Hypothetical scenario premise: What would the following state and ideology be technically classified as from a socio-political standpoint in regards to accurate terminology?

A group of slavers running a slavers guild, some black market criminal organizations and paramilitary raiders and mercenaries. All outlaws in their own countries. Joins forces to build a mercantile city-state.

Run by a council of guild masters and warlords. They raid neighboring countries for resources and slaves. Would a city-state like this be defined as such, or would other countries have to formally recognize them for it to be defined as an actual city-state?

What I mean is... could a bunch of different criminal syndicates establish their own city-state with a government run by a council and what would it be called? If no one can challenge them, can they really be called "just a criminal gang occupying a city"? It is a people's right to choose how to identify themselves isn't it?

I've read a bit about imperialism, colonialism and mercantilism. In particular, the East India Company was very interesting. However I'm not sure what such a city-state should be called. These illegal activities (slavery, raiding, black market goods etc) are illegal in their origin countries. But if they establish a independent city state and this was allowed - it would by all intents and purposes - despite being immoral - be legal there.

What would one call such? Exploitative Mercantilism? Merchant State Tyranny?

I'm really excited for tonight's session! I didn't plan it this way (mostly because I didn't expect the players to successfully rescue Gertruda) but the 7th level party is starting tonight's session back in the Village of Barovia—the first time they've been back since accepting the quest to escort Ireena to Krezk (which they still have yet to complete).

At first, I planned on breezing past the village as a mere pitstop, but when I sat down and asked myself, "What has changed since they were last here?" the answers have been so inspiring! A lot of this is specific to the events of our campaign, but maybe it will be inspiring for you too...

The chapel is burned to the ground

Literal years ago (thanks, 2020), the party killed Doru and, at Ismark's prompting, voted to condemn Donavich for his crimes. When they passed back by the River Ivlis Crossroads (after visiting Madam Eva) they found Donavich's body still hanging from the gallows where the villagers had apparently executed him.

What they didn't know, however, was that this betrayal (their priest harboring a vampire) was the last straw for the villagers, who thereafter renounced the Morninglord and burned the dilapidated chapel to the ground. For me, since the party knew that Strahd sent Doru back to the village, the real benefit of including this detail is the opportunity to imply that this was Strahd's plan all along...

Ismark's guilty conscience

In my game, Kolyan had fallen out of favor with the villagers after he refused to give in to their fearmongering over rumors of Strahd's interest in Ireena (which had been spread by Strahd's spies in the tavern... lol I keep wanting to call them darkfriends). The mob feared that what happened in Berez
would happen here if they didn't deliver Ireena to the castle. Ismark caved to the threats of the mob and secretly cut a deal: he would deliver Kolyan to the mob and ensure that Ireena would be sent away if they would let him and his sister live. He had no political ambitions beyond self-preservation and lived up to his Ismark the Lesser epithet — reluctantly taking office amid trepidation and fear for his own life, and doing what he could for his sister to justify betraying his father.

(Kolyan knew Ismark was poisoning him, but drank it anyway for Ireena's sake, since the mob had already encircled the manse. Ismark had hidden Ireena in the cellar and she could hear the "monsters" attack and saw the "claw" and scorch marks on the walls. She believed

Overseas markets

1. U.S. stocks were mixed on Tuesday! Nasdaq fell more than 1% technology leaders collectively weakened

The three major U.S. stock indexes closed in a divergent trend, with the Dow up 0.59%, a new record high for the second consecutive day, the S&P 500 down 0.06% and the Nasdaq down 1.33%.

Omicron mutant strain is spreading rapidly across the U.S. The number of new cases of infection in the U.S. on a single day has exceeded 1 million on Monday, again setting a new record for the highest number of new cases on a single day since the outbreak.

U.S. technology leaders at all-time highs weakened collectively today. Apple fell 1.27%, Tesla fell 4.18%, Amazon fell 1.69%, Google fell 0.45% and Microsoft fell 1.71%.

Economic restart concept is collectively stronger, including Goldman Sachs rose 3.07%, Chevron rose 1.82%, Exxon Mobil rose 3.76%, American Airlines rose 1.44%, United Airlines rose 1.67%, Delta Air Lines rose 0.74%, Royal Caribbean Cruises rose 1.92%, Norwegian Cruises rose 1.31%, Boeing rose 2.78%. Ford closed up 11.67%, ranking first in the S&P 500 components, its plan to double the production of F-150 electric pickup truck.

2. Popular Chinese stocks closed mostly lower on Tuesday, with Palm Education down more than 38%

Most of the popular Chinese stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the online education sector sinking and Palm Education falling more than 38%.

As for other Chinese stocks, Ctrip rose more than 2%, Auto House rose more than 1% and Lufthansa Holdings.

Tencent reduced its holdings in Sea fell 11%, Tencent system of Chinese stocks, Poundland fell 11%, B station fell 9%, Jingdong fell 6%

New energy car stocks, ideal car fell more than 6%, Azure car, Xiaopeng car fell more than 5%.

3. European stocks closed higher across the board France's CAC40 index rose 1.39%

France's CAC40 index rose 1.39%, the FTSE 100 index rose 1.63%, the European Stoxx 50 index rose 0.85%.

4. OPEC + maintain production plans unchanged U.S. oil closed 1.2% higher on Tuesday

Caroline Bain, chief commodities analyst at Capital Economics, said that oil prices are supported by the fact that, in contrast to other new crown mutant strains, the current Omicron mutant strain has less severe symptoms and lower mortality rates in those infected, leaving the government without a widespread embargo or travel restrictions that could affect crude oil demand.

On Tuesday, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures for February delive

Now let me say at the start, that Morathi is undeniably a villain of the Age of Sigmar narrative and almost certainly a monster. She has killed untold millions in the pursuit of power, corrupted the Cult of Khaine, committed genocide on Anvilgard, and a bunch of other atrocities likely lay in the future, that she'll gladly commit.

And yet, I cant help but remember the trial scene in "Broken Realms: Kragnos" wherein Sigmar treats Morathi as nothing more than a traitorous vassal of the Pantheon of Order, going so far as to send the Celestant-Prime in his place... a nice all but saying that Morathi-Khaine, even as a god, is beneath his time.

Monster though she may be, Morathi and the Daughters of Khaine are canonically among the first allies to rejoin the Grand Alliance of Order. They stood side by side with the Stormcast during countless battles in the Realmgate Wars, they aided in establishing many Cities of Sigmar, and they fought alongside many Dawnbringer Crusades to expand the domains of Order.

Moreover as it was later revealed... at this point she had already brokered a truce with the Celestant-Prime and Sigmar. A city for a city. If she saved Excelsis from a fated doom, she'd be allowed to keep Har Kuron.

