#ec terminal

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[tathracyn]

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet makes you hang glide into an apocalyptic murder-crater that's filled to the brim with violent, people-killing abominations, but taking your final exams is entirely optional. Truly the ideal school experience

[railsistem]

Rizzani De Eccher Consortium to Construct Venice Airport Rail Connection

Rizzani De Eccher Consortium to Construct Venice Airport Rail Connection

A consortium led by Rizzani De Eccher has been chosen to construct a rail connection between the Mestre-Trieste line and Venice Marco Polo airport in Italy. The goal is to complete this before the start of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. In 2021, Venice Airport served around 3.5 million passengers © Venezia Airport Valued at over 428 million EUR (443.43m USD), the contract was awarded by…

[ikamigami]

I really think that EC got angry that someone send that stupid doc that mentions us..

Cause they said that they didn't want to get involved way before..

And yet a certain group of people just really can't listen can they?

I'm trying to be positive.. though victims have every right to not trust VAs at all.. they are the victims after all.. they can feel uncomfortable with anyone because this is really understandable considering what happened to them..

But I think that VAs didn't do that on purpose.. it's all that certain group's fault.. or that's what I think.. cause they had to send that bullshitic doc.. sigh

Either they're dumb or someone is trying to manipulate things.. I won't be speculating who cause I don't want to accuse someone who is actually innocent.. someone being rude doesn't immediately mean that they're doing something bad.. sometimes people make mistakes..

But I don't trust some of the folks in that group called big blogs.. for personal reasons and from what I've read..

I'm cutting VAs some slack cause they're really stressed out from doing their job (or jobs) and also because of that still recent drama with laes' termination.. many things happened..

Another thing is that I don't really care what people ship cause like I said many times people liking problematic things in fiction doesn't mean that they're bad in real life.. or that they support bad things.. it's really that simple..

Though I'd love if there was more discourse about familial bond and friendship in sams fandom.. because sadly too many people focus on.. I won't even end the sentence.. if you enjoy it feel free to do it.. but don't be a jerk simply because someone doesn't like the thing you like..

It goes both ways.. people are allowed to talk about things they don't like or about things that upset them or simply disgust them.. and many people just despise incest and that's fine..

I'm laughing at folks who try to do mental gymnastics when they argue that solarnexus (previous solarmoon) isn't incest lol y'all ridiculous but it's your circus so whatever.. incest in fiction isn't illegal as long as it doesn't involve minors obviously...

But people are allowed to be disgusted by that and that's it.. end of a story..

At the end I say that I think that gore anons are someone(s) from this fandom.. ofc they're not good fans cause fans shouldn't act like that.. but I think that trying to deny that they're among us (sus lol sorry) is just naive to say the least..

[batemanofficial]

word vomit as i try to parse a work frustration. stand by

so since ive been back to work i'm having a bit of an issue with one of the sous chefs - basically he's new to expoing and gets really nervous when we're in the weeds, and instead of focusing on calling the tickets correctly (ahem.) he tries to "help" me with my dishes, often without explaining to me what he's doing or how this will affect my all-day totals. and as you can imagine this makes me a little insane! i appreciate that he's trying to help keep ticket times down, but on the other hand: oh my god i need him to fuck off entirely and do his mf job and let me do mine. correctly, perferably, but im open to a solid c+ in accuracy if that's all he's feeling up to at this point.

so given that, we had a particularly busy service a couple of weeks ago and he was being particularly invasive vis-à-vis starting and finishing dishes without telling me, and at one point i was standing directly behind him holding a frying pan full of smoking clarified butter while he was standing directly in front of my hot pan tray. so i told him "hey man, you need to move." those were my exact words. verbatim. but apparently he did not see the giant pan full of boiling fluid in my hands and thought i was just telling him to fuck off? i guess? because he got his feelings hurt and told our executive chef about it, who has proceeded to dance around the issue to me and only vaguely indicate that the sous is trying to help and that we should just all get along. which if you know me at all you know that succeeded in doing little else besides pissing me off. so today another, higher ranking sous pulled me aside and told me that the ec is going to tell me that my ticket times have been too high, and that she knows it's because of the weird dynamic between me and The Meddler and basically that im not in trouble as far as she's concerned, but that the ec is going to be all mealymouthed about it and tell me to let The Meddler do his meddling. and i appreciate the warning from her 1000% but im debating whether or not to kind of give the ec a piece of my mind about all this, because its making me feel insane. like apparently the meddler is saying in his weekly diagnostic emails that my ticket times are too high, but he won't say that to my face, which makes me want to take a filet from the fridge and put it in my mouth and shake ir really hard like a dog trying to kill a squirrel to be completely transparent.

