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VoxelVexillologist

🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist

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joined 2022 September 04 18:24:54 UTC 

				
User ID: 64


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
VoxelVexillologist


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 18:24:54 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 64


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For limited areas, sure.  But recurring issues at national borders, January 6, and any number of "fiery but mostly peaceful protests" have me convinced it's not a general solution: I have trouble believing all of those are deliberate incompetence.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


That seems to be the current meta.




There isn't really a good response to a mass of unarmed, calmly-moving people trying to do something.  Opening fire has terrible optics unless you're, like, protecting nuclear warheads or something similarly weighty.  On one hand I'm proud of the human sense of fairness there, but it does seem an exploitable meta generally.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, it's also somewhat the opposite of your exact quote: that this is how it went in the stories, and how they rather wish they didn't have to be in one.




But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something. That there is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.




				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Okay, Chris Christie.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


"This wasn't how it went in the stories!"




There is a great bit in The Two Towers where Sam and Frodo get to discussing Great Stories, but I think that one works really well because they recognize their part is, maybe reluctantly, to be in one.  It can be done well, IMO.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Midway through As I Lay Dying.  The prose (for most of the characters) is not quite the "Faulkner" I was expecting, and I see why kids forced to read it in high school might not have liked it: the story requires some active attention to follow.  I've always had some trouble with following characters in books, but maybe that's just me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


AI is changing the security landscape more than privacy at the moment.




It's certainly changing the security landscape, but changes in access control stances seem to be happening very rapidly too: Reddit doesn't allow read access without a login, and I semi-consistently get captchas to do Google searches in browser incognito mode.  I've even had Cloudflare get stuck "verifying" and not allowing page loads.  And Cloudflare sits in front of even static content these days.  The walls are really tightening in, and I'm not sure I buy the "trying to keep out bots" argument: I'd bet a "bot test" is more expensive than serving small static pages, but maybe those are rare enough to be lost in the noise.  At this rate, I expect an implicit fingerprinted "social credit score" by user is going to become normalized before anyone realizes it and rallies opposition.


But it's certainly happening more quietly.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 25, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think "AI only really got the idea to kill all humans from reading AI doomers" would be an amusing fiction writing prompt.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Its been at least a decade since I saw it: I don't remember any specific scenes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
From what I remember of the first few seasons, yes.  But it has been a while.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


where are the female versions of this type of character?




I haven't watched all of it, but Bones comes to mind: it ran contemporaneously, and the title character is an autistic-coded female pathologist forensic anthropologist who often rubs the other characters the wrong way.  I don't think she was a Mary Sue type, but had to be paired with a cop archetype for the actual "dealing with violent criminals" parts.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


does anyone think House is incompetent?




Isn't it a semi-recurring theme in the show that he can't get (some) people to take him seriously?  The audience isn't shown him that way, though, from what I remember.  The conflict is often "mad genius vs. The System".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There are plenty of interesting stories to tell that aren't really about the characters.  Often more exploring the limits (as in "as x goes to infinity") of principles.  Science fiction often does this, but it's not alone in doing so.


While I thought "dark, gritty" characters were interesting two decades ago, the idea won so heavily that no popular writing I've seen today demonstrates strong principles and I think we've lost something civilizationally aspirational in doing so.  We've seemingly decided not to transcend the human condition, but to wallow in it.


But that's just, like, my opinion.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The world would be a better place if more people had the integrity to not make up problems where none exist.




I see where you're going, but most, maybe even all human progress seems a function of rejecting the status quo because of its maybe-not-yet-evident problems.  Most technology exists to solve problems we previously just accepted, or didn't even consider to exist (problem: I can't fly like a bird).  Not sure where I'd draw the line, though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Grey's anatomy




Christian Grey is the title character of Fifty Shades of Grey, not Anatomy.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It is done occasionally at smaller scales.  Although the example that comes to mind is the NYC building that partially collapsed over the summer while they were trying to do so; obviously not all roses.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Unless you attach the outer end to the pole, or use some unusually stiff cloth, it will partially unwrap like you see in the example here.  But not impossible, I suppose.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Worth noting that, AFAIK, none of them consider themselves "trans" either: the eligibility rules here don't purely exist to handle transgender athletes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The American flag, at least, is prominently blue on top with white stars when hung on a vertical pole like this.  Flipping it would make the top section red-and-white striped, and look IMO completely wrong.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				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, maybe with some theoretical exceptions that are probably impossible in practice.


I've seen at least a few people argue "let the sports bodies decide", only to change course once those bodies disagreed with them, but maybe many have quietly accepted those decisions.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


property tax revenue from rental properties and second homes, which don't get the homestead exemption.




For long-term rentals, this presumably does get passed on as increased rent.  It could be acceptable policy, I suppose, but I would describe that as "actually live there" too.  Perhaps the incentive here to buy a home is fine, but worth considering directly.


Passing it on to Airbnbs sounds fine, though.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If we're embracing "brute-force utilitarianism", we might as well shuck anything other than heteronormativity from school curricula anyway.  Why should we care about the concerns of small minorities? The greater good is at stake!


We shouldn't do so, obviously.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


connotations of literal pedophilia,




I don't think it outweighs the rest of the argument, but it seems relevant that certain parts of the mainstream center-right remain deeply uneasy about the comfort of the Pride folks with, for lack of a better term, age gap relationships within their communities.  To their credit, they did largely kick out NAMBLA, but stories like Milo's are not exactly uncommon.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
They also won't let kids of 17 and 11 share a tent these days, for similar reasons.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			
			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of October 19, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
The term "Nintendo hard" usually refers to games from the early 90s.  Nintendo makes a lot of more approachable titles these days (although some of the completionist features remain quite hard).


I have mixed feelings on difficulty changes.