Yet here she is on trial, for the conquering and massacring of that city that she was already granted in a previous agreement. On one hand it is heartening to know Sigmar values the lives of mortals more than the politics of the gods, on the other he's awfully quick to renege on a deal with Morathi.

Which as it happens seems to be a pattern.

Now what do I mean by this? Well see Sigmar, whether you see him as a tyrant or paragon or something in between, is generous to allies, vassals, and equals.

With the rise of the Cities of Sigmar many of those powers that aided the burgeoning Empire of Sigmar profited greatly.

Dispossessed clans were aided in reconquering their Karaks if they so desired, the City Aelf factions basically monopolized the Sigmarite navy and dominate the lucrative meat industry, Scourge are allowed their Black Arks and ports, the Order Serpentis seems allowed to colonize. Kharadron and Fyreslayers were given bounteous contracts, both Mercantile and mercenary

And what faction of Order, independent or sub, wasn't given free reign over a major City of Sigmar? Well... the Daughters of Khaine as it happens.

Despite being one of the first allies to fight beside the Stormcast, they dont get a city of their own. They get a

So, a few months back I asked if there was a way to justify a ComStar remnant group disappearing into the Deep Periphery to rebuild. Largely because I was unhappy with the unsatisfying way in which they had been killed off. I intended largely to throw together a mix of ideas to justify this and then experiment with a few cultural elements to flesh things out.

Well, it ended up being thirteen pages in length. I'll likely rework a fair few bits of this later on, so consider this the Mk. 1 backstory.

Maclnir Commonwealth

Regional Information:

Time Period: 3087 - Present

Classification: Deep Periphery State

Systems Controlled: 4

National Motto: “Morte solum vincula fidelitatis solvuntur.” (Official)

“The warrior serves the worker.” (Unofficial)

Governmental Information:

Organization Type: Crusader State

Head of State: Princeps

Commander-in-Chief: High Marshall

Executive Branch: Council Primaris

Legislative Branch: Council Secundus

Military Branch: The Commonwealth Guard

Secret Service: The Stormwatch Institute

Societal Information:

Capital: Telisgrad (city) Khigan (planet)

Official languages: German (dominant), Hungarian, French, English, Irish

Average Life Expectancy: 36.5

History:

Emigration:

The first whispers of what would become the Maclnir Commonwealth were born in the aftermath of Tukayyid. Between the failure of Operation SCORPION and the vast amounts of Clantech in the inner sphere, ComStar’s original ambitions lay in ruins. Many privately questioned if the battle had been worth it, and this would only steadily increase as one disaster after another dominated the following decades.

The loss of Terra. The sundering of ComStar and the rise of the Blakists. The death of the Second Star League. The failure of Victor Steiner Davion’s leadership and Case White. The Jihad. The White-Out. Any one loss would have been enough, leaving ComStar as a shadow of its former self, but combined they all but broke the organisation. As what remained of the Com Guards fought on in their wars, whispers gradually became discussions. What would happen if they survived the Jihad?

In every plan, every possibility of victory, the answer was always the same: ComStar would be a remnant. Made subservient to another government if not outright disbanded, they would never again be allowed any true power of any form. In the worst of situations they would likely be tarred with the same brush as the Word of Blake, and held trial for the

One thing that I find that some of the more dishonest Socialists and Capitalists will do is to equate a freed market with Capitalism. What I want to try and do is challenge the debaters on this sub to see how these two concepts can actually be at odds with each other.

If you are just looking to debate I will put a tl;dr for the point of each section.

To disentangle what I mean by the title, "Capitalism" as a word does not have a single definition (similarly to how people may use "Socialism"). To clarify, Gary Chartier has done a good service to clarify this issue, so I will use his definitions moving forward (please use the distinctions in the replies):

1. capitalism-1: "capitalism" has been used, mostly (but not exclusively) by its defenders to just mean a free market, i.e., an economic order that emerges from voluntary exchanges of property and labor without government intervention (or any other form of systemic coercion).
2. capitalism-2: "capitalism" has also been used, sometimes by its opponents and sometimes by the beneficiaries of the system, to mean a corporate State–that is, active government support for big businesses through instruments such as subsidies, central banking, tax-funded infrastructure, "development" grants and loans, special tax exemptions, funding plants, acquiring land through eminent domain, government union-busting, and so on down the line. Since government intervention is always, by nature, either services funded by expropriated tax dollars or regulations enforced from the barrel of a gun, it’s worth noting that being "capitalist" in the sense of a free marketeer requires being "anti-capitalist" in the sense of opposing the corporate State, and vice versa.
3. capitalism-3: third, "capitalism" has been used (by for example, Marxians and socialists who are careful about their use of language) to refer to a specific form of labor market–that is, one where the dominant form of economic activity is the production of goods in workplaces that are strictly divided by class. Under capitalism in the third sense, most workers are working for a boss, in return for a wage; they are renting out their labor to someone else, in order to survive, and it is the boss and not the workers who holds the title to the business, the shop, and the tools and facilities that make the business run. (Or, as the Marxists would have it, the means of production.) It’s worth noting that capitalism

Lead up to the civil war

As tensions arise a war between Spain and Britain seems inevitable, the King George II is a major supporter of engaging in war, however walpoles government is not. More skilled diplomats than in real life would be sent and negotiated a superior treaty of El Pardo, however the south sea company would still dislike this treaty and attempt to evade it. King George would aid the evasion of the south sea company with his royal authority. Walpoles ministry would be infuriated at the monarchs actions as they wanted a policy of peace.

Despite the monarchs efforts, walpoles ministry would be effective at enforcing this treaty which prevented a war, with the king out of options, he would publish a proclamation which would declare Spain an enemy of the British empire. Walpoles ministry swiftly responded cracking down on the spread of this distribution and having many loyalists arrested. Division in the army grew between those loyal to parliament and the crown. Infuriated by these actions, king George II stormed Parliament and dissolved it. Following this, Parliament would be moved to Oxford, Walpole would be declared the temporary leader of the revolution, a civil war begun.

Civil War

Troops from Gibraltar and other British territories were swiftly withdrew to aid the royal war effort, allowing for a successful annexation of Gibraltar. The civil war also gave the opportunity for an Irish independence rebellion as they favoured neither side. Scotland would be firmly in the kings hands as the England centric Walpole had alienated the region.

The revolution had mostly gained control in the Oxfordshire region, but they’d quickly take control of Swindon and reading, allowing them to spread their influence throughout Wiltshire and rural Hampshire entirely. They’d quickly be able to siege the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth. The monarchy focused on cementing its control over regions it’s held, though this was unsuccessful in some areas. It would prioritise expanding its army in preparation for a London siege, with an embarrassing defeat to demoralise the revolution and use their force to crush its last remnants.

