Gorth

The problem is too much nationalism and too little democracy. They could try what Denmark and Germany did post WWII? Rather than claiming all historical Danish territories all the way down to Hamburg, it was agreed to create a number of "electoral areas" (it's been a long time since I read up on it, so I don't remember the correct term used at the time, sorry), where the population is actually asked whether they want to be part of Denmark or Germany. Also with the caveat, that no matter how hard you try, minorities will exist on the other side of the border. Their rights have to be ensured and protected. I.e. the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein is exempt from the 5% minimum threshold for seats in the regional parliament and both German and Danish are accepted as languages in education on both sides of the border (the way the border ended up after the 3 regional referendums, 1 area re-joined Denmark, 2 areas preferred to remain German). Of course, Germany had just lost WWII, so it was that or lose all the territory. But I could think of quite a few other places in the world, where a similar approach would be beneficial for long term peace. Ukraine and Russia are both horribly nationalist, so they might need to feel a bit of pain before such good ideas penetrates their skulls. Ukraine is sort of the opposite case, where after the change of government in 1994, the new right wing extremist government decided to go 100% Ukraine uber alles, cracking down on Russian minorities in both Crimea and eastern Ukraine, disallowing the use of the Russian language etc. The reaction was anything if not predictable (referendum in Crimea, which they were fully entitled to, having never been legitimately part of Ukraine post 1991) and violent uprisings in eastern Ukraine. The Kurds is another example (since I mentioned them originally), which is never going to happen with somebody like Erdogan in power, because his power base is entirely nationalist rhetoric. A place that is actually peaceful at the moment is the Swedish occupied parts of Denmark (Scania), where you have to search long and hard for any armed resistance groups. Guess what, the cultural and ethnic differences between Denmark and Sweden is not large enough today to stir up unrest (again, something I referred to in my original post). If you want to do the world a favour, stop thinking like it's 1648 and support democracy instead. Especially local democracy and the right of people for self determination.

Booked myself for a covid booster shot. Decided to try "Moderna" this time. Just to try a different flavour Besides, I've been told, mixing the shots is like a drinking at a bar. You get more bang for your buck

Bruce, you have to stop confusing "sovereign country" with homogeneous country. Lines on a map that ignores the ethnic realities on the ground aren't worth the paper the map makers used. You would have thought the UK of all things, learned that after the cluster**** that was the middle-east after WWI. The Kurds sends their regards btw. Unless you can unify the population culturally, forget about stability. Nationalism only exacerbates the problem. The increased kill count makes for good news coverage, but little else.

I finished Fire Force season 2. Not quite as good as season 1, but still entertaining. Will do a summary at some point (I sort of binge watched 24 episodes in 3 days, makes it a bit hard to remember the chronological order of events... Also watched a movie, Made in Abyss - Dawn of the Deep Soul. Depressing enough to make even Nordic people happy Sort of bridging the gap between what has gone on in Season 1 plus the movies and what is hopefully going to be season 2.

Biden shut down the keystone pipeline (the closure of the oil flow through which, is apparently the reason gas prices are up) As the professor points out, it isn't even built yet, so no oil ever flowed through it. Shows the level of intelligence employed by Murdoch.

Meh, too easy. France, England and Spain in that order. Next...

Because I love the voice of this fabulous Faeroese lady... A cover version of Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat

Meat Loaf... No more bats out of hell for you Edit:...

The most ubiquitous of troop carriers was around already in antiquity. Behold, the humble shoe, transporting soldiers all over the Roman Empire!

Not quite as the Nicaean Council… close but not quite

Recycled a bunch of posts to start a new thread.... Previous thread variant: That reminds me, it's time to book a booster shot

Thread hit its expiry date... more sick stuff here

With our luck, we'll get an RTS in the Arcanum setting Edit: J/k, but I do think the big wigs are going to look at profitability of settings cross referenced with game types

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60034058 Despair all ye playstation fans... share the gnashing of teeth with Sony. Shares in Japanese technology giant Sony have slumped in Tokyo trade after Microsoft said it plans to buy mega games company Activision Blizzard. The deal worth $68.7bn (£50.5bn), would be Microsoft's biggest ever buyout and the largest deal in gaming history. It would see the US firm owning popular gaming franchises including Call of Duty, Warcraft and Overwatch. The deal would be a major step for Microsoft's Xbox gaming brand in its battle against Sony's PlayStation.

