Dark Alex's Really Long Post Thread.

[Alex]

The weekend arrives and this one is an especially welcome break from the working week.

Kristi has gone out to meet some friends. I am chilling out at home with Ash (who is currently sleeping. If he won't settle down for a sleep Kristi will generally hug and hold him until he does fall asleep. Me, well I put him in his cot, go in the man cave and put the music on loud enough that I can only just hear him crying and let him cry himself to sleep. To me he has to learn that sometimes he has to go to sleep under his own steam). As he gets quieter I'll check in on him, make sure he is ok and slowly turn the music down so I can still hear him until he is sleeping. of course his nap will only last maybe half an hour and then I'll have to feed him).

Having two of the missionaries visiting for dinner next week. Should I wear my Falklands tee shirt for it I wonder? :P

With our guests off to Edinburgh I managed to get some housework done with everyone else gone. Hoovered up, washed dishes, done laundry. I wanted to wash the windows too, but with it raining I didn't see the point. I have in fact washed so many dishes that I have ran out of room to wash any more and they all need to get put away before I can go and wash the rest.

[Alex]

Having a frustrating time in Ascendancy this weekend. The game consists of a number of star systems loosely strung together with jump points. Blue jump points are easy to travel through while red ones take longer. The area of the universe I am in seems to be roughly in the shape of an large 'O'. All the battles I am fighting are on one side of the large 'O' while my planets best suited to making ships are all on the other side of the 'O', so I make up ships and then have a journey of some weeks to get them somewhere useful.

Ah, got to love those logistics chains.

I've already exterminated one species (the Balifids, a sort of cute looking mouse type race with 3 tongues. They declared war on me and refused any of my offers of peace, even when they were down to one planet left and I had an enormous ship hovering over their planet ready to invade having destroyed all their orbital defences. Their ground forces are incapable of stopping mine (each race has a special power. Mines is that planetary invasions always succeed). I offered unconditional peace, but it was refused so I invaded).

Anyway, the Chomancies (bipedal lizards) also declared war on me. I have mostly been advancing into their space slowly (although they did kick me out of the last system I conquered on the way to finding their home planet and I am currently rebuilding my forces for another push (and hence the frustration with the big 'O'. Although I have been told that for some people high levels of frustration when trying to deal with a big 'O' are not uncommon).

[Alex]

Finally got to see the latest Avengers movie. Not as many superheroes died as I had been led to believe and I thought they'd actually die fighting Thanos not kind of just fade to dust. Blergh, I bet time gets turned back in the next movie and they are all back.

Watching a film called Dark Shock. It appears to be a low budget remake of Aliens, even using some of the same lines, only set in an abandoned Venice with costumes only the 80's could have unleashed. Also watched Logan and some other random movies. Got work tomorrow, but no enthusiasm for it. Spending the weekend tidying up the house seems to have killed my enthusiasm for more work.

Ash is continuing to growl in lieu of his normal gurgles but he has a big smile on his face while he does it so that is all ok right?

So now I am going to watch a film about a satanic unicorn instead. Pretty sure I know how Dark Shock finishes anyway.

[Alex]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0141m1f/quatermass-and-the-pit-1-the-halfmen

[Alex]

So large parts of the planet are going to become uninhabitable (to humans anyway) in decades according to a new report, unless we change our planet damaging ways. Somehow, I doubt we will do anything about it. People have too much faith in science and think some miracle way of repairing the damage is just around the corner. Besides having blind faith in science is no different to having blind faith in any other religion.

Or they deny there is a problem at all.

I do find it fairly mind boggling that people think we can wrought the changes we have done over thousands of years and that there would be no larger effect. I don’t expect the human race to come together in some sort of grand effort and work towards saving ourselves. That is the stuff of Hollywood.

Besides, I have high hopes for Frogtown come the apocalypse. All hail our new froggy overlords! And if Sahndal Bergman wants to dance, then who I am to say no.

