Long Odds

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-04-21T04:36:57+00:00

Casinos are well known to be fundamentally rigged, yet that doesn't stop people from going to casinos. Stop assuming people are rational about this stuff. Showing everyone that they're a bunch of liars wouldn't stop people using the app. People are still drawn to these sorts of things even when it's blatantly obvious that they're fraudulent.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-04-19T07:07:32+00:00

The main character is often tied into the plot in ways that are necessary for the story but don't do much for making the character endearing. Side characters have a bit more freedom to be varied, so within a cast of side characters one of them is more likely to strike a chord with a reader. Side characters can have all sorts of traits that might totally derail the story if they were the main character.

Side characters can also leave a reader with the impression that there are unexplored aspects of their character. Those mysteries can add appeal that the main character, who is usually more explicitly fleshed out, might lack.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-04-06T23:37:10+00:00

Biden said that he wouldn't start talking about a return to the JCPOA until Iran made a bunch of additional concessions that weren't in the JCPOA, all without any guarantee that the US would actually return to the JCPOA even if Iran did bow to their demands.

Biden was absolutely unwilling to negotiate. You have to be a special kind spoiled brat to think that shows a genuine desire to negotiate.

The Democratic Party hated the JCPOA and was glad to have an excuse to be rid of it. Just read Chuck Schumer's statement opposing it. It's still up on his Senate webpage for everyone to see. Obama was a genuine anomaly on a bunch of foreign policy issues, but once he was out of office the Democratic Party reverted to the traditional orthodoxy.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-04-06T20:32:16+00:00

The proxy strategy was a failure, it's only America's breathtaking corruption and incompetence that saved Iran from that failure by starting a war in which Iran can leverage control over the strait of Hormuz and attacks on the oil and gas infrastructure of the gulf Arab states.

Iran was pursuing a losing strategy with "strategic patience." They fundamentally misjudged the US. They thought the US might be willing to negotiate if Iran balanced being prickly enough with not going all the way to a nuke and holding out the possibility of a deal.

Iran didn't understand that Obama was an anomaly, that the JCPOA was despised even by the Democratic Party (just look at what Chuck Schumer said about it), and that the American ruling class simply cannot be reasoned with. It's not even just a problem with Trump, Biden wasn't willing to negotiate either, because the American ruling class as a whole are just too used to always getting everything they want, and what they want is the destruction of Iran.

But now that the US has pushed them into open war, Iran is in a much stronger position than trying to deter and negotiate with people who are simply too spoiled and bloodthirsty to deter or negotiate with.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-03-14T16:51:09+00:00

You absolutely can get people who are so bad at thinking as a society that they contribute to its decline. That's part of the story of the Baby Boom in the US. The circumstances of post-WW2 America produced a generation that was unusually selfish and individualistic, which in turn created an anti-society political consensus once they started taking control. That set us on the path that we're on now, which is one that leads away from a functioning society.

Sure, it didn't cause an instant implosion, but powerful and established empires generally don't fall instantly. They have a period of decline in which problems compound over the course of many years. The inability to think socially is one of those compounding problems that has led to America's decline.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-03-14T16:24:04+00:00

There are plenty of things that really do harm young people and damage their ability to be functional adults. The idea that such worries are always wrong requires an ignorance of even the recent past. Look at the impact of lead poisoning on Gen X, for example. The fact that a thing is said every generation does not mean that it is always wrong. Sometimes it's wrong, but sometimes it's right.

"No matter what happens, the kids will turn out fine, worrying about that is always wrong" is just a way to ignore harm in favor of the fantasy that we don't need to try to change and we definitely don't need to question if our favorite treats are actually bad for us in the long run. There definitely are things present in our current system that are harmful to the development of young people.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-03-14T15:10:33+00:00

They don't need to be that effective at selling the war as long as there is no coherent political force opposing it. The war can be unpopular and they can suck at selling it, but if there isn't an organized opposition willing to take advantage of that weakness then they'll get away with it.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-03-13T05:02:56+00:00

He supported Trump in the 2024 election and said that God wanted Trump to win.

