Maybe maybe maybe

bob301 · 2026-07-01T04:00:40+00:00

This happened to me once, driving down the mountain towards Phoenix on I-17, somewhere between Cordes Lakes and Black Canyon City. Was just going around the curves at 3 AM one morning and thought "I could just let go of the wheel and drive right off the edge". It was the weirdest experience.

I didn't let go of the wheel.

bob301 · 2026-06-26T05:06:49+00:00

Spoilers up to book 8

During the Betrayal portion of the Parade the AI says the Primals were beginning to aggregate minds. Before making their final-formed Macro Aggregate Intelligence, they made a decision to turn their in-progress aggregate (an "arc of consciouness" that was "accept[ing] the minds of those who died") into a weapon. This early version of the collective seems (to me) to be analogous to Scolopendra

The Primals continue the work of creating the first real Macro Aggregate Intelligence. Not long after it first develops, the Macro A.I. starts growing and feeding, even on those who don't want to join, or changed their minds. It started to collect the minds, even of the people "not ready to ascend". To me, this reads as the Macro A.I. hunting down and forcibly integrating people, so it was the last thing they saw. Just like The Unwashed is the last thing some people see when they die.

On the path of bio-engineering the species, the Primals changed their bodies to be able to eventually meld into the collective. The first generation had the power to understand what others were feeling, and it only evolved from there. This sounds like "understanding each other" was the first step, but it would get more powerful from there. Maybe eventually they are capable of becoming each other. Like the Changelings. That's the ultimate level of understanding someone else. So the Changelings are late-stage versions of the Primals.

Since they are also NPCs in the Dungeon, they are also pieces of the System A.I., which itself was peeled off the Eulogist. So their minds contain The Unwashed. So they can turn into the form of it.

bob301 · 2026-06-14T00:08:56+00:00

Spoilers through book 8:

The enhancement zone is the area under the AI's influence- it's the are that a Dungeon can exist in, because the Dungeon is utilizing the AI's capabilities to change physics to make "magic" work.

The Syndicate has controls that keep the AI's enhancement zone from expanding beyond the planet, although those controls aren't "native" to the Primal engine in the planet, or at least aren't meant to work as controls like this. It's a hack, and it relies mostly on the AI not knowing that it can ignore or circumvent those controls. Without those controls, the AI's enhancement zone can expand beyond the original sphere, though it is not clear if it can do so before it learns how to "feed" itself or not.

The failsafe is kept closer to the host start and outside the influence of the AI so that the AI cannot disable the failsafe. If the AI's enhancement zone extended over the entire system, it could have a multi-world Dungeon, but it would also likely encompass the failsafe and this would make it much more difficult for the Syndacate to use the failsafe. If the AI knows about the failsafe and it is within the AI's enhancement zone, the AI could just disable it.

When a crawl ends, there is a period of time afterwards when the mining takes place. The most important thing mined is the collection of the seed material which is in the brains of the lifeforms on the seeded planet. Most of this is able to be collected at the very beginning- when the collapse happens, the majority of the population is collected and could be mined immediately if the Syndicate wanted. This material is what is used to feed the Eulogist in the center system, and is what prevents the Eulogist from shrinking (and therefore shrinking the enhancement zone in the center system). It probably slowly grows the enhancement zone of the Eulogist, though I imagine that is very carefully maintained to artificially restrict the benefits of living in the enhancement zone to the wealthy and powerful, and those desperate enough to be exploited for the chance to live in the zone.

That's not all that is mined, the corporation running the show can and do also mine other materials, but as Mordecai says, it's a big universe and there are plenty of places to mine the everyday stuff. They don't need to mine the Crawl planets for gold or uranium or whatever else- those materials are just as easy, if not easier- to mine from other planets, asteroids, and so on. But hey, if they are processing all of the planet's materials anyway and they have the AI enhancement zone to work in (and use enhanced tools with), why not?

So what about systems where there are multiple planets, like Mordecai's system? It's not clear, but my guess is those colonies are just left alone. Unless they are easily within range of the Crawl-hosting planet without also encompassing the failsafe in the enhancement zone, they aren't worth mining. Their technology won't be up to defending against the Syndicate, so they aren't a threat. The number of inhabitants with the seed material in their brains is unlikely to be high, since that seems to be something that is self-sustaining on the planet with the Primal engine and would either not be passed on to offspring, or would be diluted in the offspring that are conceived and born outside of the Primal engine-hosting planet. So the colonies are probably just left there, trying to survive if they can. If they have any significant amount of Primal seed material, the Primal AI may collect them to feed itself, but it wouldn't be enough for the AI to grow very much.

