Gromnir

am knowing there is big fans o' dune (1984). ... other than pugs, is little positive we may say 'bout the david lynch dune. recognizing the limited budget, syfy's dune miniseries were superior in most respects to dune 84. however, alec newman, in his mid twenties, did a much better job in the children of dune sequel than he did in original the miniseries. am thinking newman were trying too hard to convince us he were younger than he appeared, and so we got a curiously petulant and immature paul. also, william hurt made it painful obvious he wanted to be anywhere but in front o' a camera for all his scenes. nevertheless, the syfy version were much more faithful (not always a good thing) and better directed than the lynch version. suggestion: don't bother digging out the dvds if you can find a copy o' the syfy version. however, if pugs make a huge difference... HA! Good Fun!

it seems am living at the place where all the smoke is backing up. https://weather.com/weather/today/l/dc669994ba0ee5c8369bc4f5648a861560bbcac2e8427d7f5dea5b62dc8701cf current air quality index for our specific location says 282 (very unhealthy). were 307 earlier today and +300 most o' yesterday. am consistent 75-100 worse than sacramento, which is down in the valley from us and only 24 miles to the west. checked and south lake tahoe is a smidge worse than san jose for air quality, even at +6,200' (1900m.) gotta get near halfway cross nevada (north) before air quality becomes typical? we considered taking the dogs on a road trip and staying at our place in idaho, but air quality there is only slight better than san jose. might still make the trip if the dogs show any signs o' discomfort other than stir craziness resulting from extreme reduced walks. is an entire western US issue. no ez escape. is 'bout as bad as it were a couple years ago and am hopeful this ain't some kinda new cycle which gets repeated any year when rainfall is a bit lower than normal. borderline unlivable. covid-19 guidelines suggest we should get outdoors and take advantage o' those healthy activities which as a natural consequence lead to social distancing. tough to find much joy in the great outdoors when air quality is hovering constant 'tween "very unhealthy" and "hazardous." HA! Good Fun!

individuals in the media and public are, for the most part, not surprised by trump's brobdingnagian ignorance and willful obtuseness. how could anybody be surprised at this point? individual examples do continue to shock, but the ignorance and corruption is not surprise worthy. is misplaced faith in human nature which propels journalists forward to continue doing their job in spite o' daily proof such doesn't matter. there is also a duty to current and future generations to speak truth to power. media keeps presenting such stories because is their job to do so and 'cause there is a collective and a mistaken belief that trump supporters, and other shiboleth wielding troglodytes, are people capable o' reason. surely this new story is impossible to ignore. HA! and again, please recognize how truth which is so elusive in 2020 will be far less blurry in 2030. journalists is not speaking only to bruce today but to older and wiser bruce decades remote. in the past we were told trump lies weren't lies w/o documents and witnesses and tapes to support such claims. got witnesses? well, they is all liars. this time you got trump on tape, but now the narrative is a kinda perverse denial which simultaneous claims there were no lies while also insisting that the lies, which didn't happen, were examples o' real leadership in a crisis. at a time when the most reasonable means o' combating covid-19 were a communitywide dedication to social distancing and mask wearing in situations where social distance were impractical, we had a President not making a concerted effort to stockpile and produce ppe while encouraging business and states to remain open... daily examples o' denigrating mask wearing behaviours and undercutting social distancing messaging. leadership indeed. trump will scare you with apocalyptic visions o' blm protesters, radical democrats, illegal immigrants and terrorist muslims, but covid-19 is different. trump knows how, unlike the people o' germany or south korea, americans can't handle the truth 'bout covid-19. of course this will be the story which finally breaks trumper resolve. of course not. trump has radicalized his base using the language and means o' those same groups he were telling us to fear in 2015. the trump loyalists is immune to whatever is the revelation o' this story or the next. doesn't mean the press should stop reporting. is gonna be an accounting in the years to come. as a nation we are gonna need reflect on just how much were excused, ignored and sacrificed in the name o' existential fear and nationalist pride. each report by responsible media adds to the ledger and those who supported or simple went along with trump will not be able to pretend they never knew. is imperative each new violation o' law and decency be reported. all too often futility is the excuse for staying silent and impotent as mere witnesses to wrongdoing. as much as trump's failures and misdeeds is being recorded, so too is those witnesses who cheered him forward, or remained mute 'cause their fear o' immigrants, democrats and muslims were even greater than their fear o' covid-19 or crumbling democracy. alternative to bruce admonishment: keep reporting the futile as if the next terrible reveal will be the one which changes hearts and minds. to do otherwise would be irresponsible. bob woodward were not elected POTUS. bob woodward didn't take an oath to defend nation and the Constitution. HA! Good Fun!

