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fallbahediusjournal-blog · 5 years

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2nd May. 2014.

Evening

It is may and i wrote for only one reason, the same as i had all the others and that is to get my thoughts down. It has been, a difficult few months. So not heed me wrong however because it has too been rather beautiful spending it with my love Yeti. I in truth cannot understand why i feel so misplaced, to give a somewhat similar example.. i feel, like a beggar thrown into a fove class restaurant, served the finest of foods and given a life he had forever wanted. Whereas i am the begger and the fine restaurant is my home while the food is my lover. I feel, plauged in a way that if i stay in one spot for too long i grow restless and agitated.

Yeti has spotted this discomfort quite a few times, as like today, in the study when we were having our daily reads and relaxing. I held a simple book about three brothers that triumph into the war proudly, seeve their country and make their families desire them. Perhaps it may have been the book subject that shocked me, because by the time i grew near the section where one of the boys came home to a loving family i was about sick of it. Instead of growing tired and putting it down i was angered. Maybe it was jealousy for the fictional characters, yet i could not help but look back on the countless wars i took part in. The amount of them and not once had i returned to someone that could share kind words with me or anything close to the novels these days. Maybe i did not deserve the kindness, i was immortal fighting mortal battles and that in itself should be reason enough to not be given any thanks afterwards. This is what had stumped me, and i grew restless in the chair to the point i needed to stand outside for some needed air, although once i hit the outdoors and leant to the porch rail i found myself reliving the worst moments of the wars. Finding myself back in the direct centre of chaos, there were bodies about me, screams and cries, families running from burning huts and children gone. In my own back yard, i waa beside myself. yeti had begged to know what was wrong for how i may have seemed off yet i could not tell him. I would hate for him to worry for me, i do not want to think of me hainted by some immortal PTSD to the war. Because i do not see why it would effect me, i kill often enough. Perhaps, perhaps its the simple thought of how many innocents were wasted away and doed by my hands simple for the government i served.

I do not quite understand this, but, that has been the thought of today. Now it is four pm and the aun is starting to set, Yeti and i had decided on a simple curl up by the foreplace with a movie to the screens for the night. He has begged for butter popcorn and sweets and even though i am against such pleasantries i will still gove them to him. Thankfully the movies he picked were not war related or some cliche vampire romance. I have not watched many movies in my life, so i have no lie when i say tonight will be different to my regular routine.

Now i must go, yeti has called me in to fix the dvd player.

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icesis · 7 years

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A Trip of a Life Time

It has always been a life long dream of mine to visit Japan. This year, that finally happened. From March 23-April 2nd, I had made my way to and through Japan.

So I would like to walk you through my trip and what happened!

On March 23rd 2017, we left our house around 2:15am to arrive at the air port around 3am. The weather was terrible, we were having snow and ice at the time. Our travelling companion arrived around 3:45 am. We checked his bag, and headed through security around 4am.

Funnily enough, my great aunt was travelling on the same plane as us to Toronto, and we met up for a few minutes before boarding the plane.

We boarded our flight around 6:10am (on time!) for our departure at 6:50am. We were all seated and getting ready to go. Waiting to get de-iced, the maintenance folk thought they saw a leak. This caused a delay of over 2 hours, and we left after 9am when they determined it was just melting snow. During this delay, my spouse and I watched Doctor Strange in its entirety. Finally de-iced, we took flight.

We arrived in the Toronto Pearson Airport around 10am EST (2hours after our flight left Halifax). Many of those on our flight had missed connections and there was a lot of chaos from the delay. Thankfully, it just made our layover shorter.

We were supposed to meet up with my great aunt and her friend for food, however, they were told they had a chance to make their layover and tried to get there. However, once all was done they sadly missed it and couldn’t get out of their section of the airport.

So we ate Pad Thai at Thai Express, and then made our way through security again, and to our terminal. It was pretty uneventful after this, and we boarded our flight to Japan at 1:50pm. Since our flight boarded quickly, we ended up leaving a little bit early at 2:20pm.

During the flight (which was 13 hours), I tried to sleep and watched movies. After awhile, you do get very uncomfortable, but don’t want to move and disturb those around you.I was excited, as the plane had Your Name which I had been wanting to see but hadn’t come out in North America yet. I also watched some episodes of the Big Bang Theory with my spouse. I don’t remember exactly what I ate on this flight, but I do remember really enjoying the chicken meal I had, and of course the best part of my flight was my Cup Noodle! I also watched most of Moana but fell asleep towards the end.

Since my spouse and I only took carry on bags, our moving through the airport and security was very fast and we were ready to go immediately. However, our friend had brought a checked in bag, which caused us a lot of delays with leaving. At the airport, we obtained our pocket wifi from Wifi Ninja and our Suica cards for the train.

We boarded to Monorail, and we were listening for our stop. A kind older Japanese man boarded the train and spent some time talking to us. It was really pleasant experience. We did, however, miss our train stop and had to get off and get back on the train on the other side.

