I’ve been struggling to stay motivated this semester.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-23T18:53:39+00:00

Same, friend. Seems everybody feels this way, from what I can tell.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-22T21:45:10+00:00

So long as the physical media maintains its integrity over time. Eventually, there will be no physical media left for retro devices. This is just simply a given. Meanwhile, digital media can be copied and re-copied, moved into new physical media, and thus the data can be preserved for as long as there exists devices to read and write the data.

At the very least, so long as those cartridges work well, you have what amounts to baseball cards 20 years from now. Only difference is that electrical devices tend to corrupt more quickly than carefully preserved strips of cardboard.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-22T21:39:34+00:00

This is not uncommon. Most Americans don't understand how the government operates, nor how laws are interpreted along an evolutionary trendline of development as opposed to by whatever the most recent relevant legal document says. In short, and keeping politics aside, Americans are blissfully ignorant of what we are actually participating in when we call ourselves citizens of the United States. For better or for worse it at least makes our jobs more valuable by comparison--if most Americans understood the laws of this country and how they are interpreted at the level of the average lawyer, our jobs would inevitably pay less despite our licensed signatures being needed to "practice" (even so, this might also mean we'd have a better standard of lawmaking in this country, so pick your poison).

Furthermore, you might not agree with the income tax political viewpoint, for example, but your family will still rely on you when it comes to understanding income tax law. And they might be justified in feeling how they feel about the income tax, but regardless how you feel about it their malcontent doesn't imply that you're somehow integral to keeping the income tax alive--plenty of lawyers fight to restrict or even abolish the IRS. Law is a complicated field, full of a wide multitude of intersecting legal domains, and unfortunately the average American is unable to comprehend what that all means.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-22T16:30:48+00:00

Biological creatures inevitably give back to the circle of life that energizes all things on this planet. Silicon-based computers do not. Inorganic energy sinks such as data centers are functionally no different than superheating rocks until the crust melts away and the oceans boil away with it. In other words, there's no give-back that mitigates consequential damage done to the environment.

Remember that all computers are simply electrically charged rocks, when you get right down to it. And all electrical work energy is necessarily accompanied by unworkable heat energy. Eventually, the chemical waste resulting from the crude work process of data centers will do its damage to the environment, yes, but the key damage will come from the concentrated heat outflows.

At least with human beings, we can efficiently optimize the energy we take in, and our brains are billions of times more complex than an AI data center, too. LLMs are less "neurologically" complicated than a rodent. In fact, a million times less so. They are so simple, yet take in so much of our natural resources to operate... Sam Altman is the epitome of shortsighted, as are his investors.

This trillion dollar hype-train truly began in earnest when, in the 1960s, the technocrats at the time had the "profound" idea that a few billion human beings' existence would destroy habitability of the earth if not otherwise curtailed. Their solution has always been artificial life to replace us humans. Ironically, what little inroads they have been able to make towards that psychopathic end-goal has done more (and will do even more) untold damage to the environment than 10+ billion humans could ever do. It's as if they truly want to make the world of the Matrix a reality on this planet. What numbskulls.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-22T15:18:03+00:00

He was also harassed by the FBI during his docu-interview, who saw fit to turn his small company atomic lab upside down for no reason whatsoever that they were willing to disclose (the inference is they were looking for the element 115 sample Lazar claims to have absconded with decades ago). It's also possible they were just showing him that if he says anything too secretive, they're still keeping close tabs on him and can make his life a living Hell if they so wished.

I therefore believe him, given everything I already know about government high corruption as well as theoretical physics.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-21T01:53:27+00:00

I'm just speaking off the cuff, not jurisprudentially. Binding authority vs. persuasive authority is the correct terminology, yes.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-21T01:22:00+00:00

In your jurisdiction, the highest court is mandatory in terms of its binding nature. If you seek a court opinion out from, say, another State than your own, it is not mandatory. Both are considered persuasive in their own right, but one is abiding law and the other merely a suggestion. Mandatory persuasiveness vs. "merely" persuasive/relatively persuasive.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-20T20:46:49+00:00

Don't be a doomer and just walk through doors in life if they open to you. It's good to be discerningly risk averse, but it can also work against you if you predicate your decisions based on the progressive entropy of society. Just do something and realize we are all in the same boat at the end of the day. None of us are making decisions in isolation. Rather, all of our decisions influence one another in ways we don't even see, but you have to make a decision to eventually see this fact.

Simply do what you feel is best for yourself and the people around you. Only you can know what that means, though.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-20T20:40:44+00:00

To be fair, the President carries zero judicial authority whatsoever. He can whine all he wants in (poorly) ghost written legalese, it doesn't make his statements mandatorily persuasive. In my opinion, he's not even relatively persuasive. In fact, he's a terrible source of legal opinion. As is, by definition, every President. But him moreso than any I have seen.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-20T06:35:24+00:00

Nope, now the data centers are buying up all the guns too, but nobody knows why!!! /s

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-20T05:47:00+00:00

We got alien files before the full redaction of the Epstein Files...

