Gromnir

we would be surprised if any reasonable seasoned adult posting on this board has managed to go through life and never have a supervisor/boss who were clear and obvious unqualified for their position due to lack o' common sense and/or ability. have met a few boss types who displayed shocking impulse control issues; if Gromnir had behaved as did these executive types, we never woulda' had a career and we likely woulda' been sent to prison. HA! Good Fun!

we got a couple beatings as a kid, but wouldn't have been for something such as cheating at school, or so we s'pose since it never were an issue. in retrospect, we woulda' preferred beatings to our ordinary punishment. when we done wrong our grandfather would stare at us with a look o' hard stony judgement, but as to our mistake he would likely remain as silent as a notre dame gargoyle. instead o' verbal excoriating, our grandfather would assign us a chore, such as digging a drainage trench in near frozen soil, or fixing fence lines in snow/rain or whatever. after many hours/days o' soul crushing labor, we would be asked what we done wrong and how we would fix wrong. bad answer meant we got more hours/days o' chore. cycle would repeat until it were Gromnir who came up with the answers our grandfather wanted to hear. hurl telling his daughter to apologize wouldn't happen 'cause is something Gromnir would need intuit. hurl's daughter implying the teacher's use o' "retard" somehow justified the wrong would get us more sweat, shivering, blisters and/or bone wearying fatigue. 'course Gromnir were never a teenage girl and hurl is not a crusty old oglala on a small ranch in the dakotas during the 70s and 80s. ... we did get a couple beatings for not proper taking care o' livestock/animals. improper care o' animals were 'bout the only thing which ever got us a brief and memorable beating. our mother would yell at us and we did once get a backhand from our father when we "talked back." *shrug* cheating weren't gonna be a thing for us. were never even a thing we considered before college. gonna admit to being tempted once or twice in university/grad school/law school, but we were especial protective o' our academic reputation; as a minority student in the 80s/90s, there were more than a few tucker carlson types who assumed we had not earned our seat at boalt. cheat woulda' been giving legitimacy to the claims o' such dirtbags and we had a chip on our shoulder the size o' olympus mons. dunno. am unsure how teens view academic cheating nowadays. cindy makes a social media posts suggesting kim is trying to steal wendy's boyfriend and am suspecting we got war of the roses 2022. "o', i have lost my reputation! i have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial."-- othello, act 2, scene 3. kids is just as concerned (more) 'bout their reputation today as when we were a teenager. am nevertheless baffled by what the new generations believe is worth fighting to protect, and have always been unnerved by teenage "reasoning." HA! Good Fun!

one o' our dogs will roll in p00p, dead snake or just 'bout anything nightmarish foul. if the dog is off its leash and it notices the source o' evil before Gromnir (a near guarantee as we do not have canine sense o' smell) the pooch will attempt to bathe in the feces, slurry, whatever. if we can't stop our dog from rolling in deer p00p, then what chance would we have o' reasoning with a teenage girl? deer poop is particularly vile in the late summer and early fall when the critters is clear eating considerable blackberries-- the resulting scat becomes a noisome jelly/jam which is curiously water replant. nevertheless am certain our dog issue is a laughable minor nothing compared to the difficulty o' raising a teenage girl. good luck. HA! Good Fun!

nobody should wanna know how Gromnir's brain works. nevertheless, am sharing a brief trip down the rabbit hole. so @ShadySands made the following post yesterday: which 'cause o' the mentat thing reminded us o'... the thing is, we couldn't help but notice how the sun were coming from a direction to make the parasol somewhat ineffective as it is being held, which brought to mind a bit o' peter ustinov from spartacus the parasol bit by sir ustinov were improv. and then we recalled ustinov's grandfather were a russian noble, which got us thinking 'bout... and so on and etc. a single image leads us ever more far afield from the original subject matter... and on that note, am gonna bring back to brad, albeit from deadwood. HA! Good Fun! ps and thinking 'bout brad dourif career, we couldn't help but recall a few o' the werner herzog collaborations, such as...

