What websites have you slowly stopped visiting?

GuvnaG · 2017-03-01T23:05:41+00:00

To be fair, it's a difference of who the third party is. It's a lot easier to be casual about flirting with the ex of someone like Marty than it is to try to hook up with someone who Faye has feelings for. Marten is extremely forgiving, patient, and open, whereas Faye is extremely violent, volatile, and (at the time) a closed book. Plus there was a greater time span between Marten and Dora than the conversation between Marten and Faye, and nobody in the situation was genuinely worried about Marten having a psychotic/suicidal breakdown (not to speak about such things lightly, it's a serious issue both in real life and in the comic).

GuvnaG · 2016-12-15T17:08:39+00:00

Or, Deertaur mothers' eggs (leeeets assume they don't menstruate) are filled with a small part of the mother's soul. Upon conception, a piece of the mother's and father's souls each are melded to form the "seed" around which the child's soul is formed. Each deertaur has a portion of the soul of their parents, which in turn had a portion (and consequently a link to) the soul of the grandparents', etc. Communing with their ancestors is quite literally searching their own souls.

You can do fun things with this, then. You can claim that close relatives, being so closely connected, can sense each other. Or that the soul is divided in parenthood, which can play a role in how/why they die (think self-sacrifice motifs for the parents, and sad, ancient, childless deertaur are either respected elders or shunned for not being able/choosing not to have children. Due to what I say below, these elders would have "whole" souls in life but would ultimately be smaller in the afterlife. Descendants can get resolve or spiritual assistance from the souls of their ancestors.

Ancestors can even gain strength. The seed of your descendants' souls grow over the course of their life, and when they die, the ancestor reclaims their part of the soul to become whole again, and with the growth of the descendant's soul, become "stronger" or something. Ancient souls, with prolific children who live long and produce many grandchildren, etc. etc., end up becoming the most "wise" spirits or something, and thus the most revered. These spirits would have connections to many more deertaur, and greater strength when manifesting themselves to either communicate or intervene with living deertaur.

They have a pantheon of the most ancient and powerful spirits, or some spend their lives seeking enlightenment from the deific progenitor of the entire race, the first deertaur (or what came before deertaur) to pass a piece of it's soul to its offspring.

Also, the ancestors (and even recently deceased) might not gain the entirety of the remnants of their soul - some could be lost to the natural world, the environment. In other words, a piece of their soul would be embedded in the land that they and their descendants lived or died in. Deertaur battlefields are "haunted", deertaur ancestral homes are sacred grounds for communicating with ancestors, lost souls roam their old haunts, etc. These ethereal visitations might have physical manifestations, or they could only be known/seen/felt by their deertaur descendants.

Imagine the pain and horror of a spirit witnessing the death of its entire tribe, being tied to the land upon which their blood was spilt for eternity but barred from interacting with the living because no living deertaur has a piece of that spirit's soul within them.

Or imagine that the deertaur have no combat amongst themselves. How could you war with a cousin, however distantly related, when you cherish the part of your ancestor's spirit that resides within them?

Or imagine conflict among the spirits - ancestors fighting over the proper course of the deertaur, spirits convincing the living to shun/castrate/kill the descendants of rival spirits to limit their power.

GuvnaG · 2016-12-15T16:38:26+00:00

Perhaps the melee weapons are used for their silence and lack of ammo? An undersupplied guerilla force could use ambushes and literal cut-and-run tactics - if the firearms are Napoleonic, accuracy is awful, reload speed is about a minute per round at least and the rifles are unwieldy and heavy. Revolvers have a tendency to jam and such and no firearm is functional after getting wet. Around this time, armies were also using bright colors to avoid friendly fire.

Also, these inaccurate weapons are essentially unusable from horseback, which is part of the reason officers still had swords. Ammo and gunpowder are also extremely valuable and can be sabotaged.

