Gromnir

the thing is, EA has had a goodly number o' games such as andromeda and anthem. swtor, which am guessing generates dependable revenue, needs pay for all those failed games while ea hopes for the rare hit. is a weird business model. have nothing insightful to share 'bout the new content which ain't already been said. is entertaining if paltry. we weren't expecting much, but even so, we got a bit less than we expected, but what we got were okie dokie. is more buggy than we expected given how much time were spent testing. is an onderon daily which as o' yesterday were still functional impossible to complete, 'less you manage to be first person to complete when a new instance opens. took a couple days to get the force push/leap bit corrected. etc. am slight annoyed that we are once again grinding esseles and black talon 'cause it is an efficient way to gear-up even if it doesn't provide much in the way o' renown. got to 280 in only a few days doing esseles, though admitted we started monday and and stopped on wednesday, so we got benefit o' a repeat weeklies. we may do a bit more this weekend, but grinding esseles is soul numbing. crafting... *shrug* not sure what to make o' crafting at the moment. am gonna keep making artifact cell grafts and selling 'em for as long as people keep buying' em at ridiculous prices, but am otherwise waiting for a rebalance to see where crafting settles. am understanding during the first week slicing were providing improbable returns, but we weren't 'round to take advantage o' such. current situation appears to much encourage us to try and achieve beast-mode on a single character. as such, am not aware o' how classes have been rebalanced. gen chat suggests tk sages benefited from a big upgrade, but we kinda heard such by accident as we ignore chat for the most part. am unsure o' veracity. after we get to +300 gear on our guardian, we will likely take a nautolan through from level 1 on the imp side, perhaps a sorcerer, after which we will likely grow too bored and stop playing 'til the next expansion. seems to be a pattern for us. HA! Good Fun!

dirty priest mean it the best possible way. HA! Good Fun!

speaking o' environmental causes Keystone oil pipeline leaks 383,000 gallons in North Dakota for those who didn't read the article, keep in mind the last big keystone pipeline leak were initial estimated at 210,000 gallons. turned out to be more than 400,000. the keystone xl would put jefferson river in danger as well. missouri river is already at risk. if one o' these leaks get into those rivers which flow into the mississippi, we are talking 'bout a catastrophe. am knowing it ain't climate change, which is the environmental cause célèbre o' our time, but this should get more attention than it does. greta is busy and grumpy cat died, so who is gonna be the meme millennials can relate to who will step forward and occupy the pipeline protest void? HA! Good Fun!

gonna state an unpopular view... hate to say this, but perhaps for the first time in forever, we agreed with putin 'bout something. though am not in-line with putin regarding the climate issue, am kinda simpatico concerning his lack o' fascination for greta. ms. thunberg is the freaking kim kardashian o' the climate cause. greta is famous for being famous. kim has a large caboose and greta has asperger's and selective mutism. she is the kid o' rich parents, rich enough that they could voluntarily give up their careers to get in line with greta's demands for reducing the family carbon footprint? greta is not particular knowledgeable 'bout climate science. she is not noteworthy eloquent. she is not reasonable... which is a good thing. young people should not need be reasonable. young folks should push and challenge and rage 'gainst arguments made by old people pointing out practicality. the thing is, while greta being unreasonable is a positive in our mind, it ain't particular special or unique. as a teacher o' youth, hurl can speak to just how ordinary is teen unreason. the participation trophy generation made greta famous for being the kid who refuses to be reasonable. *shrug* as for the story itself, we will note greta were nominated for the nobel peace prize and were a serious contender for winning. she didn't. thank god there is no nobel participation prize. again, am in favor o' greta using her celebrity to advocate for changes to individual and national behaviours in an attempt to prevent cataclysmic climate change. am nevertheless annoyed by the participation trophy generation who chose greta to be the face o' a movement. is literal thousands o' brilliant scientists and scholars who has been advocating for environmental causes longer than greta has been alive, but what those folks didn't know is if they wanted to get the attention o' the millennial crowd, they needed be a rich kid with impulse control issues. greta not having done anything is ok for for participation trophy folks who learned that what matters is being in the game and not who scored most or who won. what matter is greta is... participating? oh, and being chosen isn't greta's fault, so am not belittling her. HA! Good Fun!