After months of being tormented by James over her fear of moths, Liz discovered today that James has a fear of wasps when one flew into the room. Much revenge was had with James running around trying to get the wasp with a ruler and Liz taunting him.

1791 days left in the job. In 1791 the Bill of Rights (USA) was ratified, and Vermont was allowed in the union (USA). The Brandenburg gate was complete (Germany) and the Day of Daggers happened in France during one of their revolutions (it is a lot more boring than it sounds. People turned up somewhere with daggers, got disarmed and went home. Bunch of drama queens. I mean compare that to the German Night of The Long Knifes which had much more happening. Bloody cheese eating surrender monkeys. The French had a lot of revolutions, although only one seems to have made the news. And when they finally had a successful one to get rid of the king what did they do? The go and make someone an emperor instead). The steamboat was patented (although there were two separate claimants (USA)), the Magic Flute premiered and Mozart died (possibly killed by the guy from the (bloody awful) remake of ‘13 Ghosts’, but unlikely).

In Ascendancy I have pushed the bipedal lizard people back to their home world and have blockaded them in their home system while I send some of my fleet for repairs and upgrades before finishing that war. I also sort of provoked a war with another race because they were spoiling my view of a nebula. Just been doing a holding action against them but once the lizards are wiped out I’ll give them some serious attention. I have a whole other fleet that is doing nothing on the other side of the galaxy but standing guard. Maybe I should start a war over there just to give them something to do? Pretty sure there is an alien race just beyond my explored borders. Decided to get a bit lazy in ship to ship battles. Normally I fit my battleships with the biggest guns and engines out there and chase the enemy until they run out of fuel and then blow them up.

I feel Ryan Johnson owes me royalties for that tactic.

However, with my latest ships I’ve been equipping my ships with a device that drains the power of their engines so they can’t run away and I can just sit there and blow the hell out of them. For the occasions when the enemy ships decide to fire back, well I’ve equipped another gadget that blows up enemy weapons. I also have another toy that basically mind wipes the crew leaving them inexperienced. Of course, with any tactic there is one very important thing to consider. When you go to use a strategy against the enemy make sure you know exactly how to counter it should they decide to later use the same thing against you. When I was a teenager and war gaming competitively I lived by that motto. I had a very long undefeated streak (13 years) simply because I would use a new tactic for a few games, then my friends would try using it against me and I’d already know how to beat it. Never understood why they didn’t think ahead and come up with their own ways of beating me rather than trying to use mine against me.

I guess it is like when one player is clearly winning at Risk. The other players don’t ally together against him, instead fighting amongst each other to try and be strong enough to stand against the leader alone. Says a lot about human nature does Risk.

Going to Ash and Kristi to the doctors later. It is has last round of immunisations, although there is one that isn’t available in the UK that Kristi wants him to get when we are next in the US. Watching TV in the states has made me very wary of parts of the American medical system. I keep seeing 30-second-long adverts for assorted medicines for various conditions another 30 seconds of them listing all the possible side effects of the medication, which very often include the very condition they are designed to prevent oh, and death. The possibility of death seemed to come with every televised medicine. Yeah, this will cure your constipation, but you’ll bleed out from the heart due to arterial damage, liver and kidneys shut down, then you get to s**t yourself uncontrollably followed by an agonising death lying in a pool of your own excrement.

But hey, your constipation is now cleared out.

Based on my travels through various countries I have to say that isn’t normal (much like the sign outside Disneyland declaring that the park contains chemicals known to cause cancer), although I can see three possible reasons for such lengthy disclaimers. 1) The system is highly over regulated to avoid damage claims but doesn’t stop it so the rules get more complicated but the claims keep coming. 2) The system is highly under regulated but has a ‘healthy’ damages claim culture. 3) Things are just messed up. What the hey. All part of the fun of adjusting to other cultures. Compared to some other parts of the world… well there are a lot more messed up things out there in other countries. You should see the trouble I have in the middle east being left handed. One of these days I need to sit with Kristi and find out what she thinks is weird about the UK (other than its penchant for committing political and economic suicide).

