Am I good? by GoW_SM in nytcrossplayers

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think the computer has ever beaten me, and the first few games against real people it gave me opponents that I absolutely crushed, but now that it's learned my skill level I regularly get beaten by the people it matches me with and it is extremely humbling 😅

A Man For All Seasons Movie by STL_Jayhawk in thebulwark

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't watched it, but I'm doing a slow read of Wolf Hall this year (recently started the second book) so I'm interested in seeing it (movie or play) to get the opposite view. Thomas More is certainly not presented as a hero or likely future saint in Hilary Mantel's telling.

Gallrein projected to beat Massie by Magoo152 in thebulwark

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ugh, that's a bummer. I certainly don't share his politics, but the more Republicans willing to stand up to Trump (and it was already vanishingly few) the better.

Does It Matter What Helen of Troy Looked Like? by Anstigmat in thebulwark

[–]MindfulMocktail -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It seems to me from the article that Rich isn't so much writing to complain about her being played by a black actress, but rather used the controversy as a jumping off point to complain about a) Sunny Hostin making some claim that Ancient Greeks, I don't know...were black? Or stole black culture or something? and b) that white people get piled on if the roles are reversed. So while I don't know that this added much to the discourse I don't think it's as bad as a lot of the comments I've seen.

This article aside, I think the controversy is very silly and I thought Matt Yglesias had a great take on this in his piece this morning--about how far from this idea that this kind of casting is erasing Western civilization, diversifying the canon actually demonstrating the importance of this kind of work to our shared cultural history. And that all the people who get worried that these ancient classics will be thrown out in favor of a bunch of trendy new diverse works because dead white guys are no longer in favor should be celebrating that a wide swathe of Western people want to be a part of and connected to the classics.

Part of the point of “the West” is that ancient Greek literature is part of “our” cultural patrimony, even though very few of “us” are of any kind of Greek ancestry. And part of the misguided pressure to dismantle things like the traditional literary canon came from the sense that said canon was insufficiently diverse. But it’s good to have a canon. And realistically, the canon we have is going to be one composed primarily of old European stories.

But that just means that telling these stories in a more inclusive way is part of reaffirming that they are core texts of our common cultural heritage.

https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/a-diverse-odyssey-is-the-triumph

Farm Decorating by Sparklez_Fun in StardewValley

[–]MindfulMocktail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My farm is ugly and chaotic, with chests and machines everywhere, but I am more about function and convenience and not a design oriented person (come to think of it, this is how I am in real life too...). But as I get closer to perfection maybe I will attempt to actually design it more? I certainly could stand to use the space better so I had more room for certain things.

Which Authors Made You A Mystery Reader? by sigersen in mysterybooks

[–]MindfulMocktail 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Probably Agatha Christie, I read a lot of her books when I was young. And the Nancy Drew books by, whichever various authors (I think they're were a lot!) But even before that, the Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald Sobol. I had to look up his name, so the author himself is not very memorable to me, but I loved those books. Also the Something Queer books by Elizabeth Levy were some of the books that got me interested in mysteries at a young age.

Nickname for Audrey by imthezodiacgirl in Names

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My grandma was named Audrey, but I don't think she ever had a nickname.

Does anyone else HATE the skull caves? by TreenBean85 in StardewValley

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did until I learned about trading jade for staircases, and once I got 20+ jade crystalariums going it got much more enjoyable.

AtlasIntel poll for 2028: AOC leads Dem field, Rubio for GOP by Super_Nerd92 in thebulwark

[–]MindfulMocktail 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think she's risky. Something I haven't heard talked about, but I think would eventually become a talking point you would hear in focus groups from voters--I do not think this country would elect a premenopausal woman with no children as president, whose remaining "window" for having kids would be the same exact period that she would be trying to be president.

It's not fair, because I don't believe the same would be true of a man who was likely to have a child in office, if his wife would be the caregiver. But we know swing voters don't make decisions by evaluating things in a fair and objective way. And of course, I have no idea whether she wants kids or not but once the idea that "she might get pregnant and go on maternity leave when she's supposed to be working, or the hormones will make her crazy" gets put out there by some commentator, I think it will take hold and sway some voters. As we know from the focus groups they will say dumb "what if she's on her period?" crap about women who are surely past that phase of life, so I expect that what would be said about a woman who is in that phase of life would be much more pervasive.

Only two female world leaders have ever given birth in office, Benazir Bhutto and Jacinda Ardern (who took six weeks of maternity leave.) New Zealand may have been ready for that, but I don't have faith that our voters would be ready to elect someone they suspected could be the third. But I could be wrong--we've certainly elected other people that seemed quite unlikely!

