on my next turn, which would be better? I could get to Gil and heal her, or i could cast Spiritual Weapon on Istrinis or the other mage and that can be attacking while I heal Gil next turn.
or i could Flame Strike both mages for 11d6.
Where is the choir? I think Janosz probably killed that last ghost that isnt halted.
I'd like to heal Ez's blindness, and i have Break Enchantment prepared, but it is a 1min cast time so it'll have to wait.
Oh i got confused with banshees/ghosts
Yeah, I think it is reasonable to assume you don't know Gil needs help, anyway. Concentrate on the foes.
Heads up,
My posts will be sparing for the next day. I will be flying on a trip. The trip will be mostly leisure, but I will be working via phone/laptop. As such, I will still have time to post.
If you are one of those folks that has estimated the approximate times I am typically online, I will be on at different times. Five hour time zone difference will have me signing off five hours early, but also a drastically reduced work schedule will have me begin posting much earlier.
Sorry for being incommunicado; just ending the school year. I should be posting regularly now during the summer.
i could use the natural armor if no one else wants it
|
What do you guys think here? Lets note where this is going before we move on and forget about it.
(Kaz or Gil) - scroll of Mass Cause Serious Wounds (CL 11)
(Kaz or Gil) - scroll of Divine Power (CL 7)
(Kaz) - +1 Amulet of Natural Armour
(Gil?) - Lesser Metamagic Rod of Enlarge Spell
Gil has a lot of short range spells so she might get the most use out of this.
(Party Loot) - +1 returning dagger
(Party Loot) - +1 Cloak of Resistance
Sounds good to me.
I have Divine Power as a commonly prepared spell, so the scroll can go to someone else, especially since it is lower CL than I, which weakens the buff.
Gelb might be a better candidate for the Divine Power scroll. He's more likely to be in the mix, I think. I'm fine with the suggestions, however.
Gelb will gladly take the scroll.
What do you guys think here? Lets note where this is going before we move on and forget about it.
(Kaz or Gil) - scroll of Mass Cause Serious Wounds (CL 11)
(Kaz or Gil) - scroll of Divine Power (CL 7)
(Kaz) - +1 Amulet of Natural Armour(Gil?) - Lesser Metamagic Rod of Enlarge Spell
Gil has a lot of short range spells so she might get the most use out of this.(Party Loot) - +1 returning dagger
(Party Loot) - +1 Cloak of Resistance
So adjusting....
(Gil) - scroll of Mass Cause Serious Wounds (CL 11)
(Gelb) - scroll of Divine Power (CL 7)
(Kaz) - +1 Amulet of Natural Armour
(Gil) - Lesser Metamagic Rod of Enlarge Spell
(Party Loot) - +1 returning dagger
(Party Loot) - +1 Cloak of Resistance
How's that?
looks good to me. will annotate the amulet on my sheet
Rodergo gives Janosz a very beady look.
Totally unnecessary butting-in here as I catch up on what I've missed, but this gave me the very weird mental image of Maxwell Smart as Rodergo. Just thought I'd share that with you all. Anyways, back to reading!
|
|
Rodergo gives Janosz a very beady look.Totally unnecessary butting-in here as I catch up on what I've missed, but this gave me the very weird mental image of Maxwell Smart as Rodergo. Just thought I'd share that with you all. Anyways, back to reading!
Dang KC. You have astonishing perseverance to have kept up with this pbp for so many years considering our pace is often... leisurely. ;) Cheers.
|
|
For anyone casually interested, there appears to be a full on run on the Greek banks going on right now. Since last night when Tsipras declared no deal and he would have the people vote on whether he should take the deal more than a week after the final deadline (while urging them not to vote for it) there have been long lines at ATMs throughout the city and suburbs until 3am and starting again at 8am.
Banks will almost certainly not open on Monday.
|
It all depends on if the ECB continues to provide liquidity support to the Greek banks - which it might, or might not. I feel a bit sorry for the Greeks - they have not been well served by their politicians. Though my sympathy is tempered by the fact they voted for the last few lots, and arguably got what they deserved as a result.
|
|
I may be wrong, and I hope I am, but I think Greece will end up voting no on this referendum. The majority do not understand what is at stake, they are being boldly lied to by Syriza, and the tv media here exists primarily as a mouthpiece for whoever is in power.
-Many many people think 'I don't have much in the bank so it isn't going to hurt me.'
-Syriza is telling everyone that voting No does not mean Greece will leave the Euro, but that it will give him a stronger bargaining position to help them.
-They have been blatantly lied to about what the terms of the agreement that Syriza has rejected are.
-It is being referenced everywhere as another "Oxi" day (Oxi=No) when Greece proudly voted not to let Italy occupy parts of Greece during WWII and went to war.