Supreme Court declines to give update on Justice Thomas hospitalization status The court said Sunday that Thomas had been admitted to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington on Friday after experiencing “flu-like symptoms,” and he was diagnosed with an infection. His “symptoms are abating,” and he was expected to be released Monday or Tuesday, the court said in a statement at the time. But on Wednesday morning, court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said she had no update to provide. edit: according to a tmz report (not joking) based on a convo outside a coffee shop in dc, J. Breyer were asked about clarence thomas and the retiring Justice remarked he thought thomas was doing "fine."

wtf. no oral arguments. no meaningful opinion written save for the dissent. haven't seen mention at most major news sites, but The Court, by means o' yet another per curiam and unsigned shadow docket decision no less, said the wisconsin state supreme court were acting unconstitutional when it tentative sided with the state governor in an election redistricting dispute. am gonna get into this more later, but 'cause is shadow docket, am having more questions than answers save to observe how beyond expectations and reason it would appear The Court has nevertheless gutted section 2 of the VRA, reading its protections almost opposite as how it has previous been read, which should be frontpage news... everywhere. "Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in one of the language minority groups identified in Section 4(f)(2) of the Act." new shadow docket decision states, with improbable convoluted language, that, "whether a race-neutral alternative that did not add a seventh majority-black district would deny black voters equal political opportunity,” should be determined via the strict scrutiny standard. am knowing this quoted portion likely don't mean anything to most readers, but strict-scrutiny is a near auto-fail and it means minorities complaining that a facial neutral redistricting plan (which is functional every such plan as who is gonna announce via the text o' such a plan that the motivation for the redistricting is racial animus,) must needs overcome an impossible hurdle to win when they argue redistricting is discriminatory. for those concerned 'bout judicial activism, this kinda behavior from The Court should cause outrage. (edit: included to avoid double-post) additional wtf material: pomerantz is not just some schnook. in his resignation letter he states he gots "no doubt" that trump were "guilty of numerous felony violations," and that failure to hold trump accountable amounts to "a grave failure of justice." seasoned litigators rare speak that way. ever wonder why Gromnir qualifies responses? certainty is elusive. pomerantz is not indulging any kinda equivocation in his resignation letter, a letter which he knew would become public at some point. am admitted a bit nonplussed.