We took in what we could as we boarded our next train towards our apartment we were renting. Once we found our way, we dropped off our goodies and went out to see what we could find.

We grabbed some drinks out of the vending machine, and headed to Lawsons and 7-Eleven to see what we could find. We then headed back to the apartment for the night.

For our second day, we got an early start and headed out. We stopped at McDonalds and decided to try a Mega Muffin (two sausages, cheese, egg, and bacon) which was a delicious greasy mistake.

We walked around Akihabara and Shinjuku. Sadly, we didn’t realize most things didn’t open until later. So we didn’t do too much during this time.

We found our way to pick up our Japan Rail Passes while were out though!

We found tons of vending machines while we were out.

And we found a Square Enix Cafe! Sadly you can’t see how long the line was, but it was definitely a few blocks long.

We later made our way over to Ueno Park and Zoo. Where we saw a lot of animals and cherry blossoms starting to bloom.

We also got to see some great signs!

After this, I was exhausted and we headed home. I slept a long time this night!

The next day, we were just wondering around and taking in the sights. We checked out Taito Games and the Mega Tokyo Pokemon Center. I also tried some various foods, but notably it was some store bought dango!

Because of being so sore, we didn’t do too much else this day. However, we did eat at McDonald’s again and had a Big Mac! It was the most beautiful Big Mac I have ever had.

That brings us to the 27th. This was Disney Day! We visited Tokyo Disneyland which was way more emotional than I thought it would be. I was stunned when I got there. I hadn’t ever been big into going to Disneyland or World, but since it was near us I wanted to go.

I’m not one to be super corny, but it definitely felt magical. It also helped that it always smelled like candy in the park.

Once we left Disneyland, there was a crepe shop outside called Bell’s Crepes... and I knew I had to try one! I even ordered in Japanese!

While we were in Tokyo, I got to meet up with one of the lovely girls I met when she was here in Halifax studying English. She took us to a great restaurant and we had a really good time! I can’t wait until I can see her next. :)

Then it was time to move on. We made our way to Kyoto to meet up with my close friend Yuuka, who I met while she was studying in Halifax. We visited the Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine, which was beautiful. Those gorgeous torii will stick with me forever.

We ate at some of the vendors outside. We tried a mochi skewer, yakiniku and nikumaki! I think Nikumaki was my favorite. I ate it so fast I forgot to take a picture.

After this, we headed back to Osaka and ate at the restaurant Kappa Zushi.

We then headed to our capsule hotel in Dotonbori. The capsule hotel was beautiful, and outside of a bit of a language barrier, we got checked in and stayed the night.

My friend was busy the next day, so we made our way around to see what we could find. We visited an internet cafe, which was an amazing experience! I wish we had them here. It had a vending machine for hot food, and machine that dispensed free drinks for patrons!

We also played in an Arcade. We played a Dungeon’s and Dragons game together. We then met up with a friend I had made on the app Hello Talk. He took us to this wonderful Tuna restaurant. We ate delicious fried tuna ribs, we tried sushi, and sashimi.

He gave us a beautiful gift each. They were chopsticks with our names and lucky animals.

The next day, we met up with Yuuka again, and she took us to visit Himeji Castle. It was a rainy day, but it was still a lot of fun! We stopped at ate food on the way too!

After this, we did some shopping, and ate at Cafe de Miki. Which is a Hello Kitty themed Cafe!

We then met up with Yuuka’s mother, whom I had the pleasure of meeting. We exchanged gifts and they saw us off on our train to head back to Tokyo.

One of these gifts was this delicious unagi bento box that Himeji is known for.

The next day, we went out on our last adventure for the day. We visited Super Potato where we picked up some games and our traveling companion picked up a Super Famicom.

After this, it was time to get ready to leave. We packed our bags that night and headed to the airport early the next day. Everything went smoothly for us, and we got through quickly. It was sad to come home. I would definitely love to live in Japan one day!

Here is a bit more of Japan that I didn’t know where to squeeze in else where! I met a toilet I hate, and toilets I love while I was there. You have regular toilets, squat toilets and what I like to call super toilets. I love these fully loaded toilets. They have bidets, some have things to dry you, heated seats, and some make noise so others can’t hear what you’re doing!

I also took pictures when I found stores I recognized from home. Some won’t be surprising. However, I was totally surprised to find out Kumon was from Japan! I only ever knew it from here.

That’s all I have for now! I hope you enjoyed my trip through Japan!