The revolution would siege Bath and Salisbury. The king wasn’t completely ignorant to stopping the spreading revolution in the south west, spreading a modest force to defend Bristol. Many feared that if Bristol was conquered it’d allow the revolution to swiftly take the entire south west. The siege of Bristol would take pl

Honestly, EU4 is one of my favourite games, and probably my favourite grand strategy game. (The only reason Vic2 doesn't take that spot is because it is a bit tedious for me). But seeing the upcoming mechanics for Vic3 makes me think Vic3 might overtake EU4 in my list of favourite games! It seems to be far more like a history simulator than a board game, and personally I love that.

And that got me thinking, would it make sense if the next generation of Europa Universalis had some similar mechanics to what we've seen so far for Victoria 3? Of course, we have no idea if Victoria 3's dynamic mechanics will make for fun and interesting gameplay, but presuming it will, would it make sense to take some of the mechanics and try to adapt them for EU5?

EU4 is a very different game from Vic2, and has a very different character. I don't think Paradox would or should try to change Europa Universalis into a renaissance Victoria game, but I do think some of the mechanics for Vic3 Paradox has revealed so far could be turned into fun mechanics that could fit EU4's character.

Politics
Of the mechanics we've seen so far, I think the diplomatic and political mechanics are the most interesting for EU5. EU4's political simulation is currently a set of button where you can farm mana and money from the estates, and I think a more dynamic simulation of estates using something like interest groups in combination with the law system would make for far more interesting gameplay, and it probably also would be a slightly more realistic simulation of renaissance politics.

Diplomacy
The diplomacy we've seen so far could also be adapted to fit EU5. I don't know much about renaissance diplomacy, but I did some reading and it appears modern diplomacy finds its roots in renaissance Italy. Italian city states would send diplomats to each other to establish relations, but also to spy on the events in foreign governments. Venice would regularly send envoys to provide regular updates on the state of relationships between other states and Venice. This way, Venice would have some time to prepare the navy if another country was likely to prepare war. Diplomatic plays could perhaps be translated into a "war is brewing" mechanic, with countries being able to accelerate tension escalation, or try to cool things down.

The 1500s was also the peak of marriage diplomacy. Perhaps countries in EU5 could be able to establish different levels of interest in countries by different levels of r

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

0. Preface

I am not a financial advisor - and this is not financial advice.

I was looking this up last night and it made me lose some sleep because everything started to click.

Seriously I think I got maybe four hours at most. I'm flipping out. I need you guys to be reasonable and put me down if I'm on a nothing burger path.

I'm throwing these thoughts to the wolves (you guys) to pick at it and get more discussion.

Reddit About To Kill My Hype

1. Futures Vs Options

Both Options and Futures are derivatives. Which you can essentially think of as a side bet of an underlying asset.

An options contract does not require the purchase or sale of the underlying asset. While futures contracts do require the purchase or sale of the underlying asset.

>An options contract gives an investor the right, but not the obligation, to buy (or sell) shares at a specific price at any time, as long as the contract is in effect.
>
>By contrast, a futures contract requires a buyer to purchase shares—and a seller to sell them—on a specific future date, unless the holder's position is closed before the expiration date. - Source

And you can get futures contracts for Equity Indexes. Or in other words you can get future contracts on "baskets" of stocks.

>Equity Index Futures are derivatives instruments that give investors exposure to price movements on an underlying Index. Market participants therefore can profit from the price movements of a basket of equities without trading the individual constituents. An index futures contract gives investors the ability to buy or sell an underlying listed financial instrument at a fixed price on a future date. - Source

2. "Meme" Stock Basket

It's without a doubt in my mind that a handful of "meme" stocks are following the same price movements, and they're all in this together. Notably: GME, AMC, KOSS, BBBY, EXPR.

GME of course being the outlier that has massive, massive short interest. Where the SI% is most likely hidden because of a swap of the short position through ITM CALLs.

He

Hello. I know many of them are situational, but I'm often torn between a few and I wonder if there's a definitive answer or not, given we have only 4 slots. What do you think about each? Below are my notes on the subject, feel free to ignore them.

I should note that I have almost no experience with the Dharma ones, Dhimmi and Tribes, I can only say something about base (and even then, I didn't use some of the unique ones) + cossacks, but I'd gladly read about the other estates too.

To me the absolute top is +1 monarch power of each category. There's no competition, really. Supremacy over the crown is fine as hell too, as getting agendas without having to call them are just additional missions and reward for basically free, I use them all the time.

Situationally, the +100 governing capacity is nice. I also like the monopolies, as I use them as some sort of a loan (I think it's like 8 years of income from given trade good up front?) to build up before I normally could and mercantilism is never a bad thing to have. I have mixed feelings about the -25% advisor cost, as I'm hardly in a situation where I'd trade off monarch power spent on additional stab cost to save some ducats, but I guess poor enough nations could use it. And loyal and influential estates are nothing bad either, so +10% loyalty and influence are nice too.

I think I should also mention Grant New World Charters and Establish New World missions before others too. I take them all the time when colonizing, I doubt the tariffs are that important, are they? Especially given how you start with low yearly settlers, so that's just better early game.

Now for the estate speficic:

Burghers, from imo best to worst:

Indebted to the burghers - just great. I'm not afraid of loans and these are simply cheaper. I'm not sure how much worth -1 mercantilism is and -5% trade efficiency though, but the game is about snowballing in my experience, so money up front is always nice.

Private trade fleets - I like it and often use. It just saves some money and gives more, why not then? But I do get rid of it at a later date and if I really intent to fight using the navy.

Exclusive trade rights - I have mixed feelings. +3 mercantilism, why not. -15% dev cost for trade centers, just great. But +20% minimum autonomy in trade centers, dayum. This slows the governing reform progress and makes the provinces I'm supposed to dev no longer so lucrative, but I never went indepth with the analysis if it's worth it or not. A

I am Indonesian who lives in global south, gay, and ex-muslim. I am quadruple minority therefore any sjw who wants to scream racism to me, you just cant because check your privilege.

I dont mind having mages of color like istredd, philippa, even the vigo duo (fringilla and artorius) since their origins in the show hadn't been explored and therefore one could assume those mages were plucked by figures like tissaia from regions where people of color in the witcher world reside mostly (zerrikania / Ofir) or hailed from empire which are open and welcoming to all races and skin color like.. Nilfgaard.

I dont mind having indian descent playing yennefer. Even though in the show it is explained that she is from vengeberg, northern mages are well-known for using glamor magic to look at their best and therefore one could assume among brotherhood guests/members, yennefer saw zangvebari / ofieri woman and she decided that her image was among of her ideal beauties for her transformation refference.

