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Quote of the moment Vol.2

“We have had no good comic operas of late, because the real world has been more comic than any possible opera.” – Illustrated London News, Jan. 17, 1931 G. K. Chesterton

Highlighted Quotes That Caught my Attention At The Moment

"I am the last monarch of the old world. As Emperor, it is my duty to protect my peoples from their politicians" -Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria-Hungary

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In Which the Divagation Store reaches the 900 posts Milestone! Reflection on Why...

Good morning, my friend, dear reader of this present post! How are you today, this new week? It should be the last one for February, quite soothing that it will end on a Sunday as well, given it started on a Sunday, too! As for me, I did sleep quite a bit yesterday, but I cannot complain of not being a productive day, given I finished reading the biography of Madame de Pompadour, written by Nancy Mitford. Quite a good one, and in fact, I would say is a great one! What a remarkable lady she was, the great patronesse of Rococo, though she sensed a move in France towards a more neoclassical direction, and overall set the sails on the direction of the style of the next era, the one called Louis XVI style, though in truth it was the queen Marie Antoinette who truly set the tone. I like this topic, and I love her majesty. Though the late rococo she preferred was hinted with an antique tint, it was not the more sober neoclassical of the 1790's and the Napoleonic era. She brought flowers a...
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In Which I try to save Byzantium

Hello my friend! Good morning and happy Saturday to you! How are you today? How was your week? Do let me know! And how is the weather? Is it windy and feels like fall, or is it cold and feels like winter? I love that Christmas is here! And I hope the decorations may be up soon, so I can take lots of pictures and rejoice on the beauty of it all! Well, speaking of Christmas, this week, I was a man in an impossible mission. Playing a game called Europa Universalis 4, which became my addiction the past weeks or so, I had one obsession: Save the Byzantine Empire from the evil and overpowered Ottomans, who surrounded me from every corner! It was a doomed mission, since I tried more than 10 times (some of those 10 times were daily) and all those 10 times, in a point or another, resulted in failure in a way or another. Having to repeat the steps as Byzantium the countless times is very draining! That game, Europa Universalis, is the most delightful pain! It is impossible to describe how satisfying it is to just administrate your empire, making sure you have your bills paid, your armies well trained, the right alliances, just taking care of a nation from the age of Discovery to the age of Industry! A very ambitious enterprise, the game has so many expansions that it requires a subscription service to have access to all of them in a reasonable price (it's 11 reais of subscription for about 110 expansions, addons, dlcs, and so on). The temptation of getting a decaying Empire and restoring its former glory, or at least survive with it was enough to keep me hooked for many failed attempts, that left me frustrated and beaten, but a new day comes, and I get up and ask for more. My friends are very familiarized with the pain of losing so many times in this 4x strategy game. And to add to the challenge, I play on a mode that doesn't allow for "time travels" to fix mistakes and so on, the called IronMan mode, the one that allows you to experience Europa fully, and the one that allows you to earn the game achievements.

This is a magnificent example of Byzantine Art! The mosaic tradition of the Greeks and the romans that they were lived on when Byzantium was alive. When the events of the game happen, Empress Theodora is long gone and her Empire is at the brink of foreign plunder, but her strenght and her impressive figure are a great inspiration, those are reflected on a quote by her that I'll post here: "(...) May I never be deprived of this purple robe, and may I never see the day when those who meet me do not call me empress (...)".

You all know me, I'm a sucker for achievements. So yes, this is the reason I haven't been updating on the blog for this week or so, I was playing Europa, and thinking about writing a guide as Byzantium once I nailed at least one match with it. Well, I have not so far, I reached the 17th century with Byzantium, that's as far as I could go. One day, I'll get to the endgame with a big prosperous empire and will have the Ottomans on its knees, but that day may be very far in the future, because, let me repeat it, it is A VERY HARD achievement to do so, the dozens of tries I had don't lie. And again for the guide, since this game is very RNG reliable (something strategy gamers are very familiarized with) and so on, I just don't think I'm the right guy for the task, for now. This post is getting long, so I should wrap it up, and the idea of continuing to write about my attempts and the tutorials I followed are very good ones. Now, so many things are brought into my attention, such as Christmas time! Well, Byzantium is directly related to Christmas, so I guess this fits! Anyway, I wish you all very good moments, and I see you all real real soon!

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