Lurker > ElatedVenusaur

frozenshock posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

Congress needs to pass Mueller protections now

This would literally be political suicide for any Republican who votes for it

It depends. Apparently the Senate Dems are already making contingency plans for if/when Rosenstein is fired. Republican aid would be necessary to do anything, of course, and those who aren't up for re-election and/or are law-and-order-minded types may well be up for it. We won't know until it happens, of course. And, with Democrats seemingly increasingly likely to claim a (slight) majority in the Senate, some may see Mueller's investigation continuing as a fait accompli.

Carlbertomfg posted...

Philly is doubtful as they're already having cap issues. Skins seem like the most likely candidate if he sticks to the NFC east.

Yeah, the Eagles are hard-up against the cap, and the Giants are better off focusing their resources elsewhere(though they're still a possibility). Dez isn't nearly as fast as he used to be, but he's still a big-bodied receiver who can make tough catches in traffic(when healthy). It would probably be best(for him) if he went to a team with an established deep threat who could open up opportunities for him underneath. He can still be a difference-maker in the league as long as he can stay healthy.

There is such a thing as autogynophilia. Women in our society are, for better or worse, strongly associated with sexiness and sex.
However, TC, the question is: how do you feel about being a man? There's an awful lot of wiggle room in gender and presentation. I'm not knowledgeable myself, but there are plenty of resources out there. Explore and learn.

That must be both exciting and terrifying. I wish you all the best.

The Friday the 13th massacre has a nice ring to it.

He's definitely not worth the money he was getting, but he could probably do good work as a possession receiver. Lots of teams have bad receiving corps(my Bills among them).

I doubt it will actually come to blows: Putin is smart enough to know he doesn't stand a chance in a head-on fight. Their military doesn't have the hardware to hang with ours: the best they could do is lose or draw in a MADD nuclear exchange. Either way, Putin loses.
Nonetheless, this may lead to an escalation in our involvement in Syria, which will inevitably lead to increased casualties, and we ultimately don't even have a proxy that could replace Assad(our Kurdish allies undoubtedly have little interest in controlling more Arab-majority territory or in fighting Assad). This means Syria's fate is bleak no matter what we do.

BlazeJordan648 posted...

ElatedVenusaur posted...

Orphan Black.

Seriously I enjoyed the first few seasons so much I practically watched them all in one go. I couldn't believe how bored I was watching season 5

Season 4 lost me.
Like, half of the season was teasing stuff that never happened, like Cosima using Leaky's implant in desperation. Just the entire deal with the cure was a total train-wreck that featured multiple inexplicable decisions, and then there was the finale, which featured Sarah going into enemy territory all by herself and getting her ass kicked by a literal cripple whom she had no reason to trust ever. They basically erased 2 entire seasons of character growth for her. And Delphine being alive sucked so much dramatic tension out of everything. The only thing worse would have been Paul being alive.

Orphan Black.

Oh, this again. Call me when he actually does more than stamp his feet and scream like a child who knows they're about to get in big trouble.

I've taken the liberty of compiling some interesting characters in various early start-dates

-769
Khagan Burkhan of Otuken: He's Mongol-culture. Mongolian culture characters get some neat bonuses. That's all that's special here.

Satrap Jimofuta of Zunbil: Hey look, it's some weird sun-cult religion!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zunbils
It's a unique religion, and an interesting-though-precarious position. Pro-tip: your chancellor is going to accompany the Caliph everywhere he goes. Even the bathroom.

King Sigurdr Ring of Svibjod: He's one of the strongest Norsemen of this early start and a pretty famous semi-mythical character, but his son is an even bigger deal. That's right, you, the player, can be Ragnar freaking Lodbrok!

Emir Phlemon Yabhalla of Socotra: He's Nestorian Christian, which is hard to come by. Socotra is a tiny island off the coast of Africa. Will need lots of patience. Also available in 867.

King Phineas of Semien: He's actually a duchy-holder. He's Jewish. Semien/Beta Israel was a pocket of Judaism in Ethiopia. Are you a bad enough dude to drive out the heathen Christians and Muslims?
And, if you're REALLY ambitious, you can always claim your birthright and revive Alpha Israel.