Even having black witcher, like coën, is not problematic for me. Coën's origin is Kovir and Poviss which its queen named Zuleyka (which we can presume having zangvebarian blood in her) and people from Poviss are known for their mercantilism, albeit risk-aversive, and that information can be used to justify why Coën is black even though he is from one of the northern kingdom.

What is not right is making Nenneke black. The actor that portrays her in the show is amazing. She is phenomenal and I stan for her. But, having a dark skinned woman of color to lead one of the most prominent abbeys in service of melitele, the oldest surviving NORDLING cult is questionable. Northerners, who live in the regions where the climate is not as sunny as other regions in witcher world, will mostly have their skins light and therefore, for any person of color who then capable of reaching high-rank position like arch-abbess Nenneke, has to exhibit extraordinary feat more than your usual Nordlings.. because that's how human society works in general; tribalism, racism, not trusting people with different features including skin color, yada yada.

I would question the same if in the future of the show they try to cast a white person for character with important position in the society of ofir (e.g. radeyah / malliq nibras) or in the society of zerrikania (e.g. queen merrineaveleth).

And that's also my beef with how netflix tries to show any kind of racial society in witcher world just like your m

TL;DR: Anglers is an economy-shifting civic that empowers trade and specialist economies. It supports a high-CG early game specialist rushing, but has a weakness in early game alloys and energy that’s mitigated with Catalytic Converter as your second civic. Pear Divers are fundamentally not about competing with artisans, but rather replacing technicians in a trade-based energy economy.

This is an organizing of thoughts and impressions of the new Stellaris 3.2 Aquatics DLC and patch. It is focused on how to use the new Anglers Civic and Aquatic species trait. Many early analysis of the Angler Civic have dismissed it, but I believe a lot of analysis is mis-aimed.

(God when did my hobby become analyzing my hobby as much as playing it?)

This guide is long- very long. Sections are broken to posts as organized below, with replies to myself. Sort by oldest or CTRL-F the :number:

Agenda

:1: Angler Mechanic Review

:2: Aquatic is a Trade Build (and Angler exploits that)

:3: Pearl Diver Pop Efficiency: Replacing Workers, not Artisans

:4: Pearl Divers Aren’t Merchants Either

:5: Aquatic Planet Shortage (And How Catalytic Converters Completes the Core Economy)

:6: The Angler Inner 3 World Setup

:7: Angler-Catalytic Pop Efficiency

:8: Anglers as a Specialist Rush Build

:9: Angler Grand Strategies

:10: MegaCorp Pros/Cons

:11: Hydrocentric Ascension

:12: Ascension Paths

:13: Aquatic Origins

:14: Established Origins

/

:1: Angler Mechanic Review

Currently its mechanical changes are this:

Angler Civic

· Main species gains the aquatic trait (NOT OPTIONAL)

· No Agriculture District limit on Ocean Worlds (capped by planet size, not district roll)

· Replaces Farmer jobs with Angler jobs on wet climates (includes continental/tropical)

· Agriculture Districts create Pearl Diver jobs on wet climates (is a specialist-tier job)

· −50 Agriculture District Minerals Cost on wet climates (150 instead of 300)

*This civic can not be added or removed after game start.

Core So What: Cheaper and more plentiful farm districts on your guaranteed core worlds. Food and CG will not be meaningfully limited by district RNG or space deposit RNG. However, currently inflexible- can not be reformed out of (or into). Adds the Aquatic trait, which imposes significant impacts.

Aquatic Trait (Required for main species)

· Ocean Habitability +20% (10% productivity/growth on guaranteed colonies)

· Housing usage on Ocean Worlds -10% (better growth capacity

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

Hi everyone, i was hoping to try somthing new for my next game i created an empire and lost embarrassingly so now id like some payback, What are some epic empire builds you have been using in the 3.1 update?

Below is a fascinating (but long) transcript I typed from an interview between attorney Daniel Sheehan, who represents Lue Elizondo, and host Regina Meredith, describing the powerful entity above the government pulling the strings and keeping everything a secret. If you're into geeking out on this stuff like me, it's worth the read.

Regina [Host]: Why are we saying we don’t know anything about this when people certainly at certain levels of the military industrial complex do have an idea of what this is? Because they’ve been looking into it, they’ve housed pieces of it, if not full craft, for decades.

Sheehan: Well, now, we have to exercise some care here. Because [of the] use of the term ‘we’, what we know or what they did, that one of the things that we discovered is that inside the Defense Department there is still this fluid situation where they haven’t really determined what to do about all this anymore.

Regina: Okay, and I can see the sensitivity there.

Sheehan: They had a very clear idea about it. We’re going to keep it totally secret. We’re going to lie about it. We’re going to destroy anybody who tries to report it. The first thing we do if any kind of a major official inside the military wants to make a report of a UFO--

Regina: Discredit them, take them down.

Sheehan: We’ll discredit, send them to get a psychiatric study, all this stuff. So there have been some, it’s not clear whether they had succeeded in coming up with any kind of a new protocol for what to do about this once 2007, once this study was being undertaken. It’s perfectly clear that there were elements inside the National Security State infrastructure that were blocking Lue’s study. So the bottom line is there are clearly elements inside the defense industry and inside the National Security State bureaucracy that are highly reactionary, are extremely possessive of the information that they’ve got, are still dedicated to trying to develop this into some sort of a weapon system to give us massive superiority so we can establish full spectrum dominance over the whole planet. And are hoping that eventually someday they will be able to get a line of funding going to the Defense Department to protect our whole planet against an extraterrestrial civilization. There’s an element inside the defense industry and the National Security State that are into that. *Now, above that group, above that group is some other group that gets this information.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

PART 2: THE LONG AND TUMULTUOUS SHARED HISTORY OF ROMANCE AND GERMANIC NATIONS

This is Part 2-D-η, the direct continuation of 2-D-ζ, which you can find here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AttackOnRetards/comments/rjxxzr/continuation_of_my_previous_posts_about_the/

2-D: THE OTHER ROMANCE AND GERMANIC NATIONS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

2-D-η: ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL NETHERLANDS

Roman Era

ROMAN SETTLEMENTS IN THE NETHERLANDS

https://preview.redd.it/b7rang3gvh981.png?width=782&format=png&auto=webp&s=e8f401547411e798278ee6b786835f0d78aeaf6d

During the Gallic Wars, the Belgic area south of the Oude Rijn and west of the Rhine was conquered by Roman forces under Julius Caesar in a series of campaigns from 57 BC to 53 BC. The tribes located in the area of the Netherlands at this time did not leave behind written records, so all the information known about them during this pre-Roman period is based on what the Romans and Greeks wrote about them. One of the most important is Caesar's own Commentarii de Bello Gallico. Two main tribes he described as living in what is now the Netherlands were the Menapii, and the Eburones, both in the south, which is where Caesar was active. He established the principle that the Rhine defined a natural boundary between Gaul and Germania Magna. But the Rhine was not a strong border, and he made it clear that there was a part of Belgic Gaul where many of the local tribes (including the Eburones) were "Germani cisrhenani", or in other cases, of mixed origin.

