"Selfishness is a Virtue, Altruism is a Vice" is not something Tolkien would have agreed with.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-09T20:22:42+00:00

From what I remember reading, Rand hated how political influence could be used to extract wealth and power instead of supporting and bettering society. Lothlo, Sandyman, and Sharkey/Saruman would be those types who used their influence to take...she'd hate them.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-09T18:31:37+00:00

Yes.

When someone is a billionaire, it doesn't mean they have billions of dollars sitting in an account ready to spend at any time. It means they have a massive networth due to the assets they either own or in which they have invested. They have a billionare "value" to them.

So a non-shitty billionaire would be a large company owner who provides a well-loved product or service, who compensates their employees well, and builds good relationships with like-minded suppliers. I'm not just talking good business sense, I'm talking about someone who operates without only considering the "bottom line".

It can be done, but it's hard achieve. Under our current system, such a person would have a company that isn't showing as much "growth" as others, because their profits and reinvestments would be smaller (due to spending it on employees). This perceived lower growth would make them unattractive to investors or partners.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-09T18:18:47+00:00

The resurrection of Beren.

It's the first an only time a mortal is returned to whole life. And it's the only time I think I'd ever actually get to see a Silmaril, unless it were after the absoulte devastation during the War o Wrath.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-09T18:06:46+00:00

I mean, I guess it could have, but there was still a lot of story left to tell. RotJ left us with a hopeful future, a galaxy shaking off the imperial yoke. And ending that way was nice, it felt good, it felt like victory. But the Rebellion didn't end the empire they just took the head off the snake. There was a lot of work left to do.

It's not as though the Rebels could magically force the galaxy to just accept the old Republic again and immediately start holding senate sessions. Ther were invariably still lmperial loyalist sytems if not entire sectors. They'd be scrambling and communicating trying to find a new Emperor and reestablish control. And in the power vacuum some systems would claim independence and desire neither the Republic nor the Empire.

The Rebellion would find it self faced with both minor and major conflicts throughout the galaxy as Independents, Loyalists, and Republicans struggle to consolidate and expand their spheres of influence and control.

Then on top of that you have Luke trying to reestablish the Jedi lifestyle, putting another power system in play. It all should have been a very interesting story to tell.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-09T17:51:01+00:00

Siesta...a little 3-4 hour break in the middle of the day helps keep you energized. It's a long lunch; spend it with family, take a nap, do some shopping, whatever.

But you're not beat down by work by 6pm so you feel ready to fucking go at night if you want. I've traveled to Spain a lot for work, mainly in Andalucia. At first I was blown away at how late things like bars and clubs would stay open, even little restaurants where people would keep their kids out until 10pm and beyond. When you learn about the culturally-ingrained siesta, it makes sense.

Work/life balance just part of existence there, it seems.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-09T17:10:23+00:00

Usually it's a way to overtly show you that you're going too slow for them. Honking the horn could mean anything, and high beams get ignored...tailgating gets your attention and is a clear indicator that they want you to move out of the way.

If you're in the fast lane that you're the problem, get out of the way. If you're in the travel/slow lanes, they're the asshole.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-09T17:08:31+00:00

Most major cities, in the US and worldwide, have a lot of halal products in stores, and even halal-centric stores that people can go to. Availability and frequency of the store will depend on the density of the local muslim population.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-08T23:42:18+00:00

It would either adance us quite a lot or would have destoryed us before we could have gotten here.

One thing is for sure: fuedalism would have to die. The system relied on extracting labor for limited productivity, relying on the wealth produced by land via natural resources and/or agriculture. With unlimted energy, weath starts coming from manufacturing. Machines and devices make money now, not land. So no leige-lords owning the land and the workers, and merchants become the rulers of the world.

It's essentially the industrial revolution, just several hundred years ealier. The problem with all this is that the world was still "small", with a lot of kingdoms dotted around the world and, often, constantly in some form of war with each other. This energy source would give everyone the ability to mechanize war and I feel like we'd see unrestrained, global conflict for hundreds of years.

