Dr. Gonzo

I think it's mental how after all the hype with Cyberpunk, CD: Project Red have done so much to erase the goodwill that was gained by The Witcher 3. And I think it's a bit of a shame because everyone I know that's played through Cyberpunk says it's actually a pretty good game. I just think they never really recovered from the PR fumble of it's launch (I still can't believe they sent out disc copies that had nothing printed on the second disc...) and you'd think after a PR disaster like their launch was, they'd do more to try to buy back some goodwill from fans by adding at least... something. I'm still looking forward to playing the game, but I've heard it's on it's way to Gamepass soon - so I'll probably try it out that way rather than actually purchasing it.

I tested positive just now

Fully agree with that. It blows my mind Mike Riley is now top of the referees in England. He was a referee that was at worst corrupt and at best completely incompetent. He should never have had the job and under his watch the officiating standards have massively slipped. He deserves the sack and hopefully that’ll be the last any of us ever hear about the fucker. Tierney deserves a lot of flak though. He’s like Atkinson, fatty Moss, and Coote - utterly shite.

I think it’s more of a joke that people like Poch get banned for telling the truth about our officials tbh.

Unlike last time he’s done something like this and been fined, this time Klopp’s received no punishment for telling Tierney to his face he’s a biased idiot that doesn’t understand football. Sadly he’ll probably still officiate our matches, but I don’t think he should be allowed to. At least not after a few months refereeing in league one.

Is German weed good? I didn’t know it’s being legalised there but that’s definitely compelling

I'd already lost much faith in the political system of the UK. And subsequently with Brexit and COVID... I'm feeling like my plans to move back home anytime in the next few years are pretty much dead. I don't really have regrets in moving away from home anymore. Granted, I've moved to the US and my already shaky faith in the US political system has been similarly been eroded to how I felt about the UK. Maybe I'll try Canada or Germany next.

It's a good question. I, obviously, don't have the answer - and I don't think any of us on here will. But I think society is at a tipping point because so many people, myself included, are fed up with all of these extra rules put on us for the sake of protecting people that've had almost a year to go get their jabs. And now we're seeing the surge of a variant that is spreading like wildfire regardless of whether people are vaccinated or not - and while we're seeing that people who were fully vaccinated are much more likely to recover quickly (and fully)... it does beg the question: what's the point of all of this if we can all still get it? Why should we put restrictions on our lives when there's people who've decided they will take the calculated risk of getting the virus without protection, simply because those people - who've taken that risk - may be put in more precarious health positions than those who haven't taken that risk? At what point do we accept that people have taken a risk and let them live with the consequences of that risk? For me, I feel a bit callous in saying it, but that time is now. Anyone, vaccinated or not can get the illness, so with the vast majority of people we're talking about people who've willingly decided to go about life taking the maximum possible risk with COVID. But as a counterpoint, I think a good reason to continue with restrictions despite most unvaccinated people having willingly taken that risk is: to protect young children. Because young children aren't able to get the vaccine just yet - in many places it hasn't been approved for children of lower ages. Should they risk getting an illness that can potentially last a long time/can leave long term effects (some of which we don't really understand fully yet) that can potentially last the rest of their lives, just because we as a society have utterly failed at working together as a global community to stop the virus spreading? I'm not so sure that young children should be put at risk. At the same time, I'm not sure we should be protecting adults from the risks they've decided to take. So, like I said... it's a good question!

I think it's one thing for doctors to just say things like that compared to political leaders. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you - only one side of the argument is supported by science & the other side is supported by insane shit on the internet. There will always be conspiracy theorists and fringe weirdos on the extreme ends of any country's political spectrum. But in a time of fractured partisan politics - further division is an awful way to get people to move away from the fringe. It's just going to further entrench those views by the people who have those views, while political leaders need to be trying to pull people away from the fringe. One American party has already been taken over entirely by the politics of division - losing the second party to the same thing in a two party system is not good. Especially when it's looking like the insane party is probably going to make big gains in the midterm elections.