Starting about 15 BC, the part of the Rhine in the Netherlands came to be defended by the Lower Limes Germanicus. After a series of military actions, the Rhine became fixed around 12 AD as Rome's northern frontier on the European mainland. A number of towns and developments would

It really does, I swear!

"If it was up to the NIH to cure polio through a centrally directed program instead of an independent investigator driven discovery, you'd have the best iron lung in the world, but not a polio vaccine." – Dr. Samuel Broder, National Cancer Institute, 1997

Omicron is spreading rapidly across the globe, and SARS-CoV-2 has now mutated in a way that this new variant appears to escape previous immunities. Antibody dependent enhancement, a phenomenon predicted by numerous eminent virologists and well‑known to vaccine researchers, is now looking like a real probability; as is the likelihood that current 'leaky' vaccines increase the prevalence and fitness of new SARS‑CoV‑2 variants. Like all prior mRNA vaccine attempts – influenza, Zika, rabies, the common cold(s), CMV, RSV, SARS-CoV-1, etc – the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine experiment has similarly ended in failure.

What went wrong? Groupthink describes a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision‑making outcome. The term was coined in 1952 by William H. Whyte Jr, derived from Orwell's Nineteen Eighty‑Four, but the phenomenon was perhaps best described by psychologist Irving Janis in his 1971 paper explaining the concept.

The problem is that when powerful psychological pressures arise and members of a group work closely together to deal with a crisis which puts its members under intense stress (such as the COVID‑19 pandemic) the advantages of having decisions made by groups are lost.

The main principle of groupthink is this: "The more amiability and espirit de corps there is among members of a policy‑making ingroup, the greater the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in irrational and dehumanizing actions directed against outgroups."

"Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one." – George Orwell

Symptoms of groupthink:

In his studies, Janis identified eight "symptoms" of groupthink:

1. ⁠Invulnerability. Most or all vaccinated persons share an illusion of invulnerability that provides some reassurance about the obvious dangers of COVID‑19. This has led vaccine adherents to become over‑optimistic about mRNA vaccines and willing to take extraordinary risks, like injecting these novel substances into whole populations including children, despite their unknown long‑term effects. Like the ingroup around Admiral H. E

So I'm something of a creative soul. I love to write, make up stories and characters, roleplay and have fun with it. Every once in a while the following happens: I get a great amount of inspiration, I write up multiple things and then find myself stuck with which one to go for. That's happened again, and I've decided to ask for opinions and help picking ONE concept. I've asked once on a different sub, and while I did get feedback, it wasn't giving me a definitive "go with this one because X reason" type of answer. I have a couple of ideas lined up, and will share them now. I just need someone to tip the scales and tell me which sounds coolest and would be most fun. I like them all, so my personal preference is a non-factor. Here are the concepts:

The Highborn

"I suppose I could lower myself to do this." - Shanwen Highkaender

Backstory: Born on the divine and idyllic Summerset Isles to a wealthy family of mages and sorcerers, Shanwen was destined for great heights and even higher places. Her upbringing was a scholarly one, surrounded by magic and the best instructors for it. Education being compulsory, Shanwen also attended schools which taught her martial skills as well as the Aldmeri version of history. Her education and the society she belonged to made her proud to be an Altmer, but what made her even prouder was the immense success she enjoyed throughout education thanks to her own effort. At a certain age, she knew what she wanted to become. She would become the head of all mages in the Aldmeri Dominion, and be the most respected among all. To do that, she would have to rise through the ranks in the Crystal Tower, but first she would have to become a student there. By this point in her life, she could best be described as sophisticated, proud, highly competitive and over-achieving. Even in her Crystal Towers studies, she excelled and impressed, however this time she was not the only one to demonstrate brilliance. A fellow student was just as good as she was, but while he observed Shanwen as a friendly competitor, she observed him as a rival, a nemesis even at times. Throughout the years they would always be pushing each other, always attempting to one up one another, and unbeknownst to both they were better for it. When the time came for the Thalmor to establish an Embassy in Skyrim and send their representatives and a student "to prove how a single Altmer is superior to everyone in magic" by sending them to the College of Winterhold, bo

Because she wanted to see the task manager.

I know a tiny little bit about the history of business in ancient China, ancient India, etc. I don't know enough to call myself a historian of economics.

So here is my problem. I want to be able to talk about economics from the ancient world up to the present day. (Although at the moment I am particularly interested in the naval Arsenal of Venice, founded 1104.) I see a lot of claims that are widely accepted that seem unreasonable to me, such as "Adam Smith invented capitalism when he published The Wealth of Nations in 1776." I see a lot of unscholarly claims like "capitalism was invented in the 16th century and immediately capitalists intensified slavery."

Many people seem to agree that mercantilism dominated in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century. I can't find any widely recognized term for what merchants did prior to the 16th century.

When I try to say things like "12th-century Venice had capitalism" people usually remind me that "capitalism" means "relatively modern capitalism that avoids mercantilism." Apparently the definition of "capitalism" is tied up with colonialism. To summarize:

>The practice of colonialism dates to around 1550 BCE when Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, and Phoenicia began extending their control into adjacent and non-contiguous territories. Using their superior military power, these ancient civilizations established colonies that made use of the skills and resources of the people they conquered to further expand their empires.

https://www.thoughtco.com/colonialism-definition-and-examples-5112779

>World history is full of examples of one society gradually expanding by incorporating adjacent territory and settling its people on newly conquered territory. ...Colonialism, then, is not restricted to a specific time or place. Nevertheless, in the sixteenth century, colonialism changed decisively because of technological developments in navigation that began to connect more remote parts of the world. Fast sailing ships made it possible to reach distant ports and to sustain close ties between the center and colonies. Thus, the modern European colonial project emerged when it became possible to move large numbers of people across the ocean and to maintain political sovereignty in spite of geographical dispersion. This entry uses the term colonialism to describe the process of European settlement and political control over the rest of the w

first previous

The air smelt spoiled, like the unfinished remains of prey left to rot in warm daylight. Of course back on the mountain unfinished meals were simply flung from the edge for the feathered ones to feast upon, however here that air was heavy with the sickly stench of a neglected carccase. Most of the smells here differed from those on the mountain, but the stench of death was universal.

