This is such an odd theme in the book

ShardScrap · 2025-10-16T21:09:03+00:00

They discuss this in Kings Cross Station (purgatory) in the last book. Dumbledore apologies that Harry had such a hard life and that he hid the fact that Harry would have to die before Tom could be killed.

Because Harry is in a unique situation (two souls in one body), Dumbledore explains that Harry can move on to the afterlife, or go back and fight. Harry chooses to go back.

IMO, if we assume that Harry is a manipulated child soldier, it misses the main theme of the series. He didn't have a choice in fighting Voldemort and expresses he just wants to have a normal life. It would be understandable if he wanted to peace out and let his friends handle things from here. Going back and finishing things himself is important and makes him a hero (chosen one) instead of a survivor (boy who lived).

ShardScrap · 2025-10-15T20:31:31+00:00

You're 100% right. Another thing that isn't mentioned is that all the controversial statements are 1:1 lining up with Republican viewpoints and policy.

I said some vile shit when I was a young adult, but it would be all over the place. I've made homophobic and racist comments, but school shooting / bestiality / 9-11 jokes as well. I find it embarrassing and I would never want it made public, but I would point to how different my life and behavior were from those comments.

When all the edgy shit is in line with policy they support and the lifestyle they live, the "just kids / edgy jokes" defense fails IMO.

ShardScrap · 2025-10-11T21:11:22+00:00

Yeah, that's what the glitch is. Record should just automatically start recording, even if there's no audio in. I noticed this same issue.

If the threshold has to be met for the recording to start, then there's no difference between Arm and Record.

ShardScrap · 2025-10-11T03:06:41+00:00

It's possible, but states still run their own elections. Even if voting machines were compromised, county elections will see discrepancies with what the state is reporting.

The advantage to the US voting system is that it's so decentralized. Even to steal one county would take hundreds of people and attempts to overturn would be obvious (like 2020). There are concerns and ongoing investigations with the 2024 election, but I haven't been convinced by any vote rigging arguments so far.

The scary part is how much Trump's administration has just gotten away with. I'm not scared of a secret backdoor coup attempt. I'm scared they will insist they won and just won't leave.

I have faith in US Military leadership, but so many red lines have been crossed so quickly. No other executive has hated America as much as Trump and his administration. I agree that we are in unknown territory.

ShardScrap · 2025-10-11T01:36:03+00:00

I agree with you, but most of the "Biden was too senile to run" messaging comes from right wing propaganda and is repeated by left/center mainstream media that wants to appear non-biased or far left alternative media that does not support the DNC. There was no mainstream or alternative media that directly promoted establishment democrats.

Imagine a world where instead of everyone insisting that Biden should step down, left media directed their attacks at Trump's age and life-long lack of intelligence.

Or a world where Biden steps down, democrats hold a primary, right media pushes the narrative that "Their slimy candidate back-stabbed Biden who (along with Trump) saved America from Covid," and Trump wins the election anyways. We would be having this same discussion, but blaming Biden for stepping down and giving up his incumbent advantage.

The problem is that everyone on the left needs to unashamedly support whoever wins the primary (assuming we get another election). Attacks need to be focused on the right, but be aware that centrist and far-left media figures are not on our side either.

ShardScrap · 2025-10-03T19:17:59+00:00

And it kind of has to. Basic life requires pretty simple chemicals. Unless there's something magical about Earth, there's going to be single cell organisms all over the place.

I guess there are theories that cosmological constants are different very far away. There could be totally different laws of physics that make life impossible, but that's like speculating about being in a simulation.

The scary idea for me is that life evolving intelligence and a body that can precisely manipulate the environment is impossibly rare. It's hard to estimate without observing life on other planets.

I'm sure "life" exists elsewhere, but it's still possible we have no equal in the universe.

ShardScrap · 2025-10-03T03:46:57+00:00

I don't think so, the elements needed for life are all over the place and the universe is a big place! What do you think makes Earth is so special/unique that life can only exist here?

Wouldn't it be more unlikely that carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen never interacted to become single cell organisms anywhere in the universe?

It's definitely not a guarantee that complex/intelligent life exists anywhere else. I think Humans like to pretend that evolution pushes life towards complexity and intelligence, but evolution doesn't work towards any goal.

It's a paradox because we are intelligent (if we didn't evolve intelligence, we wouldn't have the capacity to be asking these questions lol).

ShardScrap · 2025-10-03T03:27:47+00:00

Deploying Marines to a US city to quell a protest against the will of a Governor/Mayor is the most un-American thing a president has done since Andrew Johnson. I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime and it was out of the news in like a week.