I'm working on immigration paperwork for Mrs Ith as I type this in preparation.
immigration paperwork to come to the states? or anywhere else, i hope? sounds pretty bad over there.
|
|
Yeah, Greece is basically toast if they vote no. And fairly toasty if they vote yes, unfortunately. The big worry now is if (when) the ECB pulls the plug, what will happen. By voting for Syriza the Greeks have already fallen to populism and are flirting with extremism. What happens once Syriza really f*!~s up the economy, what with Golden Dawn lurking in the background and Tsipras cosying up to Putin, god alone knows. Another failed state in the Mediterranean - yay! But yes, not a place to linger if you can get out - I can't see Greece really having much future at all with the current conditions and leadership.
Of course, I recall one of our euro-enthusiastic politicians here in the UK urging us to join the euro, saying that if we didn't there could be war in Europe. I can easily see a scenario now where everything goes to hell in Europe because of the financial strictures imposed by the euro coupled with the incompetence and clientelism of the Southern European politicians. It's both depressing and worrying, especially when you have a young child. I might be following you to the States at this rate.
|
|
I have a lot of very radical friends (a representative, randomly selected FB post today: "I never realized that football's history is directly tied to the settle-colonial genocide of native people in the mid-west and west and the development of the boarding school system of forced integration and cultural genocide"), and most of them are positively giddy with excitement about "the restoration of people's democracy to Europe" that is supposed to happen after the Grexit. It is, frankly, a bit unnerving to listen to.
I might be following you to the States at this rate.
Hey, have fun with that.
I think the Euro is, in its essence, a decent idea, but it requires that all member states have the same economic priorities. A Eurozone of Germany, France, the Low Countries and, yes, the United Kingdom would have worked great. Including the southern member states and the new East European members was a huge overreach, though.
dang, that article is eye-opening. I feel like 85,000 is not enough people to let in legally each year. That number should scale with time.
|
|
I have a lot of very radical friends (a representative, randomly selected FB post today: "I never realized that football's history is directly tied to the settle-colonial genocide of native people in the mid-west and west and the development of the boarding school system of forced integration and cultural genocide"), and most of them are positively giddy with excitement about "the restoration of people's democracy to Europe" that is supposed to happen after the Grexit. It is, frankly, a bit unnerving to listen to.
Your radical friends are idiots. The current system in Greece is biased towards insiders, which is all well and good when things are ticking over but makes the economy very inefficient and rigid when things go bad, which is what has happened in Greece (and to a lesser extent in other southern European countries). I can't think of anything more fundamentally anti-freedom and undemocratic than this system of vested interests that Syriza seem interested in propping up. I guess it depends upon your faith in the power of government, but right now Greece has more than a whiff of that other workers' paradise, Venezuela, only without the oil.
The big worry would be if Greece votes No and crashes out of the euro, because then Syriza will have the benefits of a devaluation which will provide a temporary fix and could postpone necessary economic reform, prolonging the situation. After the obliteration of the banking sector, of course. The Eastern European countries have undergone similar wrenching recessions and "austerity" but at least took the opportunity to reform and have adapted to the strictures of the euro zone. Greece seems intent (to date) in refusing to accept that. However, I take heart from the fact that reported the Yes rally in Athens(?) had a bigger turnout than the No rally and that in the rain. Syriza (or elements within it) seems intent on bumping Greece out of the euro by stealth and hopefully that won't happen.
Here endeth today's lecture/rant.
|
|
As you know I'm on holiday at the end of the week. As usual, I've got stuff to do at home (or more specifically, in the garden, where I bought a load of plants and need to stick them in the ground before we go on holiday, lest the heat turn them into little withered sticks in their pots by the time we get back) and to a lesser extent at work (though that is largely done). Sorry for being a bit quiet the last few days. I'm hoping to set things up properly in the games before I go away.
So, I am wondering now that this stuff has come up (and actually has hit the radio here in America despite the various celebrity goings-on), what does the Euro really do for Europe?
As far as I understand (which isn't much, I imagine), it is just a singular form of currency for the affected nations to share?
|
|
You are more than a little right about bumping them out by stealth. I polled coworkers today just out of curiosity. 100% voting No. That is representative of nothing really as the sample is tiny, but my god the reasons they gave. I ended up having an argument with a guy who told me that the referendum only refers to the current deal offered and that if Greece votes no the EU will have to offer something better. He refused to hear anything about a No vote leading to an exit from the Euro and doesn't believe it at all. And that is exactly what Syriza has been telling people. In fact the question on the referendum has been phrased in a way that will deliberately confuse people. And if I understood what Mrs Ith was telling me yesterday, due to a use of a negative statement in the question the "Yes" and "No" that everyone are campaigning for are actually reversed in effect. So for example by marking "Yes" I affirm that I want to refuse the offer of the EU.
EDIT: This seems like a misunderstanding on my part. I think she was referring to the fact that they listed "No" as the first choice and "Yes" underneath.