But tbf that whole "think the way I do or die" is the kind of political discourse/rhetoric that got America into the situation it's in presently. It's like Trump or senators like Rand Paul voting to deny federal relief for natural disasters in places like California, New Jersey (because they don't vote the way republicans like) or Puerto Rico (which is a weird one for republicans to deny because... Puerto Rico is actually pretty conservative), but then immediately demanding federal aid if disaster strikes somewhere like Kentucky. Americans need to realise that they're on the same team. Democrats and Republicans should both want what's best for Americans because their job is to lead America. American political culture makes it's way into the UK, Australia, and probably other places. So seeing that this kind of division get further normalised really does not bode well for the rest of the Anglo-sphere.

Russia's cutting the flow of gas to Europe by 83% - at a time where demand is particularly high. I'm assuming this is a warning to the EU - to not interfere with their plans to fuck with Ukraine.

I doubt Trump would ever say anything that overtly pro-vaccination tbh. The most recent times he's made public appearances he's tried to encourage his crowds to get vaccinated, then gets booed, and then tries to walk back his pro-vaccine statements. But I agree with you if you're saying that the standard of political discourse has dropped - the bar's been lowered that the White House makes a divisive statement like that and nobody really bats an eyelid. But it's not exactly the greatest way to encourage people to get vaccinated at all. But that's how US politics is now. Divisive and not really well thought out.

On ranked playlists you can turn it off, but not the social playlists. It's a bit annoying, but so far I haven't run into any instances of brazen cheating. It also might be the one game where there's crossplay where PC players insist that players using controllers have an advantage (controllers gives you a really slight aim assist compared to KB/M - but it's VERY slight & it depends on what your sensitivity settings are). Tbf I've not played on PC or with a keyboard/mouse (because apparently I can plug a keyboard/mouse into my xbox and play that way) - so I can't verify that.

In normal situations I'd agree with you, but tbh... I think Arsenal have had issues with player leadership for a very long time tbh. Probably since Henry left... but even then, you can make the argument he wasn't the best leader and was inspiring to other Arsenal players purely because he was Thierry Henry - arguably the best premier league player ever... and if you make that argument (or buy into it) then they've had issues with player leadership since Vieira. And obviously, as far as captains go, there's few bigger leaders that leave bigger shoes to fill than Vieira - so maybe that's why it's been so tough for them. But as talented as Aubamayang is at his best, I don't think he inspires players in the same way playing with someone like Henry would. And I certainly don't think he's got the steely resolve to guide a side through tough moments the way a side like Arsenal needs a leader (and historically in their best moments, Wenger or not, Arsenal were a side that honestly had leaders all over the pitch). And I think that's why in big matches when the going gets tough for Arsenal... things just really seem to fall apart for them year after year. They just don't have the same mentality as other sides that have as much quality on paper as they do. Because I think Arsenal, for the most part, have a good squad. I just think they sorely lack the right kind of mentality and character to be the club they used to be. I think Arteta's making slow progress with Arsenal, which is understandable... it's actually a massive job for his first role in management and he's going to be learning a shitload on the job. And I think he's improved Arsenal pretty markedly if you just look at how they were when before he joined and where they are now - but he's still struggling with some of the same issues that plagued predecessors and left them in this state. But they've got a very young squad, which means with a player or two with the right mentality added to the mix, he's got a squad that can be molded into having the right sort of mentality to compete at the top again. So I think it's absolutely the right call to make the decision to strip a captain that's... really not a great example for this young squad - regardless of how much natural talent he may/may not have. Because the right players in leadership roles in a squad can make an understated impact on the mentality of a side. And really at the top level, I think mentality is just as important as talent. And I do think this Arsenal side has a fair bit of talent.

