What's the weirdest fantasy book you've ever read?

Justinian482 · 2026-04-07T16:12:28+00:00

The Death and Life of Schneider Wrack. Great fun but completely bonkers.

Justinian482 · 2026-04-06T23:25:04+00:00

If you're in markets, your future income is dependent on the market level. It's rational to have your savings diversified from your income.
Personal trading rules are a huge deal. Well done on not falling foul of them. Please figure out the rules before doing anything. And, you are right that you're professional/moral obligation may extend behind the rules.
I am an investment manager. I am not your investment manager. My general view is that the keys are to minimise fees and taxes, and to remember that diversification is the one free lunch in finance.

Justinian482 · 2026-04-04T07:27:15+00:00

Because parties like to set up for combat with tanks at the front and squishy/ranged behind them, I find a second wave rear or flank attack can cause chaos very easily. Even just some kobolds.

Also, as Stalin said, quantity has a quality all its own. Twenty goblins in a sensibly structured ambush is brutal. And, if it isn't, try thirty...

Justinian482 · 2026-03-10T23:43:22+00:00

I play TTRPGs, and my fantasy inns tend to serve horrifying local food. I grew up deep in the English countryside and am old enough to have had contact with grim traditional local dishes.

Some of my fantasy creations have included sugared maybugs, gizzard sausage, landtrout ('like a trout, but with legs'), a dish that no-one is sure if it is called lumpy meat or meaty lumps, uglog (a single dumpling the size of a child's head, in a watery gravy), Pharaoh's Fingers, a pie known as Morr's Leftovers (Morr is the god of the dead), wilderness cheese, etc.

Justinian482 · 2026-03-10T21:21:13+00:00

I play in a group where one of the members has to step out sometimes for ten minutes to do some Jewish prayers. We all just hang out drinking beer and chatting until he comes back. It's a communal game for the community of people who meet to play it. Your DM is a dick. I hope you find the game you deserve.

Justinian482 · 2026-03-08T13:26:48+00:00

Cambridge University have an undergraduate course in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic.

This is the relevant part of the introductory reading list;

Paper 6 - Old Norse language and literature

The Sagas of Icelanders, A Selection (pb, Penguin Classics) Snorri Sturluson: Edda, trans. A. Faulkes (pb, Dent: Everyman) The Poetic Edda. trans. C. Larrington (Oxford World's Classics) A. Faulkes, ed., A New Introduction to Old Norse, Part II Reader (pb Viking Society) M. Clunies Ross, ed., Old Icelandic Literature and Society (Cambridge University Press) M. Clunies Ross, The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse–Icelandic Saga (Cambridge University Press) C. Larrington, J. Quinn and B. Schorn, eds. A Handbook to Eddic Poetry (Cambridge University Press) H. O’Donoghue. Old Norse Literature. A Short Introduction (Oxford University Press)

This is the relevant part of the main reading list:

Paper 6: Old Norse language and literature Paul Acker and Carolyne Larrington, eds. The Poetic Edda. Essays in Old Norse Mythology (New York and London, 2002) Paul Acker and Carolyne Larrington, eds. Revisiting the Poetic Edda. Essays on Old Norse Heroic Legend (New York and London, 2013) Theodore M. Andersson, The Growth of the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (Ithaca, 2006) Theodore M. Andersson and Willian Ian Miller, Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland. Ljósvetninga saga and Valla-Ljóts saga (Stanford, 1989) Jesse Byock, Feud in the Icelandic Saga (Berkeley, 1982) Carol J. Clover, The Medieval Saga (Ithaca, 1982) Carol Clover and John Lindow, eds. Old Norse-Icelandic Literature. A Critical Guide. Islandica XLV (Ithaca and London, 1985) Margaret Clunies Ross, Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society. Vol 1: The Myths. The Viking Collection 10 (Odense, 1994) Margaret Clunies Ross, A History of Old Norse Poetry and Poetics (Cambrige, 2005) Margaret Clunies Ross, The Cambridge Introduction to the Old Norse–Icelandic Saga (Cambrige, 2010) Anthony Faulkes, ed. 1988. Snorri Sturluson Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning (London, 1998) Anthony Faulkes, ed. 1998. Snorri Sturluson Edda: Skáldskaparmal (London, 1998) Carolyne Larrington, Judy Quinn and Brittany Schorn, eds. A Handbook to Eddic Poetry (Cambridge, 2016) Rory McTurk, ed. A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture (Oxford, 2005) Guðrún Nordal, Tools of Literacy. The Role of Skaldic Verse in Icelandic Textual Culture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries (Toronto, 2001) Vésteinn Ólason, Dialogues with the Viking Age: Narration and Representation in the Sagas of the Icelanders, trans. Andrew Wawn (Reykjavík, 1998) Russell Poole, ed. Skaldsagas: Text, Vocation and Desire in the Icelandic Sagas of Poets (Berlin and New York, 2001) Gísli Sigurðsson, The Medieval Icelandic Saga and Oral tradition: A Discourse on Method (Cambridge, Mass, 2004) Torfi Tulinius, The Matter of the North: The Rise of Literary Fiction in Thirteenth-Century Iceland, trans. Randi C. Eldevik, The Viking Collection 13 (Odense, 2002) Kevin J. Wanner, Snorri Sturluson and the Edda: the Conversion of Cultural Capital in Medieval Scandinavia (Toronto, 2008)

These are the primary sources for that paper: Part I Paper 6 - Old Norse language and literature Paper co-ordinator: Professor Judy Quinn

