paddirn's recent activity
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Comment on What’s going on with these viral, right-wing country music hits? in ~music
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Comment on I spent a week alone in the Metaverse in ~tech
paddirn Link ParentYea, I feel like by that same token, even a $300 Meta Quest should also be out of reach of kids as well. Having been one of those parents who bought my kid a VR headset, I speak from experience (I...Yea, I feel like by that same token, even a $300 Meta Quest should also be out of reach of kids as well. Having been one of those parents who bought my kid a VR headset, I speak from experience (I also wanted to use it myself, but that's beside the point). It's not like they really buy anything that they own anyways. $3000 may be just as out of reach for kids as $300.
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Comment on Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted on four counts on Tuesday, by a grand jury in the District of Columbia, over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in ~news
paddirn Link ParentIt's kind of funny, kind of sad that he's actually right about the system being biased, but in this case it's actually biased IN HIS FAVOR. We've seen so many instances of the "small folk" doing a...It's kind of funny, kind of sad that he's actually right about the system being biased, but in this case it's actually biased IN HIS FAVOR. We've seen so many instances of the "small folk" doing a fraction of what he's done and getting not just the book, but the whole library thrown at them. Meanwhile, Trump commits multiple blatant crimes, does everything he can to lie and cover it up, potentially gave, sold, or lost classified documents to our enemies (or just anyone that was around), incites violence, threatens public officials, and he's still walking around free and has an actual shot at the Presidency again. It's complete madness, no, THIS IS SPARTA!
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Comment on Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted on four counts on Tuesday, by a grand jury in the District of Columbia, over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in ~news
paddirn Link ParentHe's at the point now where he really doesn't have any other options other than he has to run for President. If he doesn't, he's most likely "screwed", as in he'll probably be under house arrest...He's at the point now where he really doesn't have any other options other than he has to run for President. If he doesn't, he's most likely "screwed", as in he'll probably be under house arrest for the rest of his life. Obviously to an important billionaire businessman doing business things, that's basically like torture. So he has to run because that's the only way he'll "beat the charges", by becoming President-for-life and corrupting the system. It's a huge test for our government and society in general in how we'll respond to this. Previous political norms, those sort of unspoken "gentlemen's agreements" that politicians would vaguely play by the rules just don't work in this situation. Trump is so far removed from any of that and so self-centered that there's no way he was ever going to respect any of that, plus he has absolutely no shame.
Really though, this won't be the first time the Republicans try to do it, if anything they'll get better at it the longer they're allowed to operate like this. Even if Trump had a heart attack tomorrow on 8/3/23 at 3:12pm and fell over dead, this wouldn't be the end of it. They've essentially become an extremist insurgent group, bent on overthrowing the government. The longer we tolerate their antics, the worse they'll get. Given though that half the voting population still supports them through all of this doesn't bode well for the country.
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Comment on What is some life advice that has stuck with you throughout the years? in ~life
paddirn Link ParentI try to put this into practice all the time at work. On so many projects I've worked on, I'll see stuff just languish around while people talk themselves in circles and they can talk themselves...I try to put this into practice all the time at work. On so many projects I've worked on, I'll see stuff just languish around while people talk themselves in circles and they can talk themselves into and out of almost any position depending on the most persuasive/persistent/loudest voice in the room. Sometimes you just need to do something, anything, just get a first draft out the door to really get the ball rolling. You don't know how bad or good an idea is until you've just thrown something together and you have something in front of you to actually evaluate. Too often it feels like people are waiting for a "magic bullet", some sort of perfect solution that solves everyone's issues all at once, when usually you're never going to see that, you can usually solve some of the issues, but there's going to be tradeoffs, it's just a matter of deciding what things you're willing to trade away to get closest to what you want.
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Comment on What is some life advice that has stuck with you throughout the years? in ~life
paddirn Link ParentYou know what, you talked me into it. I think I will go for that heist after all, who am I to say 'no' to an old friend getting the gang together for just one more score?You know what, you talked me into it. I think I will go for that heist after all, who am I to say 'no' to an old friend getting the gang together for just one more score?