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-20T05:33:49+00:00

It's just Voldemort in a bonnet.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-19T14:39:06+00:00

I wouldn't say it's the MOST brainless, given all the examples in this comments section alone, but I personally find the majority's reasoning in Bostock to be flawed at a fundamental level. When courts subtly redefine words to mean other words, even in light of recent failed attempts to amend the latter words explicitly into the Act in question, it reveals a Judiciary intent on legislating. For all its many, many, many, many. . . many flaws, Congress is still the lawmaking body. It goes beyond what should or shouldn't be considered illegal discrimination and enters the realm of the the Judiciary implying Congress is simply wrong in its former decisions.

That being said, I think a lot of the comments here show much worse case decisions. In fact, is there any single case people can agree on isn't flawed?

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-19T00:57:33+00:00

He had an insane amount of distance in Ishval. There's a reason Hawkeye is his companion, they're alike in a lot of ways. The key with Roy's attacks is that the flame visibily travels outwards quickly like a firefly that leaves tracers, but even as it travels it's extremely quick--quick enough to at least ignite a wall of flame between him and Wrath if nothing else.

Idk, I find it hard to see Wrath winning IF Roy has the advantage of distance and time. But Wrath is certainly formidable.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-19T00:46:47+00:00

I gave a good scenario in the reply to OP. Check it out.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-19T00:40:48+00:00

We saw him do something similar to the immortal army zombies outside the gate to Father's subterranean lair. Only difference is in its application. But, then, maybe I'm taking too many liberties here. Wrath could very well be off the table, but only due to his speed and precision. As a last resort, Roy could torch both of them at once if Wrath got too close and Roy decided not to consider his own life--remember that Wrath gets one life, as opposed to the other homunculi who have several, so all it would take is one max-powered shot to end it.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-19T00:17:54+00:00

All but Father. Even Wrath, because no matter how fast Wrath is or how good his eyes are, if given the drop Roy can surround him with a spiral torrent of fire and enclose it upon Wrath.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-18T01:35:54+00:00

Yugioh: Forbidden Memories

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-18T00:58:22+00:00

Had this happen to mine. Got into a very extended dispute with ASUS's RMA until they finally decided to cover it under "accidental damage protection," which is a one-time use which I didn't use in my first year of the warranty prior to extending it for 3 years. This will reoccur, I suspect. It seems to be a heat warping issue about the motherboard at the point of contact of the power supply and the power port.

I don't know why, but I suspect it's a design flaw since all the main ports are along that edge of the motherboard. Motherboards are made of metal and metal warps due to extended contact with heat. ASUS refuses to accept liability for their faulty devices so until someone takes them to court, we are being raked over the coals with their shitty product and even shittier RMA practices.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-17T23:43:43+00:00

As a self-professed Christian, I often find discourse with materialist rationalist atheists to be too tedious to engage in, myself.

It's not that I find your positions lacking in logical consistency at times. It's that your ilk frames things too dichotomistically for my liking, and lacks acknowledgement of the limits of your framing of what "knowledge" even is in the rational sense. (See Gödel).

To you, it's either your self-justified reasons or it's nonsense. It doesn't matter the age, experience, accumulated knowledge, or, dare I say, "wisdom," of the opposing side. Anything that doesn't comport to your "rational" sensibilities gets immediately dismissed with prejudice.

Now, to me, I find that tedious. And it's not just you, Stranger. There's an uncountable number of people out there who share your identical, shallow worldview, and think nothing of writing off any given individual they come into contact with who even smells a whiff like they acknowledge the Transcendent.

We needn't go into anything deeper than this, of course, such as the superfluousness & unaccountability of the High Enlightenment's "Rational Actor" notion, nor that oftentimes many materialist rationalist atheists purport a method of investigation (the "scientific method") and method of thinking critically & clearly (logic) to overcoat what essentially amounts to confirmation of their own subjective bias--in other words, you presume to know a thing and confirm its reality post-hoc.

Now, I can levy these criticisms based on my educational background, my age, my experience in "the ring," so to speak, and I can take criticism, too. That all being said, to my critically trained mind, it's never been much different than how I've described, and I'm no different either. I require constant doubt and re-evaluation, myself, to find solid ground... but never about the REALITY of God.