our response to the video: copernicus just called and he wants you to know the sun is at the center o' the solar system... douche. "the line" is not marking relative distances between planets, but at least since copernicus smacked the scientific world upside the head with his heliocentric view, is a representation o' distances from-wait for it- the sun. yes, the sun, the fixed point (relative) at the center o' the freaking solar system and the obvious singular point o' o' reference if one were to make a line o' distances o' the planetary bodies which is otherwise in a constant, elliptical and heliocentric freaking orbit. distance from what? the SUN. *grumble* yeah, maybe you can make an argument 'bout ellipses and "the line" IF we were keeping pluto as a planet, 'cause for a period o' time during the solar year o' pluto, it is actual closer to the sun than is neptune. no offense, but am adding the video to our collection o' 4$$hat science. HA! Good Fun!

who? *shrug* our recollection is that the guy from netflix's narcos, who also played oberyn in the tv got, is the titular character, but clear the selling point o' the trailer were werner herzog. kinda looking forward to giancarlo esposito too. am an admitted ambivalent star wars fan, but am looking forward to this more than the upcoming star wars movie. HA! Good Fun!

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it may embarrass gd to hear this, but that is exact what we thought when we first heard the curious statement by ms. grisham. HA! Good Fun!

while we ain't a filmmaker, we can't help but believe trying to restart a trilogy with the second installment is gonna be awkward. worse, 'cause johnson ain't doing third installment, am suspecting much o' what he did is gonna be abandoned. military-industrial complex as the genuine big-bad? is now gonna be second installment insular and no doubt more clumsy in retrospect. tlj problems were, we suspect, in large part 'cause johnson were trying to plug holes left by narrative o' first movie while simultaneous attempting to give himself a fresh start. his efforts were, at best, inelegant. am not optimistic 'bout the final film given our feelings 'bout abrams. scorsese criticism 'bout marvel films appears more appropriate for abrams, a director who cares little for narrative coherence and instead focuses 'pon generating roller-coaster ride visuals and events to keep the viewer distracted and awed. am suspecting final star wars film in the current trilogy will be brain-freeze stoopid, but will keep most audiences entertained enough so that they overlook flaws. HA! Good Fun!

well, "you can shovel sh!7, can't you?" all you need do is wait for the pokyclpse and then the government won't be in your business no more. can burn all the methane you want at that point. HA! Good Fun!

still no support, eh? zor claims, which clear fly in the face o' the modern consensus, also ignore fact the soviets were indeed planning on going forth with an amphibious invasion o' hokkaido. the REPORT o' the plan long in development (fact you wanna fight on this point is revealing the extreme lengths zor will go to ignore reality) reveals the soviets were less than ten days away from launching such an improbable attack. as such, while zor thinks such an invasion were ludicrous, is clear the soviets were intent on making such an attack and from statements by japanese military, it were obvious the japanese feared such. but yeah, hasegawa quoting frank is easily ignored and we should instead rely 'pon zor's fringe theories which has been utter repudiated in last few decades. 'course zor ain't actual provided any support, so there is that too. the guy from the fp article, professor radchenko is clearly a hack who got sources wrong, though his facts is aligning with the aforementioned hasegawa, frank, kort and others. regardless, is good to know the training has stuck. this particular dog whistle is undeniable effective. were a relative side-issue to topic being discussed and nevertheless, zor comes running in response. whatever. as usual, Gromnir is gonna be the one to quit from fatigue. zor has complete gone 'round the bend. HA! Good Fun!

gonna reply serious to silly. two were probable the right number, but am not thinking both needed be dropped on japanese cities. in mid-late 1945, the US did not have an arsenal o' a-bombs in any great numbers. am gonna be honest and admit we do not know numbers o' bombs available as we recollect a few estimates from our university years, and we were in school before the recent turn o' the century. our info is dated. more than 2 bombs. less than 20. truman were trying to get maximum impact with limited supply. however, am thinking there is a strong argument that if the hiroshima bomb had been a test viewable by the world, many lives coulda' been saved. "The notion that the atomic bombs caused the Japanese surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, has been, for many Americans and virtually all U.S. history textbooks, the default understanding of how and why the war ended. But minutes of the meetings of the Japanese government reveal a more complex story. The latest and best scholarship on the surrender, based on Japanese records, concludes that the Soviet Union’s unexpected entry into the war against Japan on Aug. 8 was probably an even greater shock to Tokyo than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima two days earlier. Until then, the Japanese had been hoping that the Russians — who had previously signed a nonaggression pact with Japan — might be intermediaries in negotiating an end to the war . As historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa writes in his book “Racing the Enemy,” “Indeed, Soviet attack, not the Hiroshima bomb, convinced political leaders to end the war.” The two events together — plus the dropping of the second atomic bomb on Aug. 9 — were decisive in making the case for surrender."-- gregg herken so indulging in admitted scifi speculative fiction, imagine US sets off test bomb which obvious doesn't convince the japanese to surrender 'cause hiroshima bomb did not. perhaps a second bomb being dropped on a city woulda' been necessary, but mayhap soviets declaration and intent to invade would been 'nuff to convince the japanese to surrender w/o further loss o' life. in any event, am thinking is possible to argue it were unnecessary to drop bombs on a populated city. that said, such a conclusion requires much after-the-fact second-guessing. truman were not benefiting from hindsight afforded by decades o' scholarship. President got limited nuclear arsenal and he cannot know or trust what soviets will do... and clearly the US were poor at guessing what japanese would think or do. sure, by the end o' the war the US could routine read japanese mail, but such were less helpful in predicting how japanese would arrive at their decisions. HA! Good Fun!

