Gromnir

don't get us started on lotr and silmarillion. the thing is, we will admit it is unfair to read lotr as literature. lotr is myth. symbols is much more important than plot or prose or character development in myth. descending from the heavens on mighty wings, lotr eagles is the boon granted to the faithful. why? same reason as serpents in a garden with a tree o' knowledge and lethal mistletoe arrows and vulnerable heels. am always annoyed when folks defend lotr as literature. is not good literature. insofar as revealing truths 'bout the human condition, lotr sucks. is a frequent brutal read with little concern for meaningful character development. nevertheless, lotr and silmarillion ain't literature. myth. "the lord of the rings is of course a fundamentally religious and catholic work." -- tolkien you folks who likes lotr but hate religions were duped, which we suspect were kinda the point. tolkien brought faith to the faithless w/o most o' such folks ever being the wiser. get a bunch o' jaded existentialists to believe in good and evil and heroic sacrifice and whatnot? congrats to tolkien as a myth builder and guerilla catholic proselytizer. even so, as literature, lotr is kinda lame. eagles? *snort* HA! Good Fun!

is so difficult to decipher gifted posts 'cause he so rare knows what he is spouting off 'bout when he goes on one o' his anger benders. affirmative action? how on earth would affirmative action relate to school fees? either he is using the wrong term, or... regardless, many states ask for parents to pay mandatory fees for s'posed free education. is a growing trend as schools is increasing making laptops/chromebooks part o' ordinary student supplies and as so many angry and childless homeowners grumbled 'bout school taxes being levied on their property yearly. have seen high school student fees running +$700 per year in a few states, and such were a few years past. much o' the optional fees isn't particular optional for the ordinary student. bus pass fee. lab fees. activity and field-trip fees. etc. charge for such minutiae as locker maintenance is understandable eye-roll worthy. gonna dismiss gifted affirmative action comments as simple ignorance, however, there is a considerable number o' states which has chosen to avoid more generalized tax schemes in favor o' more targeted taxes. 'course there is always income-based waivers available. legal there needs be such waivers. 'cause gifted is unaware, ca Constitution specific makes education free. any essential school activity cannot result in a fee charge in ca. however, every year more than a few ca school districts attempt circumvent law. in spite o' the state Constitution clearness, an additional law were passed 'cause far too many school districts were attempting to squeeze fees from folks. https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cp/uc/ab1575letter20121116.asp college is a different matter. even so, 1-2 years o' community college is now free in ca albeit with somewhat limiting provisos. keep in mind ca community colleges were already 'mongst the cheapest community college systems in the nation with full-time tuition running less than $1500 per year if the per unit cost were applied to a standard 15 unit per semester student schedule. make 2 years o' tuition functional free will help but is hardly the reason so many people fail to complete their college career nowadays. @Agiel americans voluntarily adopting mechanisms o' a police state. a brave new world indeed. the part o' fahrenheit 451 most folks forget or gloss over is how bradbury's dystopian nightmare were the alchemy o' burgeoning technology and a populist movement. is not a book 'bout government censorship. weren't some institutional monolith taking away liberties. were americans voluntarily surrendering freedom. desire to not be offended and feel more secure led to a police state. am gonna blame on hurl. teachers clear ain't teaching the important stuff if this kinda thing is resulting in indifference and even applause. HA! Good Fun! ps am not genuine blaming hurl, but am nevertheless disappointed that so many has read 1984, brave new world and fahrenheit 451 in schools and clear not learned.

am thinking the most recent pvp we did were for the light dark event. did a mere handful o' war zones so we could acquire the pioneer armour. lack o' pvp for us is odd too 'cause we got one character who reached 100 valor, another with +90, plus a handful with better than 50, but has been years since we did any significant pvp. back when leveling were a long and tedious slog, pvp were kinda a quick way to get levels and gear, and the pvp gear were on par in pve (and actual superior in limited cases) with top gear only available in operations. as out of practice as we were this weekend doing esseles, am only able to imagine how we would embarrass our self in pvp. am not having fond recollections o' just how much rage were directed at inexperienced pvp players when a warzone went bad. am not over concerned with the prospect o' being targeted by such rage, but am nevertheless less than enthusiastic 'bout having to be the source o' such scorn w/o some kinda payoff. HA! Good Fun!