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Comment on After Mitch McConnell's and Dianne Feinstein's episodes, should we talk about age limits in US public officials? in ~misc
paddirn Link ParentYea, I feel like these examinations would just be maneuvered around by finding a party loyalist doctor who would just rubber stamp anybody to be fit to serve. Who would ultimately be in charge of...Yea, I feel like these examinations would just be maneuvered around by finding a party loyalist doctor who would just rubber stamp anybody to be fit to serve. Who would ultimately be in charge of the process that wouldn't be biased one way or another? Look back at 2015 when Trump dictated his own health report to his doctor, doctors aren't these paragons of ethical behavior either. In theory, finding a "government physician" could help with impartiality, but given the importance that these Reps/Senators carry, I'd imagine it could be easier to pressure/prod them into overlooking questionable behavior from a Congressperson.
Just set maximum age limits, the same way we have no problem setting minimum ages for people to become President, Senator, Representative, just set a maximum age limit as well. Why is it we have no problem discriminating against younger people entering these positions, but discriminating against older Americans is taboo?
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Comment on You have one fast travel point, where do you place it? in ~talk
paddirn LinkA hospital seems like a good fast travel point, though that really only helps you out in a medical emergency and hopefully it's not something you really even need to use that often (but it could...A hospital seems like a good fast travel point, though that really only helps you out in a medical emergency and hopefully it's not something you really even need to use that often (but it could be a life or death moment if you ever do need it).
My birthplace might be nice and make a bit more sense, but then traveling one-way from there on a regular basis would get expensive, and other than being born there, I have no other connection to it.
Home seems like the completely obvious answer, though if you ever move it kind of gives you a useless fast travel point if you can't change the location, but while I live there, I would be using that on a daily basis, especially if I could travel with objects. Ride a bike around everywhere, go to the store, load up the bike, then BAMPF! back home with everything. Going out drinking? BAMPF! no driving home drunk. Want to just travel to some random part of the globe for shits & giggles? BAMPF! home in a jiffy and you only ever need to get one-way tickets (though the authorities may become suspicious).
A Rick & Morty-esque save point remote would be even more useful if you could fast travel in both time & space (provided you weren't just dimension-hopping the whole time instead). Everyday could be Groundhog day and you could just keep on replaying each day til you "got it right", you could probably become a pretty successful day trader that way (assuming also you can change the fast travel point).
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Comment on Retired Maj. David Grusch tells Congress the US is concealing ‘multi-decade’ program that captures UFOs in ~misc
paddirn LinkI think that without a doubt, there has to be aliens outside of our solar system, given just how mind-bogglingly large the Universe appears to be, for life to have just been this one weird fluke...I think that without a doubt, there has to be aliens outside of our solar system, given just how mind-bogglingly large the Universe appears to be, for life to have just been this one weird fluke on this one planet in a very unassuming corner of an unremarkable galaxy, while Life itself seems to show up almost everywhere we look on the planet. So Life is out there, but whether it can travel the distance between stars in a journey that would likely take hundreds/thousands of years is a different question entirely, and I doubt something they'd undertake lightly. They'd have to have access to some sort of cryo-sleep technology or have generation ships to even think of sending their own people. If we were to even be seeing alien technology in our star system though, chances are we wouldn't even be dealing with the aliens themselves, but some sort of drones just sent out for reconnaissance, probe droids. Only after some hundreds of years and with a specific purpose in mind, would the aliens probably even come here after that. So unless first contact was made centuries ago, if we've only just now seen aliens, we'd just be seeing a low-level representation of them, what their technology looked like hundreds of years ago when they sent the probes out.
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Comment on So I'm new-ish to cRPG's. I played the first four-ish hours of Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access. in ~games
paddirn LinkHaving played both the prior Baldur's Gate games, most of the old AD&D SSI cRPGs, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, Fallout, Planescape, and a host of other cRPGs, I've been really impressed with...Having played both the prior Baldur's Gate games, most of the old AD&D SSI cRPGs, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale, Fallout, Planescape, and a host of other cRPGs, I've been really impressed with BG3, it's really really good. Most recent cRPGs have a tendency to try to "hide" their RPG roots, they're trying to tell a story and don't really want the mechanics to get in the way. BG3 does not shy away from it and it feels the closest to playing a tabletop RPG that I've ever played, it just feels like they've added so much detail to the game and give the players quite a bit of freedom.
