Gromnir

@Guard Dog as an aside, europe is nice enough, but with spring not far off am gonna recommend the american southwest, in particular a few places in arizona. @ShadySands is gonna be offering better insights regarding arizona than we may provide, but is few places on the planet more stunning than arizona deserts in the spring. admitted, our last couple trips to europe kinda turned us off to a return 'but that was a few years ago when many places in europe were struggling to come to grips with the recent influx o' immigrant populations. maybe the situation has improved, but for somebody who looks like Gromnir, we found european welcomes far less friendly than when we had visited back during our post university days. were disconcerting. regardless, if you ain't been to the american southwest in spring, and you is looking to travel, our suggestion after a bit o' reflection would be to ask shady for arizona recommendations. HA! Good Fun!

had one o' those "best-laid plans" moments yesterday... brilliant scheme were undermined by all too predictable Gromnir error. mr. cash woulda' understood. HA! Good Fun!

is indeed an exploit, and is part o' the reason we only use on unfair. after all, from our pov, unfair is 'bout having a scheme to take advantage o' pathfinder and owlcat loopholes. however, for the folks who look at wotr enemy stat bloat and see as inherent unfair, there exist in the game numerous exploits similar to cackle extending the duration o' protective luck and fortune... stuff no real flesh and blood gm/dm would ever allow. seeing as how the fan base doesn't want such exploits o' pnp rules addressed and recognizing that owlcat has eschewed near any effort to close pathfinder loopholes, am suspecting the recognition o' cheese such as our observed cackle is part o' wotr design. HA! Good Fun!

san sebastián. am not a resort town person our self, but for a week duration trip is worth considering. am recommending not so much for the beaches n' whatnot but rather for the food-- is our second favorite euro city for food, and #1 is in eastern europe, so... HA! Good Fun! ps is in basque country, so you can hit the other basque highlights as well.

am recalling back in october @Agiel mentioned the usefulness o' the protective luck hex, particular when used with cackle. slipped our mind at the time, but as we were indulging in prebuffing cheese for an unfair pathetic quasit fight, we sudden 'mebered we were gonna share a curious exploit but got distracted with other things. you may use cackle outside of combat, and you may spam it. as such it is possible to extend the durations o' the protective luck and fortune hexes to minutes as 'posed to seconds and you may do so before you enter combat. the fortune hex is limited to one use per day per character/companion, but with cackle and a willingness to spam cackle for a bit, you may provide your entire party with the benefits o' both protective luck and fortune and those hexes will remain effective for the duration o' a boss fight. is tedious indulging the silliness we describe, so is not something we do other than unfair boss fights and even then we limit to a couple characters, but the hexes is extreme powerful as agiel recognized and with pre battle spam o' cackle, the one shortcoming to the hexes (their duration) is eliminated. HA! Good Fun!

