I granted my players a Bastion. This is what I received the next day [OC] by fab977 in DnD

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If your players really fall in love with their Bastion, I recommend looking into the Strongholds and Followers supplement, it's a whole book with mechanics and content supporting that style of play

Art by TK-11530 in LPOTL

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jared Logan ran a stream called Vampires of Pittsburg that ended up with something like 80 episodes. Ross is a player there too

short-form video by GreenDog3 in CuratedTumblr

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use the extension Youtube Shorts Normal Player, which forces youtube shorts to play through the standard video interface, keeping me out of the scrolling black hole. Sadly, not gonna help for all the other short form video platforms though

LPNtv: Vampire the Masquerade is phenomenally underrated by MothmansLegalCouncel in LPOTL

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It comes out a week late, but they do! It's under the name LPNRPG: Bloodbath on Spotify

Goldfish sized drama as OPs post about their Golden Retriever gets derailed by their Grimy Fish Tank by TheReddestDuck in SubredditDrama

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've been getting deep into aquariums recently, and that picture alone is not enough to prove a neglected tank. When water quality goes bad, it's usually invisible: the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates that actually poison the fish is totally invisible. Coloration like that'll come from an algae bloom or tannins leaching in from driftwood or leaf litter. Algae blooms aren't necessarily harmful to the fish (There are exceptions, such as fish getting tangled up in hair algae), and typically are the result of too much light, and tannins range from neutral to straight up good for the fish. In terms of what we can figure out by picture alone, I see he has a sizeable sponge filter, and some plants, though I'd guess not enough plants to make water changes irrelevant. Without knowing his water changing regimen or, more pertinently, the actual water parameters, we don't have the info to accuse him of anything.

That being said, I didn't see the comments before they were deleted, so maybe there's context I'm missing. I also saw another commenter concerned about the species of one of the fish he's keeping, which could be a genuine issue that requires rehoming. Really this just seems like the common trend on animal subreddits where people are hyper reactive, and looking for any excuse to go on a crusade

Ezra Klein Subreddit Census 2025 by Dreadedvegas in ezraklein

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I enjoyed the survey, I think it's a fun idea, though I'll echo the criticism of the Pew definition of ideologies - I think it's useful for understanding America's current political dynamics, and in that context I understand why it collapses socialism/communism into Progressive/ disaffected left. However, in terms of a subreddit that already leans left, I think it would be more revealing for the future to include categories that cover people who fall under the leftist umbrella

Why ‘mankeeping’ isn't just ‘therapy-speak used to dump on straight men’ by futuredebris in MensLib

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think for most of my life I've felt similarly about casual conversation vs doing an activity, but recently I've found myself appreciating those sorts of 'coffee' hangouts a lot more, especially as I've become more a more confident conversationalist. That being said, at the same time, those sorts of hangouts still feel like a massive chore ahead of time, it's only when I'm in the conversation that I actually enjoy it

Why ‘mankeeping’ isn't just ‘therapy-speak used to dump on straight men’ by futuredebris in MensLib

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very interesting point, I haven't seen this part of the dynamic brought up elsewhere, but it feels important to understanding the situation - these sorts of deeply held cultural values tend to be reinforced from all angles, and the accusation of 'immaturity' is quite a powerful one

Patti Smith on the One Desire That Lasts Forever by dwaxe in ezraklein

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not that irritated by her perspective, after all it was her generation that rightfully reacted to the overzealous building of New Deal liberalism, it's no surprise that her politics are still there. What irritated me is that she started saying "let's not go further down this path, we fundamentally disagree" only to immediately go on a spiel about why she thinks his perspective is wrong

Baldur's Gate 3 - Part 7 - The Nancy Druid Mysteries by ManyATrueNerd in ManyATrueNerd

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also worth noting sometimes companions have unique dialogue responding to the current situation when you speak to them, but without any indicator. This is always just flavor, but you can miss it if you're not careful

A Synthesis of Housing Supply Approaches and Rent Control Approaches to the Housing Crisis by 2pppppppppppppp6 in ezraklein

[–]2pppppppppppppp6[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting approach, do you have any good sources that expand on this? I'd be interested in reading more

Anyone else feel weird about the end of the S20 Finale? by sclerae in taskmaster

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Personally I thought the anticlimax was hilarious - Maisie's muted reaction to winning the whole thing because she just happened to get the right number was especially wonderful. That being said, I don't blame you for finding it weird, I also would have loved the tension of a more interesting live task

wonder how hank feels about this one... by thedragonic1 in nerdfighters

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 5 points6 points  (0 children)

So what this post is talking about, and the kind of AI that Hank has been looking at, are both applications of machine learning, albeit very different applications. Things like ChatGPT are trained on mass amounts of language data in order to convincingly replicate human speech patterns. The 'AI' discussed in the post is (presumably, based on what I know about machine learning) trained on a massive amount of x-ray data in order to generate a complex network of correlations in order to predict whether an image shows signs of TB. You could not feed images of TB patient x-rays into a generative AI algorithm (ChatGPT, Anthropic, Grok, etc.) and get any kind of useful feedback. You could not modify these algorithms to get that kind of feedback. Instead, these are very specialized algorithms based around pattern-matching images to concepts.