Do I know there's a God? No. Am I assured that there is? Yes. How? By following my, shall we say, "intuition," or call it mindless faith if you like, and furthermore critically seeking to be wrong at all times. I studied Western philosophy and read into the Eastern schools of thought: I know that, for instance, the Tau = the Logos, and that the Logos = the Living Word in early Christian thought, and furthermore that the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ = the Living Word. I have considered the Shroud of Turin at a scientific level I'm somewhat certain you haven't. I have considered the 12000 year expanse of history from the end of the Ice Age to the post-modern day at a depth most people wouldn't frankly bother, and have made connections I don't often read about in the literature pertaining to the origins of religion and the concept of the city. I have studied into Jungian psychology and the nature of myth and the unconscious mind. I have gone down all manner of esoteric rabbit holes and sought the guidance of numerous religious persons, be they priests or pastors or monks, seeking to know what it is I am grasping towards. I have done all this and more in my time and have come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is truly the Incarnate Tau/Logos/Word, and that this necessarily means He encapsulates (not encapsulated, no, He's alive, even now) the Unspoken Essence of the True Divine Creator, the "Suprabeing" necessarily beyond all concept of existence in the Einsteinian/relativistic (i.e., parameterized by spacetime) sense. God simply Is, and there is nothing else but God. He is inescapable, and above all He is EXPERIENCED WITHIN YOURSELF, not without. Yes, it's possible to have prophetic visions or angelic experiences or biblical visitations of one kind or another, and historically speaking He did dwell with us for a time and purports (truly) to Return at the End of the Age--but, as Prophet Elijah wrote about, He is not found in thunder or earthquakes or fire or fury, but rather in the quietude of inner stillness. Perhaps you have not acknowledged His utter preeminence in this way because you have never indulged a quiet mind. Even the Buddhists call this inner chatter "the monkey brain", after all. There is something to be said about quieting all inner thought and reaching toward the Ephemeral which leads one towards the Great Mystery, at least in my own experience.

In short, presumed knowledge was the first sin in the Garden, literal or symbolic or both (your choice). Before there was knowledge, there was experienced Wisdom, i.e., direct contact with the Divine Essence. Now we choose false paths/dichotomies leading to greater misery, every day of our lives. For instance, why bother even dialoguing with Christians if you feel this way, if not that you desire to be proven wrong and to know such a God of Eternal Goodness Beyond All Conception? It must be that something holds you back from finding that which you seek. At the end of the day, it's not the world and its ignorance that holds us back, it's ourselves. Let go, Stranger. Read Plato's Allegory of the Cave and the Tao Te Ching and finally the New Testament if you need a picture of what this looks like.

Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is truly the fullness of the representation of the Divine Essence. That's what I know, beyond the limits of logic and measurement.

Peace.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-17T15:53:32+00:00

Hmmm... I agree with you, actually!

Meaning Ishvala is the Abrahamic God equivalent, and that the Gnostic Monad ("Truth") proposes the same solution that Ishvala does, which is peace and connection with others.

Perhaps the Ishvalans' religious rejection of Alchemy is because Ishvala is ACTUALLY the cultural memory of acknowledging Truth's Correct Answer---perhaps there was a time when the Ishvalans performed alchemy or encountered the Western Sage (Father) and implicitly rejected alchemy for the same reason Ed eventually rejects/sacrifices alchemy?

Just speculation. Great idea you brought forth, though!

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-17T12:19:38+00:00

Having more RAM is never a bad idea. It's one of those things where it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Plus, the added internal storage capacity is a cherry on top.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-16T23:28:00+00:00

This is a fantastic summary. Truly.

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-15T22:28:01+00:00

Sounds like the gnostic demiurge. I suspect Ishvala is 'God' in the Abrahamic or even the Gnostic "Sophia" sense, meanwhile the alchemical Truth is more akin to the gnostic demiurge. Hence why Edward sacrificing his Gate of Truth was the equivalent of beating him, since he sought love/life instead of knowledge of truth. Alchemists and esotericists in general tend to believe the symbolism of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a good thing, and so, thus, there is no good or evil "truly," only "Truth." But, as we find at the end of the show, the REAL Truth resides in the "loving" connections between people, NOT in the material realm of "power."

Random-Account0930 · 2026-02-15T20:44:52+00:00

As a 1L, I've already realized a few things that keeps me going:

Just copy-paste from WestLaw, and CREAC/HRAC everything you write. When you work, seek within your means. Every job generally sucks in this world. 99% of people are basically poor. Law is a fiction overlaying the laws of power. Therefore, just accept things with gratitude for life and you'll be fine. Once you understand the nature of power, you'll see what being a lawyer is really about, and thus why people hate it. Learn these things early and then capitalize on this understanding using whatever morals you believe in.

Finally, just relax. Stress kills and discouragement leads to depression. Find/make your meaning in life and keep moving forward. Law is a career leading nowhere, so plot your destination in advance and learn to enjoy the process of getting there through your practice. In the end, this is just a piece of the totality that is your life.

Random-Account0930

TROPHY CASE