one wonders what mitch learned, if anything, from this moment. for a man deeply concerned 'bout legacy, am hopeful the senator reflects 'pon how his actions today is deciding how he will be remembered tomorrow.

now you are being ridiculous to the point o' obtuse. is zor's suggestion first plans for soviet invasion began on the 19th, four days after the japanese surrender? puhlease. "Reporting on the plan of operation of the 87th rifle corps to the island of Hokkaido and the southern part of the islands of the Kurile chain." is not brainstorming but report o' a plan 'bout to be implemented. as stated elsewhere, and as would be apparent if you weren't so low-effort, the soviets had had such plans for a considerable time and the link is simple the report o' the existing plan. the soviet attack were to take place two months before the US invasion o' japan, which were scheduled for nov 1, 1945. did you even read the link? august 24, 1945 were proposed start o' soviet invasion with reconnaissance beginning on the 19th. "All that was missing was a final go-ahead from Stalin. On Aug. 16 the Soviet leader asked U.S. President Harry S. Truman to acquiesce in this “modest wish” or risk offending “Russian public opinion.” Although just months earlier, the U.S. War Department had considered letting the Soviets occupy Hokkaido and even part of Honshu, Japan’s largest island, Hiroshima had clearly changed things for Truman. " perhaps is zor's contention that august 16, the day stalin sought final go-ahead, one day after surrender, were the first day the plan to invade Japan were contemplated by the soviets? HA! no, serious. is your position the soviets only came up with plan post august 15 and then set their invasion date o' august 24? above you suggest how utter impractical an amphibious landing o' hokkaido would be, but is now your argument that in spite o' the odds 'gainst them, and how obvious impractical an amphibious assault o' hokkaido would be, the document were somehow indicative o' first stages o' soviet planning with actual operation to begin in less than ten days? plan just sprung out o' stalin's head, fully realized, like haephestus cracking open zeus' skull and athena striding forth as a full-grown goddess. BWAHHHHAAAHHHHAAAA!!! oh, and our "debunked" theories come with linkies and actual support. more low effort from zor, eh? professors hasegawa, frank, radchenko and kort, to name a few. hasegawa quoting frank as an example As Frank writes, “the Soviet Navy’s amphibious shipping resources were limited but sufficient to transport the three assault divisions in several echelon. The Red Army intended to seize the northern half of Hokkaido. If resistance proved strong, reinforcements would be deployed to aid the capture the rest of Hokkaido. Given the size of Hokkaido, the Japanese would have been hard pressed to move units for a concerted confrontation of the Soviet invasion. The chances of Soviet success appeared to be very good.”[66] Soviet occupation of Hokkaido was thus within the realm of possibility. regardless, the proposed soviet invasion were hardly mythical and is consensus rather than fringe. zor, as is typical, mistakes his own ignorance for debunked. *chuckle* son, you are having a sonny liston-on-the-canvas moment and you don't even realize. HA! Good Fun!

as you observe, have been down this road before. your ignorance continues in spite o' our best efforts to educate, which is expected. you also misrepresent, which is understandable but inexcusable as is well-trod. after bomb were dropped, the japanese military were still talking 'bout defense o' the mainland, but zor wants to ignore timing as well as actual statements by suzuki kantaro and testimony from japanese commanders. heck, suzuki were directed on august 8th to convene the supreme council to discuss the bombing o' hiroshima and members refused. general anami, on august 13, stressed how the hiroshima and nagasaki bombings were no worse than what tokyo had already suffered. and again, is not suggestion russian invasion were sole reason for capitulation, but try and claim planned soviet invasion o' hokkaido were mythical is laughable in 2019. "Hasegawa fails to sustain his main arguments with the necessary evidence. At best, he leaves the revisionist case as he found it, in ruins. Indeed, he makes the rubble bounce by convincingly demonstrating that the Soviet Union very much was racing to get into the Pacific War in order to facilitate its expansionist policies in the Far East. Those who seek the definitive analysis on the end of the Pacific War will have to look elsewhere. A good place to begin is Frank’s Downfall." --prof. michael kort you got "fringe" reversed. https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/30/the-bomb-didnt-beat-japan-stalin-did/ revisionist nonsense and weird soviet blindness o' zor aside, is consensus and largely undisputed that soviets were intending invasion and had sped up their time table after bomb drop. there is still debate as to how much impact the bombs had on ultimate japanese decision, but is a given that soviet declaration o' war and intention to invade were a large part o' the japanese calculus. HA! Good Fun!