an extra month. based 'pon what we read from the test server feedback, the game will benefit from a bit more time... or at least one hopes such is the case. more time won't fix fundamental flaws and am not sure 'bout the gearing situation as described. regardless, for no good reason, we started a new guardian over the weekend. am level 55 and our t-7 is max influence. we like guardians/juggs 'cause they always seem kinda middle o' the pack for tank and dps efficiency. we can deal with ordinary as long as we not need endure extremes o' overt suckage or opness. (qualifier: there were a considerable period o' time when focus/rage guardian/juggs were a clear pvp win-button choice.) took us three days and 'bout 16 soul-numbing hours o' esseles, plus however long it took us to rush through tython, to reach level 55. has been so long since we played, figured we would start fresh. took a bit to relearn controls. were genuine awkward for the first 10 esseles runs. have been selling the purple gear drops from esseles. am perplexed as to why anybody would buy such with upcoming changes, but who are we to question? when finished with t-7 influence, we had +80 pieces o' gear, so am figuring a minimum o' 'bout 2 million credits. other nice thing 'bout leveling with esseles is the level adjust. with with nothing save the pioneer trailblazer armour and the frequent weapon/offhand drops, we stayed geared more than sufficient to breeze through the fp. switched over to the legacy level 55 devoted allies gear and will stick with such 'til 65. well, we got an extra month. with two months, am not doubting we will be able to advance many o' our level 65s to 70 and complete the content we missed during our absence. ... no more esseles or bt runs for awhile though. literal had an esseles dream last night, which were mild disturbing on multiple levels. color us embarrassed. HA! Good Fun!

... germany doing its best to challenge florida man? HA! Good Fun!

in the past, with legacy perks and a willingness to click for an hour or two, it cost ~4 million credits worth o' green (0-30) and purple gifts (31-50) to go from 0-50. if purples is now encheapened... the thing is, we gotta level anyway, and do so while generating free influence with a companion were most efficient in the past, especially now that pretty much all the initial companions has been returned to you post kotfe, yes? is not as if you grind mako to 50 you will then lose her indefinite as were the case in the past. will need look at purple costs. HA! Good Fun!

has been a while since we played, but while our default for any game is to be completionist, tor cured us o' the urge. recognizing how esseles and black talon runs to achieve 50 influence with at least one companion were so much more efficient than completionist, or any other approach we has seen, our new tor default is to pretty much abandoned anything save critical path story until reaching new content. has it become much cheaper to buy influence via gifts? if not, then am likely to once again do esseles and black talon to start. is balance/madness and telekinetic/lightning sages/sorcs still the worst dps options? maybe the expansion makes dps sages/sorcs and dps vanguard/powertech less terrible? am thinking o' subscribing for a month to get the new expansion and see what is new since we stopped circa 2016. am recollecting we got one 70 and a whole bunch o' 65s... command exp and random endgame 1007 were our personal tor breaking point. pretty much stopped playing immediate after hitting 70 on one character. nevertheless, am thinking we will create one new character and do esseles and black talon to death, though chances are good we have forgotten how to play. we do have a bit o' time to play games nowadays, which is nice. honest don't have many games we wanna play, so am gonna give tor another chance, for at least a bit. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting you are joking, at least in part. 'course we spent today figuring how to unload one o' our cars. am genuine getting rid o' our x5 in part 'cause o' a flat tire. front tire went flat and we now need two new tires. decent tires would cost us ~$1k. we also got a recurring self-leveling suspension issue, which is endurable but would cost ~$3k to fix. is time to throw in the towel. am not current in need o' a replacement, but will likely get one o' the new ford ranger pickups, and then make it more dog-friendly. am down to two dogs, but history suggests we will have more sooner rather than later. HA! Good Fun!

