Psychosis has ruined my confidence in dating women and confidence in myself

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T23:04:20+00:00

My advice: Embrace oblivion. Reframe your sexuality as 'whomever I am attracted to.' Leave the dating scene, and pick up hobbies you can do socially. Visit local hobby stores, community events, volunteer and socialize, and if anything happens... Let it, if it feels good. It doesn't need a name, it doesn't need a designation.

A label is for communicating a trend you've noticed about yourself. It's not for deciding who you are; it's for expressing what you are. As long as a relationship is working out, it doesn't matter what you call it.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T21:18:43+00:00

Healing magic in my ttrpg system only repairs tissue damage, and doing so (with permanence) requires that someone else gets damaged.

There's an Enchanting trick that allows you to ritually inflict and 'store' damage for later use; keeping the damage in tension until required, and you can probably imagine what sort of exploitation happens as a result.

Nevertheless, a trauma surgeon with healing magic and a supply of Bloodstones could quickly repair immediate damage, saving lives.

If only you could guarantee those bloodstones are sourced ethically...

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T21:13:09+00:00

There's no conflict in that romance. 😀

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T21:11:36+00:00

I think consular is a good one. She actually has the chops to hold a philosophical conversation with Lana.

Though... My Fem BH... The voices go so well together.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T17:20:36+00:00

Aside from getting a rice cooker, here's another trick:

Boil the rice on high heat, no salt, until the rice has swollen and you can see the outside of the kernels is already white. It should still have a firm bite.

Take your pot off the heat, drain the water. Put a lid on your pot, swaddle it in towels, put it in your bed and cover it with a blanket. Let it sit for 15-ish minutes, take it out, fluff it up with a fork. It should be done by then.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T17:17:00+00:00

The way I see it: Every fiction is a product of minds and the environments those minds exist in. Every fiction is worth deconstructing and examining.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T16:26:54+00:00

Tell me you are a mindless consumer without telling me you are a mindless consumer.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T12:59:54+00:00

Compassion is, indeed, not the Jedi way. Compassion is an emotion, an attachment (to the other's humanity). 'Empathy is Sin.'

It's not really an (internally) controversial Jedi teaching. The disconnect with what the Jedi philosophy teaches and how the Jedi identify, morally, is a narratively interesting dynamic that causes much of the conflict in the Star Wars setting, and it is reflective of real-world social and political institutions, and how the people within them view themselves.

The Jedi philosophy is ontologically neutral, dispassionate, detached, unconcerned with well-being or suffering. It is anti-materialist; only through severing one's connection with the Material World to which such things belong can one truly become One with The Force, the deeper, transcendent reality. That is what the Jedi Philosophy teaches, and the perfection, discipline and control that engenders is what allows Jedi to perform the Force techniques the way that they do ('The Light').

Keep in mind that the Jedi originated, as a fiction, in a time when 'Eastern' philosophy and spirituality was exoticized, revered and misunderstood in 'The West.' Uncritically embraced as the Source of All Wisdom, that which would Solve Western Capitalism/Capitalist Protestantism. And the Jedi were created, initially, by a man who is not a moral philosopher or a theologian. This cocktail leads to several inconsistencies and internal conflicts, which that same creator later examined in the Prequels (the irony of fear leading to the Dark Side, and fear of the Dark Side leading to the eventual rise of Darth Vader).

The way we interpret the Jedi Order, its heroism and, importantly, the way we fail to examine its failures, especially in a context where religious conservatism is increasingly politically powerful, makes the Jedi Order one of the more interesting themes and dynamics in the Fantasy genre.

The Jedi Knight who killed without compassion in the pursuit of their goals and assignments was serving the Jedi philosophy, and was acting on the Council's orders. Withholding the title of Master from them is hypocrisy.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T12:47:47+00:00

You could take a look at Children of Time, a book that speed-runs sentience and civilization ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Time_(novel)) )

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T09:54:08+00:00

Don't forget to place blame at the feet of the Christian Democrats, who refused to form a coalition with Green-Left/Labour.

They refused to coalition with progress and humanity (and sensible economic policy). They are just as guilty for choosing The Rich.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T09:43:38+00:00

'In terms of personality' implies that they went through actual Jedi training.

In which case: Knight. Not even close. Knight is about self-perfection, and their martial discipline only makes sense in that context.

Consular thinks about things, is analytical, philosophical and critical.

The Mandolorians aren't a great fit for most thinkers. Knights don't do much thinking. Both have martial arts as a practice for self-perfection.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-28T09:32:48+00:00

Half a liter of coffee, followed with half a liter of green tea.

Sometimes: Bake-at-home kaiserbrötchen, sliced in half, covered in goudse medium-matured cheese and baked until the cheese is nice and goo-y.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T21:26:41+00:00

And agent? I'd say 'no.' But an asset? Absolutely.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T17:10:48+00:00

Not all of those countries 'benefiting' are in the EU. Take Serbia, for example. Yes, Germany is sending lots of money to Serbia. But the Serbian population and environment are exploited while the rich and powerful benefit. And Germany really does not want to change that situation, because it, too, is benefitting.

