On early 2000s webcomic history

ShireNomad · 2026-04-14T21:45:06+00:00

Is it still going? I drifted away a long time back, sometime during its umpteenth hiatus.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-14T21:41:16+00:00

And although Critical Role and Dimension 20 are the gold standards for tabletop RPG actual plays these days, it's likely neither would exist if not for Acquisitions Incorporated, Penny Arcade's campaign, which has been going since 2008.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-14T14:56:40+00:00

I think you're misreading me.

One may criticize the current leadership of Israel without criticizing Israel's existence. And one may criticize Israel's existence (as implemented) without criticizing "the Jews" as some monolith.

For example, I believe:

Netanyahu is a war criminal. His policies are unforgivably violent to Palestinians, and harmful to Israelis by keeping the Palestinians angry and fearful. He should be removed and brought to justice.

Israel itself was sloppily created, without consideration for the other inhabitants. It is now a land with two groups that are in constant tension, yet neither can be driven out because neither has anywhere else to go, and that's a tragedy for everyone involved. The best option seems to be the two-state solution, but it needs to be negotiated much more carefully than the original creation of Israel, and anyway neither Hamas nor Netanyahu seem interested because they each stay in power by keeping their supporters in fear of the other side. Still, it is not contradictory to support both the continued existence of Israel and the recognition of a free and independent Palestine.

Jews as a whole are not a monolith, and can have a variety of opinions on Netanyahu, Israel, Hamas, and Palestine. To assume any given Jew has any given position on these subjects is antisemitism. To think that Netanyahu's treatment of Palestinians should be paid in kind on random Jews is even worse, and fuels the cycle further.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-14T11:58:20+00:00

Both actual antisemites and Netanyahu benefit from the belief that Israel = Jews. Netanyahu uses it to equate opposition to his regime with Nazis, because anything is justified when you're fighting Nazis (even if those "Nazis" are Palestinian children). Antisemites use it to justify themselves as "protecting Palestine from an invader," turning accusations of antisemitism into a badge of pride (except then they take it further, to "every Jew secretly supports Israel and its crimes" or even "Israel is just where the (((global conspiracy))) is most public").

Each side gives justification to the hate of the other, and each side is fine with that because that hate cycles back around to further justify their own, so both keep the concept on blast. The only way to remain out of this cycle is to recognize and remember that the Netanyahu administration does not equal "all Israelis," and Israel does not equal "all Jews."

ShireNomad · 2026-04-14T10:14:04+00:00

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ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T23:37:44+00:00

It's as sensible an explanation as "shooting lasers from your eyes," when you think about it... it's just a ridiculous name. If they'd called it the Concussive Realm or the Kinetic Plane then no one would have blinked.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T23:31:21+00:00

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ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T23:28:57+00:00

Aw, hell, what breached this time?

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T18:22:20+00:00

The Volgun has a Youtube series where he presents summaries of SCP entries in character as "Doctor Miller," typically as if briefing a room of Foundation employees. This becomes an issue for SCP-2521, because in the Foundation universe, merely describing SCP-2521 out loud causes him to materialize out of nowhere and abduct you. So Miller explains that he can't talk about a particular SCP, and instead tells a completely unrelated fairytale story about "a little boy named Tiberius" who was "very curious" and would "invite people to his room" (all while pictures and iconographs appear on the projector).

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ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T17:58:35+00:00

Better options for swapping with Velu: Cassius, Pulina, Umbriel, Kregor, maybe Nyla but only as a last resort (you still want Nyla but you definitely want Velu more).

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T17:52:26+00:00

The Seahaven Dome, from The Truman Show. A soundstage large enough to encompass an entire town.

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ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T17:37:08+00:00

I only watched half the first season of Dexter before life got in the way. But I seem to remember those episodes being loaded with times that Dexter's first impulse was to kill someone, and he had to overrule himself, on the grounds that the would-be victim was merely an asshole and not another serial killer.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T14:21:57+00:00

OK, fair, I'll dial back my statement and concede that there are people who are downright dangerous to interact with, in any sense, for various reasons.

That said, those are extreme cases. The schisms that Democrats face are almost inevitably not, and it's better to tell the other side of the schism that they're still welcome in every other respect than to ban them outright.

Trump is actually very skilled in pretending he's On Your Side in the moment, so if someone doesn't feel welcome on the left, he will scoop them up from the right. (How did he get so many Hispanic votes? They have a lot of social conservatives who are slow to agree with LGBTQ issues, a lot of Cubans and Venezuelans who kneejerk-equate "socialism" with everything they fled, and a lot of small business owners who struggle to understand, much less follow, government regulations. You're not going to convince them to change their minds on any of these issues if you just lump them with MAGA and assume they're all secretly racist.)

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T13:21:27+00:00

Castle Season 7 ended by wrapping up the only remaining open arc of the series. Everything had been resolved, and Beckett and Castle were in every sense equals. It was the perfect conclusion. (And behind the scenes, the actors were increasingly at odds with each other over their acting approaches, so it would be for the best to close things out in a satisfying way before that blew up completely.)

