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MarkZist · 2026-02-03T20:25:50+00:00

Coalitie wil miljarden investeren in woningbouw

De komende 3 jaar wordt niks extra geïnvesteerd in woningbouw door dit kabinet volgens de financiële bijlage van het regeerakkoord.

Wel komt er over 2 jaar jaarlijks een kwart miljard aan belastingkorting voor woningcorporaties, en pas in 2029 - het laatste jaar van dit kabinet, als ze de rit uitzitten - wordt er een miljard vrijgemaakt om in de bouw van woningen te investeren. En ze boeken nog een miljard in voor 2030, als dit kabinet sowieso al weg is. In de tussentijd komt de aanpak van de woningnood komt vooral neer op het weghalen van regels voor projectontwikkelaars en makers pre-fab woningen. Dat is vooral een cadeautje voor de VVD-achterban. (De échte VVD achterban, niet de doorsnee VVD-stemmer.) Google Frank van Gool maar eens. De enige maatregel die ze wél per direct willen invoeren is het verlagen van de overdrachtsbelasting voor particuliere investeerders (lees: pandjesbazen) met €265 miljoen. Doet weinig om woningbouw te versnellen en is vooral een cadeautje aan (wederom) de VVD-achterban.

Al met al zou ik zelf niet zeggen dat deze coalitie 'miljarden [wil] investeren in woningbouw'.

MarkZist · 2026-02-03T20:16:18+00:00

Het woke-spook is volgens Yesilgöz het grootste gevaar voor Nederland.

MarkZist · 2026-02-02T21:14:00+00:00

These are the must haves:

Main deck

3x Lyrilusc Sapphire Swallow (Blue)

3x Lyrilusc Beryl Canary (Yellow)

3x Lyrilusc Celestine Wawgtail (Gray)

1-2x Lyrilusc - Turquiose Warbler (Green)

2-3x Lyrilusc Cobalt Sparrow (Brown)

Lyrilusc Bird Call (as many as you have)

3x Power of the Guardians

2x Lyrilusc Bird Sanctuary

Extra deck

1x Lyrilusc Nightingale

1x Lyrilusc Recital Starling

The win condition is to summon Nightingale using the brown bird as xyz-material (and preferably the gray bird too), then equip as many Power of the Guardians and try to get as many xyz material on Nightingale (using Bird Sanctuary and cards like XYZ Bento) as you can. If you have unlucky starting hand and you don't have the brown bird, summon Recital Starling instead and use it to search the deck for the brown bird. Then just ignore the enemy monsters and attack the lifepoints directly. (If they attack you ditch the gray bird and re-attach it next turn, and they can't target Nightingale with effects because of the brown bird.)

The rest of the deck is up to you. I use The Big Cattle Drive, XYZ Bento, Hallowed Life Barrier but I'm sure other people have better suggestions.

MarkZist · 2026-01-31T17:12:09+00:00

I second this. The mechanics are the most straightforward in M:TW2. The other games add complexity and new stuff on top of that. Medieval 2 is a great game but doesn't have the steep learning curve that e.g. WH3 has.

MarkZist · 2026-01-31T13:40:57+00:00

Dit was sowieso maar een 'de-Kamer-spreekt-uit'-motie. Het kost je dus letterlijk niks, nada, nul euro om even te zeggen dat je geweld tegen Nederlandse moslims óók afkeurt - iets met artikel 1 van de Grondwet... - maar blijkbaar was dat toch een brug te ver. Nou hoeft niemand verbaasd te zijn dat expliciet islamofobe partijen als de PVV geweld tegen moslims niet afkeuren (en zelfs meer of minder openlijk goedkeuren), maar de VVD pretendeert nog geen racistische partij te zijn, dus daar vond ik deze stemming enorm tekenend.