calling bs on people not caring about women's sports before lia thomas. if you are american and o' an age with Gromnir, you instant know names such as bonney blair, wilma rudolph, janet evans and a host o' others. younger folks is gonna recognize other names. older will also know different icons. we cheered with everybody else when the US women's team dominated world soccer. and as a man if you got a sister, cousin, mother or friend who has competed in sports, then chances are you care 'bout women's sports, which thanks to title ix and the like is a significant portion o' the population. unfortunate it seems the politics o' victimization works for all genders and ages in 2022. tell us we don't care enough 'bout softball or any women's sport when is not time for the olympics? sure. so what? tell us we didn't care 'bout women's sports before this ignores the fact we got a sister who competed in college sports and am knowing how unfair woulda' been the situation if she had to fight people born male to earn a place on the podium or even to earn a scholarship. as for the silliness o' suggesting a harrison bergeron approach for michael phelps, such is obvious indulging reductio ad absurdum even w/o adding seven exclamation points, although we didn't actual count the punctuation so excuse us if we claim too many. am tempted to simple sneer as a response. of course some folks are born bigger and stronger than their peers. again, jesse owens had to compete against people who did not need endure systemic racism their entire life, so he were at a disadvantage, but we recognize and glorify not only the transcendental heart o' jesse owens, but also his ability, and his ability were in part a function o' the gifts with which he were born. lia thomas's ability before trans were impressive, but not the kinda thing to garner national attention or awareness... until she started competing against women. sorry, but you and kelsey are ignoring the fact the only thing which makes lia's athletic ability noteworthy is her gender reassignment. lia not blowing away the competition in other events is part o' the point- when lia thomas was competing against men she weren't anywhere near top ten finishes. is not that nobody cared about women's sports before lia thomas. is that almost nobody cared 'bout lia thomas as a swimmer before she started competing against women, 'cause as harsh as is the truth, she were not a name which anybody but the most hardcore ncaa swimming fan were gonna recognize. her best event when competing v. men were #32 national? is good, but nobody outside the most rarefied swimming circles would know her name. lia thomas were most assured not a michael phelps. however, not as a result o' hard work or coaching or technique, she went from 550 to top ten in events. ask why too many americans don't care as much 'bout women's sports and unfortunate lia thomas provides the most obvious answer: a mediocre male collegiate athlete, a relative nobody, takes drugs and hormones which decrease her performance and then she becomes a top ten contender and ncaa champ? is also worth noting many o' lia thomas' teammates at penn think its unfair she competes 'gainst women. https://www.si.com/college/2022/03/03/lia-thomas-penn-swimmer-transgender-woman-daily-cover 16 Penn teammates sent an unsigned letter to Ivy League officials, requesting that Thomas be held out of the conference championship meet. The letter was organized by Nancy Hogshead-Makar, an Olympic gold medalist who heads Champion Women, a women’s sports advocacy group that focuses on Title IX issues. “If [Thomas] were to be eligible to compete,” the letter read, “she could now break Penn, Ivy and NCAA women’s swimming records; feats she could never have done as a male athlete.” is only six o' her teammates who strong support lia. the rules suck. the rules is not fair to lia and her competitors. preventing lia from any competition whatsoever would be unfair. the rules need changes. am nevertheless confused why folks pretend the current rules is fair. again, if lia were born female and underwent gender reassignment, there would be no story... unless she were janet evans, summer sanders or the like. the hormone and dug treatments as part o' gender reassignment would preclude lia from competing with men in part 'cause her performance were synthetic enhanced. 'course such is not an issue 'cause janet evens even with testosterone supplementation would not be able to compete with the likes o' micheal phelps. this story exists 'cause an obvious inequity which people is trying very hard to pretend doesn't exist. this isn't a political issue, or it shouldn't be. unfortunate it is. but again, am not in favour o' the outright bans which were imposed 'cause the gop is afraid o' wokeness or somesuch silliness. there needs to be meaningful debate and real solutions, but meaningful debate in the current environment is difficult to say the least. HA! Good Fun! ps so is clear, am not in any way criticizing lia thomas, whose name we keep misspelling-- apologies. she were a swimmer before reassignment and rules define how she is to compete post reassignment. lia is doing nothing wrong and deserves no criticism from Gromnir or anybody else. lia is following all rules. unfortunate, the rules is not recognizing a fundamental inequity as well as the all too obvious truth that being born male and benefiting from decades o' being male results is serious athletic advantages when compared to athletes born female. however, again, lia thomas is blameless in all this and we actual admire her courage as she is no doubt facing much unfair ridicule for trying to be the best lia thomas she can be.

is not gonna be a popular position. oh well. am understanding why the utah governor did veto the ban, but is nothing 'bout the issue which is sane. ask self why steroids or blood doping is prohibited in most sports competitions. liam thompson were ranked 'tween 550 and 32 in events while competing as a man. after transgender, she is number 1 in multiple events and an ncaa national champion. is not gonna be anybody who suggests it were a change in coaching or additional hard work which boosted lia's ranking so dramatic. if am a woman having to compete 'gainst lia thompson, am gonna predict we would be more than a little angry, and our ire would have absolute nothing to do with our pov on transgender rights in general. jesse owens were remarkable and thanks to athletics he were able to compete with a racist system and triumph 'cause his real competition were the clock or measuring tape. athletics gave jesse owns and jim thorpe a level playing field 'pon which to compete, even if it took society as a whole decades to catch up to them. ... is understandable the rules has always addressed such issues posed by the lia thompson situation in terms o' performance enhancement and the transgender route does not enhance performance but typical impairs or impedes. lia thompson times were worse after transgender, so no performance enhancement were resulting from transgender. creates an ambiguity in the rules. insanity o' the situation when rules do not account for a new situation. as such is worth debating a different approach. we competed for multiple state championships in high school, and we did clean. angered us more than a little when we had to compete 'gainst guys who were doing something to improve their performance which were not related to technique or conditioning but resulting from some artificial boost. the situation ain't sane. a woman transitioning to compete as a man would instant trigger any number o' performance enhancing protocols-- testosterone levels would be too high and as such would be flagged as a violator o' any number o' performance enhancing guidelines. 'course the woman transitioning to compete 'gainst men is not gonna skew results so is no genuine issue worth identifying. your career as a collegiate runner or swimmer is over if you decide to compete with men after being born a woman and the fact you are getting testosterone treatments which would preclude your participation is a relative non factor. the reverse is decided not true. disparity. incongruous. as such, the results o' a rule which cannot cope with a new situation broken and is arguable not particular sane. am recognizing the concerns o' spencer cox and am in agreement the ban shoulda' been vetoed, 'cause the ban itself didn't fix a problem but tries and pretend as if it don't exist. however, am also suggesting the current situation ain't fair to many athletes and new rules tailored to a new reality need be considered. HA! Good Fun!