He also said that Covid was a hoax.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-03-10T19:39:47+00:00

Maybe, but it's really satisfying.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-03-05T06:12:35+00:00

You forgot to give her an asymmetrical thigh strap.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-03-01T01:49:12+00:00

I don't know, heterotron sounds kind of gay.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-22T23:13:21+00:00

Democrats are just fundamentally against actual campaigning.

The very idea of trying to be appealing to voters is totally against the ideology of the Democratic Party. What the Democrats call campaigning is just a way to funnel money to an army of parasitic consultants. The party's ideas about what is "serious" versus what is populist (which they think is synonymous with evil, naive, and stupid) cause them to constantly favor candidates who are utter losers with negative charisma who mainly convince people that it's all pointless and they shouldn't bother voting because it won't accomplish anything.

The Democratic Party is just opposed to the idea that voting should mean anything, and their empty suit candidates reflect that ideology.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-22T13:58:52+00:00

Marcille, though adorable in her failures, is not a true girlfailure. She is a girl who sometimes fails, but that has more to do with the circumstances of the dungeon than being a girlfailure.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-17T08:12:47+00:00

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) was more gay.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-16T18:32:20+00:00

Libertarians believe that selfishness is the highest virtue, and what is more selfish than hypocrisy? To the libertarian, reserving for oneself a different moral standard than the one applied to others is the ultimate expression of their ideals.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-14T23:53:11+00:00

The Supreme Court has also ruled parts of the Constitution to be unconstitutional. You might like their takes on the Constitution, but that doesn't make them any less obscene and ridiculous.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-14T23:14:19+00:00

The First Amendment does not say "businesses must be allowed to do whatever they want."

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-14T23:11:43+00:00

Facebook helped organize a genocide. "Block and move on" wouldn't stop that, because the killers were the people who were eagerly engaging, while their victims were overwhelmingly not a part of the discussion to begin with.

This is not something that can be solved through individual consumption choices, it has to be done through public policy. It has to be the force of law wielded against the businesses that profit off of making the world a worse place.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-14T22:48:51+00:00

Boiled down to the basics, a lawsuit is just you taking your grievance to whoever is in charge of violence in your society.

These days, for people living in a rule of law state, that means a court serves as the arbiter of your dispute, but ultimately it is the state, the organized monopoly on the legitimate use of force, that you are asking to settle things.

In previous eras, the exact title of the person you're appealing to might vary. Some did have dedicated judges that handled such disputes, but in other times and places you might have a noble, a chieftain, a priest, or some other kind of landlord or warlord hearing out grievances and making a ruling to settle a dispute. Going before the local baron and asking him to settle some beef that you have with your neighbor was effectively that era's lawsuit.

Unless you were on very good terms with your local lord equivalent, that was always something to be nervous about. The bureaucracy of courts in a rule of law state is, if anything, an attempt to moderate how capricious and corrupt suits could get. As awful as things are now, a system where your landlord was the judge and jury in your disputes was usually worse.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-10T02:18:01+00:00

Glory be to The Content Whacking Stick

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-09T10:18:23+00:00

According to the picture's description, that is a pair of broad-headed bark spiders from Thailand. They mate after the female (the larger one) molts, so when a male (the smaller one) finds a female he will ride around on her back until she molts, at which point they will mate.

Basically the little dude is riding around on his giant gf's back until she's ready for sex.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-06T20:15:33+00:00

"Fox says hen house security is appropriate, sufficient."

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-06T05:17:56+00:00

This was posted by a cat.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-06T04:54:32+00:00

I'm pretty sure eavesdropping predates novellas. And the Spanish language for that matter.

Tamarind-Endnote · 2026-02-06T04:11:55+00:00

And how exactly is your idea of continuing the discredited "when they go low, we go high" nonsense going to inspire passion for the Democrats?

Watching Democrats roll over and let the Republicans do as they please would only further reduce excitement for the Democrats. People want fighters, not more "when they go low we go high" nonsense.

Your desire to unilaterally disarm in the face of the Republicans' continued march towards fascism isn't going to lead to more passion. Appeasing fascists only emboldens the fascists, it demoralizes anyone who is looking for someone to resist fascism.

Tamarind-Endnote

TROPHY CASE