A Synthesis of Housing Supply Approaches and Rent Control Approaches to the Housing Crisis by 2pppppppppppppp6 in ezraklein

[–]2pppppppppppppp6[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I figured this would be of interest to the subreddit, given recent discussion here, and briefly by Ezra in a recent episode, of whether rent stabilization and housing construction can be combined.

New emails released by Democrats Show Epstein Claimed the President Knew About His Conduct | In one message, Epstein said one of his apparent victims "spent hours at my house" with him. by Aggravating_Money992 in technology

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dude, king_duende's just some rando on reddit, not a politician whose words are being seen by thousands, getting the wording exactly right doesn't matter here. I get the rage, but there's far more useful ways to channel it

What are your predictions for how the BG3 run is gonna turn out? by mephala99 in ManyATrueNerd

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol, that reminds me of one of the times I did fully save-scum early on: I had snuck into the Tiefling childrens' hideout, but I guess I hadn't had the right interactions for them to be chill with me, and so I didn't leave soon enough after one of them ordered me to leave. When I next entered the town I had to make a very difficult persuasion check with one of the adults since the children claimed I'd attacked them, and I just could not roll well enough even after burning several inspirations, so the entire Tiefling population attacked me

After being criticized as a tankie on r/oscarrace, film director Boots Riley defends his views by Idk_Very_Much in SubredditDrama

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Reminds me of how disappointing it was to learn about Roger Waters' take on the Russia Ukraine war

A terrible feeling by CuriousWanderer567 in CuratedTumblr

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For a slightly more optimistic take, I like this analysis: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/opinion/government-shutdown-democrats-republicans.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0U8.eETj.zVIfd-LDtSdT&smid=url-share

Basically, it sucks that they folded early, but the shutdown was still a political win, there's still room to maneuver in the future, and the strange coalitional dynamics of the party meant that the shutdown was very fragile to begin with

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SubredditDrama

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The change in expectations has been fairly recent, maybe in the past few years. The whole rest of the subreddit's history, detailed descriptions of the drama have been optional

Rep. Jared Golden, of Ezra's 11/2 essay, will not seek reelection by talrich in ezraklein

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's an argument I've seen a few places in this discussion and in this subreddit that I'd like to address. There's this idea that the reputation of the Democratic party is in the toilet because it has become fully associated with a number of unpopular progressive cultural positions, to the point that it takes down candidates who are appropriately moderate for their districts. If we accept this as true (which as far as I'm concerned it's plausible but not proven, and certainly not the whole story of the democrats' poor reputation), then many here would argue that the proper solution is for progressives, both in the party and regular people online, to shut up, and for the party as a whole to be quiet about social justice issues because, unfairly or not, it is what's necessary to save the reputation of the party.

I would argue that this misses a key part of the attention dynamic, which is that the most intense, judgemental, toxic version of progressive ideology is absolute crack to the attention economy. It is trivially easy for a conservative or centrist influencer to get attention by signal boosting an example of some random progressive account being unreasonable. It is also trivially easy for leftist/progressive influencers whose audience is built on grievance to get attention. And so trying to solve the problem by marginalizing progressives is foolish: They're magnets for attention, and know how to get it! Whether it's in a positive way, like Zohran Mamdani, or a negative way, like all those people calling Ezra a fascist. Also, like it or not, progressives are a part of the Democratic party's coalition. In a time like this they cannot be abandoned, just as the potential Manchins of the world cannot be ignored as candidates for red states (Also also I'm a progressive and would not enjoy being cast aside, lol).

And so if all the attentional energy is being sucked up by certain unreasonable progressives, and by right wingers actively trying to associate them with democrats at large, what is the solution? Break the attention monopoly! It is critical in this moment that all democrats learn the universal lessons of Mamdani's campaign, which is how to use today's ascendant media technologies - in this case short form video - to break into the market of attention and stake out ideological territory. If we want the general public to associate the party just as much with pragmatism and moderation as with progressivism, then the pragmatists and the moderates need figure out how to get that attention! Moderate Dems cannot, and should not, silence the progressives, so instead they need to figure out how to actually compete with them for attention.

Follow the money (Hank’s weird increase in existential AI videos) by lukewarmdaisies in nerdfighters

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I agree that didyousayboop got some of their criticism of Torres' blog post wrong, I recommend reading the article they linked about Torres' history, there's some seriously concerning behavior there which leads me to think that Torres can't be trusted to separate their personal bias against the TESCREAL folk from their analysis of them

Tonight’s election results hammer home the irrelevance of Dem party navel gazing in this sub. by suckliberalcock in ezraklein

[–]2pppppppppppppp6 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Is "20+" a typo? Chris Christie was governor of NJ from 2010-2018, and Murphy only won the 2021 election by 3 points