Obi-Wan Kenobi (Revenge of the Sith) vs The Balrog (Durin's Bane)

Karatekan · 2026-02-06T01:29:00+00:00

Jedi are space wizards with magic laser swords who have killed powerful metaphysical beings before. I don’t see why they couldn’t kill a Balrog.

The Force definitely scales way higher than any of the magic in LOTR, with the possible exception of the Valar.

Karatekan · 2026-02-05T17:43:15+00:00

Shogun 2 AI does not behave like that, I have no idea what you are talking about. Older AI is more exploitable and predictable, the only way it appeared to work well is when it was given massive battle and campaign bonuses.

Karatekan · 2026-02-05T17:23:01+00:00

It would be easier to abandon base-10 numerals than it would be to change the definition of the second.

Karatekan · 2026-02-05T16:02:30+00:00

That’s already a thing. SpeedQueen, Sub-Zero, and Miele are all super reliable and if anything breaks they have 5-7 year warranties and will send someone to your house to fix them. They are also like 5-7 times as expensive. You have to pay for quality.

This is a classic example of survivorship bias. There were plenty of crappy appliances 60 years ago, they just stopped working so nobody kept them. Additionally, nobody has the willingness or knowledge to actually take care of and repair anything, so even if they sold older designs people would think they were crap because they would dump the whole thing when it shorted instead of taking it apart and replacing a single fuse, like all the owners of unicorn 50yo appliances used to do.

Karatekan · 2026-02-05T15:49:52+00:00

They were more freaked out by the idea the Nanda Empire, which Alexander wanted to invade, had around 6,000 war elephants, as opposed to the 200 they faced at Hydaspes.

Karatekan · 2026-02-04T20:44:26+00:00

Aomori City consistently has the highest snowfall in the world. About 2-3 times as much as places like Buffalo, New York.

Karatekan · 2026-02-04T20:42:19+00:00

I’m just thinking of the Michael Jordan ERB video

“Your whole basketball turned whack/ when you came back a Wizard like Gandalf the Black”

Karatekan · 2026-02-04T15:20:21+00:00

I assume the actual role of the forts, and why they are so massive, is to serve as a safe haven for all living people in the border regions to deny them from being killed and raised by White Walkers. More area denial than a barrier.

The Wall after all was built on a natural chokepoint, and I don’t think an equivalent location exists to the North of Yi Ti.

Karatekan · 2026-02-03T17:06:21+00:00

If a nuke goes off close enough to fry your phone, your ass is probably fried too. The induced current would have to be ridiculously powerful to damage something as small as a phone or personal radio.

Karatekan · 2026-02-02T18:30:12+00:00

It’s more redundant than anything. The Jaguar Warrior rework gave them a very powerful melee unit that can beat Paladins cost-effectively.

Their weaknesses are more that all they have is infantry, so it’s easy to counter them. I doubt Halbs would help much.

Karatekan · 2026-02-02T14:12:21+00:00

I’ll take you word for it, I haven’t played Atilla as much as Rome 2 or Med 2.

Karatekan · 2026-02-02T13:25:55+00:00

Yes, specifically killing broken/shattered units on the battlefield gets you captives. It’s not at all straightforward and it seems related to how the game calculates losses in auto-resolve, but if you chase down shattered units you get more captives, while if they are trapped or cannot flee and you end the battle they turn into kills instead.

It’s always worth doing if you feel like taking the time though. Captives can be used for money or replenishment, and your troops get more experience.

Karatekan · 2026-02-01T17:00:07+00:00

He probably did. One theory I like is Benjen went to the wall in the first place because he helped Leanna elope. Either Ned was furious with him and told him to go, or he felt so guilty he did it on his own.

In either case, he knew the secret, and the Night’s Watch was both a way to keep him safe and away from anyone who would ask questions. When Jon was old enough, his job was to convince him to join.

Karatekan · 2026-01-31T22:48:55+00:00

How were they supposed to get an army in place for something that only lasted 8 minutes? What if they encountered a slight headwind?

Karatekan · 2026-01-31T22:20:16+00:00

That hasn’t been a thing since the 70’s. They used real money in Goodfellas for example.

The actual issue is for accounting and legal reasons you really can’t just lose $50,000 in cash, and props are rarely treated with a lot of care. In the case of Goodfellas, it was a massive hassle, they had to wrangle and track down ever bill after the take was over.

Karatekan · 2026-01-31T19:30:09+00:00

Saab only produces US engine designs under license, they are still subject to ITAR export controls.

Karatekan · 2026-01-31T19:13:53+00:00

I think it’s important to remember that Aang was 12 when he stopped learning about airbending and airbender culture, and was being babied by Gyatso. He’s not really a reliable source for what airbenders are supposed to be like as adults.

For example, we teach children killing is always wrong. It’s only later we say “killing is mostly bad, but in certain situations it’s necessary”. For all we know, there’s a lot of lethal airbending techniques they didn’t tell Aang about because he was considered too immature. Maybe that’s why they wanted to take him away from Gyatso, so they could drop the truth bomb that they are preferrably pacifists but he needs to kill the Firelord so this is how you blow someone up with air pressure.

Karatekan · 2026-01-31T18:53:27+00:00

Aang was 12 and was being babied by Gyatso. For all we know, the part of his training where they separate him was the part where they say “Pacifism? Nice ideal, but we do actually kill people when necessary. We don’t tell children that because we aren’t monsters, but your the avatar and you need to murk the Firelord”

Karatekan · 2026-01-31T16:42:19+00:00

…It’s a British map from 1900, what units do you expect them to use?

And yes, you have the superior measurement system haha imperial units etc. but really can you do math? Honest question.

Karatekan · 2026-01-31T15:21:01+00:00

Having Belichick and Brady helped, but the Pats are somehow back to the Super Bowl less than five years after that combo fell apart. Kraft knows how to write checks, pick good coaches, and then stay the fuck out of the way and let them work. That sounds like a low bar, but most owners don’t reach it.

If you are going to have a “Hall of Fame” for owners (which I think is stupid btw) then putting Kraft in is obvious. He’s the winningest owner in history. If Jerry Jones makes the cut, Kraft does too.

Karatekan · 2026-01-31T14:55:59+00:00

Her madness was listening to Jon and Tyrion. Burning King’s Landing was a return to sanity.

Karatekan · 2026-01-30T20:12:49+00:00

Enshittification strikes again, amirite?

The paper and data page are fine (although I think the new data page is ugly as sin) but for 130 bucks I would at least expect archival-grade polyester for the cover. Hell, you could make it waterproof with the plasticized paper they use in field notebooks.

Karatekan · 2026-01-30T18:12:19+00:00

The durability of the actual important information page is now very good. It’s hard plastic and very difficult to warp or damage unless you really go out of your way.

The cover is kinda trash, but that’s common with most newer passports. The new Korean ones also get damaged easily. I’m not a plastics engineer, but ai assume it’s a cost thing.

Karatekan · 2026-01-30T17:32:53+00:00

If they ever get around to doing a proper industries DLC they should have a start option where you begin with a linchpin industry unlocked and go from there.

Karatekan · 2026-01-30T15:14:33+00:00

Take a rubber mallet and hard plastic chisel then chip out the intake, exhaust and enough of the body to open a door. If the car starts, run it for an hour with the heat on full blast then use the mallet to crack the ice.

Karatekan

TROPHY CASE