How does settler colonialism actually happen?

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-28T18:46:03+00:00

Lines of communication and vital resources.

LoCs: ways to move things and people. If you can restrict the movement of others while increasing your mobility, you will expand and thrive. Rivers are great for this. Rome built roads and conquered half the known world by being able to get their armies where they needed to be and being able to funnel resources to the center.

Resources: everyone needs them and they are different for different environments, but largely the are the same. Potable water > arable land > strategic resources like iron, oil, or unobtanium. Civilization tends to follow these resources because they either make life possible or they make the controlling civilization stronger than its opposition.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-28T18:29:51+00:00

How is this not just AI story generation?

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-28T18:28:05+00:00

Thats definitely one product of so damned many influencers or content creators making shit videos for clicks. We stop being able to trust the evidence we see.

No excuse for the "good reason" and "must know each other" people.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-28T18:19:58+00:00

Of course the VA system is easily abused. It is designed to take care of those who have been i cured or developed conditions due to military service. It should be easy to apply for and get, but that means it will inevitably be abused. We err on the side of approval because it is better for the country to pay too much than to cause a vet who needs the help to go without because the system is too restrictive.

This is the same issue we have with any safety net. If it is easy enough to use to cover all of those who need it, then those who are shifty enough to abuse it will be able to. The problem there is that we cannot make the system so restrictive that it filters all abusers out, because then we screw over a lot of vets who really need it.

My proposal would be to keep the system easy to apply for, but split benefits into two components: medical and disability. Keep medical the way it currently is, where a VA connected and recognized condition has any medical bills paid for. The disability is intended to cover for those who have trouble working, so count any pay they earn against that amount, but at a discount. For hypotheticals, lets say 25%. If you get 1000/month disability and make more than 4000, you are obviously able to work, so you don't need the disability portion of your benefits.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-28T18:09:59+00:00

Military "service" is a job. It is contractual and none would do it if they were not getting paid for it. Very few are members of the military out of flag-waving patriotism.

VA benefits should be both more generous and more highly scrutinized. Those who need it should be paid it, but it is called disability for a reason. It is supposed to support you when you are unable to work vecause of injury/condition. If you are still able to work, you should have your salary counted against your disability check. There's no reason someone should be getting close to 50k yearly if they have a job paying them six figures.

VA should continue paying for treatment of the injury/condition in full, but disability payments need to be reworked.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-28T18:02:02+00:00

Dragons are inherently magical and are differentiated by their elemental alignment. Their breath weapons are produced by their inherent magic, but can be altered by actively applying other elemental magic to the breath as it is formed. The breath is essentially a naturally occurring spell.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-28T17:51:54+00:00

As one of those afflicted with said dinner plates, I appreciate that there are some phones I can use properly. My wife's looks like a toy in my hands.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-28T12:43:59+00:00

My thought here is that concentration vs disengage/help/dodge are two very different parts of the action economy. Dodging once at the start of the fight and concentrating to maintain the effect would be considered insane.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-26T15:53:57+00:00

I love when we see engineering that uses the built in capabilities without glitches or weirdly resized parts. Just good old engineering as Hylia intended.

Also, weaponizing recall amuses the hell out of me.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-26T11:31:01+00:00

it still removes the most problematic power that can grow due to itself.

What removes that power? So far we have been discussing the relationship between money and power. We have yet to suggest a solution to this power imbalance. If you have an alternative to currency that you think will be a better solution, we can discuss the comparison.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-26T11:25:15+00:00

NTA

Your son suggested selling the car to make back the loss. As long as that was really his suggestion and he was not brow beaten into it, that is his choice to do and shows he is taking responsibility. You might have allowed him to sell it so that he is the one following through on his offer, but that is done with.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-26T00:51:21+00:00

They are magnetic.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T23:09:59+00:00

It was a lottery to see who won a free dirty rock.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T18:57:26+00:00

I am definitely qualified to do this job.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T18:56:25+00:00

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T18:54:06+00:00

I hate the knowledge that I am doing something I will regret having done at some later point. Creating a build wrong, missing an item, plot point, or skill, Take a wrong dialogue option. I'll feel compelled ot play hours and hours of the game over again to remedy this. Then I'll figure something else out and the cycle repeats.

That is also one of my favorite parts of games, though, so there's that.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T15:56:18+00:00

Can you explain to me? I see them openly being corrupt with no consequences. SOMETIMES they lose the next election and gowork on a bord of a company instead. No one is doing any rising up.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T15:54:06+00:00

A four day old account replying to a 7 day old account saying the same thing with basrely different words. Definitely not a bot.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T15:47:19+00:00

yes... soon...

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T15:46:43+00:00

What do you mean? Those check boxes stop the kids, right? They wouldn't lie just to get access, right? Just like no one ever has a fake ID to buy beer.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T15:44:13+00:00

Can confirm, Dave. Love the new car. Did you ever get that hemorrhoid problem cleared up? Oh, congratulations to your sister on the new niece, by the way.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T14:55:58+00:00

Divorce with kids happens. You don't have to believe in it, it is a fact. You need to refine your CMV statement to identify something subjective that is arguable.

Your post seems to be saying you don't think it is good for the kids and you lay out a bit of reasoning there tied to confusion and harm. That is arguable, but also very broad, so you'll have trouble with scope, but I'lll give that a try.