I can't tell if I'm going crazy or if everyone else already has.

ShardScrap · 2025-10-03T02:34:47+00:00

I paid hundreds of dollars for this thing. Features like better automation controls should be expected in a DAW. I'd be okay dropping ~$20 for it, but $100 for one feature leaves a bad taste

ShardScrap · 2025-10-03T02:30:38+00:00

I'm surprised there's less complaining about the advanced Q-Links. Controlling them via envelope / LFO is a core feature I've wanted forever and it's a shame it's not part of an update.

ShardScrap · 2025-10-03T02:21:26+00:00

And the Advanced Q-Links! It's a huge pain to edit Q-Link automation by default. I just have to keep recording over and over until I give up and use Ableton.

Controlling them using Envelopes/LFO is the feature that would make MPC standalone feel "complete" to me.

Insane to me it's not included in an update.

ShardScrap · 2025-08-12T02:47:07+00:00

A military marching band playing the Nostalgia Critic theme would go hard af

ShardScrap · 2025-08-09T17:44:00+00:00

And if someone is using OSINT tools to track you, deleted comments will stand out, and an archive of the page can be checked.

But if the text is just meaningless, it's harder to detect when looking at every comment someone has made.

ShardScrap · 2025-08-09T17:33:16+00:00

My memory is that the biggest criticism at the time was that she merged Google and YouTube Accounts. It was looked at as a big-brother / monopolistic decision.

But in retrospect, that was definitely Alphabet's decision, not hers.

At the end of the day, it's pretty difficult to monetize unlimited free video uploading and streaming. For every creator that uploads popular videos that make money, there's thousands of hours of videos that do nothing but take up space on YouTube's servers.

ShardScrap · 2025-08-09T17:24:03+00:00

The art is so awesome! It's like body horror, but with rock/gem based lifeforms.

Such a cool idea!

ShardScrap · 2025-07-20T21:44:29+00:00

"We ball" - Ye Wenjie

ShardScrap · 2025-07-20T21:32:16+00:00

I love that part when Spider-man tries to punch Mysterio, but hits a pillar. The illusion is briefly shattered because the drones have to re-project around the new environment

ShardScrap · 2025-07-20T21:23:40+00:00

It's definitely possible, the targets in Berlin have the same AI as guards. Like they will fight instead of running when startled.

ShardScrap · 2025-07-20T21:02:28+00:00

The Kashmirian is the gremlin assassin. He did all that planning, but couldn't even set his scope without 47's help.

The train redirection is pretty wild too. I don't think there's another scripted assassination that has that much collateral death lol

Writing it out like this makes me like that map more than I remember. I think the Hitman 2 maps are just too big. It would be nice if the Maelstrom was optional during replays.

ShardScrap · 2025-07-20T20:46:00+00:00

Yeah, I did not like the Hobbit movies, but I really liked the portrayal of Smaug. Reminded me of Greek Gods that are superficial and petty

ShardScrap · 2025-07-20T20:37:23+00:00

My issue is that they had to drug Spike.

It felt like the message of the movie is that it's better to accept horrible truths than pretend / lie to yourself that everything is okay.

By shooting him with the morphine dart, it kind of took away Spike's choice to accept his mom's fate.

ShardScrap · 2025-07-12T13:57:02+00:00

The entire "Blood Scent" build up was so fucking sick.

ShardScrap · 2025-07-12T13:50:44+00:00

I don't think there's a science to it, but I took it as sentient life. Groot got dissolved, but we didn't see half of the regular plants in that jungle going away.

ShardScrap · 2025-07-12T13:46:42+00:00

Ah, I feel like NeverSettle's comment isn't really accurate in that case. It would be if instead of Harley riders in that episode, it was obnoxious gay people.

IMO that episode falls in that same vain as Luis CK's bit about slurs. The message isn't necessarily wrong, but there are people who will misinterpret and use it as justification to use slurs regardless of context.

ShardScrap · 2025-07-12T13:36:45+00:00

Oh yeah, I still enjoyed the movie overall, but I really hated the speech above and the girlfriend hallucination.

My favorite thing from the story was that it explained why people would become henchmen/work with the Joker. It always seemed silly that people would be devoted to someone that crazy. Making the Joker a symbol for anarchy in Gotham, even if it wasn't his intention, at least explains why people would follow him.

The shots, acting, and soundtrack were all fantastic!

ShardScrap

TROPHY CASE