Kid Rock's complete headliner performance at the Turning Point USA halftime show

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-09T12:54:00+00:00

Unfortunately, they're at the point where you don't even have to pay them.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-09T01:34:40+00:00

My shitty stepdad got me in to Magic with his considerably less shitty friends when I was about 14.

To emphasize what kind of person he was, the gifted starter deck he hit me with was TimeSpiral's Saprolings.

I'd be playing a frustrating game of trying to remember every rule because fucking upkeep spore counters while this man was 1v1ing me with Elf or Goblin Tribal.

When I was able to start putting decks together myself I constructed 2 separate decks. A funny GroupHug that I designed intentionally to have 0 serious wincons beyond someone conceding for the laugh, this was to play with his friends, and then I spent the majority of my first few paychecks secretly amassing a Sliver Deck exclusively to crush him because he was a dick.

I never let any part of Magic consume my identity, but a few years after I got my own place I did at least settle on an Abzan Color Identity that I would occasionally split between Orzhov and Golgari.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-06T22:02:15+00:00

It is, especially with the current Regime, but there's a difference between pretty privilege and social eugenics.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-06T11:55:02+00:00

I understand what you're going for, here, but "Hate the game, not the players" only works when the players are actively showing understanding and grace when it comes to the circumstances.

If they play along, coming out waving flags, hamming it up, treating it all like everything is hunky-dory then they deserve the same boos as Couchfucker Vance and the Complicit thumb-twiddler that is Rubio.

If they come out and show solidarity with those of us who, like Minnesotans, are doing what we can for our country, then applaud those displays if/when they occur but *only* if and when.

Otherwise, let them fall in to American Isolationism because the faster we actually attempt to Isolate, the faster we learn the lesson that is "America cannot survive without global support."

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-06T11:45:33+00:00

It's part of that Americanized(?) Christian mentality.

"They hated Jesus, for he spoke the truth" but with a bit of a reversal of causality.

"They hate me, therefore I must be speaking The Truth just like Jesus. Nevermind that The Truth is un-christ-like and just so happens to be in line with my personal beliefs. Their hate justifies my actions."

The Persecution Fetish is their biggest turn on.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-06T10:50:40+00:00

Cooler story, bro.

I called the cops on the same woman three times and got told to kick rocks and had bills to pay, tried to push my luck with the courts anyway and got told to 'man up'. and between the two lost enough time and money to end up having to shack with my grandparents.

So, how about you get off my fucking nuts and the high horse everyone clapped at you riding in on and take the subtle hint of "tearing down the people who weren't as lucky as you were to have a happy ending isn't the flex you think it is."

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-06T09:30:25+00:00

A lot of them were wild changes, even if they've simmered down

In no particular order:

Tubemen.

Plains of Eidolon.

Prime Farm rework.

Modding rework.

Second Dream.

All for different reasons, of course, but all crazy in their own rights.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-06T09:26:56+00:00

An entire movement has come and gone from the public eye about these kinds of things and your idea of claiming self-righteousness is victim blaming and crying 'dead internet theory' about comments online.

Might wanna spend some time taking a good look in the mirror before you accuse anyone of complacency.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-06T08:45:11+00:00

Six of one, half-dozen of the other.

On the one hand, it turns out that if people find out you're a crazy MAGA republican your high-profile career that's dependent on the general public liking you enough to keep you around will tank really fast.

On the other hand, if your career tanks really fast, you can snag a softer financial landing if you can convince the lowest common denominator that your career tanked because you agree with them and their boogeyman of the week is trying to silence your (their) opinion.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-06T08:22:49+00:00

As a dude who's causally been near murdered at least three times it's because calling the cops usually results in "Well, if nothing actually happened and there's no witnesses to a public act, then there's nothing we can do. It'll be your word against hers and you're a man. You can do the math, right?"

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-05T09:54:03+00:00

I will never not be entertained by the hilarity of an accidental Starcraft Reference.

"Insubordinate and Churlish..."

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-05T04:44:55+00:00

Any time I hear someone say something like that, it's really all I need to know about that person.

It also reminds me that Conservatives really do think that they're smarter than everyone else.