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travellers-survivor-old-west · 4 years

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Episode 7: “The coin flip gods decided Xander would be leaving us tonight”- Chloe

Everyone drop your..................... spare change we have a decision to make - Someone on the losing tribe, probably.

jeezzzzzz this round is fucking frustrating. so last minute last round my alliance flipped to keaton which was WONDERFUL!!! I was having a hard time talking to him and I'm glad it's Vi and Xander still here. the concering thing tho is someone told vi to do keaton so like.....someone tryna scoop up that good good number huh? this auction though....FUCK THIS. so it started off fine. nobody snatched the first thing bc it was useless. but then the second item hehe I grabbed it bc I wanted to throw to keep ashley safe + wanted to know what it was. so i was like ok cool love it. but then for some reason another item got posted after the time the post said the challenge would be running.....which was not fair flkjfl and i didnt see it cause i was like cool i can sleep now :) and then it's the fuckin most powerful thing in the game :)))) love that for me lol. and someone on that tribe fucked it up. i literally would've fuckin spent all the money for it if I'd known the auction was gonna go past the time the hosts said rip so that threw a wrench in everything and now i am a sad sad cowboy :'( next day i snatched the first item to end the auction so that the power hungry snakes in my alliance didnt get all the good stuff. so even tho i got nothing of value, i DID get assurance that only one thing is out there that I need to be worried about. :))) hehe :))) and it was REALLY EASY to play off like xander took them both tbh. he was typing in the chat the whole time lmao. the only problem is that chloe eve and isaac are actually smart and they might know it was me but like i rlly put in that fake nancy drew work and was like HELLO DID U BUY THOSE THINGS ? I even asked xander if he got either of the items hehe. im just sittin here with my two lame-ass packages <333333 but i have a really bad feeling about the other tribe. Ashley was on a work trip all week and I know her and her fuckery and her inability to talk to boring men and her tribe has way way too many of them. jared/sammy have the power on that tribe if they scoop dylan and goat nick or bro down with aidan. so it's bad news I think. I'm gonna be pissed at them if they get her out (and i swear to god if jared is doing it just to break up me and her so I'm closer to him he has another thing coming!!!!!!!!! :) ) i wanted to be loyal to jared and ashley, but if he gets her out before I even have a chance to play with her, im gonna be fuckin bitter!!!!!!!! and who knows what I'll do then :)

youtube

Well rip us again. I’m slightly screwed? Maybe. I did get 2nd highest score so hopefully the others keep that in consideration considering Owen, Xander and eve got lower than 50 points. I’m pissed Bc Chloe and I both tried hard to carry the team. We were 200 points under. That’s more than either one of us got. Every one else didnt do an entire section. One of them only did a couple pictures, another only did a couple videos. Rip I want to die.

BIIIIITCH. Shit has hit the fan and I finally feel like we're playing a game here. Last tribal was intense but it brought back that feeling as to why I play these things so I was kind of into it. Overall the scrambling in the last few hours showed a lot of people's hand and I think that was one valuable thing that came out of the last vote out (in addition to Sammy's vote out). Apparently the alleged vote was Ashley, which Jared told me rather late, and I didn't feel clued in on that AND I was a fan of Ashley. She was one of the only people here from my second tribe and she talked to me more than a majority of the tribe making me realize that the Malakoff OGs might have formed a voting block - Pat might possibly be involved. Apparently it was a push on behalf of Pat but I did use my vote steal and try to push things in order to save Ashley and push it onto another target. She really wanted Jared but I do feel like I have a stronger relationship with him and the ability to reconcile things further which is why I tried to deviate the target to Sammy. Plus in all of the ambiguity and the fact that my name was going around (as Ashley as a decoy to save herself *insert eye roll*) I felt the need to use the vote steal I secured on the rails. Regardless of how things played out at the end of the day I had no idea what the chaotic twink [Dylan] was going to do and in the event of a 3-3-1 tie I doubt Jared was saving me over Sammy. Weren't they butt buddies in a Tumblr Survivor or something? Like it just wasn't realistic... and I don't feel like I leveraged it poorly at all. Better than going home with something in my pocket like last time. Plus the studio art major's reaction in their exit interview only helped prove my point that they were the best person to go. Plus I felt as if the studio art major in question has the type of fun but lowkey personality that allows people to go deep and as such an extroverted loud ass bitch those players tend to be the ones on my radar. We worked hard, we persevered and won immunity. Pat worked his ass off in the fucking challenge because he knew he made a fucking mistake writing my name down but he's trying to be cordial. Honestly I think a lot of people are biding their time until merge and I have a sneaking suspicion I might be a person of interest when this merge comes. WHY? Well that challenge was CLEARLY thrown and the people who seemed to be left out of the loop were the ones from my original tribe. I'm pretty sure that's a fucking act of war in Ancient Greece. Nick (my number one ally atm I love you Nick) pointed that shit out immediately and made me run to check the results which left me shook. I tried to bring it up to Jared who played it off... another kind of red flag. My priority right now is to strengthen relationships heading into a potential merge and making sure they're on good footing with me even though the last thing that's happening is a loyal Malakoff 3.0. I'm not even going to delude myself with the fucking thought. Despite having Nick and I guess Ashley, I do feel very alone in this game. Most games I succeed in I have a partner in crime so I'm going to adapt and see how I can take on the merge. I really want Nick to know I trust him as much as I do and I hope that whoever survives of Chloe and Vi is excited to see us. That's if the merge is next and you're not playing with us... But I also hope that both Chloe and Vi survive this round but the break up of the challenge doesn't look good. Is there a chance they just fucking suck?

