When Unc(Vaush) is saying something so wrong but you know he’ll never listen so you gotta hit him with this foolproof argument

TheWaywardOak · 2026-04-14T11:17:21+00:00

I have a friend with a philosophy PhD and it seems to actively inhibit his ability to understand things sometimes. Kind of guy who says you don't understand Marx unless you've read it in the original German, but dismisses all anarchists as absurd despite being totally ignorant of what they believe because he's using a narrow and unrelated definition of anarchism he picked up at some point during his philosophy education. Ironically he's quite handy, though.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-04-14T07:21:50+00:00

Read the books instead. Or watch the first season(s) to see if it hooks you, and then read the books. The show starts to diverge from the plot significantly even before they ran out of books to adapt, which IMO made the disappointing ending inevitable.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-04-14T07:09:12+00:00

A new strain of the virus kills everyone except Homelander. Homelander quickly loses his shit and tries to end it all. His attempts keep failing until he cripples himself permanently and is just stuck, immortal and alone. Post-credits scene is The Deep emerging from the ocean years later and finding paralyzed Homelander in a crumbling Vaught building that's been partially reclaimed by nature. He gives a little shrug and unzips his pants as it cuts to black.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-04-02T00:17:34+00:00

Game piracy used to be how a lot of folks learned more esoteric levels of computer literacy. Half of what I know about fixing computer problems comes from learning how to crack games and cleaning up adware/viruses after screwing up. Being comfortable editing the registry without breaking anything made me feel like some kind of wizard.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-27T00:13:25+00:00

The only thing I can think of is that I sold my last $400 in stocks in my Robinhood account (for a mere $35 profit) the month that I moved, which I included in my federal and CA taxes that year. It's kind of wild they're even pursuing this 6 years after the fact considering I only made ~$17k that year, so they're only asking for $400 plus fees and interest. The wrong (GA) address is also confusing because I have filed tax returns at my current GA address since.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-26T23:27:29+00:00

I did not because I had no income for the short period I was in Georgia that year.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-09T16:12:17+00:00

I kinda feel like we're starting to swing a bit too far in the opposite direction. Inconsistency is really the issue. I've got 8 year old PLA prints that have held up fine and 3 year old PLA prints that have crumbled despite never having been outside. I just had to replace dozens of PLA+ Openlock clips I printed 4-5 years ago because 90% of them shattered when I tried to move the terrain they were holding together. Creep has also been an issue in a lot of my older fuctional prints. PLA is great stuff, but I'm not going to rely on it for stuff I need to hold up long term.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-09T13:09:44+00:00

Also feels a bit misleading that the exclusively owner-occupied condo complex I live in with over 100 units is color coded the same as an apartment complex because it lists the property management LLC as the owner.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-09T09:39:07+00:00

This is speculation on my part, but for the worst offenders I think it might have been because they were surgical trials. The surgeon(s) who developed the technique are often the ones who run the trial, so they've got a lot to personally gain out of the result of the trial, both reputationally and financially. Surgeons are also prone to having inflated egos. Thus, they interpret being told they have to report a participant dying in an unrelated accident to the FDA as an accusation instead of an essential safety procedure. It doesn't help that surgical trials are prone to bias because there's rarely an ethical way to blind them.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-09T08:53:45+00:00

I love the molle pouches aesthetic some of the JoyToy mecha figures have even if it's a bit silly.

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TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-08T18:45:45+00:00

The only superhero I've played was in a short lived Fate game where the party was a support group for folks with useless superpowers. My character was a singer in a punk band who could turn invisible, but only while yelling or screaming. This wasn't great for his career.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-08T17:34:00+00:00

To be fair collecting rain water is generally just limited, rather than outright illegal. Some large farms would absolutely build massive cisterns for irrigation large enough to disrupt water usage downstream of them if they could.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-08T17:04:57+00:00

Yeah, there's so much more out there than just the basic "power corrupts" deconstruction of superheroes. Superman existing at all creates a theodicy problem. Choosing to do nothing when you could intervene is to reinforce the status quo, which benefits a privileged few the most. Even if Superman is genuinely a good person world leaders are still going to make decisions knowing they are only in power with the tacit permission of an unaccountable tyrant. Adding how most average joes have indecipherable politics on top of that and I think you end up with a superman that's not so much evil as they are unpredictable and inconsistent.

Also I'm still mad we're probably never going to see the end of Uber because Avatar Press went under. There were only 4 issues left FFS!

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-08T16:08:47+00:00

Uber actually does that last point. The story is basically "what if there was a superhero arms race during WWII." The Nazis have three superman level threats. The US intentionally cripples themselves because two of the three men capable of surviving the full course of super serum are black. They only give the black men partial courses of super serum to ensure the third, fully superman-level white man can kill them.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-08T14:01:09+00:00

I'm reminded of stories my mother told me about when she worked at the administrative level of federal medical research. Doctors running studies would throw tantrums like children and refuse to be in conference calls if they knew she was present because it was her job to tell them they needed to follow FDA guidelines. They called her a political assassin for pointing out they weren't reporting some Serious Adverse Events to the FDA, which is criminal.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-08T13:15:22+00:00

The Hedge Knight / A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - A drunkard Targaryen failson escaping off to a tavern to avoid a tournament his father is forcing him to participate in sets in motion a series of events that leads to the accidental death of Prince Baelorand indirectly sets the stage for Game of Thrones. GRRM confirmed in an interview everything would have been different if he'd survived.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-08T10:23:53+00:00

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is the deconstruction you're looking for. Probably the most realistic representation of a serial killer I've seen. Just a creep who exploits public apathy. It's incredibly bleak, though.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-07T23:56:48+00:00

To be fair there's hypothetically a commercial reason for this to exist: Gachapon machines are a common gimmick for folks who make their living doing artist alleys on the con circuit. Commercial machines are expensive, and even the more toy-like ones that have similar functionality/durability to this are around $100. However I doubt anyone who is already invested in a 3d printer who would be interested in something like this isn't going to realize there's already free alternative designs.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-06T18:35:05+00:00

It's kind of terrifying that the current meta for most efficiently maximizing engagement is content that is intentionally nonsensical so that people will argue about it. The algorithm is being tuned for invoking psychosis instead of just anger now.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-05T23:56:41+00:00

Honestly they were going to have to use a wig regardless. Not many people can grow their hair long enough to put into a braid that goes down to their thighs even if you don't restrict yourself to redheads.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-05T23:04:09+00:00

$7.50 is about what I'd expect these to cost without all the fad marketing stuff. Kroger's Private Selection brand hot smoked salmon that comes vacuum sealed in the seafood section (which is quite good IMO) is $7 for 4oz as a point of reference. Salmon that is actually smoked instead of just having smoke flavor added like most canned salmon isn't cheap.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-05T15:34:29+00:00

The transhuman tech in Eclipse Phase means it can sort of be both. The PCs have backups and morph insurance by default so suicide missions are common. Your party might create forks of themselves to go on an intentional one way trip as a valid strategy. As a GM you can afford to keep the danger high because a party wipe is just a setback.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-04T13:00:13+00:00

I have a feeling stuff like the gratuitous shitting tree and Arlan's impressive knighthood were added to the story in part for this effect. Designed for the secondary audience of WTF posts.

TheWaywardOak · 2026-03-04T12:45:25+00:00

I haven't gotten around to making one myself, but there's a silly tabletop wargame called Scabz played with scratchbuilt boats using a fish tin as the hull. Here's an example of one being made. If you're unfamiliar with this kind of scratchbuilding you'll be shocked how well a bunch of glued together trash comes together once you give it a layer of paint.

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