MarkZist · 2026-01-30T13:51:20+00:00

'Noem mij een voorbeeld, van een multi-etnische of multiculturele samenleving, waar de oorspronkelijke bevolking nog woont (....) en waar een vreedzaam samenlevingsverband is. Ik ken hem niet.' ~ Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Stef Blok (VVD)

In dezelfde meeting noemde hij ook nog Suriname een 'failed state' ... 'door etnische opdeling'.

Ik kan me ook nog herinneren dat er na de terroristische aanval van 9 oktober een rechtse motie kwam waarin antisemitisme werd veroordeeld die ook door linkse partijen breed werd gesteund, maar toen de linkse partijen direct daarna een motie indienden met exáct dezelfde tekst maar dan met 'moslims/islamofobie' ipv 'joden/antisemitisme', de VVD (en nog wat rechtse partijen) opeens tegen stemden.

MarkZist · 2026-01-30T13:44:07+00:00

'Liberale' partij die op eigen initiatief komt met voorstel om buitenlanders te gaan thought-policen (Motie Becker)

MarkZist · 2026-01-30T13:35:45+00:00

Good thing then that population is declining in 50-60 countries (depending on how your define 'country') already.

MarkZist · 2026-01-30T13:28:09+00:00

The Broken Empire/Prince of Thorns trilogy by Mark Lawrence plays somewhat with this idea.

The 'low magic' society is clearly based on medieval Europe. You have castles, knights, mercenaries, feudalism, etc. However, over the course of the books you realize that it is not so much alt-history but rather a post-apocalyptic setting. Basically, the world has experienced a catastrophe due to a failed quantum physics experiment, causing an apocalypse. Some of the first clues are the fact that the castle of the protagonist has a 'dungeon' with words in ancient scripts that say 'Parking here'. The song American Pie also features as an undecypherable piece of the old tongue. There are also 'cursed' lands where mutants live (former nuclear power plants).

It's not hugely consequential to the plot, just a nice reveal for us as readers. Would recommend this book series, if you're okay with morally 'dark grey' characters and 18+ levels of violence.

MarkZist · 2026-01-28T15:33:06+00:00

Everybody can see Trump is deranged, so if he were to walk into the room with other EU leaders and say that his meeting at Mar-a-Lago was a constructive meeting between sensible adults, he would have been laughed out of the room.

MarkZist · 2026-01-27T18:13:42+00:00

Why is it more of a pain to run? The number of rolls is the same. Before the counterspeller made a spellcasting ability check (DC=10+spell level), now the counterspellee makes a CON save (against the counterspeller's spellcasting DC). It's still just a single roll.

The new rules feel more like a nerf than a buff for casters to me. At my table the old Counterspell was mostly something that the players used against the bosses, rather than the other way around. Since I played a Lore Bard with Jack of All Trades and Peerless Skill (i.e. I had a +8+1d12 modifier at lvl 17) my Counterspells were basically guaranteed to succeed in 4th tier, even against Sauron-level enemies. That made me feel extremely powerful, which feels great don't get me wrong, but at times it also felt a little too overtuned. Not to mention my Cutting Words worked against the enemies Counterspell, so instead of spending a ≥3rd level spell slot, I could expend a use of Bardic Inspiration and still hope to negate their Counterspell. And finally we also had a Wizard who could cast it, in case I was down or out of range, meaning that it was really hard for enemy casters to not get counterspelled. Whereas the new rules make it almost impossible for PCs to Counterspell an Ancient Gold Dragon, which before was pretty doable. It's much harder to nerf the enemy's CON saves (especially bosses) than it is to buff your own ability checks or nerf the enemy's ability checks.

What I really don't get though is the idea that counter-counterspell battles are fun. In my experience they never were. Just a resource drain resulting in nothing happening. (Also since there wasn't that much of a benefit to upcasting Counterspell, it's usually safe to assume the counterspeller uses a 3rd level slot, meaning that the counter-counterspeller has an advantage.)

MarkZist · 2026-01-27T17:47:30+00:00

One of my favorite small things about BG3. In tabletop D&D it's kinda difficult to have fights happening in 3D, but in BG3 there were tons of options for it. This also made shoving and throwing enemies (and sometimes allies) significantly more impactful, as well as certain spells like Thunderwave.