this is a completely separate discussion but i have made my peace with the fact that im just not a very empathetic person, but i cannot stand working in a place where i feel like i'll be told im not being a team player if i try to take charge of what i'm working on and not let other people take the lead on my station. like i know im very territorial when it comes to that kind of thing, im an only child so i don't play well with others, im well aware of that. however, i don't think standing around and not telling people when they're doing something that's hampering the effectiveness of the team is going to get us anywhere!! i'd much rather be told "hey, hurry the fuck up and plate that" than have to wonder what i'm doing wrong because two out of three of my direct superiors have little bitch disease. and on the flip side i want to be able to say "hey man, i'll finish my tickets if you'll get back to expo and take a minute to figure out an (accurate) all day, and then delegate from there." without feeling like the sous is gonna get the vapors about it and tell the ec that im harshing his vibe and now his feewings awe huwt 🥺. because quite frankly i don't care if i hurt his feelings, especially not if he's doing something that's throwing everybody off and making our ticket time problem worse. im sorry but that's the only way i know how to put it. they have little bitch disease. and it's terminal.

i feel like i need to tell the ec all of that so that he'll get his head out of his ass and grow a pair essentially, but i also like my job and don't want to get fired. but i also don't want all our communication issues to get even worse, because with the way the ec runs things they will get worse because nobody has the requisite balls to tell each other when they're doing something that's dragging other people down. anyway. this has just been an exercise to help me organize my thoughts so that i don't tell the man who signs my paycheck that he's being a pussy to his face. go in peace and i'll let you all know if i get fired

[xkeyon]

Emperor's Children for 10th

Most likely the EC will be in 10th Edition, thus finishing the MONOGOD Chaos Space Marine factions. As for what could be brought out I see it being in 3 phases. Phase 1: The Warbands. This will be for EC fans while waiting for the army we will see something like that with the World Eaters did during the CSM 9th codex release where you used that & a White Dwarf magazine, though we replace Kharn with Lucius, and Khorne Berzerkers with Noise Marines. With the different Combat Patrol rulers I see the magazine issue giving a combat patrol for them. 1X Lucius the Eternal (95 pts) 3X Noise Marines 5 man squads (85 pts) 1X Helbrute (140 pts) Enhancement, Intoxicating Elixir. Both the Noise Marines & Lucius getting new models available before the true launch and there would be a story reason.

Eidolon is about ready to bring the 3rd Legion back into the Galaxy truly, but knows he can't use them all as they would be to useless to fight as a united Legion some being now shells of themselves they would be a waste of skill, while others are to strong and will try to usurp leadership in the new formation of the Legion. So have these Lords & Champions go out and take planets to weaken others in a specific part of the galaxy where a plan Eidolon needs to do something (I do have an idea it will be shared in another post). If they take these worlds it will be theirs & the 3rd will never try to force any orders of them, & when the 3rd comes they will be allowed to use some new weapons and soldiers that will come with the new Legion.

Phase 2: The Legion. Eidolon has brought the Emperor's Children he knows that will be able to help achieve a plan. The units that come with this phase would be Eidolon who could also be made as a generic EC Lord.

A more non-battle line unit would be the return of the Palatine Blades... kind of. Some of these new ones will have been the ancient ones from 30K while others will have proven themselves. But now they have fused with with their blades feeling whatever it touches. This is also not a Daemon Possession but more like that of the mutilators. This warp fusion also has mutated them where they now wear Death Masks of Fulgrim, a Chaos version of the Sanguinary Guard.

I don't think they will get unique Terminators and Helbrutes, but instead their units will get a unique weapon option for each of them, this is how Sonic Dreadnoughts be a thing.

I also think they will either get Helbrutes or Terminators in phase 2 (I would lean to the former) while the other will be out phase 3. Phase 3: The Primarch. Fulgrim is here with the rest of the army.

Along with their Primarch we will see the other unique Legion weapon unit, a Psyker for them, & a unit that takes after their Primarch's snake look mixing tech & warp mutation resembling the Laer.

Sorry this feels incomplete but there are 2 other parts that will bring it more all together.

[tagedeszorns]

Narvo "the Blunt Instrument" Quin for Marine Meat Monday!

He's one of the "old as dirt"-terran-aristocrat Third Legion-guys (he's looking down hard on the "chemosian rabble") and he and "Bull" Ramos are marking the upper end of the scale when it comes to stocky/heavy build for Emperor's Children.

One of Fabius' first "dead? Not on my watch!"-projects he came back after Isstvan V, salvaging and repairing his Terminator Armour (few EC are using Terminator Armour, since they prefer speed over durability).

He's one of the few of Fulgrim's sons who never stopped searching for their gene sire after he fucked off to Slaanesh-knows-where to practice selfcare with pilates or something. He was the first to succeed in finding Fulgrim, but as usual, trying to please an absent father never turns out to be a good idea.

Narvo then spent a few millenia sulking, training hunting "dogs" and finally letting himself get dragged back again into the Eye's usual political madness by Fabius and Savona.