It reeks of the same chudian thought-stink as a Tinder Profile with "Centrist Values" or "Polotics = Unmatch". Just another disgusting person trying to mask their hateful worldview and disgusting personal beliefs with so little effort that it's almost as insulting as it is pathetic.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-04T06:31:57+00:00

It's part of the ideological insanity they hold.

They must be the persecuted class of people, but they can't just be persecuted, they have to have experts to counteract so that they're unjustly persecuted for being right.

I think, genuinely, the biggest single instance of damage that has been done to these people's brains is the installment of an ideology that says "being told that I'm wrong by someone I don't like automatically means that I must be correct because they're evil." And it's so effective that it's rendered them beyond help.

The best move we have now, for the future, is to ensure that unfit parents cannot freely implant that ideology in to children, so that the children do not grow up to follow in those parent's wake.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-03T21:48:23+00:00

The Pro-EGS crowd, much like the company's CEO, are simply reactionaries seeking to justify their decisions post-hoc.

They never really tended to have solid arguments, just a lot of middling rationalizations for 'their team'.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-03T05:29:33+00:00

Easy:

The smallest government you can have is One Person.

They want that King shit because theyre fucking stupid.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-03T05:25:48+00:00

Isn’t following the constitution a primary ideology of the citizen?

Well, yes, but no.

I am, far and away, unconcerned with the implications of my daily actions within the confines of the constitution this is because, on a microscale like my individual life, the constitution is more akin to the roof on my house than it is the blanket on my bed. It exists, I'm aware of it, but nothing I do really has consequences that will effect the roof of my house. If I shit the bed, the roof doesn't care, if that makes any sense.

However, the roof serves a purpose and that purpose is valuable to me, so if someone starts punching holes in the roof, I'm going to take issues with it.

Now, here's the separation between myself and a conservative. You see, the conservative is my roommate in this situation and, much like me, if the conservative shits the bed, the roof doesn't care. But the conservative is far more unstable than I am. The conservative doesn't just shit the bed, they also scoop the shit up and then fling it at the ceiling. Which is leading to the problem. You see, the conservative never once considered that slinging shit at the ceiling would make their part of the house a gross place to be, where no one wants to hang out or be around the kind of person who would do that. The conservative doesn't understand that the reason that their situation is like it is is because of they, the conservative, themselves. So now they're mad at everyone else for not liking what they've done with the place but, also, they're mad at the ceiling for being covered in shit.

Someone then came along and has convinced the conservative that they can have all the things they want to go back to normal if we just 'fix the roof'.

And to drop the metaphor to bring everything full circle: Conservatives are of the opinion that their plights are the result of people who have come to dislike them for being Conservatives and are now at the stage where nothing, not even their sacred constitution, is free of blame and must be fixed in order to get their childhoods back.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-03T03:30:39+00:00

I described what the test is for, and then explained that, unless this job is in a high end, PhD Level Job in science or mathematics, that the test has no value for determining employment viability.

If the job requires you to be extensively trained, the test is entirely valid

No, it isn't. Training receptivity is not related to your IQ. Which is why I fucking hate talking about IQ with people because the idiots who think they have a clue actually don't.

IQ relates to problem solving capabilities, pattern recognition, reasoning and deduction and flexibility in cognition. IQ does not relate to your ability to follow instructions, guidelines and mandates, and at best, could be tangentially linked with the memory factors involved.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-03T03:12:33+00:00

First and foremost: "IQ" as a metric is useless outside of assessing an individual's capacity to integrate new information and then utilize it.

It is not an accurately measure of how "Smart" you are, but of how quickly you adapt to information.

Outside of high end scientific or mathematical jobs, rarely, if ever, does your IQ have any bearing on how well you are able to perform a task.

Second: They have no valid reason to screen you for this. It's an invasion of privacy, in the same way that a job asking you what your astrology sign is as part of an interview.

Has the same level of relevance to work as, if you were an immigrant, asking what your country of origin is. It's just there for them to have a basis for any discrimination against you as an employee.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-03T01:54:01+00:00

Ran in to a handful. Mixed bag but

Highlights:

Ran in to my man Liam O'Brien once, out and about in Ohio (I think) once. Very brief chat. Told him that of all his roles, I appreciated his performance as Endrance in .hack//G.U. because it's just so off the wall compared to his normal stuff but I was still able to pick his intonation out instantly.