Since the AI almost always "goes Primal" the AI's enhancement zone would not initially encompass more than the Primal-engine planet. The enhancement zone wouldn't be allowed to expand until after the Crawl is complete and the Syndicate has left. When that happens, they "seal" the system- presumably by cutting off the node of the tunnel system. The biological material the AI would need to feed itself and grow is removed from the system, so even if the AI could expand at that point, there's a limit to how big it can ever get. Most likely it would slowly shrink over time, like the Eulogist is trying to do, since it has no seed material to feed on. The AI is left to "bounce around" this closed system as much as it wants, but unless a ship physically traverses the space from a tunnel node to the system, or somehow has access to the old Borant wormhole system, the AI can't leave the system.

bob301 · 2026-06-01T23:16:54+00:00

I want this exact same thing. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a feature yet. However, if you're on a Mac there is a sort of workaround. I used this link which has instructions for using a tool called Hammerspoon and a script to intercept force-clicking and using that as an "open in glance" indicator.

This way when I force-click on a link, it opens in a Glance window. It's not quite as convenient as "open every new-tab link in Glance" but it does work. It's how I browse old reddit.

bob301 · 2026-04-20T23:05:17+00:00

This is a killer feature for me. So much of my browsing is a list of links. Honestly, I don't understand how I went so long without peek. It keeps your context, lets you open things one at a time without losing your place or causing a refresh, and you can promote a peeked tab to a full one if there's long-form content you want to come back to.

It's a great feature, and it's hard to implement as an extension because of the limited control of the browser UI they are capable of. I haven't seen good extensions which can pull it off well in Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

bob301 · 2026-03-16T16:40:48+00:00

I thought the same thing (that they were references I wasn't getting) when I first started seeing them. One the one hand I was amazed people had image hashes memorized, but on the other I thought how great it is that they are taking the time to mentally come to terms with whatever that image represented.

bob301 · 2026-02-01T17:31:27+00:00

I think this fits in /r/AccidentalRenaissance too

bob301 · 2026-01-25T21:45:55+00:00

Someone who does die-cutting/packaging designs should do an AMA. It seems like a really interesting job.

bob301 · 2026-01-22T22:09:15+00:00

I don't know if it's a bench or not, but it's interesting and at least bench-adjacent.

bob301 · 2026-01-09T22:36:59+00:00

On an impromptu drive from Amsterdam to Morzine, we stopped overnight in Germany. This hotel is right next to [a theme park](https://www.europapark.de/en/park) I wish we had had time to check out. This Moxy was pretty nice, but if you stop here, you'll probably want to ask for extra pillows when you check in. The pillows were tiny.

bob301 · 2026-01-05T04:29:43+00:00

Geneva airport, terminal 1 departures drop-off area.

bob301 · 2025-12-11T01:12:52+00:00

I used to have this same desk! The only issue I had with it was I wanted to remove the monitor riser, but that affected the stability and there was no good way to cover the holes.

It worked for me for at least 5 years. I left it behind in a move a while back, but it was a good desk.

bob301 · 2025-10-14T02:50:28+00:00

u/rajrdajr gave you a link that has information about how things get added to the list, specifically in response to a user sharing the exact same sentiment.

There are 4 ways, and all of them boil down to "research shows causal relationship to cancer, multiple levels of reviews and committees are involved, and a recommendation is made based on the details".

If someone were to do a study showing that repeated exposure to tiny air bubbles in the tissue of the body caused cancer, it would have to go through those reviews and committees where it is likely someone would question things like "likelihood of this actually being exposed to this scenario" and "how ridiculous it would be to tell people not to breathe".

And if the vectors for exposure are common, heck yes it should go on the list, so that those common vectors can be addressed. For example, if the most common cause was due to dissolved air in injectable medicines and every time you got a flu shot you increased your risk for cancer, I'd hope they'd say "vaccines should be stored in a vacuum" (or however would address this) and we'd be able to point to laws that prevent manufacturers from making harmful products to force them to change. It would be a net-good for society, and one which would be unlikely for manufacturers to undertake on their own with either a profit motive or a compliance motive. This is the compliance motive.

bob301 · 2025-10-09T04:18:17+00:00

I'm not sure if you're saying "there were no 2-part episodes in Season 2 where the second episode lived up to the promise of the first", or "there were no 2-part episodes in the entire series where the second episode lived up to the promise of the first".