[pen-and-umbra]

Sephiroth's attachment to an old photograph of his mother in EC reminded me of Kyle Reese's attachment to a photograph of Sarah Connor in the original Terminator. It's somewhere between clinging to the tiniest sliver of normalcy in both of their lives and inventing an image of someone you don't know in your head.

[daimonclub]

Breve storia della lingua latina

Breve storia lingua latina Breve storia della lingua latina, un articolo che ripercorre le vicende della lingua latina dal primo periodo al latino moderno, con alcune citazioni illuminanti, collegamenti e materiali utili. Il latino è una lingua precisa, essenziale. Verrà abbandonata non perché inadeguata alle nuove esigenze del progresso, ma perché gli uomini nuovi non saranno più adeguati ad essa. Quando inizierà l’era dei demagoghi, dei ciarlatani, una lingua come quella latina non potrà più servire e qualsiasi cafone potrà impunemente tenere un discorso pubblico e parlare in modo tale da non essere cacciato a calci giù dalla tribuna. E il segreto consisterà nel fatto che egli, sfruttando un frasario approssimativo, elusivo e di gradevole effetto 'sonoro' potrà parlare per un’ora senza dire niente. Cosa impossibile col latino. Giovannino Guareschi (1908-1968) Lo studentucolo che sa un po' di latino e di storia, l'avvocatuzzo che è riuscito a strappare uno straccetto di laurea alla svogliatezza e al lasciar passare dei professori crederanno di essere diversi e superiori anche al miglior operaio. Antonio Gramsci La lingua latina così esatta, così regolata e definita, ha nondimeno moltissime frasi ec. che per la stessa natura loro, e del linguaggio latino, sono di significato così vago, che a determinarlo, e renderlo preciso non basta qualsivoglia scienza di latino, e non avrebbe bastato l'esser nato latino, perocch'elle son vaghe per se medesime, e quella tal frase e la vaghezza della significazione sono per essenza loro inseparabili, né quella può sussistere senza questa. Giacomo Leopardi Sia in greco sia in latino, fino a Tertulliano, il significato che si dava al termine persona (che è l'equivalente del greco prosopon) era quello di "maschera" oppure di volto. Battista Mondin Il testo rappresenta il latino di oggi. È attraverso il testo che comunicano le élite (come voi, che state leggendo questo libro). Per le masse, invece, la maggioranza delle informazioni viene raccolta attraverso altre forme mediatiche: TV, film, musica e video musicali. Lawrence Lessig Escludete il Latino ed il Greco dalla vostra scuola e confinerete i vostri alunni entro angusti interessi limitati alla loro generazione e a quella immediatamente precedente, tagliando fuori tanti secoli d'esperienza quasi che la razza umana fosse venuta al mondo nel 1500. Thomas Arnold

Breve storia del latino Loquendum ut vulgus, Sentiendum ut Sapientes. Parliamo come il volgo e ragionimao come i sapienti. Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori. L'amore vince ogni cosa; cediamo all'amore. Virgilio Dum inter homines sumus, colamus humanitatem. Finché siamo tra gli esseri umani, cerchiamo di essere umani. Seneca Acceptissima semper munera sunt, auctor quae pretiosa facit. Doni sempre assai ben accetti, è il donatore che li rende preziosi. Ovidio Si vis amari, ama. Se vuoi essere amato, ama. Seneca Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore. Spero che il ricordo della nostra amicizia sia eterno. Cicerone Ad turpia virum bonum nulla spes invitat. Nessuna aspettativa può indurre un uomo buono a commettere il male. Seneca Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem. Ricorda quando il percorso della vita è ripido per mantenere la mente calma. Orazio Acclinis falsis animus meliora recusat. La mente intenta alle false apparenze rifiuta di ammettere cose migliori. Orazio Ubi concordia, ibi Victoria. Dove c’è unità, c’è vittoria. Publius Syrus Semper inops quicumque cupit. Chi desidera è sempre povero. Claudian