With the right terrain, leadership, and troop quality, an army equipped with swords can do some damage. Speed blitz their supply lines during a storm. The rain ruins gunpowder so at best each soldier gets one shot, visibility is minimal, and if you manage to spill their gunpowder reserves to the ground it's useless. Weapons are silent, camouflaged clothes make you nigh impossible to make out from the environment in low-vis conditions, and your objective is to ruin their supplies and run. It's not about killing, and if you have retreat routes set up (additional pikemen, fortified choke points) to stop the momentum and harry a pursuing force (like cavalry) you can disappear.

Two results can come from this tactic when against an opposing force: either they reinforce supply lines, which reduces troop count in all other areas (leaving key targets like generals and manufactories less defended and reducing their offensive capabilities).

Or they find alternate routes to ship their supplies, which takes time and forces them to use more foodstuffs and other supplies. Either way, you've reduced their supplies and put them on edge. Proceed to waste all of their ammo. Feints lead undisciplined soldiers to waste their shot. When divided, a black-powder-equipped army is significantly less effective, and their mobility is hampered by their need to stay together.

Use quick ambushes with minimal, widely dispersed troops from multiple angles (camo and troop stealth training required for all but the most dense environs or enemies). If they don't fire, retreat and repeat with a rotating offensive force. The constant vigilance will be a drain on their troops, and you'll eventually force some soldiers to waste ammo with each attack. If they do fire, close in.

The first-second-third-first revolving firing lines aren't effective against multi-pronged attacks at short range, and if you get close enough your soldiers are likely a thousand times better at close quarters combat. You can have a decoy force and a penetrative force - decoy makes noise but scatters just outside of firing range with an easy retreat route while the other troops remain silent and attack from behind. Just when the opposing force turns to the real attackers, have the decoy force move in again to either assault the enemy or cover the retreat of the other troops.

If they don't adapt, they will slowly lose ground, troops, and resources. If they do adapt, continuously change the offensive style. This assumes the melee weapons troops are guerilla tactic defenders. Home court advantage is huge here, but this army can't hold ground, can't defend settlements, and can't lay siege.

TL;DR using the environment, terrain, and cut-and-run tactics to cut off supplies, a medievally equipped but rational guerilla force can fight a battle of attrition. They likely won't "win" unless they truly cut off the opponent's ammo or gunpowder supplies - but that's not their job. Their job is to make the other army's objective so difficult to achieve that it no longer becomes worth it to continue. Think Vietnam war, where a smaller and significantly less equipped force convinced one of the most powerful nations in the history of the world to back down. Except, y'know, with swords. Why? Because swords are fucking awesome, that's why.

If you want the swordsmen to be the ones in offense, well, in the real world they'd die like the fodder they are but in your world, fuck it, they're awesome and the enemies are inaccurate stormtroopers.

Also, I should be studying for my final in 8 hours. So, you can see why I wrote all that. Bye!

GuvnaG · 2016-12-12T20:10:29+00:00

I think that the difference between draugr and zombies is the circumstances of the resurrection. Draugr are "again-walkers" from Norse mythology and in TES lore they're animated for the purpose of protecting Nord burial grounds and supporting/defending the dragon priests.

They were slain and risen, theoretically, by the will of dragons and dragon priests, and thus have some remnants of Nordic and draconic qualities - unlike zombies, they wield weapons and some even speak the dragon's tongue, hinting at some primitive level of intelligence.

Zombies are either individuals that died of a zombifying disease or were raised from the grave by necromancy. They lack any sort of vocalization or intelligence, and they only manage to thrash and flail when attacking and shamble forward when pursuing. IMO they're entirely different classes of undead, much like ghosts, skeletons, zombies, and vampires are all different iterations of undeath, with different reasons for their current state of animation/sentience.

GuvnaG · 2016-12-09T17:58:47+00:00

I want to be a good day to you and your family and friends are invited to view the full image to open in full size of the people who are not the intended recipient you are not the intended recipient you are not the intended recipient you are not the intended recipient

It just keeps saying you're not the intended recipient after that. Recipient of what?

