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Cake day: November 13th, 2023

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  • That’s how I run my table. I am a merciful god, but also a petty god if you reach for the heavens a little too hard. D&D magic already screws with thermodynamics to the point where free energy just exists, so I try to draw a line just short of where anyone figures that part out.

    In the back of my mind, I’m always asking the question: “Why wasn’t this loophole exploited in the world already?” That usually prompts a suitable response.

    you’re basically doing fantasy electrical engineering with vibes and a screwdriver; ask yourself, what could go wrong?

    Exactly. In the situation that OP raises, I ask myself: “Does Newton or Gandalf win this argument?”


  • All you need to do is sit back and watch. With the occasional rare exception, most everyone I’ve ever seen try is middling to just awful at “picking up” girls.

    Plus, a lot of the time, we’re talking about the social equivalent of a “cold call.” You’re a complete stranger selling something they didn’t even ask for. So… don’t! Take some time and integrate to a social group or two (if you can). Become a familiar face. Things happen much more fluidly on referral anyway.





  • I’m gonna hazard a guess that, while local sandwich shops have quality, speed, and razor-thin margins down to an artform, a major fast food franchise is better suited to the task. The major reason being: logistics. A country-wide chain is probably at or close to the scale needed to qualify as a military contractor in this capacity. Nevermind the quality of the food, we’re talking about the ability to move a stupendous amount of calories around. Assuming the photo is of a mobile kitchen, well, that would be the easiest part of all this.

    Meanwhile, something familiar from home is bound to be a boost to morale.


  • People don’t realize what constraints props departments are under, or for that matter, how little it takes to impress a camera.

    IMO, everyone should binge-watch Adam Savage’s YT channel before putting down serious money on a movie prop. A shocking amount of this stuff is basically made to survive the production time-frame, and little else.

    Also: congrats with that brief brush with stardom. That’s hilarious. Next time, you should seriously lead with “I threw up on Matthew Broderick once.”


  • WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said the U.S. would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and develop it economically

    The scope of this statement is a shock, but the motivation that led to it, isn’t. That said, I hate everything about this.

    I’m not the first to bring this up, but it bears repeating. This is colonialism, plain and simple. That, in turn, is an outcome of unchecked capitalism. Practiced ideologically (i.e. as the guiding light in one’s life), it holds up “exploitation at all costs” as a virtue. Second to that is “give your competition no quarter.” Combined, that explains the current state of affairs.

    We all may be used to thinking of colonialism as some thing that ended on one more more independence days in the last 300 years or so. In reality, the engines of commerce and industry that made that happen kept right on running. Since nation-state-sized real-estate deals like this don’t come along very often anymore, these animals are quick to react and pounce before someone else figures out how to exploit the situation.

    As an aside: the attitudes and values that enabled things like the US westward expansion, slavery, classism, eradication of indigenous peoples, environmental destruction in the pursuit of minerals, pollution and litter from energy extraction, etc., are still alive and well in the population. Being this kind of evil is insanely profitable under the right conditions, which confers an outsized advantage to reproduction and social influence. Which is to say that it’s not the ideology of capitalism that propels these values to stay with us, but rather the other way around. It’s as though those colonists with exploitation in their hearts are still very much with us, and that’s something to keep an eye on.


  • I dumped that into ChatGPT to figure out what that would mean:

    “Gold-progressing”: If “oro-” means gold, then “orogressive” could describe something advancing toward wealth, golden standards, or prosperity.

    “Mountain-moving” or “Mountain-progressing”: If we go with the geological meaning, “orogressive” could mean progressing through or overcoming mountains—maybe symbolizing overcoming big challenges.

    “Speech-advancing”: If “oro-” is tied to oral communication, “orogressive” might mean someone who is progressive in speech, rhetoric, or persuasion.

    Honestly, all of those are ironically far more aspirational than “progressive”. I give it 4/5 stars for your newly-minted neologism.


  • Not sure where you’re from, but we have some problems that stand in the way of coordinating any kind of resistance. At least, not proactively.

    In short: we have no living memory of domestic war, famine, epidemic, or wholesale financial hardship lasting longer than a few years. We’ve had tastes of those things, but they always effect people disproportionately, usually along class lines. So being proactive by taking up arms, or preparing for economic catastrophe, is literally unthinkable for most.

    Meanwhile, the usual kind of political corruption that we’re accustomed to just came to an end, and is changing shape before our very eyes. Nobody knows what to do with that, yet.