Sintesi lingua latina La lingua latina era l'idioma dell'antica Roma e del vicino territorio del Lazio. Con la diffusione del potere romano il latino fu diffuso in ogni parte del mondo antico conosciuto e divenne la lingua dominante dell'Europa occidentale. Era la lingua degli studiosi e della diplomazia fino al XVIII secolo e della liturgia cattolica romana fino alla fine del XX secolo. La lingua latina non era originaria dell'Italia ma fu portata nella penisola italiana in epoca preistorica da popolazioni italiche emigrate dal nord. Il latino è un membro della sottofamiglia italica delle lingue indoeuropee; tra le lingue indoeuropee non italiche, è strettamente imparentato soprattutto con il sanscrito e il greco e con le sottofamiglie germaniche e celtiche. In Italia, il latino era originariamente il dialetto della regione intorno a Roma. All'interno delle lingue italiche il latino, il falisco e altri dialetti formavano un gruppo latino distinto dalle altre lingue italiche, come l'osco e l'umbro. Le prime iscrizioni latine sopravvivono dal VI secolo aC; i testi più antichi chiaramente in latino romano risalgono principalmente al III secolo a.C. Il latino fu influenzato dai dialetti celtici nell'Italia settentrionale, dalla lingua etrusca non indoeuropea nell'Italia centrale e dal greco, parlato nell'Italia meridionale già nell'VIII secolo a.C. Sotto l'influenza della lingua greca e della sua letteratura, tradotta per la prima volta in latino nella seconda metà del III secolo a.C., il latino si sviluppò gradualmente fino a diventare una grande lingua letteraria. Latino letterario antico La lingua letteraria latina può essere divisa in quattro periodi, corrispondenti in generale ai periodi della letteratura latina. Il primo periodo (240-70 a.C.). Questo periodo comprende gli scritti di Ennio, Plauto e Terenzio. L'epoca d'oro (70 a.C.-14 d.C.). Questo periodo è famoso per le opere in prosa di Giulio Cesare, Cicerone e Livio e per la poesia di Catullo, Lucrezio, Virgilio, Orazio e Ovidio. Durante questo periodo, sia nella prosa che nella poesia, la lingua latina si sviluppò in un mezzo di espressione altamente artistico e raggiunse la sua massima ricchezza e flessibilità. L'età dell'argento (14-130). Questo periodo è caratterizzato da una ricerca sia per l'elaborazione retorica e l'ornamento sia per l'espressione concisa ed epigrammatica, qualità queste ultime riscontrabili soprattutto nelle opere del filosofo e drammaturgo Seneca e in quelle dello storico Tacito.

Breve storia della lingua latina Il periodo tardo latino Questo periodo, che va dal II secolo al VI secolo d.C. (636 circa), comprende la patristica latina dei Padri della Chiesa. Durante il periodo tardo latino le tribù barbare invasori introdussero nella lingua numerose forme e idiomi stranieri; questo latino corrotto era chiamato lingua Romana e si distingueva dalla lingua Latina, la lingua classica coltivata dai dotti. Latino parlato antico Il linguaggio colloquiale dei romani colti appare nelle opere di vari scrittori, in particolare nelle commedie di Plauto e Terenzio, nelle lettere di Cicerone, nelle Satire ed Epistole di Orazio e nel Satyricon di Petronio Arbitro. È caratterizzato dalla libertà di sintassi, dalla presenza di numerose interiezioni e dall'uso frequente di parole greche. Questo linguaggio colloquiale della buona società (sermo cotidianus) non va confuso con il sermo plebeius, la lingua delle classi non istruite, che mostra un maggiore disprezzo per la sintassi, un amore per le parole nuove e una ricerca della semplicità, soprattutto nelle parole ordine. Il sermo plebeius è noto come latino volgare, termine che talvolta include il sermo cotidianus dei romani più colti. Le lingue romanze si svilupparono non dalla lingua latina letteraria ma dal sermo plebeius del periodo tardo latino, quando era conosciuto anche come lingua Romana. Ad esempio, equus ("cavallo") cadde in disuso, e caballus ("nag", "cavallo da soma") fornì le parole romanze per cavallo (cheval, caballo); allo stesso modo, la parola romanza per testa (tête, testa) non deriva dal latino caput, ma da una parola gergale latina per testa (testa), letteralmente “pentola”. Latino medievale Il latino era la lingua delle lettere nell'Europa occidentale nel Medioevo. Il latino di questo periodo è chiamato latino medievale o latino basso. Anche per il popolo in generale il latino continuò ad essere una lingua viva, perché la chiesa forniva un'enorme massa di letteratura ecclesiastica sia in prosa che in poesia. La lingua, tuttavia, ha subito molti cambiamenti. La sintassi fu ulteriormente semplificata, nuove parole furono adottate da varie fonti e vennero all'esistenza nuovi significati; tuttavia, il latino cambiò molto meno durante questo periodo rispetto al francese o all'inglese. Nuovo latino o latino moderno Nei secoli XV e XVI nacque il Nuovo latino, chiamato anche latino moderno. Gli scrittori del Rinascimento produssero una nuova e brillante letteratura latina che imitava da vicino gli scrittori classici latini e in particolare Cicerone. Quasi tutti i libri importanti, scientifici, filosofici e religiosi, furono scritti in latino in questo periodo, comprese le opere dello studioso olandese Desiderius Erasmus, del filosofo inglese Francis Bacon e del fisico inglese Isaac Newton, e il latino era il mezzo di comunicazione. rapporti diplomatici tra le nazioni europee. Solo alla fine del XVII secolo il latino cessò di essere una lingua internazionale. Durante i secoli XVIII e XIX, tuttavia, rimase la lingua degli studiosi classici, e anche nel XX secolo i trattati accademici sono talvolta composti in latino. La Chiesa cattolica romana utilizza ancora il latino come lingua dei suoi documenti ufficiali. Nell'insegnamento moderno del latino sono stati accettati diversi metodi di pronuncia. Il metodo continentale si basa sulla pronuncia delle lingue europee moderne, la principale pronuncia continentale oggi è quella usata dalla chiesa cattolica romana, che favorisce una pronuncia simile a quella italiana. Nel metodo inglese, le parole latine vengono pronunciate come in inglese, ma ogni sillaba viene pronunciata separatamente.