talk 'bout gaslighting. "the soviets declarations and their intent to invade Hokkaido ahead of a planned US invasion o' the Japanese mainland is considered by modern historians to be as much a cause o' japan surrender as were the dropping o' the bombs." was the quote you responded to with your manchuria and hokkaido observations. we keep referencing the soviet deceleration o' war as a 'cause and you did indeed reject saying were the collapse o' japanese forces in manchuria a week later... and that the hokkaido fears were never meaningful. is not a quibble. you focusing on timing o' hokkaido has always been deflection. can read our old posts. we said bombs weren't enough and were soviet declaration o' war and fears o' lost japanese homeland territory which eventual resulted in capitulation o' japan. you rejected this position, and you were very much focused on your curious hokkaido timing silliness, ignoring what is common held belief 'mongst credible historians (see the half dozen or so links we has made) that the soviets did indeed have designs on hokkaido. was soon as soviets declared war and invaded manchuria that the calculus changed dramatic for the japanese, though not enough to cause immediate surrender. regardless, fears o' a hokkaido invasion were anything but fanciful at this point. so selective quote all you want. again, 'cause we need do again, again. "no sooner had the marriage of convenience uniting right-wing Japan and the communist Soviet Union broken down than the Japanese ruling elite’s fear of communism sweeping away the emperor system was reawakened. to preserve the imperial house, it would be better to surrender before the USSR was able to dictate terms. on august 13, rejecting Anami’s request that the decision to accept U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes’s counteroffer (the “Byrnes note”), which rejected Japan’s conditional acceptance of the Potsdal terms, be postponed, Suzuki explained: “if we miss today, the Soviet Union would take not only Manchuria, Korea, [and] Karafuto [sakhalin Island], but also Hokkaido. this would destroy the foundation of Japan. we must end the war when we can deal with the United States.”[68] furthermore, when Shigemitsu had a crucial meeting with Kido on the afternoon of August 9 at Prince Konoe’s request, which eventually led to Kido’s meeting with Hirohito that persuaded the emperor to accept the “sacred decision” scenario, Shigemitsu stressed the negative effect of further Soviet expansion on the fate of the imperial household.[69]" august nine were contemporaneous with the soviet invasion. the bombs, soviet declaration o' war, the very real threat o' a soviet invasion o' japanese islands all contributed, but as has been stated many times over, the japanese were very much aware o' soviet plans and desires to occupy hokkaido and by now anybody but zor would admit the soviets clear had designs on hokkaido. the loss o' soldiers on the mainland were not what were gonna give the soviets leverage to "dictate terms." fighting continued in manchuria until september 2 btw, the actual end o' the war. regardless, the japanese had previous believed they had 'til 1946 to need worry 'bout the soviets. declaration o' war and simultaneous invasion were a curious surprise and changed the game entire. the bombs weren't enough. and 'round we go with you deflecting and cherry picking. so, say something new, 'cause by now just 'bout every historian mentioned in this thread has disagreed with you regarding japanese concerns regarding hokkaido and the soviet intentions to invade. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting merkel stepping down played a part in putin's choice to instigate this situation now as 'posed to earlier. from our pov, germany has been the nato member most notable for their absence o' concern regarding russia insofar as the current ukraine situation. is hard to imagine merkel remaining taciturn. given covid mishandling, the world bank projections on diminished growth for 2022, and the recent protests, putin no doubt needed the win you were referencing. however, while is likely an overstatement, merkel stepping down in december is possible worth considering as an overlooked contributing factor. HA! Good Fun!

"carried out" is deflection. again, the japanese surrendered in part 'cause o' the soviet declaration o' war, which you keep insisting were not a significant part o' the japanese decision to capitulate, your stance being an out-o' touch and ignorant o' fact position dismissed as revisionist as noted 'bove by actual historians. after january 8, the japanese feared that if they did not surrender to the americans, the soviets would manage to acquire significant japanese territory. what the bombs failed to achieve alone, the soviet declaration o' war cemented. subsequent actions by the soviets, including their unrealized but not at all controversial hokkaido invasion plans were seen as validation o' japanese fears. as citied in an earlier source, again, the plan to invade hokkaido were anticipated previous to the sakhalin island operation... which occurred on? august 11, previous to surrender... not that the day o' surrender matters, or the actual end o' war which were september 2 btw. fighting clear continued after the 15th and soviets had every intention o' grabbing as much territory as possible, which, again, is exact what the japanese feared. freaking circles. 'course zor can't be bothered to cite or craft a decent rebuttal or do anything but deflect. *chuckle* thanks again. see you in three years on this same issue. HA! Good Fun!

