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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3246 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 10, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I'm a bit late to the party, but the best way to get a prebuilt PC is to get one off your local Craigslist equivalent. You usually can get a good deal on a two-year-old PC with top-of-the-line $CURRENT_YEAR-2 components from a hardcore gamer that has just migrated to a new box with top-of-the-line $CURRENT_YEAR components.

The second best is finding a local gamer friend with more time than money, like a high schooler or a college student, and paying them the extra $100-200 for convenience.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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