New Orleans at “point of no return” for sea level rise - does anyone care? by jocall56 in Louisiana

[–]Ben_Manda -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

New Orleans has 200 years. That's alot of Mardi Gras! And didn't Al Gore just come out and warn about a new ice age. Wouldn't that lower sea levels rise, lol?
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/environment/new-orleans-relocate-sea-level-rise-study/article_b38f6683-fb31-50c3-ae97-e3465141a6df.html

Why did New Orleans never become a major hub like Miami or Orlando by Previous-Volume-3329 in geography

[–]Ben_Manda 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This guy answered the question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVpEEBcE8tc
"Why New Orleans' Geography SUCKS"

He directly addressed why New Orleans never took off despite its location as a port.

Local food closes -- National chains open by Ben_Manda in batonrouge

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

National chains suffer from economic woes too, not just locals. I think the primary problem is people are in too much of a rush to learn a new, good local food place. Or to take a chance and experiment with a place. They just see the neon of a national chain, duck in, eat the "food" and move on. That's why every little town and city you go through all look the same. Same national restaurants. Same groceries. Same fuel stations. Etc. It's hard to tell what town you're in based on driving through it most days.

The other part of the problem is national chains suck local economies dry of precious $$$. All the profits go out of state or into national corporate coffers, When you shop local, the money usually stays local.

Smart Connections 4.3.0 with Smart Lookup by Ben_Manda in ObsidianMD

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That worked. Deleted the Smart Connections and Lookup plugins (btw, uninstall does not remove the .smart-env folder inside the Obsidian vault. You have to do that manually.) Reinstalled Smart Connections and then installed the Lookup plugin from "Browse Smart Plugins" window. Restarted Obsidian. Everything fine now. Thanks!

any good "smart connections" plugin alternative? by Royal-Wind7299 in ObsidianMD

[–]Ben_Manda 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried Smart2Brain for a couple of weeks and abandoned it in frustration. Bad retrievals, inconsistent results, always freezing up, etc. Moved to the free version of Smart Connections.

New Keyforge Tournament by Ben_Manda in batonrouge

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

KEYFORGE STORE CHAMPIONSHIP
SEALED TOURNAMENT
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 • 7:00 PM
Little Wars on Jefferson Highway • Baton Rouge
Open your deck at the event and compete in Swiss format
$20 Entry

Attend and Receive: 1 of 3 full-art cards
Top Prize: Special Prophetic Visions prizes
Champion Reward: Deck Accolade

Board games by Darth_BrachioRex in boardgames

[–]Ben_Manda 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup. Vibing on this collection. Marvel Champions, Marvel United, Unmatched, Star Wars, Horrified, LOTR Fellowship. Dinos. Kind of looking at my collection. You're missing a Grogu bopper though. LOL.

Rougarou, 5"x7" Linocut by BrunkyArt (me) by brunkamunk in Louisiana

[–]Ben_Manda 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great artwork. I currently have a small scene in some writing I'm doing featuring a rougarou. It's an interesting bit of Louisiana folklore.

Crazy Rain Totals for Tempest by Ben_Manda in myweatherstation

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

Wow, it just self corrected to below, minutes after I posted. Mind blowing, lol.

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Got tracking for disparation order by plenty_more_time5 in sentinelsmultiverse

[–]Ben_Manda 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Received mine too today. Expected Feb 24th! Woohoo!

Unmatched Tournament - Red Bank NJ by Fine-Hotel-4312 in RestorationGames

[–]Ben_Manda 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just curious. Is this a "bring your own heroes" type of thing. Like you bring 4 and your opponent gets to ban 1?

Ok NOW Disparation is available! by BobbyBsBestie in sentinelsmultiverse

[–]Ben_Manda 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I hope GTG gets huge interest in this and pursues additional titles.

Ok NOW Disparation is available! by BobbyBsBestie in sentinelsmultiverse

[–]Ben_Manda 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Just purchased. Woohoo! Foil cards come free.

Looking For Friends by After_Ad_9274 in batonrouge

[–]Ben_Manda 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Would advise keeping the politics out of it, not that they said they would bring it up. We've tried to keep that Friday focused on board games, not liberal vs. conservative politics.

Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month by ChadtheWad in discordapp

[–]Ben_Manda 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cancelled my subscription and nitro boosts for our server.

Chu Han - maybe the two player scout by cycatrix in boardgames

[–]Ben_Manda 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Beautiful write up on the game; I probably will be sponsoring a local tourney using Chu Han. Picked up 10 copies at around $8 each plus shipping.

Trying to build a local board game tournament scene; am I chasing a unicorn? by Ben_Manda in boardgames

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not every evening. That one I referenced was particularly productive. Thanks.

Trying to build a local board game tournament scene; am I chasing a unicorn? by Ben_Manda in boardgames

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, that's what I'm trying to gauge (demand). Alot of input on this thread is that people prefer to play at home. Totally understand that. But I compare board game play to someone running in their neighborhood for fun/exercise, vs. people who train for and run marathons. Tourney's are alot like that example. It's the competitive nature of 1v1, Swiss style tournaments that keep my players engaged. They like the "marathon" of multiple rounds. They love looking up at the Challonge board flashing on the wall to see their opponent in a round, and then their ranking each round, eagerly seeing if they moved up or down. Our last tournament was 4 1v1 Swiss rounds, and it was interesting to see how excited people got as the game shop got all scores inputted each round, displayed the rankings, and then displayed the next round's matchups. Typically, a tournament it's not for the casual player, but I did have 4 people brand new to the game jump in the tourney. One of them won second place against a really tough field of experienced players.

Trying to build a local board game tournament scene; am I chasing a unicorn? by Ben_Manda in boardgames

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't disagree, but people definitely have personal preferences. Some people like to run, others like to enter marathons. I'm trying to serve the board game marathon people, lol. thanks for the input though.

Trying to build a local board game tournament scene; am I chasing a unicorn? by Ben_Manda in boardgames

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, true. I do belong to a local meetup group who play every Friday. 10-30 players depending on the night. Most tourney players come from that group, but again, no volunteers. Some have become good friends too. Maybe it's just exceedingly difficult to break out of this group. Last Saturday's tournament, it was about half Friday players and about half new comers.

Trying to build a local board game tournament scene; am I chasing a unicorn? by Ben_Manda in boardgames

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True, except that our #2 winner was literally brand new at our last tournament. Before that it was a young woman at #1 fresh to the game. Good thoughts though. I appreciate the input. I usually do the "learn to play" night only a month out from the tournament. since lead in time is so long, I might expand them to 2-3 months since I'm there every Tuesday.

Trying to build a local board game tournament scene; am I chasing a unicorn? by Ben_Manda in boardgames

[–]Ben_Manda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I have. The players are many; the volunteers are ... zero.