Gorth

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.

5’4”…. All the more impressive that a sniper could hit such a small target

They always seems to have a hard time playing for hours in 40c, so many players might actually feel a bit relieved if it were to happen. Best thing I ever personally saw at an Australian Open was Billy Idol performing live

Yeah, I'm heartbroken...

3 episodes into Fire Force. Not bad so far (despite some worrying posts in this thread). Still 21 episodes to go of course The protagonist joins the firefighters 8th company and first episode is a basic introduction to the scenario and the protagonist. His mother and little brother were killed in a fire and he was blamed for it (he didn't do it). Since he couldn't protect his loved ones, he decides to protect as many people as possible from the scourge of self immolation that has popped up all over the world, creating social unrest and deterioration of existing nations. His home "country" is The Empire of Tokyo, which is basically an extended city state with a church, a government and a corporation running it. Second episode introduces a second character, which immediately is at odds with our protagonist. A self proclaimed "knight... king", role playing a knight. Both rookies are assigned the task of participating in the annual rookie games (an annual event where the various companies new rookies compete against each other). Third episode is about the rookie games and the protagonist finding somebody (the captain of 1st company) he thinks he remembers from the past and he also believes knows more about his family's death. The rookie games turns out to be a trap and he is confronted by someone who definitely knows a lot and offers him a choice, to be a hero and live on in ignorance or become a devil and he'll share what he knows with our protagonist. Bit of background, people have begun being born with innate pyrokinetic powers, which manifest themselves in different ways. The characters are labeled as such when they are presented, i.e. "unpowered", "second generation", "third generation" etc. The protagonist has the power to ignite his feet and produce a significant force propelling him around (including up in the air) fast. The firefighter squads are equipped with various tools and different roles, from praying nuns (they worship "Sol" in Tokyo) to chemical fire extinguishing material to fully automatic assault rifles. Something about watching his mother die in the flames, caused the protagonist to develop a weird tic, where when he gets nervous, his face puts (unwillingly) a smug, evil looking smile, earning him the nickname "demon" (which is also sort of a pun the guy above was playing on). The self immolation of people, doesn't just turn them into ashes. It turns them into fiery demons (aka "Infernals"), often being a danger to their surroundings and they are very hard to kill. Hence special forces needed to deal with them. Part of the Fire Force mandate is, besides putting them out of their misery, to try to track down the possible source(s) of the infliction. But despite having had years to do so, none is any the wiser. The captain of the 8th, reveals his suspicion that the 7 other companies, all having different patrons (i.e. 1st company backed by the church, 5th backed by the corporation etc.), are hoarding any knowledge for themselves rather than sharing it. Hence why they haven't really gotten any closer to figuring out why it happens. I'll watch some more episodes before trying to give an actual character rundown of the main npcs, as I suspect, even if there is stuff to tell now, there will a lot more to tell in say 5 episodes time

Their intentions sounds very un-American, don't they?

A bit past it's due date. Time for a new thread and... I was about to say, something new. Not sure about that one actually Next thread:

Repurposing a few posts to start a new thread... Old thread

Nostalgia time... from before Gorth was a teenager (just a big kid with access to his parents radio, no music videos or anything that fancy available on TV or elsewhere in Denmark in the 70's)

A nice definition of socialism... (from a comparison to communism) https://www.thoughtco.com/difference-between-communism-and-socialism-195448 Key Similarities Communism and socialism both grew out of grass-roots opposition to the exploitation of workers by wealthy businesses during the Industrial Revolution. Both assume that all goods and services will be produced by government-controlled institutions or collective organizations rather than by privately-owned businesses. In addition, the central government is mainly responsible for all aspects of economic planning, including matters of supply and demand. Key Differences Under communism, the people are compensated or provided for based on their needs. In a pure communist society, the government provides most or all food, clothing, housing and other necessities based on what it considers to be the needs of the people. Socialism is based on the premise the people will be compensated based on their level of individual contribution to the economy. Effort and innovation are thus rewarded under socialism. What tends to work better (compared to the above) What Is a Social Democracy? Democratic socialism is an economic, social, and political ideology holding that while both the society and economy should be run democratically, they should be dedicated to meeting the needs of the people as a whole, rather than encouraging individual prosperity as in capitalism. Democratic socialists advocate the transition of society from capitalism to socialism through existing participatory democratic processes, rather than revolution as characterized by orthodox Marxism. Universally-used services such as housing, utilities, mass transit, and health care are distributed by the government, while consumer goods are distributed by a capitalistic free market.

Entirely personal view... I find the guy disgusting and hope he gets deported. Unhappy that the Victorian government didn't narrow down the exceptions to the vaccine requirements better. Thaat being said, I think even the Serbian PM may have second thoughts about how great a man he is, as it looks like he may have given false Visa declarations, having traveled around while being Covid positive. Not only that, but being seen mingling with people with no distancing and no mask (and no vaccination) 24 hours after having receive his positive test result. I.e. knowingly exposing other people to the virus.

