Gromnir

we weren't interested enough to see the new ghostbusters movie. am certain not intrigued enough to watch a 45-minute video review o' a movie we never bothered to see. over the years folks has questioned our judgement and sanity, but we ain't that far gone... yet. am recalling brick got mention months past. turns out the flick were added to netflix streaming in june, for anybody still curious. HA! Good Fun!

What we have lately read in the history of Holland, in the chapter on the Stadtholder, would have sufficed to set me against a chief magistrate eligible for a long duration, if I had ever been disposed towards one: & what we have always read of the elections of Polish kings should have forever excluded the idea of one continuable for life. Wonderful is the effect of impudent & persevering lying. The British ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our being in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, the English nation has believed them, the ministers themselves have come to believe them, & what is more wonderful, we have believed them ourselves. Yet where does this anarchy exist? Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massachusetts? And can history produce an instance of rebellion so honourably conducted? I say nothing of it's motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, & always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independent 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it's natural manure. -- thomas jefferson more than a couple bad folks has quoted portions o' the 'bove to legitimize acts unconscionable and vile. nevertheless, am thinking is unsurprising a founder o' a revolutionary government would be sympathetic towards those outsiders and disenfranchised who would seek to not only subvert the dominant paradigm, but to execute defiance most savage in an effort to render the system shattered and irreparable. is 2019 and going green is all the rage. even Gromnir is doing his part, watering the trees, from time to time. HA! Good Fun! ps but this is a mod welcome thread, so... will need see if the numbers add up, but good luck regardless.

could choose other examples, but the most obvious example to disprove suggested rule is, silence of the lambs. HA! Good Fun!

maybe not pointless. exploitive? yeah. immediate after completing port maje, is possible to start the lucrative ship combat mini-game. scaling or non-scaling don't matter. got scaling active and don't want the xp bloat? then do not turn in ship bounties. sink ships in the deafire for negligible xp while acquiring 1007 including superb gear and unique items. start nekataka at level 6, but with elite gear and a deep well o' money. use ship bounties as strategic insta-level-up opportunities as desired. converse, if you want quick xp, then there is no faster and easier route than the ship bounties. start nekataka at level +11? start nekataka at +11 and with superb gear and every purchase-worthy item in the game. is not pointless, but is cheesy and exploitive. HA! Good Fun!

am taking comfort in the certain knowledge other options woulda' been worse. then again, we might be channeling our inner wesley looking for the silver lining. HA! Good Fun!

agreed... save for a few boss fights (dlc for the most part) which include opponents immune to interrupt. late in beta we made a thread which defended the usefulness o' rogue class. at the time, rogues were near consensus considered by community to be a throw-away class... or only worthy o' multiclassing. our shared impressions is relevant to present discussion as, back pre may 2018, we observed how effective and impactful were a rogue, particular as an interrupter o' foes. a rogue with quick weapons could keep an enemy functional stunlocked 'cause o' capacity to interrupt virtual any action. were our opinion rogues were being underrated by a large degree. interrupt immunity is a lazy approach by the developers. admitted, the obsidians worked selves into a corner by creating abilities which complete remove concentration, so providing bosses with abnormal high or regenerating concentration were not options when considering practical ways to make endgame bosses more difficult to interrupt than earlier and weaker foes. and yeah, is only a handful o' such foes in the game which may complete shrug off effects o' interrupt. nevertheless, given how impactful were interrupts for +95% o' the game, to resort to complete immunity to add challenge to encounters were deserving our criticism. build a pov character or party member 'round interrupt concept is good strategy for most o' game. most. regardless, am in agreement with enoch regarding interrupts. am recalling a few o' the poe beta discussions regarding interrupts. developers attempted to explain what were 'posed to be happening with interrupts, but as often as not, the obsidians were in the dark regarding what were actual happening in the game. lack o' transparency made interrupts a source o' perpetual frustration and undercut developer efforts to improve the feature. deadfire interrupt scheme is a major improvement. as far as specific feature improvements, we would rate it right up there with hold-shift function. HA! Good Fun!