just an excuse to hear sagan say, "billion." HA! Good Fun!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2019/10/24/its-almost-halloween-and-feetloaf-is-already-giving-us-nightmares/ our typical meatloaf tends to include a significant amount of italian parsley, which may detract from the aesthetic. may need make adjustments. regardless, looks fun. HA! Good Fun!

we try in vain to get this point across. is particularly difficult explaining to europeans and kanadians. 'ccording to the Constitution, police power in the US is reserved to individual States. why doesn't The Government do anything 'bout cop violence or training or whatever? 'cause the Fed Government literal cannot do anything. is only so much which can be done with interstate commerce clause and funding prerequisites. most states have limited oversight o' cops in part 'cause such would be monumental expensive and difficult to manage in any event. have a hard enough time paying to support existing cops much less afford meaningful oversight and standardization o' training and policy. virtual every county in the US has a sheriff's departments and more than a few municipalities has their own police forces, each with their own rules. three thousand sheriffs. more than twelve thousand municipal police departments. add in state police... +680,000 cops total. that said, the most common factor in reducing police violence is education. not training mind you. had this discussion on this board a few years past and we were surprised by how resistant were some to findings o' the most common denominator for avoiding police excess. the higher is the educational level attained by police, the less likely is excessive force complaints. is correlative? so what? not race. not sex. not even experience comes close to education. make sure your cops has a college degree and excess force complaints decrease dramatic. simple, no? no. large municipalities in particular is constant needing lower their standards to find enough qualified applicants. HA! Good Fun!

the germans bombing o' stalingrad was horrific. in total, something like a million bombs were dropped by the germans on stalingrad. is not simple a matter o' victors painting with brush o' convenience. keep in mind that immediate after the war the soviets were still considered allies, and the vast majority o' Americans at the time believed the soviets had done most o' any nation to win the war in europe. that said, norms o' the time had been altered. daily pictures in newspapers and images on film o' destruction and death had folks viewing events different, although the images were far less brutal than what we expect today. regardless, am suspecting folks were becoming numb to descriptions o' dead from bombing. firebombing o' tokyo had killed ~100,000. took hiroshima and nagasaki to eclipse that mark. insofar as total destruction, hiroshima and nagasaki weren't special. am rare mentioning actors and their political opinions 'cause we ordinary don't care what such folks think. we care little for the opinions o' actors save for what they has to say 'bout anything save acting... unless they has some other area o' expertise which is relevant and such is why we mention paul newman. newman were a liberal in hollywood when it weren't all that popular to be a liberal. anti-war activist who earned a spot on nixon's infamous enemies list. don't care. we bring up newman 'cause he were a gunner on avenger aircraft in the pacific. newman, for all his liberal positions and contributions, thanked god, and would do so "until the day i die" that the bombs were dropped, ostensibly saving countless american and japanese lives. sure, the japanese didn't actual surrender after bombs were dropped-- were soviets declaration o' war and their intent to invade hokkaido which actual finally convinced the japanese to surrender to Americans instead. even so, after having witnessed iwo jima and okinawa, folks 'round the world were convinced that the anticipated japanese invasion would result in millions o' dead. 'pon hearing o' japanese surrender, can't imagine what were conflicted feelings o' shock and guilt and gratitude all rolled together for those who woulda been part o' a japanese invasion, not to mention what were emotions o' their families and loved ones. as to lynching... “given the history of our country, i would not compare this to a lynching,” said mitch mcconnell 'bout trump's crude description o' the impeachment inquiry. mitch admitted lynch were inappropriate and a poor choice of words. *shrug* this weren't the grey-area kinda issue many make it out to be. even so, more than a few democrats and sources already opposed to trump went after the lynch comment with more vigor than they would have if were one o' their own decrying some excess by... whomever. arguable disproportionate response to lynch comment, admitted wrong lynch comment, were giving trump defenders and their pocket media a chance to distract folks from recent inquiry events and make the narrative 'bout race and democrat hypocrisy. were watching a recent c-span bit with mcmaster and were stated how 80% o' 2016 russian election interference were race-based, with immigration a distant second. trump has taken another page from the russian playbook on how to divide americans. the POTUS is following the russian playbook? HA! Good Fun! ps thought he were funny on news radio, but after having seen rogan embarrass himself with his moon hoax nonsense, am confident 'bout where to put his stuff. moon hoaxers. sheesh.