A sickly moan cried " who's footling about over there? Make yourselves known." The voice carried on the back of an elderly rasp, clearly worn with age. A whipping crack of thunder roused me from my curiosity, as the smell of death and rain wafted through my nostrils.

I clamored towards the haggard voice, curious about it's speaker. (What is that horrid stench?) I asked, and a hooved one gallantly responded to my query. "Why those fetid rat traps young one, they come for the grain." The tall hooved figure chuffed. He was clearly elderly, as his hide told the tale of many battles. It reminded me of my father's many scars, and the awful stories that followed those scars.

Some were small, and looked to be made from swift claws, others seemed to be remnants of defeats long forgotten. His ears looked like it was half digested, like it had been coughed up by some creature displeased by the taste. His legs were burned badly, the cost of bravery I thought.

I stood in awe, captivated by this brave warrior. He must've been a veteran of a thousand battles, and possibly a hero among his kind. Though not as large as my father, I could feel him oozing pride, and valor. (Are you a great warrior, like my father?) I queried.

It's breath had steadied, and with a snort he spoke with arrogant experienced words, "I know not of your father, but I am a Knight's steed befitting of legend. Many have fallen, trampled by my greatness. I carried heros upon my back, knights whose stories are spoken to young foles across the land!" As he paused I heard the cackling laughter of a shady lurker, one who showed displeasure at the Giants heroics.

"Your rider was a drunk who traded you to clear a bar tab. I bet sir Eric is face down drowning in runoff from the local bathhouse." The figure skittered down from the rotten rafters, sending mould and dust caressing through the air. With a swift leap the strange heckler landed onto th

From the numbers show, it is clear that a choice has been made. You have selected the Federal American Union.

Before we begin with the series proper, it's worth giving more context to the current position in which the Union is in and by proxy much of North America in this age.

Full Map of North America in 2626:

Map of North America in 2626 (Some lands are colored a single color due to size limits.)

It has only been twenty years since the fall of Virgil's Cohort of Horse and Biker lords that terrorized much of the Great Lakes region in an attempted invasion and conquest prompting a united coalition of Mechanists, Ursuline Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals and Americanists to fight off the horde at the Battle of Marion in 2606, also nick named as the Miracle of the Marion ending in Virgil the Terror's death and the complete collapse of his cohort into bickering factions, prompting short work in sending them back into the Great Plains. The states that made up the former lands of Colorado wouldn't waste a second following the defeat of the cohort in what'd be known as Virgil's War (2600 - 2606) and began to increase colonization efforts sponsored by their gilded run governments, paying for settlers, infrastructure and troops further entrenching the power of the gilds over these states.

Upon the West Coast, the Californian Empire continues it's rivalry with the rising power of the Kingdom of Victoria over the creation of trade ports along the Cascadian Coast, deeming the threat of the tribes allying with the Victorians as a threat to it's own interest in the region with the rising nations forming in the tribal lands. However the Empire's focus also lays east, always on the look out for Mormon refugees through it's vassal states whilst former Theocratic kingdom of Desert shatters into warring states as the Mormon Faith continues its schism between the Old Guard and New Guard. Not to mention attempting to contain the influence of the Empire of the Rio Grande, California's now only Eastern Rival.

In the Gulf of Mexico, it has become a hotbed of rivalries for both regional powers and empires. The Merchant Republic of New Orleans much like those of Detroit or Chicagoland attempts to spread it's wings in establishing a strong merchant empire upon the gulf, buying out ports in exchanged for lower tariffs for goo

American University in Cairo Press, Afterglow of Empire

Synopsis

>During the half-millennium from the eleventh through the sixth century bc, the power and the glory of the imperial pharaohs of the New Kingdom crumbled in the face of internal crises and external pressures, ultimately reversed by invaders from Nubia and consolidated by natives of the Nile Delta following a series of Assyrian invasions.
>
>Much of this era remains obscure, with little consensus among Egyptologists. Against this background, Aidan Dodson reconsiders the evidence and proposes a number of new solutions to the problems of the period. He also considers the era’s art, architecture, and archaeology, including the royal tombs of Tanis, one of which yielded the intact burials of no fewer than five pharaohs. Afterglow of Empire is extensively illustrated with images of this material, much of which is little known to non-specialists.

Excerpts

>During the second half of the second millennium bc, Egypt had transformed from an entity primarily focused on the Nile valley to an imperial power. At her empire’s height she exercised direct or indirect control over a vast swath of territory that stretched from northern Syria into the heart of Upper Nubia. This expansion seems to have been a direct reaction to the humiliation of the Second Intermediate Period, during which much of Egypt had been under the sway of the Palestinian Hyksos rulers, while Nubia, long a tributary of Egypt, had become an independent and hostile state. The wars of liberation conducted by the last rulers of the Theban Seventeenth Dynasty had at length driven out the Hyksos, with the mopping-up operations of the first Eighteenth Dynasty kings transformed by Thutmose I and III into a ‘forward policy’ that pushed up to, and beyond, the Euphrates. An empire was thus created in Syria-Palestine that would endure, apparently with little challenge, for over a century. At the same time, Nubia was once again brought under Egyptian control, with a formal viceregal regime established at least as far south as the Fifth Cataract, which replaced the looser approach that seems to have been applied during previous periods of Egyptian control in the south.
>
>
>
>In parallel with these issues of foreign relations, the core of the Egyptian state had been undermined by the conflicts within the ruling elite that had arisen within a decade of the

They’re on standbi

I am not a PNC customer, but I know many who are, and previously I learned what seems that PNC offers stock brokerage investments through Charles Schwab, or something like that. I have no idea, cuz I don't use PNC, but I wanted to search and try to learn some things.

Digging through these 20,000+ PDF documents from BrokerCheck by FINRA looking for PNC, I found matches in 25 of the brokerage firms:

• BAINBRIDGE SECURITIES INC. 68 instances
• BB&T SECURITIES, LLC 3 instances
• BLACKROCK DISTRIBUTORS, INC 71 instances
• BLACKROCK EXECUTION SERVICES 1 instance
• BLACKROCK FUND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY 12 instances
• CARILLON INVESTMENTS, INC. 3 instances
• CITI DISTRIBUTION SERVICES, INC. 1 instance
• >!DONAHUE SECURITIES, INC.!< 4 instances / irrelevant / false positive
• FORESIDE PLAZA DISTRIBUTORS, LLC 2 instances
• HARRIS WILLIAMS 64 instances
• MERCANTILE BROKERAGE SERVICES, INC. 67 instances
• NATCITY INVESTMENTS, INC. 64 instances
• PACIFIC SELECT DISTRIBUTORS, LLC 1 instance
• PERSIMMON SECURITIES, INC. 51 instances
• PNC BROKERAGE CORP 102 instances
• PNC CAPITAL MARKETS LLC 145 instances
• PNC FIG ADVISORY, INC. 94 instances
• PNC INVESTMENTS 207 instances
• PROFESSIONAL FUND DISTRIBUTORS CORP. 47 instances
• [SIXPOINT PARTNERS LLC](https:/

First - Next

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"Here is your ID Mr. von Graf, you are now registered as a citizen of the Stellar Assembly and resident of Hyrdanya." The clerk, a fleshy rounding looking Torvost who's appearance assaulted Rudolf's eyes like any of the more obese denizens of home, gave him a card detailing his basic information, like IDs on Earth. He wasn't used to being referred to without his rank, years in service made it normal to be called Sergeant, but he likely wasn't active duty anymore, despite still having his tags and unit ID.