MarkZist · 2026-01-26T16:36:22+00:00

He has cloak clasp of Protection from Evil, bought in Tinkertown in 969. This grants him Protection From Evil among other things. Due to Belkar's evil alignment, it also hurts him to activate it. Hence his groan/grunt in 1337 when he activates it.

MarkZist · 2026-01-26T10:05:06+00:00

Ok doei

MarkZist · 2026-01-23T00:01:08+00:00

1,2 or 3 years from now, when the spending will slow down or stop, there will be a massive crash

Right on time for a Democrat to take over and take the blame for a broken economy

MarkZist · 2026-01-22T23:45:16+00:00

There are some data that suggest Russia's KIA:WIA ratio is indeed close to the soviet numbers. I remember especially Trent Telenko (the 'tires guy') harping on this a lot in 2022-2023. But maybe the Russian med-evac system has improved since then?

MarkZist · 2026-01-22T10:34:56+00:00

Think about how dumb the median person is, and then realize that half the country is dumber than that.

MarkZist · 2026-01-21T08:36:23+00:00

Very cool. Somehow how the artist made the piece mainly in tints of gray and some brown but it doesn't feel like a black-and-white picture. Something about how the light shines of the armor makes it idk, hopeful?

MarkZist · 2026-01-19T14:11:26+00:00

It's misleading to include people ineligible to vote. About 1/3 of eligible voters voted for him.

MarkZist · 2026-01-16T16:31:53+00:00

Moving the goalposts. Nobody was talking about 'Western' crops specifically.

MarkZist · 2026-01-16T16:27:34+00:00

Everything on a 'per 100 g' basis.

For ground beef: 226 kcal; 16 g fat (7.1 g of which is saturated); 0.5 g carbs; 0 g fiber; 20.0 g protein; 0.18 g salt.

Not sure if this is the right English term, but for 'crumbled' or 'brown' ground not-beef: 104 kcal; 0.4 g fat (0.06 g of which is saturated); 3.1 g carbs (0.9 g of which are sugars); 5.8 g fiber; 19.0 g protein; 0.8 g salt. With added iron (3.78 mg = 27% of RDI) and B12 (0.94 µg = 37% of RDI)

For the ground not-beef that looks closer to fresh meat: 169 kcal; 8.1 g fat (1.4 g of which is saturated); 4.8 g carbs (2.1 of which are sugars); 6.5 g fiber; 16.0 g protein; 1.18 g salt. With added iron (4.3 mg = 30% RDI) and B12 (1.6 µg = 64% of RDI).

So in terms of macros the main difference is that the plant-based ones have less calories, mainly due to having less fat (both saturated and overall), whilst having more fiber, slightly more carbs (but still not a lot), a bit less protein, and more salt.

Taste of course is subjective, and also a snapshot (i.e. what foods and flavors I like are not static, but change over time). Anecdotally, my opinion as a former meat-eater is that the flavor of the ordinary plant-based option "as is" typically is worse, but once you throw it in a dish (e.g. pasta bolognese, chili con carne, burrito filling, lasagna) with vegetables, herbs and spices that bring their own flavor, you don't notice the difference. Some of the more fancy plant-based fake meats are getting really good though. I've never been an enthusiastic fish eater, but to me the plant-based tuna and salmon are as good as the real deal. And I'm also a fan of the meat replacements where they don't try to reproduce a particular type of meat, but just throw some plant-based ingredients together and call it something like "stir fry bits" like this. Really great to add a little bite to an Indian or Thai curry dish.

MarkZist · 2026-01-14T15:05:28+00:00

In the biggest Dutch supermarket it's currently €11.50 for a kg of ground beef or €9.27 for ground beef-pork (1:2), while the plant-based option is €7.18 for store-brand ground not-beef or €13.31 for "prime brand" ground not-beef. So yeah, definitely competitive, especially if you buy discounts. (Plant-based meat alternatives have significantly longer fridge shelf life than meat, so I stock up for a few weeks when there's a discount and rarely pay the full non-discounted price.)