let's not judge too harsh. after all, this libertarian patriot were being criminalized for nothing save protesting the injustice o' what he believed were a tainted election. so, in an effort to escape the tyrannical oppression o' a justice system which chooses to ignore fundamental rights o' free speech and association, our misunderstood hero emigrated to... belarus? sorry, is not possible to carry the joke forward and am wondering if even the board's most obtuse defenders o' oppressive regimes is gonna be able to make a convincing argument that belarus is an attractive destination point for those who believe it is the duty o' patriots to challenge government excess by means o' unfettered speech and free congress. moving on am gonna make a few observations 'bout the predictable ketanji brown jackson circus. 1) crt is a similar unfunny joke the gop is indulging and they are using a national platform to magnify the republican party's new focus on naught save grievance and victimhood. we would say more on this, but have kinda done-to-death crt. were nothing in the months past and is even more nothing today. nevertheless, white americans, fearing they is increasing marginalized 'cause folks such as tucker carlson tells 'em they should be afraid, has glomped onto an issue so utter devoid o' substance it beggars even our prodigious imagination. 2) am shamefaced at our own surprise regarding the gop attack on ketanji brown jackson's work as a federal public defender. am trying to wrap our noodle 'round this complaint. the argument put forth by lindsay graham and others is that judge jackson while working as a public defender were too zealous in her advocacy o' the cases o' suspected terrorists? ... serious? as an attorney it were jackson's ethical duty to do everything legal and aboveboard to defend her clients. any kid graduating US high school shoulda' learned this truth at some point, yes? is not some kinda special rule o' exclusion requiring a duty o' utmost loyalty and a zealous advocacy when the crimes to which the defendants is accused is particular heinous. and btw, is just lucky for some o' these clowns john mccain is dead, 'cause ketanji brown jackson filling briefs complaining that the use o' torture should be deemed unconstitutional and is unquestionable immoral is hardly a matter which legitimizes targeting her for scurrilous criticism. the biden doj ending this bs is one o' things nobody is gonna talk 'bout in months leading up to november 2022 or 2024, but it deserves recognition. gop is clear on the wrong side o' this and those defending were far more quiet when john mccain were in the room. 3) child porn cases *eye roll* am linking analysis from national review and wapo, so take your pick. quoting the national review analysis: "There is so little rain here for all the big wind, it’s hard to believe this is an issue." is arguable one case wherein judge brown went with a sentence low enough to get an obligatory spock raised eyebrow from Gromnir. am thinking there is legit questions as to the sentence in the sears case. however, is also noteworthy judge jackson afterwards did not grant the defendant compassionate release for medical reasons and the prosecutor did not seek to appeal the sentence. sears is also a singular exception to otherwise pedestrian sentencing from judge jackson which falls square w/i what would be deemed ordinary by even a casual observer o' the fed courts. 4) the circus is what the Court has brought 'pon itself. "What makes all this relevant to the bothersome application of "political pressure" against the Court are the twin facts that the American people love democracy and the American people are not fools. As long as this Court thought (and the people thought) that we Justices were doing essentially lawyers' work up here--reading text and discerning our society's traditional understanding of that text--the public pretty much left us alone. Texts and traditions are facts to study, not convictions to demonstrate about. But if in reality our process of constitutional adjudication consists primarily of making value judgments; if we can ignore a long and clear tradition clarifying an ambiguous text, as we did, for example, five days ago in declaring unconstitutional invocations and benedictions at public high school graduation ceremonies, Lee v. Weisman, 505 U. S. ___ (1992); if, as I say, our pronouncement of constitutional law rests primarily on value judgments, then a free and intelligent people's attitude towards us can be expected to be (ought to be) quite different. The people know that their value judgments are quite as good as those taught in any law school--maybe better. If, indeed, the "liberties" protected by the Constitution are, as the Court says, undefined and unbounded, then the people should demonstrate, to protest that we do not implement their values instead of ours. Not only that, but confirmation hearings for new Justices should deteriorate into question and answer sessions in which Senators go through a list of their constituents' most favored and most disfavored alleged constitutional rights, and seek the nominee's commitment to support or oppose them. Value judgments, after all, should be voted on, not dictated; and if our Constitution has somehow accidently committed them to the Supreme Court, at least we can have a sort of plebiscite each time a new nominee to that body is put forward." --J Scalia, planned parenthood v. casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992) in recent decades the Court has made itself fair game for accusations o' political bias. in the past so-called activist judges, most often favoured by liberals, were the most frequent targets o' such criticism, but today is arguable clarence thomas, J. brett kavanauagh and J. sonia sontamayor is all indistinguishable as naked political creatures with the so-called conservatives in no way elevating the discourse or distancing themselves from the partisan fray. HA! Good Fun! ps in our estimation, clarence thomas no longer deserves the traditional "J." removed.

