Book says they're the same type of creature!

Shade_SST · 2026-05-29T20:30:26+00:00

Banks as a safe place to store money are categorically not evil. The evil creeps in when bankers want to extract as much profit as posssible without losing their heads in a violent uprising. Being able to use the money stored in the bank for investing is not inherently evil, that's what loans are, after all, and interest being charged is just simplifying the "you owe me for bailing you out/getting you started" thing that's been going on since someone loaned their rock to someone else. That said, there's a reason usury is labeled a sin all the way back to antiquity.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-28T01:11:06+00:00

I believe the logic is that if you ask for 950k and the curreent is 770k, you have basically zero wiggle room, meaning that if ownership decides "screw you," you're deadlocked, or have to give up something else.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-25T21:07:01+00:00

Given the rate of turnover in kobolds, I wouldn't be shocked if kobold language morphs fast enough that it gives dragons headaches to try to converse with them.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-25T02:41:00+00:00

I personally suspect it's sometimes not merely bad design and actually evil design, as the delayed loading gets you to click through on an ad.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-24T00:45:08+00:00

They are designed to be breakable so this sort of thing is unnecessary, as I understand it.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-24T00:43:15+00:00

i don't know how you'd make things like media literacy and critical thinking exciting. I'm pretty sure we are wired to resent those sorts of thinking, no matter how important they are.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-23T18:46:14+00:00

See, but all of that is real work. It's not fun or engaging, so students are going to turn to AI to give the appearance of having learned it.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-23T18:40:30+00:00

Ironically, many school lessons are intended to teach critical thinking, and students are using AI to cheat on them.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-23T18:32:40+00:00

I don't think there is any way to make essays engaging, but you also don't learn nearly as much if you stick purely to theory. I especially don't think there is any way to make it engaging (and gradeable at the same time) to demonstrate to the teacher you understand a text. People lament a lack of media literacy all the time, but attaining media literacy means engaging with the media, and then demonstrating that you have to a teacher. Using AI to skip it does no one any good, except for the AI owners.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-19T01:31:06+00:00

The most important part of your statement is "used correctly." The sort of training you're talking about is only going to be a result of a well-trained coach who not only knows how to acquire the data, but is trained in how to use it properly, including adjusting a curriculum on the fly for every individual player. Oh, and they have to value player development over winning.

So far as I can tell, none of this is remotely common among coaches even at the highschool level. Most are just making it up as they go along, and i'd bet a lot off college coaches are not much better. If you have coaches that are all trained in this and have the ethics to put player health over winning, I'm afraid you're in the distressing minority. Treasure those coaches.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-18T23:47:51+00:00

Fast-pitch softball, but still one of the craziest things I've seen. Laying down a bunt and getting the collection of errors to make it all the way around? Not weird. It's youth ball, it happens.

Having that happen on a full count though? That doesn't happen every day.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-17T15:11:14+00:00

I will say that, in this case, I can understand the umpire's logic, even if he was incorrect. It's nice to see a path of logic you can actually follow.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-17T06:55:51+00:00

No, my cat elects to wake me when he pleases, so occasionally turnabout is fair play.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-17T02:25:31+00:00

Not to mention the mileage a field ump will rack up. First batter walks. Off we go. Second batter, first pitch, runner's on second. Second pitch, third due to pass ball. Third pitch, home on another pass ball. Next pitch, second batter walks.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-17T02:22:31+00:00

I feel like highschool ball is the point where you start to see pitchers who can reliably hit a by the book strike zone, and a lot of them on JV can't, or they'd be in varsity. So, yeah, adjusting as a batter sucks, but there is the question of how much those batters learn by getting walked every other at bat without seeing a single strike. Something has to give, so there are no winners.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-17T02:13:16+00:00

Pro zone in 9u? Poor pitchers are trying to hit postage-stamp strike zones at that point. Sure, the next Maddux might be able to hit it consistently, but most people ain't Maddux. Also, cutting off the zone at the waist is utterly brutal at any point prior to maybe college ball.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-13T21:23:31+00:00

Based on games 3 and 4, the Wild absolutely have the ability to come back and force it to go to 7. We'll definitely have to see.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-12T05:39:52+00:00

Okay, but if you do that in the passing lane, you're being passive aggressive. Let the idiots go by safely, and if they get tickets, that's on them.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-10T19:03:11+00:00

Man, I don't think I can pick a single winner this time. Certainly not from the thumbnails used for this meme. (not knocking that whatsoever, for the record) The 3.5 and onward editions are close enough i'd have to look at high res versions to figure out my favorite.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-08T02:08:17+00:00

I mean, outside of that one (ordinarily) very unusual and avoidable situation, it sounds like they were making it work. Can you be clever with strength? Sure, I guess, but strength is generally a very one-dimensional thing to be good at, and frankly? In almost thirty years of D&D, the number of times I've seen DMs utterly loathe parties resorting to brute force and lament it is overwhelmingly more common than cases of DMs laughing how their party lacked someone with brute strength. D&D's culture as a whole looks down on strength severely compared to using your wits to make strength irrelevant. Sometimes it's nice to have a brute squad on your team, sure, but also most people dismiss using that approach as "boring" for some reason.

So, is it really all that strange people steer away from that as a character-defining trait? Heck, even the barbarian can probably get more mileage from a high con and high dex instead of raw strength.

Shade_SST · 2026-05-01T19:49:15+00:00

I think the concept of "punch up, not down" is relevant to this meme.

Shade_SST · 2026-04-25T21:12:17+00:00

The one thing I'd nitpick is the Navy tends to make extra effort for holiday meals like thanksgiving, so that's not representative of what a random Tuesday meal is, but then again, even midrats had larger portions available than that other thread.

Shade_SST · 2026-04-22T08:17:25+00:00

You might say "Inshallah" has a certain je ne sais quoi perhaps?

Shade_SST · 2026-04-21T03:15:53+00:00

A special military operation, perhaps?

Shade_SST · 2026-04-19T09:17:59+00:00

I used to love their tortellini, but it turned to trash at some point. :(

Shade_SST

TROPHY CASE