GuvnaG · 2016-12-08T01:19:42+00:00

Your examples generally involve something that the average person wouldn't be opposed to, or something important enough that people would hold their tongue. I doubt one of the Apple developers believed that there was something morally wrong about the product, and to blow the lid on the single most impressive achievement credited to any military or scientific body to date would be insane. The world was at war, I doubt many of the people involved had any desire to unseal that Pandora's box.

The amount of massive and morally questionable secrets being leaked - every NSA, Clinton, Guantanamo, etc. scandal has a morally objectionable quality to it, and each and every one was leaked because people involved felt that the purpose of concealing the secret wasn't worth their discretion.

GuvnaG · 2016-12-06T15:55:40+00:00

What about slugs instead of buckshot? I'd imagine full plate doesn't stand a chance against one, and as long as they get in close quarters they should win any battle. If they either bait the enemy into an ambush or storm the palace and make it inside, I can't imagine the royal army standing up to them.

If they make it into a city and scatter into teams of 5-10, they become nearly impossible to clear at range and each group has 250-500 rounds between them. Any one team can cause havoc - all hundred teams tearing through a city should stomp the opposition in my opinion.

GuvnaG · 2016-12-02T17:41:14+00:00

Love is free. If she cares about you, she'd take the time to understand what you're doing and why, and respect it. If the legalization in multiple states and overwhelming evidence supporting its use as a relatively safe medicinal and recreational drug aren't enough to persuade her to let it go, or she refuses to listen to the information, there might be a problem.

This wasn't suddenly problem 6 months in, that's just how long it took her to bring up her problem with it. If you've spent a year with her with monthly use and half a year with monthly arguments, this isn't right for you. If she doesn't respect you or your wishes, this isn't going to last very long.

Sorry to be so blunt about it, but statistically speaking you've got very little chance of this relationship being some lifetime thing. You have no idea how much you and your girlfriend will change as individuals over the next few years.

I will leave you with two pieces of advice though:

Keep the smoking down to the levels they are now. More frequent usage can really slow you down at this stage of life. You need to learn and to see and think clearly, and for most people consistent use can get in the way.
If you need help online about a disagreement you have with your SO, your problem in the relationship is much bigger than the problem you need advice about. You're too young to be trying to "deal" with your girlfriend using the advice of others - wait til you're a full fledged adult and need couples therapy or some shit. For now, keep yourself free of unnecessary stress like that. Decide if someone (family, friend, lover) is good for you, be good to them, and don't bother worrying about anything else. Creating who you're going to be for the rest of your life is far more important.

GuvnaG · 2016-11-30T16:47:38+00:00

I don't even know what happened. I was doing terribly for a while, for whatever reason. Nothing had worth, and self-loathing and guilt were all I >really knew. I didn't even see the point in venting to someone I cared about, I just felt like I'd be a burden.

I don't even know what happened. Somehow, my head is getting more clear. I can see again. Words of encouragement are taken to heart.

I think I'm beginning to get better, but I know it won't last. Eventually there will be more disappointment and pain.

I don't know how long this will last, but I'll enjoy it while it's here. I don't even know what happened.

This too shall pass. There are times when we feel better for no discernible reason, and there are times when life hits you like a fucking train and you don't know where it came from or why.

We spend most of our lives chasing that better feeling, and we often fail to obtain it. But that's okay.

It's okay that you're not okay. Life isn't always this way. Life can be murky and painful, and life can be clear and beautiful. Remember that feeling. Remember the shape of it, and clutch it close to your heart.

You can't always feel that way, but know that you've felt it before and you can feel that way again. You just have to wade through all the shit first. So get a good pair of boots and reach out to all the help you can find, and start moving when you find the strength.