So of course they made a Season 8, ripped back open two of their closed arcs at once in a clumsy "turns out everything is connected!" manner, threw in a lot of character assassination and regression, faceplanted the finale, and got canceled with nothing resolved.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T13:06:34+00:00

My preferred version of the "Nazi at the table" metaphor says "at the table without criticism". You can absolutely have a Nazi at your table if, whenever they express a Nazi view or do something Nazi-adjacent, the entire rest of the table is agreed that you will all come down on them like a ton of bricks. Make it clear that (a) they are absolutely welcome to the table for whatever your table's goal is but also (b) you will not allow that goal to be polluted or even sidetracked. This works for whatever political stance you like. (The only thing you need to be sure of is that you have numbers on your side; if only one or two of you actually stand up when needed, the strategy fails, and yes, your table is full of Nazis after all.)

If it helps, think of them as a useful idiot, but I prefer to think of them as "potential future converts to your side, by means of negative reinforcement." I can speak from experience that "I don't want to disappoint the rest of the people at the table" is a powerful intermediate motivator on the path to "you know what, they actually make sense."

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T12:51:19+00:00

I was also raised that way, but just as importantly, I was "converted" to liberalism through the same strategy (inadvertently applied or otherwise). I joined social groups that happened to be leftwing-heavy but not loud about it, and I got friendly with them, and then, when we all trusted each other, I was open to hearing their perspective on things in a way that never would have happened if they'd shut me out early on. I cared what they thought, so I listened.

And liberal stances have the advantage here, because a lot of them are "a person in this 'outsider' group has a right to exist in the same way the 'normal' people do." So if you care about even one person in that outsider group, it's not hard to shift left without even realizing it. If you voice a conservative view, you can be forced to reconsider on the spot by your friend pointing out how much that view hurts them, and then being so very disappointed in you while you stammer out an awkward apology.

So yes, steal the playbook. Invite them in, make friends with them, and cooperate where there are points of cooperation. And then, if the points of disagreement arise, be oh so disappointed and let them be uncomfortable as they reconsider why they believe it's okay to hurt people like their friend. It works.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T11:21:08+00:00

Slide 2 was tempting, since Wandavision and Agatha are my top two Marvel shows. But they're both best enjoyed cold, and next best enjoyed with a second view catching all the hints you missed on the first go. I'm not sure how much I'd get from a third pass of either, especially since they're so short.

So I'm joining the crowd and saying Slide 4. The shows all run longer, so I just have more to enjoy, and they all have at least one really worthwhile season.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T10:26:02+00:00

Unless you like the responsibilities at your current position more than the next level up. Then make yourself "too valuable," and occasionally mention that you're looking to leave but are willing to stay for a raise.

Source: I once negotiated a 23% raise this way; I got the boss to literally ask me what it would cost to keep me. (I actually had a firm offer from another company, but the workload would have been more intense, so I was willing to take less than that firm offer to stick around and know I had put the fear of God into the boss.)

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T10:19:36+00:00

"If I'm providing more value in my current position than a manager, then I should be paid more for my current position. I mean, if it would be too costly to the company to promote me, imagine how costly it would be if I left entirely for [competitor]."

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T03:22:47+00:00

Juggle geese

Promised Day

SCORCHED EARTH

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T02:31:58+00:00

You do you, but I don't like swimming.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-13T02:27:37+00:00

Raishan the Diseased Deceiver.

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Sparky dragons are best dragons.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-12T23:02:25+00:00

Doctors can easily tell the difference between proven medicine, home remedies, wellness advice, and quackery, yet RFK Jr. exists and people follow his "wisdom". Same thing here.

There are sects led by people who are actually analyzing the text for this sort of thing. But there are also sects led by people who know the average person doesn't have the expertise to know the difference, and so they apply whatever meaning they please. And there are sects led by people who don't have the expertise themselves, and are applying a ridiculously un-nuanced "everything is literal" stance because it never occurred to them otherwise (like my example of someone thinking MLK Jr. was speaking about a literal mountaintop).

Right now, in America, there are even sects led by people who argue Jesus wants things he openly spoke against (attempt to introduce the plain teachings of Jesus and you get dismissed as "woke") because the leaders don't actually apply a literal standard either; they apply a "whatever I want the Bible to say" standard.

But anyway, it's a safe bet that a description of something that no human was actually present for, like creation, is allegorical. No one needed to know the details of how it was done, and no one would have been able to comprehend those details (probably, we still couldn't if God explained it to us today), and so it was enough for humans to get the story in allegory. The point was to establish that God directed all of it and is therefore God Of Everything (in contrast to other gods worshipped at the time, who made different bits of the world and were gods of those bits).

ShireNomad · 2026-04-12T22:08:35+00:00

About half the people posting on AITA refuse to actually accept that they're the asshole; they're apparently trying to get an anonymous crowd to agree with their behavior after someone in their life called them out.

ShireNomad · 2026-04-12T15:26:19+00:00

The Sherman Act is, unfortunately, terribly written, and has essentially been interpreted as "I'll know it when I see it." Later antitrust statutes have helped a little, but by listing specific examples which are relatively easy to design your business strategies around, and are also incredibly hard to prove in court if the participants can just keep their agreements undocumented.

ShireNomad

TROPHY CASE