Recent posts

#11

Off the Record / Re: Grand unified books thread

Last post by Sheilbh - November 11, 2025, 05:06:37 PM

So David Szalay's Flesh won the Booker - very deserved.

Still working through the list (about halfway through now I think) but it's very, very good.

#12

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by celedhring - November 11, 2025, 04:49:24 PM

Not long ago I learned that beloved "that guy!" Stephen Tobolowsky of Groundhog Day fame, also co-wrote "True Stories" with David Byrne. Who would've thought.

#13

Off the Record / Re: Football (Soccer) Thread

Last post by Sheilbh - November 11, 2025, 03:56:25 PM

I've a soft spot for Dyche. It was the right time for him to go and there were problems but he did very well by us throuh some very difficult times and I think he deserves a lot of credit and respect for it.

Also I find the "utter woke nonsense" meme quite funny

But yeah loves bleep tests apparently.

Edit: Also one of my favourite Athletico Mince characters.

#14

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Tonitrus - November 11, 2025, 03:21:08 PM

That'll do it then.

Sticking it our for the Dems (or the GOP) was soon going to get much harder.  Most of the federal workers can probably survive a month without a pay...but getting into 2-3 months starts having real consequences (evictions, etc).  If Trump hadn't covered the military paychecks, I would content that most of those folks are likely to be poorer and really living paycheck-to-paycheck than other federal employees. 

It's easy to say "this is for the greater good" when you're livelihood is not directly affected.  The blame for that may still split both ways, but we shouldn't be cavalier about it. 

Also, the originally so-called "clean" resolution got dirtied up in the process...including what appears to be an effective federal ban on hemp products.

If enacted and signed into law, the hemp provision would mean hundreds of now-legal THC products — most commonly sold as Delta-8 or Delta-9 — would no longer be legal to sell. It is currently federally legal to sell hemp-derived THC products as long as they contain no more than 0.3% THC by dry weight. The language in the new legislation imposes a total THC limit of 0.4 milligrams and would effectively ban those products for personal or household use.

#15

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Josquius - November 11, 2025, 02:43:38 PM

I just learned Terry Farrel, who played Dax in DS9, was married to Leonard Nimoys son.
Small world.

#16

Gaming HQ / Re: Europa Universalis V confi...

Last post by Syt - November 11, 2025, 02:22:17 PM

Same if you want to set an army to "hunt armies" - also goes be regions that are difficult to discern on map (maybe if switching to regions map mode first?).

#17

Gaming HQ / Re: Europa Universalis V confi...

Last post by Josephus - November 11, 2025, 01:42:53 PM

Navalbattles....sigh.

I select a navy and choose the "hunt enemy navies" option. But for some reason it already has 50 locations pre selected, which I don't want. I don't know any other way to change this but to go through the list and manuaally unclick them.

Then I decide to select the seazone I want to send them out, but if I hover over the map, it doesn't tell me what seazone a particular area belongs to; so unless I'm really good at geography, it's all hit and miss.

Annoying.

#18

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Admiral Yi - November 11, 2025, 01:41:04 PM

No, the word "aim" turns the whole thing into a weaselfest.  I withdraw all my objections and apologize for any hurt feelings I have caused.

#19

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by Razgovory - November 11, 2025, 01:36:03 PM

#20

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Baron von Schtinkenbutt - November 11, 2025, 01:33:06 PM

Your remaining point is I'm tarring with an unfairly wide brush when I talked about Yuros.  I was mirroring Joan's language.  I understood what he meant, he understood what I meant, and it saved us both a shitload of keystrokes.

But to clear up any further misunderstanding, to the 31 or 32 members who did what they promised, you are all fine upstanding members of the community of honest, dependable countries in my opinion.

As to the last part, that does dismiss the charge of broken promises against the citizenry of the eight welching countries, but not the charge against the individual who made the promise.  It's a theoretical possibility that the actual language of the 2014 pledge was something like I will make my best efforts but can't promise results.  In which case my beef would be with the press for bad reporting in calling it a pledge.

I did overly latch on to the breadth of your statement, but yes you were both speaking in fairly broad terms.

On the language, the actual declaration is a little loosey-goosey about it:

• Allies currently meeting the NATO guideline to spend a minimum of 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence will aim to continue to do so. Likewise, Allies spending more than 20% of their defence budgets on major equipment, including related Research & Development, will continue to do so.
• Allies whose current proportion of GDP spent on defence is below this level will:
  
  • halt any decline in defence expenditure;
  • aim to increase defence expenditure in real terms as GDP grows;
  • aim to move towards the 2% guideline within a decade with a view to meeting their NATO Capability Targets and filling NATO's capability shortfalls.
• Allies who currently spend less than 20% of their annual defence spending on major new equipment, including related Research & Development, will aim, within a decade, to increase their annual investments to 20% or more of total defence expenditures.
• All Allies will:
  
  • ensure that their land, air and maritime forces meet NATO agreed guidelines for deployability and sustainability and other agreed output metrics;
  • ensure that their armed forces can operate together effectively, including through the implementation of agreed NATO standards and doctrines.

I think there's room in there to criticize the members who didn't make it, but it's not a promise to hit that specific level in that time, either.