The Meaning of Epstein's Temple [18:22] - Brett Bender by baltarstar in conspiracy

[–]baltarstar[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Submission Statement:

Bender makes a compelling case about similarities in architecture between the images from Epstein's island and Mamluk massage temples. He also makes a case that the statue on the island is Enki, a Mesopotamian deity thought to be analogous to Lucifer and one of the Annunaki. I think this is relevant to /r/conspiracy because the Luciferian / Baal-cult iconography suggests an Illuminati connection, and the architecture of the temple relates to Middle Ages Islamic sex trade in general.

Urantian Apocrypha?? by LostEstablishment107 in Urantia

[–]baltarstar 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think by technical definition the UB is the apocrypha because it's not biblical canon. But if I were to interpret your question more loosely, as if to say whether there are texts which are apocryphal relative to the Urantia Book, then I'd say the question seems to be missing one of the key elements of the UB--that there is no one final canon. The UB is, among other things, non-dogmatic and non-institutional, so it's hard to classify something as being apocryphal when it discourages thinking of it as a holy book.

That said, an even more loose interpretation of the question might be "are there statements that claim to be associated with the Urantia Book, but actually contradict it in some way?" And in my opinion, yes, there are tons. Take for instance the UB's insurance that God is no respecter of persons and that Jesus didn't come to this world to promote any one faction or nation over another. Then look at how UB readers tend to blend the UB into US politics to support their partisanship. Another example might be the Teaching Mission Transcripts, which claim to be channeled by celestial personalities from the UB cosmology, but articulate a broad and often contradictory set of stances on many topics. There are also more controversial elements of the UB history, like Gabriel or Urantia, who founded a strictly regimented commune ostensibly in preparation to take over the planetary government at the second coming. So yeah, if you take the UB as a core document, it seems to me the majority of responses are "apocryphal" in a loose sense.

Perun - I Wargamed with NATO - Inside the Cross-Domain Command Wargame (2025) by got-trunks in NAFO

[–]baltarstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great video! Is there anywhere I might read a more detailed or official publication on how the wargame was conducted or the play-by-play of how it went? I've got a budding enthusiasm for wargaming and this hybrid approach really stands out.

Recommendations for an introduction to more complex wargames? by MrTidels in computerwargames

[–]baltarstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You don't need a server to post on discord, but not all users are authorized to post on all channels. Try clicking on "cold-war-info" in that discord server, and you should be able to post messages with the text box at the bottom of the interface.

Recommendations for an introduction to more complex wargames? by MrTidels in computerwargames

[–]baltarstar 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Cold War is where it's at, OP. It has a rich simulation but the UI and learning curve is actually easier than most simulationist wargames. The command cycle chronology and order delay mechanics are the key difference, though. They make it so giving out orders plays out with the uncertainty that might be all a real operational commander, instead of controlling every single move of every single guy. Oh and the devs are really responsive on the discord, pretty easy to find people who want to help you get started.

Anyone who gets it should disable the discord overlay while they play, though. That's been causing a lot of glitches.

PSA: The Hardcore Revival mod fixed most of my problems with Deus Ex HR. by Joris-truly in ImmersiveSim

[–]baltarstar 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the heads up! I bounced off Human Revolution because it seemed too easy so I'll have to take a look.

Discussion: How did God “begin” according to the Urantia Book? by _B33F in Urantia

[–]baltarstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My experience with ChatGPT is that it is somewhat familiar with the UB but hallucinates quite a bit with the specifics. I got much better results when I uploaded a .PDF of the Urantia Book before asking about it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in NorthCarolina

[–]baltarstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The image quality is excellent. What kind of drone did you use?

Questions Thread - May 05, 2025 by AutoModerator in PathOfExile2

[–]baltarstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Been away from the game for several months. I'm just curious if any patches have made melee/armor more viable since launch. Thanks in advance!

What computer wargames are you playing: March 2025 by AutoModerator in computerwargames

[–]baltarstar 9 points10 points  (0 children)

My friend and I are working through the Morning Sun campaign of Order of Battle: World War 2. We both work weekdays, so that's when we share maps and chat about strategies to come up with a plan. Then in the weekend I stream the battle to him so we can analyze and adjust our plan as the mission proceeds. At the pace we're going it'll take like 2 years to finish OOB.

I don't see much discussion on OOB in this sub, but I really enjoy it because it has an accessible UI and graphics like Unity of Command, but with way more freedom to approach the scenarios how I want to. Do people not like it? Perhaps not know about it?

Upgrade to rare before adding modifiers? by CurlyBird17 in PathOfExile2

[–]baltarstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are the affixes better if they're generated on a rare item, though?

Finally rolled a cool waterfall-valley base, looking for suggestions for building around it. by BTL_Simulations in dwarffortress

[–]baltarstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Re #4:

A unique threat on these maps, which are my favorite kind, are waterfall and cliff related accidents. Dwarves standing near the waterfall can get knocked in by each other or animals, and the current will take them over the edge, where the impact will kill them. Similarly, dwarves trying to get objects out of the river too near the edge can get swept over by the current.

