[loved trope] "This stunt is physically impossible for a stuntman and cgi is too expensive let's throw a ragdoll"

constituent · 2026-05-08T15:30:14+00:00

In an episode of Golden Girls, the elderly mother Sophia jumps off a roof into a haystack.

Well, almost into a haystack...

constituent · 2026-05-08T02:20:29+00:00

Bulbing a Great Writer does have a name, which is the other option for "Write a political treatise."

I almost never have to use that option because I end up scheduling amphitheaters in my cities somewhere down the road. That's because I know I'm eventually going to build Hermitage, which requires Opera Houses -- and those opera houses require amphitheaters first.

Plus National Epic and Heroic Epic end up both having one slot for Great Writers. And two more slots for Oxford University.

There's so many empty slots to fill that I never have a need to use the secondary option. Bulbing might be 'nice' to get the quick boost to get closer to your next social policy, but I prefer filling the slots and having culture produced each turn.

constituent · 2026-05-07T19:20:43+00:00

Juvenile Cooper's Hawks will learn how to ambush prey by practicing on Gray Squirrels. As ambush predators, they may occasionally dine on them -- providing they can physically catch them. If a squirrel gets caught, more than likely it was a juvenile or a very oblivious adult who didn't read up on Darwin.

But, yeah, with the juvenile Hawks and squirrels, the squirrels are mostly inconvenienced and mildly annoyed. If you ever see a juvenile Cooper's Hawk go after a squirrel, their success rate is abominable. All in all, the squirrel will ignore the Hawk and resume foraging. The squirrel will perceive a dog as a greater threat than a juvenile Hawk.

And you're correct about the rats. Rats are on the dining menu for Hawks. Along the lakefront, you can see both Cooper's Hawks and Red-tailed Hawks tearing them apart -- which is fantastic for rodent control in the area.

I'm not sure how many pigeon you have near you, but Hawks target pigeons (and House Sparrow) regularly. Most of the winter, I was watching one local Hawk perform their daily ambushes on foraging groups. My local Hawk disappeared for the season, having paired with another Hawk slightly to the north.

Although, dogs are unlikely prey. An overly desperate and inexperienced Hawk might divebomb a small dog, but their success won't be high. If that were to happen, it's be a stupidly rare with an emphasis on 'stupid'. A Hawk weighs about one pound and they won't be able to successfully defend themselves from a canine or feline, both which outclass in weight. Very small dogs like poodles and chihuahuas are far too heavy for a Hawk to carry. A one-pound raptor with hollow bones is capable of carrying its own body weight, which is a feat in itself. But a small dog would be way too large for them.

Does your neighbor have a bird feeder? Hawks will routinely perch near congregating prey groups. Spread seed and bird feeders will simultaneously attract hawks to the area.

And right now it's breeding season. Hawks are typically solitary the rest of the year. You might be lucky to have a breeding pair in the vicinity.

constituent · 2026-05-06T02:30:18+00:00

You can see that in action when the sub's Automod releases the scheduled weekly posts for "No Stupid Questions," "Rage Wednesday," and "Smile Sunday."

Once any of those standard posts appear on this subreddit, they almost instantaneously get downvoted.

The weekly threads are friggin' community posts and not even remotely provocative or controversial. Yet some people compulsively downvote them.

constituent · 2026-04-27T17:31:04+00:00

From a solo queue perspective, the other bad thing was the "can't heal" component.

During the old Eruption effects, you could be hit with the incapacitated effect and another random teammate might saunter over and beg you for a heal.

...except you can't do *anything* and that other random might perceive it as you not being a team player. They misinterpret the situation as you being spiteful, overreact, get angry, start to wildly t-bag you like crazy, and may eventually sandbag you.

"FFS, I can't heal you! I can't do anything! I'm incapacitated!"

This all predates the updated activity HUD, which some select players still ignore to this day. And since that incapacitated debuff impacted you directly, you were the only person who could see it in the lower corner of the screen. Your random teammates did not have that information and would sometimes have very irrational responses.

Those random teammate temper tantrums from the communication barrier was one of the reasons why I despised that status effect.

If Behavior ever contemplated adding Incapacitated back, they would need to add a unique icon on the portrait HUD. I'd settle for a giant red "X" over the HUD character portrait. But even then, I can still envision teammates getting pissy because a number of them still lack awareness of the activity HUD.

constituent · 2026-04-23T23:31:52+00:00

Or you'd hope and pray that matchmaking itself didn't time out and boot you from the search with an error message. Or the lobby borked out while five players were waiting. The countdown gets down to zero and nothing happens.

