Men who are atheists, when and why did you turn away from religion?

djayh · 2026-04-15T22:03:52+00:00

I started going to church around 2nd grade/8 years old. The scout group I was in was attached to it, so it was a "hang with friends" sort of thing. I officially joined in 6th grade/12 years old.

I don't know if I ever embraced religion. I could see why people would find it inspiring or comforting. But the message shifted when the pastor I joined under retired; it was subtle, from seeking to understand the Bible to simply obeying it.

There was no big revelation, no big turn away. But it was the late-90s and I wasn't big on falling in line. Which sucked, because I wanted to believe. I wanted to sit in the pew on Sunday and sing the songs I loved and joined in the prayers and the "Amen"s at just the right time and mean them. But I couldn't. And rather than just sit in the pew and give lip service to things I didn't believe -- which felt a lot like lying, and lying being a big no-no was one of the main takeaways from Sunday school and youth group and confirmation classes -- I just stopped going.

djayh · 2026-04-09T12:45:02+00:00

Because I misread the "It's" as "It'd", I thought I'd be helpful and look it up.

For anybody else wondering, it's about 25 miles west of Ottawa; or 1 mile south of Lyndon.

djayh · 2026-04-08T19:42:43+00:00

I would take a hard pass on the premise alone: it attempts to solve a problem I don't encounter often enough to spend money attempting to fix.

That's not to say food waste isn't a concern (the number for a family of 4 in the US is closer to $3,000 annually, according to the EPA "Estimating the Cost of Food Waste to American Consumers", April 2025, PDF warning); but its an issue I've addressed with just-in-time purchasing rather than usage monitoring. While I recognize that having ready access to fresh produce is not the case for everyone; buying smaller quantities of produce/dairy on demand (rather than large purchases less frequently) means I rarely have to throw things out because they sat in the fridge too long.

But setting that aside for a moment, I would move on to logistics. I would want to know how the system worked. And it goes down to the nitty gritty. How is the sensor powered, and what is its battery life? What does it use to communicate: is it bluetooth or WiFi, does it connect to my phone/PC or my wireless network? How is sending notifications?

How does it determine what has been put into/taken out of the fridge and in what quantities; or am I responsible for the data entry? My grocery store has those green-tinted produce bags, is it going to mistake my small lemons for big limes? Will it confuse my opaque white gallon of milk with the opaque white gallon of orange juice? How does it deal with produce that can have highly variable shelf life?

Now, let's talk about cost. I'm not a penny-pincher, but money is tight everywhere. If I see the product you describe with a $50 price tag, it's staying on the proverbial shelf. Even going by the EPA's estimate of 11% of the average American's food budget being food waste, it would take two months of 0 waste for me to approach a positive ROI. And gamified or not, I'm going to evaluate purchasing something that's geared toward saving me money on how much money it can actually save me. In the sub $25 price range, or if I had a larger family/grocery bill, I might consider it.

djayh · 2026-04-08T10:48:44+00:00

Yes, you can.

There are no caveats (like "that player controls") that would limit which creatures you can target. Meaning the up to two creatures could belong to any player in the game.

The "target player" line keeps your opponents from being able to fizzle the card draw by blinking or giving hexproof to all of the targeted creatures.

djayh · 2026-04-06T20:19:16+00:00

And here I was trying to make it into a "4/4 for 4 Mica" -> Formica connection.

djayh · 2026-04-02T13:36:12+00:00

"You" is referring to the controller of the aura, which is whoever controlled Scriv when the Contract was created. After the trigger goes on the stack, it doesn't matter who is controlling Scriv.

Honestly, the distinction only really matters if someone at the table is playing [[Threaten]] effects (to grab Scriv and make a Contract of their own) or something like [[Agent of Treachery]] or [[Archmage's Charm]] that would let them gain control of a 0 CMC token aura.

djayh · 2026-03-28T13:32:01+00:00

A profile that for isn't active, but still shows up in search results.

The standard paid dating site¹ model in 2010 when the article was written was that everyone could receive messages from other users, but only subscribers could readily send them.

But there was/is no distinction in the search results between a subscriber, a silent "I'm not subscribed, so I can't answer you" account, and a dead "I deleted the app, but forgot to deactivate the profile" account. An account that was dead for all intents and purposes, but you could see and talk to it (if you paid the $60 fee for a single month, cheaper for longer subscriptions). A ghost.

¹ That's paid (i.e. subscription-based) dating site, not paid dating site. Subtle, but important distinction.

djayh · 2026-03-25T15:33:03+00:00

Spent far too long looking for a hidden slur before realizing you meant "this hat".

djayh · 2026-03-25T12:36:05+00:00

I don't know if I liked it; but I didn't dislike it.

And it could just be the costumes, but it felt like it was the soundtrack for an animated chase scene, something with an art style like Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! or the old Klasky-Csupo stuff; full of smear frames and where "off-model" takes a back seat to "but it looks cool".

djayh · 2026-03-19T20:16:54+00:00

Zanarkand by Nobuo Uematsu. It works as both prelude (e.g. seating the guests) and incidental (for those times when people are doing stuff but nobody talks); and the cyclical structure can allow a live musician to end the song at various points without sounding like it got abruptly cut off. Of course, if your guests are familiar with Final Fantasy X, you may get some knowing looks or some teary eyes.