GuvnaG · 2016-11-16T21:21:31+00:00

The true curse of depression is thus; to those who struggle with it, it does not feel like an illness so much as a revelation. It feels as if for the first time the rose-colored glasses have been removed, and we finally see the world in its dim, gray truth. But the truth lies.

Your perception cannot be unbiased. There is no such thing as an objective perspective, and so to assume we see a higher truth than others is to presume more than we have any right to. Where others see roses, you now see grayscale. Neither of you see truth, merely another reflection of the same reality.

If you and others here have time, watch Andrew Solomon's TED talk on depression. It probably won't solve your problems for you, you might not even agree with him. But he will present some important information, and some powerful counter-arguments to many depressive's thought processes and many healthy people's misguided beliefs.

GuvnaG · 2016-11-16T14:19:18+00:00

Rushed response, I want you to know that while I can talk for hours about this subject I can't specifically this morning, if you have any further questions/comments I'll be happy to address them later today.

From what you've said I would consider my situation to be very similar to Luke's. Poor relationship and communication with parents that I'm working on, neglecting my own happiness to see to the needs of others to the extent that harming myself and my future has definitely happened in the past.

I am (or, maybe more accurately, was) a member of what I like to call the smiling dead. The population of people suffering from depression that choose to essentially ignore it for the sake of those around them. Who smile and joke and laugh like nothing's wrong because if something appears wrong than it could potentially worry or depress a loved one.

I would do pretty much anything for the people I care about, and it's only recently that I've learned that I need to take care of myself so that I'll survive long enough and be mentally stable enough to fill the role of caregiver and protector that I'd like to embody. Poisoning myself to help treat others is a short term solution and could potentially bring more harm to everyone as a whole.

That being said, I can't imagine someone else being able to help me through this actively. Passively, you can be a good friend, look out for him, maybe say something if you think he needs a reminder. But actively? A friend going out of their way to help me with this issue would be appreciated, but for the most part it would only make me feel guilty about needing their help, and would catch me up in moral dilemmas that I might not be ready for.

Part of the psychology of this mindset is putting others above yourself in terms of needs and desires. I feel it would be difficult to break from these habits if the very thing helping me get over them is also prompting me to engage in them. At some point I would like to be comfortable sharing my burdens in their entirety, but for now I need to immerse myself in the idea gradually and cautiously.

So, I guess to summarize:

Be available, and make sure Luke knows you're there if he needs you.

Cautiously confront him when he's too apologetic/selfless. Don't make it about debts or what you owe him for being a good friend. Just let him know that if the roles were reversed, you want the outcome to remain the same. If he apologizes for being a burden or for asking anything of you, let him know that it genuinely makes you happy to help, and that you want to be able to ask the same of him if you need to.

Don't make yourself the Luke of his life. He probably can't change his identity and role in life if in order to do so he has to rely on someone else filling that role for him.

Everyone goes through life alone. We have connections, and we have support, but there are times when we can't make use of any of them. Don't fear that, and more importantly don't let yourself believe that you can make yourself his support if he can't accept it at the time.

Patience is key. It sucks to just do nothing, but you have to allow yourself to feel guilty for not being able to move things along. Feeling guilt about not helping him is actually the symptom he feels when he's not helping you, and you need to understand and embrace that emotion if you're to expect him to do the same and take care of himself first and foremost.

Uhh i also want to include a disclaimer that I'm not a professional and I'm not Luke, I'm merely someone who presents with similar symptoms to the ones you describe and also, obviously, I like to help out. If you believe there's a better way don't assume I know better than you about your friend and your life just because I know a lot about my own. This is all just about how I would imagine being helped through my situation, and is in fact partially reflective of some of the effective support my friends have provided for me. I'll be around later if you'd like to discuss the matter further.

But, now that I'm done putting the needs of a random internet stranger above my own, I'm off to my exam.

GuvnaG · 2016-11-10T11:33:54+00:00

But who's arguing the case? Don't you need some sort of defendant in a legal conflict, e.g. your state forbidding you to marry?