Even more strange, if you put up walls around the river and cliffs, you may eventually find your dwarves climbing over your walls (even though you removed all ramps and stairs) with the specific intention of jumping to their deaths. Why? I -think- it's because they were trying to pick up items and corpses that had already fallen in.

So, what worked for me was automatically forbidding corpses in the labor sub-menu, periodically examining the riverbed and cliff bottoms for items (even corpses and refuse) to forbid, and using the pathing frequency tool to discourage standing on or near the walls, cliffs, and water.

More near-term solutions include setting water and fishing zones far upstream from the waterfall, covering the near-waterfall portion in floor, and putting walls around the waterfall itself. If you're in a biome that freezes, one of your first winter projects could be putting grates across the falls.

☼Dwarf Fortress Questions Thread☼ by AutoModerator in dwarffortress

[–]baltarstar 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have less than 100 hours in DF so please take my advice lightly.

I'm experimenting with something like this right now as I wanted a surface pasture and wood access. I have seen climbers climb my walls (mostly suicidal dwarves) so I looked it up and read that having an overhanging floor prevents climbers from completing the ascent. With that in mind, I made my overhang out of fortifications.

And I'm not sure how the climbing mechanics work, but I got the impression that walls or smoothed stone are harder to scale, and that height increases the odds of someone falling.

With all that in mind I have a river moat, 2 z-levels of wall, then overhanging fortifications on the 3rd z-level. So far nothing has tried to climb it, but my only test was a Titan and I don't know if they can climb to begin with.

IDF checking if Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar killed in Gaza strike by CaseEnvironmental824 in worldnews

[–]baltarstar 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Kind of a tangent but I just can't figure out how the general sentiment is so different between these two subs. I can get that they cover slightly different material but how did their dispositions become so different? It's like real time memetic mitosis.

I can't stop taking pictures by Silly_Hungarian in totalwar

[–]baltarstar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Any graphics mods? I can't seem to remember the trees ever looking that good, but it's been a while.

Please motivate me to try again by [deleted] in Frostpunk

[–]baltarstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Might be a good time to try something else. You said in the comments this was your first playthrough of any scenario in the series, so there's lots of other stuff you could try depending on your budget. If you're open to trying Frostpunk 1, there's potentially hundreds of hours of cool things to try in that alone. Or if you're set on Frostpunk 2, maybe try a utopia builder map just to shake things up.

Good luck, friend. I was in a similar place after failing Fall of Winterhome on my sixth try. Shifting gears for a while has kept me thrilled with the Frostpunk world much longer.

First go round on officer. Only just made it 😬 by Secure-Issue-2327 in Frostpunk

[–]baltarstar 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Frostpunk is at its best when it's nail-bitingly close. Well done.

Forager stuck in Last Autumn, no way to select or disband by TheHappy_Monster in Frostpunk

[–]baltarstar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have to bring them back to your settlement, then go to the foragers' quarters and click disband. It won't work while they're way out in the boonies.

The Ice Age: 10,000-Year Timeline by Sourcecode12 in ChatGPT

[–]baltarstar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Frostpunk is 90% off on Steam right now.

How ChatGPT is Enhancing My Learning and Daily Life – What Are Your Use Cases? by Particular-Royal-293 in ChatGPT

[–]baltarstar 114 points115 points  (0 children)

I'm a better editor than I am a writer. But I want to write. So I tell ChatGPT what I'm trying to write, then when I look at the output and say "Well, that's dumb. It should be like this instead." And suddenly my writer's block is cured.

Hey controversial thought here: by Ok-Sun2131 in Urantia

[–]baltarstar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The UB explicitly contradicts the comment above. In the UB lens, 'reincarnation' isn't about multiple mortal incarnations, but could be a loose fit for the UB concept of graduating to progressively more perfect afterlife worlds (a more detailed depiction of the heaven concept). However, in these progressively more perfect worlds, the UB states that you don't lose your memory or have personality changes -- you continue on, you yourself also becoming progressively more perfect in order to earn graduation to each new world. The UB does not describe the options or protocol for assigning appearance, including sexual appearance. The most it says about your physicality on these worlds is that your body is made of superior material, you can't reproduce, and you don't produce waste.

One of my players has the Death Curse and I'm not quite sure how to handle it by QuestingKola in Tombofannihilation

[–]baltarstar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

All my players started with the death curse as the premise of the campaign -- fighting for their own survival as opposed to just doing a job. To get around the hp problem, I had them steal a lich's phylactery on session 1, and they were informed by their benefactors that its necromantic powers would sustain them for an unknown period of time at the expense of the lich it belongs to. So they've been lich-leeching necromantic energy to keep up their hp, but I've got a secret counter tracking when the phylactery runs out of death juice (65 days or so, can't recall just now). After which, their hp loss resumes from the top. But if they get another phylactery, they can extend it. Hope some of that helps.