different topic, so am indulging the dreaded double-post Many Trump Electors Facing Criminal Referrals Were Just Following Precedent Which is why the practice has evolved in a contested election of having both slates of electors cast their ballots on the day Congress chooses. In Hawaii in 1960, Richard Nixon had seemingly won in a very close vote. Hawaii’s acting governor so certified. A recount then determined that John F. Kennedy had in fact won. That recount was not completed until after the Electoral College had voted. Yet some smart lawyer advised the Hawaii Democratic Party to have their electors vote on the day set by Congress too. They did. Their ballots, certified by the governor, were then flown on a private plane, arriving in D.C. on the morning of Jan. 6, 1961. What the Trump electors did in 2020 was, in every case, close to this, though in critical cases, something much worse. Two states were quite clear about the contingency of their votes —New Mexico and Pennsylvania. But five states prepared documents that made it seem like Trump had in fact prevailed in their state. Those claims were obviously false. Filing false claims with the government can be a crime. So yes, what those electors did should be criticized, and perhaps prosecuted. They should have done as their fellow electors in New Mexico and Pennsylvania had done — and certified a slate of votes contingent upon their candidate being declared the winner in their state. That certification, then, would have to wait—either for some state authority to declare its candidate the winner or for Congress to determine that that slate actually represents the candidate whose votes should be counted. ... have seen confusion regarding the alternative electors part o' the trump campaign's green bay sweep efforts. were not necessarily illegal for republicans in "contested states" to create a second slate o' electors, but to be knowing part o' a plan to submit fraudulent slates indeed makes many electors subject to conspiracy charges, and 'course those who planned and coordinated the scheme to submit fraudulent slates should also be criminal liable. HA! Good Fun!

in the context o' the show, the biker gang reminded us o' the following: 'course the sw version is more sympathetic 'cause in their corner o' tatooine there is no jobs due to the capitalist oppressors exploiting the population. therefore, our youthful malcontents is instant swayed to join bobba's robin hood army 'cause in truth all they want is to be useful and so they do good as they ride into battle on their shiny but curious cheap looking bikes. doesn't help that bobba is a doughy and curiously stoopid protagonist who is nevertheless trying to channel elements o' robin hood and a man called horse. is not quite camp 'cause is an absence o' self-awareness. am not watching more o' bobba, so have not seen the mandalorian episode. maybe things get better but were not trending in such a direction. we didn't stop watching bobba 'cause o' the tunnel snakes, who woulda' worked better in ice pirates as 'posed to a sw vehicle, but they didn't help neither. HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* you saying preponderance is on your side is hardly convincing in light o' fact only person showing historian support is Gromnir, and potential soviet losses were likely not a huge concern for stalin anyway as the point were to get soviet troops to hokkaido before the US could force a surrender and 1946 would be far too late for that. https://journals.openedition.org/monderusse/9333 68On August 20, however, after Stalin received Truman’s August 18 telegram, Antonov sent Vasilevskii an order, telling him to instruct the commander of the First Far Eastern Front to prepare the operation for Hokkaido and the southern Kurils, but to initiate this operation only by special order of the Stavka and “prepare for an operation either for Hokkaido or for the southern Kuril islands.”78 69On August 21, Vasilevskii issued two directives to begin “immediately and no later than August 21” the embarkation of the 87th Rifle Corps from the Sakhalin ports of Maoka, Otomari, and Toyohira for the capture of Hokkaido and the southern Kurils. The commanders of the First and Second Far Eastern Fronts, the Pacific Fleet, and the air force were ordered to be ready for airborne operations over Rumoi and to make the air base available by August 23 for the occupation of the northern part of Hokkaido. In addition, Iumashev was to send two marine divisions in two or three echelons to Hokkaido. Finally, Vasilevskii reminded all commanders that he would personally give the order to begin the landing operations for Hokkaido, and that preparations for this operation should be completed by August 23.79 The Soviet war machine was about to claw its way on to Hokkaido. ... is mostly deflection by zor to focus on his belief regarding the potential success o' a hokkaido invasion. success or failure is speculative. regardless, is no longer controversial that the soviet were indeed planning and committed to such an invasion. furthermore, the soviet threat o' invasion, a very real threat, were a significant contributor to the japanese surrender at the end o' ww2 and is virtual no current support for the discarded position you are spouting. again, your position is now referred to as the "revisionist" position. gonna keep repeating, "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 https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/How-the-Soviets-helped-Allies-defeat-Japan-3177012.php Despite the death toll from the atomic bombings - 140,000 in Hiroshima, 80,000 in Nagasaki- the Imperial Military Command believed it could hold out against an Allied invasion if it retained control of Manchuria and Korea, which provided Japan with the resources for war, according to Hasegawa and Terry Charman, a historian of World War II at London's Imperial War Museum. "The Soviet attack changed all that," Charman said. "The leadership in Tokyo realized they had no hope now, and in that sense August Storm did have a greater effect on the Japanese decision to surrender than the dropping of the A-bombs." is becoming spam... again. in three years, when we no doubt feel inclined to mention japan capitulation at the end o' ww2 we will no doubt need go through this all again and we will have to link same posts quoting same articles written by same reputable historians while zor repeats self into a corner... again. in any event, we should thank you for once again doing your tethered goat impersonation. does get old fast but every few years you cannot help self but give us another opportunity. HA! Good Fun!