am kinda with numbers on this. we didn't see a need for the sequels, so we sure don't recognize a good reason for a 4th short o' a cash grab. alternative: perhaps is a sunk-cost fallacy issue? wachowskis is so invested that they cannot get themselves out of the matrix. just one more movie (or one more trilogy) will save their vision? and one more. and one more. HA! Good Fun!

can do a search if you want, but we noted at time of draft how in spite o' possibility jaylon smith would never play a down in the nfl, he were also the guy from the class we thought had the best shot o' being a hall of fame inductee in the future. jaylon smith is also current one of the cowboys four best players, regardless o' position. high character. high motor. high intelligence. but yeah, pick early second round were a risk, albeit less so when one considered the upside. people is talking 'bout elliott and dak, but getting smith and lawrence inked this year were, in our mind, more significant to long-term success. good news getting him locked up. now, get byron jones signed, though am suspecting jones slows this 'cause o' health concerns... 'course he will need pay for such caution. HA! Good Fun!

https://www.49ers.com/video/mitch-wishnowsky-with-the-huge-hit-vs-broncos two observations: 1) love to see a kicker getting into the mix. 2) somebody needs to teach mitch how to tackle. lower head when making contact is so wrong, and may lead to serious injury of the guy tackling as well as tackled. lead with the shoulder is great. wrap up is great. unfortunate, drop helmet is dangerous and is stoopid regardless 'cause as a tackler you do not take eyes off target even for split second. love the tackle and hate it at same time. sad thing is, mitch is not alone. seems like proper tackling technique is not taught at any level these days. sure, mitch is a kicker, so who is wasting time coaching him up on tackling, but is not just mitch. see this in pro, college, high school and pee wee. https://qctimes.com/news/heads-up-tackling-the-wrong-way-can-lead-to-catastrophic/article_21e7df67-2a0c-5ac1-a152-099a16802868.html kevin everett never played another down o' football, but unlike many others, after years o' therapy, he was able to walk again. lower head increases odds o' complete avoidable injuries and also makes for less effective tackling. bad on multiple levels. *leaves soapbox* HA! Good Fun!

last two for a bit am able to overlook the "fusion" label and enjoy good blues guitar. and something a little different kinda feel bad for brittany howard's bandmates. those guys, a bunch o' high school friends, had made it to the Big Time seeming yesterday, and then the band's headliner announces she is going solo... and the rest o' the band was never heard from again. anyways, am not certain how we feel 'bout the new stuff, but getting terry crews to lip sync the video were fun. HA! Good Fun!

one more from purdie HA! Good Fun!

*snort* we stole Gromnir's identity in 2005... and you have no idea how exhausting it is posting like this just to keep up the charade. HA! Good Fun!

elliott is a premier rb. the thing is, recall demarco murray's final year with the cowboys. the guy averaged 4.7 ypc and he totaled +1800 yards rushing on 392 attempts. last year, elliott averaged 4.7 ypc and he totaled +1400 yards rushing on 304 attempts. the cowboys ol, as long as they stay collective healthy, is gonna make most nfl calibre rbs look good, and they is gonna make good rbs look like they deserves to be in the conversation with the likes o' barry sanders, jim brown and walter payton. pay elliott and you is actual paying the wrong guy if you is most concerned with maintaining rushing totals. again, am agreeing elliott is a premier rb. if one ignores all the off-the-field headaches, then elliot would be deserving to get paid... by somebody. the thing is, the cowboys ol has actual been underrated the last few years. the cowboys, in part we suspect to cover dak shortcomings, runs the most vanilla offense in the league. one step removed from leather helmets. defensive coordinators has lamented how everybody knows what the cowboys is gonna do, but the chess game move and counter-move planning is wasted if you cannot prevent even what you know is coming. the cowboys offense functions 'cause the ol is overwhelming good. from a pure football pov, may nevertheless be worth paying elliot in spite o' our observation. the cowboys ol is good enough such that if any one guy goes down ('cept maybe zack martin) the line is nevertheless gonna continue to perform at a high level. the thing is, count on the cowboys line to stay relative healthy all year may not be the smart bet. what happens if travis frederick and zack martin is injured for an extended period o' time? somebody is gonna need step up, and am not believing dak is able to be any better than what he is today: a mid-tier qb. have elliott on the roster means season might not be complete over if a couple ol go down with injuries. 'course all this ignores how elliott is a headcase who is always one after-midnight story away from a multi-game suspension. has gotta be a dollar amount jones attaches to immaturity and stoopidity, no? perhaps is a small number, but... HA! Good Fun!

