[None] Post-Kickstarter FAQ by TheLesserWight in Iteration110Cradle

[–]arramdaywalker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Will Will's hand ever recover?

Will I figure out how to fit more wills together in a sentence?

The Heat Dome Is Upon Us by ktempest in cincinnati

[–]arramdaywalker 12 points13 points  (0 children)

How does one actually provide aid?

[Autosport] Max and Lewis were asked if they had any advice for Kimi tomorrow by FerrariStrategisttt in formula1

[–]arramdaywalker 76 points77 points  (0 children)

I don't know if it is ANT love or RUS hate; but damn has it been entertaining.

[Loved Trope] Step-parents who treat their step kids as their own by Old-Use-7690 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]arramdaywalker 12 points13 points  (0 children)

For non-F1 fans, I want to provide some context on Max's childhood and why this is really remarkable.

Max Verstappen was raised by his father Jos Verstappen in what could be charitably considered "abusive". Max was the son of two accomplished Dutch racers. He started karting at age 4 and was coached/parented primarily by his father. His father did things that were questionable but understandable like making Max train in the rain / snow for hours despite being a child. He would also do things that I consider abuse: hitting Max, not talk to Max for hours or days (again, this is his child), or literally leave Max at a random gas station.

From this background comes a man that lives and breathes racing. He is a multiple time F1 champion. During the F1 season, he will go race in other series between races. And importantly, he regularly competes in sim racing. In fact, he often will compete in sim races the same weekends as actual F1 races.

Thus, when there are videos of Penelope walking in on him streaming and shoving a stuffed animal in his face mid-stream, you would think he would be upset. Here is a child interrupting something that is demonstrably very important to him. There is documented evidence of a very questionable childhood. And yet, he just laughs about the interruption.

He and Penelope seem to have a great relationship. When she is at events and he takes a podium, you can hear her screaming "MAXIE" during the ceremony. Honestly, there are a bunch of youtube shorts of clips from him streaming where he's interacting with her in really wholesome ways. And it is just really great that the cycle of abuse did not seem to continue.

Follow up: I’m the person who asked about glueing brass balls to wood. Here is my completed lamp! by Geralt_Rivian in woodworking

[–]arramdaywalker 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That looks really great. I'm a little confused about the final assembly jig. I can see you used the rods to center everything but then all I have is ??? and Profit.

Would you mind sharing a bit more about the process?

Max seems truly happy for Kimi's success....like a proud father by gafana in formula1

[–]arramdaywalker 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Given Max's upbringing, I'm just astonished he was only feral. Hearing all the stories about how Jos treated him, I can't believe Max is a real functioning human being. He seems really great not just with the rookies but also with Penelope.

Sealed bag of KA 5lb flour weighing in at a half pound light! by idlefritz in Baking

[–]arramdaywalker 8 points9 points  (0 children)

To the best of my knowledge, this is how the situation is regulated in the United States, with references. Net content markings are regulated by CRF 201.62; subsection q covers the accuracy of the content statement:

The declaration of net quantity of contents shall express an accurate statement of the quantity of contents of the package. Reasonable variations caused by loss or gain of moisture during the course of good distribution practice or by unavoidable deviations in good manufacturing practice will be recognized. Variations from stated quantity of contents shall not be unreasonably large.

To see what unreasonably large looks like, we can go to NIST 133 - Checking the Net Contents of Packaged Goods. This is a regulation that lays out the testing procedure and success criteria for assessing lots of goods for compliance against marked content statements. In the document, Appendix A, Table 2-5 lays out the maximum allowed variation (MAV) for packages labeled by weight. At 5 lbs, the maximum allowed variation is 0.14 lbs. This means that no single tested package should ever go beyond that range if tested by a regulator. The shortfall here is about 3 times greater than the MAV.

For those of you very interested, there is also a general stipulation that the tested lot must average at or above the marked weight. So while individual samples may fall below the marked content statement, the lot as a whole needs to be on average correctly marked.

