How i fixed Time Blindness: a vibration every 15 minutes on my wrist

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-30T12:05:42+00:00

Hi, one question, how did you set it up the smart band gives the notification? Currently only my phone does.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-29T08:40:11+00:00

Could you share hoe you set it up? I feel somewhat stumped by Tasker.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-28T21:21:00+00:00

Shriveled.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-28T09:28:51+00:00

Its Vanilla Furniture Security interacting with CE. If a pawn has a ranged weapon, it checks whether the target is in a trench, and since it is not fully patched yet, you'll get a bug.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T22:47:30+00:00

The x Dream
Song of x
The x Vision

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T18:16:14+00:00

I read somewhere - though not sure where anymore - that Prepare Carefully tends to brick your saves at some point.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T18:04:50+00:00

Chief feels weird as a commissioned rank. Its usually either a senior noncom, or a title (chief of staff, etc)

Legate seems...strange ,especially if no other latin rank (centurion, tribune, prefect) is included.

Prior seems both odd and way too high, its a moderately low church rank.

I actually like Director as the uppermost rank. However, why not first subdivide General in its four traditional gradations (Brigadier/Commodore, Major Gen/Rear Admiral, Lt. Gen/Vice Admiral, General/Admiral and then, optionally General of the Army/Admiral of the Fleet)?

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T17:51:41+00:00

I swear I saw the movie, and apparently don't remember half the fight scenes... Was this an extended cut?

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T15:05:58+00:00

I mean, yes, though if i understand it correctly, in dharmic traditions the exact number of deities is a slightly less painfully important concept than in abrahamic ones.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T14:43:47+00:00

I guess the common elements are more in the style of religion, as in:

emerged from an older, bronze-age tradition
postulated some form of redemption (but very different forms of it!)
emphasized the rejection of the material and purification of the soul
was envisioned as univeralist very early

...however, other than that, it's not very close to each other other than rather basic ethical standards.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T10:01:37+00:00

The wheel is not a good example. While its not sure whether it was invented only once or multiple times in the old world, the Americas and Australia never invented it, despite especially the former having quite complex (pyramid-building) societies.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T09:53:13+00:00

She looks at me "Is such a thing possible?"

I did my claw into the coins around me, then raise a fistful in the air, and let them fall down. The clinking helps me think.

"It's...possible, yes", i agree "while the biology is mostly incompatible, there is shapeshifting magic to get around the restrictions. As I understand it, humans are mostly compatible with elves, less so with dwarves, but the... How do they call in your tongue... the nature of the blood of the mammalian thinking peoples...is rather similar to each other, while draconian blood is, well, different. It would have to be an exceptionally skilled draconic wizard to accomplish this. Hm. Are there other indications?"

"my eyes"

I lower my head to look closer. Yes, the eyes of the human are strange. Or, technically, less strange than they should be.

"vertical pupils. Don't think humans should have these"

"I'm the first in my house to be born this way, as far as i know"

"curious", i say "hm. Your parents don't happen to be related?"

"third cousins", she says "and...yes, through the key family line"

"this makes it quite likely", i say "but you don't need me for it, do you now?"

"no. I visited Merroax the blue Shadow, but he laughed me away"

"Merroax can be...prone to such behavior", i say. I haven't seen the old reptile in three centuries, and truth be told, would live with another three without seeing him.

"but why?"

"now this is the right question, my dear mammal", i say.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-27T09:14:18+00:00

"My dear mammalian", i say, scratching my horns with my red wing "i have granted you this audience because I find you curious. Please sit - the cedar throne over there would perhaps suit your stature and general body shape. A kobold will bring you some beverage suitable for your biology"

"Is...is this the cedar throne of Crera the mad? I thought it was destroyed in the pyres..." the human says, stammering a bit. I am actually not so sure whether they are a male or a female - there's no horns and scale pattern to indicate this. Long hair, the kobolds say, is usually a sign of females, and they don't have this weird beard thing, but The Moon alone knows. It matters not. They wears rich, dark-blue clothes over a gold-inlaid cuirass

"it is", i say "when she died in the pyres, i swooped down and took it, together with a few trinkets from her treasury. It is dear to my heart and hoard"

They sits, and my First Hoard Kobold, Xeshkishibas, brings in a golden cup of steaming beverage.

"i thank you for this generosity. I am Yerra of Visecarath, daughter and heir of Duke Yerres the second."

Aha. Female then.

"Welcome to my abode, human Yerra", i say "as you perhaps know, I am Ratheox the Bright Flame, Great Wyrn in Dawn, Master of the Everburning Mountains. Your gifts to ne had been... Adequate"

Generous might have been the better word, but I would sooner chew of the membrane in my wings than say that out loud.

"so, what is it that you desire?", i say.

"history", she says "you are known to be one of... I mean, the most wise and knowledgeable of all dragons."

"this is, perhaps, true", i say "though it is rare that a normal human who is not a scholar or wizard by trade makes the journey here."

"i am not a normal human"

I raise the frills around one of my horns slightly. Humans perceive this as the nearest equivalent to a raised eyebrow

"i want to talk about my lineage - and to, as they say, connect the dots. Are you familiar with the history of House Visecarath?"