What I'm kind of interested in is if they'll add support for scenario creation tools for the community. I could honestly see myself trying to play through a regular gaming session using BG3 as a sort of virtual tabletop. Let the game handle most of the combat mechanics, but then give the GM controls for running through the rest of the game for social encounters or for going through the story/plot elements, I think it could be really cool.
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Comment on US progressives in Congress unveil OLIGARCH Act to combat 'existential threat' of extreme wealth inequality in ~misc
paddirn Link ParentThat seems to be it, makes it easier for people to get behind if they need to get people to protest or badger their Congress people. And it kind of gets the point across just in the acronym...That seems to be it, makes it easier for people to get behind if they need to get people to protest or badger their Congress people. And it kind of gets the point across just in the acronym itself, though they had to reach pretty far to get to the 'Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms' Act (OLIGARCH). They get to give it two names almost. It may have been better to have just called it the "Wealth Inequality Act" or something generic like that though, just say what the bill is about in as few words as possible and don't try to dress it up just for the acronym.
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Comment on Why is Elon Musk doing what he is to Twitter? in ~tech
paddirn Link ParentI think he honestly started buying into the real-life Tony Stark hype that people were attributing to him before he started opening his dumb mouth (seems to have started when he called the diver...I think he honestly started buying into the real-life Tony Stark hype that people were attributing to him before he started opening his dumb mouth (seems to have started when he called the diver guy a pedophile). So he just assumes he has the Midas touch, that nothing he does can ever be wrong, he's a genius, he's Iron Man. He has a bachelors in Economics and Physics but really doesn't seem to know a whole lot about anything, despite pretending to be an expert in everything.
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Comment on Norwegian left-wing party leader Bjørnar Moxnes resigned on Monday after stealing a pair of luxury sunglasses from Oslo airport in ~misc
paddirn LinkHow weird. Here in the US we have people who have tried to overthrow the government running for re-election and have denied every thing they've done under the sun and will never admit to anything....How weird. Here in the US we have people who have tried to overthrow the government running for re-election and have denied every thing they've done under the sun and will never admit to anything. Like, I admire the integrity of the guy for admitting a wrong, but I almost think that someone with that kind of integrity should stay in politics, but he also tried to steal sunglasses. I'm so confused.
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Comment on The Summer Backlog Battle: Play your Steam backlog to benefit No Kid Hungry in ~games
paddirn LinkSounds interesting, but I always wonder about the point of these sorts of things, like unless you're actually donating money to something, what are you actually doing to help? Is it just...Sounds interesting, but I always wonder about the point of these sorts of things, like unless you're actually donating money to something, what are you actually doing to help? Is it just virtue-signaling and humble-bragging?
I had started up an effort to at least play through my backlog a year or two ago, going through my backlog of unplayed games chronologically (oldest games first) to at least say I had "played" all the games in my library, if only to install it, play for 5 minutes, call it done, then move on. I got sidetracked by Chrono Trigger however and hadn't gotten around to getting back into the effort yet.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~health
paddirn Link ParentYeah, the only semi-plausible reason I can think of is that the US Govt wouldn't want to destabilize trade relations with China "too much", like maybe the whole Trade War thing is really just a...Yeah, the only semi-plausible reason I can think of is that the US Govt wouldn't want to destabilize trade relations with China "too much", like maybe the whole Trade War thing is really just a behind-the-scenes agreement between the countries to try to decouple their economies from each other and the whole Trade War is just sort of political theatre. However, that's just some off-the-cuff idea I wrote up in 5 minutes with no basis in reality, just grasping at straws. It's just sort of magical thinking that assumes ulterior motives behind anything and everything happening in the world. There's been alot of effort on the US side to try to contain China and to weaken them, I think if there had been even a shred of truth to the Covid Lab Leak that we would've already been all over it, even just making the accusation to try to alienate China from the rest of the world. Though given how much the US probably contributed to the spread, I guess we don't have much room to point the fingers at others anyways.
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Comment on 'Barbie' review: Sometimes corporate propaganda can be fun as hell in ~movies
paddirn Link ParentI'm curious to actually go see it and bring my 5 year old daughter to it, is it something that a young kid would actually enjoy, or is it more tongue-in-cheek adult humor that will just completely...I'm curious to actually go see it and bring my 5 year old daughter to it, is it something that a young kid would actually enjoy, or is it more tongue-in-cheek adult humor that will just completely fly over kids' heads?