"Good, thank you. Where is this Geldun woman that I am supposed to meet?" His first order of business upon landing was to get an ID, which he now had. Captain Stach had apparently called ahead of time and had everything arranged so he could walk in and fill out a form and do some measurements. Skipping lines in bureaucracy was always a very good gift to be given.

"Down the hall behind me and third door on the right."

Now he had the rest of the things to do. He had no place to stay, he had no job, he had no clothes, he owned nothing more than his combat gear. He got his rifle, sidearm, knife, and ammunition back after being a little forceful with words. Sometimes people needed to be reminded not to take a foreign military's property, such things are bad for one's health. He knew it was Stach who ultimately ordered them to give him his things back though, despite some administrator's complaining about owning such powerful weapons being illegal.

"Are you Bilzah? There is work to do." He stated dryly after walking into the tall woman's office.

She jumped slightly before quickly shuffling some thing around on her desk then pretending it didn't happen. "Uh yes, I am. I take it you are this Human? Rudolf?"

"That would be correct," he sat himself down in the chair in front of her desk, setting his helmet down in front of him.

"Oh, you poor thing. I wish we stop pirates easier, I'm glad you were freed though."

"I do not need your sympathy. I freed myself and my fellow captives and I killed the entire crew for their deeds. I did my duty as a Weltraummarine of my nation. Now, I believe living quarters is the most pressing matter. Shall we get that sorted?"

Bilzah turned her monitor towards him where they could both see it, "that is already arranged. Normally, someone would acquire a home on t

Pilot on me!!

The Showa Shinseikai on board trucks preparing to go forth on a publicity campaign for Kodo, "the Imperial Way". Similar right-wing sound trucks are still a common sight in Japan today.

Showa Shinseikai Kodo Campaign

Omoto-kyo at the time was called "Kodo Omoto", the "Imperial Way Omoto". Morihei Ueshiba was teaching at his Kobukan "Imperial Martial Arts Hall" run by the Kobukai, the "Imperial Martial Arts Association". Certificates issued by Morihei Ueshiba were stamped with a seal that included the Imperial kanji, displaying his allegiance to the Imperial Way.

The Showa Shinseikai was a right wing para-military group established by Onisaburo Deguchi with the assistance of Morihei Ueshiba in 1934.

Morihei Ueshiba would take charge of training many of its para-military troops.

The Vice-Director was the well known ultra-nationalist and Black Dragon Society founder Uchida Ryohei.

At the founding ceremony Onisaburo Deguchi was seated next to Toyama Mitsuru, the famous ultra-nationalist, pan-Asianist and founding member of the Gen'yosha secret society established to agitate for Japanese military expansion and conquest.

Onisaburo Deguchi stated the guiding principle of the Showa Shinseikai:

"The organization shall sustain and support the great way of the divine holy nation, Japan, which is based on the Kodo (" Imperial Way"). We will sustain the heavenly work of the divine descendants of the throne of heaven, which is coeval with eternity. We will obey the spirit of the foundation of the nation. We wait expectantly for the fulfillment of the divine destiny of the imperial country and the destiny of the people of the nation."

In 1935 Onisaburo Deguchi also wrote about the purpose of this group (readers of Morihei Ueshiba's "Takemusu Aiki", written in 1960, may see that Morihei Ueshiba repeats these statements about the spirit subordinated to the flesh identically, although it is usually taken out of context as a spiritual lesson):

“The Showa Shinseikai means the changing of the order from ‘the spirit subordinated to the flesh’ to ‘the flesh subordinated to the spirit,’ thereby starting everything afresh putting it on a glorious path that accords with the principles of Heaven… The family spirit of true love will expand to the level of the state so that a brilliant Japan based on the spirit of one large family will be born, and this will further spread to cover the whole of humanity and the whole of earthly creation.”

On November 13, 1997, a new casino opened its doors just south of North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains. Despite the dismal weather, a long line had formed at the entrance. and as people continued to arrive by the hundreds, the casino boss began advising folks to stay at home. The widespread interest was hardly surprising. After all, it wasn't just some shifty mafia-run gambling den opening its doors that day. Harrah's Cherokee was and still is a massive luxury casino owned and operated by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. and its opening marked the end of a ten-year-long political tug of war.

One tribal leader had even predicted that "gambling would be the Cherokee's damns. tion,"i and North Carolina's governor had tried to block the project at every turn. Soon after the opening, it became apparent that the casino's 35,000-square-foot gaming floor, three hotel towers with over 1,000 rooms and 100 suites, countless stores, restaurants, swimming pool, and fitness center would bring the tribe not damnation, but relief. Nor did it pave the way for organised crime. Far from it: The profits - amounting to $150 million in 2004 and growing to nearly $400 million in 2010L- enabled the tribe to build a new school, hospital, and fire station. However, the lions share of the takings went directly into the pock-ets of theS,000 men, women. and children of the Eastern Band Cherokee tribe.

From $500 a year at the outset, their earnings from the casino quickly mounted to $6,000 in 2001, constituting a quarter to a third of the average family income.'

As coincidence would have it, a Duke University professor by the name of Jane Costello had been researching the mental health of youngsters south of the Great Smoky Mountains since 1993. Every year. the 1.420 kids enrolled in her study took a psychianic test. The cumulative results had already shown that those growing up in poverty were much more prone to behavioral problems than other children. This wasn't exactly news, though. Correlations between poverty and mental illness had been drawn before by another academic.

Edward Jarvis, in his famous paper 'Report on Insanity,'

But the question still remained: Which was the cause, and which the effect?

At the time Costello was doing her research, it was becoming increasingly popular to attribute mental problems to individual genetic factors. If nature was the root cause, then handing over a sack of money every year would be treating the symptoms, but ignoring th

BamBOO!

Nothing, he was gladiator.