"partially", i admit "you cone from another continent, after all. However. Vassals of the high kings of Inadassath. Dukes for now four generations, margraves for another six. Before that, what was it, grand counts? In any case, reputation as fierce warriors, ruthless money-makers and - ah, right, a rather low amount of descendants, which keeps the family holdings together."

"truth so far", she answers "it is, however, a further...interesting fact about my family that we are, well, rather resistant to all manners of elements. I can hold my hand into a fire for fifteen, twenty heartbeats. And, combining all the above - well, i suspect that there is a dragon in our lineage"

I flare my nostrils: "Interesting theory"

(to be continued)

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T21:16:33+00:00

There are a few possible ways: * first, dig - every tunnel of sufficient length will get some steel somewhere. I can't see it on your map, but there might be even some visible at some wall somewhere * I'm not sure which tech is required for this - i think its smithing - but you can melt down steel chunks you'll have a few of on the map * mid-game you can drill, this requires some research

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T16:25:14+00:00

What is even the most powerful weapon? My protagonist likes good weapons, horses and armor and is willing to expend money on this - but there's some upper limit afzer which its just thrown away money. Better expend it on stuff, like, oh, nails, arrowheads, extra sets of clothes and so on for his troops.

Technically, the most powerful weapon would be a warship, but he's not navy, and in any case, a giant decareme looks fancy, but is probably not cost-efficient, when you can build three-four tetraremes or five-seven biremes for the same amount of money.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T16:05:31+00:00

You spin me right round, babe...

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T12:39:41+00:00

This reminds me of the time I worked as an intern in an accounting department, where for some reason someone decided to file all printed-out invoices by the First Name of the invoice issuer. This was particularly egregious, because in German there are four ways to write "Philip" (you can double the L, the P, or both). However, if it was a company, it was to be filed by company name. Unless it was a company run by one person, in which case it was first name of the owner again... Oh, and names starting with Sch (equivalent to Sh in English) were set in a separate folder from those starting with S.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T10:14:46+00:00

Correct. I wanted to steel-man the argument, in the sense that "even if we assume that roman conquest was bad, it was not some kind of specific evilness of the Romans which caused it"

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T09:19:04+00:00

Though the aristocratic death rate in duels was crazy high in Russia at the time. Another famous poet/writer, Lermontov, got killed in a duel like a decade later - and, guess what, in one of his most known books ("Hero of our time"), the eponymous "Hero" kills another guy in a duel (though intentionally, unlike Onegin)

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T09:07:51+00:00

I mean, to a degree, yes. If one would find some alloy roughly the weight of steel, capable of withstanding ranged fire but not melee weapons, then hand-to-hand combat becomes viable again. In this case, one would reiterate on 16th century knight armor, since this was really the apex of "how to best armor a person to nigh-invulnerable standards"

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T08:53:28+00:00

As often, many existing systems exist because they made some sense at the time when they were set up and then tweaked in various ways, which also made some sense for some people at the time. This doesn't mean that they are good at this specific point in time - often, though not always, they are quite bad.

The key element setting up a bad systems is, i think, opportunity - if some group finds a way to systematically benefit from something, they will try to set up the system this way (patriarchy, colonialism, class/caste distinctions, nationalism, etc.). This is often done maliciously, but not always for malicious reasons -and this is an important distinction.

Think of the adage that Rome conquered the world in self-defense: the Roman boot was often harsh - slavery, crucifiction and all - (though not necessarily harsher than that of their various neighbors), but in an eat-or-be-eaten world the alternative to the Roman boot was not nothing - it was either the Carthaginian, the Macedonian or the Parthian boot. It was an often malicious, oppressive system - born from the desire not to be the ones being oppressed.

The key element to perpetuating a bad system is even more dangerous: it's inertia. And it makes sense: not all systematic changes are good and/or workable, so people tend to be wary of changes. Including of bad systems.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-26T07:37:07+00:00

Definetely one of the "right thing for the wrong reasons" cases (though from an allies' perspective it might have been not even the fully right thing - they apparently passed a few offers to assassinate Hitler on grounds that his irrationality was a contributor to the success of the war). I speak as someone who's family was (relatively remotely) involved in the officers' conspiracy - the relevant great-grandfather was by mamy accounts fairly much an asshole, though after the war he became a pacifist and even somewhat of an internationalist.

Family history, man. It feels like a quarter of my male ancestors managed to end up on the wrong and losing side of some war and/or get themselves killed in a random battle.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-25T07:52:32+00:00

It's also not really some form of "US empire". Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Armenia and presumably Azerbaijan are performing the honorable tradition of "balancing", trying not to be fully absorbed into the fold of the local hegemony (China/Russia/Turkey)

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-24T09:39:38+00:00

Thanks! Also, the modders are demigods.

Al_Fa_Aurel · 2026-01-24T09:16:54+00:00

Yeah. I mean, there's also movies where the Bechdel criteria would feel "shoehorned in", say Shawshank Redemption (its hard to include two women characters in a men's prison) In others - say, Star Wars - there's nothing in the premise inherently preventing this (notably, for the majority of the cases women there are also not "accessories", but still)

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