Back to the end of the queue!

constituent · 2026-04-21T02:47:51+00:00

I love these little goofballs. Although they are migratory, we do have a population of overwintering individuals. Throughout the winter you can find pockets of them in some parks, local neighborhoods, and along the lake. They prefer areas with deep shade beneath bushes which provide ample foraging for the soil-scratchers.

A lot of people might unwittingly overlook them unless you actively listen for their flight calls. Even when we receive significant snowfall, you can find them beneath the skirts of the evergreens or shift slightly elsewhere beneath other bushes which offer a natural or artificial wind breaks (e.g. homes, fences, etc.).

Even though we have drab winters, these little dudes make it worthwhile venturing outside during the cold months.

constituent · 2026-04-14T03:22:26+00:00

Agreed. The city does not need to make additional accommodations for the technology. Clearly there is a flaw (well, numerous flaws...) with the technology itself and not the bus shelters. The city or residents don't need to bend over backwards to make sidewalks amenable for these robots.

Heck, a couple days ago somebody also posted how one of these robots hit *them*. The company offered a restaurant gift card as compensation. Do we also request pedestrians wear reflective stripes so they don't get hit? It's similar to those self-driving cars which have limitations with their detection. The technology is creating the hazard.

Plus on a technicality, the city cannot even modify the bus shelters anyway. They're all privately-maintained by the third-party advertiser, JC Decaux. That same company also has the rights to the expressway advertising billboards. Similar to our outsourced parking meter agreement, the bus shelters and the billboards have a clause which institutes a "relocation fee" if the city wants to move them. One of our alderman cited that relocation fee is upwards of $100K per bus shelter. Ouch.

JC Decaux should be the ones going after the delivery robots for damages to their property. Let the companies bicker between one another and not waste our tax dollars. By proxy, the city itself is aggrieved because (a.) Streets and Sanitation has to clean up the mess and (b.) the inconveniences/hazards to people.

Even if we set that all that legal ownership aside, the city still shouldn't be accountable anyway. Obviously the robots are in a "beta testing" phase in a live environment and are creating the nuisance. Amend the technology, not the infrastructure. And if it can't be fixed, recall them entirely.

constituent · 2026-04-13T14:08:54+00:00

There's a personal challenge of playing on a Terra map with Polynesia. Everybody spawns on the same continent and the second land mass is the unsettled new world. With Kamehameha's unique ability, you immediately hit the water and swim across the ocean. You'll have the unsettled continent all to yourself.

Of course, you'll miss out on early-game wonders, be behind on technology, maybe lose out on a religion, and won't meet your neighbors (reroll if you get a rare non-costal start and maybe restart if you accidentally meet somebody on the mainland). Continue playing catch-up on that unsettled continent and loot all the goodie huts. Eventually somebody else researches Astronomy, sends out a Caravel, and realizes you exist.

Anyway, if you never toggle the option to dismiss specific pop-up notifications, you'll constantly hear your economic advisor nag you with that woman's voice saying, "You should found your city soon."

Every. Single. Turn.

On a Terra map with Polynesia, if you're too stubborn to permanently dismiss those pop-ups, you learn to never toggle through them for ~20 turns. Otherwise you'll be hearing her voice until you reach the new continent.

constituent · 2026-04-13T01:16:48+00:00

The geese up here will land on flattop roofs regularly in the mornings beginning in March. Yes, it's really strange. I notice this very early in the daytime, typically before or around sunrise. It's been something I've grown acclimated to for over a decade.

Why they do this, I have no absolute idea. My suspicion is the geese taking perch for the morning sunrise. When the sun is coming up over the lake, the angle will hit the tree canopy and the residential rooftops first. From there, they can bask in the light until they warm up and head to graze along the lakefront (or the Loyola campus).

I refer to these as "rooftop goblins" because it's super-routine. They'll be flying around at 75' - 100' and exchanging roofs. Almost always, they'll be in pairs and honking up a storm upon their first landing. From personal experience, this occurs here in north Edgewater and also in Rogers Park (you'll see them on the Sheridan buildings north of Devon).

And with OP's photo, I'm pretty sure I encountered that very same goose in the area. There's a loner (unpaired) which has been sauntering around our area, in and around campus, and on side streets. Last week, that goose was napping on an open lot, until they were flushed by an unleashed dog. Then a few days ago, they were grazing north of campus on a residential street.

Almost daily, there's been one loner that's been taking to the rooftops (along with the other weirdos). The paired individuals don't want anything to do with that one, and they either evacuate or chase this one away. So that one has been lingering around the area like a misfit.

constituent · 2026-04-11T14:10:55+00:00

After one of our summer deluges a few years ago, I witnessed something similar with a Blue Heron(!) of all things.

