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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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				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


'Then it was not made, not made' – Pippin hesitated – 'by the Enemy?'






'No,' said Gandalf. 'Nor by Saruman. It is beyond his art, and beyond Sauron's too. The palantíri came from beyond Westernesse from Eldamar. The Noldor made them. Fëanor himself, maybe, wrought them, in days so long ago that the time cannot be measured in years. But there is nothing that Sauron cannot turn to evil uses. Alas for Saruman! It was his downfall, as I now perceive. Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The killer in 'And then there were none' was also someone who saw miscarriages of justice and felt bound to correct it -- everyone he called to the island to kill was someone he felt hadn't been sufficiently punished and deserved to die for what they'd done. One can quibble, perhaps, about whether his own death counts, dying as he was from an incurable disease prior to his suicide, and if he actually believes that he has done anything wrong in his murders.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


What about the murderer in the Christie's Orient Express?




As opposed to the killer in Christie's Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None?




At the end of the Count of Monte Christo




I'm more familiar with the space version it inspired, The Stars My Destination, where the ending is all about the antihero's desire to be purged and punished and so achieve forgiveness. But that's probably from a similar era/culture as a lot of Westerns.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Yeah, I think gettting less than 4 hours of sleep per day while running a daily marathon split into two parts for several months would be an implausibly superhuman achievement.




I once knew someone who only required 2-3 hours of sleep per night to function perfectly.


Of course, she was a project manager who was the sort to literally make a schedule space for "spontaneity" when on vacation, and as far as I could tell not very physically active, so I don't know if the physcial part of a body has different sleep/rest requirements than the mental.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Speaking of bad adaptations, your user name certainly reminds me of one of them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


AIUI, he wanted to do a completely unrelated sci-fi action movie, but only got greenlight with an established IP attached




I've heard rumours that that's rather commonly what happens with IPs.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Speaking of adaptations starring Gene Wilder, didn't Roald Dahl take issue with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I mean, orcs are said to be very clever at devices of destruction and mischief. RoP's sin isn't that it wants to discuss orc culture, it's that it wants to claims orcs have culture without discussing it. One orc has.a wife and child? Well, what does that mean for orc society? How do they rear/partner/etc? Is he an outlier, or is this the way most of them are? But it doesn't care, it just mentions it and says "oh, you should feel bad for Daddy's children, they can feel emotions too!" without going in to "well, are they always cruel to the men around them, do some want to learn to be farmers, do they have songs and art and anything that would actually make them a culture rather than just violent mooks?"


RoP claims to want to start a conversation, but the writers either don't want to or don't know how to say anything.


That said, whoever is doing some of the background stuff and minor writing bits clearly knows their LotR and cares very deeply. There's a lot of little stuff that's sadly overshadowed by the main writing.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


There's also some other issues like the instance where wellwater was poisoned with nitrates in at least one instance which probably contributes to the fears though I can find like a grand total of like 2 stories on water contamination (this and the Morgan County story).




Was that a data center specific issue, though, or just "this could happen with any construction but we don't like this construction so we're using it as a negative example"?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Wasn't that a specific workaround of a court ruling? That the companies could use books, as long as they a) had physical copies, and b) destroyed them as part of the process? So it was people getting upset over companies complying with a law, because it was never about what the process was, just that people didn't like the end result of "the companies trained AI on all these books".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Weekly Finance Thread - 2026-08-22
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think what they're saying is that whatever the market has them at is what the appropriate P/E is.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would he interested in seeing a principled defense of why what happened to Arday was a "lynching" whereas the constant hate for Rowling is not, that doesn't try to define it as "only being lynching if it happens to someone of colour."


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Weekly Finance Thread - 2026-08-22
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I didn't even realize WM was publically traded. I presume they do far more than just bin pickup?


Also seems odd to me that TSMC is so low, relatively speaking. I'd have assumed them to be ahead of Walmart at the very least.


Also, competitor context would be interesting to see -- Boeing's vs Airbus, for instance.


But all this is why I fully admit I am not capable of playing the markets, and stick to my dumb index funds.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I will entertain arguments for vigilante justice in a circumstances where there is no lawful way to achieve redress




I lean towards supporting vigilante justice only in cases where the vigilante then turns themselves in and pleads guilty to a hostile court. If you believe an injustice has been done and must be redressed outside of the law, very well, but it must then end with justice done within the law, to its fullest extent.


Still gameable, and still has issues, but better than many alternatives.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Palantir is named after the evil orb in Lord of the Rings




Tolkien is pretty clear that the Palantir are not evil, were not created by evil, but merely perilous because evil had one of them.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


though possibly this is state-supported trolling.




Didn't MEE also claim Israel was evaporating the bodies of civilians so they couldn't be counted?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's a separate problem, and possibly the most divorced public opinion is from reality on almost any topic out there.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


specifically adaptions




When were adaptations good in your experience? How did, say, Hitchhiker's Guide and Princess Bride pull it off whereas other adaptations didn't? And are there truly more worse adaptations (or a higher percentage), or just a chunk of high-profile... well, not flops, since a lot of what I'd consider "bad adaptations" are still popular and making bank, as you yourself say.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm sure the guys running slave markets, both today and in history, were largely 'regular guys' who made stupid jokes and fucked around a lot.




There's that classic medieval joke from the one Pope at a slave market, after all...


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Per capita GDP is not terribly different (UK wins slightly)




I wonder how the two capital cities influence that? I know that in the UK, London is an absurd amount of the entire UK's GDP.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The added irony/unfairness is that if Cofnas were to kill himself as a result of this, the result would not be one of soul-searching or questioning on anyone's part. It would almost certainly be celebration, and confirmation that Arday was firmly in the right and a flawless victim.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, most of the commentary I've seen is that it has to do with Cofnas's remarks after Arday's resignation and suicide.  Now, that may very well be a fig leaf and they were planning on getting rid of him regardless, but...


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Nathan Cofnas, first to expose the plagiarism and lies of Jason Arday




Technical point of order: didn’t others do so first, but it didn't gain traction because they were muzzled? First to successfully expose him, yes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Sadly, more cynical but perhaps more realistic is Thomas Browne's Religio Medici:




Many from…an inconsiderate zeal unto truth, have too rashly charged the troops of error, and remain as trophies unto the enemies of truth: A man may be in as just possession of Truth as of a City, and yet be forced to surrender.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of August 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Also, if we're using Reliable Sources, I'll note that the actual, official Doomsday Clock is closer to midnight than it ever was in the Cold War.




Is that reflective of the world situation, or is it being used as a commentary on "we dislike Donald Trump"?