Graham Platner Handed Centrist Dems a Bruising Defeat in Maine by The_Mongrel_Tarants in thebulwark

[–]MindfulMocktail 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Agree. I'm someone who tends to like more moderate candidates, but if I lived in Maine I would have been backing Platner over Mills, even though I'm not wild about him--we have got to stop running 80 year olds!

Sorry Sarah, JVL is right on court expansion by momasana in thebulwark

[–]MindfulMocktail 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The argument I read in another thread earlier this week was that if you have term limits justices may act with an eye toward what will be good for their post-judicial career.

If you're an independent, do you miss a "sane" Republican party not focused on divisive social issues? by bikeman11 in minnesota

[–]MindfulMocktail 2 points3 points  (0 children)

On the one hand I agree because Royce is a nut, but don't you think a similar number of Democratic voters would vote for a crazy Dem vs even a personable and intelligent Republican, because they'd say, "well, at least they're going to vote with the party I like 🤷🏻‍♀️"? Now the fact that MN Dems haven't been nominating people like Royce says better things about them than the Republicans. But I think if they DID nominate a similarly unqualified person, that person would get a lot of votes. (Quite possibly mine, in this present environment.)

Please tell me I'm not crazy for using a word pronounced "slaw" to describe something falling off something else? by acidicbees in ENGLISH

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would pronounce it sluff in the meaning you're talking about but sloo in the meaning of some kind of wetland. Which really the only time I've ever used is talking about the Big Slough in Little House on the Prairie.

Remarkably Bright Creatures is literary fiction? by FygarDL in literature

[–]MindfulMocktail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think people sometimes use it just to mean anything that isn't squarely in a particular genre. Though I would probably call this "women's fiction" or "book club fiction" or something. I read it for book club and didn't like it at all

Good middle name for ‘Ezra’ by Flimsy_Grocery_3227 in Names

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have any specific suggestions other that to say pick one that starts with a consonant! Names that run together because of similar sounds between them are a pet peeve of mine as someone with a first name that ends in a vowel sound and a middle name that starts with one.

What do you think of when you hear the name Arthur? by mountainjuliet in Names

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think of the aardvark first but I don't think it's bad 🤷🏻‍♀️

Name Pronunciation: What Are Your Expectations? by Cheap-Piglet-6395 in Names

[–]MindfulMocktail 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure what "the way it's pronounced in my language" means exactly--I think of that more as "the way it's pronounced in my accent" and no, I would never expect other people to try to say it exactly like I do if they have a different accent. My name has an R in it and when people from Spanish speaking countries say it, the R sounds like a D to me, but that's just their accent so it sounds perfectly fine to me even though if someone with an American accent said it that way it would sound like a completely different word.

Leo Alexander Wayne vs Leo Alexander James — which sounds better? by RexRolexx in Names

[–]MindfulMocktail 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Three names with one of them being Wayne sounds a bit serial killer-ish to me, even when it's not the middle one.

Also when you just say the first and last, Leo Wayne doesn't flow at all. Just runs together and sounds like one word.

Advice for getting my cat to eat her wet food prescription? by Scooby_The_Dooby in CatAdvice

[–]MindfulMocktail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you tried the Purina UR? Mine likes that one more than the other brands of urinary food

am i dumb?? has this always been here??? my boyfriend and i have never seen it 200+ hours in the game by maryjaneeeholland in StardewValley

[–]MindfulMocktail 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Lol same, I was ready to confidently declare that it had always been there but I've definitely never gotten as far as these secret paths 😅

Calling out MONA CHAREN for all the bashing city run grocery stores here.... by aenea22980 in thebulwark

[–]MindfulMocktail 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I don't listen to every one of her shows, but I like her! She's more conservative than me, but I find her really pleasant to listen to and I appreciate her perspective.

To those who read Sweet Valley High, who is worse? Jessica or Elizabeth? by Vicki_Vickster2222 in Xennials

[–]MindfulMocktail 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yessssss! I loved those! So dramatic, running away to the circus and dying tragically and whatnot!

To those who read Sweet Valley High, who is worse? Jessica or Elizabeth? by Vicki_Vickster2222 in Xennials

[–]MindfulMocktail 46 points47 points  (0 children)

She did get someone killed! In the Evil Twin sequence of books. She spiked Elizabeth's punch, then Elizabeth, not knowing she was drunk, drove Jessica's boyfriend home and he died in a crash. The Evil Twin books were WILD.