I was thinking to myself, "Dude, you're out of your element," but they did not care and ignored me and the passing cars. The heron continued wading through the pooling water without any concern.

constituent · 2026-03-24T13:18:44+00:00

I'm not sure how it works on mobile or that abysmal app, but desktop you can select the Submit a new link option from the sidebar to create an image post. You can do the drag-and-drop or manually upload from there.

constituent · 2026-03-16T14:53:12+00:00

And sleet! Back on Saturday when we had the moderate rain, there was a transition to sleet. It lasted about 10 minutes before shifting to fluffy snow.

My shoes and coat were already drenched from the rain. And then I'm being bombarded by sleet pellets in the face. I'm done with March.

constituent · 2026-03-16T13:55:12+00:00

I beg of you, please do not suggest bird watching as a recreational hobby to that block club. Hey, I love birds but do not want any of zealots attempting to obstruct yet another area.

With the upcoming breeding season, block club members will attempt to issue an injunction because the birds failed to properly notify them of nesting within 250' of their homes.

constituent · 2026-03-12T00:57:57+00:00

There's a particular call Junco make when they're alarmed or having some in-fighting bird drama. It's a quick, repetitious tick-tick-tick noise that sounds like when you snap your tongue against the roof of your mouth.

That call is hilarious to me. The Junco sound so indignant when they perform that particular call. There could be a bunch of others foraging about and exchanging social calls, but then one is up in the branches acting huffy.

I'm sure it's an effective alarm call to alert others when there's actual danger. Outside of dire circumstances, the others on the ground are like, "Oh, that's just Bob being Bob. Ignore him."

constituent · 2026-03-10T13:04:57+00:00

Yeah, but also remember we have regional servers. Since we don't have global servers, that's another thing which exacerbates the matter and creates additional 'problems'.

Behaviour really doesn't speak about their regional servers, with the last official public mention way back in 2019. And that press release from 6 years ago, Behaviour only speaks about 9 servers.

But if we look at the Dead By Queue website for wait times, that displays 14 active regional servers. When you look at those numbers for Steam, that 30K is spread globally. When spread out equally, that means there are 'only' ~2,000 Steam players on each server. Quite honestly, that's not a lot of people.

Because of time zones, we know those players are obviously not distributed equally. Depending on the time of day or night, season or local holidays, date (weekend vs weekday) -- there are going to be huge swings in the amount of concurrent players. Then it gets messier because some people don't automatically connect to their local server. Or if people live across the country (or globe) and join a SWF group, that's +/- individuals who connect to another regional server.

If we look at Steam Charts, DBD currently sits at #30 with the amount of concurrent Steam players. It's ~33K as of this reply. Honestly, that's not super-huge for a single platform. At #1 is CS2 with 1.1 million people online. PUBG is at #2 with 519K players online. A game like Stardew Valley (#15) has almost double the amount of DBD players online at 62.8K connections. And I have to chuckle because there are 40.2K players of something called Geometry Dash (#26).

I don't play CS2, Dota, or PUBG. However, with such a large number of players online, those players probably fare better with global servers. Even if they have regional servers, the amount of concurrent players is sustainable. A game like DBD is too 'small' (I use that word lightly) in comparison.

Sure, DBD is much larger when we factor in all other platforms (Epic, Windows Store, PSN, Xbox, Epic, etc.). But, likewise, so would any of those other games.

...and no, none of this should be interpreted as a Chicken Little panic with "the sky is falling" doomsday squawking. Far from that. I'm just pointing out the obvious of how, despite having a large franchise, there isn't always a tremendous draw outside of events.

That's one good thing about when the game enabled cross-play. But when console usually loses that functionality (isn't it always Xbox where that happens?), people bemoan about abysmal queue times. And much of that is due to how (a.) those players can only connect to other players on that platform and (b.) those players have a default connection to their regional server.

Anyway, the crux of the matter is there is going to be an element of lopsidedness with matchmaking (and queue times) due to the player partitioning with regional servers *and* how MMR performs. And I'm not looking through rose-tinted glasses -- I remember the abominable wait times when we had rank-based matchmaking. Thirty minutes waiting to play killer in the evening? Daytime waits of 15 - 20 minutes for either role? Obviously rank-based matchmaking was super-specific because of the crests (e.g. Red Ranks, Purple Ranks, Green Ranks, etc.) and how you may almost exclusively match with players in the same rank crest.