It's THERE dammit... If you ask the Chinese, they will tell you they have millions of immigrants, ethnic Tibetans, Uighurs etc. who have all been welcomed into the Chinese motherland. Russia has also welcomed a hundreds of thousands of immigrants, many of them even bringing their own land in Donbas and Crimea when they moved to Russia! Ok, that wasn't meant seriously. I do think (seriously), that while the US is barely out of legal racism (people of colour are now allowed to marry white people legally in the South, can even use the same public transport). It's still a brand new thing though, in a historical context. The racism is still embedded very deeply on a societal and cultural level, even if not on a legislative level anymore.

So, you’re saying it’s just like Darwin’s theory of evolution. It was also considered revisionist blasphemy for a long time. Banned, blocked, obstructed until only a few backwards places still argue that it had noting on it

That's what I was thinking too... creepy pervs that those politicians are at times After a few months of listening to how their kids behave in class, some parents might start to have misgivings about the whole thing?

It's not the size of you hard disk that matters, it's how you use it

My 2x6tb are almost full. Looking at options atm

Lets put it in another way, since you usually are a stickler for rules and legality of things. He flat out lied on his visa declaration. No entry. End of story.

I finished Fire Force season 1. Rather than trying to give a run down on an episode by episode basis, I'll try to outline the story arc for the main story and key characters from where I left off... Main story, the 8th having not had a science team nor engineering since it's foundation, gets assigned a dyed in the wool geek "Victor Licht" by Hajima Corporation, the kind that would stand in the middle of an explosion to record the effects up close and personal, where no scientist had gone before. Not very clever, no situational awareness, but a gifted scientist indeed. The engineer, "Vulcan", got his own story arc spanning multiple episodes. Vulcan has sort of adopted his own little family by picking up a few stray people. A little boy "Yu" and the girl "Lisa". Turns out Lisa was a traitor all along, working for the Evangelist. Vulcans dad and grand dad were all "tinkerers" creating a number of inventions. Both were murdered by his granddads other apprentice, which is revealed to be Dr. Giovanni, captain of the 3rd company. Turns out the good captain and a significant part of 3rd were all traitors. Dr. Givanni and several of the Evangelists henchmen shows up, surrounding Vulcans shed, wanted something called "The Key". Vulcan has no idea what they're talking about, but it turns out his dad and granddad were the ones creating the perpetual power plant that is the whole foundation of the New Tokyo Empire, the energy source being an eternally burning flame. It's not specified what the key can do to the power plant. The henchmen are all named after their "ability", so the sniper is "Archer", the burly guy who can conjure a giant, flaming mace is "mace" (groan) and the guy who can summon endless illusions to attack them is "mirage". Eventually they all get sent packing and Lisa ends up a sobbing wreck, not knowing where her loyalties lies anymore. In the end, Vulcan joins the 8th, breaking his oath to his dad and grandad, about never working together with anyone affiliated with Hajima Corporation again. Victor works out where they attacker may have come from and all of them head to "The Nether". I.e. the netherworld. Another name for the subway system that existed in Tokyo before the apocalypse centuries ago (before the world got almost entirely consumed by a giant conflagration, resulting in the post apocalyptic world of "now"). Lots of fighting later, the 8th knows a bit more about their enemies. Through the whole series, they have been referring to "Adolla Bursts" and "Adolla Links" when discussing their special abilities and Shinra's in particular. "Adolla" turns out to be a different dimension and the spontaneous human combustion and the second and third generation pyrokinetics abilities are in reality dimensional holes, letting in fire from this other dimension. Which btw turns out to be the biblical hell (literally), complete with a bright, white sky and a ground covered in blackened skeletal beings and sooty fires everywhere. It took 10 episodes since the last time it happened, before poor Tamaki (aka