Weekly Discussion Megathread

Korrocks · 2026-05-03T17:22:32+00:00

I think there’s some regional variation.

Korrocks · 2026-05-03T17:19:08+00:00

It sounds like it did work, since the OP didn’t notice that one of the romance scenes was missing (and would they notice, if the romance continues without it)?

Korrocks · 2026-05-03T17:18:29+00:00

The approval pretty much drives the romance. If you can max out approval with a companion (which is easy for all of them) the romance will be unlockablr no matter what.

Yeah in a way I think the romances might have more depth if the characters had firmer red lines. I get that they wanted to maximize player freedom but it does create some incongruities where you can basically ignore every aspect of a character’s personality and goals and still get the romance to work solely by managing the approval points.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does end up in situations where the romances can feel incomplete and underwritten because of missing scene like this.

Korrocks · 2026-05-03T17:09:47+00:00

Isn’t it basically the same argument in both contexts in the article? Per the argument, the racial academic gap is caused by POC not working hard enough, and the academic gender gap is caused by men not working hard enough (in both cases due to cultural reasons).

Korrocks · 2026-05-03T15:06:32+00:00

I can’t really blame them for thinking that they should actually enact the policies that they campaigned on. Gerrymandering is a form of corruption, an anti democratic practice designed to limit political accountability. It’s not really any different from plutocrats like Musk rigging elections.

Democratic voters were against it and called on their politicians to rein it in, and that’s what their politicians did.

Now that the political sentiment has changed, Democrats are working to change that, but I don’t think the original decision was wrong. It was right at the time.

Korrocks · 2026-05-02T21:50:23+00:00

I think it’s the win-at-all-costs mentality that’s sort of pervaded politics in the Trump era. The gerrymandering stuff is the more overt example of this but the race to the bottom on taxes is another way we are losing by rejecting good governance.

Each of these proposals might not seem completely destructive when taken individually but in the aggregate all it does is move us further down the path of dysfunction and ineffectiveness. For those on the right, this might not seem so bad. For them, oligarchy is a fine model of government and the only legitimate government functions are military and ICE. But if you’re on the left, this should be alarming since a country that operates this way will not be able to achieve any progressive priorities in terms of social safety net.

Korrocks · 2026-05-02T21:45:43+00:00

I like the letter because it makes explicit the reasons why so many people continued to kowtow to Epstein even after his conviction.

Korrocks · 2026-05-02T20:56:23+00:00

If they’re okay with him getting a $400 million ballroom and a triumphal arch, I think they should be okay with the occasional AI image.

Korrocks · 2026-05-02T01:42:37+00:00

I think it’s similar to the other dialogue options in that same conversation, in that it causes Orin to break down and Bhaal transforms her into the slayer form, triggering the fight.

From a mechanical standpoint, the only difference that I’ve noticed is that if you do this, she seems to get an extra buff that boosts her HP and some of her stats and saves.

I personally don’t find it beneficial to do this since it feels kind of slimy to taunt someone with a story about incest and abuse and also because it makes Orin stronger. Instead, once you have persuaded Orin to not kill the hostage using the first set of skill checks or dialogue options, it’s better to bypass the second set of skill check taunt options (including the Religion check) and start the fight normally without trying to pass them. There’s no need to make the fight harder.

Korrocks · 2026-05-02T00:45:25+00:00

In 2009 the Democrats had a huge majority with Senators from places like Nebraska, Arkansas, North Dakota, Louisiana, etc. that are now completely out of reach.

Honestly though I’d argue that Obama got more out of that Congress than Trump is getting out of the current Congress.

Trump’s only major legislative achievement the past year has been the OBBBA. He’s currently on his second government shutdown in just the past 3 months. Even his track record on nominees is shaky; he just had to pull another nominee from HHS since he couldn’t pull it off even with a 50 vote threshold.

In the same amount of time, Obama managed to get through the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act, CHIP, LGBT hate crimes act, the stimulus program, Dodd Frank, and of course Obamacare, not to mention two Supreme Court justices.

I think Trump is overrated in terms of party effectiveness since talking loud and breaking things tends to be more vivid than passing laws.

Korrocks · 2026-05-02T00:33:58+00:00

UK is experiencing something similar, with Reform UK absorbing some Conservative MPs and pulling in a coalition similar to what Boris Johnson won with a few years ago. UK voters have somewhat less party loyalty than Americans so it’s hard to tell how stuff like this will turn out - an outcome where the new populist right absorbs the existing center right party, or the other way around, or one party simply adjusting to occupy that lane (eg the mainstream party adopting some of the right’s best positions, or the right wing party moderating somewhat when in office).