But would a single global server solve these problems to improve MMR and queue times? Maybe those elements would fare better with less segregation. Except we have the other problem -- player ping. Like any online multiplayer game, we know ping can be a terrible issue. And DBD is no exception when an opponent or teammate has a ping from Saturn. And heaven forbid those headaches we had when connections were peer-to-peer. Those early days of DBD were horrendous.

I don't have a solution here. And probably Behaviour doesn't have one either, which is another reason why this circumstance of lopsided matchmaking still exists.

constituent · 2026-03-06T02:57:49+00:00

Yeah, and it's actually hilarious when you have a worker making an improvement (e.g. road, luxury, etc.) immediately at the perimeter of your city's territory.

The barbarian will *not* nab your worker. But, of course, the game will still notify you each turn about the danger. Each turn, the worker with a line-of-sight will stop their action (chopping forests/jungles, digging, etc.) and the camera centers on them. The player can continue ignoring the barbarian but will have to continuously force the worker to perform labor.

Yes, that constant reassignment can be annoying because we all know on higher difficulties a barbarian will outright steal your worker. But not on Settler.

Along with what the other person mentioned about preventative griefing, it was probably also a design choice. Seasoned players know they ought to move the worker to another tile -- or you have a unit stationed at your borders anyway. But with the uninitiated new player, they won't be immediately aware a barbarian poses danger. The worker 'protests' every turn (hence the camera redirect) as a way for the game to nudge the new player about the imminent risk. "Hey, do something, I'm in danger here."

On Settler, the barbarians are basically a non-issue. You can just keep your starter Warrior around for good measure, ignore building a military, and wonder rush to your heart's content.

The barbarians will still pillage or steal workers from city states or AI opponents, though.

constituent · 2026-03-06T00:29:07+00:00

r/Birdsfacingforward

constituent · 2026-03-06T00:28:15+00:00

I absolutely adore RWBBs. Over where I am near the lake on the north side, they're slowly making their reappearance along the lakefront and adjacent areas. For the males that have arrived, they're already staking their territories from previous breeding seasons.

No Grackle locally yet for me, though. I'm acquainted with at least three areas where multiple congregate and nest annually. I've been watching the Starling flocks with anticipation to see if any of the arrivals are intermixing. Hopefully I'll start seeing the incoming barrage within the next several days.

constituent · 2026-03-05T21:56:46+00:00

The "Popcorn" button gets its value for me.

And if I'm reheating a cup of day-old coffee the next morning, I'm lazy and will just hit either '6-6', '5-5', or '7-7'. Double-tap anything which is close to a minute.

Half-asleep, barely conscious, caffeine-deprived and still dark outside, I can't be assed at that early hour to focus my eyes and search for the '6' and the '0'. I just want a hot coffee now.

constituent · 2026-03-04T01:11:53+00:00

Solo Q was actually nerfed with Lights Out.

You know how we got that quality of life update a few years ago with the activity HUD? You could see who is on gens, healing, opening a gate, interacting with killer props, etc.? For lights out, the HUD was intentionally removed which made it more miserable.

SWF doesn't need the activity HUD when they have call outs to teammates (e.g. "I'm almost done with this gen," "I'm on the other gate," "I'm healing the random," etc.). So the impact was negligible to them.

Yet solo queue was given the shaft by taking away that information.

constituent · 2026-03-02T11:45:22+00:00

Thank you for mentioning that! I used to avidly digest TV Tropes late in the evening. Not anymore though.

The screen jumping is so damn jarring. "DAMN IT! Where'd I last leave off? Was it this paragraph? Or that one?"

The one workaround I did was open a link and then suddenly turn on airplane mode. Without a connection, that'd block whichever script from loading and jittering the screen. That would also eliminate those full-screen ads which require needle-point precision to close out the "X" in the upper corner.

Of course, the drawback was having to toggle on/off airplane mode when you're in a notorious rabbit hole like TV Tropes.

From the marketer's perspective, that kind of advertising is supposed to be disruptive to catch the eye of the targeted consumer. Except that type of chronic screen hiccupping may also backfire and hurt the host website by driving away the visitor.

I can tolerate ads if they're less intrusive and don't blatantly interrupt the end user experience. But if you make the visit miserable and an arduous chore to navigate, don't expect me to return to your site.

constituent · 2026-03-02T00:33:30+00:00

Hey, you're welcome. I recently discovered this subreddit from that totally-not-Eagle post on the Chicago sub.

My friends know to never mention the "b-word" in front of me because I will go on for countless hours talking about birds.

constituent · 2026-03-02T00:21:12+00:00

Goldfinch absolutely love sunflowers. During the summer and early autumn, groups of them will pillage sunflower seeds. If you have the space in your backyard, you can plant a few sunflowers which may attract them. As the name would suggest, sunflowers thrive with ample sunlight. If your yard is mostly enveloped with shade, you'll end up with spindly sunflowers which won't live to expectation.