another in the file o' callous d-bags who do not care 'bout the 3-4 degrees o' separation 'tween infected (but otherwise healthy) to the eventual and predictable covid riddled corpses. WE ALL HAVE COVID, LET'S PARTY!!! HA! Good Fun!

is curious how often this song gets subverted by the people fogerty were targeting. will concede our prefered ccr song is the following: how a bunch o' bay area guys became inextricable linked with southern rock is curious and wonderful. HA! Good Fun!

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is a trailer, which means we take almost nothing from it. however, am gonna admit the internal monologuing bothers us. didn't work in the previous dune. didn't work well in blade runner neither, which is why the director's cut is superior in that film. show, don't tell. a competent director with capable actors/actresses should be able to communicate to us both emotion and detail w/o resorting to the whispered internal monologue. perhaps such cringe and crutch material is limited in the movie and the trailer misrepresents. hope so. HA! Good Fun!

so, addition by subtraction? take out non-specific quantity o' world building and character development may improve a title? ... well, that doesn't sound right. perhaps an effort to improve what is wrong with the poe2 implementation might be more constructive. if a game is 'posed to be having an enhanced focus on action as 'posed to being narrative driven, then world building and character development actual requires more deftness as 'posed to less and simple abandoning those aspects feels like an admission o' lack o' capacity as 'posed to an enlightened design direction. an imperative to get to the killing/action asap does indeed require more economy from the writer/developer. reduce the word count and tangential subplots? streamline? cut out any detail not necessary to advance plot or develop character? hemingway would approve. implication that somehow, "worldbuilding, characterization of your companions, and the depth of the plot," is obstacles to fun is antithetical to our personal notions o' game development. anybody else? games. whether is a crpg or chess, gameplay is fundamental to a game. am thinking it should be obvious that story, where appropriate, should enhance gameplay. story advancement may be the most important aspect o' gameplay as were the case in ps:t. however, ps:t were not a model for every crpg and its relative financial failure makes it a dubious benchmark for any future crpg. get no argument from us that focus on narrative elements is other than a constant in games and is not even the goal o' all crpgs. am not doubting avowed will be more economical with its worldbuilding, character development and depth o' plot. am disturbed by the suggestion such aspects is implied to be obstacles to fun. am gonna once again suggest the game developers look to children's books for guidance. is a whole lotta excellent children's literature which we suggest is as deep or profound as any fiction written for so-called adults. we will (warning:sweary) cut you if you try and tell us the works o' lewis carroll, norton juster and neil gaiman is childish when they were writing for children. a competent children's author understands the functional attention span o' their audience and they necessarily reduce all the extraneous navel gazing baggage and tedious world building exposition which would appear to be distractions for many an author o' grownups fiction. crpg developers could learn valuable lessons by reading more children's fiction (and graphic novels) as 'posed to lotr and similar. for avowed, obsidian should pretend their audience has the focus and intellect o' precocious eleven year olds. (overly optimistic?) don't sacrifice world building and character development or plot. recognize instead how such elements must be communicated with greater economy and focus. is not addition by subtraction. should instead be a recognition the developers have fewer dialog encounters and a smaller word count to do the same job o' world building and character development. more skill. more deftness. more clever and creative. should be emphasis on more and not less. HA! Good Fun!

nice story, but in typical Gromnir fashion, am gonna mess it up a bit. am not a fan o' how k9 units is frequent utilized. the horrific wounds a k9 may deliver to a fleeing or resisting suspect is inexplicable okie dokie even if a human police officer would be justifiable criticized for delivering similar injuries. advice to future and current felons frequenting this board: if there is a k9 present, surrender. on tv and in movies, the felon or hero may escape the k-9 with perhaps a bite wound that may need be bandaged by the hot female costar... with the bandage and/or wound disappearing w/i a couple future scenes. hop a fence or dash through a doorway. surrender. the wounds we has seen from k9 units is no joke and the number o' folks who actual manage to outrun a dog and reach safety is almost urban legend worthy. do self a favor and surrender. however, ain't the dog's fault, so am all in favor o' the vest crusade. HA! Good Fun! ps the extremity o' dog bite wounds, including face wounds, made us feel genuine sympathy for convicted felons and accused murderers and car jackers.