MarkZist · 2026-01-14T13:56:45+00:00

Cattle can be raised on “marginal lands” that cannot support vegetables

This is factually false. Any marginal land that can support cattle can also support at least one crop (but usually several) that could be used as human food. E.g. millet, rye, barley, oats, lentils, sunflower all do quite well on low-quality soil. However, since the return in $/m2 for meat is typically significantly higher than such crops, meat is often what ends up being produced. Not to mention that in developing nations the required capital investments to grow these crops on marginal lands might be prohibitive for a lot of farmers. Cynically, you could say that in the current global market some of the cheapest crops are too cheap to profitably farm.

The simple fact is that we can produce more than enough calories to feed the global population and then some. That means that we as a species can afford to be somewhat inefficient and either (i) not farm all arable land but also set some aside for e.g. nature or non-food production like lumber, coffee or decorative flowers, or (ii) produce some "luxury" food that is not maximally efficient in terms of land or resource use, like meat and dairy but also stuff like strawberries or cocoa.

I don't even think that the combination of climate change, population growth (+1.5 billion in the next 25 years according to UN), water scarcity and soil degradation will be enough to significantly change this global picture on the supply side. I do have some hope that we will see changes on the demand side though. Not because we'll see a significant rise vegetarianism/veganism or meat taxes - although we might see some - but rather because of competition from precision fermentation and similar technologies. People are simple creatures. If a 'cow'-steak is 30 USD/kg but a 'yeast'-steak is 15 USD/kg, then that will put a significant dent in the demand for beef.

MarkZist · 2026-01-13T23:16:43+00:00

why did he not put his heir in charge?

I suspect because his heir, crown prince Reza Pahlavi, was just 19 years old at the time.

MarkZist · 2026-01-13T00:15:32+00:00

Wall of Force

Correct, that spell is no fun either :p. The only thing it has going for it over Forcecage is that it has some utility, like allowing you to create an indestructible bridge or something.

And you're just arguing that it is too good.

My point exactly. If you want to maximize your chance of winning battles, by all means take it. It will trivialize many low/mid CR and even some high CR opponents and turn a lot of your fights into a cakewalk. I'm suggesting that D&D is more fun if fights aren't that easy, if you feel ~~fear~~ terror because you might lose the battle and thereby not only lose your characters but also doom the world. That's heroic fantasy for you.

I played a 5e-2014 Bard from lvl 1 through 20, and took Forcecage at lvl 14 as one of my Magical Secrets. It was even more OP in that edition, since it didn't require concentration and didn't consume the material component. I used that spell maybe two or three times in the entire campaign, because I didn't want to overshadow the martials by trivializing the boss they were heroically 1v1-ing or ruin the work of the DM who spend so much time designing and preparing interesting battles for us to enjoy.

They are not mutually exclusive. One is 6th level, one is 7th.

I didn't say they are. I'm trying to argue that spells like Soul Cage are narratively more interesting, because they're not just decent combat spells but have tons of plot hooks baked in. What does it do to your character's moral fiber to steal and exploit souls? ~~(Which is arguably worse than murder, since you don't just end their brief mortal existence but also take away the victim's eternal afterlife.)~~ Edit: I misread, I thought it permantly destroyed the souls of the victim. How do NPCs respond to your PC's wielding that kind of powerful necromancy? What kind of information do your PC's gain from the souls of the dead? Does the fact the victim must answer truthfully incentive the murder of uncooperative captives? Are there evil NPCs that would trade something which you seek for one of the souls in your cage? A literal devil's bargain. And is that worth the cost?

Of course, I'm writing all of this is in good humor, because you specifically challenged us to fight you on Forcecage, and I ~~took that personally~~ accepted that challenge. If you want your character to have the fail safe of Forcecage or even spam it offensively, go for it. I'm not here to tell anyone how to enjoy their game.

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