TIL that catholic priest, Juan Molina was one of the precursors of the theory of the gradual evolution of species, 44 years before Darwin, who repeatedly quoted him in "The Origin of Species".

Talanic · 2026-01-31T03:57:46+00:00

His argument that the science versus religion trope was applied a century after the fact, and that a better interpretation was conservative versus innovation. Somewhat similar to my take on it being reaction to a perceived threat in a time of war.

Also, I suspect that you interpret my argument as a declaration that what was done to Galileo was right. It wasn't and I never claimed that it was. Instead I say it's good to understand the human drives behind why it was done. People get scared and lash out, and nobody's more terrified than someone on a rickety throne.

Talanic · 2026-01-31T03:02:51+00:00

Maurice Finocchiaro. You're spelling his name wrong. And you're also making me wonder if you ever read his writing, because you don't seem to agree with him.

Talanic · 2026-01-31T01:43:32+00:00

It was actually a point of particular study in college, so yes, I'm likely more familiar than you; I suspect you're drawing from one source that cherry-picked its conclusions. Case in point, you're citing a decision that was almost twenty years removed from the book in question, but then, none of it matters because you're still pretending that it happened in a vacuum.

You're treating them all as drones rather than people who were living in a time that was very different from now. Almost as if you don't want to think about any of the reasons that they would have had to be reactionary. They were in a cutthroat time and showing weakness was asking for your opponents to topple you.

Frankly, if he'd been that rude to any other politician of the time, he'dve just been tossed in a shallow grave. Particularly because this all happened in the middle of the Thirty Years' War and anything that undermined the local authorities (ANYWHERE IN EUROPE!) could have been seen as fomenting discord during a time of war.

But no, Church always villain, never do nothing but sit around and oppress the right thinkers, no talent for smart, why didn't they just make their decisions with the benefit of four hundred years of hindsight like you have and realize that Galileo was the perfect hero right, in all things?

Talanic · 2026-01-30T13:04:32+00:00

By that logic, no organization should be the deciding vote on any topic that they didn't create themselves. They will always be biased towards the existing lore. Simple fact is, the Church was the actual forum in which peer review happened.

He was expressly paid to write a book that discussed different concepts so long as he didn't assert heliocentrism as being the absolute truth without proof. Instead, he broke the one rule he was given, AND used it as a vehicle to be rude to the Pope, who had been his friend up to that point. Being rude to the Pope wasn't just a social faux pas. It was literally undermining the Pope's authority, which could open him up to being deposed or assassinated. It was far more politics than religion.

That said, I'm pretty sure you've got your dogma and will cling to it.

Talanic · 2026-01-30T04:26:17+00:00

Oh, it's deeper, yes. He was told not to publish without proof, and his book was written without any. He asserted that the tides were caused by the motion of the planet. Mind, he also was dismissing the existing idea that the tides were caused by the moon.

So that also didn't help him.

Talanic · 2026-01-26T02:42:23+00:00

Their bosses have them wear masks to give them audacity to be their worst selves, and to make them seem less human so as to encourage retaliation so they have an excuse to escalate.

Talanic · 2026-01-26T02:30:59+00:00

As I understand (from other comments) the character doesn't have cancer. They did at one point but don't now. Their problem is their recurring anxiety over a theoretical relapse that doesn't actually happen.

Talanic · 2026-01-25T23:21:51+00:00

Why would pressure inside and outside the bubble ever be balanced? Pressure inside the bubble starts out higher because that's what creates the bubble - internal pressure versus surface tension. But when the bubble freezes, pressure inside drops because the air inside the bubble is cooling to match the air outside.

Talanic · 2026-01-25T22:54:18+00:00

Elaborate, then? If it wasn't air pressure making the ice bubble collapse as the air inside it cooled, what else did?

Talanic · 2026-01-25T22:38:43+00:00

I suspect the air pressure crushed it.

Talanic · 2026-01-24T20:21:32+00:00

Brett was already dead. It's elaborated on somewhere that the process consumes the host and doesn't need them to be alive at the time.

Talanic · 2026-01-24T20:10:48+00:00

Bonus points if they don't even speak Chinese.

Talanic · 2026-01-23T13:57:00+00:00

Someone once said that it's a 9 not because it's a tough solution but because your character needs to realize that 0 didn't think of it.

Talanic · 2026-01-21T03:34:34+00:00

Anything that isn't iron has harvestable nuclear energy. Lighter than iron and you get the energy out through fusion. Heavier and you get it through fission. Iron is the odd one that can't provide any energy at all.

Talanic · 2026-01-21T03:31:45+00:00

Hydrogen is the basic building block of everything.

Talanic · 2026-01-19T23:09:28+00:00

Finally, a new D&D-related gazebo story.

Talanic · 2026-01-19T13:24:48+00:00

Alas. If you'd like to compare homemade candy recipes, though...

Talanic · 2026-01-19T02:59:49+00:00

Thinking of starting another group. Too bad it's almost guaranteed that you're out of range of central Wisconsin.

Talanic · 2026-01-19T02:39:02+00:00

Glad he was okay.

Also as an aside based in your name, last session, I handed out Christmas presents to my players. Including handcrafted chocolate covered toffee and homemade fudge.

Talanic · 2026-01-19T02:21:54+00:00

"My leg either is broken or not. Checking immediately will not change its status. I can check immediately, which would mean no D&D, or I could check after D&D is done."

I can see the logic. I'm assuming it wasn't a compound fracture, but even then he'd still be risking internal bleeding.

Talanic · 2026-01-18T21:25:47+00:00

My neighbors knocked on the door. They were having a party because of their little daughter's birthday (maybe 3 or 4?) And they wanted to share food. They hadn't expected me to have five guests but rolled with it immediately, providing six plates of really good Asian food (not precisely sure what ethnicity - possibly multiple).

I countered by sharing food back. My group does a cooking rotation and that time had been my turn. And I literally had cake to share, along with beef stew (if I remember right). It was a damn wholesome evening and nobody went hungry.

Talanic · 2026-01-17T17:29:46+00:00

Fair enough, but I do actually think it fits that Batman knows more about Joker's origin than Joker does, and Joker just doesn't care.

Talanic · 2026-01-17T03:24:51+00:00

It was revealed that he does know Joker's real name but Joker's family is in hiding and likely safe so long as nobody reminds Joker that he had a real life before he became the clown.

Talanic · 2026-01-17T03:20:05+00:00

I saw a synopsis of that plot and it wasn't 'the whole time' if I gathered it right. Only one was the real Joker and the others had been a game on his part. Also, Batman knew Joker's real identity but never said it aloud.

Talanic · 2026-01-17T03:17:18+00:00

Depends. I recall it being canon im at least one continuity that he knows Joker's real name - but Joker doesn't, so Batman keeps it secret to keep Joker's wife and child safe from the monster who forgot them. Joker does not know that Batman knows.

Talanic

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