not sure what the problem for us is, but have tried three times to watch the boys s2:e1. amazon insists we are at the 47 minute mark, but this must be one o' those weird event horizon time paradoxes 'cause it sure feels as if has been many hours. we will eventual muscle through the last fifteen minutes or so, but at the moment watching the boys is work as 'posed to entertainment... and is not as if the episode is particular bad neither. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

do you genuine want the lesson? am gonna give you a chance to rethink. we can point out the first bank of the united states (1791) and mcculloch v. maryland (1819) (which you shoulda' been taught in school) which pretty much ends the purist 10th amendment argument. is not arguable, in 2020. is so freaking well established and clear the framers didn't read as does gd seeing as how they immediate started creating institutions which undercut such an argument. however, the 14th amendment is gd's big hurdle as equal protection were introduced and brown v. board o' education were the proverbial final nail in the coffin. once we combine necessary and proper clause with equal protection, is functional a legal impossibility to ignore the capacity for US fed education oversight. you now know where to look and what is relevant topics to self-educate, but we will cut you. HA! Good Fun! ps south dakota v. dole. am not sure why we forgot to mention, is essential. the fed doesn't actual mandate education standards as many believe. states is free to educate as they will. however, the fed doesn't need give money to the states if they fail to meet various benchmarks and standards.

“The supposed canons of GOP orthodoxy—limited government, free enterprise, institutional conservation, moral rectitude, fiscal restraint, global leadership—have in recent years gone from elastic to expendable.” the problem for us is that we remain a traditional conservative save for our libertarian streak insofar as personal freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. am hardly able to recognize the republican party o' 2020. HA! Good Fun!

recommendation: more people have heard of it as 'posed to seen it and context may be required as black & white gives false impression o' age o' the film. 1961. were a film 'bout the nuremberg trials, but were purposeful a criticism o' mccarthyism and red scare. used parallels to reveal hard truths. (don't watch the following if you have never seen the movie and have any serious thought 'bout doing so.) *chuckle* we recent included a bit o' latin to make a point in the politics thread: inter arma enim silent leges. occurred to us after we made the post, ds9 used the phrase as an episode title. is all star trek. HA! Good Fun!

been down this road with others. if you try and give us the 10th amendment spiel, you are in for some pain. warning: sweary HA! Good Fun!

Trump says Department of Education will investigate use of 1619 Project in schools broken record and almost pointless to highlight but, the department of education withholding funds 'cause o' individual school use o' 1619 is unambiguous unconstitutional. Congress could, if they had a legitimate purpose, create a scheme whereby states would lose fed education dollars if schools w/i the state failed to meet certain standards. Congress could. am not even able to immediate imagine the way in which such might be crafted so as to avoid a certain Court auto fail. am admitting to a morbid curiosity to see just how the wh would camouflage their attempt to get around or over multiple Constitutional hurdles such that senators would not respond. kinda like watching soldier ants bridge a small stream. is genuine fascinating the lengths to which this administration goes... to violate the Constitution. regardless, is yet another example o' obvious dog whistle silliness leading up to the election. should be insulting to Americans that trump would use such transparent efforts to sway undecided voters, but am suspecting the wh is much aware how in 2020, a little bit o' racial animus goes a long way these days. HA! Good Fun!

muslim ban. btw, Here are the prominent Republicans backing Biden politically we got far more in common with mitt romney than bernie sanders or even joe biden. and a more bipartisan list which should be compelling or at least thought provoking. STATEMENT BY FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTORS HA! Good Fun!

