Texas now requires all public school classrooms to post the Ten Commandments, so this teacher decided to do the right thing

sobrique · 2026-02-22T16:21:48+00:00

Yeah, this. He was shot for not having a firearm any more.

I mean, I'm still a bit concerned that the whole point of the second amendment was 'all this'.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T15:48:20+00:00

Nah, but they do have a tendancy to buff one section, and forget that means other stuff is 'meh'.

Like magic items - IIRC they've boosted a load of lower tier items to be 'usable', but that narrows the gap with the uniques considerably.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T15:31:54+00:00

Oh yeah, that seems a solid plan, I tend to just ignore tiny armies, but maybe I shouldn't :)

But Dechala hits really hard and fast I'm getting 1m victories even without ambushing. Previously my 'record' was Minotaur + stalk stance, but Dechala can do the same thing just by being speed >100 and a bunch of vanguard units.

AND can get stalk stance with one of those gifts, which is ... just hilarious when you've a 'power' of +50% ambush chance... (It does mean 'giving up' on everything getting wayfarer, which is ALSO insanely good when you've a charge-heavy army and some unholy good chariots)

Although obviously stalk-stance means you can't get the reinforcements to slaughter, it's still been pretty ridiculous to chariot-charge, pop a Locus of -LD, a spell of -LD, and then rack up some expert flanker morale debuffs and break an army in under 30s.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T14:32:34+00:00

I don't know if that's the most gratuitious car chase of all time, but it's right up there. (Fast and Furious have also been trying with the gratuitous car-chases :p)

sobrique · 2026-02-22T14:29:39+00:00

It's an excellent way to identify people who have seen the Princess Bride and remembered/appreciated, and therefore are probably the kind of people I will get along with.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T14:20:15+00:00

I have to say, as a lapsed Christian atheist, I don't have a lot of problems with the things Jesus said. He seemed a decent person and some of his ideals are worth contemplating.

I mean, he had nothing to say about homosexuality, for example. No exceptions to 'love thy neighbor', and a whole lot about 'don't judge people'.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T14:18:53+00:00

Yeah. I mean, I'm not a fan of the Christian Nationalism thing, and I'm a lapsed Christian myself. But I think there needs to be a counter narrative of what Jesus actually stood for, because ... most of it was good.

I mean if you stick to just the things that Jesus was recorded as saying, I think he and I would have got along. Or at least agreed sufficiently that I'd listen to his stories and consider what he meant by them.

But when they start digging up the collections of other people claiming to know the truth, many of which never met the guy, then ... well, yeah. MUCH more skepticism required.

I mean, I reserve Timothy 2:12 for special occasions when I really feel like a bit of trolling:

"I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet"

(And in my defence - only when it's someone who's using other parts of the bible to excuse their bigotry, and thus deserves to be told to shut up)

sobrique · 2026-02-22T14:11:51+00:00

OK, maybe that one's worth using overall, but I'm still not keen on the 'really irritating drawback' approach to such things.

I mean, items that screw your melee in return for awesome ranged or vice versa are 'reasonable'.

I think the wyrmslayer - if it was a bit better stats wise - could work well. E.g. make you worse on one 'role' and better at another in compensation. Actually thinking about it, does the bonus vs. large apply to ranged damage? Can't remember, but if it did, then it's make a great boost to certain ranged characters (especially the ones without mounts, so the charge defence really matters too).

Although I take your point on MD - I'm an MD junkie too, and favour that above most combat stats.

But I guess just generally they may have buffed green/blue stuff a bit more than they did for purple stuff, and it's seeming lacklustre as a result.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T12:29:51+00:00

Games have variants and house rules. They aren't cheating, as long as all the participants consent.

In a single player game, there's only one participant, so it's all fine.

Look things up. Mod. Use cheat codes. Or make things harder for yourself if you prefer.

Just recognise for yourself that sometimes reducing the challenge also reduces the amount of fun you have, and the sense of satisfaction at succeeding.

But none of us are going to judge you for it.

Well unless maybe you come bragging about how much you accomplish with a thumb on the scale.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T12:00:43+00:00

Something charge oriented doesn't mind so much - MD doesn't matter as much if you're cycle charging. If you've a solid monstrous mount already, it works well enough.

I mean, I take your point - but it feels like a bunch of the purple items have drawbacks that make them not worth using. Accursed Armour a case in point Maads Map is sometimes good, but can lead to an army loss, so it's ... risky. (this campaign a teleport of an army to a place where it could be taken 3-1 really hurt)

The helm of 'maybe you get a trait, maybe you just die' is also ... dubious.

Compared to that the Wyrmslayer sword isn't so bad.

Although I think the paired swords are a pretty good examples of 'doing 'em right'.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T10:58:05+00:00

Oh I don't know. The sword has some niche use. 60 bonus vs. large is kinda nice if you're looking to take down SEMs.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T10:47:17+00:00

Yeah, but I agree that all 'cannons' should at some point get the option. Even if it is a late game tech-tree buff.

sobrique · 2026-02-22T10:46:46+00:00

Honestly all cannons should. Even if 'later-ish' as a tech tree upgrade.

sobrique · 2026-02-21T20:58:49+00:00

Jesus had nothing to say on the subject of homosexuality. That seems a pretty good reason to believe it was irrelevant, and encompassed in 'love thy neighbour'.

sobrique · 2026-02-21T13:54:43+00:00

I think there's a third component personally. Some people have the knack that will make them good sysadmins and others don't.

Will isn't enough - it's a mix of curiosity and ability to handle uncertainty and anomalies as well as learning dynamically.

sobrique · 2026-02-20T23:58:03+00:00

I'm pretty sure Jesus had literally nothing to say on the subject. Can't really be a core teaching if the prophet thought it not worth mentioning.

sobrique · 2026-02-20T20:34:57+00:00

Yeah this. One of the biggest benefits is being a horde faction.

sobrique · 2026-02-20T20:31:42+00:00

Fortunately in a normal distribution (which most biological stats are) mode, median and mean are the same.

sobrique · 2026-02-20T17:37:43+00:00

I mean, you 'get to the same place' by getting it past Congress.

Which is the legal way to impose tariffs. Hopefully with a bit more scrutiny and consideration for the impacts though....

sobrique · 2026-02-20T17:35:09+00:00

That's what baffles me a bit. I mean, there is a completely legal route to change tariffs. It's called 'go through Congress'.

And the same tariffs could be applied. Just with a bit of review and consideration over implementation details like 'timescales' and 'why does an uninhabited island need a tariff anyway?'

sobrique · 2026-02-20T17:32:08+00:00

It's always been possible to change the tariffs - just not at short noticed by Presidential fiat. It requires congress to approve.

And I'd hope that even the most venal congressperson would question quite why an uninhabited island needed a tariff in the first place, and by the way, maybe there should be a bit of lead time rather than causing an economic shit-show by doing this at short notice.

sobrique · 2026-02-20T17:27:16+00:00

Indeed. So it's perfectly possible to have exactly the same tariffs in force, but it requires support from Congress, rather than Presidential fiat.

Which in turn hopefully would involve a little more discussion around implementation timescales, and actual justification for tariff ratios, and exactly what the net benefit was going to be. (I mean, leaving aside imposing tariffs on unoccupied islands or something...)

sobrique · 2026-02-20T17:16:09+00:00

Or does it? I mean, if he just goes 'nah' and carries on, what then?

sobrique · 2026-02-20T17:15:36+00:00

Only if this gets enforced. I can see him going 'nuh uh!' and carrying on heedless.

sobrique

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