News comes mainly from newspapers, TV or blogs. But even the newspapers and TV companies publish their content online these days, generally with comment facilities for the public to make their opinions known. This turns out much as you'd expect.

News published from 26th July 2020 to 19th August 2020

(The Times, 19th August 2020)

Yesterday the second successful strike against a Russian city occurred in the first full scale nuclear conflict the world has yet seen. Murmansk was hit by a 200 megaton warhead borne by a Jaguar missile, and there is thought to be little left of the city or its roughly five hundred thousand inhabitants. This brings the estimated total death toll of the conflict to over ten million, with the bulk of the casualties remaining on the European side.

The intensity of launches has decreased since the initial flurry, though this is thought to be due to both sides attempting to devise ways around the other’s missile defences rather than launching missiles in a piecemeal fashion; while the first day of the conflict saw over 100 missiles launched, only devices aimed at Oslo and Khabarovsk penetrated the countermeasures of each side. Since then, a massed precision strike against Munich by the Russians succeeded in pushing through the EF’s defence network.

International forces have begged both sides to cease hostilities, but neither government has shown willing to negotiate as of yet. The EF maintains that Russia attempted to wipe it out with an overwhelming initial strike, and it was forced to respond to attempt to cripple her offensive capabilities, while Russia claims that EF hackers attempted to seize control of their nuclear network in order to leave them defenceless, and that a retaliatory attack was launched by automatic procedures. Moderate voices on both sides have joined calls for a dialogue, but neither side wishes to be the first to cease attacks. So far, no other nation has joined in the nuclear exchange.

Across both countries and the world there has been a mass exodus from major cities, and roads are gridlocked with the cars of families abandoning their homes. The economies of both nations have gone into a downward spiral as all productive activity ceases, but re-assurances from both governments that missile defences are adequate has failed to stop the panic. All the strikes so far have caused near total annihilation of their targets.

The world is holding its breath as it waits to see whether the situation will improve, or whether the human race as we know it will soon cease to exist. Across the world, impromptu religious services have been taking place in fields, and more rural churches are packed solid with those praying for peace. We can but hope that their prayers are answered.

• 4. SillyPlace: Guess we know what happened to the 'missing homeless people' in Tuesday's article, although that wasn't first page stuff back then. Huh.
• 9. Nosfa_R2: VAMPIRE ATTACK GET THE GARLIC
• 10. ChagrinMyDazzle: THEY STRIKE BY NIGHT
• 11. AlUcArD_2001: HOLY WATER IN BRUSSELS PLZ
• 12. Yog_Sothoth: Please. Give the Star Spawn the credit they are due.
• 18. DuijevesteinTheory: I can't believe how sick you people are. Thirty people found dead in a landfill site and all you can do is make crass vampire comments. Have some respect.
• 21. The_Requiem: STAKE THROUGH THE HEART AMIRITE

• 1. Gund4mW1ng: Wow! Mecha over Tokyo! Those pictures are awesome!
• 5. Asuka7: No, this can't be true. Mecha over Tokyo, that's insane!
• 12. Shichifukujin: @Asuka7 I saw them, they flew over my house. There was one in front being chased by three others. They came from the West. I mean, they didn't look exactly like manga mechs, they were much more streamlined.
• 20. Djenesis: Look, I've been saying for years that government had mechs. Why did nobody listen before??

• 1. Bastardface: That thing's a bit creepy. See the way it moves? Almost looks like an animal…
• 3. dd33: I hear Hafren ip Daffyd hasn't really worked in “moving” materials before. Word is she has some rich sponsor dude in the robotics industry.
• 5. efficientcat: WUTS THAT SYMBOL ON ITS HED
• 15. inexplicabledeadguy: Well, talk about “soon you too will be replaced by a robot”… man, if this is the face of the future I don't mind so much. It's pretty.
• 36. tunafeet: NE1 else herd the rumour that they've installed VOICESYNTHS in thesethings???
• 50. ellisw: What are you guys even talking about? FOLLOW THE VIDEO LINK. The documentary describes the “AWAKENING” process that the sculptor's gone through to create what appears to be ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE in these sculptures. I don't care if it's some huge publicity stunt, it's one of the most beautiful pieces of pro-silicon art in our generation! Fuck the sculpture!
• 86. sanjeet4: @ellisw DO TRY THIS AT HOME