Out of Lacazette or Xhaka... I think it'd have to go to Lacazette personally. Don't get me wrong, I think Xhaka is a decent player and sort of has an unfair reputation because of a few moments of madness in high profile moments (a bit like Dejan Lovren in his time with us tbh - a good defender that's reputation is maybe not as high as it perhaps should have been)... but I think it's hard to make the "new" captain a former captain who was stripped of his captaincy, imo for decent reasons. He's also been close to leaving the club at least once, he famously got upset with upset Arsenal fans the last time he was captain and I'm not sure he's been fully forgiven large swathes of Arsenal fans... and lastly, just on the pitch I'm not sure a player that is as wildly inconsistent as Xhaka is the best player to have as a captain. Tbf, Lacazette is also pretty inconsistent - but I feel like he's also one of the underrated harder workers in the Arsenal squad. So even if he's not having the best game, he's still putting in a shift and being a good example to the rest of his teammates. But I think the most sensible option is to go long-term with it. Smith-Rowe might not be 100% ready to be Arsenal captain now, but he's the future of Arsenal - as long as he keeps his development up and avoids horrific injury issues. I think giving him the captaincy would be similar to Houllier making Gerrard the captain at a young age (although I think he was a couple years older than Smith-Rowe is currently). Imo Arsenal should be looking to build around him and I think long-term making him "Mr. Arsenal" will be good for his development as a player and as a leader. The counterpoint to this is: it's maybe a lot of pressure to put on a young player and there's no guarantee that being a very good midfielder means he'll be Arsenal's version of Stevie G.

Tbh it’s just another benefit for them getting kicked out of a tournament nobody actually cares about. Reduces that fixture pileup they’ve managed to avoid so far

This weekend a Democrat senator from West Virginia went on Fox News and basically said “I’m killing Biden’s presidency” when Joe Manchin said he wasn’t going to vote for the build back better bill (big infrastructure spending bill). With democrats like this, the senate might as well still be Republican controlled. Not that it matters because in 2 years I suspect the senate will firmly be back in the hands of the republicans

Why is ethnonationalism taking hold seemingly everywhere? World War I should have taught people the dangers of rampant nationalism. But ethnonationalism is particularly dangerous because there’s a high likelihood of genocidal actions taking place when you’ve got that shit spreading like wildfire

I think they’ve forced crossplay on it, so you don’t know who’s on console or PC. So far I haven’t seen any obvious cheating. Unless that’s why I’ve been so shit! I don’t think it is why I’ve been so shit though. I just need to improve my aim with the controller, because right now my aim is dogshit.

Yeah it's on PC as well - I think it's still free for PC

I'm a big fan of the Halo multiplayer & have played them all since Halo 2 - and I think Infinite has the best multiplayer since 2 or 3 (I liked 5, but it's not as good as those two or Infinite and 4 was totally shite). I'm just nowhere near as good at the Halo multiplayer anymore as I used to be - but I'm slowly getting back to it. If you're into Halo's, I'd check Infinite out. The multiplayer is free too.

The Halo: Infinite campaign is great. I'm still pretty shit at the multiplayer - but I'm gradually getting better.

I did my best to follow as many of the rules as possible and I know a lot of people who did the same.

They run in the family - my dad's always gotten them his whole life, I started getting them in my teenage years. I also get stomach migraines from time to time. I tend to get them whenever there's a big change in the weather but also I think stress/lack of sleep can sometimes cause them. If I'm drinking a lot of water and getting good sleep, I tend to have months where I'm not suffering from them very much (if at all). But getting good/regular sleep has been something I've struggled with a lot in my life tbh. I think certain foods can also trigger them sometimes. Some months I get a shitload of migraines, some I barely get any. I've seen doctors for it and I have a medicine prescribed to me I can take for them. It really only works if I can catch that a migraine is coming on pretty early though - but it's definitely saved me numerous times in my life.

Sounds like a migraine, I get at least 2 a month. They are awful. They can get so bad you basically lose sight in an eye and nothing really fixes it other than sleep tbh.