maybe show movies would help 'cause have every USA high school kid read 1984 isn't working. HA! Good Fun!

gonna disagree with you on this. post-mortem were discouraging for us 'cause josh recognized insular problems as 'posed to cultural and/or systemic. keep in mind, am not looking for the silver lining. am not looking at this like an obsidian fan. am looking at this like a cold-blooded and heartless ombudsman o' doom. ship combat were a waste o' resources and shoulda' been killed sooner. ... duh. recognition, after-the-fact, that ship combat were a resource sink is less helpful for future game design than one might hope. if the folks 'bove josh's pay-grade had recognized ship combat as a resource hog with little benefit v. cost, do you think obsidian genuine woulda' pushed forward with the feature? so, josh recognizes how important it is to not invest resources in features which is offering little payoff compared to massive expenditure. no quicksand features. even looks a bit like josh... at least when he has the beard. late addition o' vo were problematic? again, duh. as a post-mortem point, am finding this one to be o' dubious merit. josh reflected 'pon a disproportionate expensive feature added late in development which functional forced immediate content lock. would josh do it again? no, but he admitted it weren't his call in the first place. so, a relative unique situation which were complete out o' his hands, but he admits it were a bad choice... a bad choice by somebody else. uh, well, ok then. also, am thinking josh almost complete whiffed on the real issues with companion shortcomings and narrative flaws. could go into writing problems further, but am recalling we already kinda did so when post-mortem first were shared. etc. josh looked at isolated problems and came up with specific solutions. is actual a terrible approach to a post mortem, or rather is the way an ameteur approaches. learn not to make same and exact mistake again? ez. josh didn't address process or culture which led to problems in the first place. what changes coulda' been made so similar unexpected problems would be avoided or marginalized? nothing. no reflection. am knowing am sounding harsh and am gonna cheese off more than a few folks by being so critical, but am hopeful somebody at obsidian takes the next step, the hard step, and figures out how to change process and culture so as to be better able to respond to the inevitable unexpected crises which will plague their next title. HA! Good Fun!

dak is (maybe) the 10th best player on the cowboys roster. this observation admitted ignores the disproportionate importance o' the qb position and also recognizes just what a talented group o' players the cowboys current have at their disposal. nevertheless, is one o' those brain-freeze kinda moments to consider the possibility that a guy who bare breaks top ten on the cowboys roster should be getting paid $40 million. reflect 'pon what a $40million dak means when the contracts for other young cowboy players, more talented players, is gonna need be renegotiated. the aaron rodgers contract calculus were criticized by some pundits 'cause paying the qb big money limited what the packers could do with the rest o' their roster. the thing is, the packers qb were a legit mvp candidate. similarly, given how young is the bears roster, paying to get khalil mack were criticized by few when the bears managed the trade accompanied by a historic contract. dak ain't the same guy and the cowboys got more than a couple guys who is gonna need get paid in the next couple years. what is the 31 other owners thinking o' the possibility o' jones actual paying a mid-tier qb $40 million? any other team who has a qb entering free agency or facing the last year o' their K is likely contemplating how to discourage jones from making a league altering decision. HA! Good Fun!