@Guard Dogwe always assumed our client's were idiots, not 'cause we thought they actual were idiots, but some few (too many) would do something idiotic to self-sabotage their legal efforts during the course o' our representation. as such it were in our best interest to make things as simple as possible and to cover our own arse by stating verbal and in writing the dos and don'ts they need observe. polite. we were always polite, but many clients nevertheless were annoyed by what were obvious patronizing. the clients most annoyed by our KISS approach were preternatural in danger o' self immolation. were always tough 'cause you need clients to understand and follow instructions but if the clients believe they is being disrespected, some number will literal go out o' their way to do opposite o' recommendations, which is so strange. if genuine annoyed, then why not just fire us and get a new attorney? the client is paying considerable money for our advice and then to seeming purposeful or reckless ignore advice were kinda nonsensical from our pov, but as such happened more than once, we tried to balance KISS with the necessary ego strokes to get clients to actual follow the advice they were paying to receive. eventual, most jobs is actual sales even if you is only selling self to your boss. we were ok with not selling self to bosses, but nevertheless found self channeling our inner joe isuzu with clients. HA! Good Fun!

Sarah Palin returns to NYC restaurant two days after testing positive for Covid am not exactly surprised by the story given how often we has seen similar behavior since covid became a thing. reading boardies minimize covid and excuse why they don't follow common sense pandemic behaviors no longer even evokes an eye-roll. 'course maybe that is the point. eventual you get kinda numb to selfish and/or stoopid. HA! Good Fun!