have mentioned how quixotic and ironic cold we found the recent dune movie. ok movie, but... cold. however, we did enjoy at least one moment: HA! Good Fun! ps the scene woulda been even better if leto or paul were walking pugs.

we played trickster in the beta nowhere near deep enough to make meaningful observations, but as far as am aware, you may only access the nocticula fight via trickster and demon paths. socothbenoth is trickster only, or so we believe. HA! Good Fun!

HA! Good Fun!

don't forget the logo we had a bunch o' cavedog swag, and not 'cause we were such a fan o' total annihilation. HA! Good Fun! ps am still joking

you may have been built to be better than human, but you can't escape the fact you were designed by humans, which means your programming is inherently flawed. you were bound to slip up eventually. HA! Good Fun!

a couple decades past we had a friend who made surfboards. his business didn't last long, but his biz name were rabid dolphin inc. kinda a kewl logo and we may even still have a t-shirt with the image. as such, am gonna suggest "rabid __________." colorado specific? bison? beaver? elk? don't much matter, but am thinking you could come up with a groovy logo and we need a new t-shirt and/or hoodie. HA! Good Fun! ps am knowing shady is more into vampires and gothic, so am s'posing he could for zombie beaver instead o' rabid. would make for an equal interesting t-shirt or coffee mug logo. for us is all 'bout the logo. and yes, am fully aware our advice is not helpful.

kinda a weird quirk noticed: the bound of possibility, areelu's cloak, when fully restored ordinarily provides mythic specific enhancements. as such, switching to legend from ____________ results in most useful aspects o' the cloak being lost, and if you upgrade the cloak after becoming a legend, rerolling skill checks is an uninspired bonus at that point in the game, particular as the legend has so many levels and is less likely to fail a skill check than just 'bout anybody. however, we underlined "most" for a reason. the aeon's cloak doesn't boost or modify an aeon power. instead, the aeon version o' the cloak provides perma-haste to the wearer and his party in combat while forcing foes to make a save or be slowed. all party members also gain a +4 insight bonus to saves and skill checks. am suspecting the trickster version o' the cloak would also retain its benefits once making the switch to legend, but have not checked as we never bothered to play a trickster. our observation is hardly a reason to choose aeon or trickster before switching to legend, but the aeon cloak power in particular is a nice bonus for a legend character. also while am suspecting most folks still checking this thread already know the following, but jic, when we achieved mythic, we immediate went from level eighteen to thirty-five. HA! Good Fun!

