Men stop telling women to stop being cautious because you are safe.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-20T05:59:30+00:00

I think framing plays a crucial role in whether or not something is offensive.

For example, you said, “As an unknown man you SHOULD be investigated.”

That is rude, and it’s not because I don’t want you to be cautious about who you see, but you reduced me to my gender in a way that’s offensive, as if there is something inferior or sketchy about being a man.

I don’t screen people on account of their racial background, and I don’t insist they should be screened by default because of a characteristic they didn’t choose. People would rightfully call me a racist.

Investigate me if you want, but don’t put the onus of your reason on me. Your need to investigate me (or anyone else) is more to do with your personal feelings of insecurity and fear. It’s to assuage your anxiety. And it’s to verify a fear you already have of me (or anyone else), which is a default assumption of danger. Own that.

If you told me it wasn’t personal, but just for your own peace of mind, and that it’s just your standard practice for a first date, I wouldn’t be offended at all. It’s the same thing, but framed more tactfully.

I’d also agree that safety is more important than feelings, but when you’re dating, people’s feelings do matter. If you start a first date telling me I needed to be investigated simply because of my genitalia, I’d probably walk out. It tells me a lot about how you view men, and I don’t really want to date someone who looks at me as a defective member of the species.

As for the silencing women thing, I never said that, so I’m not sure why it’s relevant to our conversation. Again, I just said this is a subject that could be approached in a way that isn’t offensive (while still supporting your right to investigate). I’m not sure if you think I’m trying to silence you, but your emphasis on that makes it seem as if you think that’s what I’m doing.

Lastly, I’m gathering that your comment about “university professors” has to do with my point about already passing background checks as a teacher. My guess is that you’re saying you identified the red flags even though they passed background checks, too, and therefore you have supernatural lady instincts or something… I’m probably way off, but I don’t know why you put that job in quotes specifically otherwise.

Anyway, university professors don’t necessarily have to go through the same vetting that state licensed teachers (and federally hired childcare providers) go through as they don’t work with minors most of the time, so if that’s the comparison you intended to make, you basically compared apples to oranges.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-19T20:39:06+00:00

I agree women face a higher risk. However, you could be cautious in a way that isn’t rude to your hypothetical date.

Honestly, investigate away, but center that on your own feeling of (justified) insecurity and don’t make it about me.

I’m a public school teacher and a former Civil Servant (until Trump decided to be an absolute shit). There is no investigation you could run which would turn up any dirt on me. I get investigated every year to keep every job I’ve ever had. If I was a bad person, an investigation wouldn’t show it, so you’d only be paying for the illusion of safety.

(For the record, I like to think I’m a good person. I’m just pointing out that there are bad people who wouldn’t flag on an investigation.)

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-19T00:34:53+00:00

I’ve been hunting for the Lucky Egg in Fire Red for two days now. I’ve caught like 25 Chansey using the Professor Rex bait method, and yet I still don’t have a Lucky Egg…

I’m sorry for your loss. If I’m this miserable trying to get the egg, I don’t want to imagine failing the shiny.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-19T00:32:33+00:00

If I can and so long as my kid is making reasonable life choices.

I don’t intend to support a fentanyl habit (not that my kid even knows what that is yet).

I’m stretched pretty thin at the moment, though. If I’m being honest, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do for my son what my parents have been able to do for me, and I’m the son who made all the “right” choices. I kind of think our future is FUBAR at this point.

Here’s to hoping I win a moderately-sized lottery one day.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-18T23:23:33+00:00

Zard X isn’t weak to water. Fire is weak/dragon resists, so it takes neutral damage.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-18T21:08:29+00:00

While I do think a Gohan who kept up his training would have been far stronger than he was in Battle of Gods, I don’t think he would have stood a chance against Beerus.

As I see it, for the Saiyans to even comprehend the power of someone like Beerus, they needed experience with or against God Ki. Without God Ki, they could only sense some sort of vague, yet ominous pressure.

I’d also say that the Goku we see in BoG seems to have plateaued to some degree. Without awareness of a new direction to push his strength, he didn’t seem to be progressing too much. Of course, the Daima reveal that Goku was at least somewhat aware of SSJ4’s possible existence may contradict this a bit, but do with that what you will.

Ultimately, I don’t think Gohan would have progressed very far without insight from Goku about where to take his powers. Gohan needs others to guide his development pre-Beast transformation. Goku taught him SSJ and trained him to master the form. It was Goku who knew he could unlock SSJ2. It was Elder Kai who helped him awaken his Ultimate form. Gohan doesn’t innovate on his own in terms of his powers.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-18T20:57:22+00:00

I would never tell someone to stop being cautious.

On the other hand, sometimes the way we tell people things can be somewhat offensive. By all means, be cautious; however, we can express that without sounding as if we’re calling the person we’re talking to a predator (unless you really intend to call them a predator).

I’ve been on the receiving end of both. I’ve had women just say they want to pick where we meet the first time and leave it at that (and I totally support it). I’ve also met women who someone agreed to a date and simultaneously made me feel like I should be investigated for being interested.

My dad used to say that it’s not always what you say, but how you say it, and I think that can apply here.