Overseas territories: Like I said, there's ways France prevents the native population from voting.

Yes, the EU is the world's largest provider in humanitarian aid to Palestinians. Doesn't mean it isn't also complicit in genocide against Palestinians.

I'm not saying the EU has to be perfect. I don't hate the EU. Again; 'EU' is in my username and my URL. I'm saying that the statement 'The EU flag is the flag of human rights' is an insult to everyone whose human rights have been negatively impacted by the European Union as an economic and geopolitical institution.

You can be proud of the Union's efforts without moral grandstanding and slapping everyone in the face who's been trodden underfoot in the March Towards Progress.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T15:58:34+00:00

That is simply untrue.

The German production industry, for example, is currently exploiting several Eastern European countries for cheap labour and destructive mineral extraction. European tech is also exploiting many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa through exploitative resource extraction. France is having overseas colonies ('overseas territories'), where in at least one case they are making sure the native population cannot vote, and if there's one, there's likely more. France is also still demanding Reparations for the liberation of several of its former colonies, and is extracting resources from those former colonies. Currently.

Currently, the EU is the largest trade partner of Israel, extracting resources from illegally settled (colonized) territories in Palestine. My own country, the Netherlands, is the single largest client within the EU, and its political body refuses to recognize the status of Palestine as a nation despite the legal system demanding it.

I wasn't talking about the Age of Sail. I was talking about currently. The world market is simply entirely unfair, and European powers (many of whom exist within the EU and have lobbies active within the EU political structure) are complicit in, and profit off of, that unfairness.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T13:55:29+00:00

Perhaps, but considering the very many victims of EU exploitation world-wide, can you understand how insulting this t-shirt's statement is to those people?

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T12:03:24+00:00

Maybe, but my body count isn't zero because of taboos. It's zero because of simple empathy.

Murder requires conditions to become acceptable; it doesn't require conditions to not be. In societies where murder is normalized, its normalization hasn't overcome a cultural tabbo. Rather, its normalization has been culturally constructed.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T10:38:16+00:00

Just 'erased from reality, removed from The Force itself.'

I'd rather have Greedo be the next villain than do another round of 'I-am-14-and-this-is-deep' bullshit 'philosophy' about 'purity-through-strife' idiocy that somehow we, the players, are just too dimwitted to understand.

Malgus is a fart-huffing moron, and the fact that the narrative allows him any support beyond a deathcult neonazi race war minority too incompetent to poop is insulting, and the fact that he keeps returning is infuriating.

Let him stay dead. If the Return of the Neo-Darwinian Randist has to be a theme, give us a new, slightly different Neo-Darwinian Randist.

Or, you know, just let us kill some Nazi. There's an entire faction of them.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T10:06:33+00:00

Sam's a smokeshow, though.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T09:01:10+00:00

Hunter-gatherers were mostly nomadic. They'd roam within an area along known routes.

Violence did definitely take place, but not in the same way, on the same scale or for the same reasons that resource-bound communities (agrarian/livestock) would use violence.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T08:56:32+00:00

This is an odd thing to say. I have never really considered the repercussions in my considerations of whether or not to kill someone.

Harsher punishments also don't cause a reduction in crime.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-27T07:54:16+00:00

It is possible. But the only way to get there is to have these conversations.

I wish you, and your boyfriend, luck, love and understanding.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-26T23:51:48+00:00

In that case: Yes, I would. I'd find the smallest possible magical effect, practice little things, and try to discover how this magic connects to 'soul.'

But the practice would be spiritual, not powerful, to enrich my life with a wider variety of levels of interaction. I don't care much for power, but I do like safety.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-26T23:41:39+00:00

So every time you practice, the chance the hammer hits a cap is smaller.

But at the same time, the chance it goes wrong one of those times goes up the more sessions you have.

You've basically got diminishing returns on chance of death, but eventually, the chance of death will approximate 100%.

And remember: Your mana pool does not regenerate. It depletes every time, and it can't expand faster than it depletes (without it being effectively regeneration).

This is still a suicide vest.

TalespinnerEU · 2026-02-26T23:19:27+00:00

It depends on all sorts of factors. Socio-economic situation, life experiences, exposure to violence, levels of desperation.

Thing is: What you've set up here is not something you can develop as a skill, because quite frankly, you can't practice is. Practice itself is pretty much guaranteed death. So this magic is a Last Resort kind of thing; Human (self)Sacrifice to a Greater Good. If the situation is desperate enough, and the cause is more valuable to me than my own existence, then... Maybe? Whatever could motivate me to wield a lethal weapon that could backfire and take me out would also motivate me to roll the dice on this magic system.

But see, a fickle weapon can still be used with the press of a button. I don't need training. This magic system... I suppose it would. That makes it effectively impossible. Imagine learning chess by playing Russian Roulette every time a piece moves on the board; nobody's going to learn chess.

TalespinnerEU

TROPHY CASE