I do assume that all those side effects are not that common, but when I watched the adverts it did not fill me full of confidence. But then being charged $1000 for a bunch of tests on Kristi when they couldn’t find anything wrong with her when we were on holiday, only to get a diagnosis of what was wrong within 30 seconds of a doctor’s appointment when we got back home may have biased me against it there. Plus, the problem we had getting the bill paid. The hospitals computers were not set up to take an address from outside the US. It took over a year to get it all sorted in the end. The money was there from the insurance company, we’d paid the excess but still this thing just dragged on and on. Kristi was (and still is) worried about it possibly affecting her chances of getting treatment in the US in the future.

Hmm, this post seems longer than most of my more recent ones. I should dedicate it to Trevor.

Thinking about going on a holiday back to Norway. I can find no other justification for it though beyond Oslo has some awesome geeky bookstores (one right outside the main train station). Don’t know if I can sell that one to Kristi. I should possibly give Denmark a go though, since we do have many friends from there who want us to go over and visit. I have technically been in Denmark before. I was flying elsewhere and according to the location tracker we were just over the north western most corner when I went for a poop.

Oh, and people from Denmark get very offended if you ask them “Isn’t Denmark the most northerly province of Germany?”

[Alex]

Another hot day is over in the office. Found out one of my bosses is moving onto the same street as me. Yay, I have not long gotten rid of my all my previous bosses out of my street. Ash is playing a game where I put him down on his back. He rolls over onto his belly and then starts crying until he gets put on his back. To distract him I've given him a stuffed Murloc to play with.

I really must start his man logic lessons soon.

Is there such a thing as fate? Are things predestined, or do we have a choice in things. Maybe we just think we are independent creatures. And if there is such a thing as fate how strong would one have to be to defy it and go their own way? 'Tis another quirk of human nature that people who believe themselves smart and not easily fooled are in truth the easiest people to fool. Mostly because they believe they can spot any con and are unaware of their own gulibility, or at least live in a constant state on denial. I think fate if it exists. Those who are most convinced they are in control of their actions would be the ones most easily controlled.

[indianasmith]

Caesar Augustus said:  "We write our names in the sands of time, and then the tide comes in and washes them away."

[Alex]

So, my big invasion fleet was all repaired, modernised and ready to finish a war that has been rumbling on for almost 2000 days. I clicked on the star system my ships were in and… they were all gone. I pulled up the status sheet for my fleets and somehow my entire main battle fleet had somehow been teleported back to my home system quite a few light years away. It is going to take a good bit of time to get back there giving the enemy time to rebuild. My victory against them at this point is still inevitable, but it is now going to take longer and involve more casualties.

Ash hasn’t quite been his usual self the past couple of days and doubtless his injections yesterday didn’t help his mood. Kristi had been sitting up with him from 2am until just after 5 when I took over. Managed to get him to sleep while I got ready for work by feeding him a bottle. Lifted him carefully to put him carefully in his cot just before I left the house and of course his eyes shot open and he was wide awake with a great big smile on his face that says I am awake, ergo the rest of the house must now wake up and attend to my every whim!

The big news in the UK is that a politician commented that women wearing a full burka look like letter boxes. Not a fan of Boris Johnson but I’d have to say, well fair comment. I don’t see it as Islamophobic. Slightly rude possibly?

Today marks 100 years since the start of the Battle of Amiens which marked the end of trench warfare in WW1, and ultimately the defeat of Germany. The soldiers actually fighting in the battle seem to have had no idea how close to losing Germany was, believing the war would go on for another year (ok, so it didn’t end until 1919 when the surrender was formally signed, but since fighting stopped in 1918 I think that it’s just a technicality). The German general in charge of the part of the front where the fighting was taking place described it as a black day for the German army as morale just collapsed and whole formations surrendered en-masse. Reinforcements heading to the front were yelled at by retreating German troops accusing them of prolonging the war. Tanks were used in massed formations and broke through the previously static trenches with easy (although after 4 days of fighting only 6 remained in a fully serviceable condition).

