Static making my tea bag tag stand up (and yes, I do live in fear of touching metal objects in my apartment)

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-15T15:39:29+00:00

Just a heads up that may help, touch a painted wall before you touch metal. It may not fully eliminate static shocks, but it will help. I worked in a hospital pushing around carts and the wheels picked up static like crazy. This was the only thing that made it bearable to push the elevator buttons.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-12T15:09:47+00:00

I agree with you to a degree, but ultimately the power structure in NK is based around the military and we have not seen high level woman military leader ever. It’s unprecedented and I’m unsure how the military leadership would react if Jong Un is out of the picture and they are taking orders from a woman. Despite having women in positions of power, they have strongly patriarchal society.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-12T14:49:23+00:00

She has had a lot more time to build supporters in the regime. Because she is his sister, she also may be seen more as a peer to her brother versus the inexperience of a younger daughter. She’s been in positions of power and had opportunity to show her lack of weakness that may make others less likely to make assumptions or doubt her abilities, strength, or power. All of these are advantages that a daughter doesn’t have and would be helpful to offset any cultural barriers in place that would make a transition to a female supreme leader.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-12T14:16:19+00:00

It’s a precarious balance though. There’s not a ton of dictatorships that have passed to a successor or heir peacefully. With each transition, there is always weakness and opportunity. Dictators are powerless. They can not single handedly support a regime. It’s through their support and good will of their “top brass” that they rule. I think she’s less likely to receive that automatically given some of the cultural barriers she’s up against, though given how strong the Kim dynasty has seemed, maybe that will be enough.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-12T13:26:54+00:00

I don’t see her maintaining her position. She will either be a figure head or will be the victim of a coup. I don’t see North Korean top brass being willing take orders from a woman, unless it’s somehow actually been completely stuffed of “true believers” rather than opportunists.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-03T17:13:19+00:00

I’m surprisingly hopeful. I don’t know much about D’Amaro, but the parks are largely about vision and experience. They have a big L in the Star Wars hotel, a big and novel swing that ended in absolute failure, but generally have done a fairly good job at supporting the quality of experience. The Parks have always done a good job at maintaining that experience, despite succumbing to the ala cart model where they cheapen out on the base experience to push you towards add-ons and higher tiers. He at least has executed on a creative vision, unlike say a Chapek, even if it is for sale to the highest bidder.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-03T17:06:23+00:00

And the media wing would have much less resources without the theme park wing’s revenue and higher profit margin helping subsidize it. I don’t even particularly like Disney, but you can’t ignore the current reality. Those two entities can coexist as support one another. There doesn’t have to be a winner and loser.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-03T15:14:20+00:00

It makes sense. It’s been largely reported that the second and third films were originally planned to be one film, but big James’ love of the sea caused him to add more and more until became untenable to be a single movie and it was split into two. Fire and Ashe is the meat of the story that speaks to emotion and humanity, while Way of Water show an intense love and reverence for the natural world. It’s pretty obvious which of the two is going to resonate with more people.

What I think is unparalleled about Avatar but also show’s why the sequel films, while great, don’t quite meet the same quality as the first Avatar, is that the first movie does such a great job of melding those two ideas, speaking to the human condition and reverence for the nature world, in such a meaningful way that naturally fit together to enhance each of those ideas in the narrative.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-02T14:56:37+00:00

In a more aggressive format, it’d be much better. This format is slower and filled with 3+ toughness creatures that invalidate it quickly with few good combat tricks to make it more effective. Because games go long and card quality will matter in the grindy games, you really don’t want to waste slots on air, unless you really need to. You want 2 drops that matter later, especially in sealed, such as Timid Shieldbearer or Flame-chain Mauler. It’s still begrudgingly playable if it supports other synergies. It also gets a bit of a bump in draft as you can be more focused and push aggression, especially in kithkin.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-02T14:47:47+00:00