Modernità del latino Il metodo romano è una ricostruzione congetturale della pronuncia latina del periodo ciceroniano. Questo metodo è in uso nelle scuole e nelle università sia negli Stati Uniti che all'estero. I nomi propri, tuttavia, quando menzionati fuori dal loro contesto latino, vengono ancora pronunciati secondo i principi che governano la lingua del particolare paese; quindi, la pronuncia del nome Cicerone sarebbe in Germania Tsítsero, in Italia Chíchero, in Spagna Thíthero, in Francia Siséro, in Inghilterra Sísero. Il latino nell'antichità ha meno flessibilità e grazia del greco; il suo vocabolario era più limitato ed era meno capace di esprimere idee astratte. I romani si resero conto dei limiti della loro lingua e presero in prestito molte parole dai greci. Il latino, rigoroso nella sintassi e pesante nella dizione, ha vigore e precisione e si è rivelato nel corso dei secoli un mirabile veicolo per l'espressione di un pensiero serio. La sua sopravvivenza è stata duplice: non solo il latino letterario stesso è rimasto in uso fino ai giorni nostri, ma sopravvive anche nelle lingue romanze, che rappresentano l'evoluzione moderna del latino volgare; L'italiano, in particolare, può essere descritto come latino moderno (lingue romanze). L'inglese ha preso ampiamente in prestito dal latino, sia direttamente che indirettamente attraverso il francese. La lingua latina è significativa non solo per la sua letteratura, ma anche perché lo studio del suo sviluppo fornisce informazioni sulla storia della lingua in generale e in particolare sull'origine e lo sviluppo di alcune delle principali lingue dell'Europa moderna. Dal XVII secolo in poi, ma soprattutto durante il XVIII secolo, quando i modelli romani furono copiati in prosa e poesia, gli scrittori usarono parole o costruzioni grammaticali che avevano origine dal latino e che davano un'impressione del latino in inglese. Le parole di derivazione latina sono comunemente più lunghe e di significato più astratto rispetto alle loro controparti anglosassoni: ad es. visione (lat.) = vista (O.E.). In generale la dizione latina, quindi, sarà più astratta e suscettibile di essere polisillabica. La frase periodica è un tentativo di imitare la sintassi latina, lasciando il verbo principale fino alla fine della frase. Due prosatori del XVIII secolo appassionati di latinismo sono il dottor Johnson e Gibbon. Milton è famoso anche per le sue costruzioni latine in Paradise Lost (1667), come in "Him the Almighty Power/ Hurled headlong" che distorce il normale ordine inglese soggetto-verbo-oggetto in oggetto-soggetto-verbo. E per finire eccovi alcune tra le parole latine più famose che usiamo abitualmente tutti i giorni: Alter Ego/Bonus/Bonus/malus/Campus/Curriculum Vitae/Deficit/Et cetera/Ex Equo/Extra/Gratis/Idem/Incipit/In Extremis/Factotum/Junior/Lapsus/Monitor/Post Scriptum/Referendum/Sponsor/Super/Una Tantum/Tabula Rasa/Tutor/Vice Versa/Video/Virus. You can also read: Frasi e citazioni latine Proverbi e detti latini English, Greek and Latin Latin influence in the English language Latin and the English language Latin phrases in English Learn more visiting these useful websites: https://www.latin-english.com   Latin English Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com     Online Etymology Dictionary You can download the following books on Latin at this page: Latin Language: Bennett, Charles E.: New Latin Grammar; D’Oogle, Benjamin L.: Latin for beginners; Wine, women and songs. Medieval Latin Student’s Songs, including translation and commentary by John Addington Symonds. Read the full article

[lhs3020b]

Starfield, an accidental deconstruction?

Oh my, a Starfield post.

So, I just visited a certain facility on Earth, got to read a few terminals and listen to some Fallout-style apocalyptic logs ... and yikes! It feels like the endings to Mass Effect 3 again. (Except the preceding game was mostly a disappointment, so I don't have quite the same sense of chaotic baffled scathing despondent confusion that I did in ME3 - instead I'm more just "rolling my eyes" and "but... but... none of this makes any sense!")

Spoilers, and a rant, below the cut...

Starfield, arguably, is an accidental deconstruction of space-booster/high-frontier ideology. I say "accidental" as the writing/dev team clearly didn't intend it to be this, but consider the following points:

1. The consequences of developing the grav drive were WORSE than if it hadn't been developed. Sure, an asteroid might have hit the Earth eventually, but the ecosystem has survived them before. It didn't survive the sputtering.