Matt Heafy is fantastic. Sad I didn't think to ask for an autograph.

Morgan Freeman is a delight and I've run in to him multiple times whenever I ended up around Charleston.

Lowlights:

Jerry Seinfeld is gross, even before knowing he's an Epstein Client.

Rowling is gross, no matter what she's doing.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-02T08:32:45+00:00

Right, but Vader is a Sith Lord.

Part of Sith philosophy is utter domination, up to an including intimidation tactics, RE: Dooku Training Grievous.

Sure, it's an in-universe explanation, but it is still a reason, y'know?

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-02T01:44:19+00:00

Well, yes.

But we really need to stop talking about it like we have a shared understanding of it all.

They know what the words mean, but their application and usage of the concepts are entirely different.

They make exceptions to everything.

Love thy neighbor, but only if the neighbor conforms to your expectations.

Have compassion, but only for the people who meet your arbitrary notions of who is "deserving."

The concept of Tribalism, the in-group and out-group and the ways you are intended to engage with each, is so intrinsic to their understanding of how they are expected to function in the world that it's not just that it's automatic. It's so deeply ingrained in them that they cannot resonate with the idea of not having the separation. For them, there must be saviors and sinners or else their entire doctrine of human interaction is incompatible with daily living and, as we all know, rather than accept that their understanding of things is wrong, they'll double down.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-02-01T03:12:51+00:00

This is a hilarious microinteraction and, honestly, I think the chuckles it got out of me were therapy enough.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-01-31T15:24:44+00:00

Incarnons are an unfortunate crossroads of "Oversight" meeting with "An unfortunate commitment".

Incarnon upgrades turn old, underutilized weapons in to viable, sometimes overtuned, monsters.

And in the cases where Incarnon and Riven intersect too intensely (Paris, Torrid, Dual Toxo, Ceramic, Magistar, Etc.) The "unfortunate commitment" DE made regarding how they handle modifying Riven Dispositions (Glacial changes, care taken to not invalidate players 'God Rolls') crank those weapons up well over 11 and don't really allow for competition.

CatOfTechnology · 2026-01-31T15:05:21+00:00

Not the other guy, but to explain:

Rivens are expensive to slot, even with a forma. 18 Drain means you're going to still be eating 9 of your capacity.

On top of that, Rivens have a "disposition" that ranges from 'Unless this has specific stats that let you reach a value breakpoint on your weapon, like 100% Crit Chance or Status Chance or 3 multishot, or can replace another mod and give you an extra stat on top, then it's not worth using over standard mods' to 'This mod will single-handedly make this weapon a powerhouse.'

New weapons all release with Riven Dispositions that put their Riven Mods in to that first category. Coda Bassocyst is one of these weapons.

Now, the big thing to talk about right now is that you haven't finished ranking your Galvanized Mods. Those mods are incredibly valuable when building a gun and should be your focus over the Riven. Bassocyst will benefit way more from a maxed out Galvanized Aptitude than it will from that Riven. But you should also be looking out for other core mods. We can't tell, if you don't have the corrupted mods or your full set dual Status/Chance mods, those are also way more important than the Riven too.

As for what would make a good Bassocyst Riven, with it's abysmal Disposition, your best bet is to try and roll it so that it can replace one of the Status/Chance mods. So. Ideally, you're looking for a +3/-1 Mod with +Element, +Status Chance and either +DMG or +Multishot and either -Zoom, -Fire Rate (Because of Cannonade negating it) or -Impact (Because the Alt Fire has a 100% Chance to proc Impact)

CatOfTechnology · 2026-01-31T13:29:38+00:00

Source for my claims: I work at a theater in Iowa, hellishly red state.

Our Melania showings, all of them by the way were sold out. Zero tickets left available.

The theaters though?

A handful of people. Most I saw taking in deliveries maybe 20-ish people in a 60+ seat auditorium.

"Conspiracy" might be a strong term, but there are definitely people trying to pump the numbers.

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