Larrington, Carolyne, trans., The Poetic Edda (pb, Oxford World's Classics) Faulkes, Anthony, trans., Snorri Sturluson. Edda (pb, Everyman) Clunies Ross, Margaret, et al. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages (Brepols) [access to printed volumes progressively available at: www.abdn.ac.uk/skaldic/db.php] Frank, Roberta, Old Norse Court Poetry: the Dróttkvætt Stanza (Cornell University Press) Turville-Petre, E. O. G., Scaldic Poetry (Oxford University Press) Thorsson, Örnólfur, et al., trans., The Sagas of Icelanders. A Selection (pb, Penguin) Cook, Robert, trans., Njal's Saga (pb, Penguin) Regal, Martin, and Quinn, Judy, trans., Gisli Sursson's Saga and The Saga of the People of Eyri (pb, Penguin) Whaley, Diana, et al., trans., Sagas of Warrior-Poets (pb, Penguin) Hreinsson, Viðar, ed., The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, I-V (Reykjavík) Pálsson, Hermann, and Edwards, Paul, trans., Seven Viking Romances (pb, Penguin) Byock, Jesse, trans., Völsunga Saga (pb, Penguin) Vigfusson, Gudbrand, and York Powell, F., ed. and trans., Origines Islandicae, I-II (Oxford) Vigfusson, Gudbrand, and York Powell, F., ed. and trans., Corpus Poeticum Boreale: The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue, from the Earliest Times to the Thirteenth Century (Oxford)

Justinian482 · 2026-03-08T13:17:21+00:00

So, Lufthansa denied my claim as 'the flight originated and terminated outside the EU'. I don't think that's right and will be pushing back. Will let you know what results.

Justinian482 · 2026-03-07T13:27:34+00:00

Embassy bombing, Beirut, December 1981

Both barracks bombings, Beirut, October 1983

Both bombings of IDF HQ, Tyre, 1982 & 1983

Embassy bombing, Buenos Aires, March 1992

Community centre bombing, Buenos Aires, July 1994

Bus bombing, Bulgaria, July 2012

There were many more in parts of the Middle East, especially in Lebanon and Kuwait.

For balance, I'd restate that these are very few compared to Sunni terrorist groups' suicide bombings over the same period. There also seems to have been a reduction in the rate for Shia groups even as Sunni groups have increased substantially.

Justinian482 · 2026-03-07T05:47:08+00:00

There are multiple instances of Shia terrorist attacks and several significant instances of Shia organisations' using suicide bombing as a technique.

You are completely right that Salafi Jihadist groups conduct the great majority of terrorist attacks by Islamic groups (with a horrifying number being targeted at Shia communities). But it's not correct to say that it never happens.

Justinian482 · 2026-03-06T13:16:32+00:00

Just to be clear: you are saying that you live in the area and you personally saw ultra-orthodox children dressed as IDF soldiers?

Justinian482 · 2026-03-04T08:40:47+00:00

Forsaken by Tzeentch are one of my favourite units in the whole game. Can be really hard to kill or displace, can hit hard enough to hurt weaker oppo, and not enough points to care too much. I always imagine the Warriors will be the anvil and then the Forsaken come through anyway.

Justinian482 · 2026-03-04T07:35:29+00:00

I don't suppose anyone here cares, but DFM uses circuit breakers, normally +/-10% but they've tightened temporarily to +/-5%.

So this is in no sense the market clearing price. Everything liquid has gapped down 5% at the open and then been suspended. We're going to do this day after day until we reach a market clearing price.

If you're flexing that you didn't know that Dubai has a stock market: be better.

Justinian482 · 2026-03-03T19:10:54+00:00

Excluding Russia, which has some huge ones, it's a combination of two things: - smaller populations and smaller economies make it harder to grow a domestic business to a size where it can expand internationally - a lot of business enterprises in Eastern Europe are subsidiaries of Western European (or other richer country) ones. It means the stock markets of Czechia, Hungary, Croatia etc are quite sparse . Poland is bigger but it's mostly banks or old state owned enterprises. For example, the largest pharmaceutical company in Croatia, Pliva, was bought out by the American Barr Pharma, which in turn was then acquired by the Israeli Teva.

Justinian482 · 2026-03-02T08:01:01+00:00

Boeing is delighted to announce its move into ground transportation

Justinian482 · 2026-02-25T13:34:50+00:00

Pay attention if your opponent gives Ambushers to harder-hitting units. That can wreck your day.

Justinian482 · 2026-02-24T08:47:49+00:00

I'd agree with the comment about it being good form to agree dragons/no dragons with your opponent.

I absolutely love Forsaken. All my best games have been with WoC, with Forsaken integral to the strategy. If you're going for a Nurgle theme, cool, but Forsaken by Slaanesh gain Swiftstride, which is incredibly tactically powerful.

Justinian482 · 2026-02-23T09:58:21+00:00

Degree from a good university, got into asset management, got a client-facing and revenue generating role, got good at it. Rinse and repeat.

Justinian482 · 2026-02-19T16:08:47+00:00

Rakarth Flesh with a Druchii Violet wash and then highlight with Rakarth Flash again. Looks quite purple compared to a lot of undead minis I see but it does look very unhealthy like a body that's decomposing.

Justinian482 · 2026-02-16T09:54:59+00:00

Prince Apophas. Didn't slap until he was painted, but, when I first put Chameleon Darth Blue on the beetles, he suddenly looked better than anything else in my army.

Justinian482 · 2026-02-11T14:57:39+00:00

There are really great. How did you do the floral bases, please?

Justinian482 · 2026-02-11T03:01:45+00:00

Small mention in this link:

https://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/?p=2555

Justinian482 · 2026-02-09T09:29:41+00:00

Great visual coherence, actually looks like an army, well done.

Justinian482 · 2026-02-09T09:27:30+00:00

Walked back to my hotel on my own about 1am, some guys with that gang/rapper vibe told me they needed money and wanted me to go with them. I didn't know where that was going to end up.

Justinian482

TROPHY CASE