Nekomata or Cat Girl) lost her clothes again She is also on suspension. Seemingly permanent, because something interferes every time the opportunity is there for her to get her suspension lifted. Doesn't prevent her from being in all the fights though. Princess Hibana is really warming up the Shinra, the pupils of her eyes turning into little hearts whenever she looks at him. He however seems to have the hots for the sister (Iris, the nun), featuring in some steamy dreams of his. Shinra eventually finds and confronts his little brother, which he knew didn't die in the fire 12 years ago. Turns out Sho (the brother) is an almost omnipotent being, which can manipulated time and space and phase in and out at will between reality and the dimension that is hell. After an long and hard fight, Shinra almost manages to knock some sense (and memory) back into Sho, but they get interrupted by The Evangelists henchmen, "Fog", "Mirage" and "Mace" (iirc) and a few more, very powerful and rather disturbing individuals, which I doubt are all humans. More like gibbering, half- to fully mad demons in human lookalike form. Part of the exposition is the goals of The Evangelist. The cataclysm was just a misfire. The true conflagration that shall consume Earth completely is the goal. Captain Burns (of the 1st company) finally comes clean with what happened the knight Shinra's mother died and his brother was abducted. The Evangelists henchmen were active even then and the demonic infernal Shinra remember seeing taking his brother away was his mother turning into an infernal. I.e. both are still alive and in the service of The Evangelist. The captain of the 6th is introduced as an extraordinary healer when it comes to healing "gifted" people. One of the sisters of the 6th is the grand daughter of the captain of the 3rd. Shinra asks the sister if she could arrange for him to talk to the captain (story ends before anything happens there though) Yes, I left out like 90% of what happened. Just the gist of it. It's part drama, lots of tragedy and also a lot of completely unapologetic humour, where the art style turns into comic book style, simplified drawings to emphasize the comedic parts. Victor the science guy Vulcan, engineer extraordinaire... he also dreams of restoring animal life back to Earth some day Lisa... the one he couldn't "repair" (yet, season 2 is next) "Fog" living up to his name... obscuring the battlefield and helping to separate the members of the 8th That "other" dimension, which Sho, Shinra and others are somehow linked to Sho and Shinra facing off The weather forecast for Tokyo... a hot day The Evangelist with baby Sho on his/her lap and Shinras (now Demon) mother Princess Hinabe. Not sure what the idea is, but a lot of characters besides her have "weird" eyes with symbols in the them Shinra and Arthur constant bickering, trying to outdo each other in words and deeds. Like siblings on steroids...

Now at episode 12... The gathered intelligence has been shared with the powers that be and The Emperor has summoned all 8 company captains to the palace. New orders, finding The Evangelist is a priority. Their only connection, the Lieutenant-Preacher from 1st company which died, wasn't killed by any Special Fire Force soldier, but a sniper team sent by The Evangelist to cover their tracks. Episode 11 is mostly about 7th company, which is literally a gang, that got press-ganged into becoming a company. They still act like a gang, although they 8th manages to almost get on friendly terms with them (part of the story of episodes 10-12). Behind the scenes, The Evangelist is issuing orders to exterminate the Special Fire Force units as they are now seemingly getting a bit too close for comfort. He sets a trap with some kind of illusion trick, making the captain of the 7th watch a scene where the captain and second of command of the 8th are openly discussing how to turn the entire neighbourhood into infernals. Like duh, obvious bait is obvious, right? Except he swallows it raw and wants to kill them all right away. A bit of "bits and pieces" from the conversations involving The Evangelists henchmen, hints at them being fanatic Sol worshipers, who wants to turn Earth into a new Sol ("Sun") by igniting it completely. If you're an old Warhammer 40k fan, there's of course nothing outrageous or unusual in that way of thinking.... From the exciting lives of the 8th... finding tracks and traces of any references that can give clues... in thousands upon thousands of reports