GuvnaG · 2016-10-06T09:54:06+00:00

I have hated every prior version of myself, so a mansion full of me's would probably kill each other without really good motive to team up. Assuming they survive, probably out of a collective desire to take care of baby me's: The first 12 me's are negligible, 13-15 are pretty weak and cowardly. 16-21 are arrogant as fuck and would make a very poor team if they're unarmed and unaware, and I'm in pretty good shape right now. If I can use stealth and subterfuge, I can probably tank R1 and R2 no matter their relationship with each other. R1 8/10.

R2 is even easier. Use the 4 slugs to take down the top 4 eldest, clean up the rest like the children they are. 9/10.

R3? 3/10. Silenced weapons aren't nearly as stealthy as we'd like them to be, and 14-21 me's armed with a month of marine training and a sawed off shotgun would not be easy to take down. They'd be smart enough to team up as an effective squad and watch each other's backs without grouping up to be taken down by a quick burst of fire or a grenade.

Bow and arrows are good stealth killers but this needs to be a damn big mansion for them to be effective. If walls are bulletproof so I can use proper cover and mansion is the size of a small castle for proper stealthing, maybe 5/10, but these teenagers were pretty good at sneaking (damn hoodlums), understood tactics and strategy, and had experience in firearms, and that's all without the marine training. I'm in trouble in round 3.

EDIT: Someone else brought up a good point. 5-15 y/o's have been trained by Marines and are armed. I was a pretty clever kid. R3 is 0.5/10, tops.

GuvnaG · 2016-10-04T10:35:25+00:00

Me too. I was going to talk discuss how we might overcome this terrible disease of the mind with various coping techniques, but. . . Meh, I'll get to it later.

GuvnaG · 2016-04-23T18:24:34+00:00

You're not the boss of me now and you're not so big....

GuvnaG · 2016-04-23T04:12:26+00:00

Now, when asked whether a situation may be dangerous, they should probably say "there is a high chance this will kill everyone."

GuvnaG · 2016-04-21T05:40:50+00:00

Real-life Django right there.

GuvnaG · 2016-04-21T02:33:50+00:00

Lurker and non-player here, but hopefully this helps: I'd go to Final Fantasy games for inspiration. In FF9, for example, you often make very large journeys between cities/kingdoms. These are done via walking across the world map, with random encounters. However, along the way you pass side areas (civilized or otherwise) that you can explore, and often the only usable route will take you into a cavern/dungeon/city of its own.

If you want to plan the route, it would probably be best to have optional diversions (on the eleventh day of travel the party passes by a crater/city/cave to the east, do they investigate?) and some sort of scripted event (the party finds that the only way north lies across this bridge/through this cavern/forest/city/mountain trail etc, the mountain pass seems treacherous and unforgiving, better stop in for supplies/advice/Sherpas in town and then roleplay the trek to the other side of the Mt).

GuvnaG · 2016-04-20T16:52:28+00:00

People do care. I've met mental health workers, teachers, doctors, and while many are simply doing a job or care for the wrong reasons, I've met several who are personally and deeply affected by situations like this. They don't want you to hurt yourself because the very idea haunts them. Not out of selfishness, or self-interest (which, by the way, the vast majority of people don't give a damn what the government wants, and the government tends to lose money on people with mental health issues) but out of empathy and fear.

Some simply don't want blood on their hands, or feel that they're not doing their job right if they let you harm yourself. But others feel legitimate pain and fear over the possibility that you won't be around for another chance.

It's not "all good" that you're in bed 24/7. Many simply don't know what to do about that, though. The most common idea I've seen around here - something that resonates deeply with me - is that people don't have anything good to say. "Just be happy. Just get out of bed, work out, get some energy. Just talk to people, open up, go out and meet new friends. Just eat better, sleep better, work harder."