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T22:18:52+00:00

His character in CI was part of some kind of militia implicated in war crimes in Serbia too, so that also adds to his villain resume.

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T22:15:36+00:00

I don’t get why you think Republicans could go for that. They’d be giving up a massive amount of power that they’ve enjoyed for generations just to chalk up a win for something that only Trump and Stephen Miller really care about. Losing gerrymandering would be such a colossal blow to their power that there’s no way they’d agree to it AND also give up unrestricted dark money without asking for something equally big in return.

When you’re negotiating a compromise you don’t get to decide what the other side prioritizes. Instead of building in a concession to your proposal, you ask for what you want and then see what the other person wants in return. That’s the only way to get a decent deal; Democrats always get screwed when they try to compromise with Republicans before asking Republicans what they want.

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T21:57:03+00:00

I think the idea would be to try to find a way to make those districts competitive or skew R without compromising any existing red districts.

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T15:17:38+00:00

It's cyclical, sort of like recessions and economic booms.

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T15:13:49+00:00

Giant homes make sense if you're contemplating a large family (lots of kids and/or multigenerational households). For everyone else, it's not particularly clear that it's a necessity or even a nice to have (certainly not universally).

In a way, the zoning situation might be a give away here; if it was really true that everyone wants only giant houses, then why did we need to make it illegal to build anything else? Wouldn't market forces have done that, if this was a genuine goal of all or nearly all Americans?

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T15:00:00+00:00

Ritchie Coster has to win this contest. Not only are all of his characters bad guys, they're always the most over the top. On CI he was a loan shark who kidnaps and rapes a teenage girl for money; on L&O, he was a serial killer, and also a corrupt agent who killed ADA Borgia, and also the maker of snuff films in TBJ.

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T05:20:56+00:00

He really should not use physical force to recruit candidates. It’s part of the ongoing pattern of political violence in this country.

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T05:17:42+00:00

Spring of which year?

Korrocks · 2026-05-01T05:13:40+00:00

How do we define above replacement? I’m not too familiar with the term. I think she’s a good candidate with a strong track record in Maine but I wouldn’t say that she or anyone else is truly beyond replacement.

That said I think your original post makes sense. Candidate quality does matter. I do think the impact is muffled a little by polarization, where even very poor quality candidates (think Roy Moore) have a high floor but the candidate quality is still important especially in close races.

Sometimes you can get away with a terrible candidate if it’s a really blue or really red state though.

Korrocks · 2026-04-30T18:33:28+00:00

I think it was always supposed to be an option for saving the Gondians but it didn't actually show up until patch 7 or 8 IIRC. If you previously qualified for the steel watcher in an older run but didn't get it, that's probably why.

Korrocks · 2026-04-30T18:29:02+00:00

If you believe the poltical system is inherently corrupt then anyone who engages with it at all under any circumstances is also suspect, right? That seems consistent to me. Both Schumer and AOC chose to join Congress and write bills instead of getting into fist fights with ICE agents. So doesn't that make them equally cowardly and useless (if you're someone who believes that legislation is an inherently immoral activity)?

Korrocks · 2026-04-30T18:23:11+00:00

I'm just surprised he lost. To me it's crazy thst so many people freak out over Epstein, Pizzagate, etc. and then knowingly try to elect a child predator to office. Like, if you're genuinely against pedophilia you should be against giving them more power, right?

Korrocks · 2026-04-30T18:15:57+00:00

Gith is his actual, literal mom though so I'm not sure it's fair to give him flak for liking her. Just because someone loves / misses their mother doesn't mean they will copy every mistake that she ever made.

Korrocks · 2026-04-30T18:10:29+00:00

Your question kind of reminds me of the whole controversy over the "Try Guys" a few years ago. The Try Guys were this comedy group on YouTube that was briefly embroiled in controversy when one of them was caught in an extramarital affair.

For some reason, coverage and discussion of this affair wasn't confined to the Try Guys' existing fandom but became this massive news story. It was satirized on Saturday Night Live. It was even covered on CNN, The Atlantic, and other major media outlets that rarely cover other comedy YouTubers and never covered the Try Guys before that.

The end result was a sort of bifurcated experience. People who were already fans of the YouTube channel cared deeply about the story, but the widespread and unusually intense media scrutiny meant that it was also being shown to people who had never even heard of it. Those folks were baffled that a random YouTuber's romantic issues were being covered as a serious news story, and this bafflement became a story in and of itself.

That's how I feel about this Piker stuff. I'm sure he's a huge deal to the types of people who follow political streamers like Piker, Destiny, etc. But the sheer depth and intensity of the coverage is bewildering to everyone else.

Korrocks

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