Being back at tribal is fucking hell. At this point just give us merge I stg id be more likely to be immune then. Honestly it feels like most of my tribe put ZERO FUCKING EFFORT into this challenge and I’m beyond angry about it they’re all fucking bastards and I’ll vote every single one of them out for doing this to me.

Thoughts on being at tribal - the coin flippers are staying strong and yet again we flipped a coin to see who goes home between Vi and Xander. This time there’s no Keaton to fuck things around so I’m hoping it stays this straight forward and there’s no genuine last minute scrambles. I don’t think anyone from the group has told Vi or Xander yet who the vote is but the coin flip gods decided Xander would be leaving us tonight. I just wanna fucking sleep. So yea no valid reason for voting Xander tonight other than it was down to a coin flip. Either way I’d be voting Xander and Vi out at merge anyway.

M E R G E U S

I’m stupid and forgot to do this so I’m doing it from the bathroom at work pls don’t strike me I’ll give you detail when I get off sjhdjddh

Spoiler Alert: He never did send us details when he got off work.....

Hey, this tribe fucking sucks. they never talk about anything or want to do much. Like i had to beg people to do the call. and force that to happen. and I had to force a vote talk out of people.... Thats not my style of gameplay. I hate that im forced to do that. and just want out of this tribe ASAP. IM just hoping if i do survive and make it to merge. that my clever "talking" skills have earned me some credit in this tribe. where I have some allies. I do want to make it far and not just flop in this game. Especially when no one really knows me here and they can't target me because im in a duo with someone on the cast. @every other game i play. *glares at jess*

Also Xander...

Part 2 electric boogaloo I really just want Alyssa to expose me. Like is that so hard. Also i forgot to mention in my last confessional that Jess had a booty call and they left their top there.

IS IT MY TIME TO GO??????

Last round was pretty wild. I really did NOT want Sammy to go but unfortunately my hands were tied and he was with jared and pat. I kind of pushed for jared last round a little too much and Aidans ass told jared and he confronted me about it. I think i did a pretty good job at explaining why and basically it was like we both kind of went for eachother last round but now no one will think we are working together. My hope is that aidan and nick will be loyal and continue to work with me but i have a feeling jared is stilll trying to work on aidan and aidans ass is falling for it. Merge is probably coming up and im a little scared about that but if nick and aidan dont flop I think we can make it far.

So last round I played like peepee poopoo I should've just listened to Sammy like I told myself I would at the beginning of the round and voted Aidan... but the second I detect any shadiness even in a F2 or F3 person that's when the meltdown comes... it was like the Bryce situation all over again Not to mention Aidan two-timed me! But luckily it is still early enough in the game to recover from this, and I still have the high noon... I just need to hang onto that no matter what. So this round I centered back in on my round one gameplan, Aidan lost my trust and Dylan earned his 3rd strike with me by not having my back in the tribe chat. I've been bonding with NickG, and I made a deal with Ashley so I'm hoping that new doors will open for me on this tribe. With that being said, we won the challenge and honestly I couldn't care less about a merge any more, the farther away it is the better to be honest- I can have a 50/50 shot at making it one round further every time with tribal immunity. Another note, non-zero odds that Owen threw the challenge for me? We'll see.

Idk what day exactly the video title is specific of when I’m speaking from.

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More Pat....

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#yeehaw

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mylifeatwar · 6 years

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Book 2, Chapter 5, Page 12

Archived Text Follows:

Hello,

Looks like this Dhuvalian fortress is better secured than it appears.

Thanks for reading,

– Luther out

Comment Text Follows:

Arthaxas234 - Wonder if the Dhuv’s have any game breaker tech in that fortress? Also I’m not sure if I’ve asked this question before,but have the Marketeers ever salvaged and at least try to reverse engineer any of the Dhuv Limbs

The Toravich - Yeah, that bears wondering. If they do have tech like that, this whole endeavor is gonna go downhill even faster than it is already.

Tiwaz - It just is not easy to reverse engineer stuff. And in field conditions it is basically impossible realistically. You need full staff of qualified and skilled engineers who take things apart carefully to be able to rebuild it, documenting every step, nut and bolt. Maybe if they get something in working order you could try to jury rig it to run on one of your own vehicles without fully understanding the workings. Assuming it is one independent component and not integral part of LIMB.

dwwolf - What was common was using captured equipment till it broke. The germans used beutepanzer. Mostly kv1s and t34s till they broke. So did the Russians with captured tigers and panthers. The other allieds didnt bother since they were awash in m4 Shermans. Though they utilise captured tanks ( sans turret ) as artillery tractors.

SteelRaven - Keep in mind whoever is in charge of the Dhuv’s counter attack ordered their infantry to attack the Limps first and THEN fired on the Limbs… If I was a Dhuv grunt, I would be seriously questioning my career decisions right now… unless the grunts are draftees, then I would just hate everything without question.

Arthaxas234 - If that’s the case,then how come Dhuvalia hasn’t had a full scale Napoleonic revolt yet.