kinda relevant if you are able to read a calendar. review the fp article we once again quoted... again. "The Soviet 16th Army — 100,000 strong — launched an invasion of the southern half of Sakhalin Island. Their orders were to mop up Japanese resistance there, and then — within 10 to 14 days — be prepared to invade Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s home islands. The Japanese force tasked with defending Hokkaido, the 5th Area Army, was under strength at two divisions and two brigades, and was in fortified positions on the east side of the island. The Soviet plan of attack called for an invasion of Hokkaido from the west." so not only do you got established historians stating as fact that the soviets were gonna attack hokkaido, but the soviet plan to attack hokkaido were established as a follow-up to their sakhalin island attack, an attack which occurred when? will let low-effort zor look that one up but the soviet attacked sakhalin pre declaration o' surrender. as an aside, 'cause this is zor bait he finds impossible to resist and we need only link to past posts to get a chance to smite again... It took a second Imperial Conference and second intervention of the emperor on August 14 to accept the Byrnes Note. On August 15, 1945, the Emperor broadcast by radio his decision to the Japanese people and the world (Butow 1954 , pp. 207–208, 248; Frank 1999 , pp. 314–315, 320; Hasegawa 2005 , pp. 238–240). But the war had not ended. Soviet combat operations continued in Manchuria. Moreover, the Soviets unleashed an amphibious assault on the Kuril Islands – which thanks to other new revelations we now know was in preparation for a landing by Soviet forces on Hokkaido, the northernmost home island. Only fierce Japanese resistance on Sakhalin Island and President Truman ’ s insistence on meticulous adherence to prior agreements saved Hokkaido from Soviet invasion and probable occupation. Had this happened, almost certainly the Soviets would have obtained some occupation zone in a divided Japan (Frank 1999 , pp. 322–324; Glantz 2003 , pp. 280–307; Hasegawa 2005 , pp. 271–285). and Alongside with these military plans, however, Imperial General Headquarters harbored wishful thinking that there was unlikely to be a Soviet attack. The Kwantung Army had little confidence in its ability to hold the last defense line. As for the Fifth Area Army, it expected that in the event of the anticipated American invasion of the homeland, Hokkaido would be left to defend itself against a possible combined attack by the United States and the Soviet Union. The problem with Hokkaido’s defense was its size, which was as big as the whole of Tohoku and Niigata prefectures combined. The Fifth Area Army had to disperse 114,000 troops to three possible points of attack: one division in the Shiribetsu-Nemuro area in the east, one division at Cape Soya in the north, and one brigade in the Tomakomai area in the west. The fortification of the Shibetsu area had not been completed, and the defense of the Nemuro area was considered hopeless because of the flat terrain. The defense of the north was concentrated at Cape Soya, but nothing was prepared for Rumoi, where the Soviet forces intended to land.[65] The inadequacies of these operational plans, both in the Kwantung Army and the Fifth Area Army, were exposed when the actual Soviet attack came. The military planners had no confidence in the army’s ability to repulse a Soviet invasion of Korea and Hokkaido. 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. and In the wee hours of Aug. 24, 1945, Soviet long-range bombers would take off from their air base not far from the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok and fly east, across the Sea of Japan, dropping lethal payloads on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. At 5 a.m. that morning, two Soviet regiments would storm their way onshore, followed, in two hours, by a larger force. Within days, two infantry divisions would sweep across northern Hokkaido, cutting the island in half. That was the rough battle plan drawn up by the commander of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, Adm. Ivan Yumashev, at the end of World War II for occupying Hokkaido. Troops were on standby. Submarines were ordered to the Hokkaido coast for reconnaissance in preparation for land invasion, and had even started sinking Japanese ships (tragically, just refugee boats fleeing Soviet operations on nearby Sakhalin Island). The Soviets had by then occupied southern Sakhalin and were mopping up the remnants of the Japanese along the Kuril island chain that stretched from Hokkaido to the Kamchatka Peninsula, in Russia’s far northeast. Although the Red Army was not as experienced as the Americans with landing operations, this Soviet “D-Day” in Hokkaido would’ve been a walkover — the Japanese army was in shambles, and Emperor Hirohito had recently proclaimed defeat. so on the one side we got zor's military expertise OR noteworthy historians who agree the soviets genuine were planning to invade hokkaido, and that the japanese were not only aware o' such plans but were very much concerned by the possibility. is not a contentious issue as to whether or not the soviet were planning an invasion o' hokkaido and it doesn't actual matter if the hokkaido invasion by the soviets would succeed. is kinda irrelevant as to when exact stalin finally decided an invasion o' hokkaido were viable. the important point is whether the japanese believed a soviet invasion were possible and that such an attack could succeed. it were the soviet invasion o' manchuria on august 8, after the first bomb were dropped by the US, which were the event changing the calculus for the japanese. what were previous seen as improbable (soviet invasion) became likely. and yeah, should be obvious to anybody by now that the soviets were indeed planning an invasion o' hokkaido. 'course this is all spam... again. am gonna once again suggest zor watch the hasegawa video, particular from 20:00-30:00ish... maybe... has been more than three years since we initial linked and even we don't recall exact times span which is relevant. yeah, we don't have access to the russian archives, so one needs intelligent speculation and use historical reasoning to guess what is the end goal o' soviets sending large numbers o' troops east, the yalta promises, the russian letting the japanese would know the neutrality pact would not be extended but would continue to be honored through april 1946, and on and on and on. etc. you are embracing and repeated offering your self as a target by defending a belief based on 1970s thinking and history. is well established at this point that the soviet declaration o' war was a pivotal aspect in the japanese surrender calculus. in early 1945 the japanese understood the soviets were wanting what they were promised at yalta and that hokkaido were in danger. japan thought they had until at least 1946 to worry 'bout stalin and the soviets, but with the declaration o' war january 8 and the invasion o' manchuria, all japanese hope to be fighting only the americans evaporated. 'ccording to japanese high command debate on the issue, the concern were that there were no longer a chance to create enough carnage with a US invasion to be resulting in better terms o' surrender, 'cause in a matter o' weeks the soviets would be attacking and the japanese were curiously not prepared for such. soviets most certainly were not a future problem, as should be obvious from linked historians who have real resumes and reputation and is speaking the current mainline historical pov. japanese were still debating fighting the americans after hiroshima, but the soviet declaration and invasions changed the situation. "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 frank is one o' the folks quoted earlier, one o' the most frequent quoted individuals in point o' fact on these issues, and he is most assured one o' those historians believing the soviet declaration o' war were pivotal in the japanese surrender decision. am not sure why you continue to wanna bullseye your self on this. HA! Good Fun! ps am not sure why we got strikethru for half the post