I'm fairly sure the top 2/3 of the picture is fan art, not fan service. I just thought it illustrated her attitude and world view so well That being said, yeah, it probably has its fair share of fan service. Mostly Tamaki's clothes that seems to catch fire leaving her in her underwear, someone tripping and landing with his head between her boobs (complete with squeaky sound etc.)... so if that disturbs your sensibilities, you'll probably be cut off from a fair share of anime out there I guess I like it so far. If it doesn't keep me interested, I can put it aside and waste just a few hours of my life (the time from I begin thinking it sucks to actually dropping it). Unlike Mieruko-chan, which I bought, this one is free on crunchyroll, so I didn't feel too bad about giving it a try. Edit: Tamaki does look hot in her black underwear though (yes, bad pun), so I'm not too upset about it

Frankly, that very much matches my own experiences with stuff bought in Australia (most stuff here is approx 99% made in China, with a few clothing pieces made in Bangladesh and some quality, by comparison, electronics made in Taiwan) First time I really noted it was when buying some interim cutlery (waiting for my old Made in Germany cutlery to get shipped down under). One visit to the dishwasher and the "stainless" Chinese stuff started corroding. My German cutlery is now 35 years old and not a single spot on any of the pieces, despite literally hundreds upon hundreds of visits to the dishwasher over the decades. I've always believed since that observation, that you get exactly what you pay for (insert some unflattering adjectives here)

Watched more episodes of Fire Force (up to and including episode 9). It's a bit hard writing about individual episodes as it is a continuous story, overlapping multiple episodes, so just a few "highlights". Our protagonist (whose name btw is Shinra) and other parts of 8th Company learns more about the 5th company's hoarding of information (presumably passing it on the Hajima Corporation) and decides to take action. A night assault penetrates the 5th's defenses and they gain access to the research they've been hiding. Learning amongst other things, that a number of the "Infernals" (the fiery demons resulting from the self immolated people) have been found to have insect dna in them. I.e. an important clue to the suspicion, that it isn't an entirely naturally occurring phenomenon. Enter stage left, the captain of the 5th company, Princess Hibana, who is one of those infuriatingly condescending people, who considers everyone and anything either below her or her playthings. Long story short, she eventually gets to see things differently and agrees to help the 8th in finding out who's behind it. A bit of logic applied and someone works out, that a number of those corpses originates from the 1st company's territory. Through a rookie exchange program, Shinra and Arthur (the Knight King wannaba) gets tasked with an undercover assignment, to infiltrate 1st company (the biggest, most resourceful and most powerful company, with the church itself as its patron). No rundown, repurposed buildings or small numbers here. Shinra manages to observe from a distance, how somebody's arm suddenly reaches out from a building, and squeezes a small glass jar against the back of a civilian, before the civilian start bursting into flames. Turns out there was something rotten in the 1st company. One of the Lieutenant-Preachers has been doing a bit of work on the side for someone he calls "The Evangelist", experimenting a lot on people, preferably children, setting them alight, looking for a "compatible" individual that can host the "pilot light" (he doesn't expand on that, before eventually getting taken down). The captain of the 1st (which Shinra suspect knows more about his mother and brothers death in the fire) also introduces himself as a badass, taking on both Shinra and Arthur at the same time and wipes the floor with them in an introduction sparring bout. So much for trying to beat the truth out of him I guess... Also introduced is Tamaki, a something annoying, yet funny character with a "lucky lecher" curse, which seems to always bring her into embarrassing situations, usually a result of weird accidents. Iris is the resident nun at the 8th, and a major reason that Princess Hibana was convinced to have a change of heart (they grew up in a convent together as kids until they watched all the other kids burn to death). Other notable characters (good guys) for now, are two ex military people, Takehisa who is the 8th second in command and Maki, who kicks everybodys ass at intervals with some impressive close combat skills and the company captain, Akitaru who is sort of an idealized commander with all the right traits.