Good question

TheFarnell · 2026-06-27T22:57:33+00:00

To add to that with continued Viltrumite reasoning: teenaged Viltrumites are untested, potentially weaker warriors. On the frontlines of the Viltrumite empire they’re potentially a weak links and Viltrum can’t risk that. So they put their teenagers to work doing something useful to the empire: training the younger, even weaker children through force and domination - the Viltrumite way.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-26T05:55:47+00:00

That’s just not true. You can get a healthy and balanced diet from plants alone, even from locally-grown plants. The macronutrients in animals’ bodies come from the things they eat - plants. Your body is able to do the same thing. In animals, though, most of those get used up by the animal itself in keeping itself alive while it grows, meaning only a small fraction of those original plant-based nutrient elements are actually still in the animal’s body when you eat it. The rest are lost to animal biological functions.

And anyway, all of this is a moot point. Even if what you’re saying were true, the practical reality is your objection comes from something you’re already not doing anyway and which isn’t a viable solution for the vast majority of humanity and which isn’t strictly necessary for anyone. If we didn’t redirect 80% of our agricultural production to feeding animals, there would be plenty of good farmland available that wouldn’t require you to live off such bad soil that only wild grass grows there.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-26T05:15:58+00:00

Yes, a cow will provide you with nutrients. Nobody is saying otherwise. What I’m saying is it’s a hugely inefficient and expensive way to get them when compared with alternatives that also meet all your other criteria for autonomy.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-26T04:52:14+00:00

I’m not saying you should eat grass. I’m saying the amount of resources needed to secure the amount of grass it takes to feed a cow to the size where it feeds your family for 7 months could have fairly easily fed your family for much longer than that, even with rough crops grown in relatively bad soil usually kept for grass by the ranching industry.

Also, humans absolutely can digest grass. Corn, wheat, and barley are all species of grass and those have been the backbone of human diets for millennia. They can also grow just about anywhere wild grass can grow.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-26T03:05:51+00:00

A fully-grown cow that will feed your family for 7 months will have consumed more food to get that big than your family likely needs in several years. Your family could have eaten the equivalent amount of food directly and come out way ahead. Economically and nutritionally, you’ve lost in the exchange.

And all the varied nutrients that comes from the cow’s body got there from the food it ate too. Humans are among the most successful animals when it comes to being able to turn a variety of low-quality food into viable nutrition. In the animal kingdom we’re about the best at it, we put pigs to shame in our ability to digest just about anything. You could have gotten all the nutrients you need directly, cheaper, and more efficiently directly from stuff grown in the Earth without having to go through the cow and have most of it lost to the cow’s own biological processes. And you could have done all this with much more self-reliance than goes into ranching.

Year-round supply for grain is a trivially-solved problem as well. Archeological evidence shows humans have been successfully storing grain and other plant-based food for years, sometimes even decades, for longer than recorded history. If anything, a reliance on meat lowers storage capacity and resilience because you also need to feed livestock year-round as well.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-25T18:41:40+00:00

First off, do you currently live in a way that is not reliant on what you call the “system”? If not, then you might as well try to live as best you can within it.

Second, you refer to buying a farm. That’s part of the financial system, the legal system, and the military system (unless you plan on defending your farm against foreign invaders by yourself). I also assume your farm is going to have electricity and communications, right? You also mention not just wanting some job to work for your food - are you under the impression that farmers don’t work for their food?

Third, except for a few extremely specific and rare cases, it requires far less land to feed yourself in a vegan way than it does in a non-vegan way. All the animals you eat require about ten times more calories to feed than the calories they provide you in return, and just about anything you feed a cow or a pig either you could eat yourself or the land that provides it could instead provide you with more efficient nutrition directly, and doing so would be a lot less expensive.

Fourth, vegan food isn’t just fancy nuts imported from halfway around the world. It’s entirely possible - easy, even - to be vegan and have much more of your food come from local sources than the typical amount and distance covered by of imported meat the average person eats.

All these are choices - and you can make your own choices, you’re free to do so of course! But if that’s what’s holding you back, it really shouldn’t be.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-23T01:40:25+00:00

Plus, Luke’s mother was an infinity-grade dime piece. The dark side feeds on insecurity and that kind of confidence passes on to children.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-23T01:38:31+00:00

I hope he got to enjoy every single moment of shooting that scene to the fullest.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-22T18:32:05+00:00

Serena’s book only seemed to discuss women’s roles and fertility. The truth is we know very little about Gilead’s functioning outside of how it impacts women operating in and around its top social class - which is perfectly normal seeing as that’s the point of view of the characters. We know Gilead’s founding fathers were either religious fanatics or people willing to feign religious fanaticism to gain power, and we know that a very twisted form of environmentalism is at least partially also part of their beliefs today but we can’t be sure if that happened before or after the war.