[Alex]

Police have arrested three people on suspician of killing a man shortly after his release from prison for torturing and murdering a baby 30 odd years ago.

Can't help thinking if they are guilty they should get some kind of civic award instead.

[RCMerchant]

Police have arrested three people on suspician of killing a man shortly after his release from prison for torturing and murdering a baby 30 odd years ago.

Can't help thinking if they are guilty they should get some kind of civic award instead.

Why do they even let people like that out???
They should execute them the day after they are convicted.

[Alex]

Finally got round to watching Horror and Hamsters. It is different, I'll give it that. Not that it is one that I am recommending to anyone.

Making Kristi watch it with me since she picked it though.

Going with Jim, Cameron, James and Adam to see The Meg tomorrow. Looking forward to that, although I don't have overly high expectations of it. I just want to see a giant shark movie on the big screen. Ash hass went to sleep early tonight. I suspect that just means that he'll be awake earlier in the morning.

[justme2013]

Finally got round to watching Horror and Hamsters. It is different, I'll give it that. Not that it is one that I am recommending to anyone.

Making Kristi watch it with me since she picked it though.

Going with Jim, Cameron, James and Adam to see The Meg tomorrow. Looking forward to that, although I don't have overly high expectations of it. I just want to see a giant shark movie on the big screen. Ash hass went to sleep early tonight. I suspect that just means that he'll be awake earlier in the morning.

Your prediction was correct, he was up early and was grumpy because of it.

[Alex]

I have a friend who (for a few years now) has decided that she is part of a particular cause and has been increasingly strident that people can either support her or get out of her life.

Trouble is while I may support her, I don’t really care about her cause and the more stridently she insists on other people being all for it, the less I feel like supporting it. I have been wondering what affect her actions are having on her family, particularly her husband who has been having some problems of his own. The exact area of this particular field she is involved with seems to change every couple of years. Kind of feels as if she is jumping from stance to stance like some sort of fad or fashion statement and I’ve mostly stopped paying attention. Kristi asked me what I thought of the latest thing the friend had said and I just kind of skim read it, shrugged my shoulders and told her I’d lost interest in trying to help out there.

If I decide to support a cause or a person then it is going to be because I have decided I want to. Not because I feel emotionally blackmailed into it. Especially when as I’ve mentioned I am worrying more about the effects on the people closest to her.

Then again, maybe I just don’t understand her situation. It isn’t something I have any experience of. Maybe I could be a better friend there. It could even be I am just tired of other people thinking that their problems and situations should be everyone else’s and the rest of the world can agree with them.

Doing another night shift will little work available. I am saving doing it until later and in the mean time I will sit here writing this. Lucky, you, you get to read my random wittering’s written in a desperate attempt to stave off boredom.

Ever noticed how quick people are to judge things from history from today’s standards? I wonder how many of them have ever considered what people from history would think of how we live and operate today? Would the suffragettes still have fought so hard to win the vote and equality if they could see women going out in skimpy clothing and getting so drunk they pass out on the street? I can’t presume to speak for them, I just wonder if they would think their struggle was worth it, or would they be horrified? I am not wondering about that one aspect of society. Just one example from a general consideration. There are many other examples out there. I generally believe that judging people from history in this way is a good indicator that this person has a lack of empathy.

Reminds me of a quote from a man involved in the Nuremberg trials.

“In my work with the defendants (at the Nuremberg Trails 1945-1949) I was searching for the nature of evil and I now think I have come close to defining it. A lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants, a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”
Quotation: Captain G. M. Gilbert, the Army psychologist assigned to watching the defendants at the Nuremberg trails.

