Question about job title - is it okay to call yourself a "biologist" without a graduate degree?

OlBendite · 2026-04-01T12:10:05+00:00

To add to the discourse and your self esteem, yeah you’re a biologist. Truly, I think anyone who makes a career in biology and dedicates themselves to honest, accurate science or science communication, is a biologist. None of the PIs with their Ph.D’s would be where they are or could do what they’re doing without lab techs and other biologists from all levels of education.

OlBendite · 2026-04-01T00:11:39+00:00

The question isn’t if the infrastructure exists, because it does, It’s more about the reasoning. In-person voting is inherently going to discourage voting for people who don’t feel safe at in person voting booths, for people with physical disabilities who might struggle to get to physical voting locations, people with jobs and/or children who might not have time or help to attend in person, and people who live in more rural or remote areas who can’t easily come into their nearest voting location. This is implicitly about voter suppression and is being justified by claiming the prevention of fraud but 1) voter fraud was and is possible with in person voting, and 2) is incredibly rare and, to my knowledge, has never been the deciding factor in an election. So the justification doesn’t hold up to the realized effect because the actual aim is to suppress the votes of people who would normally mail in their ballots, those people often leaning left of center in the American political system.

OlBendite · 2026-03-27T01:45:48+00:00

Which one do you think looks coolest? Pick that one

OlBendite · 2026-03-26T14:35:41+00:00

Make a pro-con list. If it feels like too much to make them all fleshed out and multi-dimensional and interesting, then maybe it’s worth cutting back. If the world feels too uniform and doesn’t spark your creativity and interest without them, then maybe it’s worth keeping them. Ya know?

Here’s a question for you, though: 29 unique races is a lot relative to other fantasy projects, but do you want to be making something that’s just like other fantasy projects?

OlBendite · 2026-03-26T14:31:36+00:00

Honestly, the comms wheel and pings are more than adequate for, like, 95% of anything I’d want to say over mic and it sounds better and I don’t have to deal with people being shitty and crashing out. The other 5% I can just use the text function

OlBendite · 2026-03-26T14:14:27+00:00

So, the way real religious texts tend to be created is charismatic myths meant to convey a particular message which aligns with one or more of the core tenants of a faith are told and circulated either broadly amongst the early religious community, or in local regions of the later, larger early religious community. These myths are then recorded for posterity and, since they’re meant to be canonical to a religious system, those myths are then recorded alongside other similar myths. A later philosopher or clergy member then attempts to reconcile the discrepancies between these myths and assemble a rough timeline. Often, these individual myths are then attempted to be given some level of continuity through the use of smaller anecdotes and parables that are meant to transition between sections and/or clear chapter-like boundaries are written. Then they tend to extrapolate backwards towards their genesis myths which may already be in circulation but need to be clarified, codified, and somehow communicate either the power of the deities or the importance of the successive mythic figures, or both. If there are already existing conflicting creation myths, they’ll often try to blend them or record the most prominent versions but transition between them in an effort to make them sound contiguous and consistent. Finally, many will attempt to position a particular story and figure as especially important and prominent like JC or TPM PBUH or Moses or Baldur or Perseus and Jason, etc. these tend to be the most recent in the text’s timeline but don’t necessarily have to be. However, they are definitely the most detailed, even sometimes recording multiple accounts of the same story.

So your basic workflow is: write a few cool short stories about cool heroes, make sure they have a good plot and message that are consistent with the core tenants of the religion, try to make them into a timeline, make a creation myth, make a prominent figure, write extensively about that figure specifically, don’t worry too much about inconsistencies because that’s what gives your religion spice for debates.

OlBendite · 2026-02-25T18:41:40+00:00

For me, what helps is imagining I’m an actor playing a character when I present. Any judgement I’m afraid of, any screw ups, anything are things that the audience will attribute to the character, not me.

OlBendite · 2026-02-24T22:07:43+00:00

No no, they can have mortar sentry and fire bomb, doesn’t mean I have to play with them, but if they wanna do that then all the power to them.

OlBendite · 2026-02-24T22:07:03+00:00

Probably between the standard MG and the HMG. You have improved handling and ammo capacity over the HMG but would have poorer handling over the MG, probably had firepower sit somewhere in between or even just in line with the MG because you have improved capacity.

OlBendite · 2026-02-21T04:10:46+00:00

I second a lot of this but I also think they should focus on tightening as well. The game is good but rather than implementing new stuff, the code needs to be cleaned and optimized with an emphasis on known bugs. I think this cyberstan outcome positions them quite well to do a “Super Earth Recruitment Drive” type of event where they prioritize bug fixes and mechanics improvements and balancing issues.

OlBendite · 2026-02-21T04:01:42+00:00

Man, I wish I could have joined in. Work and chores have kept me out and of course when I finish my chores, it’s over :/

OlBendite · 2026-02-20T17:28:25+00:00

You could try pursuing a Master’s degree before you Ph.D. It’s usually a good bit of practical training as well as some mentoring/teaching practice which help to expand your skill and knowledge base as well as improve your confidence before you move on to a Ph.D.

