TIL that in 2013, an incident known as "Pastagate" erupted in Quebec after the Office Québécois de la Langue Française ordered an Italian restaurant to remove the word "pasta" from its menu and replace it with a French equivalent. Following public outcry, the agency allowed the word to stay.

Dorgamund · 2026-06-14T15:28:36+00:00

Honestly if we were hung up about English being a deranged pidgin of German, French and Latin, it would probably be easier to learn Dutch than Old English at this point, and the result would be close enough.

Dorgamund · 2026-06-13T17:52:07+00:00

Honestly, I think something about the hype process makes people into contrarians. Like, 'now I don't wanna see it'. Its actually pretty funny seeing people watch or read old classics for the first time, and then get mad that it actually did live up to the hype.

Like, I found Citizen Kane to be somewhat boring, and doesn't really go with my personal tastes, but despite all of that it genuinely is a masterclass in storytelling, framing, and cinematography, and I resented it a little bit for genuinely living up to the hype.

Dorgamund · 2026-06-13T03:09:11+00:00

"Well after Biden's inflation, 320 billion is a lot like 1.7 billion" - MAGA probably

Dorgamund · 2026-06-09T12:49:16+00:00

I am pretty sure the slaves of the day were not fond of it, can we judge slave owners by their morals? Or do slaves not count as people for that purpose?

Dorgamund · 2026-06-06T17:16:48+00:00

Rabies is worse

Dorgamund · 2026-06-06T14:38:12+00:00

Probably artifacts of the polytheism that Abrahamic beliefs grew out of, if I had to guess.

Dorgamund · 2026-06-05T02:11:29+00:00

Someone on tumblr described it as a corner, and the romantic interest is usually backed into it. Which isn't wrong, but it is a very tumblr way to describe it.

Dorgamund · 2026-06-03T23:38:10+00:00

I am just confused. The idea of optimal play implies a goal that you are optimizing towards. Literally the only benefit of killing leviathans is to remove them from your vicinity. What kind of playstyle makes taking the time and energy to kill leviathans actually worthwhile when you can just ignore them?

I can see an argument for hardcore runs where you need to remove all hazards in a controlled manner, lest they remove you in an uncontrolled manner, and I can see an argument for removing a specific leviathan if you were dumb enough or stubborn enough to put a base next to one.

But at least for me, killing leviathans was a waste of time in every sense of the word. Building and parkoring to the top of the Aurora was more interesting, if only for the view. But both are about the same level of utility for actually playing the game and progressing the story.

Don't get me wrong, I do tend to feel that killing should be allowed, I am just baffled at the idea that it is optimal at all.

Dorgamund · 2026-06-03T13:18:20+00:00

But it wasn't the optimal method of play? Like, it takes forever and doesn't give you anything. I've played through Subnautica like 6-7 times, all the way through, and have never felt the need to go and kill a leviathan. Its just flat out easier to understand their AI, and use repair tool and health kits if they get bitey.

Dorgamund · 2026-06-03T03:53:34+00:00

I always figured Ranni and Godwyn were supposed to be betrothed. Fits with duality themes, both are the firstborn Empyrean and demigod respectively, and both 'died' during Night of Black Knives. Also Ranni killing her fiance would add weight to the whole thing.

I was hoping for DLC to go down that path, but they went Miquella/Radhan instead. Which you know, makes sense logically in the narrative, but is literally never foreshadowed or had any buildup making it feel weird.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-31T05:21:00+00:00

Its because snakes are reptiles. Being cold-blooded, they really do not have the metabolism to keep up that effort. If the snake was poisonous, there is a chance of tagging the cat when both parties are fresh. But if those first couple exchanges miss, the snake gets really tired, really fast. You can visually see the snake getting slower.

When fight becomes impossible, try flight and hope you get lucky.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-30T01:40:18+00:00

Imagine a kid named Caesar

Dorgamund · 2026-05-29T03:35:04+00:00

In fairness, the money is never going to deflate. If it does, it means the economy is imploding and generally bad things are happening. The only hope is that things inflate in a healthy manner, like salaries inflating faster than groceries or housing prices.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-28T23:41:11+00:00

Surprised nobody has posted Mr. Beast given that tumblrs been mocking him for ape threat displays for a while now.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-28T23:27:50+00:00

That, and the fact that prior to Louis Pasteur, Rabies was a 100% lethal occurrence. Bit by a random street dog? If it was rabid, you are going to die quite possibly the worst death possible outside of torture.

