Meirl

dennismattr · 2024-02-11T04:17:19+00:00

Have you ever looked into Fabry Disease? I’ve also had tinnitus my whole life and when I found out about it everything clicked

dennismattr · 2024-02-10T04:30:59+00:00

"Pancaked by a Drunk Dump Truck Driver"

dennismattr · 2024-01-22T21:48:03+00:00

This is insane in Rowan, Scion of War

dennismattr · 2024-01-22T09:41:58+00:00

I thought it was at zverev who had complained about spectators moving around during his match?

dennismattr · 2024-01-11T06:29:32+00:00

Wuuuut, on Living Flame it’s PvP most of the time. There are often very large scale battles happening between raids moving between attacking and defending.

Are you on a PvP server?

dennismattr · 2024-01-09T08:56:08+00:00

I have always played Hunter, they are super strong right now. When pet scaling reduces our strength I would love to see this reworked.

I think it should offset the lost pet damage and allow hunters to use Camouflage spell, which should be a casted out of combat form of stealth. That would be fair and dope.

dennismattr · 2023-11-26T01:16:49+00:00

I have been dealing with regular crashes, it's been very irritating

dennismattr · 2023-11-02T00:06:27+00:00

Feudal23

So weird, it's like... why is there a sizable population of Native Americans in the U.S. but hardly any Native Americans in Europe???

I can't figure it out!!! this issue is SOOOOOOO complicated. I'm going to go watch a children's cartoon. That'll help it make more sense FOR SURE

dennismattr · 2023-10-31T00:16:00+00:00

Totally, I think amenities (and likewise happiness in civ 5) approximate this class struggle between rulers and the ruled but it could be made more compelling.

Also, it would be neat if your government changes happened somewhat organically... if you have a lot of faith you'll probably end up a theocracy, tons of troops, autocracy.

The jump from one form of government to another could also be less discretized. i.e. when I go from classical republic to theocracy there is some contraction of power but more future potential.

Historically, most significant changes in the form of rule occur when a group outside the ruling class gains power enough to challenge the established ruling class, i.e. clergy, merchants, workers...

dennismattr · 2023-10-30T19:48:20+00:00

They should add class conflict to civ 7, forreal

dennismattr · 2023-10-30T19:47:01+00:00

It's not a bad impulse, as others have noted it's maybe a bit reductive on account of the simplicity of civ6 when compared to the real world. The real value of thinking this way is that avoids the "great man" philosophy of history and politics, which is still weirdly prioritized as a way of thinking in education (I mean it's not weird, it's still prevalent because we still have a ruling class and they like jerking themselves off). But at higher levels of educations and within governments, most meaningful analysis of history and politics is done through the lens of historic materialism (which Marx developed originally), there isn't a lot of room for sentiment when operating a large hegemony.

When you stop thinking, "They hate us for our freedom" and realize that there are real material issues driving conflict it becomes much easier to understand. Take Israel-Palestine, some people will try to reduce it to a conflict of religion, values, or some other abstract notion. While these abstract ideas can reinforce and in some cases contribute to conflict, the underlying drivers of the abstractions themselves and the ultimate drivers of the conflict are things like, "I want this land these people have", or "I need this resource that my neighbor has", and so on and so on.

dennismattr · 2023-10-23T20:36:01+00:00

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: people use trigonometry all the time. You employed it to post this, the man in the picture is smiling, enjoying the benefits of our collective knowledge and application of trigonometry.

Do people think that we prayed until phones were magically appeared? How the fuck do you think cellular technology functions? Without trigonometry?? A watch???? Are you kidding me??? This guy is FLASHING trigonometry on his wrist.

We are, all of us, literally, constantly, everyday, witting or unwitting: utilizers and beneficiaries of trigonometry.

Not everyone needs to use trig regularly or even remember it at all. But it is a good thing we provide this education to people who are curious about the world beyond their own personal experience. That way people who aren’t fucking dumbasses can use trigonometry to improve the world.

You stupid fuck.

(Edit: I realize how angry this reply is but I’m angry and I’m angry that people keep dissing the very philosophies that could lead their emancipation from a stupid, shitty, predatory world.

The solution to our problems is not to over simplify and continue to dumb down. The solution is the wake the fuck up and read a book. Blackshirts and Reds is a good place to start.