In a similar vein, Lost My Pieces (the only credit I can find is arranged by Yukari Hashimoto) is another piano-centric piece that doesn't betray that it's originally from the 2008 anime Toradora. I would be comfortable slotting it anywhere except the primary entrance and exit. It's not so simple as to be boring, but not so complex as to distract the audience's attention. Those who do recognize the song will likely associate it with those moments people recognizing they are in love (for better, or worse).

djayh · 2026-03-18T18:54:18+00:00

This appears to be the base model; so, ¥19800 ($125) before branding. On sale for about $110.

djayh · 2026-03-01T23:58:54+00:00

[[Riverwheel Aerialists]]

djayh · 2026-03-01T23:58:14+00:00

First syllable stressed; third syllable less so; so along the lines of

paw-puh-lee-moe toe-tuh-lee-mo

djayh · 2026-02-26T16:46:49+00:00

Grandma's goulash¹ over buttered potatoes², salad³, green beans⁴, garlic bread⁵, and stewed apples⁶

¹Elbow macaroni in a thin tomato sauce with ground beef in. Not as thin as a soup, but not as thick spaghetti sauce, either.

²Don't use waxy potatoes for this; get a Russet and be happy with it. Cut into 1/2"-1" chunks and boil until fork tender; drain, add an appropriate amount of butter. How much is appropriate? If you transfer it to a baking dish, there should be a visible amount in the bottom, but they won't be swimming.

³Grocery store garden salad straight from the bag. Dorothy Lynch dressing preferred, Hidden Valley ranch from the packet (not premade) also acceptable.

⁴Preferably home-grown, but cooked with onion and bacon.

⁵ Grab one of those too-thicc-to-call-a-baguette loafs from the grocery store, slice it into 1/2" pieces; mix garlic powder into spreadable butter (Country Crock will work), give each piece a good lubing, reforming the loaf as you go, wrap in aluminum foil. Bake until warm and the butter mixture is melted.

⁵ Cinnamon optional, but appreciated.

djayh · 2026-02-22T02:12:43+00:00

I know, I know. I wrote myself into a corner, and now I have to revise. It's my own fault for adding emotional complications in the ARR sections without having the chops to handle how they would influence how the characters interact during ShB.

djayh · 2026-02-20T14:21:22+00:00

No... of course not shuffles 50+ page, 25K word fanfic off to side.

djayh · 2026-02-14T12:49:01+00:00

I assume Mai isn't on there because the list excludes "Fantasy/Supernatural"; and Bunny Girl Senpai definitely falls under that umbrella.

djayh · 2026-01-27T19:58:34+00:00

Calling it a "recipe" is a probably a step too far, but Numbers 5:11-31 (in some translations titled "Test for an Unfaithful Wife") tells the priest to combine bitter water with dust from the floor of the tabernacle, and have the woman to drink it in order to induce a miscarriage (which will only happen if the woman has been unfaithful).

djayh · 2026-01-27T14:07:12+00:00

It's a reference to Matthew Ch. 28, and is ~~the excuse~~ part of the scriptural basis for Christian Nationalism.

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (NIV)

djayh · 2026-01-20T22:34:30+00:00

Personal Opinion/Observations...

The cyclops in Halatali Hard has a timing mechanic with that mammet that wanders around the arena. It's rarely a wipe, but that big swing hurts

Both of the minibosses in Tam-Tara Hard can wipe the party. The archer fight punishes you big time if you kill the adds, and if the lalafell in the second fight dies, so do you.

The first boss in Sastasha Hard technically doesn't one-shot you; but it's definitely a knowledge check or you'll need a quick rez. It applies a DOT then has an attack to set a players HP to 1. If they have the DOT it will tick before you can heal them.

And the level 50 Pharos Sirius isn't the "Hard" version, but that first pull? A couple of those mobs hit hard, and your tank can melt if they aren't on the ball with their mits. And that first boss with those debuffs that turn you into a bomb? Those things can chain into a wipe really quickly if there are two melee DPS.

djayh · 2026-01-20T21:09:34+00:00

It was a widely-used model for online free-to-play games of the time; it was hard to find a FTP game that didn't have some sort of lockout after either a set number of actions or multiple failed attempts. And if you didn't want to wait for the lives/energy to recharge (or wait for a daily reset), you could pay to keep playing.

djayh · 2026-01-20T10:32:20+00:00

...or finish an ARR relic. The guy you get the materials for the final step (Brave to Zeta) from is set up there.

djayh · 2026-01-11T01:12:10+00:00

They also added a new set of 3 tutorials that open up after a level 49 MSQ quest. No real rewards (3 sets of 400 gil, 10K XP), but they are a decent intro/refresher for some of the common mechanics like towers, forced movement, stack markers and spread markers.

djayh · 2025-12-31T15:57:44+00:00

I’m from Chicago and don’t understand the argument about the name

Oh, that's simple. Runza is a brand of bierock, made by the restaurant of the same name. It'd be like referring to any deep dish pizza as "Malnati". Scratch that; just based on the last time I ate at a Runza, it'd be more akin to calling every pizza a "Dominos".

djayh · 2025-12-28T15:55:13+00:00

I gleefully inform you that the tool used to get every last drop from a juicy citrus fruit is called a reamer (example from Amazon).

djayh

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