was in a conversation yesterday with a journalist, an intelligent and educated professional woman in her late thirties. she is an acquaintance and she wanted insights on 4th amendment before she spoke with cops and other lawyers. ... she started talking 'bout "cop mentality" as if it were an objective and universal rule. whether is 'cause people who seek to become cops is inherent flawed, or is the job which changes, "cop mentality" is resulting in an aberrational aggressiveness and detachment to violence. to her, cops tending towards a bit o' the old ultra violent were as unquestionable as sun rising in the east. reasonable person behavior is different from reasonable cop behavior 'cause everybody knows how cops is, right? were a disappointing conversation. we did our best to provide our journalist acquaintance with the info she wanted w/o challenging what we saw as flawed foundational assumptions. nothing we coulda' said woulda' changed what she knew from having seen stories on tv, internet and newspapers. am always cautious 'round cops 'cause we know any one 'o 'em could be be racist or just plain old skool stupid-mean. any cop could be a bad cop, even if most are ordinary folks hoping to earn their paycheck and get home w/o needing to write up an incident report, or god forbid, get shot. our journalist friend no doubt would think our pov is naive to the point o' being dangerous. wth

am in an enviable position as we were one o' the folks criticizing clinton back in 1998 and were displeased with democrat efforts to mislead and misdirect. hypocrisy from a number o' democrats in 98 does not make the lynching comments by the President, or support o' Congressmen such as graham, any less wrong just as democrats making excuses for Presidential lies in 98 does not absolve the current President o' such. recall: clinton were in fact impeached following an investigation by ken starr. as with almost all investigations, ken starr's efforts were not transparent to the public, in spite o' what republicans would have you believe in 2019. probable don't wanna get into republican hypocrisy regarding clinton impeachment in 98, eh? hypocrisy from politicians scrambling to protect their jobs is hardly surprising, and when folks such as nadler, davis, meeks and biden engage in such unfortunate behaviour, they deserve to be called to an accounting. however, recognition o' political hypocrisy doesn't make the accusations being level'd at the current President less true. HA! Good Fun!

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the comments section is almost as illuminating as were the interview. how many fox regulars see the problem in the linked video being chris wallace as 'posed to mick mulvaney? too many. HA! Good Fun!

you are repeating the nonsense from some random comedian with a youtube presence. for instance, as noted, the Alliance source is not some kinda throwaway bit added to make gabbard look bad in spite o' having zero credibility. is an organization which is part o' gmf, which is itself a recognized transatlantic public policy think tank. can find alliance contributions on cspan if you wish. your criticisms o' the nytimes article are kinda general, so am left having to argue for and against you, which is wasteful. is nothing untrue in the nytimes piece and they didn't accuse her o' being a russian asset. not anywhere or anyhow. whether or not you thinks the piece is too shallow to be worth printing, gabbard's criticism o' the nytimes were patent false. she were the one who done wrong and yet you are metaphorical banging trash can lids in defense o' gabbard? oh, and is funny you bring up cnn, 'cause rt used the actual and real cnn response to pushback on bakari sellers' silly comments. ‘How is there NO question?’ EVEN CNN hosts gasp at guest’s claim that Tulsi Gabbard is ‘a Russian puppet’ (VIDEO) is a brave new world where legit news organizations is dismissed out-o-hand and rando bloggers is given more credence 'not 'cause o' their qualifications or their track record o' investigative reporting, but 'cause they says what their audience wants to hear. *shrug* btw, the jacobin article we linked earlier has the depth you crave, and says exact same stuff as nytimes, but more harsh and more detailed. is a magazine article and not a couple column newspaper article, so greater depth is hardly a shock. HA! Good Fun!

grapes of wrath is an often brutal read with an unsatisfactory ending. would not be first book we recommend from steinbeck for a person who has never found appreciation o' a classic works. cannery row could be a steinbeck start point, particular if a person already read of mice and men and didn't find appreciation. similar, while two o' our five favorite authors is hemingway and faulkner, am not gonna recommend starting with their novels. go short stories from both and then maybe find a gateway novel based on which short stories work for the reader. james joyce is our favorite author, and even we don't enjoy reading ulysses. heck, although we have the last paragraph o' the dead memorized word-for-word, am not gonna recommend to somebody who has a case o' classicmalcontentous. HA! Good Fun!