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#31
Gaming HQ / Re: Victoria 3
Last post by Zanza - Today at 02:59:18 AMPlaying this with the latest DLC again. I suck at the game. It's fun nevertheless. Trying my hand at Spain and failed against the Carlists.
#32
Gaming HQ / Re: Star Wars Fate of the Old ...
Last post by Valmy - Today at 02:46:36 AMI really do not understand why a single player RPG would require that much time to make unless they are developing the engine from scratch.
#33
Gaming HQ / Re: Star Wars Fate of the Old ...
Last post by celedhring - Today at 02:43:58 AM"Five years away" = vaporware that can potentially get cancelled anytime.
After so many failed Star Wars videogame projects I'm old and bitter.
After so many failed Star Wars videogame projects I'm old and bitter.
#34
Off the Record / Re: Youtube Recommendations
Last post by Syt - Today at 01:55:24 AMListening to Geekenders while doing stuff around my place has become my Saturday morning ritual (same with Cox'n'Crendor on Monday mornings). 
I'm also enjoying his Star Wars Old Canon Book Club he has with some buds, where they go through the Star Wars books, Comics, etc. in publication order from 1977. Not big into Chilluminati though, because while I liked Mathis when he started, he's a bit too woowoo for me now.
I'm also enjoying his Star Wars Old Canon Book Club he has with some buds, where they go through the Star Wars books, Comics, etc. in publication order from 1977. Not big into Chilluminati though, because while I liked Mathis when he started, he's a bit too woowoo for me now. #35
Off the Record / Re: Youtube Recommendations
Last post by Valmy - Today at 01:37:32 AMQuote from: Syt on Today at 01:25:16 AMOh, it's Jesse Cox, I've been watching him for well over 10 years, since the Cooptional Podcast days. Still watching his podcast with Dodger and the one he has with Crendor for the silliness.
I love them
I do miss TB bringing the cantakerous energy.
#36
Off the Record / Re: Youtube Recommendations
Last post by Syt - Today at 01:25:16 AMOh, it's Jesse Cox, I've been watching him for well over 10 years, since the Cooptional Podcast days. Still watching his podcast with Dodger and the one he has with Crendor for the silliness. 
#37
Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...
Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 12:20:12 AMYeah on Sanders the line that always sticks out for me was Clinton's: "if we broke up the big banks tomorrow — and I will if they deserve it, if they pose a systemic risk, I will — would that end racism?" I think she did the same through LGBT+, sexism, immigration etc.
As I say Olufemi Taiwo's Elite Capture is a very good book on this - and it's about 100 pages so readable in an afternoon.
On the representation point there's a particularly weird and I think very tone-deaf side to that with Reeves. In part I think because Labour absolutely hates the fact that it's on its second leader called Keir while the Tories are on their fourth woman leader (three of whom have been PM) and second ethnic minority leader. Plus the Tories had various "firsts" in the last government: first British Asian Chancellor and Home Secretary, first Muslim Home Secretary, first Black Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary etc.
Because of this Labour or at least Reeves seem to make a weirdly big deal of Reeves being the first woman Chancellor (and also because it's the last "great office of state" not held by a woman). So in her big pre-budget interview with The Times she had a line about how "I'm sick of people mansplaining how to be chancellor to me". There's been a couple of moments where she's suggested she's treated differently than Gordon Brown or George Osborne would be. There was a line in the FT about this from a profile of her:
This was part of Badenoch's response to Reeves, which I think was fairly effective on this point: "Madam Deputy Speaker, let me explain to the Chancellor. Woman to woman. People out there aren't complaining because she's female. They're complaining because she is utterly incompetent." And I think there is something to that. She came in and there was lots of "Iron Chancellor" stuff. The jokes about her and "lack of respect" have developed because she's bad at the job - and I have lots of issues with Brown and Osborne but they absolutely stamped their authority over the Treasury. There was always a clear sense of what they were trying to do. I also think demanding "respect" is not something that goes well for any politician in Britain.
But to the GD Politics podcast I think there is a weird tone-deafness to Starmer and Reeves on this sort of stuff. David Runciman says that Starmer apparently has repeatedly told his cabinet that without him and his team none of them would be in a job because they wouldn't have won the election (which I think vastly overstates his role v the collapse of the Tories). But there's another story of an away day when apparently Starmer told the cabinet they were the most working class cabinet in British history - apparently Shabana Mahmood pushed backon that by asking, even if it's true is it how they're seen? His metric seems to be that none of them went to private school - but I think "most working class" is challenging.
It is the point Runciman and Thompson made on the podcast that Starmer's entire career in politics has shown a breathtaking disinterest in the truth, but also there's been a fair bit of dishonesty by Reeves both about her own career (plus plagiarism in a book she wrote) and how she frames budget decisions. Which might be fine if they were clearly cynical Machiavels - like Lord Mandelson
- but appparently Starmer in particular is very, very vain and quite sanctimonious with people. And I think the combination of very obviously cynical and dishonest, with sanctimony, demands for respect and incompetence is perhaps uniquely toxic.
