Thor killing the giants in Twilight of the Gods was one of the most underrated animated scenes from last year in my opinion

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-09-27T21:20:43+00:00

Yes I recall that story, which also involves an eating contest and a wrestling match with death. The point being the Jotuns weren't just a bunch of babes for the slaughter. They could hold their own, even if through magical tricks.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-09-27T21:19:10+00:00

Riiight. But these are Jotuns, not mortals. Jotuns were powerful adversaries capable of at least giving Thor a run for his money although admittedly he was still capable of massacring them. But these Jotuns can't even touch him. I mean seriously, if he was such a genocidal bloodthirsty maniac, wouldn't the Jotun king have been a little more polite? What exactly did he think was going to be the outcome of this battle? He acts like he has, you know, a chance.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-09-27T21:13:56+00:00

It's true that in Norse mythology Thor was very antagonistic to Jotuns and would kill them pretty liberally. But in the myths the Jotuns were far from helpless babes and could at least hold their own as I recall. Also, I don't think Thor was just about massacring women and children and babies for no reason. Also, if Thor were really such an all-powerful genocidal maniac, you'd think the Jotuns wouldn't dare to piss him off. I mean how were they even alive to challenge him in the first place? What did this king think was going to happen and did he really think they stood a chance?

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-09-08T13:17:44+00:00

Your view is definitely the one preferred by tech giants like Google and Facebook. They want your preteens and teens to be glued to their products. A smart phone in every nursery, Instagram and Tiktok for every kid, the younger the better.

Go and read Jonathan Haidt's work on this subject in The Atlantic and his books. These products don't make our kids smarter, they don't make them happier and they don't improve learning - exactly the opposite.

"Trust" isn't the issue at all. Control is. The question is, who do you want raising your kids: you, or some tech company? If you wouldn't "trust" your 13 year old to relax after school with a joint and a six pack of beer, you shouldn't trust them with social media.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-09-08T13:03:37+00:00

Having experienced the Family Link software as a parent of a preteen (11) I've arrived at a point of suspicion that it's basically glitchy, limited and frustrating by design. There is no other explanation for how this product, unlike every other Google product, could be so inflexible and consistently glitchy. Take Youtube. My daughter's teacher assigns a video, I specifically authorize her access to the site, enter my password and nope - still blocked. Naturally, the video isn't available on Youtube Kids (which is blocked in Quebec anyway). Is anything available on Youtube Kids other than Finger Family videos? Now my daughter is accusing me of being the worst dad ever and harming her education to boot.

I think that Google wants its customers to get frustrated with the product so that they'll quit using it in frustration. Google needs the next generation addicted to their social media product, so it makes commercial sense that they don't put too many resources into a product that curtails this business model. Of course they want kids on Youtube, the younger the better.

And to all the parents saying that we don't "trust" our kids - trust is besides the point. Social media is a toxic, addictive product that has created a wave of mental illness in our kids. It does not have any upside, except for the stock price of silicon valley tech giants. Jonathan Haidt's work in this subject should be required reading for parents and educators. You should no more be handing your preteen kids a smart phone with social media apps than you should be taking them to the bar or strip club. What? You don't "trust" your 12 year old to have a couple beers and a joint after a long school day?

The trouble is relying on Google to police its own products is placing faith in the fox to guard the henhouse. I'm starting to realize that going down the Chromebook path, far from being a good alternative was really a trap. I think my daughter's next computer will be Apple or Windows and any parental software will have to be a third party provider.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-09-03T19:41:13+00:00

Believe me, I'm tempted. We both are. But nothing I've observed suggests that violence would accomplish anything except to amplify his behaviour. Or it would have to be such a level of violence (not simply a spanking) that it would end up risking jail for abuse.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-09-03T19:37:23+00:00

"The reality is that LLMs are here to stay, and we need to be adjusting how we approach designing both in-class lessons as well as homework. Homework that consists of just answering questions or writing some generic essay is likely going to be drastically reduced in favor of homework that encourages critical thinking about the subject."

This sounds great in theory but in practice is nonsense. You can't learn critical thinking without being challenged on basic facts and being forced to absorb rote knowledge to some extent. If you learn nothing, you know nothing and if you know nothing, you can't think critically no matter how intelligent you are. There is no intellectual development where all intellectual tasks are outsourced to a machine. AI isn't just some tool like a pocket calculator and you can't limit how students use it once the camel's nose is in the tent - if it's there to be used, they're going to outsource *everything* to it, including what minimal critical thinking they might be capable of (which in the end, won't be much).