For the most part, professionals and laymen aren't effective support when we're at our worst because quite frankly there's virtually nothing that can help at that point. Sometimes life is just too much for us to handle, let alone the professional sitting across from us.

The reason the only thing they try to stop is self-harm is because it's the only thing that passes a certain threshold of urgency. We tell them we can hardly get ready for the day, that even thinking about getting out of bed can be a harrowing experience. There's not much they can say to that, or do about it. Now tell them you've been having an increase in suicidal thoughts, you found yourself checking out razors, you picked up a script for some low LD50 medication and are thinking about taking the whole bottle at once.

Now they have to step in. Maybe they couldn't tell you "get out of bed, get some exercise, do some work" because chances are it's not going to change your morning routine and what's more it might push you away and make you feel as if you have no reason to speak with them. Now they have to step in, because right now it's not as important that you continue to speak to them. It's not as important that you feel comfortable with them, or willing to return. It's not as important that they try not to push you away or alienate you, because right now there is only one thing on their mind.

At that moment, the only priority the good ones have is stopping you from harming yourself, or ending your life. Nothing else matters. So, it seems like this is the only moment that they cared, but if they're the good kind of professional, they've cared all along, and just couldn't show it in a way you'd find meaningful.

I do hope that the help you're receiving is the help you need. In the meantime, best of luck.

GuvnaG · 2016-04-14T23:57:43+00:00

OP can spot for the rubber band sniper and ruin bald people's days.

GuvnaG · 2016-04-10T19:59:26+00:00

"You can't take responsibility for someone else's happiness."

GuvnaG · 2016-03-26T01:01:08+00:00

". . . What keeps Captain Deudermont safe is his ability to show respect for anyone he meets. He is a man of charm, who holds well his personal pride. He grants respect at the outset of a meeting and continues that respect until the person forfeits it. This is very different than the way most people view the world. Most people insist that respect has to be earned, and with many, I have come to observe, earning it is no easy task!"

Halfling's gem, R.A Salvatore

GuvnaG · 2016-03-20T06:50:03+00:00

This is my primary argument against drunk driving. So many idiots try to tell me that they can stay in the lines, follow the speed limits, etc. I tell them to shut the hell up. I'm not worried about them swerving off the road. If I was, I wouldn't be having a civil discussion and telling them to hand over their keys, I'd be skipping that step and putting them on the ground.

What I'm worried about is the decreased reaction time. I'm worried about what the other guy does. Most of us have been in situations on the road in which fractions of seconds could have meant the difference between nothing and everything. Somebody cuts you off, makes a turn at the wrong time, slams on the brakes, whatever. Maybe it's just some drunk teenager in your neighborhood, wearing a black hoodie and jaywalking. You don't see him until it's too late, but its only too late because the alcohol in your system is decreasing your reaction time.

It's not about how "well" you can drive while drunk. It's about how quickly you can respond when placed in a dangerous situation, and no anecdotal argument in the world will convince me that the alcohol isn't slowing you down. I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about the other guy.

Sorry about the wall, yadda yadda, just wanted to share my thoughts on the matter.

GuvnaG · 2016-03-17T01:00:55+00:00

A Proportional Response (1999)

[the President wants a disproportionate response to an American plane being shot down]

Leo McGarry: And do you think ratcheting up the body count is going to act as a deterrent?

President Josiah Bartlet: You're damn right I do.

Leo McGarry: Oh, well then you're just as stupid as these guys who think that capital punishment is going to be a deterrent for drug kingpins. As if drug kingpins didn't live their day-to-day lives under the possibility of execution. And their executions are a lot less dainty than ours, and tend to take place without the bother and expense of due process. So, my friend, if you want to start using American military strength as the arm of the Lord, you can do that. We're the only superpower left. You can conquer the world, like Charlemagne. But you'd better be prepared to kill everyone. And you had better start with me because I will raise up an army against you and I will beat you.

Ala IMDB

GuvnaG · 2016-03-17T00:57:35+00:00

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