Radical Dreamer - It must be because they don’t feel their lives are being wasted. We’ve seen people who would be considered the upper parts of their society willing to ride limbs into battle. Maybe the grunts feel that the ones giving the orders are worth giving their lives for. If you, your family, and your society as a whole feel that such a death is worthwhile then it is.

Kasper - How would you launch a revolt here? The nobility is riding around in hi-tech weapons platforms, we’ve yet to see anyone without a title carry something heavier than the military rifles. If the best personal weapon available to both rulers and citizens is muskets, then you can have a functional equalizer (US 2nd Amendment style). If the powers that be hold all the good cards, the revolution would end up looking like present-day Syria or Egypt, depending on how fast the conflict was resolved. The Free Markets need to pull out some “Hearts and Minds”-trickery.

Tiwaz - They opened fire when LIMB-section came out of cover of the houses. There are no more obstacles between fort and LIMB-units.

Tanis - And the other shoe drops; makes good sense actually, the soldiers would have made sure that section of the city was completely evacuated, and then they ambushed the attackers to try and bog them down for the missile launchers to engage.

Radical Dreamer - Well played. Its easy to forget that such technology wouldn’t be limited to just Limbs. Being able to have your static defenses out in the open without having to worry about artillery gives a nice advantage. I wonder if they have the same missile defense system the Limbs have as well. Also nice to see Lawman-3 improvising by throwing battlefield debris. It might not be ideal but when you don’t have any guns left it beats standing around being a target.

Kasper - It’s not just direct fire they don’t have to worry about, if they can keep this running, the enemy might not know it’s even there.

Sazuroi - Any more cloaking? Cloaked Helicopters? Cloaked Support Vehicles? Cloaked Infantry (well, invisibility cloaks, not dustcoats)? Either this is a very high-value installation (and possibly the actual target of this mission, hidden behind a few small-time installations) or Dhuvalian cloaking technology is not actually limited to the chosen few and there may be any number of cloaked ambushes waiting when our favourite PMC advances deeper into the country.

Tanis - Personally, i would expect the cloaking tech is limited to hard bodied vehicles or installations, that also have enough spare power to maintain the field; its already been pointed out though that any vehicle using the system cant vent heat while its active, meaning it can get real toasty in there, real quick.Its probably also expensive as hell, the Dhuvalian’s may spend a lot of money on their equipment, but no matter how good your budget, you still need to draw the line somewhere on how widely you field the really expensive stuff.

Sazuroi - That was part of my question, actually: How costly is it really? The cloaked infantry was simply hyperbole to illustrate how a lot of cloaked things seem possible now. Dhuvalian Limbs are akin to Knight’s mounts, so it’s only proper that they would have immensly fancy stuff, but the equipment of all the other units seemed to be equal or even worse than the Free Market’s. However, missile launchers on a fixed installation, even a high-value one, feel like a different kind of category for me. If that is possible, why not also cloaked heavy helicopters, which are traditionally one of the most powerful anti-tank platforms (mostly due to the limited vision of a tank, as far as I know, so it wouldn’t fully apply)? The sound alone isn’t enough to be able to get a hit in, and if you can make a cloaking field, why not also a sound canceller. This situation illustrates Dhuvalia has quite a lot more surprises in store, since it isn’t just “squishy grunts, techy ‘mechs” with a few support vehicles thrown in occasionally, there might be a lot more depth and sophistication to their lineup. Perhaps the units seen so far were only first responders and mobile units? It would be terrible intriguing, though I reckon a bit of a balance problem since mobilizing terribly more advanced stuff seems to require a few hurdles to be cleared on the Free Market side, and I also don’t think the creators are looking for the Gundam kind of Arms race with everybody upgrading to Limb² as soon as the second half of the season starts.

Tiwaz - Power most likely. Helicopter has to use a lot of power to stay in the air. Add to that strain of cloaked system and you might have flying cooking pot. Making sound canceller is not same as cloaking field as one is electromagnetic radiation and other pressure difference. To cancel noise you would need to counter the pressure difference. What I am curious of… Why no railguns on t fort. They have those, they are wicked mean and fort should have sufficient energy to power them and sturdy enough to build compensation for the kick. Way those things mauled the flier, it could go through 2-3 LIMBs without noticing them.

Tanis - Rail guns have to fire in a straight line, which in this context can mean having to punch through multiple buildings to reach a target, guided missiles can steer between the buildings, though its a damn good thing for the Free marketers that the Dhuvalians haven’t yet figured out the brutal effectiveness of plunging missile trajectories. As far as helicopters gunships go, we haven’t yet seen anything of the sort being fielded by either side, in fact the closest thing to a helicopter we’ve seen so far is the Fatbird airships. the authors have stated repeatedly that neither side has yet figured out the nature of modern warfare, they haven’t had two consecutive game changer multi-continent wars the way we have in real life. both sides are displaying the sort of tactics that where typical of WW1 commanders, the principal difference being that neither side has nearly enough troops to make this thing bog down into trench warfare, the way things eventually did in WW1.

