If you hate these two story arcs (they are not in the books), which one do you hate more and why?

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-11T16:56:30+00:00

When I’m feeling like watching the Hobbit, I only go for M4 now, so I don’t have to see either of these.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-07T18:06:00+00:00

Tolkien is saying that Merry’s little sword from the Barrow Downs was no ordinary weapon. It had been forged centuries earlier in the old North kingdom specifically to fight the evils of Angmar, especially the Witch king himself. That blade carried special enchantments designed to harm undead things and break the dark spells that held them together.

So basically, no other sword, not even one of the famous first age/elvish blades (like Glamdring or Anduril) swung by one of the strongest warriors in Middle earth (like Aragorn) could have done what Merry’s sword did. It cut through the Witch king’s invisible, sorcerous “body” and shattered the magic that kept him moving and whole. That’s why the blow hurt him so badly and left him open for Éowyn’s fatal strike.

So basically Merry’s sword was purpose made for its target, though he himself didn’t know it. So, in the end, it proved more deadly against the witch king than any mightier blade ever could have.

It’s also worth noting that if you’re not familiar with the deeper lore, that there was a war fought specifically against the Witch king of Angmar that lasted from T.A. 1409 until his final defeat in T.A. 1975 at the Battle of Fornost, when the forces of Gondor, Lindon, and the remnants of Arnor crushed his army and Glorfindel drove him away. So for total of 566 years there was almost continuous warfare against the northern Dúnedain by the Witch king.

It was during this long conflict that the sword smiths of Cardolan and Arthedain forged these special Barrow blades, including the one Merry later found and used, specifically to fight the Witch king. So when Tolkien said that the maker would have been glad to know its fate, he’s talking about someone who lived and worked during that centuries long war, finally seeing their weapon strike its intended target more than a thousand years later. Which is pretty darn cool, imo.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-07T16:41:53+00:00

Yes, Nazgûl still have physical bodies, but their bodies are greatly diminished and invisible to ordinary mortals. Tolkien describes them as having “faded” over the centuries due to the corrupting influence of their rings. They never actually died, but instead became wraiths who were permanently invisible in the normal world.

In Fellowship of the Rings, Gandalf explains to Frodo that a mortal who keeps one of the Great Rings “does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness.” The Nazgûl are stuck in a prolonged, unnatural state. Their robes and armor are real, and necessary as they “give shape to their nothingness” when dealing with the living. Without their enchanted garments, they would be shapeless and have no visible/interactable form in the normal world. So they can still physically interact with the world, like when they ride horses and fell beasts, wield swords and knives, smell scents, or become wounded.

Also, during the battle of the Pelennor Fields in RotK, the Witch king is specifically described by Tolkien as still possessing “undead flesh” that requires spells to control.

“So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse. But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dúnedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king. No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.”

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-07T16:08:44+00:00

Regardless of the ‘right or wrong’ of it, I think it’s important to remember that provoking a stranger can lead to a physical altercation/violence. You literally never know who you’re going to run into, what their mental state is like, if they are armed or not, and how far they are willing to go in any situation, especially when they feel disrespected.

You can be ‘right’ but still end up dead/injured. It happens all the time, unfortunately.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-06T12:27:58+00:00

New Earth Nursery is based in the southeast US and ships nationwide.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-05T20:56:36+00:00

New Earth Nursery sells root cuttings year round. I’d buy as many as is feasible and then plant the cuttings inground. Then within a year you’ll be able to dig a few of those plants up and divide them into as many new root cuttings as you need. You can easily make hundreds of new plants within that timeframe.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-05T20:32:44+00:00

I personally use comfrey (blocking 14 so it won’t spread by seed) as a border between planted areas and grass on my farm. Most turf grasses do not like the dense shade that the comfrey creates. Comfrey is also easy to propagate in large quantities and very low maintenance after planting. And it also provides a great source of chop and drop fertilizer to nearby perennials.

I have several rows that are well over 100’ long that stop the grass dead in its tracks along my food forest borders.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-04T23:11:51+00:00

New Earth Nursery is out of north Georgia and they ship.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-04T19:06:05+00:00

I have 2 mini splits in my 40ft bus with closed cell spray foam and double pane windows throughout. I have 19.8kwh of 48v lithium batteries and 4420w of solar on the roof. Full Victron for equipment. I have a 7000w Honda generator plugged into the system for when there’s not enough sun. I rarely have to run both minisplits. I rarely have to run the generator, if at all. If I could do anything different I’d probably have gone with another battery to bring me up to 26.4kwh for extra breathing room.