(Question: "Who killed the world?"

Answer: "Dr Victor Aiza, arguably the worst human being who ever lived.")

2. There's fuck all wonder to be found in Starfield's galaxy; most planets aren't even that pretty, really, there are no other civilisations and beyond resource-grinds, there's little real point to exploring anywhere.

(That said, hunting alien critters on high-level planets is a good way to farm level ups. Just so you know.)

3. As for humanity's supposed "glorious future in the stars", Akila City has mud roads, the UC is fascist and it's apparently uncontroversial in-universe that the corporate board on Porrima wanted to enslave the ECS Constant colonists! (You can't even raise the events of Porrima with your contact at SSN, which implies that no-one in-universe thinks any of this is remotely noteworthy.)

4. Also, in light of things found on Earth at the NASA ruins, a lot of aspects of the UC's founding seem even darker than they did beforehand. They stopped building colony ships several years BEFORE the atmosphere fell off. How many people were simply abandoned? Millions? Billions? There's even a colony ship on the launchpad that apparently they didn't even bother themselves to finish building, let alone launch it!

5. No wonder the UC created a system where who gets to vote is tightly-vetted - the UC seems to be based on genocide, whether deliberate or negligent. (And absolutely-deliberate on Aiza's part - he KNEW what he was doing, and there was malice aforethought there. The monster.)

6a. As for technology in-universe, the NASA facility, the ECS Constant and any random pirate-infested facility in the "modern" galaxy all have the same hardware and machinery. Apparently technology has barely moved in literally centuries. It may even have declined. (There's no indication that they actually could build mechs again, even if they wanted to, for instance.)

6b. The grav drive technology is apparently basically cribbed from Aiza's artifact-induced visions, so strictly speaking, we didn't even develop it ourselves. We were spoon-fed it by Starborn and their agents.

6c. The supposed "greater good" this is all for, let's remember, consists of borderline-lawless and half-empty planets - even Jemision has pirate encampments within sight of the city walls of New Atlantis! -, a grand total of four cities and a population that presumably can't be more than few million. None of this is better than what humanity had previously on Earth.

7. This social equilibrium may not even be that secure. Entire colonies can collapse - c.f. Londinion or whatever it's called - and there's enough political instability for major and devastating wars to happen. There is no utopia amongst the stars, rather there is chaos!

8. The galactic economy is horribly exploitative - the Eleos Retreat questline actually directly-calls this out, interestingly - and I think you can make a case that the system itself is directly-abusive. (The behaviour of the Trackers Alliance is ... not great ... and that's putting it mildly.) All the downsides of free marketism with no sign of any benefits!

9. Meanwhile, the influence of these Starborn and these artifacts they're obsessed with appears to be entirely-corrosive. Arrogant, authoritarian, dishonest, sociopathic, murderous ... the behaviour of all Starborn I've encountered so far has been baleful.

10. TBH, I'm leaning toward the view that the best thing to do with these artifacts, really, would be round them all up and toss them into a star (hopefully that would get rid of them...)

So in summary, you can argue a case in Starfield's world that the grav drive was entirely-bad. There was no significant threat to escape from, whether asteroids or alien invasion. The grav drive and its developers directly-caused billions of deaths and the collapse of Earth's ecosystem. And the societies that have emerged are small, precarious and (depending on how you interpret some events in the game) may even be beginning to collapse. The grav drive brought no good consequences, and you can argue a case that it would be better if it had never happened. It also made it easier for people to find these awful, brain-warping relics, which I guess must be the Starborn's angle on all this. They toasted Earth so they could collect more shiny stones. (And the Starborn have shown no interest in fixing any of the messes they've made, either.)

It's a deeply dystopic situation.

I don't think the writing team planned to deconstruct high-frontier ideology, but that's effectively what they've done here.

[beardedmrbean]

Today, the European Commission (EC) confirmed what was stated in the latest assessment on the rule of law and officially ended the monitoring over Bulgaria and Romania. The decision was announced by the European Commission and the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs in Sofia.

This means that both countries have made significant progress in implementing the commitments they made before they joined the European Union in 2007, and that they have satisfactorily covered the criteria of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. For Bulgaria, the fulfillment of the commitments was found in the last report for the country under the mechanism, drawn up in 2019, and for Romania - in 2022. Only the work on implementing specific commitments, adopted according to the recommendations of these reports, remained, and this was completed in June this year.

The two countries will continue to be evaluated within the annual cycle of the Report on the rule of law, applicable to all other member states of the European Union. The report has a wider scope than the monitoring. In addition, specific commitments - for the reform of the administration of justice and the framework for fighting corruption - have been undertaken by Bulgaria according to the Recovery and Sustainability Plan.

The governments or parliaments of the other 26 countries in the EU, as well as the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, have nothing to do with the termination of monitoring. This is the exclusive competence of the European Commission. There is only a requirement that it notify the council sufficiently in advance (this happened on 5 July 2023) and comply with the council's findings, which it has done.