Emir Sorkhab of Bavandid: He and his son(his vassal) are the last descendants of the Sassanids(other than the ones who went to China. Long story). The Sassanids once ruled a mighty Persian empire, but it got smashed by the Arabs. Now you're a vassal to the Caliph. It's time to rekindle the fires.

-867

Haesteinn of Nantes: This is a great start, because Haesteinn is great, has a giant pile of event troops, a prime position in Brittany, and no titles or vassals to hold him down. Europe is your oyster: with judicious invasions and lots of raiding, you can make a home for you and your Norsemen just about anywhere you like.

Satrap Vandad of Karen: If you prefer a Zoroastrian start where you start out a regional power and aren't a few law changes away from the Caliph seizing your holdings.

King Rurik of Holmgard: Hey, do you want to guess what family dominated medieval Russia? The Rurikoviches: literally, the sons of Rurik. THIS Rurik. Dyre the Stranger down the road in Kiev is a similar start, but Rurik doesn't need to conquer his way to the coast to get raiding.

Khagan Manasseh of Khazaria: Another Jewish start, and a nomadic one as well. Easier than Semien. I hear the Mediterranean is always a nice place for a migration.

King Aethelred of Wessex: He's kind of a nobody, but he's in a bit of a pickle, what with rapacious Norsemen everywhere. Maybe he should step aside and let his brother Alfred take care of things?

1066

Count Guillaume of Bourgogne: He's a lowly count, but his descendants would be the Hapsburgs before the Hapsburgs, including being kings of Castille. Can you get your ginormous family out of the gutter?

Count Werner of Aargau: Oh, hey. It's the actual Hapsburgs. This guy and the guy above are basically neighbors. But only one family can Hapsburg up Europe, and that's yours!

Count Herbert of Vermandois: The last Karling is in captivity, and Europe is at peace. Reclaim your family's birthright!

Duke Eric "the Heathen" of Uppland: This guy, historically, was the last truly powerful worshiper of the Aesir. But the old ways have fallen by the way-side. Is it too late to remind the world of wise Odin and mighty Thor?

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/ck2-dev-diary-81-cleaning-up-the-map.1087927/
Pretty borders are coming!
Also, the next expansion may well mark the end of CK2's life-cycle. After Jade Dragon they said they were only going to do 1 or 2 more.

Oh, right. Starts.
1066 is definitely the best start date for beginners, as you don't have to worry about Viking raids and there are (fewer) death blobs, but some of the Norsemen are real straight-forward. So, let's break a few scenarios down(I happen to agree with josifrees on two of 'em).

1) "Tutorial Island" a.k.a. Ireland
This is only true of 1066 Ireland: Ireland in earlier dates is basically ground-zero for Viking raids and Viking invasions. The circumstances at the 1066 start-date help: England is in the midst of a succession war, and the winner will be greatly weakened and spend a lot of time dealing with disloyal/overpowerful vassals. Scotland's king owns a single county and has multiple dukes who have more land than him, so it's bound to go to hell in a hand-basket. Wales is divided and the Welsh generally mind their own business anyway. There are no powers of note on Ireland either, except the Count of Dublin. His dad controls the county just south of him, and is old, so he'll die soon and you'll have two counties, which will make you one of the bigger fish on the island. The only problem is that you'll spend a lot of time waiting for your chancellor to fabricate claims to do anything. Not very exciting.

2) Duke Robert "Guiscard" de Hauteville of Apulia(1066)
This is a bit trickier than Ireland, but lots of fun. Robert is older, but has great stats and a straight-foward early Holy War on the Emirate of Sicily, as well as lots of weaker Christians to prey on. But Sicily is your first goal: it will allow you to create the Kingdom of Sicily. Things will get a bit trickier when Robert dies though.

3) King Boleslaw "the Bold" of Poland(1066)
Boleslaw has none of Robert's potential issues. He's young, has good stats, and is the most powerful person in his realm. Better yet, you're one of the big kids on the block from the word go. And there are so many pagan souls to the east in need of converting, providing a (relatively) easy avenue for expansion.