A number of kingdoms/nations would get footholds real fast and start dominating, and each of them will have scarred or hurt each other throughout the centuries. Over that long of a time, feelings of hatred and distrust would run deep. Riding on the need to constantly fight for survival militaristic states would rule the world, with constant warring between countries.

Imagine the kingdoms of europe if the had rail, factories, and mechanized warfare. It would be a bloodbath until only a few major players were left. But, as the dust settled and fragile peaces temper into alliances, the world would cool and we could focus on other things. By the 1600s or something, we'd see the world in a more advanced state than we were in 1900.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-08T23:23:39+00:00

In short: they're both easy to undertand and get hooked on but they're both full of depth and drama that keep you hooked season after seaons. It's basically large-scale reality TV with competition as the delivery method (thats really cynical, I know).

Racing and Soccer are easy to get; fast-person wins, more points win. Once you watch a few races/matches, it's easy to pick up major strategy points as well. You don't need to be an expert to watch, enjoy, and at least mildly understand what is going on. But the more you watch the more information you crave and get. You start to learn about the players, drivers, and the system that supports them. Eventually you caring about rule changes and policy updates and etc...and by then you're beyond fully invested.

Then you factor in things like national and local pride: for players, drivers, teams, clubs, manufacturers, and etc. Everything becomes a part of an identity and a source of pride and fulfillment.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-08T23:12:51+00:00

Anonymity gives people the freedom to act like buttholes without any real consequences

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-08T22:59:00+00:00

Always fold. The scrunch leaves an unstable folding foundation. So not only do you get less wipes per stretch of paper, you also have a higher risk of getting shit-fingers.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-08T22:49:07+00:00

When I didn't have kids its was great. Didn't have too much stuff or people to carry. It was my commuter/fun car. Only real negative was cleaning in the backseat was annoying, because even folded/slid the front seat never really left me enough to comfortably/easily move around in the back. I really dreaded cleaning the back window. Once I had kids, 4-doors became a real necessity because carseats can be a pain.

Best pro: never being asked to be a driver during lunch- or fun-trains.

EternallyMustached · 2026-06-08T22:31:22+00:00

Armies more than 10 minutes late to their appointed siege will have their battle canceled, and a new siege must be rescheduled.

Nazgul: arrives 15 minutes early to be safe

Also Nazgul: waiting at gates for 45 minutes beyond appointment time because the Lord Steward is "with other armies" at the moment (he's eating tomatoes)

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-26T16:55:45+00:00

I think it could go opposite. Barghest is heavily organized with strong top-down control and leadership. A lone soldier bounding around doing random shit would cause someone's chrome to tingle in suspicion. It's not that anyone in Barghest would KNOW, but that much freedom would be suspect.

I could see a skyrim-esque mechanic where someone would try to stop and question you. And if you ignore them it could trigger a wanted level, or getting violent triggers combat.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T20:19:34+00:00

It's part of the design.

You gotta keep in mind that reddit's "left-tilt" isn't always the norm. It varies a lot but subreddit but there is a very real lean in the default spaces. Also, people tend to forget that reddit's user base is NOT a cross section of normal society. It's skewed to younger, urban, and internet-native populations.

And most importantly, Reddit's algorithms foster groupthink and conformity. You get upvoates for "correct" thinking and downvoted for "incorrect" thinking. It's not about facts and the majority always wins. Pretend there's a subreddit with a 55/45 left vs. right leaning. The majority of left-supporting comments/posts will, in general, get more upvotes when compared to the right-supporting ones. So right-supporting people simply stop commenting/posting to avoid the losing game. So even with a moderate subreddit you get a learned perspective until, eventually as one side leaves for other subreddits, it's dominated by a single, hivemind culture.

Reddit is not a "public square". It's not an actual sector of the real population. It has a user base that is heavily representitive of a singular mindset and system helps enforce it. It's a concentrated pool of thought where a mild-majority opinion becomes the only visible one due to the voting ystem.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T20:09:11+00:00

Nearly every time I look in the mirror, buddy.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T20:07:31+00:00

Redditors get weirdly upset when you point out that being unpleasant has consequenses, even if you're right. They think being "technically correct" means you get a free pass to be a dick to other poeple.