Ash has learned how to eat his own foot. Not sure what to make of that, but I guess if he ever finds himself caught in a bear trap it might come in handy? Was having a bath earlier when I heard a cry of despair from Kristi. Ash had been sick all over both of them. I told her just to bring him through to me and put him in the bath with me. Since my baths are somewhat deeper and warmer than the ones he normally has I put him in very carefully watching for any sign of discomfort, but he seemed fine as I held him so he was effectively floating on top of the water. I’ve been teaching him how to splash in the bath and he decided the deeper water was perfect for kicking and splashing in. He has been a very happy baby all day, just laughing and giggling even while playing by himself or just lying in his cot. He didn’t want to take naps at his regular times through the day (he only sleeps for an hour tops at a time during the day, preferring to have long sleeps at night, which is something I am not going to complain about).

Kristi spent last night playing the new Warcraft expansion on opening night. It’s the first one I’ve not played and I didn’t have any real urge to go back and experience it. Blizzard did give me a weekends free playtime a couple of months back. All I did was log in, say hi to some friends and send all my gold to Kristi.

She can earn huge amounts of money in that game, but she always spends it on bloody shoes and making sure her outfits match.

Being colour co-ordinated does not make you invulnerable. No doubt if it did that fashion designer wouldn’t have gotten shot a few years back.

This isn’t the first time I’ve bailed her out financially in game, but I guess it will be the last time. Felt slightly odd not being in game myself, but not enough to make me want to play again. My days of keeping a bunch of suicidal nutters alive while they charge through lava pools, acid baths and poison clouds to attack some big bad guy seem to be over. Most players quit, come back and so on in an apparently endless cycle, but I just seem to have went straight to no more playing. I think 12 or 13 years on one game though is quite enough. I’ve made friends, enemies and lovers in game (and some who were all three), some of whom I will remain in touch with for a long time. I’ve had good times, but after 8 months of not playing I am satisfied I am not going to decide to go back no matter how much my wife and her friends try to convince me to start playing and go join their guild.

If anyone out there plays Total War: Warhammer II I wouldn’t mind doing a co-operative grand campaign though. It would be interesting to play that kind of game on that scale.

[Trevor]

This will cure your constipation, but you’ll bleed out from the heart due to arterial damage, liver and kidneys shut down, then you get to s**t yourself uncontrollably followed by an agonising death lying in a pool of your own excrement.

But hey, your constipation is now cleared out.

  + 

Hmm, this post seems longer than most of my more recent ones. I should dedicate it to Trevor.

 

[Alex]

Kristi was up at 5 am with Ash so letting her have a sleep this afternoon while I watch the baby. Of course this is being remarkably easy as he has decided to sleep too.

I am going to put that down as me being an awesome dad lol.

I'll need to be getting her up soonish. I start prepping for work at 15:00 and it is 14:25 right now. But I can let her sleep a bit longer yet.

Kristi for a while now has been trying to deal with a guy in her guild who is to all intents and purposes stalking their guild master (mistress? Not sure on the feminine of that one). Anyway, they had a guild meet where he wasn't going to be turning up and rented a house. Apparently he decided to then turn up and went into the GM's room and climbed into bed with her. After some discussion he has been kicked out of their guild and chat channels etc. Kristi wants to say "Look I told the GM everything that was going on. I've heard the real story of what happened at the guild meet and I no longer want to have any contact with you."

I've said, hell yes cut all contact with this guy but don't go telling him that you let the object of his affections know what he was saying to you. Just end things as simply as possible and walk away. I really, really hope she listens to me. From what she has said the guy clearly has issues and I don't need to be worrying that he is going to decide that it is all Kristi's fault this woman wants nothing to do with him and come up to settle the score with her. While I am sure I can protect her, I am not in the house all day and all night long. Even if I could get a gun, Kristi is not the type of person who could really use one. She talks with her hands too much which is never a good thing with firearms. Anyway, I made her promise me that she wouldn't tell him and if she has to talk to him at all to keep it to the absolute minimum and give him no extra information.