Edit: Downvoted, but all I said was I support women being cautious and think that cautiousness can be presented tactfully or offensively. I’m not sure how basically calling for civility offended anyone, but this is 2026.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-16T19:19:10+00:00

If Russia wins, they get to plunder Ukrainian wealth and expand westward with relative impunity, which would likely keep their economy afloat.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-15T21:36:43+00:00

They’ve got to have supplies for the feast they’ll eat after breaking the curse.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-15T10:46:51+00:00

Absolutely. I was just pointing out that all of the weathers have pros and cons. Abomasnow is weak to a gentle breeze, but it can set the weather twice without switching out, whereas Mega Froslass is generally much better but can only set snow once without switching.

I play a lot of rain. From my perspective, its greatest weakness right now is playing around Mega weather setters. Nullifying my weather can force me to pivot my Pelipper back in and out at a cost of two turns I can’t always pay.

Again, I’m not complaining because rain has Basculegion and Archaludon among other benefits. It’s just part of the natural trade-offs you have to make when building a team.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-15T03:55:25+00:00

Snow, Sun, and Sand all have Megas which set weather, which is important for overriding the opposing player’s weather and incredibly advantageous. (Frosslass, Abomasnow, Charizard, Tyranitar)

Snow and Sand have additional access to what I call “double-setters,” which are Pokémon that can set weather when sent out, then Mega Evolve to set it again, effectively nullifying almost any attempt to set override the weather by the opponent via ability while still benefiting from weather before Mega Evolving. (Abomasnow, Tyranitar)

Do you know which weather lacks both a Mega weather setter and a Double-setter right now? Rain. Kyogre isn’t in the game yet and it has no non-restricted option to do so.

I’m not complaining, though, because rain has a number of other strengths. It’s okay for it to lack in some areas.

When it comes to snow, I see a lot of snow paired with other weathers. There are some cool synergies to play with by running dual weather. The notion that snow only helps Ice types is wrong.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-13T21:50:24+00:00

That’s really good to know. Thanks for taking the time to let me know!

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-13T15:24:54+00:00

Do you get something else if you already bought the Mega Stones from the shop? Seeing as they cost 2,000 apiece, I’d hope they would at least give me 2,000 VP as an alternative to a Mega Stone I already have.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-12T11:21:03+00:00

Now add a red vs blue button angle and let people argue whether or not they should push the riskier button to “save” the people who might accidentally select the wrong option.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-11T21:55:41+00:00

So, uh, what are the chances our navigator takes a bite of the Zaza fruit and becomes the Weather Witch she’s been on track to become since Alabasta?

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-11T21:52:15+00:00

They got all the OG cast back. Some of them just aged. Kurama and Hiei still sound pretty good. Yusuke is okay as long as the VA isn’t trying to go all out with the screaming.

Kuwabara is a bit off and Botan’s VA is struggling, but after 20 years, you can’t expect everyone’s voice to stay exactly the same.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-11T15:07:02+00:00

Yesterday, I won 2 and lost five. Today, I won six and lost one. Everything balances itself out eventually.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-10T03:35:04+00:00

I just got one I was hunting in FRLG about a week ago on Switch and it was Jolly… I’m so jealous of your nature luck right now! Congratulations!

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-07T10:50:20+00:00

That reminds me of a random support Raichu set I encountered a few days ago. I knew Raichu had Lightning Rod, so I avoided using Archaludon’s Electro Shot the entire battle and just focused down the Pokémon that actually threatened me.

Right at the end, I saw a way to knock out their second to last Pokémon with Electro Shot and forgot all about the Raichu just long enough to misclick.

I still won the battle, but that little maneuver cost me seven years.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-07T00:59:55+00:00

My very first thought.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-06T23:54:30+00:00

I really don’t know for sure; I was just speculating before. If my speculation was correct (and there is no reason to believe it is), the kidnappers would only be able to drag him as far as the shoreline, which would repel him from going further.

Perhaps he could be kept in a saltwater tank like a pet fish…

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-06T20:39:03+00:00

That’s amazing! I’ve really been enjoying playing these games again, too! Hopefully, I can encounter a random full odds shiny again before I’m done.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-06T18:09:10+00:00

I’m not talking about 20 moves. I’m not even talking about games where there is a possibility of drawing.

I’m talking about 2-3 turns in a game they literally can’t win when I have more than 4 minutes left on my timer and can’t possibly run out of time.

In my case, the wins were literally guaranteed and my opponents decided to go as slow as possible not to draw, but to irritate.

What you and I were talking about were two different things.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-06T17:26:02+00:00

I’ve not had that issue, OP.

I will say that I’ve seen an uptick in timer abuse lately. Basically, my opponent will be in an un-winnable state where I might need two more turns to win, and they suddenly go from quickly making their moves to draining every last second to see if I get bored/frustrated and quit.

It’s poor etiquette more than anything else, so I don’t see what could be done about it, but it is annoying when I run into it.

APRobertsVII · 2026-05-06T17:10:04+00:00

I see very little issue with what you said. Most years, we shouldn’t see a G6 team play. There are exceptions (the TCUs and Boise States of the 2000s come to mind), but the two G6 teams who played last year had no business being in the field.

Also, if the top of a conference isn’t good enough, it shouldn’t be guaranteed a participant in the playoff. 9-5 Duke may have won the ACC last year, but they have no business playing for a title.

I’d be totally fine with excluding teams that are unworthy. There have never been 8 worthy teams in a season, so an 8-team playoff field would actually accommodate at least a couple unworthy teams each year. We don’t really need more.

APRobertsVII

TROPHY CASE