4) Haraldr "Fairhair" Halfdanson Yngling, Jarl of Ostlandet(I think)(867)
Haraldr is the historical first king of Norway, is extremely young, has ridiculously good stats, and is the strongest of the Norwegian Jarls. Do mind the Jarls in Denmark and Sweden though: they're strong too. Your early goal is to form the Kingdom of Norway. Also an excellent way to learn about the joys of raiding.

I met with a Marine recruiter and an Air Force recruiter in high school, but ultimately decided to just go to college.

Highwind07 posted...

Why did they tortured the Saudis with the Emoji Movie.

To be fair, the ruling class deserved it. Not the average Saudi though.

I've seen this suggested elsewhere(I myself am not a legal expert), but isn't this essentially Trump denying he's party to a non-disclosure agreement with Stormy Daniels?
Which would render it invalid, because there isn't actually any other party to the agreement aside from Ms. Daniels?

Well, since the base game is free, I'll put up my traditional post about which expansions are the best bang-for-your-buck, as all DLCs save Jade Dragon are -50% off(JD is only -33%).

Awesome-sauce
-The Old Gods : Includes an earlier start date(867) and playable pagans. The stars of the show, of course, are the Norse, who have a unique overseas-raiding mechanic and are generally just a blast to play.

-Way of Life : Fleshes out the personal aspect of the game, with character focuses and lots of events.

-Reaper's Due : Who knew dying could be so much fun? Makes illnesses mini-event chains and lets your appoint a court physician to treat you and your court. Also the Black Death.

Great
-Conclave : Makes the internal politics of a realm much more nuanced. Powerful vassals expect to have positions on the council, and can scheme against their liege in a number of different ways. Dangerous, but useful if you're a vassal yourself.

-Sons of Abraham : Lots of flavor for Christian and Islamic religions, as well as allowing you to play as Jews.

Good
- Monks and Mystics : Adds societies, including Monastic Orders, the Hermetics, and devil-worshippers. Verges kind of hard into the supernatural, if you're worried about realism, but lots of fun.

-Jade Dragon : This is pretty great, but it won't make much difference unless you're playing in or near Central Asia. Basically adds China as an off-map power that you can interact with. Curry the Dragon's favor with tribute for powerful rewards, but be careful of his wrath...

-Horse Lords : Kind of in the same boat as Jade Dragon: it does a lot for the nomads out in the Steppes, but it won't make much impact unless you play over there.

Buy These to Unlock Stuff
-Sword of Islam : Muslims are pretty fun to play as.
-The Republic : Play as a family in a Merchant Republic. Very different experience.
-Legacy of Rome : Retinues are cool. Also events and stuff for Greeks, if you're into Byzantium.

Meh
-Charlemagne : Hey, how would you like to see a game engine made to model Medieval Europe strain to model late Dark Ages Europe? How about an even bigger, more stable Karling blob? Then this is your expansion.

-Rajas of India : Oh, hey, it's India. Dharmic religions are cool, but the game can't really give the Indians the flavor they deserve, and India's blobbiness and relative geographic isolation means it mostly just kind of sits apart from everything else.

LOL
-Sunset Invasion : Want to get ridiculous? How about Aztecs invading Western Europe? It's horribly ahistorical. Also completely hilarious.

Big_Nabendu posted...

It's the rams
Like anybody's going to watch them

Did you not realize they won their division last year? The Rams are pretty baller now that they've exorcised Jeff Fisher.

Explain to me how the following characters fit that stereotype:

BoJack Horseman
Alexei "Alyosha" Fyodorovitch Karamazov
Alice(from Alice in Wonderland)
Brother William of Baskerville

Now, if we can only get Muhammad in Smash, we can finally settle the millenia-old struggle between the two religions.

Milkman5 posted...

ElatedVenusaur posted...

Presumably it's genetic? Or something like that? Rose was a big lady.

genetic? lol

He has her gem, after all, and have we seen a quartz that wasn't big? Rose is big, Amethyst is pretty wide, Jasper is ridiculously big(but buff).
It's not like Greg is small either.

Presumably it's genetic? Or something like that? Rose was a big lady.

Matthew 25:35-40
" For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[a] you did it to me."

That's great.

Sounds about right.

You also get 5% back on purchases at Whole Foods too, for what it's worth. I know that because I work there and there are signs for it. I mean, for what that's worth.