you do realize your approval is akin to wod linking supporting articles from joshua goldberg, or sharp one linking alex jones stuff, yes? skarp blunt capacity to be wrong on any issue from law to bumblebee aerodynamics is gonna undercut gifted position, and he sure don't need that kinda help. as to current issue o' trump chances o' winning, am admitted uncertain. while we don't necessarily agree with gd list o' candidates and their chances o' success 'gainst trump, am admitted concerned 'bout democrats, 'cause while democrats talk a good game, they so rare show up in november when it counts. am knowing trump is as unpopular as ever, which has been a near constant since short after the election. am recognizing how poorly trump is polling 'gainst the field. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/457645-fox-news-poll-shows-trump-losing-to-biden-warren-sanders-and-harris am admitted baffled by how trump is actual polling below his approval rate, which is kinda counter-intuitive for an incumbent President. 'course nothing much has made sense 'bout trump polling since he became nominee. folks talk 'bout the economy as if is a positive for trump, but is core trump voters who has actual seen their situation become worse these last few years. if democrats become enthusiastic 'bout a candidate, they win whether is moderate or far-left, but go ahead and try and predict such a thing today is gonna be mostly the result o' weak-arsed conjecture. have mentioned this before, but obama did not look like anything other than an also-ran until after iowa. is better for democrats if a candidate, moderate or far-left, energizes the historical torpid and indolent democrats. is tougher for a moderate to create groundswell support given the endemic disappointment many/most voters have with washington status quo. nevertheless, am not discounting the possibility o' a moderate finding an issue or signature proposal 'tween now and february 2020 iowa caucus to elevate their game, so-to-speak. is far too early to predict. yeah, only way trump gets reelected is gross incompetence by democrats, but such were the case in 2016. one thing democrats got going for 'em this time (other than trump incompetence in office, which should make the election moot but don't) is the fact clinton ain't the candidate. weren't simple fact clinton were so overwhelming unpopular 'mongst almost all non-democrats and even a few democrats which made her a bad candidate. the cronyism which marred the democrat candidacy is not an issue this time 'round. far too many demo bosses owed the clintons decades worth o' favors such that her candidacy in 2016 were foregone unless jesus christ returned to run... though am suspecting even jc would have a hard time with both party voters in the south and parts o' the heartland given fact he is not european white. last time around, many democrats justifiably believed clinton were forced onto them. made far too many fainéant democrats actual bitter rather than ordinary indifferent. ain't a candidate like that in the current field. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing hall and oates is a bit o' a punchline nowadays also, for more smooth pretty purdie drum effort, purdie shuffle for the win. HA! Good Fun!

unauthorized border crossing is illegal. ain't criminal. if gifted builds an extension on his house w/o such improvements being to code, his actions is violations o' law. illegal. however, such actions by gifted ain't criminal. government decides a good way to deter folks from doing home improvements w/o proper inspections and/or in violation o' code is to separate families who engage in such behavior. show up to a younger gifted's wrong-built home and take his wife and child away... temporarily. "so sad"? such silliness is ok though, 'cause folks is convenient forgetting how building code violations is illegal. multiple administrations has faced border crossing problems, though rare has they been so self-inflicted. nevertheless, previous administrations managed to muddle through w/o a general policy o' child separation. regardless, regarding gifted's poor coyotes, if you can somehow convince enough like-minded folks to pressure their Congressmen into changing law, then perhaps you may get your wish regarding the end o' manifest unfairness being delivered unto coyotes. am suspecting a long wait. 'course most o' us realize how similar actions may provide different levels o' criminal punishment. take identical male twins as an example. twin 1 is releasing measurable amounts o' carcinogens and toxins into the air daily. twin 2 is doing same. twin 1 is a 2-pack-a-day smoker. twin 2 runs a large chemical refinery and he is knowing polluting in violation o' law. pretend there is no difference 'cause they is fundamental doing same thing is absurd, but here we is somehow. HA! Good Fun!