HA! Good Fun! ps lotta fixes in this one. no doubt it breaks a few things as well, but if most o' the fixes take, it will represent a noticeable improvement for more than a few build choices. o' particular note, as we were mentioning angel 'bove, the heavenly host ability for the sword of heaven has been broken since day and 'ccording to the patch notes it is fixed. however, as is a beta, am thinking we sit this one out for the nonce. am in act iv with our aeon and don't wanna break it more than is broken already. pps "Marksmen's damage has been moderately decreased;" well, that could hurt considering our building scheme is pretty much based on maximizing marksman and general powha.

am gonna guess the underground chemist levels is likely unnecessary but four levels is the traditional pnp route for adding sneak attack to a grenadier. at level 4 o' chemist, sneak attack damage is applied to splash weapons. ordinarily you don't apply sneak damage to bombs, but owlcat mechanics is wonky and weird with near anything resulting in sneak attack opportunities. have honest not looked to see how trickster interacts with bombs. regardless, a grenadier with holy bombs, the trickster crit range, plus potential sneak damage sounds like decent synergy and IF we were ever gonna consider a trickster run we might pick such a build. 'course we mentioned early in the thread the class which really had our curiosity were skalds. yeah, court poets got the nerfed in a big way with their skald stances being removed entire, but vanilla skalds is current working sans keening and the class offers bonkers buffing potential for a party. am suspecting skald will be our next main character choice 'cause at the moment the companions is not ideal for skald... unless your main is a paladin. play w/o seelah and her mark o' justice ability for mid/late game bosses is not something we would voluntarily consider unless we had another paladin, and possible act vi paladin companions is not a meaningful substitute. HA! Good Fun! ps according to a couple owlcat forum posts we read, bolt of justice/storm of justice is not working for at least a number o' players since the most recent patch. we went with a zen archer/sacred huntsmaster angel for our initial run, mostly 'cause we knew angel were less buggy than the other mythic paths at release... which weren't saying much. however, if you want angel for the ultrafantasticdivinepowha, now might not be the ideal time to indulge, though is clear angel ain't a first choice for you anyways. that said, from a rp pov, unless you are playing a lg paladin, is easy to go generic good in wotr w/o needing indulge the "behold my shiny halo" shtick. owlcat writing is not great, but for whatever faults may exist in the angel mythic path, and there is many, the angel writing is inclusive and kinda generic good as 'posed how you might be imagining. angels and paladins come to your aid at pivotal plot points but they ain't particular judgey o' your actions as long as you are at least more good than not. however, am not sure how seelah could ever maintain paladin status in the owlcat wotr universe. if you want to maintain lg alignment, then constant choosing the good option will see you fall from grace and the lawful dialogue choices appear purpose designed to be merciless. in our opinion, seelah is not capable o' maintaining owlcat lg. that said, azata does indeed have a whole lotta whimsy aspects.