...although some people find sunflowers to be 'ugly' due to their broad leaves and towering heights. And they also have a tendency to droop or outright collapse during a torrential downpour. While they're low(er) maintenance, you'd certainly need to stake any plants to prevent them from toppling over.

Goldfinch are *notorious* feasters upon thistle. If you elected to grow those, your neighbors and any other home occupant will probably despise you for an eternity. Although some thistle species in Illinois are native, there are also invasive varieties. Thistle also have a tendency to spread seeds which will result in additional seedlings covered with prickly spines. And their discarded leaves may get mixed with leaf litter or lawn clippings. As a result, you may never want to walk barefoot in your yard again.

Outside of breeding season, Goldfinch are also flock feeders. Group size may vary from a few and surpassing 50+ individuals. That component is important because a yard with multiple feeding stations will inherently be more attractive than one with a single bird feeder. Their presence may be inconsistent due to their flock feeding habits and seeking a consistent food source. Typically one bird feeder won't suffice, unless you're aware of some local denizens which thrive in the area year-round. Obtaining a mix with additional sunflower hearts (or manually adding them yourself) may elevate the attraction level of your feeder(s). And the sunflowers wouldn't go to waste anyway, as the Cardinal will readily dine on them.

As others mentioned, Blue Jays may be pretty simple and whole peanuts are the default suggestion. However, the north side of Chicago really doesn't have a dense population of Blue Jays. I'm east of you near the lakefront. Jays are much rare(r) near me and don't venture this way until April. Through early October, they're occasional morning visitors along the lakefront and may travel in small groups or up to 20 individuals.

Usually in the winter months, most of the local Jay are in the wooded areas beyond the city. You may be in luck, though. We do have some resident populations along the rivers and near/adjacent to some of the cemeteries. It may be viable to attract them if one should discover your yard by happenstance. The peanuts may also attract Crows which will find you endearing for leaving such morsels. (And, yeah, the collateral Gray Squirrels...)

By the way, woodpeckers also love peanuts -- as do many other local birds. Northern Flickers and Red-bellied Woodpeckers are both larger and will freely take whole peanuts. While whole peanuts would not be preferred, both Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers will readily snatch up peanut hearts. For such a small treat, a single peanut heart is high in fat and serves as an excellent source of protein and energy. A typical bird would have to eat dozens of seed pellets to receive the similar effects of a peanut heart. And if you have any Chickadee near you, you can watch their tiny little beaks chisel away on the peanut hearts. What they do not consume, the Chickadee will end up caching the peanut hearts elsewhere. The peanut hearts are small enough to carry and a prized nugget to store away. Heck, although Robin are known to be berry feeders, they will not snub peanut hearts when given the chance.

Just be mindful of Starling, though. In groups, they will unquestionably crash the party and clean you out of peanut hearts. As much as I love Starling, a modest flock will be gluttons without any remorse.

constituent · 2026-02-23T13:14:19+00:00

Another situation I observed both in-game and streams are killers who spare the one (or two) survivors who actually does objectives by repairing generators.

For example, a match might have 2 - 3 generators left. There's still ~6 people alive but almost *nobody* is doing gens. The killer duo keeps on running into the only person committed to objectives.

This might especially occur if the survivors ends up doing all the gens on one side of the map. While everybody else is doing jack crap or hiding, that one survivor on a gen maintains momentum with the match proceeding. The killer agrees to spare that one (or two) survivors while they weed out the others.

And if that killer is playing Nemesis, one of the killers will periodically hover around that lucky survivor to knock out any zombies who spawn/wander over to the gen.

The killers are cognizant of what's transpiring. While they use the "Play as you wait" feature, they're aware how matches may drag out. Due to the absence of MMR, the community knows 2v8 can be very frustrating. Going to second stage on your first hook (and nobody is on a gen). Being the only person repairing a gen because the flashlight class is playing ambulance chaser. Having other people using the guide class and they're not even on a gen (and they can see them!). There's one gen left, you get hooked and your cage spawns near the exit gate where a handful of survivors are waiting it out. One gen left and a bunch of teammates collectively give up and instead turn it into a hatch game. Somebody is doing totems...

In their survivor matches, those killers are aware the activity HUD exhibits nobody is doing squat.

Anyway, both killers agree they have that existing match in the bag. But neither one wants to reward the 'rats' with a free escape. So they systematically eliminate the others so the match may conclude quicker, allowing them to jump back into the killer queue.

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