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SubstantialFrivolity

I'm not even supposed to be here today

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joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
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User ID: 225


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
SubstantialFrivolity


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
I'm not even supposed to be here today

				
				
				

				

					4 followers  

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					joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 225


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
							
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				Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 04, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yo! Formerly posted as bigstrat2003 and substantial_layer_13 on Reddit.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 04, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've been reading Stoic philosophy lately, and also Neuromancer. The latter has been a wild ride. I knew that it was the progenitor of cyberpunk, but I didn't realize how thoroughly other cyberpunk works rip it off. It's kind of hilariously shameless.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah this is a real beef I have with a lot of modern "adaptations" of classics as well. If you're going to make something entirely new, that's totally fine. But then don't try to call it something it isn't! So many examples I can think of in recent memory: Wheel of Time, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. Works where they set the expectation "hey we're going back for more of the thing you love" only to pull the rug out from under the fans in the most unceremonious way.


The Halo series is probably the most egregious example of this I can think of. Note I haven't seen it myself, so we're going full hearsay on this. But by all accounts the characters are completely rewritten, the story is completely rewritten, etc. It has only the thinnest veneer of Halo, so why the heck did they even bother making the show based on Halo? It grabs attention sure, but then it also alienates the same people you hooked in, who are then extremely pissed off at your show. So it would be better to not spend the money on the IP, and just make your own brand new IP. But somehow, nobody ever does this.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The nation is a house divided and it stands by inertia alone.




Sad, but definitely true. Unless we can unite somehow, I can't help but think that the current divisions in our society will literally destroy the country. I don't really know how to fix it, but it's pretty depressing to contemplate.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Greetings Mottizens!
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I still am hoping that we can somehow come up with a mascot as adorable as Marsey. Honestly, the sheer variety of cute cat emotes is one of the best things about rdrama.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Greetings Mottizens!
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I was thinking maybe a dog, for the obvious cat/dog parallels. And also, I just like dogs.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't think they're worse. I do think they're just about as bad. We have had people literally shooting at each other over ideological divisions within the past couple of years. I genuinely think it wouldn't take that much to push the country into open civil war at this point, and that scares the heck out of me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Other than AEO, I like reddit.




You're not wrong, but I feel like this is one of those times where the old saying applies: "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Not to be a dick or anything, but help me understand some things...
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That, and/or making it a permission that can be revoked. I think that the ability to include images is super useful, but yeah some people might just start spamming memes. In that case, warn them and if they don't cut it out take away their image embed privileges.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				What does the option to get someone help do?
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thank you, I have received the help. I was visited by about a million Mr. Meseeks, who are helping me to take a few strokes off my golf game.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Just Playin
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
K2+SE does indeed force you to go to space to get the logistics network. And also to unlock kovarex, which is a big deal considering that K2 makes nuclear power TWENTY FUCKING TIMES more expensive. I still have no idea WTF they are thinking, as it makes nuclear straight up not viable with the level of production you need pre-kovarex.


Personally, I've been playing a lot of a few things:


    

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    Xenoblade 3
    

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    Hardspace Shipbreaker
    

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    Farming Sim 22
    

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    Warhammer 3
    

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Xenoblade 3 is pretty good, and I'm pretty close to wrapping that up. TBH I'm kind of burned out on it, it's a long game. I'm close to 140 hours and I think (but am not sure) that I'm in the final dungeon. I'm looking forward to putting it to bed. I think that (so far) the connection to the first two games has been weaker than I would've liked, but it's certainly not ruined the game for me or anything. I also think it's a damn shame that they did away with heart to heart events, which were the best feature of the previous two (especially Xenoblade 2 and the Future Connected epilogue in Xenoblade 1 DE). But I have quite enjoyed the game even if it has gotten to be too long for my taste.


Warhammer 3 has also been an adventure, as the Immortal Empires campaign just came out. I've tried a few campaigns but not found anything I really like so far. I had the most success with Bretonnia, but have discovered that I just really do not like the micro-heavy playstyle they have. You have to be really good at managing cavalry and keeping them from getting bogged down in melee fights, which means either a lot of pausing or great micro. I also tried Karl Franz, but... oh boy he is a hard start in this campaign. I'll probably tackle it again some day, but I kind of bounced off it at the moment. Tried Skaven (Ikit Claw) for the first time and got in trouble so I had to restart, hopefully the second attempt goes better.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I like meat, and I don't think animals have more moral worth than plants. Both have some moral worth, I would look askance at someone who tortures either for fun. But neither has enough moral worth that we shouldn't kill them for consumption.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Your church is under no moral obligation to become more diverse, because no organization is. The people complaining about "x too white" are morally wrong, and it is an indictment of our society that they have so much power. It is no more moral to complain that something is "too white" than to complain that something is "too black".