Yeah, definitely. They made Apollo own and Nick is Nick, so it's still good. Hopefully they make her not-worthless in the next game.

Freddie_Mercury posted...

loki turned into a mare so he could get fucked by a stallion then gave birth to an eight legged horse that became odin's steed

Only because he had talked the other gods into agreeing to give this random traveler the sun, the moon, and Freya if he could finish a wall for Asgard in a single season. Well, it turned out he was a giant with a BS magic stallion and it was almost done and the Aesir realized they'd been had and Freya asked them to brutally murder Loki(for being Loki) for her before she had to marry some giant, so Loki had to fix things.
That involved seducing the giant's stallion as a sexy mare, because Loki.

The Greek Gods are, like, super-rapey.
Of course, it's not like the goddesses were much better: Artemis turned Actaeon into a stag and had his own hunting dogs tear him apart because he (accidentally) stumbled upon her naked. Athena helped Theseus out against Medusa, but she was really just cleaning up her own mess: she turned Medusa into a monster because she had the temerity to get raped by Poseidon in one of her(Athena's) temples.

This is cool and good.

This doesn't seem much different or much better to me.
Anyways, let's go to Jon Gruden for the hottest take: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000923280/article/jon-gruden-id-like-to-eliminate-instant-replay

Eh, Mega-Evos are fine conceptually. Like, you can seriously use pokemon like Pidgeot and Beedrill now. They gave Venusaur and especially Charizard new life(sorry Blastoise. Considering only MegaStoise and Clawncher have Mega Launcher, I can't fathom why it doesn't apply to Hydro Pump).
That said, some Mega designs are pretty bad. Like Sharpedo. Good Christ, what were they thinking?

Thatuser posted...

Teens think they know everything but are very impressionable. They are being told that their lives are in danger and the sky is falling by many adults so they react defensively. What somebody really needs to entrain in them is they will all die regardless. Could be an illness, an accident, or yes, a violent homicide. The third option is the least likely, but death is the equalizer.

It's not like they experienced something, like, say, a school shooting, that may have influenced them in this regard?

If they wanted to do something shocking, they'd had him kill, like, Iron Man or some other Avenger people actually care about.

Metua posted...

Personally, I'm not convinced that they won't come crawling back to him.

At the very least, they'll never vote Democratic. As a socialist, I understand their pain, but that doesn't stop me from delighting in it!

The Republican Party exists to funnel money to the top 1% and win elections. Democracy and democratic principle is literally nothing but an obstacle to them.

I went to college in Albany(UAlbany). Seemed nice enough to me. I still miss Stewart's.

Steelix
Victreebell
Exploud
Finneon/Lumineon(I always liked the designs, but they're the most generic fish pokemon ever. And the stats).
Hawlucha(at least he's good though)
Helioptile

gunplagirl posted...

Touch posted...

I like the part when Baldr was the most loved God so Freya/Frigga (I always get those two mixed up) went around and made everything swear not to hurt him but overlooked a pine needle or whatever the fuck

So because nothing could harm him the God's just threw shit at Baldr for fun and then Loki threw a pine needles and somehow killed Baldr

The details of my recounting are prolly misconstrued but it's been forever since I read that lol

Mistleteinn. Mistletoe, essentially. Had it made into an arrow and had somebody else fire it at Baldr as a prank.

Also there is a way to bring back Baldr. When all living beings truly miss and mourn for his death, he will be revived. An old lady refused and cursed his name. "You thought it was an old lady, but it was actually me, Di... Loki." After Ragnarok, Baldr will return.

Worse, he tricked Baldr's blind brother Hod into throwing the mistletoe at Baldr.
Loki has two normal kids, but is also the father of Fenrir, Jormungadr, and Hel. And the mother of Sleipnir.

Death will force him to, sooner or later, and there will be a power struggle among the various oligarchs, generals, and Putin lackeys over who will succeed him.

I'm tall, so whatever. I'll raise my children to be awesome regardless.

We know that life is possible: it exists here on Earth and may/may have exist(ed) elsewhere in our solar system(Mars, Europa, etc.) And, of course, we're intelligent enough to ponder this question, so we're "intelligent life", despite our short-comings.
Honestly, it seems to me that we're not even in a position to attempt to answer the question empirically. We know of only one place life exists for certain(Earth) and can still only guess as to where it could exist and what it needs to exist, but it could well be that most life is like what we see on Earth, or it may not be so.