trump sues everybody. he has a long history o' using lawyers to bludgeon folks into submission. notice how trump has not personal sued any o' the authors o' these tell-all books from during his Presidency? sure, he had the doj sue or his brother or the rnc sue, but not trump. a defense for the authors is truth and as such with trump as a party he would need sit and be deposed. I've Watched Trump Testify Under Oath. It Isn't Pretty. Hammered by White and her deputies, Trump ultimately had to admit 30 times that he had lied over the years about all sorts of stuff: how much of a big Manhattan real estate project he owned; the price of one of his golf club memberships; the size of the Trump Organization; his wealth; his speaking fees; how many condos he had sold; his debts, and whether he borrowed money from his family to avoid going personally bankrupt. He also lied during the deposition about his business dealings with career criminals. TRUMP: A TRUE STORY am knowing how some o' you feel 'bout the washington post, but the annotated article is providing the unvarnished deposition content. am not gonna bother reading cohen's book. what could he possible tell us which is worse than what we already know? short o' cohen revealing trump were a financial backer for michael vick's dog fighting ring, we cannot imagine anything cohen could say which would shock us. nevertheless, the guy who sues everybody has once again chosen to not sue cohen. sure, he had the doj go all underhanded to try and prevent the publication o' the book, but no chance he puts his own reputation on the line and sit for a deposition. "I've never seen such a clause in 21 years of being a judge and sentencing people," U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein said. "How can I take any other inference but that it was retaliatory?" how can the trump base not be afraid of trump? HA! Good Fun!

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lordy. no pizzagate reference? am almost disappointed. our mistake was failing to realize that the real threat all along were gozer the destroyer. HA! Good Fun! ps the people arrested as often as not were arrested w/o probable cause. is possible some did actual destroy property? sure. 'course the fed had no authority to arrest them when, where and how they did. as so few were actual charged we will never know how many arrested committed property damage. oh, and have you ever seen military surplus stores? any clown may outfit themselves similar to the ferds in their unmarked vans who did not tell the individuals arrested what they were being charged with when thrown into the unmarked vans. everything 'bout the situation were illegal and am knowing we shared with you the rehnquist quote, so you know it were all illegal... but you don't care. you are afraid. the chinese global hegemony which is the inevitable result o' blm protests (HA!) has you frightened enough that you don't care if what is being done is unconstitutional or even immoral. you are afraid, just as americans were afraid in 1942. same fear. same mistakes.

serious? you gotta realize how such stuff sounds, yes? the radical dems and blm protesters is causing you this level o' terror? your conspiracy theories 'bout the different treatment o' far-right protesters vs blm aside, comparing an "avowed" pedophile to blm protesters? ... ... okie dokie. btw, we would investigate the avowed pedophile, but we would not exclude from the US anybody who happened to share his faith. we also wouldn't arrest (and not charge so as to avoid civil rights protections) anybody even remote related to the pedophile if we somehow did eventual find legal sufficient evidence he/she were a pedophile. heck, we wouldn't arrest the avowed pedophile 'cause such would actual be risking eventual conviction w/o at least some evidence. bring the guy in for questioning, with his lawyer, and investigate the claims. alternative: you have bought into the fear. your fear is cartoony save for the fact it is obvious genuine. when scalia warned 'bout the possibility o' the Government engaging in korematsu-like behaviour, we took him serious, but we were expecting some future threat and we woulda' imagined a menace similar to ww2 and the fear generated by the shock o' pearl harbor. portland protests is what you has making the leap to the "chinese global hegemony"? chrysippus is wondering 'bout the steps you obvious leapt past to reach your conclusion. HA! Good Fun!

with air quality in nor cal so terrible, am forced to get our cardio indoors. ... am not sure why, but we started watching hell on wheels while doing cardio. get 5-6 episodes a week. ~45 minutes per episode is perfect length to get us a good stretch. might not be fair to say am watching the show, but is inexplicable more tedious to do 45 minutes in silence. is not a particular bad or good show but there is a couple interesting characters. *shrug* colm meaney is a hell on wheels regular and so too is the new christopher pike. am mentioning such just to make relevant to the star trek discussion and to exercise our previous stated opinion that all off topic posts is star trek relevant w/i a few degrees o' separation. kinda sad dominique mcelligott had her ned stark exeunt. she plays queen maeve in the boys, a show which also stars karl urban, who played mccoy in the new star trek films. every post is a star trek post. HA! Good Fun!