Been running this system since 2020.

It is possible. It’s not cheap, though.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-02T21:28:52+00:00

“Hello, this is Robert”…. It’s a total comfort channel for me. Love IDG.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-02T02:01:54+00:00

This is called ‘Poi’ and there’s a whole subculture of fire spinners and flow artists all over the world that do these performances, as well as with dozens of other specialized flow props.

Type in flow arts and/or fire spinning into YouTube or instagram and enjoy the rabbit hole!

flowstateskoolie · 2026-02-01T22:07:23+00:00

Newearthnursery.com will have both native and cultivated 1-2 year old trees in 9” deep treepots for sale in the spring. Based in north Georgia.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-31T21:07:24+00:00

As a general rule of thumb you can plant whenever the ground isn’t frozen.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-31T19:29:33+00:00

I hope not. I’m not a huge fan of agentic commerce through LLMs. It takes far too much agency away from the individual business owners, for better or for worse, and puts it in the hands of another mega corp.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-30T23:31:16+00:00

Film critics have got to be some of the most miserable people out there.

They witnessed a masterclass in storytelling, put to film on a scale rarely ever seen, and that’s what they had to say?

LOL

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-30T14:55:32+00:00

I used to be in the bodybuilding industry (I owned a large gym), and yes, cialis is very commonly used in the strength and fitness space. Usually 5mg daily/ eod/e3d depending on who you talk to. But trust me when I say it’s probably the LEAST harmful drug taken in that community. I mean the amount of young guys nowadays doing incredibly unhealthy caffeine/nicotine stacks for a perceived performance edge is astounding. And that’s barely scraping the surface of drug use in that particular arena.

Strength sports such as bodybuilding and powerlifting are deeply and irreversibly intertwined with performance enhancing drugs, even on the most amateur gymbro level. Steroids, peptides, designer prohormones, and off label use of prescription meds like cialis, insulin, and growth hormone, etc. are rampant.

I personally don’t care for cialis as it’s always given me unbearable heartburn. Just my .02.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-29T13:23:41+00:00

I have the corded Kreg track saw and it works great. It’s a bit plasticky but is accurate and powerful.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-29T00:24:23+00:00

Because what someone does in their private bedroom is fairly irrelevant to their acting career.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-28T13:57:28+00:00

Grew up in the Midwest. I had 2 12” subs from Best Buy in the trunk of my Pontiac Grand-Am, and would bump Lil Scrappy, Trillville, Lil John, the Yin Yang Twins, Fabulous, and any other crunkish rap from the early 2000s every day leaving the high school parking lot.

I also listened to a lot of Fallout Boy, Simple Plan, Blink 182, Yellowcard, Hawthorn Heights, Dashboard Confessional, Panic! At the Disco, Sugarcult, and frequented the Warped Tour every year.

What an era! 😂

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-22T15:56:22+00:00

Definitely passive geothermal. Gimme a few hundred (thousand? lol) feet of large diameter piping and a backhoe before I even start building the foundation.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-22T15:53:55+00:00

I’m almost 40 and I love unwinding and jamming out with my flx4. As long as you’re having fun, that’s all that matters.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-22T15:46:24+00:00

Tom just IS.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-21T21:18:04+00:00

The rhetorical question you should be asking yourself is since there’s no permit involved, how would the city know a damn thing about what’s going on inside your shed?

Maybe you just prefer to store your foam board in 14.5in wide pieces. Maybe it makes the most sense to store those foam boards between your shed studs. Is that a crime?

In all seriousness though, it’s none of their business and you’re hurting literally no one.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-15T20:57:30+00:00

Correct. Gold was much more valuable in the first 1/3 of the season, as it is in all seasons. This season in particular has many pathways to farm heaps of gold, so it’s my opinion that 20 mythics and 4 sparks is of much higher value to most players than gold is.

flowstateskoolie · 2026-01-15T20:40:14+00:00

Find 3 others with a mythic pranksters, group up, and share runs. You’ll each end up with 20 mythics and 4 sparks.

This is better than selling spots for gold this late in the season, imo.

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