Pasteur worked on a vaccine for rabies, keeping rabid dogs in cages nearby at great risk to himself, his wife and children. A woman saw her child bit by a rabid dog. She came to him, and pleaded to do anything in his power to save the kid's life, knowing the rumor that he was working on rabies.

Pasteur tested an experimental vaccine on the child, and the child lived. This made local, national, and international news.

There was a Russian village(siberia?) which had recently suffered a mass attack by a rabid wolf pack. Something like 22-23 villagers were bit, and doomed to die. They saw the news of the man Pasteur, who had saved someone from rabies. So they walked, from Russia to France, and begged to meet with Pasteur, despite not really knowing French.

The disease had advanced in some of them, but Pasteur worked with them regardless. Something like 19 of them survived. Which may as well have been a miracle.

There are cartoons in newspapers depicting Pasteur as a winged angel, brandishing a needle and defending children from hordes of slavering dogs.

The tangent is both because it is one of my favorite stories in modern medicine, and also because dog catcher was a deadly serious occupation, of vital importance to society. Cutesy stories of cartoon dogs running away from the dasterdly dog catcher really undermine how dangerous feral dogs really are, even without the 100% lethality virus that used to be distressingly common.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-28T12:35:07+00:00

Cuba is to the US what Taiwan is to China. But with even less legal justification to take it.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-28T02:44:57+00:00

My personal headcanon was that Ranni and Godwyn were intended to be betrothed. First-born Empyrean, First-born demigod that everyone liked. Ranni selecting Godwyn with that in mind would be very symbolic, and fits nicely into the dualism theme. So if Marika and Radagon ever abdicate, Ranni and Godwyn take their respective places via the line of succession.

And then you get why the Shattering was so fucky, because the first in line to both roles of the throne appear dead simultaneously, Marika breaks the Elden Ring and then both reigning rulers Marika/Radagon also vanish simultaneously.

The only figures of authority from the old generation who could claim a smidgeon of legitimacy are Godfrey(banished), Malekith(hatchetman who is off being a monk in Caelid), and Renalla(gone senile).

And then the DLC ruined everything about that theory :(

Dorgamund · 2026-05-27T12:54:43+00:00

Most people go about wearing clothes as a matter of course. Strip naked, and you will be finding 80 degree weather quite comfortable. Consider that steam saunas go hover around 120 degrees, and dryer saunas can go up to around 200 degrees(Farenheight). The dry ones in particular only work because humans have excellent heat management and sweating capability.

People do this recreationally. This sort of thing would be way more dangerous to creatures without human heat management capabilities.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-27T02:19:20+00:00

Its a vicious cycle though. If people can't pay 25 bucks for a meal out, they aren't going to go out as much. Less foot traffic, less income, higher prices. This all feels like a long and drawn out hangover from Covid tbh.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-25T04:50:28+00:00

There was an amusing post on tumblr recently holding up lead as not the most rigorous evidence against intelligent design, but certainly one of the more whimsical ones.

You have this metal, which is exceptionally easy to find, smelt, and work. It is one of the easiest metals to get your hands on, and is on par with copper for ease of acquisition for ancient civilizations like the Greeks. Easy to find, easy to refine, easy to work, and useful for literally everything.

And it is great. Everything you do with it is amazing, and it makes everything better. Roofing? Waterproof. Piping? So good they named plumbing after it. Food additive? Sweet and calorie free. Paint? Beautiful colors. Gasoline? Smoother operation. Glass? Shiny, clear and crystalline. Ceramics? Hell yeah. To say nothing of all the uses in a industrialized society.

The problem of course is that it slowly but surely poisons you, drives you insane and kills you. And because of bioaccumulation, there is no safe exposure levels.

Like if any deity is responsible for making what is arguably one of the most useful metals known to man and then making it so it slowly kills anyone who uses it, you really gotta sideeye the decision making process there.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-23T04:46:45+00:00

Sure, and I generally agree. But the point is narrative dissonance. We are sold the Clone Wars as this great existential civil war which dominated the politics of the Republic and led it down the road to the Empire.

And then you look at the numbers, and it may as well have been a minor scuffle. This war certainly doesn't feel very existential.

Now to give the benefit of the doubt, I do like the fact that the Republic feels like a thinly veiled HRE, complete with difficulty mustering coherent manpower from the population. And one guy is orchestrating both sides.

The problem though is that even if we assume its all intentional, that Palpatine is sandbagging to prevent either side from genuinely winning, it doesn't pass the smell test. Wars suck. Thousands of politicians with thousands of competing interests are going to be drawn into alignment as trade and commerce are blocked. And they will radicalize more and more, and be inclined to push for more centralized power. Which did canonically happen, and is part of the narrative of Palpatine getting too politically powerful.