our backyard (redwoods off to the left ain't even in the pic) is looking increasingly terrible and am having little motivation to do the work needed to improve the situation. spent most o' last summer fixing the front yard, but side and back remain eyesores which is only ok 'cause nobody sees our backyard save our infrequent guests. the foliage is overgrown so even the golfers need be right at our fence to see more than fragmented glimpses o' our yard. the dogs don't care how much o' a mess we got out back, so is nobody to guilt us into getting off our arse and working. maybe next week? HA! Good Fun! ps the odd shaped fuzzy blob mid-left is a dog. easy to mistake species as she is built more like a hyena... smallish hyena.

ah, so you are mere being self indulgent and hyperbolic with extreme and excessive? gotcha. again, lockdowns is potential reasonable two years in depending on the circumstances, while recognizing two years is not actual a relevant circumstance. depending on lethality and transmissibility o' variants, future lockdowns may be reasonable as they have been reasonable during the previous two years. unfortunate, we got the same folks claiming natural immunity is a solution or being over covid or whatever, so reasonable is not the true measure. two years and nothing learned yet. and selective quote/prune is not your best option. assuming nobody will bother to read the full explanation? HA! Good Fun!

sorry, but coming from the guy who initial insisted on using the "excessive lockdown" language, we find your complaint... amusing. regardless, how on earth does two years inherent make a lockdown more or less extreme? showing your biases. if the mitigation effort is likely to produce a decrease in infections and/or deaths and is reasonably tailored to the threat, then calling "extreme" is bordering on obtuse. again, needs be reasonably tailored, and we already observed how 'cause o' the selfishness you are curious advocating in addition to recognized US reluctance to engage in any mitigation efforts means lockdowns is current a non viable option. am not advocating lockdowns for omicron, so beat that drum if you wish to. regardless, if two years in there were sudden a variant more lethal than delta and as transmissible as omicron, then there would be a valid argument for initiating robust mitigation efforts, including lockdowns. is nothing 'bout your fatigue which makes n95s or social distancing more or less effective. your reluctance due to elapsed days also don't impact transmissibility or lethality o' a coronavirus. 'course part o' the problem is there is unlikely to be reliable instant data on transmissibility and lethality, so in the absence o' data, what is the reasonable course o' action, eh? converse, recognizing reasonable is not gonna necessarily be an option, 'cause many people is simple "over covid," what is the practical mitigation options? previous infection provides unreliable protection. math. "natural immunity," and previous infection has never been the solution. two years and counting. HA! Good Fun!

is not so much math as rationalization. again, omicron, the least lethal major variant thus far, killed hundreds of thousands of americans in a relative brief period o' time, 'cause no matter how you wanna describe omicron lethality, covid today has the capacity to kill the infirm and healthy. recognizing the heightened transmissibility o' variants such as omicron, the math means those clowns who purposefully became infected with omicron also spread the virus to multiple other people, who also spread the virus to multiple other people, and so on, resulting in the unnecessary and predictable deaths of those who do not benefit from ideal vaccine protection or are unable to take the vaccine. so, the math tells you is smarty to chose to become infected by a highly transmissible and potential lethal disease to acquire some indeterminate and unreliable additional boost to your future resistance to variants is worth the risk to self and multiple other people? gonna embrace selfish and ineffectual instead o' proven mitigation efforts which when utilized quick and near universal has proven extreme effective, unlike widespread "natural immunity" which has never worked (again, watch the video we offered)? ... two years and counting. HA! Good Fun!

more than two years o' folks being wrong and trying to reason their way to conclusions they is not gonna surrender no matter what is the evidence? sure, hundreds o' thousands o' americans died from omicron in spite o' reduced lethality, and yeah, unlike in the case o' the safe vaccines, the idjit who purposefully gets infected with covid is gonna infect others 'cause your so-called "natural immunity" is not acquired w/o you becoming infectious and statistical likely passing on covid to at least one other person , and in the case o' omicron, multiple people, who then spread to people with lupus, those taking prednisone, or old people with heart problems. also, previous infection is not the clear and meaningful descriptor you might imagine it to be. how much protection your previous infection provides is gonna be dependent on a whole host o' factors. etc. is gonna take another two years? how many more dead? HA! Good Fun!