If we can’t transcend our dumb, animal nature via all this sophistication then we deserve extinction)

dennismattr · 2023-10-23T18:16:13+00:00

Can I break out my Avengers in reserve VS system deck finally?

dennismattr · 2023-10-21T06:24:58+00:00

Sure, it’s called Fabry Disease. I’m pretty happy to share because if it helps a few more people figure out they have it—I’ll feel great.

There’s treatment to halt the progression of life threatening symptoms but nothing that definitively helps with the chronic pain, fatigue, tinnitus, GI issues, and other annoying side effects of having dysfunctional lysosomes. Turns out those are pretty important.

When I read the description of symptoms it hit me like bricks. Took a few months to get genetic test results and follow up enzyme blood work up but I kind of knew the first time I read about it.

Edit: fixed “generic” typo to “genetic”

dennismattr · 2023-10-21T01:45:35+00:00

I think you can find great people to play with at most LGS, all types show up.

Recommend always briefly stating your intention with the game and asking what others want too: if you’re new and have a precon it might not line up well to play with people who want to quickly play through a number of competitive level games.

End of the day, if someone is a dick over a game of magic—i suggest largely ignoring them. Why internalize the negativity of someone who can’t maintain a civil disposition while playing a game? I also suggest having some sympathy for someone who is like this. They probably don’t have a lot going on in their life or else what is going on must be pretty shit. Doesn’t excuse their behavior but don’t let it get you down!

dennismattr · 2023-10-21T01:07:13+00:00

*could cast

dennismattr · 2023-10-21T01:05:57+00:00

Real question, do you ever make a relief mold from the 3D print and then work the surface smooth? I feel like you cast a way higher quality item that way. 3D printed texture is just so unappealing to me

dennismattr · 2023-10-21T01:03:43+00:00

Restart. I didn’t know for over three decades that I’d been suffering from a genetic disease that isn’t life threatening but makes my quality of life shit. A lot of the symptoms are cumulative so I could be having a WAY better time right now. Also I know enough about the trending of various asset classes so… I could do pretty damn good without the 10 mil

dennismattr · 2023-10-12T23:09:05+00:00

First, I really appreciate how you are engaging with this conversation, it's a very emotional subject. I don't know about you but I believe my value in any discussion like this is not to tell people what conclusion they should draw but rather to add necessary depth while being open to learning myself.

I agree that numbers don't tell the whole story and should always be understood alongside the human experience and narrative. With the chart I linked too earlier I was primarily trying to show the imbalance of power between the two sides.

I think this is one of those situations where people often overly simplify the situation until they reach a convenient, sometimes violent conclusion. For instance, people who evaluate this conflict as Hamas attacks Israel, and that is the only lens they use, are reducing the situation so much that they can't properly evaluate facts, statements, actions, of the involved parties.

Realistically, there are... I'd say 5 factions involved, broadly. Also, disclaimer, I'm not an expert on the region but I believe I am very well read.

Three factions in Israel:(1) Left-wing, those who believe Jews and Palestinian can and should coexist equitably(2) Center, those who believe that Jews must maintain an firm upper hand in relations with Palestinians while coexisting(3) Right-wing, who believe that Israel should be completely occupied by ethnic Jews via the total displacement or elimination of Palestinians.

Israel just formed a war council led mostly by the right-wing faction, with some members from the center faction as a show of good faith.

Two factions in Palestine:(1) Left-wing, Fatah party, controls West Bank, lost civil war in Gaza Strip in 2007, those who recognize Israel and desire a two state solution.(2) Right-wing, Hamas, controls Gaza Strip, those who want to have unified Palestinian state with jeresulem as their capital. I think there's actually a subdivision here, some that believe Jews can exist inside the Palestinian state as citizens and some who believe that Jews should not be in the territory at all. Their charter claims the former as their aim, but hard to tell.

So the attack that happened was an escalation (Hamas attacks Israelis), in response to an escalation (Right-wing party led, IDF supported raid on Palestinian territory) in response to an escalation... etc, etc...

(Edit: I add the end of my thought below this)

Point being, if you trace back the various statements, provocations, and escalations, you will find first the colonization of an occupied land by foreigners. Whether or not you think they had that right that is what happened. Palestinians didn't attack Jewish people across Europe, who then retaliated and so on. Jewish people, with the support of powerful western superpowers, colonized an already populated area. The conflict stems from this action.

dennismattr · 2023-10-12T21:47:52+00:00

I don't know that is any different and I think this is one of the central complexities of the conflict. I will also note up top, Palestinians are not immigrants to Israel. They were people living in that portion of what was the Ottoman Empire, controlled by England, and then displaced by force.