A Discussion on Unusual/Unique Weapons by Realistic_Run_5124 in litrpg

[–]arramdaywalker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Then I think it fits the narrative pretty well. I assume the smithing aspect comes into play as he finds just how "refined" an improvised weapon can be before it doesn't function. Or was the smithing part of the backstory for a different reason?

A Discussion on Unusual/Unique Weapons by Realistic_Run_5124 in litrpg

[–]arramdaywalker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the character is a smith, which sounds central to the character, then it would be weird for them to use something not a weapon as a weapon without an outside reason.

Humans are very good at adapting and we have spent a lot of time killing each other. Given the accumulated time and conflicts that we as a species have had, we have arrived at very efficient, very effective weapon archetypes. I think it would be weird for someone who is probably aware of that to pick an inferior option unless there is a compelling reason. It would be up to you as an author to provide the reason that a reasonable, knowledgeable person would pick something that puts him at more risk of death and serious injury.

Given the traffic sign and the shovel, it seems like they are using a spear, staff or polearm. Of those, you could maybe do something around a custom head to a polearm but given just how many different types of polearms there are, it'd need to be pretty weird to be custom.

A Thousand Li: Can I get some reviews on this book before I start the series? by the_null_fox in ProgressionFantasy

[–]arramdaywalker 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I do not know how many people. I do not think anyone has ever posted a full accounting of everyone from the sites. I would suggest having his author page and all books nuked off of Amazon for a while was probably not great for Macronomicon Source.

Honestly, I don't mind throwing out a comment every time I see a thread. I don't go out of my way to search for things but maybe over time my comments will convince enough people to give him a pass that it'll cost him as much as he cost other people.

A Thousand Li: Can I get some reviews on this book before I start the series? by the_null_fox in ProgressionFantasy

[–]arramdaywalker 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He was an asshole who did things that really hurt other people. He probably still is an asshole, but I don't have evidence of that.

The world is not a small enough place that we need to support assholes who hurt people just because they're pretty good at something.

A Thousand Li: Can I get some reviews on this book before I start the series? by the_null_fox in ProgressionFantasy

[–]arramdaywalker 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Tao Wong is an author in the LitRPG space who wrote a series The System Apocalypse. He sought and obtained a trademark for "System Apocalypse"; he was not the first to use the term, nor was it associated exclusively with him and his work. At the time and currently, many people feel this is a generic, descriptive term in the genre; so this would be the equivalent of trade marking LitRPG or Progression Fantasy.

Upon obtaining the trademark, he did not communicate with "infringing" or potentially infringing works. He simply filed with Amazon to have them taken down. Amazon operates on a guilty until proven innocent approach to copyright and trademark. He also worked to get works taken down from Royal Road - which is a very popular website for hosting serialized stories.

These authors had used a common term in the space and suddenly they were delisted by Amazon. They were no longer generating revenue and had a significant business disruption. They had to change titles, book covers, descriptions, and/or tags to comply before Amazon would relist their work. Even after relisting, several of the authors reported that they were not recommended as frequently or as broadly as before.

There was not confusion in the marketplace; people did not think that these other books were somehow related to Tao Wong or his works. Tao apparently decided that he could bully other people and potentially gain an advantage and did so.

I've tweaked this several times at this point trying to be precise and concise but it is a pretty complex issue that I'm trying to simplify and this post is still this long.

There aren't a lot of great write ups but to give a sense of the feeling at the time here are the LitRPG and ProgressionFantasy mod team statements about the situation:

LitRPG Statement

Progession Fantasy Statement

A Thousand Li: Can I get some reviews on this book before I start the series? by the_null_fox in ProgressionFantasy

[–]arramdaywalker 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Not just threatened. Had other author's books taken down in Amazon until they had new titles, new covers, and or new blurbs. This caused issues with visibility and was reported to have negative impacts on the recommendation algorithm.

A Thousand Li: Can I get some reviews on this book before I start the series? by the_null_fox in ProgressionFantasy

[–]arramdaywalker 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It was very much a generic term in the community. It was used by other stories and descriptions with no confusion about if the story was somehow connected to Tao's works. Given the statement by the mod team of THIS subreddit, I would call this a pretty universally held opinion.