Tiwaz - Last picture shows fort visible with nothing between it and marketeers. Also, the positions appear to shoot at downward angle, not ballistic. Thus I have assumed them to having been in direct LOS with fort when fort fired at them.

York - You know, I’m wondering if the cloak is just a ‘Special Forces’ kind of weapon. First time they used it, they considered 1st RCB to be a big threat already, and they use a heavy amount of infantry and IFVs.

Sazuroi - There was a mention from the comic writers that the weapon is actually unpopular with Limb pilots since it unbalances the unit, preventing glorious melee combat. Given, it being unpopular with Limb pilots and at odds with Limb combat doctrine does not make it any less likely to be a special dispensation weapon that is only trusted to the select few, but if it is so unpopular, I would expect it to be found at likely high value installations like this fortress more often than in the hands of unhappy Limb pilots who have to sacrifice glory for operational success. Though it could be a “we must win now” weapon that is only deployed when serious business occurs, meaning those cloaked turrets are not actually supposed to defeat enemy Limbs, but to weaken them so allied Limbs can engage them in glorious melee easier. We’ll see in a few pages, probably.

Beanman - Love Dizzy grabbing a chunk of building here to improvise as a weapon, nice touch. Keep up the good work guys.

nweismuller - A question I’ve had for a long time- given the lack of any central political structure in the Free Market, what exactly does the ‘M and downwards arrow’ that seems to be the symbol for the Free Market actually represent? Why is it commonly used on Free Market equipment?

a guy - I assume it’s the artist’s signature. Each page has it somewhere. Sometimes it’s in the grass and on Dhuvalian stuff, so I do not think it’s part of the world.

#comic #webcomic #cloaking

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benstravels · 7 years

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We flew with BA from London Heathrow into Stavanger and it was one of the easiest check ins & boardings I’ve ever done – the gate wasn’t announced until the plane was ready and then we simply strolled onto the plane rather than queuing in a crowded holding area like many other carriers seem to do. The flight over was uneventful and nearly all over the sea until we got closer to the Norwegian coastline when small islands began to appear below. As we began our descent into Stavanger, we could see several oil rigs moored in the harbour reminding us of the reason most people come here.

[simple-weather location=”Stavanger, Norway” units=”metric” days=”4″ api=”22b54c9c94ec3a50e571a2bc8797f8a1″ ]

After collecting our bags (which literally came through the conveyer belt door as we walked up to it), we followed the signs for car rental and, in complete contrast to our recent Holland trip, quickly collected our car, found it in the connected car park and were on the road within no time. Other than small road improvement works, the drive into the city was quick and easy to navigate.

We had opted to stay in the city centre located Radisson Blu which, although typically a business hotel, had some great rates, a free connected car park, was within walking distance of the harbour and the old town and had a massive buffet breakfast included (though avoid the half frozen pancakes). After dropping our bags off in the huge upgraded corner suite room, we ventured out to explore the white painted wooden houses in the old town. From the turn of the 18th century, these wooden houses were nearly demolished after the 2nd World War but luckily mostly survived and the area is now full of boutique shops, craft and impressive flower gardens. Afterwards, as the sun was still shining, we grabbed a beer in one of the harbour side bars and got our first alcohol related shock – it cost nearly 3 times that it would in the UK. Later on during the trip we decided to get a bottle of wine to drink in the hotel room rather than pay bar prices but found it impossible to do – you can only buy wine from government off licences which are hard to find and appear to never be open when you do find one. Without going into the politics, it appears that Norway uses the revenue from these sales to fund the country and, amongst other things, give people a yearly fund to buy work clothes. Yes you read that correctly & it seems to work very well.

That night we ate in an Indian which was more of a take away but had a few tables – the food was excellent and despite it being more like a take away, the presentation and service was spot on. Given by the amount of foot fall whilst we were there, it has a deserved decent reputation. Would happily return and happily recommend it.

The following day after having a decent breakfast (including yellow bendy things – see photo!), we set off to do a day hike to Kjeragbolten which is a boulder wedged between two cliffs. As it was late spring/early summer, it was still a bit chilly but we jokingly said, “do you think we’ll see any snow?” – so imagine our surprise when we started seeing big patches of snow beside the road which soon turned into meters high snow banks through which the road had been cleared. The scenery was spectacular and kept getting bigger, better and more impressive as we drove. It was a relatively long drive from the city but very easy to navigate, the roads were well maintained and there was little traffic. After driving through the ever increasingly high snow, we got to the car park next to the start of the hiking trail and parked up. Although we had suitable hiking clothes including waterproofs, we had totally unsuitable hiking shoes, no poles and nothing useful for the snow – which we could now see stretching into the distance across the area we needed to go.

