100% control of the supply of gas to some parts of Europe. Those countries, being in the EU, means Russia cannot utilize its full capabilities as a monopolist. The EU represents a monopsony on Russian energy to the west. They aren't selling to individual nation states, they are selling to a single bloc with a unified policy. Putin was already trying to entice European countries to break
But a lot of Europe's issues seem to be out of sheer incompetence/ineptitude. The thing is, we will never know either way, most likely. I also disagree that Russia will not benefit from the EU fragmenting. Russia benefits by setting prices as a monopolist and reduces collective European bargaining power over their oil and gas prices. They also benefit in the sense that the EU has been ex
Umi did a great job coding those forms. Very neat stuff.
Edit: Quas is right with vampiric ixlitl (spelling??). Not Kraken. Kraken is/was a quest form I believe.
This is not a good outcome for Spain, or for the EU. People told me 2 years ago, that I was crazy when I said Catalonia was a risk for separation. People still severely underestimate the sort of tyranny that will be unleashed by the European seats of power. They will wipe out 30% of Catalonia just to make a point. The Catalonians definitely don't know what they are doing.
Around 800-9
In case the US guys haven't heard (yet), Catalonia in Spain voted to break away. Why does this matter?
- Accounts for ~20% of Spanish GDP.
- One of the wealthiest regions in Spain.
- Will cause Spanish Sov. Debt:GDP to jump approx. 30% overnight if allowed to go through without military intervention (Spain calling it unconstitutional right now.)
- Could lead to Spanish civil war.
-
quest by rote/button bash trap. However, the storyline really was good.
They should have shortened the game and chopped it down. A few good parts:
- Dragon battles.
- Story line.
- Bard songs.
- Ally NPC stories / character building etc.
Origins was still hands down the best DA installment. I have heard good things about The Witcher series. Need to check it out.
I don't see anything good coming out of that region. The US Dollar has weakened a lot after a long term bull market. The level of hysteria about the death of the US Dollar is reaching a fever pitch.
Europe has a LOT of major structural, political and cultural issues which the US is not subject to. Even if the German elections go through smoothly- and there are a lot of ways they might
And that's coming from someone who studied a hard science and social science.
With respect to mathematicians- I could never touch them in terms of capabilities. They tend to make me look like a dribbling moron. Which is why if I ever start a mathematics podcast, or have a popular TV show where I derive complex proofs, DuneTree can feel free to tell me I'm a muppet in the same way I
QuoteTo claim that Chomsky's knowledge is "superficial" and not in line with the hard/quantitative sciences would suggest to me that you are perhaps not well aware of his revolutionary contributions to the field of linguistics, which is effectively a philosophical and mathematical approach to understanding language (and thus the mind's structure) itself.
So what mathematical
Italy is a serious threat to the current global status quo- and presents a major challenge for the Euro and EU politicians. Keep an eye on this. At the moment we have major tension points developing in the fabric of the EU.
- Macron's approval ratings crashing twice as fast as Trump's
- A government with no elected authority in The Netherlands because their parliament is hung.
-
He's like a caricature of the problem with academia. Very articulate and well-spoken. Can make an argument sound good. However, he lacks any sort of real life experience. Academics who are like Chomsky are an issue because their arguments sound credible and intelligent, and they sell a position well, even if it's a totally stupid position.
Chomsky is relatively moderate compared
...I stepped outside the OT (formerly known as Sam's Sportsboard) for this.
Someone needs to make "European Union The MUD". It would be a lot like CF, but with less orcs. It would also perfectly suit the needs of bandits and anti-competitive hippies alike.
I should really roll Charles Ponzi or Mernie Badoff the gnomish thief one of these days. Have him proposition players
A Bay Area reporter who went down there to see what was what...
QuoteI experienced hate first hand today.
It came from these people dressed in all black at a protest in Berkeley.
Ironically they were all chanting about NO hate.
Some had shields and gloves.
Some had helmets.
Some had gas masks.
I was watching them and taking it all in.
I came there on my own time.
Because I wanted to se
Too much stuff going on over here in Europe for me to justify investing a lifetime of energy and time into the MUD. Also staying up until 3-4am US to hit peak for events and so on is miserable.
There are prospective players and community members waiting in the wings, but time (and the opportunity cost thereof) makes CF a difficult commitment right now.
But yeah..
- Yes to govt. being confined to pure public goods like infrastructure.
- Yes to Govt. being involved in providing a moderate level of education (but no to public schools being indoctrination camps for good citizens.)
- Yes to standing armies.
- Yes to the right for LEGAL CITIZENS to bear arms.
- Yes to national service, weapon training and the teaching of discipline and hard wo
walked into a massive Soviet steel factory with a pallet of cigarettes and became the new foreman overnight when communist control collapsed. The workers were sitting around waiting for a govt. bureaucrat and were unmanaged. He is now a billionaire. Imagine that opportunity?
Everyone's world turns upside-down in 24 hours and some people simply become millionaires in the space of a week.
crew of liberal comedians on late night talk shows is very cleverly-packaged, pro-state propaganda. Aside from the fact that Nazis genuinely embody leftist views to a broad degree, in the sense that they support state policies, support subsidies for some ethnic groups, support regulations etc. they have a lot more in common with communists than people think. Ever tried speaking to a Nazi? Co
The stereotype of the dumb white American redneck** being conservative. It's not true. People assume that conservative = no education. These days conservative = different education. If you grew up in the 1990s. Graduated college around the 2000s. Went into the tech. sector prior to the Fin Crisis, that is a TOTALLY different trajectory to anyone (like me) who came out of college in the
QuoteI don't mean the kind of obvious institutional racism like "separate but equal" laws. I mean the subtle, inter-personal racism, which doesn't matter in the lower junior levels: in the junior levels you hire whoever can get the basic job done. But in higher, senior ranks, you hire people you can have a real, unspoken connection with. People you're comfortable with, pe
QuoteManagement is really weird in the States. Seriously, you can sometimes have much smarter folks not in management, because they don't want to deal with the shit, and appreciate their freedom.
Generally this tends to be the norm outside of technical fields and senior management though. Pretty common in the UK too.
Strengthening USD is a deflationary trend. It will be difficult for the US to buck this trend without monetary reform ie: releasing their grip on the global reserve. And 15-20 years from now the scenario you envisaged with a (dis?)orderly default and possible fragmentation of the union could potentially play out. Possibly after the global reserve becomes a basket of currencies, like the SDR,