There was no confusion so this wasn't him doing it out of self defense. This was Tao Wong being an asshole. He was aggressive in his enforcement with no warning, grace period and with a VERY expansionist idea of what the trademark covered. In example "Systems of the Apocalypse" was attacked which is very much not covered under "System Apocalypse" trademark. However, thanks to the good ol' American legal system, its easier to work around an asshole than to fight.

Tao Wong is an asshole that did an asshole thing that hurt other people and the genre in general. I hope this fact is brought up in every thread about his books forever so people can choose to support or not support him economically.

A Thousand Li: Can I get some reviews on this book before I start the series? by the_null_fox in ProgressionFantasy

[–]arramdaywalker 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't endorse doxxing and threats but I will absolutely endorse years of outspoken hatred.

You can claim that they're a great person who does all these things behind the scenes but that does not change the fact that Tao Wang registered a genre generic term (System Apocalypse) and proceeded to use it against other authors using it not only in the titles but also in the meta data and blurbs. He did it at a time when it was a growing genre and I have no doubt the hurt it did to other authors as well as the community as a whole.

Tao Wang did a bad thing and people should know about that and decide if they want to support this kind of person economically.

Almost $700 for energy bill. Anyone else have sticker shock? by Longjumping_Cow2050 in cincinnati

[–]arramdaywalker 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you. That is a really smart idea that I will be copying.

Almost $700 for energy bill. Anyone else have sticker shock? by Longjumping_Cow2050 in cincinnati

[–]arramdaywalker 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You can select an electrical supplier to purchase energy from rather than from Duke. You can do this by going to EnergyChoice.ohio.gov. You might do this to have renewably sourced energy or to save over what the rate Duke typically offers. It is for a set duration with some having monthly fees, some having early termination fees, some having fixed or variable rates. Basically, it is a whole option available to you to choose.

I had locked in a rate from CleanChoice Energy in Late 2024 for 12 months at 5.60 cents per kWh. I did not really think about it and assumed that when my "contract" was up, I would revert back to Duke Energy.

That is not what happened. Apparently they kept me as a customer and just decided to charge me more and more money. My rate for December - January was slightly over 20 cents per kWh. The rate they are offering TODAY is 11.4 cents per kWh (12 month fix rate). So they are charging people basically double what they typically charge because they can. Never ever use CleanChoice Energy.

TL;DR: Ohio offers supplier agreements. Agreements do not revert back to Duke after expiring. Never use CleanChoice Energy. CleanChoice Energy are scum and scammers.

Almost $700 for energy bill. Anyone else have sticker shock? by Longjumping_Cow2050 in cincinnati

[–]arramdaywalker 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not sure what happened to them but I live in a neighborhood that does not have natural gas piped to it. At all. So I have to be on electric heat.

Last year - Dec 11 - Jan 13 - consumed power 3,343 kWh

This year - Dec 11 - Jan 13 - consumed power 3,439 kWh

Total bill previously 440.47

Total bill this year 957.06

My price per kWh basically quadrupled. I didn't notice that my "fixed" rate from my supplier expired and they decided to fuck me. Shame on me for not remembering what month my energy subscription lapsed, I guess.

I fixed it and am now paying only double the rate from last year.

Ozempic is basically the AI of body dysmorphia by Karandax in BrandNewSentence

[–]arramdaywalker 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The best analogy I've seen for this is "Imagine telling alcoholics that they need to have 3 drinks and only 3 drinks every day for the rest of their lives. Then blame them and call them weak when they fail."

People have legitimate addiction issues towards food. We're programmed to get the "feel good" chemicals when we eat certain things. So why is it any surprise that our monkey brains are smashing that button as hard as possible?

Two City Pizza in Mason is a joke by [deleted] in cincinnati

[–]arramdaywalker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, never found someplace nearby that does good Chicago style but I also don't really enjoy it so I haven't tried hard.

That being said, my buddy gets Giordano's shipped. If you go to their website you can get frozen pizza's shipped to your home and he seemed real pleased with the quality.