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RoyGBivensAction

Zensunni Scientologist

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joined 2025 June 08 18:10:35 UTC

Married to a tomboy, so I have that going for me, which is nice.


				
User ID: 3756


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
RoyGBivensAction


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Zensunni Scientologist

				
				
				

				

					0 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2025 June 08 18:10:35 UTC
				


				
					

					
Married to a tomboy, so I have that going for me, which is nice.



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 3756


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If they think that's fascist, just wait until they see the United Farmworkers flag.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I was excited when they first won the Series in 2017 since they had never been, but after the sign stealing thing, I'm on Team Fuck the Astros in general.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If you're a baseball person, who are you rooting for in the World Series?


I don't have a team (growing up hours and hours from the closest city with a team will do that), so my preference is always for the team that hasn't won before. Since neither the Brewers nor Rays have won before, I'm leaning Brewers since they've been around longer without a win. Also, I've always had an irrational soft spot for teams with names related to an industry their city used to be famous for (Brewers, Steelers, Packers, the Supersonics back when they existed, etc.). Either way, seeing two smaller payroll teams get to the Series is cool.


Game 1 was excellent. I hope the rest of the Series follows suit.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's because the standard is "it's good when victims (as defined by progressive rules) share their stories."


Women are victims of white men (and men in a fraternity are white men for these purposes even if some of the Cornell ones aren't white), so it's good that women share their stories of being victims. However, immigrants/refugees are victims of the West, so it's their stories that need to be shared, not those of any people (even if women) that the immigrants victimize.


If someone subscribes to progressive victimology, then there is no lens that will change this interpretation.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I really don't understand why there are so few movies that pass the bechdel test




Movie that passes and always amuses me that it does: Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (when two girls have a shitting competition, which ties neatly into the concurrent conversation on that topic).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, I'm aware, but I had long lost interest by the time that happened. When I started reading them (shortly after book 9's release, I think), I was under the impression it was supposed to be a 10-book series. Not sure if it was marketed that way, or if I mistakenly assumed it, or what, but that was my belief. When I finished all those (and boy were some of those later ones bad), I was dubious it was going to happen. I read book 10 and saw no end in sight (and hated all the characters by then), so I cut my losses and stopped paying any attention.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's true, and I imagine it's a big factor on why modern big publishing has gone to crap. But as someone who is happy to read old problematic books or self-published new problematic books and has no desire to publish anything outside of an anonymous racist substack (it's a joke, see Donald Boat tweet), her complaints are just noise on the internet that I don't have to care about.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
True. It was a more a combo of unfinished + went to crap after book 4/5/6 (opinions vary) that caused me to implement the rule. Even if he had lived and finished it, it wouldn't have saved the series from how terrible it became.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
After getting burned by the Wheel of Time series, my "never start a fantasy series unless it's finished" rule has spared me from several much-hyped series that look like they will never be finished (GRRM and Rothfuss immediately come to mind).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
As is the booby.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm curious about Crash. Maybe twenty years ago, I tried reading the source novel, but found it painfully slow and uneventful. May have to try again.




One of Ballard's oft-used techniques is repeating shocking things over and over again while using dry medical language until there is nothing shocking about (in Crash) the explicit mangling of human bodies in car crashes and people finding that arousing and having sex immediately while the wounds are still fresh. It will obviously vary significantly by reader whether they find anything worthwhile in that approach. Crash might be his most extreme version where it really could've been 1/2 or 1/3 the length without much loss in what he seemed to be going for. For the most part, the short story was his best medium and his novels are varying in quality.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It's just noise. There's no intellectual content here.




Exactly. I have no idea who this woman is or why I should give a single shit about her complaints (and I don't mean this as a dig at OP). Some woman on the internet is mad about books? Oh, no. Whatever shall I do.


It makes me think of this meme. I can enjoy all kinds of books if I ignore the nagging about why I shouldn't enjoy them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Don't blame me, I voted for Cujo


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I had never heard of her prior to this discussion (I live under a rock, it's great). She's very attractive in that clip of her at the game. It's a much tougher call when I googled her and got a bunch of images of her in drag-level makeup.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If the pro-trans side wants to start calling their doctors vivisectionists, it could be a rare moment where I agree with them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


"chirurgeons" as you insist on calling them, apparently for no better reason than obfuscation and misdirection




I've seen the word used interchangeably with vivisectionist in media that want to have an archaic flavor (like early MtG cards), so it's quite something to see a pro-trans-surgery person use the word for doctors performing those surgeries.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


An increasing number of sports bodies, at least at the world level, are adopting genotype-based eligibility rules,




My favorite trivia along these lines is that the 3 top finishers in the Women's 800 metres at the 2016 Summer Olympics all had the 46,XY karyotype and produced levels of testosterone in the male range.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Telling a man to move to the middle of nowhere, get a job at the store, and become a monk is not exactly a great sales pitch. Or the kind of thing that will positively change society at any scale.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Ethel’s Club, a private club for people of color in NYC.


The Links, a nationwide private organization for black women.


The Wilfandel Club, Los Angeles's first private club for Black women


Those took me 1 minute of googling.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Given that the core gaming still leans disproportionately straight men, the expectation that this audience should continually cede ground on visual appeal to satisfy feminist sensibilities is a political demand dressed up as design philosophy to treat design preferences that lean into conventional attractiveness as a moral failing.




Indeed. One can see just how receptive the woke were to complaints that mainstream book publishing is overwhelmingly run by women and is excluding men from being published. Why should straight men be any more receptive to complaints from the woke about visual appearances in video games?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Under the circumstances of the article, no. There was no explanation of why they were powerless to stop the June 2020 riots or an explanation of why they failed to do so. If they evidently have that power, then they need to explain why they didn't use it.


Otherwise, giving them the benefit of the doubt is simply cooperating with defect-bot. They have explained how they manipulated procedural outcomes to get their desired result. They bragged about it, even. It was in a national publication! I have no control over how you or others act, but I decline to apply mistake theory when someone has openly declared they are operating under conflict theory.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I had the same reaction to White Noise. Upon reading Libra, my thought was, "why the fuck does White Noise get so much attention when this one exists?"


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It is more literary than strictly biographical, but you might enjoy Libra by DeLillo. It gets a little conspiratorial but is more about trying to make sense of Oswald's different personality facets. I've recommended it to several people who were shocked at how good it was and how little discussion it gets (I think it's leagues better than other DeLillo books I've read).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Remember the Time article about "fortifying" the election? It made no secret of the fact that zoom meetings were held and coordination was done to avoid any October 2020 riots that would have pushed voters to Trump. If those groups were able coordinate to avoid riots, then the obvious unspoken conclusion is that they can coordinate to cause them (or at least fail to coordinate and allow them to happen).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Working on a trilogy of (recently-deceased) John Crowley's first 3 novels. I skipped the first one because I couldn't get into it (The Deep). Beasts was the second which had some good writing and interesting ideas but never really cohered into a novel. Currently working on Engine Summer.


Frankly, it's remarkable any of these got published as standalone novels. There are bits of the writing magic he would later develop and many of his later ideas and themes are here, but unless Engine Summer gets radically better, none are particularly noteworthy.


Right now, I'd say his only must-reads are Little, Big and The Solitudes (the rest of the AEgypt cycle definitely doesn't live up to the first one, and the second book especially is such a jarring departure from the first that it's hard to recommend the series). Lord Byron's Novel is interesting to see him write a novel in a historical style plus a frame story, and Ka was a worthwhile read for anyone who likes his style, but I wouldn't call them must-reads.