As I say Olufemi Taiwo's Elite Capture is a very good book on this - and it's about 100 pages so readable in an afternoon.
On the representation point there's a particularly weird and I think very tone-deaf side to that with Reeves. In part I think because Labour absolutely hates the fact that it's on its second leader called Keir while the Tories are on their fourth woman leader (three of whom have been PM) and second ethnic minority leader. Plus the Tories had various "firsts" in the last government: first British Asian Chancellor and Home Secretary, first Muslim Home Secretary, first Black Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary etc.
Because of this Labour or at least Reeves seem to make a weirdly big deal of Reeves being the first woman Chancellor (and also because it's the last "great office of state" not held by a woman). So in her big pre-budget interview with The Times she had a line about how "I'm sick of people mansplaining how to be chancellor to me". There's been a couple of moments where she's suggested she's treated differently than Gordon Brown or George Osborne would be. There was a line in the FT about this from a profile of her:
Quote"At a genteel "meet and greet" over sandwiches and tea with local business leaders, the chancellor is robustly challenged — she believes rudely — over her punitive taxes on North Sea drilling. Suddenly the mood changes. "Talk to me with respect," Reeves says, glaring at her interlocutor. Eyes shift nervously towards the floor. "I'm the chancellor of the exchequer."
There are no cameras to record the extraordinary exchange. Is everything all right? Surprisingly, Reeves seems to have enjoyed the moment. "He wouldn't have spoken like that to George Osborne or Gordon Brown," says Britain's first female holder of the 800-year-old office, referring to two of her predecessors. "He deserved it," she guffaws, heading out to the waiting car. Reeves demands respect — and she believes that with her Budget, in spite of everything, she will earn it."
This was part of Badenoch's response to Reeves, which I think was fairly effective on this point: "Madam Deputy Speaker, let me explain to the Chancellor. Woman to woman. People out there aren't complaining because she's female. They're complaining because she is utterly incompetent." And I think there is something to that. She came in and there was lots of "Iron Chancellor" stuff. The jokes about her and "lack of respect" have developed because she's bad at the job - and I have lots of issues with Brown and Osborne but they absolutely stamped their authority over the Treasury. There was always a clear sense of what they were trying to do. I also think demanding "respect" is not something that goes well for any politician in Britain.
But to the GD Politics podcast I think there is a weird tone-deafness to Starmer and Reeves on this sort of stuff. David Runciman says that Starmer apparently has repeatedly told his cabinet that without him and his team none of them would be in a job because they wouldn't have won the election (which I think vastly overstates his role v the collapse of the Tories). But there's another story of an away day when apparently Starmer told the cabinet they were the most working class cabinet in British history - apparently Shabana Mahmood pushed backon that by asking, even if it's true is it how they're seen? His metric seems to be that none of them went to private school - but I think "most working class" is challenging.
It is the point Runciman and Thompson made on the podcast that Starmer's entire career in politics has shown a breathtaking disinterest in the truth, but also there's been a fair bit of dishonesty by Reeves both about her own career (plus plagiarism in a book she wrote) and how she frames budget decisions. Which might be fine if they were clearly cynical Machiavels - like Lord Mandelson
- but appparently Starmer in particular is very, very vain and quite sanctimonious with people. And I think the combination of very obviously cynical and dishonest, with sanctimony, demands for respect and incompetence is perhaps uniquely toxic. #38
Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic
Last post by mongers - December 12, 2025, 10:06:11 PMQuote from: Josquius on December 12, 2025, 04:03:15 AMToday I learned- an acre is around 1/2 a football pitch.
Now I can actually visualise acres.
It's really quite simple, it's a furlong by a chain wide.
#39
Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic
Last post by Tonitrus - December 12, 2025, 08:41:33 PMQuote from: Valmy on December 12, 2025, 08:19:23 PMgrifting the government
Uncle Sam said it supported conservation and sustainability.
QuoteConservation Reserve Program (CRP)
What It Is
The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA), is a voluntary program that encourages agricultural producers and landowners to convert highly erodible and other environmentally sensitive acreage to vegetative cover, such as native grasses, trees, and riparian buffers.
By enrolling in CRP, participants receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource-conserving vegetative covers. The program helps to improve water quality, control soil erosion, and enhance wildlife habitat, contributing to overall environmental health and sustainability.
#40
Gaming HQ / Re: Star Wars Fate of the Old ...
Last post by Valmy - December 12, 2025, 08:27:40 PMCasey Hudson? Now you have my attention.
Action RPG? Single player? Spiritual successor to KOTOR? Ok.
Is it really five years away from release? Come on guys they made KOTOR 2 in about two weeks.
Action RPG? Single player? Spiritual successor to KOTOR? Ok.
Is it really five years away from release? Come on guys they made KOTOR 2 in about two weeks.