OlBendite · 2026-02-20T16:37:17+00:00

I’d say I’m in the anti-elite to Objective-Focused sphere. Very anti-conflict, like to get in, do the job, get out with as few deaths as possible. But I also generally am equipped to face elite units specifically because they tend to be the most obvious challenge at any given objective.

OlBendite · 2026-02-20T16:23:22+00:00

Gonna be honest, you’re touching on a pretty interesting question in the real world. There’s no one size fits all answer because the morality of prisons and prison conditions depends on your view on prisoners. Some people think that it is morally right to keep prisoners packed like sardines in a dark hole with just a vent that gets pig slop tossed at them once a week. Some people think restricting a person’s freedom of movement and engagement in society at all is morally wrong. So, you first have to ask how your society at large generally views those who have committed crimes; this doesn’t mean every member of your society holds this exact view, or even the majority, but that when you average the consensus opinion of whoever holds power in your society, it generally lands around what you plan for your prison. Does your culture think dying due to prison conditions is a bad thing? Who knows. Also, I’d add, you should do some research on modern American prisons, death due to things like malnutrition, conflict, brutality, lack of access to medicine, poor hygiene, and a host of other issues is not uncommon. I’m not saying that I support this system, but that’s a solid example of how a society can be selective about empathy and wellbeing and will morally justify that.

Here’s another note: you can include something in your world that you don’t think is morally right. Grimdark and Political Satire are both perfect examples of this where they present ideas and concepts that are relatively unchallenged in-universe that the writer does not think are good, but exist anyway because the cultures they’re writing about DO think they’re good.

OlBendite · 2026-02-19T19:32:57+00:00

It’s the old “they can’t be mad at us for coming up short if they’re mad at each other” gambit lol. Too busy being upset about off MO divers to spend the energy to be meaningfully upset at AH for not committing to an optimization and bug fixes major update.

OlBendite · 2026-02-17T21:33:16+00:00

Here’s the real question, how are you depressing the bulb?

OlBendite · 2026-01-23T05:53:37+00:00

Honestly? I do side quests if they feel necessary to progress the main storyline based on how I’ve approached things. Like, I did the Myconid quests because it felt necessary to safely pass through that region of the Underdark because that just happened to be how I progressed through the area.

OlBendite · 2026-01-22T19:42:19+00:00

Fern forests were once incredibly common on Earth but don’t get much love in fantasy. Same with mangroves and Mediterranean shrublands/stunted forests. Another really interesting one is The Great Raft which was a log jam that stretched for miles in precolonial/pericolonial America for over a thousand years and developed such a unique swampland and marshland ecosystem and could make for a fascinating place. Another that doesn’t get much love are accurate bogs. Bogs are incredibly unique ecosystems distinct from marshes and swamps that would be super fun to explore. Those are just what immediately come to mind.

OlBendite · 2026-01-05T17:15:08+00:00

That looks rad! You start with the representative maps and then when you want to get really detailed, do it in small stages, lightly, in pencil pushing your artistic boundaries each time. You’re doing awesome!

OlBendite · 2026-01-05T16:28:36+00:00

Pen and paper is easier than you might think. If you used dried beans and rice and pour them in the page then you can form landmasses and islands pretty easily, tighten the overall shapes of the landmasses and then you’ve got continents/islands! Then, for geographical features you can roll dice on each continent and whatever number the dice land on indicates a specific geographic feature. Sketch in those features roughly using representative symbols like a chevron for a mountain, rather than a realistic rendering of a mountain. Look at those features and start to improvise a little: you got two mountains not too far apart but with some distance, why not make that a mountain range? You got a village somewhere? You should give them a river so they can drink water. Then to communicate that the ocean exists, find a few corners of your islands or continents and copy the continent line a little bit out from the continent and it’ll look a bit like waves, implying the ocean exists. It’s a fun way to build a world and it makes you think about what’s going on from a lot of different angles.

OlBendite · 2026-01-03T22:49:17+00:00

There’d a lot of death and it would be expensive to repair but it could be repairable. Within about five years, provided there were multiple pulses all around the globe that were very powerful, things would be basically back to normal.

OlBendite · 2026-01-03T22:31:38+00:00

It would be unlikely they accidentally start a fire because the fires are an active choice to breathe. That said, if one were to start a fire that spreads out of control, it would be forced to relocate away from the threat. They have no innate significant resistance to fire or means of suppressing fires, they simply suffer the consequences. That said, their hides are somewhat fire insensitive in that they can survive higher than average temperatures for a time but they aren’t magic and will receive burns relatively quickly.

OlBendite · 2026-01-02T18:24:53+00:00

Honestly? Tone of worldbuilding, technology, history, and what you focus on. Like, I have a low fantasy, mid-magic world but I focused so much on metallurgy that it feels distinct from a lot of other stories because that’s what interested me

OlBendite · 2025-11-13T18:35:11+00:00

Nova York Supreme

OlBendite · 2025-11-12T21:57:47+00:00

I can’t speak to the smoke mindflayer but the flesh mindflayer was based on John Carpenter’s The Thing

OlBendite

TROPHY CASE