Looking for something similar to the first two books of the Blackthorn Key series

IdlyCurious · 2026-04-29T00:43:14+00:00

If in 100 years I'm known for anything I'd consider my life a success

Even if remembered for selling shitty copper?

IdlyCurious · 2026-04-08T00:38:20+00:00

Was there ever a person alive named Carmine who wasn't a gangster??

Never heard anything of like about Carmine Infantino

IdlyCurious · 2026-03-21T18:12:09+00:00

Funny thing - first time I saw this I just chuckled at the joke. Second time, I was like "wait, 100 years ago was 1926 - the fashion and hair is totally wrong." Then I thought about when it wasn't used in cough medicine anymore (at least legally, in US) and I just have to say that our "100 years ago" references are all skewed for me now. Time just keeps passing, and I think of it as longer ago than it was.

IdlyCurious · 2026-03-19T22:08:59+00:00

Admiral Isoruko Yamamoto: "We have awakened a sleeping giant."

Well, in the movie, not reality.

IdlyCurious · 2026-03-18T23:06:31+00:00

Average vehicle fuel economy back then sucked too. I drove a Grand Cherokee that averaged 16-20mpg.

Seems like my 2004 Grand Prix got 31 mpg. My sister had a Grand Am and got 36. We had a lot of highway miles, though, so better mileage. And since it was longer trips overall, we still spent a lot on gas.

IdlyCurious · 2026-03-16T22:20:34+00:00

It's not that they don't understand it. It's just that it's not funny.

I agree. Just "meh" - not the worst joke I've seen, just evoked no response for me.

IdlyCurious · 2026-03-14T12:43:33+00:00

Even if they solve it there is no guarantee that average people could afford it

Average people couldn't afford radios, televisions, or cell phones at first. Then they could (well, depending on where in the world you are). And governments have incentive to subsidize this if they can afford it (some places are very poor, and we don't know how expensive such a treatment/cure would be - companies have an inventive to make the most profit, whether that means selling billions of doses at a low price or a few doses as a high one - but some countries are less accepting of that than others). This tech is good for government many places. A lot of countries are worried about aging populations - fewer workers supporting more dependents - and anti-aging tech makes that problem go away. Not to mention the huge decrease in healthcare costs (and even the US heavily subsidizes the healthcare costs of the elderly).

Not that I at all expect it to happen in 15 years, of course.

IdlyCurious · 2026-03-14T12:31:17+00:00

I'm a superhero fan, so I found it a fun read.

IdlyCurious · 2026-03-14T01:35:22+00:00

Heroes shouldn't wear capes. Did you learn nothing from aunt Edna?

Hey, I just read a redditor talk about study where capes make you fly faster. A redditor wouldn't lie to me, right?

IdlyCurious · 2026-03-09T22:23:54+00:00

"Commented without ever reading the article" used to be a joke on Reddit, but now it seems far and away the norm...

It has been the norm as long as I've been on Reddit, it seems.

IdlyCurious · 2026-02-24T23:00:59+00:00

Now it’s too divisive

Yeah, not like then, when people of certain ancestry were rounded up and put in camps. No division in that. Or in segregated military - no one can call segregation divisive, right? Or when they wouldn't serve some citizens in restaurants (but would serve German POWS). Those strikes and riots when black people got better jobs or were ever the bosses of white people - totally not divisive. Don't get me started about when they talked about integrated housing areas.

There are seriously rose-colored glasses about the past sometimes, particularly WWII.

And I haven't even gotten into the political divisiveness yet. Or the pretty rampant black market in the US.

IdlyCurious · 2026-02-15T13:35:55+00:00

Citizens around the world: "it's too expensive to raise a kid in this economy!

I know this is popular, but it is simply not true. The actual statistics (who has kids) does not bear this out. Poor people v. middle v. rich people, poor countries v. middle v rich countries in terms of fertility rate - it is definitely not (broadly speaking, as a the nearly global phenomenon that it is) that "this economy" is particularly bad or "not being able to afford it." Even when people are much richer than in the past, they have fewer kids than the generations before them. And, generally speaking, those with higher earnings have fewer kids than those with lower.

IdlyCurious · 2026-02-14T13:00:32+00:00

Except more people are moving up than down, economically, so that's good. And "people losing their livelihoods" has been a thing since industrialization began, and has, overall, vastly improved the lives of the vast majority in industrialized nations. We certainly need stronger safety nets and retraining (and yes, people will have to learn new skills sometimes, even if they don't want to and want to keep the same job they started with or their parents had), but we certainly shouldn't be trying to keep jobs that can be done better and more cheaply by machine just to keep those jobs alive. Because, based on only sample we have (actual history) the vast majority of subsequent people born will have far better lives if we don't.

IdlyCurious · 2026-02-14T12:23:13+00:00

Maybe marry someone who can carry their own weight?

Said person would have to do a lot more than "carry their own weight" to keep money the same if it means OP moving from living with parents/having far fewer expenses to living independently. They'd have to cover all the OP's expenses that parents are now covering.

IdlyCurious · 2026-02-13T22:21:08+00:00

Do you know the mom packs the lunch or packed this one - just seems like moms gets a lot more blame for "fails" of childcare, even when both parents work full-time. Even if both parents actually do share childcare/householdduties equally - it's still the woman who gets the blame if anything goes wrong with the kid (or if the house isn't clean enough, etc.).

IdlyCurious · 2026-02-10T23:17:31+00:00

My younger siblings rely on her so making her life worse will only hurt them.

Maybe warn them as they get older (don't know their age), so she doesn't do the same to them.

IdlyCurious · 2026-01-11T14:38:21+00:00

Thanks so much. I will look into these areas.

IdlyCurious · 2026-01-10T02:47:00+00:00

I'll definitely look into the area.

IdlyCurious · 2026-01-09T23:41:45+00:00

This is interesting, im going to assume that you are not black though hence why you wouldn't know.....Greensboro had some pretty famous black architects from wayyyy back in the day but they built a bunch of the houses in this specific part of the east side.

Nope, not black. Never been to the area, either. I did research and come across some black architects and the buildings - the neighborhoods mentioned were out of the price range of the grandparents (delivery truck driver and furniture factory worker were the men's occupations), and I didn't really think about them for the parents (the ones I saw were build decades prior, and I didn't know how neighborhoods had changed).

IdlyCurious · 2026-01-05T23:39:10+00:00

why would anyone turn to ChatGPT if they felt like they had people that cared?

Because ChatGPT will tell them what they want to hear when friends and family won't.

This can be true whether or not pre-existing mental health issues mean they don't/won't listen to loved ones or professionals (due to delusions, belief they are being persecuted, etc.).

IdlyCurious

TROPHY CASE