fellow for land warfare at the London-based defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, gives his latest assessment of Russia's movements inside Ukraine ... The Russians advanced along more axes than they could sustain in the first part of the conflict, and are now in a position where they can only resource one axis at a time. At the moment, their priority seems to be to defeat Ukrainian forces in the Donbas if they can. Once they finish in Mariupol, they're likely to reinforce the axis against Kharkiv to the north of the Donbas. And so the intent is very much a slow and methodical capture of towns one by one, he concludes. The link also has a map courtesy of the UK MoD dating 26/03 Short version, Ukraine didn't roll over and die when asked to, so now the strategy has changed to a slow (bloody and costly too) grind... https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60890199 Also featuring a repeat story, that Zelensky is ready to consider the neutrality question, albeit not without a referendum.

The English players are currently discussing boycotting the WC because of Qatar's rather spotty human rights records... Nothing may come of it though, leaving it at discussing it.

This. So much this. If you feel entertained, enjoy it. Stop fretting about whether or not it meets some self imposed standards. Bring on the cheesiness and the nudity and the space opera worthy dialogue! Embrace it and wallow in it (I know I do)

Pravda, Sky News, Fox News, Daily Fail Mail, Bild (Germany), Ekstra Bladet (Denmark)... there are some tabloid sources that are just automatically disqualified as a reliable source of truth. There are probably also a lot of French, Spanish, Italian etc. sources falling into this category Edit: I should really add The Mirror too...

Just a reminder... these threads have so far run relatively smoothly, considering the topic being of big importance to a number of community members. A few posts have been removed, but considering the volume, not enough to do drastic things. So, please keep in mind, discussing the politics, consequences, military aspects, putting figures on losses, advances and lost territory, financial consequences, and especially humanitarian consequences is fine, but there are things that are not fine. Mocking the dead and dying, those grieving lost ones and wishing death on or encourage the killing of people/groups of people (even if it's Scott Morrison) is not Ok. Such posts will be removed. Remember today's enemy is tomorrows friend (ask Germany and France or the US and Japan).

I see neither. I guess that makes me no-brained

It has it's "erotic" moments and incidental nudity, but as far as I know (haven't finished the show yet), no sex scenes, real or implied. More like what you see on the images posted in this thread.

Watch the show

A bit about Gleipnir... it's basically about Aliens. Well, one alien. Simplified version: He distributes a potion that turns people into something they wish they were. Out protagonist turned into the silly looking toy dog purse, because that is what he was thinking about at the time. It's a large version of a small toy worn by a girl that he seems to have a bit of feelings for, subconsciously wishing he was that toy hanging at her side in a key ring. As for what the alien (which looks like some surfer/beach boy) wants out of it, their ship crashed and his fellow team members got scattered over a large area. They were in some kind of stasis, the consciousness stored in what looks like a coin with a star symbol on it. He offers to reward people who brings him coins by fulfilling more of their wishes. Imaging a genie in a bottle with more than 3 wishes. The protagonist is a nice guy and not all who met the alien are bad people, but humans being humans, some are. The good guys make it a goal to find as many coins as possible to prevent them from falling into the hands of some of the rather nasty monstrosities we've seen so far. /completely butchered story by leaving out 9/10 of the detail The girl with the cloak can go invisible, the girl with the helmet has bunny ears (she loved animals and wished she could talk with them), the giant bunny is just a big softie and the guy with the telescope head is... yes, a voyeur etc. etc. The other protagonist, Claire is not on the picture. She is the one that normally is inside the toy dog, "piloting" it. She has the ruthlessness that our protagonist lacks and she wants to find her missing sister, after her sister turned into a monster and killed their parents.