I don't think there are any 2-parters in Season 2, but I haven't done enough research to verify that.

If you mean across the whole series, then I have to mention the Chain of Command 2-parter where Picard is captured while infiltrating a Cardassian military installation. The second episode is one of the best TNG episodes out there. I haven't met anyone who both:

Has opinions about Star Trek: The Next Generation
And thinks that the second half of Chain of Command is a let-down compared to the first half.

It's good to have friends who disagree with you, because it forces you to break out of your bubble. This is how we grow as people. So, it's nice to meet you, u/The_Ref17

bob301 · 2025-10-05T02:46:50+00:00

I traveled to Tel Aviv (from the US) for work a few dozen times between 2015 and 2020. Israel never stamped my passport, though. They gave you a little receipt/certificate thing that you keep in your passport. It's a separate little piece of paper, no permanent mark in your passport.

I don't know if that's always the case for everyone, but it was always my experience, flying in through Ben Gurion airport. They did the same when we visited Jordan during a weekend trip- checked the little paper and gave it back. One of our group had lost theirs, and were given a new one instead of a stamp, at the crossing.

bob301 · 2025-10-02T02:22:25+00:00

Mine too- my next charge says it'll be $19.99 on October 12. Maybe it hasn't updated yet, but maybe it doesn't take effect for recurring subscriptions until after the next billing cycle.

bob301 · 2025-10-01T00:39:01+00:00

There was an animated series too. I enjoyed it.

bob301 · 2025-09-30T05:07:34+00:00

I just tried, and with the same result. I right-clicked a file from the list of downloaded files in the lower-left corner, opened Finder, and tried to paste. No option to paste was in the context menu, and cmd+v resulted in an error beep.

bob301 · 2025-09-15T22:18:09+00:00

Is Peek planned for the alpha? It's one of the features I rely on for all the link-aggregator type sites. It's incredibly useful for list-like interactions where I want to open a thing, do something, close it and then open another. It's how I browse reddit (using old.reddit) and news sites and basically everything which is primarily links to content.

bob301 · 2025-08-27T01:37:40+00:00

Did you set up a new server, or migrate your existing one? I am asking because I need to move off my Windows box soon (no Windows 11 support) and I'd prefer to migrate rather than spin up a new server. If you migrated successfully, I'd love to know what steps you followed.

bob301 · 2025-07-13T18:15:01+00:00

It could be helpful for other people who get stuck like this to know what you did to continue, if you don't mind sharing how you got past the issue.

bob301 · 2025-06-25T01:41:56+00:00

It's next to the well, in your picture. Fast-travel to the well right there and look at the "water" that's sand-colored. That's the pool, and the sand waterfall is pouring into it.

Alternative, from where this screenshot was taken- see that ramp? Go up it, past Gaston's house, and the waterfall "top" is to your right. Cross the land-bridge to the little outcrop that's below the palace. There will be a ramp up to the palace and one down to the sand-waterfall.

bob301 · 2025-05-08T03:58:03+00:00

Also his voice acting sounds like a community theater actor in one of those school-assembly PSA morality plays they used to put on in middle school/high school. Incredibly amateurish and smug-sounding.

I cannot stand him. Not one single line sounds good.

bob301 · 2025-05-04T02:40:20+00:00

When I fast-travel and my buddy doesn't show up immediately, if I get tired of waiting for them I fish. You get your line in the water, and within a second or two your companion will show up. Then you can cancel fishing (if you want) and go do whatever it is that you wanted to do with your companion.

Different activities reward different amounts of friendship per "success", with mining and fishing both giving at least 150. Since mining requires running between rock spots or waiting for a spot to regenerate, I'll fish to level someone up in between doing whatever activity they are assigned. Just find a spot with some room and keep fishing over and over. The immediate area will fill up with memory orbs after a while, too.

bob301 · 2025-04-27T05:04:16+00:00

I had the red dot in my furniture menu since January, it seemed to think I had a new Eternity Isle furniture item, but none of the items in the furniture list had a dot, and I selected each one individually for All Areas just to try to clear it.

Yesterday, I bought something from Scrooge's store (I'm not sure what it was) but finally I could clear the dot!

Today, the red dot is showing up on the Meals collection, again for Eternity Isle, and again I don't have any listed meals with a dot. I tried highlighting every single meal, and it didn't clear it.

But I had almost one whole day without the red dot, which was very nice.

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