To administer their growing mercantile interests, the Portuguese established Estado da India (State of India) at Goa in 1505, almost a century before the advent of the English. The inquisition records and case summaries from Goa Tribunal produce echoes of the silenced voices for scholars interested in African and Asian slaves of the State. The Repertory opens a door to the state of slaves exposed to galley labour by the Goa Tribunal, which became an institutionalised producer of forced labourers.

There were various cases against the defendants, in 1589, Antonio de Matos was sentenced to the galleys forever on charges of sodomy. In 1607, another offender Sancoalle, a baptized son of pagan parents was sent to the galleys for six years for both paganism and sodomy. Slaves were also captured during pirate raids, not just Africans but also Indians. Della Valle noted amongst the captives, “ some very beautiful and lovely young girls and women from all lands in India.” Many such girls were forced into prostitution, and if any man fathered a son, the child would be legitimised and the slave freed. Others were given odd jobs such as carriers, loaders, menial tasks like conserving foods and other domestic chores.

Besides the documents, Kappiri shrines also serve as living memories of Portuguese rule over Indian coastlines. Tales of the arrival, survival and murder of Kappiri (pagan Africans) form the local lore of coastal Kerala. Locals say that most Africans were brought as slaves to do manual labour and with the Dutch takeover of Cochin, the retreating Portuguese buried their treasure and murdered the slaves with the belief that their spirits would guard it. The local myth still persists that the Kappiri watches over the hidden treasure and the spirit offers riches to the one who remembers him and recognises his burdened past. Owing to the grotesque manner of their murder, the spirits of African slaves still lurk on the coast of Kochi. People look up to them for guidance, healing and protection. All these documents and shrines monumentalise the history of those enslaved by the Portuguese in India.

Just got this title by author Greg Brookshire from the Leicester Public Library: “Leicester Buncombe County, North Carolina The History of a Mountain Place, Pronounced “Les~ter” But No Matter How You Say It, I Call It “Home”

The gist: As of 1829 the town was known as Turkey Creek, subsequently named after Leicester Chapman in 1859 whose father (Robert) was captain under the Earl of Leicester who would later act as godfather for young Chapman. Leicester Chapman came (via London, Trinidad, and eventually Baltimore) to Western NC to raise his children upon meeting then US Senator Clingman. Chapman purchased a large track of land and established a mercantile business, naming it Leicester in honor of his godfather.

Brookshire: “Native countrymen who didn’t much care for the highfalutin name dubbed the place ‘Lick skillet’ then begrudgingly settled for for ‘Lee-ces-ter’. The township is pronounced ‘Les-ster’.”

For me, this explains the prevalent use use of “Lick Skillet” and explains why the older population here often say “Lee-ses-ter”.

I hope that helps everyone as much as it helped me. Shout out to the beautifully serene and well stocked Leicester Public Library!

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

During the release of this game, I wanted to try my hand on treating my first playthrough like an evolving narrative through the ages and produce a sort of in-universe narration recapping the events of my playthrough--kinda what the people over in the Stellaris Community do for their interesting playthroughs. I started this back in September, but only now got to come back and finish writing this long recap up. If you do not know what an After Action Report, AAR, is... it's basically a narrative review of a playthrough. So... here it is:

The earliest traces of the Tribe, whom archaeologists can only theorize was led by the mythical woman whose name is lost to history, tell a story of foraging for food and wondering across three regions where the city of Hattusa stand today within the southern pole of the […] continent. While archaeologists have come to the consensus that the Tribe was no larger than a measly twenty-five men and women, few have come up with any evidence to explain the tribe’s rapid growth within the arctic region. What data we do have, mostly of cave markings, suggest that the tribe lived off locale game located within neighboring regions while their two earliest settlements were within well defended mountain valley chokepoints in areas that have provided the earliest known mass graves containing prehistoric diseased carcasses.

There are few surviving transcripts, most ineligible, of how the Hittites came to be, but the consensus thus far is that their first city was named Hattusa, founded in the same mountain valley of the Southern […] Neolithic Tribal settlement. There are no records of who first led the Hittites within the ancient era, but the few historical etchings on pottery discovered beneath the provincial garrison of Vindemiatrix do depict that settlement, along with Hattusa, being one of the earliest extensions of the Hittite nation. Historical pottery records proceed to depict the Hittites celebrating their advances in industrial workmanship by using their newfound tools to force a family of horses into submission, while what is theorized as scouting parties continued their search north and west—discovering deposits of what is now known as lead and sage. Men of the court are depicted arguing with the matriarchal leader of the Hittite nation over the development of the lead deposits, which seem to have taken a back seat to horse training.

5116 HE, being an approximation, became what is known as the earliest recorded d

The man was semi-led, semi-dragged along the corridor, his feet stumbling over themselves. Strong arms kept him upright as rough hands carried him to his inevitable death. He went along. He knew what was coming. This wasn't his first time.

His face is covered in a bag; black material, clinical smelling; no light reaches his eyes, but he can hear his grunts and the noise of the footsteps; he is in a long, long corridor, cold and damp, filled with puddles, aiming downwards.

Some underground hideaway of the Resistance no doubt he muses.

Suddenly the harsh hands grab his arms and he is brought to a stop. He catches his breath for a moment, can hear the release of a large pressurised door, hear it grind against the floor, metal upon metal. No doubt sealed to prevent signals getting in or out. He had long heard the Resistance were using places like this to hide from the Empire.

No sooner does the sound end, he is pushed forward and dragged into somewhere else. Behind him he hears the noise of the doorway as it closes and then all becomes chaos for a few moments as he is led both left and right.

Finally, inevitably, he feels himself forced down into a chair. Harshly. The bag is snatched off his head and he closes his eyes as bright, blinding lights pour into him. He raises his hands to protect his eyes and finds them snatched away. Attached via handcuffs to the arms of the chair. He squints but all he can make out is a bright bright light. Figures finish tying him down and move away.

A moment.

“You are Dr Paul Rogers, CEO of Veriton Incorporated, yes?”

The voice is crisp, female, neutral. No hint of an accent. For his part the man, eyes still closed, nods.

The voice begins again, “Dr. Rogers, you have been charged with treason against the human race; collaboration with the alien species who occupies our world; profiteering upon the suffering of humanity; and the exploitation of your fellow humans while working for the Empire of Gran.”

The man, eyes still closed, nods and says, “I plead not guilty...”

The voice cuts him off, “The trial has already taken place Dr Rogers; a jury of members of the Human Resistance Army met beforehand, looked at the evidence about you and freely and of their own good will, found you guilty on all charges. You have already been sentenced to death you damn traitor.”

The man nods and says, “Do I get to make a last statement?”

“Not really. We are just going to kill you, collaborator.”

“What about information?”

Do your worst!