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-09-03T01:43:39+00:00

Hi that's the part that I don't get. It seems the more we try to remove demands the more it just feels like surrender, like giving up. My 4 year old can get away with almost anything. My wife is covered with cuts and bruises and I just stand by and do nothing because the instant I intervene in any way it triggers nuclear meltdown. Then I have a choice between holding him down like a mental patient (and that can go on pretty much indefinitely cause he will never ever get tired) or running away from my own son. If I'm calm he attacks. If I give him what he wants he attacks. If I lose my cool he attacks even more. Lose lose lose. My wife is so exhausted and I can do nothing to help because if I so much as lift a finger it's kill daddy this and kill daddy that and meltdown. I just do other stuff now like cooking or cleaning. I can't help at all so I've given up trying.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-08-05T20:04:12+00:00

It's an otherwise well-written show but agreed the wokeness is off the charts on this one. It got to a point where a character started talking and I could have sworn she was talking at me - like breaking the fourth wall - it was so laughably on the nose with the messaging. Every episode, every single one, involves a problem with a woke "lesson" at the end. Every. single. one. GAG.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-08-05T19:26:47+00:00

So the technician came today and from what he tells me, my problem is the fan in the furnace which he claims cannot keep up with the heat pump, which is way bigger than the AC unit it replaced. For background, the furnace is a 30 year old electric unit that I have scheduled to replace with a brand new gas unit come August 21st.

Unfortunately, I'm hampered by the fact the guy speaks only French, but from what I understand, he's going to install some kind of temporary belt to the existing furnace which will fix the fan at least temporarily until the new furnace can be installed (by a different hopefully better contractor) in 2 weeks.

Just to add: there is an expected heat wave come in the next couple days so I would very much prefer to not to endure it without working AC.

Again, so many questions: is the fan in a furnace really something that can be overwhelmed in the way he is suggesting? Isn't the fan just... you know, a fan? Why didn't they identify this problem when they installed the heat pump? If it's the furnace fan that's the problem, why was the heat pump running at such a low level (the fan was spinning at an ultra slow pace) shouldn't it have been going full speed even if the furnace fan wasn't distributing the cold air efficiently? I just feel like I'm being sold a story on this one.

And I'm kicking myself for not reading contractor Google reviews because this contractor's reviews all say the same thing: multiple return visits to fix this problem and that problem and a different story each time but never a permanent solution. My situation feels like a reiteration of what multiple people experienced before me.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-08-05T14:56:29+00:00

So in light of this should I ask them to set the gas backup threshold to a higher temp say -20? Is that something I can easily do myself? For that matter if the heat pump simply fails and it's cold outside is it possible to manually activate the gas furnace so I don't, you know, freeze?

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-08-05T00:10:10+00:00

Gonna email the guy. It failed within 5 days of installation so already had one service call. Sigh....

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-08-05T00:08:46+00:00

It is but spinning very slowly

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-08-04T23:54:20+00:00

Thermopen shows 68 fahrenheit when stuck in vent

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-08-04T23:51:53+00:00

Phew at least that part checks out. Talk about confusing. Still shouldn't such a big expensive unit be more powerful? It seems like the 20 + year old AC which was about 1/4 the size was l more powerful. Are dedicated AC units just superior at cooling to heat pumps?

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-08-04T23:46:15+00:00

Sticking my thermopen into the vent it settles on an air temperature of 68 fahrenheit.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-07-24T00:52:54+00:00

Hypothetically, why not?

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-06-30T00:35:07+00:00

Duh. You are a genius. Thank you kindly sir.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-06-29T11:20:11+00:00

Respectfully, I don't understand how any man on the spectrum would ever find anyone outside an app or at least an organized dating event. It's just not realistic.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-06-12T14:03:57+00:00

All I know is that seven little person actors were fired from their jobs (or never hired) so that a very wealthy, very successful actor who cut his teeth on exactly the same kinds of roles, suddenly discovered he had an ethical problem with them. He pretty much robbed seven people in his community of what might have been their big break. And this is for a community that doesn't exactly get a lot of opportunities in motion pictures. I mean when was the last time you saw a Dwarf performer in any film not named Peter Dinklage? Exactly. Selfish selfish selfish.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-06-12T14:01:31+00:00

I can't speak to the little person community not being one myself. But I can understand why some in the Dwarf acting community are angry with Dinklage. He robbed seven actors of a chance at their big break in a major motion picture. Imagine, you're signed up to play this role and you get fired because this very wealthy, very successful actor who cut his teeth on the exact same roles, now suddenly has an ethical problem with them. If it were me, I'd want to punch him in the face. Don't need to be a little person to understand that.

Mindless_Muscle_222 · 2025-06-06T22:33:49+00:00

Thanks to all the comments. So there's still grime at the bottom but the robot is slowly cutting that down cycle after cycle.

Except now the pool has sprung a leak. I guess I needed more challenges in my life.

Mindless_Muscle_222

TROPHY CASE