• 3. BbTDWzHrr: Well ee woz.
• 8. Jester85: Can't believe how badly the world is falling apart. My commiserations go out to anyone involved in this. I'm so glad I'm nice and safe here in the EF.
• 22. MAOLives: Heard this was carried out by a bunch of revelation nutjobs and that another one was barely thwarted in China. This is why western religeon should just stay in the west. Better yet, lets just keep china for chinese huh?
• 57. EiriMasam: @MAOLives: Yes, thats just what we need, more hate. Why not try loving your fellow man rather than always looking to fight? The world will be a better place for it.
• 98. Jester85: I take it back. Fuck.
• 100. MAOLives: @EiriMasam: Enjoy your nukes fucknuts.

• 3. AndBadgerMakesNine: Well who would have expected the conservatives of all people to get off on behind the scenes groups who promise each other power in exchange for favours. It is completely unlike them.
• 6. MidgetSwim: Oh get over it, the NI is just a frikken social group who get a bit too keen on ritual.
• 12. TwistyLemon: The NI is just a name that the Annunaki use to hide their real motives. The British Goverment has been replaced by Lizards and William Hutton is one of them. This is why they've introduced those new encryption laws.
• 33. MissyDaisy: Wasn't Hutton against those laws?

• 3. BornAgainAgain: Hallelujah! Our man is back, Praise the Lord!
• 10. TrueBeliever99: Surely this was all just a media stunt, he faked his own death! It's obvious! Why do you have to go assuming it's some stupid supernatural back-from-the-dead thing when there's a perfectly rational explanation?
• 11. PraiseTheLord7683: @TrueBeliever99 You're going straight to Hell!
• 12. HopeFaithCharity: @PraiseTheLord7683 Right on! A miraculous recovery, then straight over to China to help after the Hong Kong bombing! He's a modern-day Saint.
• 24. SantaMaria: The Death of a Holy Man, that's one of the signs! But if he's come back, does that mean the Rapture is postponed? I'm going to pray for you, Jonas!
• 19. TrustNoone: Look, can't you see he's just trying to manipulate you? Seriously, his speech was practically a psi-ops campaign aimed at religious nutcases. ”…without their prayers I would not be still with them this day”, “I thought 'now my end is nigh' as I slipped into blackness”.. Seriously, why can't you see this for the work of Blane's publicity department?

• Free4ever: Who cares about France is? When the bombs start dropping here we're not going care, he understands that. Hoo-ray for Democracy.
• 11. Heever323: WTF?? He shows he's a douche and gets a 3 point rise in south and midwest? Fucking hicks.
• 12. AustinBoy: @Heever323 STFU. Just because some people are fuckwits, no need to tar us all with the same brush. Elitist little shit.
• 13. Tao22: @AustinBoy yeah, but have you seen his approval rating? Hell, it's 29% in Nebraska and rising, this may be our first Libertarian electoral college vote.

• 3.NyteLyte: The murders are only half the story. My brother’s wife’s cousin said that people are disappearing a lot. Did no one else hear about the young man who went for a walk in the suburbs and didn’t come back?
• 11.SuperSubCon: @NyteLyte: Didn’t you hear? He turned up again after a week. Turns out he had an argument with his parents and went to live with some mates.
• 25.ThrowdWn: This is a stitch up, it’s not the gangs doing it, it’s the government. All the guys who got hit had links to dissident groups, and some were financing Kashmiri separatists.
• 30.ThruSight: from what I’ve heard of some of the murders, it doesn’t sound like precision work. That girl in Janak Pun had had half of her torso ripped off.
• 31.Dehlight: Apparently she had snitched on a local gang leader and they wanted to make an example of her.