In hindsight it possibly wasn’t the wisest idea but we kitted up and set off up the first rocky scramble using the attached metal chains to pull ourselves up and to stop ourselves sliding on the ice-y rocks. As starts to hikes go, this was probably one of the hardest I’ve ever done (and my partner told me that she hated me for making her do it several times despite this being her idea!). We followed the foot steps of other hikers across the white landscape down steep snow covered hills, across more rocky areas and then finally over a long fairly flat section where the snow was much deeper and we kept sinking to our knees. The snow was so high in places that you couldn’t see the chains let alone hold onto them. The trail was also badly maintained in places as the poles attached to the chains were loose or non existent. This isn’t a trail for the unexperienced. By this point, the snow had got into our shoes which were soaking wet and pretty cold. The snow made the going slower than we expected and I have absolutely no idea what we were walking on or over. At this point, we considered giving up and heading back, but after making her go this far, my partner wasn’t prepared to give up! We were also noticeably under equipped compared to the Norwegians we passed and who pretty much ran.

We finally reached the edge of the cliffs which revealed the incredible views down into the fjord below and into the distance. About 1.5km below it was a pretty mind blowing view and definitely worth the hike there. The boulder was equally mind blowing – we wimped out of standing on it as it was covered in ice and there was only a single metal loop to cling onto to get down to it. We sat on exposed rocks on the edge of the cliff and ate our crudely constructed pack lunch from bits we had bought in a petrol station on the way. As views for picnics go, this will take some beating. After taking in the view a bit longer, we reluctantly started re-tracing our steps. We got overtaken by several Norwegians who slid on their backs down a long snow covered hill at pretty impressive speeds – partly highly amusing and partly really stupid! It was however a much quicker way to get down! The sun had long gone in towards the end of the hike and with about half a kilometer to go, the skies opened and the rain poured down. We quickly dried off and changed in toilets in the car park and ran to the nearby cafe to get a hot drink before heading back – the view from this would normally be impressive as well but it was now covered in clouds and the wind was blowing hard. The rain stopped during the drive back and revealed more awesome mountains, frozen lakes and never ending landscapes. That night, after crawling out of the shower with extremely tired legs, we made use of the room service and ordered pizza – which slightly oddly came in a take away box! We also found out that the pillow cases in the hotel could literally fit a person inside!

The next day, after a very deep sleep, we stuffed ourselves at the buffet breakfast (avoiding the half frozen pancakes) and stole a few yellow bendy things for our next hike (assuming our tired legs would make it). We walked down to the harbour and got a car ferry (as a foot passenger) across the bay to Tau and then got a bus from the landing quay to Preikestolen Mountain Lodge, the starting point of the hike. Door to door it took about an hour. You can prepay in advance (and print tickets off) or pay on the day which is what we did. You can’t reserve a seat on the bus but they are pretty frequent so just get on the next one if it is full. The same applies for the return bus which is timed to connect with returning ferries + you get to jump the queue on the waiting cars. Just don’t try to eat on the bus otherwise the rather grumpy driver will tell you off in Norwegian.

Preikestolen (the Pulpit Rock) is much more touristy than Kjeragbolten with a cafe, gift shop and large carpark at the start of the climb. Large tour groups also do this 3 – 4 hour round hike daily so be prepared to walk with lots of other people. In the summer, its possible to take a refreshing dip in one of the pools that you’ll pass – though given this was in June and it was still pretty cold, I’m not sure when “summer” actually starts! The path is much more man made, with steps built up steeper sections and hand rails along the tricky sections. The path winds up through forests before going across slightly more exposed sections but nothing like the Kjeragbolten trail. However once you get to the top and start walking along the final ridge to the Pulpit, the views are equally mind blowing with the fjord well below – a fairly large cruise ship was passing as we arrived and it looked tiny. The clouds were blowing around making the view disappear and reappear for a while before blowing away and leaving the landscape around visible for miles.

We sat a bit higher up to people watch as we ate another crudely created packed lunch before taking our own death defying selfies and photos with our legs dangling over the edge of the pulpit with nothing but thin air below for a long time. Apparently base jumpers use this as a take off point and the free falling must be incredible (terrifying) with a wall of rock one side and nothing the other side! We forced our tired and aching legs to move once more and descended down, found our bus, jumped the ferry queue and then found a much needed coffee on board as the ferry pulled away. After docking, we stopped en route to our hotel to get dinner in a Chinese – located up some rather odd stairs, it was a large restaurant and fairly busy. The menu was big, the drink prices even bigger and the portions a good size – one mistake I made though was ordering spring rolls assuming they’d be vegetarian friendly as they are in the UK; they aren’t in Norway. Other than that, it was a decent meal and quite frankly I would have eaten a vegetarian friendly horse at that point!

Tips and Tricks:

Our Revolut cards worked everywhere as normal.

The totally free offline maps.me app works a treat as always

There are automated cameras on the bigger roads which automatically charge drivers using the AutoPASS system. If using a rental car, this will be charged to your card by the rental firm a few weeks after you take the car back. It won’t be a huge amount (depending on how much you drive) but keep this in mind when budgeting.

Definitely take the right kit for hiking. Lots of the places are remote with poor signal and very few people.