There has been a theory from the beginning that Tsipras has never had any intention of making a deal. That he is engaging in the theater of making a deal to keep positive poll numbers while his ultimate goal is an exit and restructuring Greece as a communist country. It used to seem crazy. Not so much this week especially as his party is demanding that they seize the banks and start nationalizing everything.
|
|
So, I am wondering now that this stuff has come up (and actually has hit the radio here in America despite the various celebrity goings-on), what does the Euro really do for Europe?
As far as I understand (which isn't much, I imagine), it is just a singular form of currency for the affected nations to share?
Yes. When they were introducing it the benefits did seem fairly small - reduction in transaction costs across borders - compared with the potential hazards (pretty much akin to what has actually played over the last ten years or so). However, the euro was always really a political, rather than economic, project. It was intended as part of "ever closer union" (one of the EUs tenets, roughly equating to increasing integration between member states) and also to provide Europe with the benefits of having a reserve currency like the US dollar (which basically boils down to being able to borrow cheaply and easily, particularly governments).
But the problems are that borrowing costs in euros converged, so that places like Greece could borrow on the same terms and rates as places like Germany, leading to unsustainable booms in badly structured economies which then collapsed in the wake of the financial crisis. Having done so, these countries discovered they could not devalue to regain competitiveness because they were locked in a currency with other countries, at a stroke removing one of the key mechanisms for stabilizing an economy in crisis. They also discovered they couldn't print money for to prop up their banks, because that ability had been instead granted to the European Central Bank which was banned from doing so (at the insistence of the Germans, who were terrified of the potential inflationary consequences). Nor could they set their own interest rates to match the prevailing national circumstances, the euro interest rate being set based on Europe-wide conditions. And the EU-wide mechanisms for dealing with the crisis as it unfolded were totally inadequate to non-existent - no real mechanisms for providing financial aid or accommodative monetary policy, for example - so the EU and the national governments have had to improvise and argue their way through a long process of can-kicking-along-the-road until now the existential crisis of Greece has finally crystalised.
So yeah, it might have worked with the right countries and the right policies, but it didn't get either and now we are heading into uncharted waters. Because while Greece by itself doesn't really matter a whole lot to the EU - it's a tiny proportion of its population and GDP - if it looks like the euro is not forever, as originally anticipated, then what about much larger countries like Italy, which has the largest euro government bond issuance in the world?
Two rants in one day. I'm on a roll.
Yikes. Thanks for the info, it sounds pretty bleak. Hopefully the EU can learn from this for the next time they adopt a broke country
|
|
At its most basic level, the entire point of the EU is to take the poorer countries of Europe and pull them up to the level of its more affluent members - the idea being that rich, satisfied countries are less likely to go to war against each other. The EU even got the Nobel Peace Prize for this a few years ago. Thus, even though it looks like a mostly economic organisation, its purpose is political (in addition to that, there's of course also the debate whether economics and politics are separate things). This - i.e. Germany, France and Holland paying for the economic development of Southern and Southeastern Europe - worked fairly well until things suddenly got difficult for everyone with the big recession.
The East European members have done all kinds of painful things to qualify for EU and Euro membership; in the long run, that'll do them a lot of good. Greece, on the other hand, seems to have acted mostly in bad faith. However, the real worry here isn't Greece, but rather Italy, as well as Spain and Portugal. It is probably in the EU's best interest to step on Greece's neck and make an example of them to convince the bigger and more important member economies to not even consider trying to mess wit the Euro. Seeing that Syriza now seems to be backtracking a bit, I think they may realise that too.
|
|
The thing I find a bit disappointing in the wake of the financial crisis and onward up until now is that your radical friends, and others like them, are basically right that there are big problems regarding inequality and the not-unrelated problem of a rather unholy alliance between politicians and big business. However, most of the people who care enough about it and want to change it are normally lefty Trots and their prescriptions vary from useless to positively pernicious. The people who know what to do are the people who benefit - bankers, hedge fund managers, politicians, CEOs - and so have a vested interest in the status quo.
The thing I find a bit disappointing in the wake of the financial crisis and onward up until now is that your radical friends, and others like them, are basically right that there are big problems regarding inequality and the not-unrelated problem of a rather unholy alliance between politicians and big business. However, most of the people who care enough about it and want to change it are normally lefty Trots and their prescriptions vary from useless to positively pernicious. The people who know what to do are the people who benefit - bankers, hedge fund managers, politicians, CEOs - and so have a vested interest in the status quo.
you wont find much different from that in the US though. Except for the fact we aren't rioting over the euro. Mostly just arguing over racism and pieces of cloth, and whom one wants to be romantically engaged with.
EDIT: amusing related picture here
|
|
We'll be in Crete for a couple of weeks starting tomorrow afternoon. I imagine I'll have wifi and be around at least once a day, but if you find yourself waiting on me be free to take my turn.
Ezreal should still have overland flight running (12 hour duration) and can use storm bolt to harass the zombies as long as it isn't too dangerous. If the room is high enough he could stay above them and out of reach.