smuggling people across the border is a crime and violates the immigration and nationality act. Congress passed a law, and the President signed and the Court has upheld the Constitutionality. you genuine need a review o' how this works? fines for violation is considerable and prison terms is up to 20 years if multiple undocumented persons is knowing being transported across the border at locations other than designated checkpoints. is two relevant code sections with only major difference being if smuggling took place at designated checkpoints. oh, and if an undocumented person dies as a result o' transport, prison for the smuggler may become life. so, gifted now knows enough so he can go out and pressure his Congressman to change laws? maybe he gets enough citizens to pressure their Congressmen regarding the manifest unfairness faced by human smugglers to get laws changed? am not gonna hold breath waiting. but perhaps you wanna do reverse and make the immigrants actions criminal? that would be more fair and equitable considering the poor treatment the coyotes is receiving? criminal trial for current and backlogged immigration cases? all +850,000? yeah, that is the change we should be demanding. however, you are right 'bout one thing, we should get more use o' the following: duh. which brings us to skarp's typical blunt comprehension fail... a fail that admitted started earlier with chill comprehension fail. the detainees is not being arrested pursuant to a suspected criminal infraction. duh. in the US we do not separate parents and children when a person is served a parking ticket. doing so would be ludicrous and am not thinking needs be further discussed. that being said, the Courts is aware o' the reality o' the situation at the border and the difficulties o' detaining large numbers o' persons w/o even certainty o' their identities and countries o' origin. is a logistical nightmare to process and adequate detain people in the current situation, which is why child separations has been ok'd when is necessary, but such separations need be for no longer than absolute required. again, these ain't suspected criminals who is being detained. child separations did happen under previous administrations, but such were limited and not part o' a general policy. we previous mentioned at least one child separation event which happened during obama's administration, and the government defense o' the separation were cringe-worthy indeed, so is plenty o' blame for everybody. nevertheless, discover the wh purposeful made child separation a policy to discourage immigration? well, that is what caused the brouhaha regarding child separations. and to be blunt, am thinking you would look like a world class idiot if you went before judge atsushi wallace tashima and told him, based on his exhortation regarding soap, toothbrushes and blankets for minors, he had "obviously" never had to endure "harsh conditions." yeah, his ww2 experience provided the judge with experience regarding detainment camp conditions. is the kinda first-hand experience very few o' us could claim. nevertheless, chill calls out one o' the few judges with such experience? and you agree with him? HA! but again, this is a blunt comprehension fail and strawman to boot. judge tashima were addressing "safe and sanitary" requirements o' the flores settlement. harsh conditions experience were complete irrelevant in the present situation. ... already explained this previous, and given blunt instrument am dealing with, am as optimistic now as hurl were earlier when he edited his post in recognition o' a presumptive fail. nevertheless, we endure. the flores settlement, whether you like or not, is controlling law regarding what is standard for government insofar as the care o' minor detainees. flores, as is often the case with such directives, is light on specific guidance. "safe and sanitary." in a recent case a fed judge determined that, at a minimum, "safe and sanitary" required the government to provide minors with soap, a toothbrush, a blanket and conditions conducive to sleep. judge ordered that facilities be inspected to make certain these bare minimums were being provided. government wanted to appeal the judge's actions, but they couldn't. weren't possible to appeal clarification o' the already existing settlement. so government tries a different approach-- claim specific enumeration o' soap, toothbrushes and blankets by the judge fundamental changed the meaning o' the flores settlement. chill's "obviously" statement were kinda pointless in the present context, but judges found what were obvious were that in the case o' minor detainees, many o' who were being held for significant periods o' time, access to soap, a toothbrush, a blanket and conditions conducive for sleep were part o' the "safe and sanitary" requirement from the flores settlement. sisyphus at work, eh? HA! Good Fun!

would be entertaining to watch chill chastise judge atsushi wallace tashima 'bout harsh conditions in internment camps. HA! Good Fun!

no, it ain't. the position gifted takes is nonsensical but appealing to the fringe. after all, no matter how poor detainees is treated, if they keep making hundred and thousand mile treks to get to the US, then obviously their treatment must be better than where they came from, yes? is silly and ridiculous, but has appeal to the extreme nativist 'cause embracing such a wacky viewpoint means there is no minimum legal standard or notion o' decency to which the US must adhere. in fact, the goal is to find the breaking point for immigrants-- find conditions and circumstances so appalling that immigrants stop coming. after all, as we now know, the goal o' child separations were an attempt to find such a breaking point. even the government lawyers is embarrassed when they gotta make these arguments. syllogism: bad enough conditions means immigrants stop coming and then nobody suffers, but if people keep coming, then conditions ain't genuine bad. is circular-stoopid, but has become oft repeated by the fringe... and this administration. HA! Good Fun!

the only remix o' a classic we have ever linked. and 'cause you can never have too much stevie wonder with james jamerson HA! Good Fun!