dear lord. not this again. you got a serious weird russia thing. the existence o' a russian plan to invade hokkaido is hardly controversial, and the idea it were spun outta whole cloth with planned invasion to happen almost contemporaneous with the planning is amusing, 'cause that is exact how major amphibious assaults happen? sure, a memo detailing the plan is from four days following the japanese surrender, but the idea the plan were created on the nineteenth with an actual invasion date o' five days afterwards is your usual brand o' wacky we must need endure yet again. the only question which has ever been at issue is to what degree japanese capitulation were due to the dropping o' nuclear bombs or threat o' soviet invasion or both. from the fp article imbedded "The impact of the Soviet declaration of war and invasion of Manchuria and Sakhalin Island was quite different, however. Once the Soviet Union had declared war, Stalin could no longer act as a mediator — he was now a belligerent. So the diplomatic option was wiped out by the Soviet move. The effect on the military situation was equally dramatic. Most of Japan’s best troops had been shifted to the southern part of the home islands. Japan’s military had correctly guessed that the likely first target of an American invasion would be the southernmost island of Kyushu. The once proud Kwangtung army in Manchuria, for example, was a shell of its former self because its best units had been shifted away to defend Japan itself. When the Russians invaded Manchuria, they sliced through what had once been an elite army and many Russian units only stopped when they ran out of gas. The Soviet 16th Army — 100,000 strong — launched an invasion of the southern half of Sakhalin Island. Their orders were to mop up Japanese resistance there, and then — within 10 to 14 days — be prepared to invade Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s home islands. The Japanese force tasked with defending Hokkaido, the 5th Area Army, was under strength at two divisions and two brigades, and was in fortified positions on the east side of the island. The Soviet plan of attack called for an invasion of Hokkaido from the west. "It didn’t take a military genius to see that, while it might be possible to fight a decisive battle against one great power invading from one direction, it would not be possible to fight off two great powers attacking from two different directions. The Soviet invasion invalidated the military’s decisive battle strategy, just as it invalidated the diplomatic strategy. At a single stroke, all of Japan’s options evaporated. The Soviet invasion was strategically decisive — it foreclosed both of Japan’s options — while the bombing of Hiroshima (which foreclosed neither) was not. "The Soviet declaration of war also changed the calculation of how much time was left for maneuver. Japanese intelligence was predicting that U.S. forces might not invade for months. Soviet forces, on the other hand, could be in Japan proper in as little as 10 days. The Soviet invasion made a decision on ending the war extremely time sensitive." renowned experts such as frank and hasegawa make repeated mentions o' the russian invasion plans o' hokkaido. "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 your tenacious hold on the fringe is indeed amusing. HA! Good Fun! ps the reason the soviets didn't believe they needed a huge invasion force is explained in linked material. japanese defensive buildup were near entire directed at repelling a planned US invasion o' the main island and they would have months to prepare for the assault. converse, the soviets could be in hokkaido with a a couple weeks. the august 19 memo seems to suggest the Japanese fears regarding the soviet timeline were correct. pps unrelated to zor silliness, one thing we found most intriguing 'bout the hasegawa video were how the professor admitted to being perplexed by truman's seeming ignorance o' the significance o' the bomb, until after they were dropped. hasegawa referenced quotes from truman contemporaneous notes and documents regarding the bomb test capabilities as described in vivid detail. nevertheless, truman clear didn't see the atomic bombs as anything more than a noteworthy increase in magnitude o' conventional weapons. after the bombs were dropped, and no nation save japan complained 'bout the use o' atomic weapons at the time, truman had a kinda epiphany and there were a complete change o' tone regarding atomic weapons. it were truman who demanded the use o' nukes be taken out o' the ordinary military chain o' command decision making, but that only happened after the use o' the weapons.

hmmm. we woulda thought a grenadier + trickster would be kinda ideal. chuck holy bombs with ridiculous high crit chance and sneak attack damage? take four levels o' underground chemist? have personal avoided trickster 'cause along with merged spellbook angel is kinda the cheese route, but am thinking you should be able to do trickster and bomber. @Agiel did the full trickster run so perhaps he has thoughts. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing is a meme, but the rule is not to invade russia in winter. the japanese did ok for themselves in the early 1900s with a war started in winter... the japanese declared war during first half o' february 1904. (edit: originally wrote "1905" but it looked wrong so we checked and sure enough we were mistaken 'bout the year. sheet.) the lasting national embarrassment from that war is one reason the soviets were so hot and bothered to invade hokkaido at the end o' ww2. HA! Good Fun! ps am knowing bill cosby is verboten nowadays, but we were reminded o' an old cosby bit pps the first record we were ever gifted were crime of the century by supertramp. second were bill cosby is a very funny fellow...right! our grandfather thought the cosby coin toss were the funniest thing evar.