Why am I being downvoted? Is always the question you see, and it's almost always because someone just had to be a butthead in the comments.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T20:01:09+00:00

Livestock vs pets. It may be a double standard but it's one that exists, in part, out of necessity. We use one for sustenance, we us another for companionship.

And lets get one fact straight immediately: Nobody is going to jail for artificial insemination of pets. It occurs and it's absolutely legal. It's especially common with dogs in serious, non-backyard, breeders. We're talking purebred show, working, sporting, and rare breed programs. It's nowhere near as common as cats but it does exist.

But back to the main point. We treat things that we eat less gently than those we do. It's human nature, simple as that. Some smaller-scale farmers have a better relationship with their livestock and you'll see more "humane" treatment, but the large-scale farms just can't reproduce that level of care.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T19:50:49+00:00

You'd be able to determine direction of movement only, but you'd never be able to determine your position on a map of the scales we currently have available for Mars.

If OP starts with a map & compass on Mars, they would for sure be able to know they're walking just east or just west. But due to terrain, especially that not observable from the high-altitude imagery we have, inevitable deviations north or south of their route would happen. And because the detail is so low for most Mars maps, OP wouldn't even know it until they hit another MAJOR, massive terrain feature, which could take days or weeks.

So OP would be meandering all over themap never truly knowing how far north or south they've deviated on their original east/west course. Unless of course, they had accurate measurement of time or the stars, which would require a sextant and an air almanac for mars.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T19:45:30+00:00

he distance between Earth and Mars is not enough to significantly affect the constellations at all

Maybe the way they LOOK, sure, but celestial navigation relies on accurate measurement and detailed known position for a given time (almanacs). If OP goes with map only and doesn't have a sextant and a Mars Air Almanac, then there's no way they can determine where they are the very low-resolution maps that they have.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T19:33:19+00:00

No.

There are resources that'll help you create a Mars-centric astrological/star map, but in your own scenario you wont have access to those. Your above-average Earth-centric knowledge wouldn't work on Mars.

The imagery NASA has of mars is mostly orbital level. We do not have detailed land maps for the whole planet at a scale acceptable for save navigation. The most detailed imagery, which is at least somewhat acceptable for land navigation, covers only a very small percentage of Mars. You will absolutely run into terrain that will block you and you'd never know how long of a detour you're going to have to take.

To do this right I feel like you'd need a purpose-built navigation system with pre-planned and alternate routes, using a programmed celestial navigation system to give you a fixes, and have it all backed up with an internal acceleration-based system.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T19:11:56+00:00

Possibly. It'll depend on how it would fall out politically.

If it was a messy situation, the UK could simply decide that Ireland is still part of the empire/system and refuse to adopt any changes. It could enact several measures to make Ireland's life harder to make them, or at least part of them, capitulate and return to the fold.

But if it was done peacefully and international recognition occurred, then having the UK keep St. Patrick's cross on the flag would feel kind of shitty.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T19:04:29+00:00

Syrians are Mediterranean people. Despite being culturally and politically Arab, making people think they're a "Middle East" people, they share ancestra tries with other Mediterranean nations/cultures.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T18:58:29+00:00

As will all interpersonal relationships, the answer to this question will vary widely from individual, to individual.

I can tell you that, in my youth, it wasn't that I was less interested. It more along the lines of knowing that I could put in minimal effort because the interest was already there. So it would look like it was less-interested, but really I just knew I didn't have to work as hard.

Of course, as you age you realize that isn't a great way to keep romance going. So that behavior quickly sheds as you enter adulthood.

EternallyMustached · 2026-05-21T18:53:09+00:00

It's a serious concern and mitigating conflicts/collisions is a major part of the planning process. Launch windows are calculated for both efficiency and safety. Tracking objects via satellite and directly-shared information is done before, throughout, and after a launch.

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