What you have a moral obligation to do is to welcome everyone, regardless of race. It sounds like you do that. After that, the demographics of your church are entirely unrelated to questions of right or wrong. They just are whatever luck happens to make them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


However, when the only payment method is objectionable, there is no harm in taking a copy that is free to produce.




I don't think this is true, for reasons you yourself pointed out. Because by going around the only payment method, you are denying the creator the pay that he deserves (and produced the work under the expectation he would get). I am not embracing the position that ad blocking is immoral, but I think that to say there's no harm is also not true. The truth is more like: there is harm, but it's also harm that is partly caused by the creator's refusal to make their work available on reasonable terms. In other words, both parties are really kind of in the wrong here.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The only problem is social: the norm of making plans and sticking to them is long gone. If I make arrangements to meet someone at location X at time Y, about half the time I'll get a text message while en-route saying "Let's meet at location Z at time W instead". If I later complained that they didn't show up to X@Y as planned, they would accuse me of being unreasonable for not getting with the times and for deigning to leave home without an always-online communication device.




The question is, would they still act that way if you didn't have (and they knew you didn't have) such a device? Certainly nobody in my life would. In my experience, the norm is that cell phones enable changing plans, but do not remove the requirement to stick to agreed-upon plans. If you propose a new time/place for a meeting and don't get a confirmation that the other party is OK with that, then you stick to the original agreed-upon plan (or you're a dick and nobody is going to associate with you).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


And they couldn't just write their own fantasy epic series, because that would have no ready-made fanbase or name recognition.




Sure. But on the other hand, they are also going out of their way to upset the people that they bring in with that. What good is a ready-made fanbase if you immediately drive them away?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah, to be blunt if I were you I wouldn't keep those people in my life. That sort of behavior just isn't acceptable, phones or no phones. Like, even if you have a phone, what if you don't see their message in time because you're driving to the meetup location? What if there's a technical glitch? What if they thought they sent a message but actually forgot to hit send? There are many sorts of reasons why one may not get a last minute change of plans like that, and in such cases the onus is on the other person to stick to the plan.


Flaky people have always existed. But I'm not personally convinced that the existence of phones has made it acceptable to be flaky when making social plans. Life happens, of course, and everyone is going to have times where they can't make it. But someone who does that regularly is being inconsiderate and is the one in the wrong, even by the standards of today (or at least as far as I've experienced them).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'll go a step further: I hate olives. I think they are one of the nastiest things people eat (not as nasty as mushrooms though), and I have no idea how anyone tolerates them. I can imagine the taste of an olive right now and it's just.... eugh. Seriously, every food with olives would be better without olives.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Don't forget the people who are against deafness and autism cures for similar reasons. That one absolutely infuriates me. I don't care what people say, being deaf (or autistic) is objectively something broken about your body and worse than getting it fixed. One can personally decide that they would rather stay that way, and that's their right. But people who want to deny that choice even being available to others? They aren't just wrong about what constitutes genocide, they're complete assholes because they're trying to stop sick people from getting better.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think your argument makes sense, but you're also talking about something very different from me. You seem to be addressing the position "a person should not be counted as worth less because they're deaf (autistic, etc)". I have no quarrel with that position at all (I agree with it). My beef is with the position "a person should not be cured of being deaf (autistic, etc) because that is destroying the person they were". That position is something I find morally abhorrent, because it is in effect preventing others from getting better (even if the intentions are pure).


Also, tbh I think your post is as much a strong argument against utilitarianism as anything else. I think utilitarianism has its place, but I think that it is actually pretty horrifying and immoral when applied at any sort of scale. Give me deontology or virtue ethics any day of the week!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think even acknowledging that the illness exists on a spectrum, there still is no reasonable case to say "no, don't cure autism". If one feels that their situation is within what they will accept, there's no need to get a cure. We shouldn't force people to get cured if they don't feel they are sick, of course. But neither is it acceptable to deny a cure to those who may want one for themselves. Even the person who is just barely on the spectrum deserves the right to make that choice for themselves, after all.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It's certainly possible. No idea how one might verify that, though. I'm pretty awful at describing what something tastes like, or why I enjoy/don't enjoy things. So it seems like a gap that would be tough to try to bridge.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No veggies at all. Meat only, or if I can't get that for some reason then plain cheese. Veggies ruin pizza, imo.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well yes, of course it's less than (ideal). It's an illness. People aren't lesser for having the illness, of course. And if they want to keep it, that's certainly their prerogative. But to say "we shouldn't cure these conditions because that implies having them is lesser" is like saying "we shouldn't cure polio because that implies having polio is lesser". I wouldn't accept the latter argument and I don't accept the former, either.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Not quite. There's a difference between a woman who looks very plain, and a woman who looks masculine. I've known both: women who are plain looking but unmistakably female, and women (biological women, not transwomen) who are like "is this person a man who got surgery". And like @bsbbtnh, I too wonder if it's even harder for them in this day and age. At one point at least nobody would be able to question if they are a woman, but now someone might well do so.