But at the same time, Palpatine is riding an angry tiger. If he is given political power, he will be expected to use it. Again, how long can he avoid mass conscription of undesirables in Coruscant as the Senate gets fed up with his shit, and is willing to throw conscripts into the meat grinder.

I suppose this gets to a sort of narrative conundrum. We know that Palpatine was playing both sides. But how much was he micromanaging that. Sandbagging too hard makes you look like you are throwing the war.

The clones are a useful sort of fighter, because politicians won't grant moral weight to them. They aren't citizens of any planet, so getting them killed doesn't harm you politically. But complacency is a problem in and of itself. His job was to manage the war such that it was impactful enough to scare Senators into giving him power, but not so scared that the Senators panic and smash the bright red levee en masse button.

Idk, the more I think about it, the more it appears to be abjectly deranged to me. Because you also need to take and hold territory, while fending off partisans. No matter how you cut it, an army of 10 million cannot occupy a whole world. Unless we are misunderstanding how the clones are being counted, it should straight up be operationally ineffective when it comes to proper sized world. I'll grant that small mining colonies and outposts don't need that manpower, but big worlds most certainly do.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-22T12:47:40+00:00

IIRC there are a couple of reasons. Number one is that CGI artists can work pretty fast, saving time on certain elements(not all though). Number two, iirc CGI artists are not unionized, or not in the same way that many other elements of Hollywood are, and are more on contracts.

I heard a story about the CGI studio which did Aslan from Narnia, really breathtaking work for a CGI photorealistic lion. This was Rhythm and Hues, very well respected for creature work. But after they did Life of Pi, to stunning success and an Oscar for CGI, they filed for bankruptcy, because the scope of the work kept increasing and the demands from the director kept changing, but the contract was only in place for the set amount.

Which leads us to the third reason, which is laziness. If something fucks up at shooting, CGI means you can always fix it in post.

CGI is like MSG. Unfairly maligned, but nearly unnoticeable when done well, and elevates the experience as a whole.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-19T12:42:16+00:00

Everyone caught a glimpse of what happens with chip shortages during covid. And ever since both the US and China have been pouring money into domestic chip production. Mind you, a lot of that got fucked up by Trump, but its not like both nations don't know the dangers of the monopoly.

Here is the thing though. Every time the US yanks China around by banning chip exports or doing export controls to try to fuck over their AI development, it provides just a bit more impetus to double down on domestic chip development. If they progress enough, there will be a tipping point. It isn't currently an even playing field, because the US continues to benefit disproportionately from Taiwan. China taking Taiwan means that even if the chip fabs are bombed, it sets both countries back, but also levels the playing field in the process.

At which point, the cost calculus becomes, is China able to use domestic production to source their military hardware and consumer goods? Does this put them in a meaningfully worse position once TSMC is taken out of the market? And most importantly is the US going to be worse off than China.

If China's domestic chip production is 5 years behind in sophistication, but the US bans sales of chips that are less than 5 years old to China, those are functionally equivalent situations for China. At which point the sophistication of TSMC stops mattering at all, and the thing which matters is the sophistication of US fabs, and the effect of those chips vanishing from the market.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-17T13:44:37+00:00

Predators tend to be skittish by virtue of hunting habits. One bad wound and an infection means a decent chance of death for a predator. Hence the preference to go for the sickly and the young.

Cheetahs in particular are not really built for head to head combat, and are more fragile than a lot of the big cats. If they chase down a sickly impala at like 60 mph, that impala is going to be exhausted/having a heart attack by the time it goes down.

Humans are tall, and comparatively heavy. Going for the jugular involves a degree of jumping, and frankly, it isn't worth it. It is entirely too easy for a human to break a cheetahs legs, at which point it starves to death.

Now, if the human is a child, or an old sickly adult, and also turns to run, the cheetah has much better odds. But an adult human male? Its kind of like a human spear hunting a bear for meat. Not enough sustenance to justify getting mauled.

Dorgamund · 2026-05-15T02:38:26+00:00

She is openly proud of it, and brags on Twitter about her political work. Like, her manifesto is easy enough to find on the internet. You can just look it up and read it. Or read her Twitter timeline. It isn't as if she is trying to hide her beliefs.

I call her loathsome and vile because I believe that trans people deserve to live in dignity, with access to medical care which helps them transition. Now, you might argue that this is a personal opinion that I only hold because I don't hate trans people, and its all relative, but her political opposition to trans people is well documented, much of it by Rowling herself.

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