no offense taken. "the first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." --henry vi, part ii, act iv, scene ii. uttered by **** the butcher, a follower o' jack cade who is trying to grab the crown by creating widespread civil unrest. am sympathizing with gd's plight, but this is one o' those common misquoted bits from the bard. villains, trying to create panic and chaos, believe initial step is killing attorneys. is not difficult to find lawyer criticism in literature. unfortunate, the most frequent example is... not. again, you got our sympathy. bad advice from lawyers and doctors and accountants may be devastating. capital gains deferment, particular in the case o' a divorce, can be unnecessarily complex. heck, in a capital gains divorce situation, if a friend or acquaintance asked our advice, we would tell'em to speak to an attorney who is not Gromnir. hope it turns out okie dokie.

other than too easy/too difficult, single biggest complaint 'bout bg1 on the bg2 development boards were the bg1 map. not kidding. not hyperbolic. even more than complaints 'bout underdeveloped party npcs were criticisms o' the repeated and reflexive mowing o' mostly empty wilderness maps. made folks... unhappy. "exploration" were a curse. weren't no meaningful exploration if all you is doing is uncovering every bit o' fog on every map, eh? bioware listened. for bg2, bioware took out most 'o the admitted pointless and rote exploration and replaced with dense maps containing involved/multi-step quests. were a paradigm shift focusing on depth over breadth. other than too easy/too difficult, single biggest post bg2 complaint were questioning why bioware abandoned all the wonderful bg1 exploration. am having some small sympathy for developers. game development must, at times, feel like groundhog day. doesn't matter what changes is made or what improvements they attempt. doomed to repeat endless cycle. poe were more streamlined. deadfire went sandbox. didn't matter. lack o' exploration v. lack o' depth. and cycle repeats. HA! Good Fun!

she has done a handful o' wh daily press briefings in the past six month and none in the last three. why even have a wh press secretary? that kinda slacker effort deserves only one response more serious, the lying is not gonna decrease. sean spicer, on day one, equivocated 'bout crowd size at the inauguration. after getting an earful from the President, spicer came out the following day and adamant defended trump lies. nothing has changed since day 2. only difference is sanders were obvious more comfortable fabricating untruths on behalf o' the President. 'ccording to mueller report, she went so far as to concoct her own lies on the spot as 'posed to simple transmitting trump lies. so, spicer were a reluctant but complicit co-conspirator and sanders were an active participant in wh efforts to mislead. if we see unnatural progression continue, then next wh press secretary will be bernie madoff... right after trump pardons him. HA! Good Fun!

trump promises not to spy on kim jong un: "i wouldn't let that happen." and Trump: If Offered Dirt By Foreign Government On 2020 Rival, 'I Think I'd Take It' perhaps even more insane is watching fox talking heads abase selves as they defend the increasing bizarre and comic indefensible from trump. HA! Good Fun!

"do any of you people know who charles whitman was?" manifested is an ex-marine, so let us hope the school remembers to treat him well, or at least pray they don't have a belltower. HA! Good Fun! ps "ex-marine" might be wrong. am suspecting that much like catholic priests, regardless o' whether you retire or leave the order, you is always a marine. once you take vows and receive the sacrament, there is no going back to your previous life.

one other larian worthy title from us, then done baldur's gate 3: boo's revenge: boomageddon HA! Good Fun!

we were kidding 'bout space, but the teaser did include what coulda' been a bit o' spelljammer. and there were already a spelljammer nod in bg2. Baldur's Gate 3: The Tannhauser Gate any excuse for larian to repeat words unnecessarily sounds like a win. HA! Good Fun!

hadn't considered, but that could actually be intriguing. Baldur's Gate Space: _____________ HA! Good Fun!