Sounds like Putin is focusing on plan C (or D or whatever) and redirecting efforts away from other areas to consolidate the land bridge to Crimea (which makes sense, considering Crimea has been without drinking water for years (after Kiev piled concrete into the rivers providing Crimea with drinking water years ago, effectively cutting off the peninsula's fresh water supply)

Australia has a problem... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-24/draft-leak-chinese-military-base-solomon-islands/100937632 "A draft official document – which emerged on social media on Thursday – lays down a framework which could permit Beijing to deploy forces to "protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in Solomon Islands". Bit of backstory, the current Solomon government decided to break ties with Taiwan (much to Beijing's joy) and the riots (because the people of Solomon did NOT agree with their leaders decision on that) that followed was put down with help of Australian troops. Let's hand Scott Morrison a bigger gun to shoot himself in the foot? Just to find out the current Solomon government is owned by mainland China and the plan all along was to put up military and naval bases on the Solomon Islands, effectively on Australia's eastern doorstep. Scott Morrison being helpful in crushing the popular resistance to it

Damn overachiever

Tiny Tina's Wonderland got itself an official launch trailer... still going to wait for feedback (yes, Borderlands 3 was that much of a disappointment)

I think season 2 is going to be on my to do list. Not stuff I can really binge watch, but it’s fun and relaxing watching just the odd episode every now and then Made it to episode 9 in Gleipnir. For some reason, it reminds me a bit of when I read Lord of Flies as a teenager. Creepy, exciting cringeworthy, sad, hopeful, all at the same time

Based on absolutely no hard, available facts, just a “feeling”, but if all of Londons valuable real estate is either owned by the Windsor family or Russian oligarchs, QE II might soon be the single largest land owner in the city (minus bits and pieces owned by the Saud family and other oil billionaires)

Sweden is probably still expecting Denmark to invade them some day, for a repeat of the Stockholm Bloodbath. Denmark has conscription too (at least they had when I was a young Dane). I got picked for civil defense duty, not the military. Most likely enemy we were going to face were East German and Polish armies. As for the current war, not sure there is a lot to negotiate about at the moment, as I doubt Putin himself knows what he wants... since he obviously can't have what he originally wanted and doesn't seem to have a plan b

Looks like I'll have a new address Tuesday next week, ending my short career as... I won't say homeless, because I would feel like I'm mocking the genuinely homeless, but the temporary without fixed address people, while living in a hotel. Still, feels nice to know I'll have an actual postal address again soon.

Good thing the world still have great humanitarians, like Belarus' Lukashenko (sp?), offering political asylum to persecuted Americans from the fascist dictatorship that is the US... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60843262 A California man suspected of taking part in the US Capitol riots last year has been granted asylum in Belarus. Evan Neumann fled the US after being charged in connection with the riots. The 48-year-old first settled in Ukraine, before reaching Belarus where he asked for asylum - claiming he faced "political persecution" in the US.

No, Ukraine is not difficult to traverse. Quite the opposite. It's big, flat, open land. Only obstacles are rivers and cities (and the weather, although the roads don't turn into mud like in WWII). There was a reason the Germans advanced so fast until the rain set in. Cities can be ignored if you have them surrounded and occupy the area around them. Deny them supplies and access to the air and they are just as much prisons as strongholds. Even medieval generals sometimes just put up enough siege to contain the defenders while ravaging the country side. No offense to the Iraqi's but the army was very much sub par quality (even the much reported on guard was little better than most western countries draftee's when it comes to training and equipment). Two main differences. Ukraine uses a lot of western technology. They have the local population on their side (well, western Ukraine anyway). Saddam Hussein inspired fear in his subjects, not loyalty. Ukrainians will actually grab guns and Molotov c0cktails and put up a fight. Iraqi's lined up in nice, orderly queues to surrender as fast as possible. Anything, for most of them, was better than Saddam. The US got it's strategic (military, not civilian... definitely not civilian) priorities right and focused on first knocking out anything that could pose a threat. Radar, SAM, Airports, supply lines (anyone remember those pictures of endless columns of burned out vehicles on the road?), meaning they could move unopposed in the air and use air power as interdiction and disruption rather than just very expensive long range cannons. It really looks like Putin thinks like a KGB agent, not an army general. Except, his assumptions are so wrong, he would make a very poor KGB agent.

I tried starting the game up over the weekend. Just sat there staring at one of my characters on the screen for a while. Just couldn’t get into it at all again I think the whole knights of the eternal grind thing just left me in some kind of gamers ptsd Or maybe other mmos spoiled me