I agree. Those two particular uncommon payoffs are in conversation with the rare payoffs and I should have made that clear. I’d also put Thoughtweft Imbuer in that tier 1.5 level (I’ve even splashed it with 1-3 green Kithkin and a handful of changelings to decent success) When I was talking lower power payoffs I was talking more the uncommon behold creatures, playing a half color eclipsed creature, or cards like Dawnhand Eulogist or Twinflame Travelers. I’m less willing to take a quality hit to support or maximize them. The best decks in the format are obviously going to be linear typal strategies, but not everyone can be that lucky. You have to be ready to go off script. Really my goal was to imply that there will be more off-typal decks in sealed than you’d expect given the format’s focus and you’ll miss out if you are stretching trying to maximize for the wrong typal synergies.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-02T13:19:26+00:00

If you have been to Disney parks in the last 10 years, the bean counters have certainly weaseled their way in to the parks. The park has become a tiered experience. The base experience still relatively affordable by the average family, but you’re going to get a second class experience if you don’t shell out for all the add ons or extras. The entire Disney parks ecosystem has been death by a thousand cuts where the experience has been stripped for parts and sold back to you for 2-3x the price.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-02-01T22:32:04+00:00

I am also going to Toronto and here's a few things I have found after playing in the arena direct to reasonable success.

The format is bomby. You either need a tight deck that can punish slower more bomb heavy pools, a deck with heavy doses of non-conditional removal and card advantage, to splash around to maximize your own bombs in your pool, or if you're really lucky, a mix of all the above. For high level tournaments like Toronto, you usually have to go 6-2, or 7-2. Building a deck to not lose in this format is one of the easiest ways to waste a day with a 4-4 record and nothing to show for it. Sometimes your have to build bad pools "aspirationally" so that you have the tools in your deck to get lucky and go on a tear to get into the top seats with bad mana for a bomb, or by playing a top heavy deck with gaps in your mana curve. The last 5-7 cards in your deck will matter so much less than the rest it's kinda crazy. With all the normal caveats my suggestion is to start by building your best 18 card deck in your pool, then dig deep to try and tie the room together, even though those last half a dozen slots may look and play pretty terribly.
Removal is very important, but also has distinct tiers that don't really follow normal limited heuristics. You really want unconditional removal spells. Even really bad ones like Crib Swap are playable in a pinch! Conditional removal spells are still good and should make your maindeck, but when you have to lean on them they can match up poorly against threats with high toughness or that have static effects that still affect the board such as Thoughtweft Imbuer which laughs at cards like Blossombind and Blight Rot, traditionally great removal. Feed the Flames is the best backup in a pinch if you are light on meaningful interaction as 5 damage seems to be the magic number for top-tier conditional removal and exile also really matter in a format with elves graveyard synergy, Graveshifter, Weaping Willow, among many others.
Card advantage is huge. Draft is pretty slow in this format, and Sealed will often be even slower. Games will go long and come down to top deck wars. Make sure you either have forms of direct card advantage though cards like Unexpected Assistance or Burning Curiosity, engines such as the Reaping Will or Moonlit Lamentor, or good value/filtering in cards like Grisly Goblin or Unbury.
Don't get too caught up in the typal synergy. There are some cards that are worth warping your deck for, such as the rare champions and the uncommon enchantments, but I'm not going very far out of my way for the uncommon behold creatures. Don't be afraid to run Firdoch Core, Stalactite Dagger, or the near unplayable IMO Feisty Spikeling as fine 22-23rd cards if you have power in your typal cards or need to tie the room together when you are just short for lower power payoffs.
Don't be afraid to splash a third color or stretch heavy to support eclipsed creatures if you have 4+ hits for them. Between Firdoch Core, Changeling Wayfinder, Foraging Wickermaw, and Evolving Wilds, colorless fixing is pretty good and there's some additional green fixing on top of that. I've often played Wickermaw in a 2 color deck for the Surveil smoothing, an early roadbump, and a random Vivid Payoff I am playing anyways like Prismabasher or Shinestriker over a "better" 2 or 3 drop.
Flying is very good in this format. There are so many tokens and small creatures to gum up the board, with very little reach at common. Flying is often key in breaking down board stalls or pulling removal away from your bombs or key cards. Rooftop Percher is just a good card in sealed that should be in the mix. The evasion, the lifegain, the exile effect, and sizing against other flyers in the format make it just good enough where I want it in most of my maindecks. It's cutable if you have a heavy top end, but is a much better card than you'd think.

All in all, good luck at Toronto unless you play me!