Stavanger, Norway We flew with BA from London Heathrow into Stavanger and it was one of the easiest check ins & boardings I've ever done - the gate wasn't announced until the plane was ready and then we simply strolled onto the plane rather than queuing in a crowded holding area like many other carriers seem to do.

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dailymusingsofamedic · 7 years

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2nd April - Bartók

Kossuth (1903) - https://open.spotify.com/album/1y4W6EtrHuZtazuj4fqs9D Tracks 35-44

Although there are a wealth of composers beginning with ‘B’, I chose Bartók because I wanted a complete contrast to the Allegri from yesterday, and I’ve just seen the suite from his Miraculous Mandarin performed and wanted to explore more of this 20th Century Hungarian chappy’s music. I’d never heard of Kossuth before embarking on this tame adventure and having heard it for the first time I assumed it was steeped in Hungarian mythology (as most tone poems I’ve heard before are). Alas, no, it’s about a politician Lajos Kossuth. Let’s hope there’s no budding composers planning to write a tone poem called ‘Trump’…

Above - Béla Bartók, originator of “Word Art”

The piece is continuous, but divided into 10 sections which I will take you through below.

1. Kossuth – The very opening chords could be straight from Sibelius. Then the horns come in and for some reason, even before knowing what it was about I knew this must be a work with some nationalism involved. Maybe it’s a horn thing? It’s a great introductory section, I like it.

2. Why are you so grieved, my dear husband? – Clarinet perhaps signifying this wife who only takes 1:10 to ask what’s wrong with her hubby. Perhaps it’s the looming Austrian takeover? I suppose we’ll never know. The end of the section he clearly starts getting a bit narked.

3. The Fatherland is in danger – Oh, this is why he’s narked. This is Bartók (albeit quite a Straussian Bartók). The start of the section is exciting and like “THE FATHERLAND IS IN DANGER”. The section finishes more like “oh shit, we’re doomed”.

4. Formerly we had a better life – a really beautiful string section, with some cheeky horn interjections to remind us that the fatherland probably is still in danger. The end of the section, really builds but the forte is very short-lived.

5. Then our fate changed for the worse – I’m getting the sense this piece isn’t overall positive. Not entirely sure what the odd little flute and clarinet passages are here. The flute sounds like an accident, and then the clarinet does the same thing. Then the drama comes back with a thickly scored swell towards the end of the section which dies away to some solo woodwind trills which can only indicate nastiness afoot (in my experience anyway)

6. Up and fight them! - The tempo picks up and this section is rhythmically much more secure than the music so far. It certainly sounds like a fight, and the strings are working hard.

7. Come, come! You splendid lads, you valiant Hungarian warriors! – A horn solo (maybe even a section solo, I can’t tell) that a few of my horn-ed colleagues would like to get stuck into I’m sure. Then a bit of Mahler 1 on the timpani. Then what is probably a Hungarian folk song (I’m just guessing here) goes through some development and suddenly it’s very loud. The Hungarian lads have come it would seem. This section is for me so much like the Bartók I’ve played before – really satisfying to listen to, my favourite part of the piece. By the end, the military references are strong, but the Hungarian lads seem rather spent after all that fighting. ☹

8. Untitled – Lots of grumbly low stuff. Then SUCH a good little fugue starting off with the bassoon section. It’s so meaty and good; makes me want to play the bassoon. Then rather unexpectedly, the climax of the piece comes, in the untitled section. Big blow for the brass. Lots more of that main theme. Low brass and trumpets have a little fight of their own. This is all really beefy music. Until there’s an Eb clarinet that goes off the rails (as they so often do). Suddenly, we’re in a dreamy, British sounding section with harp, high strings and flute. Hold on. The tuba has the tune. You go tuba. For several bars. So proud. Another climax, this time seems like one of those moments where the strings are working their absolute arses off but you can’t hear it a jot because everyone else is honking away. Bet it looks impressive on stage though. The standout section of the piece I think. Lots of contrast; but wait, here comes sad oboe to ruin everything.

9. All is over! – I presume Kossuth is dead? This is undeniably a funeral march. Some very interesting harmony going on in the trumpets though; not your usual funeral fanfare. You can tell it’s a state funeral…one would assume; it’s still pretty grand. I hate to say it but this section drags. The music’s not sad enough that I want to wallow in it, and not interesting enough that it requires this much repetitive development. It does have a sort of existential-crisis-at-a-funeral feel towards the end, but this only lasts about 20 seconds.

10. Everything is quiet, very quiet – Yes it is. Again, such an unsatisfying end to what’s been a great listen. Arguably worse than yesterday’s. I’m sure it’s symbolic and sad but I want more. It just fizzles out to nothing. I guarantee nobody knows whether to clap or not at the end of this piece.

Overall – 7/10 – I was going to give it an 8 but had to take away 1.5 points for sections 9 &10. I then added on a cursory half point for the tuba having the tune. I can do what I want ok? A good listen, and I will be listening again, thoroughly enjoyable Bartók – nice job. Now going to read about Hungarian politics in the late 1800s.

Above - Lajos Kossuth looking dreamy

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