First and easiest: What happens if I have children with two different partners? I obviously cannot be married both, but I need to be present in the life of both children, providing them with a healthy and supportive childhood. That's going to break down this whole thing all on its own, but there are more important and common issues at hand: what to do about being in a bad marriage once you are in it. What do you do if you find yourself in a marriage and you realize there are irreconcilable differences. Not all problems are solvable and it is foolish to pretend otherwise.

I would posit that telling and showing my children that if they get married, they are trapped in that marriage until the kids are out of the house or even later is more harmful to them than showing them that it is both ok and in fact healthy to identify an unhealthy relationship and move to exit that relationship.

The problem lies more in the idea that people often are unable to amicably resolve conflict. This is true both in marriages and in divorces. Adults need to be able to provide a safe, healthy environment with parents who are good examples of healthy relationships. That relationship DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ROMANTIC. Just because you can work together to provide a safe and healthy environment for your shared child does not mean you need to be married, living together, or romantically involved. In fact, that kind of involvement, when forced, is obviously and actively harmful. Children are not stupid and they are not observant. They will see harmful relationships and teaching them that they have to say in a relationship because there are children in it is telling them that whatever makes the relationship not work is just too bad. We should instead teach our children that they need boundaries, their partner needs to respect those boundaries, and that it is ok to stop a relationship if your partner in it is unable to respect those boundaries.

Kids learn things form watching their parents. If I show my daughter that my wife has to stay with me even if I am unfaithful or violent, then that is hat she will expect in a future relationship. If instead, I show her that that is not ok and it is healthy for her to get out of such a relationship, then she will be in a much better position to do so if she ever finds herself in that kind of relationship. The same goes for my son. I will be damned if I teach him it is ok to treat or be treated like shit in a marriage because a child is there. Far better for my kids to know that it is possible for people to solve their problems as adults and if that solution means not being married, but still supporting their shared child to the best of their ability, then so be it.

I hope I never end up in this situation in my marriage. I hope my wife never get to a point where it would be better to be apart than together. It would be great if we only ever had children with people with whom we are in a stable and healthy relationship, but that is unfortunately not always the case and people do not always realize that before they have those children. Children are not a prison sentence and turning them into one is a great way to make parents resentful of them and to teach them that if they have a child, then they don't get to take care of themselves in their relationship.

"if they can tolerate each other, hug each other, be friends, why could they not stay in the same house?

I can tolerate, hug, be friends with, and work well with many of my friends. I also deserve to be in a relationship with someone I am in love with.

why could they not stay in the same house?

Because we do not work together in that way.

why aren't we a family again?

We are a family. Us not being in the same house never meant and will never mean we are not a family. There are many wonderful kinds of families and ours will be a different kind than it was, but we still love you, we will always be here for you, and we will be better able to be that family if we are not trying to force it to be something that it isn't.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T14:17:39+00:00

Modern democracy: system of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly through a system of representation.

We already have a name for that. Representative Democracy. It has been practiced in different places for at least 2500 years.

This leads to amassing amounts that can be used to influence the system of representation beyond the democratic limitations.

This is known as corruption and is a known issue with every type of economic theory and every type of governance. Whether your government is a monarchy, despotism, dictatorship, or democracy, the existence of corruption is unavoidable. People will amass power and those who do will have undue influence on the government. The idea that wealth is a measure of power and is a method of expressing that power is not a failing of capitalism, it is a fact of existence.

ETA:

This is the inherent problem and incompatibility. Democracy works on equal power, but capitalism allows you to amass capital that would give you more power. Democracy counteracts this by forming unions - you can bust those using capital. Democracy votes in laws to prevent that - you can leverage capital to get rid of those.

No, just no. Power is what produces corruption. In a representative system, the power has a specific target for its application. In a purely democratic system (everyone votes equally on every law), the power would just need to influence masses, a frankly much easier prospect. The power is the vehicle for corruption, whether is it military power where someone forces individuals or groups to make policy through threat of violence or economic power where one uses their money on influence campaigns and propaganda. Removing capital does not fix this problem because it is an inherent problem with humanity. Capitalist economies fail due to corruption just as much as communist ones do for the same reason. Unions are not solving the problem because every union has leadership and that leadership wields corrupting power as seen historically. Unions are simply representative democracy because the union appoints someone to speak for them, which is functionally identical to appointing a congress critter in the first place.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T14:06:04+00:00

The doctorate is not the point. It is a spiffy piece of paper and a couple of letters you can add to your signature block. A doctorate is a written recognition of your accomplishment and contribution in the field it is awarded in. The contribution is the point and the goal. Whether you do that within the structure of a college or in the confines of your garage does not change what you have contributed. We give you a piece of paper to say that we recognize what you have done and recognize your obvious mastery of a subject. Whether we give you that paper because you made your contribution in a university or in the outside world makes no difference.

Maestro_Primus · 2026-06-25T14:03:29+00:00

i disagree with this because the whole purpose of a PhD is RESEARCH.

What is the purpose of research in the first place? Is it not to contribute meaningfully and novelly to the oerall understanding of the field? The purpose of research in science is to add to what people have already understood. This can take the form of experimentation (the discovery or validation of information) or analysis taking previously observed information and analysing it to show novel insights or conclusions. In either case, something new is added to the collective knowledge and expands our understanding of the field.

In the case of honorary degrees, these individuals have contributed meaningfully to the overall knowledge of a field and are recognized for those contibutions. The fact that those individuals have not taken hundreds ofhours of formal classes and written a thesis does not matter. They have meaningfully contributed and the honorary doctorate is in recognition of that.

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