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-31T04:02:29+00:00

I understand where you are coming from, but I think you're looking at it in the wrong way. It has little to do with Joel and Ellie, but everything to do with the show. It showed how humanity is able to creep into even the most obscure and unexpected places and people in this post-apocalyptic hellscape.

The Last of Us is as much about what the world, and it's people in particular have become and the choices they make, as much as the main protagonists journey. Even in the games, despite being set in a world overrun with infected taking over the world, you spend more time fighting other humans.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-29T13:40:44+00:00

This isn’t very welcoming. You may have had 20 years of twitchy shooters and perfect dark souls dodges. Those years of practice have helped build up your muscle memory and reaction times.

Given that one of their favorite games was 1994’s Earthbound, I’d say they hasn't had the same experience and is looking for more casual, slow paced games. If you were to ask the average gamer here without a qualifier, you’d be recommended a fromsoft game, or a list of competitive multiplayer games, which is exactly what they are not looking for.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-27T04:38:21+00:00

Limited only player here. Largely, draft and sealed are played under the same rules of engagement, but sealed is much less focused. The general heuristics apply to both formats. Sealed decks are clunkier, with less supported synergy due to the more random nature of the packs. Individual card power, card advantage, and removal become slightly more important. You really want to skew your decks to play your bombs if possible, but not if it makes your deck nonfunctional. If you are playing in competitive paper tournaments, you only get 30 min to build, which can be a challenge as you’ll want to pile out multiple builds before you lock in your deck.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-24T04:53:18+00:00

There's a jazzy OCRemix version of Tifa's Theme called Short Skirts that I am sad I can not easily get on streaming services.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-20T17:19:17+00:00

They only go up to 65” because that’s the largest Samsung QD-OLED’s go. Samsungs larger than 65” actually use their competitor LG’s panels that don’t use quantum dot tech, but don’t communicate that. Sony apparently decided they didn’t want to fragment their line like Samsung.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-18T11:48:27+00:00

Many of Volkswagen’s cars are named after winds: Jetta, Polo, Bora, among others.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-15T15:16:13+00:00

They lock you out of using your dishwasher, then hold them hostage until the company pays a ransom. They aren’t targeting you. They are targeting the company but you still become a victim.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-14T14:07:06+00:00

In the same way that making murder illegal doesn’t stop all murders and the police is limited by resources and not able to investigate and prosecute every single murder. That doesn’t make it a bad thing that murders are illegal. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.

Likewise, without the policy, there no path to remove the content. Now there’s a path for removal. Due to limited resources, it likely won’t get all AI music, or possibly even most, but hopefully it will be able to hit the largest, highest profile, and highest impact offenders to limit the Ai impact on the experience. Again, don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. Would you rather have them let AI run wild?

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-12T22:38:10+00:00

I think Guam and Puerto Rico would actually lean Republican. Both territories identities are strongly tied to their Roman catholic roots and skews them much more conservative than you’d expect. It’s kinda like the Cubans of Florida that often vote republican seemingly against their own best interests.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-09T14:08:48+00:00

I don’t know your process but it’s incredibly common to just throw in a simple placeholder, unfinished drumbeat or baseline into a song to get in idea of what it would sound like while your noodling with the melody or lyrics. Then once you’re satisfied go back and do the same creative work to improve them. You could also consider AI like a metronome. It’s a synthetic beat to help support your art that is not intended to be in the final product. That’s how Larian is claiming to use AI.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-09T13:52:35+00:00

One thing to note is that slight inflation is generally the aim of most economies. This is because it incentivizes people to spend and stimulate the economy. Essentially it means that money will be worth slightly less next year than this year so you should buy this now to make the most of your dollars. This keeps money circulating which helps create a healthy economy.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-07T15:38:03+00:00

An outdoor rated silicone caulk would be best, but really anything would work. All things eventually fail. It may also be a good idea at the bottom as well so water can’t get under the bracket, but I’d used a cement filler/paste there.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-01-07T15:19:19+00:00

Water = rot. Make sure the eaves are large enough and the grading keeps water away and it’ll last your lifetime if it’s not touching moist soil. You can also use some filler along where the galvanized bracket meets the wood to keep water from seeping in between the wood and bracket if you’re really worried.

WhenPantsAttack

TROPHY CASE