The last report on Bulgaria's progress under the mechanism is from 2019. However, the monitoring mechanism remained, and in the following years experts noted problems related to the prosecution, the lack of progress on corruption investigations and other problems.

In November 2022, the European Commission also stopped preparing reports on Romania's progress under the mechanism.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen said:

"I would like to congratulate Bulgaria and Romania on the significant progress made since their accession to the EU so far. The rule of law is one of our core shared values as a union and both Member States have achieved results on important reforms in recent years. Today we report on these efforts, ending the mechanism. Work can now continue within the annual rule of law review cycle, as is done for all other Member States."

The Prime Minister Academician Nikolai Denkov:

"Another barrier has been removed to be equal with the rest of the European Union countries in all respects. Soon we must remove the others too - to be accepted in Schengen and join the Eurozone. On behalf of the Bulgarian government, I thank the European Commission and the leaders of European countries for assessing the progress of Bulgaria and Romania in implementing the rule of law and removing the special verification mechanism of our countries."

Atanas Slavov, Minister of Justice:

"Today's decision of the European Commission is a significant success and recognition of the reforms that are being carried out in Bulgaria in the field of the rule of law. The removal of the special monitoring under the mechanism, which lasted for nearly 17 years, means that the progress of our country in the field of judicial reform and the fight against corruption will be evaluated within the annual cycle for the rule of law in the EU and the regular annual reports of the European Commission, as it is for all other member states of the union. This significantly increases confidence in the Bulgarian justice system and will have a favorable impact on the process of Bulgaria's integration into Schengen and the Eurozone."

A reaction also came from the chairmen of the parliamentary groups of the two governing formations GERB and "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria". Desislava Atanasova described the dropping of the monitoring as a "huge success for Bulgaria", which is the result of "the merits of many governments and many legislatures of the People's assembly". She expressed hope that this will help the country to be accepted into Schengen as soon as possible. "We are optimistic and we hope to succeed", she commented.

Kiril Petkov, for his part, called the cancellation of the monitoring "a huge victory" and attributed it to the success of the "Denkov-Gabriel" government. "This is only the 100th day of this government and this is a national success. This would not have happened without us, but Acad. Denkov and Mariya Gabriel worked together as a team and this is a huge success for them and a success for the whole government," he said. After that, he called on the Prime Ministers of Austria and the Netherlands, Mark Rutte and Karl Nehamer, to support Bulgaria for its entry into Schengen.

According to the leader of "Yes, Bulgaria" Hristo Ivanov, the dropping of the mechanism is "very good news for the Bulgarian image". According to him, this success is due to the fact that the European partners see that there is a political elite in Bulgaria that can set ambitious priorities and, based on them, form a government that will stabilize the political situation. According to him, this step should be seen as a credit of confidence to previous requests and actions.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us, serious changes to the Constitution are ahead, which should lead to the election of the SJC, the Inspectorate and a new chief prosecutor, who should really be convincing figures, because only then will our partners see that we have fulfilled this credit," he added.

According to Ivanov, Bulgaria's Schengen membership depends mainly on internal political processes, mainly in the Netherlands and Austria. "When two member countries like Bulgaria and Romania make efforts and they affect the general security and stability of the institutions in the European Union, we must see similar actions from the Netherlands and Austria, because otherwise, all European citizens will pay the price. After all - it is only European. Finally, Bulgaria and Romania will gain access to Schengen, so that Bulgarian citizens can be proper citizens of the EU," he added.

The informal leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Delyan Peevski, who is sanctioned for corruption under the global Magnitsky Act, also indicated that this was a success for the government. According to him, after the termination of the monitoring, there are no grounds for the country not to be admitted to Schengen. "I hope that we will already do our things at the borders and reduce the migrant pressure, very soon we will have the good news that we are in Schengen. We hope that this will happen by December," said Peevski, according to whom, it is not possible to do this in October.

"The Commission has never made a connection between Schengen accession and the Monitoring, as these are separate lines of work, each with its own requirements," said a statement to today's decision.

"The Commission has always been very clear in its position that we should open the Schengen area to Bulgaria and Romania. For 12 years, Bulgaria and Romania have continuously met all the necessary conditions for joining the Schengen area, as stated in the Schengen Regulation. The expansion of Schengen remains a political priority for the commission. Bulgaria and Romania must obtain full participation in the Schengen area without further delay," the text adds.

[adsonas]

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Regardless of the method you choose, you will typically be required to provide information such as your personal details, income, and employment information, as well as the details of any co-applicants if you are applying with a joint account.

It's important to carefully review the terms and conditions of the card you're interested in before applying, and to make sure you understand any fees, interest rates, and rewards or benefits associated with the card. Additionally, you may want to compare different credit card offers from Synchrony and other issuers to find the card that best fits your needs.

