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Mantergeistmann


				

				

				

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joined 2022 September 05 00:52:03 UTC
				

				

				

				

				

				

					
				

				

				
				
				

				
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Mantergeistmann


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 05 00:52:03 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 323


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
ME2's characters and sidequests were outstanding. The main storyline and Cerberus and the Illusive Man? Not so much.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


when they already had done multiplayer pretty well in ME3 (even if the integration with the single player was controversial)




Looking back, that multiplayer was a lot more fun than it had any right to be.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


when I first played ME2 so long ago I was actively disappointed that I couldn't romance the only party members you can't, in fact, romance?




I mean, who among us can claim they didn't want Mordin carnally?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Unpopular opinion, but Mass Effect 1 was bad actually. The best thing it had going for it was the worldbuilding.




That's like saying "the best part of a cheesecake is the cake, the graham cracker crust is bad". The worldbuilding is what made Mass Effect what it was, and informed all of the good writing. It's when the series moved away from world building and its results that the writing got worse, IMO.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I remember people saying the writing was on the wall when they brought some community manager on staff (why is it always a community manager?) who thought it would be really fun if there were a button that let you skip all the gameplay and just experience the shipping story.




I think the perfect compromise for that sort of thing was cheat codes. I'll freely admit that I only made it through Starcraft, Warcraft 3, and BG:ToB via cheat codes. And I'm fine with that! I wanted to see how the games ended, not say that I "beat the game". Did I have the same experience as someone skilled enough to win, though? No.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Qeekly Finance Thread - 2026-10-24
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm a fan. I personally wish the furthest out had a lower bond allocation than what I've seen (8-10% seems to be the base; I'd appreciate the option of 5 or less), but they're a great default option, the asset mix means they'll never be the worst performer in a list of options which is great for psychological reasons, and for the vast majority of people with 401ks, "don't letter 'better' be the enemy of 'good enough'" really needs to be the philosophy.


If anything, though, recent papers on retirement allocations have me thinking their main problem is at the end of a career, not early (where the limited bond allocation doesn't have too much of an effect). From what I've read (mandatory disclaimer: God Almighty am I not an expert), it's looking like a "bond tent" may be the way to go: that is, after it reaches the conservative retirement allocation, instead of staying flat, the glide path reverses, and starts shifting back to more equities once the worst "sequence of return risk" years are past.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Qeekly Finance Thread - 2026-10-24
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
By definition, they'll always underperform one way or another, won't they (like any asset mix will)? When stocks are on a tear, the bond allocation will hold them back. And if bonds recover (which they might, now that interest rates are higher) and stocks have a crash, they'll underperform a heavier bond allocation. The hope is that they'll have a smoother climb while still having good enough growth for most people.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I haven't liked most of spotify's discoverability.




Is Pandora still around? I remember them being leaps and bounds ahead of Spotify in that regard, but times may have changed.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursday for October 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's my point: she could donate to an organization that does more harm to Israel than Palestine Action does, without running afoul of any anti-terrorism laws. I guess she wouldn't get as much activist/signaling cred for it, though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for October 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've got more thoughts on the subject than I can type right now, but I'll throw in there that I've seen reports the leader of Canada's NDP party has suggested nationalizing BioWare.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Two Towers might actually be improved by a brief mention of [...] how much easier orcs' disgusting habits make tracking those.




I don't see that it would add anything: the Three Hunters have no issues tracking the orcs; Aragorn even comments that they seem to be going out of their way to hack things to the ground for no reason other than enjoying destruction and that the trail is clear.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Generally I'd say that in English, the more germanic/Old-English something sounds, the earthier and rawer the tone. The more Romantic, the more austere and polite




How much of that is due to the romance influence being concentrated in the upper classes thanks to the Norman invasion?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Great heroes need great villains, or at least great obstacles to overcome. The stakes and challenges have to be aligned to the abilities of the characters.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Tits/teats are animal parts.




Tits are a type of bird.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


When feminists brought up these concepts, I never interpreted them as meaning that a book that fails the Bechdel test is automatically bad, nor that a book in which a female character exists only to get murdered to motivate the male protagonist is automatically bad




Whereas the only times I ever saw it used was to imply or outright state that the book/show/game was bad and wrong.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Every 'Want' Has Another Person's Name In It: This one is an audit at the book level. List every named woman in your manuscript. For each one, write a single sentence saying what she wants [you think "what a person wants" can be reduced to a single sentence?? - ed.]. Then look at how many of those sentences have another character's name in them.




Funnily enough, in The Stars My Destination, the male lead fails this test. What does Gully Foyle want? Until the very very end, only two things, really: To kill Vorga (which he then has to be taught (by a woman) means "the people behind/crewing her, not the hunk of metal ship itself"), and to have Olivia Presteign. I mean, there's also a point where he wants to escape, and a point where he wants to not be on fire, but that's a temporary situation which I assume doesn't count. I guess the film "Taken" also falls into the gender reversed category, huh?


I can't actually think of a single book I've read where the pattern is as she describes it, I must say.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursday for October 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Its especially not a free speech issue since presumably there are plenty of other organizations she could have given the money to. UNRWA, for instance, hasn't been designated a terrorist organization (that I know of), and they're kind of the official Palestinian-helping org.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The project 2025 in dem messaging was a hallucination that had nothing to do with it.




Not nothing. A decent chunk of the messaging was verbatim quotes, some taken out of context, some not.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


For example I guess that the new Anduril Arsenal-2 navy shipyards contract in Baltimore would not have happened without this kind of post-DOGE restructuring.




I'm not so sure about that. The USN is... well, not desperate, but they're having to scale up construction massively for tbe AUKUS program, and I feel like they'd have thrown money at anyone with a decent plan and a lobbyist or two in DC.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think Jack Chick used that same philosophy as a comment about the Bible and the Catholic Church in his classic Death Cookie comic tract.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I've seen at least a few people argue "let the sports bodies decide", only to change course once those bodies disagreed with them




I love the graph of "should states decide their own laws on gay marriage?" and how it completely flips as soon as the Supreme Court weighs in.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If deliberate, disrespect to what many consider an important symbol of the country (and cause to doubt her loyalty). If accidental, a lack of attention to detail, knowledge, and/or care about what many consider an important symbol of the country (and cause to doubt her loyalty).


I'm inclined to think it has neither of the two above implications/interpretations,  and was just a standard mistake by someone and not a big deal (how many FAITHFUL AND LOYAL politicians would have paid attention and noticed?). The fact that her campaign responded to the allegations by making a deepfake, however... well, it could have been a panic response, but it does shift my beliefs closer to "deliberate, showing a lack of respect/loyalty".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My understanding from the writeup is that the pamphlet group and the website being linked to are separate orgs, with the pamphlet group being the "false flag".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


the Transgender Education Network of Texas, or TENT




How legitimate was this group? Aka how were they received/perceived/reported on prior to this latest dust-up? Is the whole thing like "linking to the DSA's policy pages", or more "linking to a fake organization that parrots the discourse of (or is at least similar to) a real one"?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For context, I've played (and enjoyed) Bloodstained, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia, and now (through the demo) of Belmont's Curse. I have not, however, played any of the Soulslikes, where I understand making the boss run back is a significant and deliberate part of the game.