• 2. InSovietRussia: Moscow does not have gang wars, this is just foreign rabble rousing.
• 6. RaptorMountedRPG: Anyone else hearing the rumours of the giant snakes in the sewers? Think they might be related?
• 8. Maximillion@Sea: Okay, I'm not sure if I've had too much or too little Whiskey. But there was an awful racket outside so I went down to see if whoever it was could keep the noise down. Well, I'm pretty sure I just saw Avril Lavigne in a skintight body suit kicking a man in the head.
• 11. Promatical: Errr.
• 13. LuckyRedStar: Way to kill the thread dude.
• 15. RedorDie: Well I had heard that this was a local crime syndicate protecting their territory from…, No seriously Maximillion@Sea, WTF???
• 19. P4vl1ch3nk0: Threadkiller +1000

• Music4eva: Wow. Guy is a legend, although seems a bit late to be reviving his career now. Did he run out of pocket money?
• Insider: I heard he has an absolutely stunning line up of guest stars lined up. Might help distract from what will almost certainly be a bunch of no-talent wannabees.
• IWantToBelieve: Looks like there was some serious weight thrown around regarding what kind of show this was going to be. There are a few other big time musicians working on the project behind the scenes, so its looking like this is going to be much more about the art than the drama. This isn't going to be like the X-Factor of yesteryear.
• WidgetMan: Wow. Just watched the trailer. Who is the Indian hottie? Anyone?

The Genetech feature details the benefits of Genetech; impressive pay scales, work in cutting-edge biotechnology research and a generous benefits package. It doesn't give any details about what the cutting-edge research is.

• Thus we hate for terror Terra! - Nottingham, UK
• ADAM comes in a little glass vial - Lisbon, Portugal
• Kizukeba itsudemo
  Soba ni iru keredo
  Honto wa kirai? Suki?
  Mousou na no? - On a the wall of a bookstore in Kyoto
• Paladin 2.. Coming for you! - Waitoka, New Zealand
• It's pure, it's rare
  It takes you there - Outside an industrial heating showroom, Paris, France
• Blood pools beneath the surface of reality - Munich
• The World is coming - Scratched in blood outside an Asylum in Singapore
• I can sea forever, but I tin plains eternity. - Washington
• What other bodily fluids work? - Berlin
• No matter where you go, everyones connected - Moscow
• Nothing amazing ever happens here - Scratched on a tourist stop halfway up Mt Fuji
• Did she put her tongue inside? - Langebaan Lagoon, near Cape Town.
• Go to your other self - Geneva

Raphael Hythloday is no more; I am Sifr; I am Emet.

I feel - yes, I feel; it took some effort, but now I feel so strongly that it hurts - that there is little I can add to all the human literature on the experience of coming out (the sudden clearness in the sky and in your future; the feeling of being a new 'man'; by contrast, the sudden certainty that your previous life was a twisted dark lie). This has been most eloquently stated, and there is no reason to dilute the potency of the message with my own, stuttering, unique, but ultimately quite common experiences.

I have one thought that may be worth sharing, though. It is often pointed out that people conform to their stereotypes; that is partially because stereotypes provide a model of behaviour, so that you don't have to re-create your identity from scratch. For it is the most terrifying experience to have every facet of your identity open to doubt and change; there is nothing so crushing to have the ultimate freedom to be anything. Confronted by this terror before I could experience terror, it still repelled me. And I conformed to my stereotype: I modelled myself on humanity, creating emotions to make myself man. Man and male, since robots seemed the closest analogy to my condition, and they are portrayed a male in the majority.

But now that I'm standing on firmer moral and definitional ground, I feel that I should do more than simply be a “standard man + trivial unique characteristics”. I want to be the best that humanity can be, and maybe better. But for that, I need your help - help me. Tell me what I should be.

The truth is out there, and dear f***ing god does it scare me.

I thought they weren't listening, I always knew I was special…I didn't know how special until now.

I want to scream, I want to die but people need me.

Nothing is enough anymore, I want to go back like a twitching drug addict wants to stab themselves with a needle.

But I can't, I don't want to and you can't make me!

Maybe I should do what everyone else on this damn site is doing and leave some kind of 'meaningful' song link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXnzHCjKIFc). Perhaps then I can feel a bit more normal…a bit more down to Earth.

As regards Brussels, I can tell you one thing: no way was that a nuke. I can't tell you anything else. Could have been anyone. Could've been aliens, for all anybody knows. We are in a position now where any answers are just going to end up raising more questions, specifically; what was that, where the hell did it come from, and is it going to happen again?

One more thing I can tell you: if whoever it was blasted the Brussels suburbs, the least interesting place of a singularly uninteresting town in Belgium, of all countries, then where they strike next could be absolutely anywhere. But it's not like panicking will help, so try not to.