kruger, wright and jackson are all more than qualified. wright is likely too old. kruger will require more time to have her background full investigated, and time may be o' the essence, but the cal supreme court judge is the best writer o' the three we mention. intellectually, our first choice is kruger, but am admitting jackson may be the best choice as kruger ideological and personality wise is similar to kagan. is no need for another kagan... unless she were clear a superior kagan. based on feedback from a few o' our colleagues who know judge jackson, she would shake things up considerable on the Court. if jackson becomes a Justice, the clerks is instant forming a pool and guessing which arrogant (they are all arrogant) senior Justice gets the hulk treatment from jackson. as for russia and ukraine, am waiting for the contrived excuse which has russia invade. russian state media is presenting the situation as one o' nato aggression, so 'course there will be an "incident" which affirms the narrative being concocted. won't be funny save to watch the putin apologists and defenders twist themselves into knots as they embrace the theatre. HA! Good Fun!

biden gaffes, while kinda anticipated and unfortunate if utter banal, has represented a welcome relief, which shows just how chaotic were the previous few years. am able to go days w/o looking at the news and am nevertheless confident biden will not have attempted a coup or tried to force a government agency or official to do something illegal. would prefer not to have gaffes from the President o' the US, but the fact such is the most significant news regarding POTUS is a welcome respite. that said, the ukraine blunder were indeed newsworthy. shoulda' been complete unnecessary to walk that one back, but this most recent biden hot mic click bait don't even rise to staring at an eclipse w/o eye protection kinda stoopid. HA! Good Fun!

am believing you don't realize the corner into which you painted yourself. the reason you were willing to believe the crt notions you repeated earlier is 'cause you read such from trusted news sources. were not cringey alt-right sources... though again, you included the nypost. you s'posed don't know and don't care 'bout crt *snort*, but you did voice opinion that IF crt is being taught as described in your trusted news sources, then is a bad thing. well, the thing is, the only source we bothered to check, 'cause is the only one we could speak to as being reputable, were brookings, and the first article we found on crt from brookings described crt in language opposite o' how you described. so, given your observation 'bout trusted sources, and recognizing you claimed brookings as such a source, then it would lead us to believe that you should have a much different pov regarding crt. at best you got a conflict 'tween brookings and perhaps the ny post, yes? am not seeing how such is a quandary, but perhaps the differing opinions leave you ambivalent? the thing is, ambivalent was not the hurdle you were facing in previous posts regarding crt. IF crt were being taught as follows: "I do not think that history should be over dramatized and I definitely do NOT think anyone alive today owes anyone else an apology for deeds done by people long dead. Nor do I think it's healthy to tell people they are victims and it's all stacked against them." and recognizing your info were gleaned from trusted sources... but again, your syllogism fails 'cause one o' your own trusted sources describes crt opposite o' your claims o' information gleaned from trusted sources. am not sure how many times we need do this dance. you read or hear something somewhere and it aligns with your they are all bad madness or general notions o' government badness. is where your investigation and introspection ends. fine. is your thing and am doubting is any chance to change you. unfortunate, you then try and add credibility into your beliefs by citing sources which don't actual align with your opinions or referencing quotes which fail to support your conclusions. observe this same situation repeats itself a few times and one would expect a change in behavior even from a skinner box rodent but not gd. additional, lord knows why you would be against grad students being taught crt even if you believe crt is wrong. is kinda impossible to effective discuss and criticize crt w/o at least a working knowledge o' the theory. consider how many fringe theories do you personal embrace? imagine if they were all verboten in university. furthermore, seeing as how they is trying to keep you from learning crt, gd should be almost reflexive MadDog in favour o' teaching crt if he were being intellectual consistent with his lunacy. any effort by they or them to proscribe topics o' learning is most assured not libertarian. HA! Good Fun!

... our sewing kit is held w/i a royal dansk cookie tin, although likely as old as Gromnir and is red. HA! Good Fun!

HA! Good Fun!

no. the kobold gave you advice pre drezen and is our guess you are supposed to intuit the importance of returning to him. no invitation. am recollecting his decree requires 21 days to complete, so is a significant amount of time invested and am believing it may be a leadership advancement prerequisite. even if not a prereq per se, am guessing is near impossible to achieve leadership five w/o completing the decree. no doubt most folks who completed the beta return to the kobold w/o a second thought, but for a person playing wotr for the first time, is an easily overlooked task. HA! Good Fun!