As far as intelligent life, and why we haven't met any, there are a multitude of reasons, some of which I remember:
1)The galaxy is a vast place with billions of stars with all sorts of different planetary systems of all different ages. This means an advanced civilization could conceivably develop, mature, and collapse without ever meeting another advanced civilization.
2) So far as we know, faster-than-light travel is the stuff of science fiction. This means advanced civilizations may be stranded upon their planet of origin, doomed to never expand beyond their home solar system.
3) Life could be really weird. Even among Earth animals, you find a wide variety of ways to communicate and lots of different kinds of cognition. It's possible we have an advanced neighbor next door, but nothing about their communications stands out to us, and nothing about ours stands out to them as intelligent either
4) Even if an advanced civilization exists that could contact us, it doesn't mean that they would. Perhaps they like to keep to themselves, or think we're idiots and not worth their time, or don't like carbon-based lifeforms or God only knows what.

http://theweek.com/articles/761124/how-vulture-capitalists-ate-toys-r
It was vulture capitalists who larded up Toys'R'Us with their debt.

Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation. As such, the investigation is being run out of the Executive Branch and technically falls under Trump's purview(though, of course, Mueller answers only to Rosenstein). Trump can pressure Sessions to fire Rosenstein and/or Rosenstein to fire Mueller, and can fire them if he so chooses and go down the chain-of-command at the Justice Department until he hits upon some one who will fire Mueller.

Mueller would/will only be out of Trump's reach if Congress appoints him, in which case he would answer to the relevant House/Senate committees and not an officer of the Executive branch.

It's also been mentioned a few times already why Trump attempting to shut Mueller down would end badly for him, sooner or later.

I was always super-paranoid about using Magatama that made you weak to Light or Dark for that very reason.
If you want to see true BS, look up the secret boss in Digital Devil Saga. Just reading about it made me frustrated.
It's the Demifiend a.k.a. the player character from Nocturne. If you do certain things, he unleashes an attack called Gaia Rage that deals thousands of damage to your entire party. Max HP is 999. Good luck!

Unnecessary. Duncanwii posted...

Dehelmse already has a triple type kind of.

Dhelmise, for those who don't know, is a Grass/Ghost pokemon with an ability that gives it STAB(same-type attack bonus)* on Steel-type attacks.
*A move that is the same type as the user has its power boosted by 1.5x, unless it deals fixed damage or no damage

Our goal was to prop-up South Vietnam, a nation which was created in a peace deal between the Vietnamese rebels led by Ho Chih Minh and the French, the former colonial overlords. The two states were supposed to be united after an election, but the South cancelled the election because they knew Ho Chih Minh would win(I mean, his popularity wasn't even about the communism thing, mostly the drove-out-the-French thing).
At the time, the U.S. subscribed to a (in hindsight, utterly ridiculous) Domino Theory, whereby if one country fell to Communism, the entire region would follow(barring U.S. intervention, of course!) So we took over propping-up South Vietnam from the French, which turned out to be a fool's errand, because:

1) The South Vietnamese regime was a highly unpopular dictatorship dominated by minority Catholics
2) Ho Chih Minh, and thus North Vietnam, were hugely popular all across Vietnam
3) Our efforts to prop up the South Vietnamese regime made it even less popular
4) The fact that the war went on seemingly endlessly without any improvement in the status quo(and plenty of atrocities committed by U.S. and allied soldiers) in spite of being expanded to include massive bombing campaigns aimed at North Vietnam and a side-war in Cambodia made it increasingly unpopular at home.

Eventually, we settled for peace and left behind the status quo. However, without us to prop it up, South Vietnam collapsed and was absorbed by North Vietnam. Vietnam fell to Communism. Cambodia ended up way worse. We managed to avoid a similar misadventure for, like, 25 years.

Lastly, I leave the thread with this: http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1562-8-facts-about-vietnam-war-i-learned-as-viet-cong.html
Cracked actually interviewed a Vietnamese veteran of the Viet Cong about his experiences recently.