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~health
paddirn LinkI'm curious, if it was a cover-up, why? Obviously China would want it kept under wraps and I imagine they would have pull over some countries, but why would the US government not have called it...I'm curious, if it was a cover-up, why? Obviously China would want it kept under wraps and I imagine they would have pull over some countries, but why would the US government not have called it out? I mean, we went through 4 years of a President that tried to weaponize every aspect of the Federal apparatus to use against people who so much as made a joke about him on a talk show. We've been embroiled in a Trade War with them for years now that's never really ended, why wouldn't the US Government have just come out and said, "It came from a Chinese lab," and pinned the blame on them? I've read different things over the years that suggest that it could have been a Chinese bio-weapon that got loose and all that, it wouldn't surprise if that was the case, but why would the US even bother with a cover-up at all if we're in such an adversarial relationship with them? It seems at this point we may never know the truth and the rumors will just perpetuate for years/decades to come.
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Comment on Twitter is now X as the little blue bird disappears in ~tech
paddirn LinkHow ironic, given that 'x' is sort of the universal icon for closing out an application. The new icon hopefully signals that we'll soon be closing out of hearing anything else from Musk or Twitter...How ironic, given that 'x' is sort of the universal icon for closing out an application. The new icon hopefully signals that we'll soon be closing out of hearing anything else from Musk or Twitter ever again. Some day, maybe.
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Comment on What do you think about how women are depicted in "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe? in ~books
paddirn Link ParentYeah, they completely took out any subtlety with the relationship because apparently HBO contractually requires at least 10 minutes of nudity per episode. In my case it did help me understand what...Yeah, they completely took out any subtlety with the relationship because apparently HBO contractually requires at least 10 minutes of nudity per episode. In my case it did help me understand what was going on a bit better, as I think I had just assumed that the knight was just really committed to his King... I just didn't realize how committed he was.
I understood that when they were doing the show that some things would have to get cut to be able to fit it all in, I figured there was no way around that, but the infuriating thing was all that they had to cut in order to make way for just these pointless sex scenes in EVERY episode. And I don't consider myself a prude, I don't mind nudity or sex, but it really got in the way of the story in this series (in addition to the actual bad screenwriting). Still so salty about this series and it's been years since it ended, I'll never forgive D&D for how that show turned out.
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Comment on Which board games have you been playing? (to 24th July) in ~games.tabletop
paddirn LinkI'm finally trying to finish out my solo Gloomhaven campaign. I stalled out for quite awhile when Real Life/Kids and just other games came up and it's been a struggle to get back into it. I had...I'm finally trying to finish out my solo Gloomhaven campaign. I stalled out for quite awhile when Real Life/Kids and just other games came up and it's been a struggle to get back into it. I had thought I might be able to switch over to the digital version of it, but alas, there's no easy way to just convert your tabletop game to digital. Every method I've found so far requires you to manually play through every scenario all over again (they add cheats, but just the thought of going through all that bother is off-putting).
Luckily, the iOS app Gloomhaven Campaign Tracker (GCT) has saved my campaign all this time and I was able to more or less jump back into it, and it helps take some of the pain away from setup, since you don't have to scrounge around for quite so many components with it. Otherwise, I've been enjoying it again, though I'm far from completing it, I had maybe made it about halfway through the content, there's almost too much there to fully go through.
I saw there was a recent Backerkit campaign for an updated 2nd edition, but I just decided to avoid that completely, lest I find yet another reason to put off finishing through the campaign, a similar thing had happened to me with the Middara update. I was close to backing for the RPG version, but decided against it because I don't care for RPGs that have extra components or card decks associated with them. Our gaming group plays digitally for the most part anymore, so adding an extra set of components was a no-go.
Astroturfing - Most likely in preparation for the 2024 presidential election, trying to create these "grassroots" protest songs that seemingly come out of nowhere as a way to motivate their base of voters. It could be a play at going after younger voters I guess. It's so odd how these people seem to be so quiet when a Republican President is in office, and never seem concerned about the shift towards authoritarianism in the GOP. Can we get a country song bemoaning the sad, sorry state of Republicans?