No, Venezuela is not a good example. Nor is Cuba, although you could argue 50 years of near total blockade has done more to hurt Cubans than the actual politics. From worldpopulationreview.com.com Failed Socialist Countries The largest of the failed socialist countries is the Soviet Union, which fell in 1991. Following World War II, the United States helped rebuild Western European countries, all of whom were free marketing economies that rebuilt rapidly by establishing the European Union and trading with one another. On the other hand, the Soviet Union seized government control of Eastern European nations, all of which became socialist states. These included: Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Belarus, and Ukraine. While East Germany reunified with West Germany and joined the thriving EU economy, the rest of the Eastern European countries faced economic hardship after the Soviet Union fell. Many of these countries remain the poorest European countries today. Additionally, both Cuba and Venezuela are currently socialist states facing their own economic crises deemed a result of socialism. Successful Socialist Countries Some argue that there has been no completely socialist country that has been successful, only countries that have seen success in adopting socialist policies. Bolivia is an example of a prosperous socialist country. Bolivia has drastically cut extreme poverty and has the highest GDP growth rate in South America. Other countries that have adopted and enacted socialist ideas and policies to various degrees, and have seen success in improving their societies by doing so, are Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.

Just when you thought Djokovic was the most hated man in Australia.... https://doublebaytoday.com/latest-polling-shows-more-australians-want-scott-morrison-deported-than-novak-djokovic/ Polling company Newspoll interviewed a random sample of 5,600 Australian voters, asking who they’d like to deport more. “It was a tight contest, but 52% of respondents chose Scott Morrison,” says Newspoll’s Lyle Sims. “That’s 4 percentage points more than Novak Djokovic.” The result will come as a major wake up call for the coalition, just months out from the federal election. I stand corrected, Scott Morrison might be the most hated man in Australia. The upcoming election is going to be interesting. One can always hope he's gone for good and the Australian Liberal Party gets relegated to the history books. Stories to scare kids with in the future.

An impressive feat of engineering, the Apollo Guidance Computer (the computer built for the Apollo that landed on the moon) Weight: 32kg, power consumption 55 Watt (yes, fifty five) and 2 Kilo Words of memory (a unit I haven't seen since Computer Science classes back in University)!

Maybe it was just a few too many mushrooms?... people do weird things after eating mushrooms

I like this Dutch tradition... more countries should use it to keep their politicians in line!

The problem (as far as I see it) is the quality of the camps and the staff... private security is the runt of the litter so to speak. People get abused, killed etc. in the camps. When locals attacked one of the camps, the guards turned tail and left the detainees to be attacked (and killed) by angry local mobs. It's one thing to make it an unattractive option to arrive illegally, it's another to cause the death of people.

Iirc, the term used here is “offshore detention camps”. The idea behind them being, anyone trying to force their way into Australia (I.e. it’s really aimed at boats and the people smugglers who used to operate them) will forever be banned from getting access to Australia. You can still apply for asylum and refugee status as long as you do it overseas. The moment you set a foot on the ground uninvited, you’re disqualified. Edit: People get sent offshore, get processed and either returned to country of origin or if that country doesn't want them back, offered to be repatriated to places like Papua New-Guinea (i.e. making it non attractive for economic migrants)

I remember OCZ advertising alternatives to keyboards years ago... https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1766/ocz_neural_impulse_actuator_mind_over_hand/index.html

It doesn't have anything to do with another 'G'?

A jaded gamer is still a gamer

I mentioned elsewhere, federal election is going to happen this year. @Guard Dogmight appreciate this bit about independent mp's

Why is common sense so uncommon?

Stealing setting and plot from wiki... Setting The Great Cataclysm is an event that happened two hundred and fifty years ago, 50 years before the Solar year 0. During it, the world was set on fire, and many nations were wiped out with very few habitable areas left in the aftermath. The survivors took refuge in the Tokyo Empire, which remained mostly stable during the period despite losing some of its landmass. The Tokyo Emperor Raffles I establishes the faith of the Holy Sol Temple as it and Haijima Industries developed the perpetual thermal energy plant Amaterasu to power the country. In Year 198 of Tokyo's Solar Era, special fire brigades called the Fire Force fight increasing incidents of spontaneous human combustion where human beings are turned into living infernos called "Infernals".[Jp. 3] While the Infernals are first generation cases of spontaneous human combustion, with more powerful horned variations known as Demons, later generations possess pyrokinesis while retaining human form. The Fire Force was formed by combining people with these powers from the Holy Sol Temple, The Tokyo Armed Forces, and the Fire Defense Agency, and is composed of eight independent companies. Plot Shinra Kusakabe is a third generation pyrokinetic youth who gained the nickname "Devil's Footprints" for his ability to ignite his feet at will, and was ostracized as a child for the fire that killed his mother and younger brother Sho twelve years ago. He joins Special Fire Force Company 8, which features other pyrokinetics who dedicated themselves to ending the Infernal attacks for good while investigating Companies 1 through 7 for potential corruption in their ranks. Shinra begins to learn that the fire that killed his mother was a cover for Sho to be taken by the White Clad, a doomsday cult behind the Infernal attacks with agents within the facets of the Tokyo Empire. Company 8 and their allies oppose the White Clad while learning of their goal to gather eight individuals like Shinra and Sho to repeat the Great Cataclysm for an ancient being who manipulated humanity for that very purpose.

Found something new to watch... first season of Fire Force (Enen no Shouboutai). Looks like this thing's hot! 24 Episodes though. Completion is going to depend on the quality of the first half dozen episodes.