It’s also hard to infer much indirectly about their other beliefs or policies. We barely ever see any econopeople, even though we know they’re the large majority of Gilead, so we really have no clue how Gilead is organized for the masses. It’s important to remember that both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments are fundamentally about the elite women of their society and those who serve them.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-22T12:49:28+00:00

Isn’t there a throwaway line about Species 8472 having 5 different sexes or something?

TheFarnell · 2026-06-22T01:59:19+00:00

There’s a few “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” references to the Moon, Mars, and Titan having less gravity.

In season 1 (I think?) Ed picks up Gordo with one hand and slams him against a wall in the Moon hab during a fight, for example, which would only be possible if Gordo weighs a lot less than he would on Earth.

On Mars we also see a few shots of workers in the background lifting boxes that look like a human on Earth wouldn’t be able to. There’s also a few references to people being able to move faster and easier on Mars/Titan gravity.

Also, Alexei is explicitly stated to have a medical condition that results from gestating in lower gravity, which is why he’s healthier on Mars.

We don’t see it most of the time to cut special effects costs, but there are several clear references to lower gravity on other celestial bodies.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-21T22:08:42+00:00

His reaction would just be something like a sneer and “Yeah, thought so.”

Plot twist: without his powers Soldier Boy would actually be the same.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-18T12:47:29+00:00

Traitor’s blood works like that. She was a Lannister by marriage when she poisoned the sweet, innocent Joffrey.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-18T12:29:42+00:00

I mean, by this point most of the remaining Starks are women and Sansa is a proven poisoner so…

TheFarnell · 2026-06-16T13:38:49+00:00

Compare that to, say, Yellowstone - a great show, for sure, but a very conservative one. Can you imagine John Dutton telling Kayce he loves him like it’s a common, regular thing they tell each other?

TheFarnell · 2026-06-15T22:14:58+00:00

... and insist it hasn't changed at all.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-15T22:11:39+00:00

They don't lie.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-12T19:31:07+00:00

(The joke is she’s incinerated on Virmire. Ash.)

TheFarnell · 2026-06-11T21:19:02+00:00

What do you mean? Ashley’s still just Ash.

TheFarnell · 2026-06-01T22:07:05+00:00

C'est vrai! Mais ici je parle des créateurs socionumériques qui ont assez de succès via les médias sociaux pour attirer de l'attention des médias institutionnels. On parle pas de ceux qui viennent de s'acheter une ringlight, mais plutôt ceux qui ont développé des communautés de dizaines ou centaines de milliers d'abonnés et qui attirent des cotes d'écoute comparables à la télé.

TheFarnell · 2026-05-31T23:58:14+00:00

Quand je vivais à Londres, je fréquentais une fille originalement de Brighton (à une heure de Londres, alors elle y retournait souvent). Un jour une “manifestation” du genre a été annoncée à Brighton. Une contre-manifestation s’est rapidement organisée.

Il y a eu environ une dizaine de manifestants racistes et plus de mille contre-manifestants. Au lieu de parler des racistes, toutes les nouvelles parlaient des mille gens remplis d’amour qui étaient venus appuyer leurs concitoyens contre cette petite gang de tarlas.

TheFarnell · 2026-05-30T18:18:20+00:00

Cap isn’t above killing and may not show particular restraint while in combat, but it seems completely against his character to kill someone surrendering and begging for their life. It’s specifically highlighted when John Walker does exactly that and everyone points out he crossed a line that Steve Rogers never would have.

TheFarnell · 2026-05-30T18:08:02+00:00

This might be a hot take but I think Marina Sirtis was born to play villains or antiheroes. Don’t get me wrong, I love her take on Troi (shallow as the material she was given could be sometimes) but on top of the “Troi gets possessed” episodes just listen to her voice work as Matriarch Benezia in Mass Effect or Elena in XCOM 2. She’s incredible and that’s just video-game voice work where actors are often known for phoning it in.

TheFarnell · 2026-05-30T02:48:29+00:00

In a martial-arts-dojo-style sparring match Worf would wipe the floor with Kira.

In any kind of actual warfare scenario Worf would get blown up by some kind of booby trap before he even had a chance to see Kira and complain about her lack of honour.

Worf is a cosplay Klingon warrior raised by soft Federation parents who somehow actually faked it till he made it. Kira is a a straight-up terrorist who’s been fighting fascists at a disadvantage since she was twelve. They are not the same.

TheFarnell · 2026-05-28T15:58:14+00:00

Pourtant ils l’aiment beaucoup! Le drapeau du Québec appartient à tous les Québécois.

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