perhaps our background has given us a different pov. hobbes suggested state o' nature is, "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” is wrong on one count. state o' nature is not solitary. the only way hairless apes survived to become the dominant species is 'cause they are communal. nature is your mother, but she is a b!tch who is trying to kill you every single day. go it alone w/o any modern conveniences and then realize how terrifying is nature. w/o modern conveniences and tools, tools only made possible by generations o' community, gd is always one small infection away from death. heck, sprained ankle might be enough to kill gd if he is doing solo and w/o legacy o' community contribution. so how does a community o' humans, sans modern tools, survive a dakota winter? every member o' the community gotta pitch in and pull their weight. one guy doing his own thing could literal mean death for others. you, as a member o' the community, got responsibilities, and punishments is natural result o' dealing with those who ain't contributing accordingly. furthermore, you got groups o' people forced to live intimate close for survival and w/o any kinda formal or informal system o' courtesy, the community relations become strained. do you got personal ownership? if not, then what stops bob from taking the clothes julie made. perhaps some things is communal while others is more personal? a whole set o' unspoken rules is gonna develop to make living with others possible. and biggest threat next to nature? fellow man. gd wants to go it alone in state o' nature? perhaps he avoids infections and droughts and disease and survives long enough to teach another generation his correct values. the thing is, given man's nature, how likely is other people gonna allow gd to live solitary, and peaceful? probable is pretty good actually, but all it takes is one small group o' folks who ain't as high minded as gd to take all his stuff, his family and his life away from him. so even if pre-enlightened gd believes he can survive nature, he probable knows he cannot survive his fellow man... and he is likely quite willing to help come up with rules and customs which punish and discourage bad people. etc. fact we got rules for behaviors o' others is not some kinda evil or curse to be lamented. such stuff is why hairless apes survive dakota winters and north african deserts and droughts and floods and pestilence in places which initial appear as eden but is always having snakes (metaphorical and literal) hiding in the grass. survived a couple hard winters when young. can recall more than a month with nothing but bone and ketchup soup... and jiffy pop. that were with modern tools to aid. am not even able to imagine how intimate death musta' seemed for humans for thousands o' years, when the darkness just beyond the longhouse door were filled with terrible monsters, real and imagined. not so different today. am depending on others for power and food and medical treatment, and if even one o' the literal thousands o' folks who is contributing to our survival daily, folks we never see, screw the pooch, we could end up dead or worse. breakdowns in formalized courtesy nowadays don't just end with a cain and abel situation neither. got freaking atomic bombs and bio weapons, not to mention the damage one nutjob with a handgun can exact 'pon his fellow man if he forgets untold generations worth o' formalized courtesies. am wanting our personal liberties protected, 'cause community can go too far in desire to protect and regulate. even so, am recognizing hobbes were mostly right. life were poor, nasty, brutish and short... but has never been solitary. we survive or fail together. like it or not. end wall o' text and get back to tearing down rotted boards from trellis before it tops 100F. HA! Good Fun!

that's for you to decide... and judge. we specific noted personal experience. HA! Good Fun!

you obvious ain't catholic or jewish. based on personal family experience, we would conclude a birthright o' soul crushing guilt and self recrimination is less likely to result in Homo Superior than it is to lead to a strong case for seeking professional counseling. HA! Good Fun!

real or not, trump presented self as an anti-establishment and populist choice. in spite o' being one o' the least popular Presidents at the time o' election, we still talk 'bout his core followers and how he needs keep such folks happy as an explanation for his antics. how can a populist President give his core nothing and nevertheless be more popular with that group than when he were elected? is utter baffling. romans did bread and circus to keep the mob sated. trump don't even need the bread as he is, all by his lonesome, providing the circus his core followers appear to want. trump only makes sense if you ignore last +6 decades o' US presidential history. HA! Good Fun!

as a skald, always choose one non-offensive invocation which is particular phrase expensive. why? at the start o' combat you get free phrases equal to your most costly invocation. HA! Good Fun!

absence o' an el greco jesus seems like an intentional oversight to us. HA! Good Fun!

yeah, but the thing is, while trump has been successful at creating bad guys and demons and threats, he hasn't actual done anything 'bout them. that is the real difference 'tween trump and others who has tried suc fear-based tactics. blame immigrants and then have proposed wall efforts stymied while illegal border crossings actual increase would be catastrophic for any past President not involved in a genuine shooting war with a foreign power. can't get a deal done with Congress on immigration or wall funding? such would be blamed on President no matter what excuses were presented. this President fails over and over and over again. government shutdowns and tarif threats and obamacare repeal and anything else which would take executive negotiation and skill has wound up aborted or in an indefinite holding pattern. ignore all the character issue problems and you still got a record o' historic failure. Americans have typical demanded more of Presidents than they were capable-- expect 'em to fix economy and police violence and abortion issues. Constitution gives limited powers to the President but public always demands more. nevertheless, expectations from trump followers is lower than we ever recall a President being afforded. trump blames others? sure. fearmongering ain't new and past aspiring leaders has used such threats to gain power. the thing is, once you got the power, Americans has demand Presidents fix those problems, even if the problems is largely illusionary. those angry and fearful americans have never been particular patient either. is a brave new world? HA! Good Fun!