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[longboxd]

2022 comics reading log

In the early days of last year, I was inspired by some twitter mutuals to post my comics reading in the new year and kept it up from Jan 1 2022 till just about the bitter end. Something about it really helped keep me invigorated by the medium even in some pretty bleak times, so I’m going to keep it going this year, but here at Longboxd instead of on twitter, which I'm trying to spend less time at. Before I can do that though, I want to archive the 2022 entries in a spot that’s more permanent/less twitter-iffic, so here we go—pretty much every comic I read in 2022! (As transcribed from here)

Part 2: 22-38 (of 387)

(I can "only" post 30 images at a time here, so that’ll dictate the length of these catch-up posts)

22) Silver Star #1 by Jack Kirby & Mike Royer - Kirby’s Blubber? Very Beto vibes—very Lynchian, held together by spit and nonsense.

23) Shattered Earth #1 - The best story in this anthology has a horny dog that gets cucked by a wandering wasteland hippie.

24) Sun Runners #2

25) Shade, The Changing Man #50

26) True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys: NATIONAL ANTHEM - Narratively, it’s firmly in the "halcyon days of vertigo" mold, and that’s cool, but between Romero and Bellaire this is one of the more stunning art showcases I’ve seen in a while. God-tier coloring, IMO!

27) The Terminator #1 (1990) - Chris Warner tha gawd with nice chunky inks from Paul Guinan, and a script by DH genre MVP John Arcudi that swings between terse and pleasantly purple. This and the Predator series the year before (also drawn by Warner) set the mold for decades of movie tie-in books.

28 & 29) Blood n’ Guts #1 & 2 - These are very bad comics by a weird, probably bad dude who's weird & not always bad comics I grew up with. Not much to them (this is from one of Blair's big firehose-of-comics periods) other than a *great* logo I assume was made by Dave Cooper.

30) Alien Worlds #7 - I loved this series as a kid—it's mostly an art showcase (Corben, Morrow, Anderson & Perez in this issue!) but Bruce Jones' short stories are trashy scifi paperback anthology style fun, routinely see-sawing btwn kind of hokey & total bleak nihilism, often on the same page. one story, theoretically concerned w/recreating The Thing inside an implied sketch of a Wally Wood/EC planet setting, mostly actually focuses on infidelity leading to murder (a common Jones trope). In the end everyone dies after the revelation that their parkas are hungry aliens. 

31) Eclipse Monthly #2 by various

32) Sensation Comics #6 - This is the pure, uncut shit.

33) Head Lopper #15

34) Marvel Team-Up #101 - Robot hippies and Peter Parker favorably compares the trauma of Nighthawk killing his girlfriend in a drunk driving incident to Uncle Ben’s death.

35) The Swamp Thing: Becoming TPB

36) Head Lopper #16

37) Skull, The Slayer #1 - Sorta standard Th’unda etc white adventure guy thrown into a prehistoric setting to fight dinosaurs kinda thing, (the twist being that this guy? He’s a real piece of shit!) but Steve Gan does impressive work, and Marv Wolfman’s colors are surprisingly effective.

38) The Man-Thing #8 - I haven’t read many of these. Pacing is slow if not deliberate, vampy gothic vibes. With Ploog’s squishy art, it kinda reads like a Golden Age Underground. 

_______

To be continued! Read Part 1 here

[euvagnercosta]

"Melhor é o fim das coisas do que o seu princípio..." Ec 7:8

José começou em uma cisterna, mas terminou no Palácio. Ana começou com provação e choro, mas terminou com Samuel nos braços. Rute começou catando espigas, mas terminou se casando com Boaz. Davi começou no pasto, mas terminou no trono. Mefibosete começou em Lo-debar, mas terminou na mesa do rei....

Quem disse que a sua história terminou? Não baseie sua vida por um momento difícil. Ele não perdeu o controle da sua vida. Ele tem a sua vida na palma da mão, quer prova ?

"Eis que nas palmas das minhas mãos te gravei; os teus muros estão continuamente perante mim..." Isaías 49:16 🔥

[minvalzeropage]

trying to repair an old film camera (olympus-35 EC 2). The battery terminals corroded off, so I'm trying to replace the battery holder and replace the terminals with copper sheeting. Wish me luck

[korrektheiten]

Wie Frankfurt Barzahlung im Bürgeramt stillschweigend abschafft und Menschen ohne Internetzugang aussperrt

Norbert Häring: »25. 09. 2024 | Wer dieser Tage in Frankfurter Stadtteil-Bürgerämtern einen Termin beantragt, wird informiert, dass er ab 1. Oktober seine Gebühren nur mit der Girocard/Debitkarte (früher EC-Karte) bezahlen kann. Einen allgemeinen Hinweis oder Medienberichte über diese neue, fragwürdige Praxis sucht man vergebens. Neben Menschen ohne Konto werden auch Menschen ohne Internetzugang ausgesperrt, denn Termine […] http://dlvr.it/TDgGnJ «