is cute, but am gonna admit how the last time we were in a room full o' kindergarten kids, the thought which were resounding most powerful for us is that kindergarten teachers is not paid enough, and we don't know how much they is paid, but it cannot be enuff. HA! Good Fun!

some few individuals is gonna have legit natural immunity. however, one o' those neil degrasse tyson videos we linked has a for reals doctor (dr. paul offit) explaining why for covid, counting on natural immunity is a fool's errand. is 'bout ten minutes into the first video we linked. is worth re-watching the video as they do hit most o' the covid issues you hear repeated ad nauseum. if you ever hear somebody championing widespread natural immunity as a way to combat disease, you know they ain't having any real expertise. am also saddened by the people who somehow think transmissibility and lethality are complete separate issues. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/01/13/1072902744/ers-are-overwhelmed-as-omicron-continues-to-flood-them-with-patients *shrug* the thing is in the US we got too many people who won't follow the lockdowns or mitigation protocols, period. given how the experts were comparing transmissibility o' omicron to measles, a lockdown where only 2/3 o' the US population could be counted on to follow guidelines were gonna be o' limited efficacy. that said, social distancing does work and while in the US is not possible to get the folks who is "done with covid," followers o' Q or just about anybody who voted for trump to wear masks or social distance, we can protect our vulnerable populations by kinda inverting the model. maybe ain't fair, but if you got lupus or are taking prednisone or are old with a heart condition, there is ways to limit the exposure o' such people to the ignorant and selfish 1/3 who insist that covid ain't real or believe the real solution is to get everybody infected. HA! Good Fun!

*sigh* following all patches, shattered pillars are not as good as other monks. this hardly makes 'em non viable or even bad. the worst monk subclass is still gonna be relative strong in deadfire. is not hard to find recommended shattered pillars builds littering the interweb (and on this board) complete with video. knock your self out reviewing. the wizard sub classes are also offering benefits which rare outweigh the costs. doesn't make 'em traps. not as good is hardly = trap. *chuckle* gonna try and tell us you are serious suggesting a conjurer or shattered pillar is not viable on normal difficulties? people indulging hyperbole to make a point. *sigh* gotta recall we followed pillars and deadfire developments kinda close. can't count the times somebody asserted that __________ or ____________ were useless. so we played rogues when they were s'posed sucky. we played shamans when literal nobody had played. (and we mean "literal." obsidian game telemetry revealed how the number o' people who had played a shaman months after release were = 0.) we played contemplatives when they were the second least played class or multiclass. etc. we genuine played rather than indulging in theory crafting speculation. serious though, you cannot imagine how many times we has seen same "_______ are awful" declarations. oh, and as somebody who actual played multiple helwalker and a shattered pillars builds, saying they die at similar rates is meaningless. if you know what you are doing, neither is dying, 'cause deadfire monks are strong. helwalker however does require more micromanagement. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing there is a significant amount o' reflexive hate for nixon, particular with watergate, vietnam, and the thin veiled racism o' his campaigns. all deserved. that said, nixon pushed for uhc long before bernie sanders were anybody and he normalized relations with china, which likely did more to make the world a safer place than any other post ww2 presidential action. lesser known, he also championed the formation o' the epa. no one person deserves all or most credit for the improvement o' US lakes and rivers from the late 60s to today, but is arguable nobody deserves more credit for cleaning up the cuyahoga, lake erie or a thousand other equal terribad examples. nixon were bad, but doesn't mean everything he did were bad and is worth mentioning is nixon who deserves much credit for the fact you can fish the cuyahoga in cleveland or the monongahela in pittsburgh today and the catfish you fry up afterwards is plentiful and perfect safe for consumption. HA! Good Fun! ps 'course our real excuse for posting were to share the james earl jones narrated video.