it should be. more than any other US political office, Presidents get more credit and blame for their actions. trying hard and good intentions never helped carter or even george h.w. .and while the President has little direct impact on the economy until after they has left office or deep into a second term, they tend to get blame and credit disproportionate to actions. the thing is, other than small business owners and the ultra wealthy, the economy, in spite o' statistical overall strength, has not improved for trump voters in particular. tariffs and commercial farm deregulation has had devastating impact on family farmers, and the average manufacturing sector wage slave has seen 0 noteworthy improvement in actual disposable income since 2011. income disparity and debt is at all-time levels and 'mongst the folks suffering worst is trump loyalists. but again, try and fail 'cause o' opposition from opposing party or foreign powers or acts o' god has never been the salvation o' an unsuccessful President, and for a chief executive who had majorities in both houses for his first two years, trump's list o' accomplishments is historically anemic. nothing other than unilateral decisions and a hastily authored tax cut which did double the amount before estate tax would kick in, which no doubt is reason the guy working at the local mill is voting trump 2020. deep state? have mentioned this before, but pre-trump, pretty much every deep state conspiracy were intimate tied to eisenhower warnings o' the military-industrial complex. big business. oil. defense contractors. how the hell does the guy with the flowers become the face of deep state? trump and fox managed to sell fear to folks most afraid. sold stoopid conspiracies to people least educated. support for trump should be surprising. doesn't make sense in context o' US politics o' the last +6 decades. extreme polarization. complicit cable media. historic levels o' government distrust in spite o' absence o' major crisis. HA! Good Fun! ps there were a funny moment during the house judiciary committee circus today. matt gaetz asks john dean how he thinks a plan for universal health care should be paid. dean, confused by non-sequitur, asks for clarification. gaetz points out how as dean were testifying 'bout mueller report events he had no actual first hand knowledge, why should he not also testify 'bout universal health care... if only basis were nixon era experience, then what were the point o' dean's presence? dean kinda chuckles and mentions how nixon did have a plan for universal health care. widespread laughter ensues.

can still do both. baldur's gate 2: shadows of amn. baldur's gate 3... with colon as yet revealed? *shrug* am suspecting larian's naming methodology were simple. any consideration beyond what name would help move the most units would likely be dismissed... and lord only knows what kinda calculus goes into such a choice. HA! Good Fun!

is not 2016. exit polls in 2016 showed the majority o' trump voters didn't actual like trump but they disliked the alternatives even more. unfortunately, after ~2.5 years o' bumbling incompetence, lies and attacks on the rule o' law, polarization has increased and trump's followers is fully entrenched. inexplicable, and beyond reason, trump followers like trump more now than they did in 2016. doesn't have more votes, but the votes is less up-for-grab than they were in 2016. that said, if a democrat candidate can be as popular as the woeful unpopular clinton, which is a low bar, then should be a democrat win. independents were the deciding factor in 2016, and at the moment, the majority o' such is polling as anti-trump. nevertheless, if democrats pick anything other than a moderate candidate, and the candidate they choose ain't energizing the democrats who didn't bother to vote last election in the battleground states, then history could repeat. trump is polling worse with those educated and female voters who voted for him in 2016, but inexplicable, trump is more popular with his base than when he were elected. democrats can't get lazy the way clinton were lazy. HA! Good Fun! ps sad truth for us is that o' the demo field, the only one who appears to have a real plan for dealing with actual issues is elizabeth warren. am not a fan o' hers, but she is the only one who ain't just selling hopes and dreams.

we wish. for the past couple years we kinda put off a few business and home improvement projects figuring we would get to 'em once we retired. *chuckle* am knowing is serious first world problem, but we got a golf course lot, and it were only until a week after we retired that we noticed we have maybe five total feet o' space along back fence which affords us a golf course view. have let things grow a bit outta control, and landscaping is way down the list after repair/replace wood suffering dry rot and painting o' house as well as dealing with that f'ing pool table and bank o' america nonsense and... plan is that by thanksgiving our retirement may approach gd normal. and congrats to tn. doing something useful with your life which helps others. remember to take care o' yourself though. HA! Good Fun!