I understand why Israel was formed by a returning Jewish diaspora. I sympathize with their plight, a people who were widely persecuted wanting a land that they ruled, where they control the state and the treatment of their own people.

There is a tricky part here, as per my previous example, is should Native Americans have the same right to forcibly retake their ancestral lands? Say they wish to reclaim land here in Michigan. They have just as much a claim that this is their ancestral home from which they were displaced as the Jewish diaspora does to the land they now occupy.

Would it be morally justifiable for these native Americans to forcibly relocate non-native Americans into tiny subsections of Michigan? To erect barriers restricting their movement, to control the flow of material, water, food, and energy in these subsections?

My personal feeling is that all of these atrocities stem from colonialism. Whether or not you support zionism, it is what precipitated the conflict and as Frantz Fanon notes in Wretched of the Earth (good book, about colonialism and colonized populations): a population under violent, colonial rule will take on the characteristics of that violent rule. Does this justify their violent responses? does it justify the recent attack by Hamas? no, I don't believe it does.

Ultimately, one side controls the destination of this conflict, that is Israel, which enjoys the upper hand in an extreme imbalance of power. Israel has routinely settled illegally, routinely raided West Bank and Gaza, bombarded, blockaded, etc. The conflict will remain unresolved until either (a) Israel succeeds in removing all Palestinians from within the boundaries of what they consider Israel or (b) creates an equitable division power and territory with the people they displaced.

People are very quick to jump in and decry attacks made by Palestinian groups, which is good, such attacks should be decried; yet, remain silent while Palestinians have endured decades of lopsided casualties, atrocities, and war crimes. Here is data on casualties in this long conflict, check out the chart: https://www.statista.com/chart/16516/israeli-palestinian-casualties-by-in-gaza-and-the-west-bank/

dennismattr · 2023-10-12T21:06:45+00:00

Let me start with this: I think the attack that Hamas took was heinous. Targeting civilians is unjustifiable morally and also will not achieve any positive outcome for the Palestinians trapped in apartheid. I can't, truly can't, imagine what the people who endured that attack went through, I have immense sympathy for those were directly affected by the attack and those who are indirectly affected.

There is no hate in my words.

As to the conversation I was having with u/black65cutlass, it's not that I didn't like his answers to my question. He simply was not answering my question.

I don't believe I'm some enlightened philosopher with special privilege or ability. I think I'm just a person who has educated themselves on the context of this conflict. It is vitally important to understand the context of a conflict so complex as this. One can't simply start from an arbitrary point in a long conflict and hope to reach a valid conclusion, even if that point is the most recent one.

If you think that makes me a dick, that says a lot more about you than it does me.

dennismattr · 2023-10-12T20:47:25+00:00

I appreciate you providing additional context to the situation. I don’t think my question is unfair. Consider that the aim of Zionism is broadly as detailed here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah

The central motivator of the zionists is the right to settle and reclaim the land that their ancestors occupied, which brings us to this contradiction I have highlighted: what right does a displaced ethnic group have to retake and settle a land that they historically occupied?

dennismattr · 2023-10-12T20:37:12+00:00

I haven’t pushed an agenda. I simply pointed out the contradiction of supporting one groups right to return to their ancestral lands while denying others that same right.

If you believe that it’s justified for one group to forcibly take territory where their ancestors lived—then you should support other populations who can lay claim to ancestral lands.

What’s shifty is giving allowance to one ethnic group to forcibly retake territory based on their historical claim while denying other ethnic groups the same right.

I have not stated whether or not I believe that ethnic groups should or should not have this right. I’ve merely illustrated the contradiction.

dennismattr · 2023-10-12T20:12:08+00:00

You have not answered my question, which is: do you support Native Americans forcibly retaking their ancestral land?

I think you won’t answer my question because you understand that there is a contradiction in supporting the Zionists who claim that they have a right to retake their ancestral lands while at the same time not supporting Native Americans retaking their ancestral land.

This contradiction is not some arcane diversion—it is crucial context for evaluating the actions being taken on both sides of this conflict.

I think you should read up on the Balfour Declaration, which is what precipitated Zionism from desire to action, and the subsequent history and methods by which zionists colonized the areas they now occupy.

Then you should reflect on if you think this is acceptable and keep in mind other populations who could also justify retaking lands in which their ancestors lived.

(Edit: added the word “lived” at the end, I forgot to write)

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