is curious how discriminating an appeal for compassion may be given the ideology o' the individual pleading for understanding. exclude any you fear? well that's not very christian. is also curious how the the discrimination (denotative) ignores what is the cautions from experts on domestic threats. @Maedhros linked what is conclusions from dhs, conclusions which has been annual carbon copy identifications o' "white supremacist extremists" as the most worthy o' the Domestic Violent Extremists label. ‘We Are Being Eaten From Within.’ Why America Is Losing the Battle Against White Nationalist Terrorism "Since 9/11, white supremacists and other far-right extremists have been responsible for almost three times as many attacks on U.S. soil as Islamic terrorists, the government reported. From 2009 through 2018, the far right has been responsible for 73% of domestic extremist-related fatalities, according to a 2019 study by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). And the toll is growing. More people–49–were murdered by far-right extremists in the U.S. last year than in any other year since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995." those domestic violent extremists deserve our compassion and understanding. talk to them. 'course if you are a member o' blm... worse, if you are o' the same religion as isis terrorists, compassion is in short supply. those white supremacists dhs says oro should be more concerned 'bout is almost universal evangelical christian. as a matter o' fact, white supremacist religious fundamentalism is core to their beliefs and hate o' the adherents o' other religions such as papists and jews. much as islamic fundamentalists pervert the teachings o their faith so that it has for them a meaning complete different than more moderate believers o', so to do white supremacists use christianity to excuse their utter disregard for christian teachings. if the muslim faith produces existential fear in oro and others 'cause o' the actions o' the fundamentalists who has hijacked the core tenets o' the religion, then the pass christianity gets in spite o' the more immediate and likely danger from white supremacists is not rational. is in fact, bigotry. Editorial: 75 years later, looking back at The Times’ shameful response to the Japanese internment “This is war. And in wartime, the preservation of the nation becomes the first duty. Everything must be subordinated to that. Every necessary precaution must be taken to insure reasonable safety from spies and saboteurs so that our armed forces can function adequately and our industrial machinery may continue to work free from peril.” And this: “The time has come to realize that the rigors of war demand proper detention of Japanese and their immediate removal from the most acute danger spots. It is not a pleasant task. But it must be done and done now. There is no safe alternative.” And this, a year or so later, when some people were calling for the release of those who had been interned: “As a race, the Japanese have made for themselves a record for conscienceless treachery unsurpassed in history. Whatever small theoretical advantages there might be in releasing those under restraint in this country would be enormously outweighed by the risks involved.” japanese internment were popular. in fact, a gallup poll at the time had better than 50% of respondents saying that even after the conflict with japan were ended, those interned japanese should not be allowed to return to their homes. is no surprise trump and barr is using the language o' insurrection to describe blm protesters. it worked in 1942 because people were afraid. korematsu has been been the most consistent derided SCOTUS decision since dred scott. nevertheless, the trump administration attempted to use it as authority for their early attempts at a muslim ban. so make the same mistake and surrender to fear. inter arma enim silent leges in 2016 it were non-american muslims and immigrants from beyond our southern border who generated panic and fear in the trump base. this year is radical democrats and blm supporters. how much longer before we run out of people not part o' the trump base who is worthy o' oro's discriminating sense o' compassion? HA! Good Fun!

all god's children deserve a chance at redemption... unless they are part of blm, or they happen to share the same god/faith as terrorists. if they is radical democrats like biden, then they are heretics and burning at the stake is probable too good for 'em. axiom: dallas cowboy fans are beyond redemption. HA! Good Fun!

the problem is those conclusions have been consistent for years and years. last year and year before are unlikely to be any more meaningful than this year. would have been more curious if this year were sudden reaching a different conclusion. but yeah, given how this administration handles bad press, or any failure to embrace the administration narrative, it would hardly be a surprise if multiple people lost jobs. 'course administration folks also lose their jobs for spreading the same lies as the President and william barr. two spokespersons at the fda recent took the hit for the premature convalescent plasma announcement. is possible two political appointee with no medical backgrounds concocted the convalescent plasma announcement and managed to snooker the head o' the fda and the President into championing the news immediate previous to the start o' the rnc. likely? is refreshing to know there is still folks in the executive branch who is diligent doing their jobs regardless o' the possible consequences. HA! Good Fun!

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