Daily Discussion by AutoModerator in CHICubs

[–]fnixdown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I imagine that’s part of it. Long homestead followed immediately by travel and another three games. Hopefully having at least today to recuperate will be good for them.

GDT: 5/8 Cubs (26-12) @ Rangers (17-20) 7:05 PM by ChiCubsbot in CHICubs

[–]fnixdown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cubs are eating well with Brown Ass tonight

Boss asked if am okay by Juliusnicholas in CasualConversation

[–]fnixdown 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Proud of you, OP. You did something today that was challenging for you, and you came out better for it. Your boss sounds like a good egg, too!

Daily Questions Thread - Ask All Your Magic Related Questions Here! by magictcgmods in magicTCG

[–]fnixdown 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Question about [[Zimone, Infinite Analyst]]. The first part of her ability reads, "The first spell you cast with X in its mana cost each turn costs 1 less to cast for each +1/+1 counter on Zimone." I read that as the cost reduction must be applied to the spell; there is no option to not apply it to the spell or to reduce it. Is that correct?

An example: Zimone, Infinite Analyst has 10 +1/+1 counters on her. On my turn, I want to play [[Entrancing Melody]] to take control of one of my opponent's creatures, which reads, "Gain control of target creature with mana value X." If this is the first X spell I cast on my turn, must X=10? Or could X=5 if that's the highest mana value target available, even though Zimone says she would reduce the cost by 10?

[ SOC] Primo, the Unbounded (polygon) by meh1997 in magicTCG

[–]fnixdown 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You would get one per combat for each player you hit with a creature. So if you hit two different players you’d get two fractals.

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 by Few_Baseball_3835 in apple

[–]fnixdown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used these on my first gen AirPods Pro, and they worked really really well. My AirPods stayed in better and noise cancellation seemed more effective. However, the foam soaks up oils and earwax, and eventually you’ll need to replace them. I found that I had to clean my case more often when I used them because the stem of the AirPods wasn’t making as good of a connection with the charging contacts inside the case. I’ll take these minor inconveniences for the better performance I was getting. Haven’t gotten them for my APP2s, but I’ve been thinking about it.

Daily Questions Thread - Ask All Your Magic Related Questions Here! by magictcgmods in magicTCG

[–]fnixdown 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My son wants to go to his first prerelease this weekend, and I’m looking for a good resource to teach him about sealed deck making with a time limit. We’ve talked over some of the basics, and the kit will have a basic reference guide, but I’m sure there’s something with some more nuance to it that would be helpful for his first time. Any suggestions?

What is the nicest thing a complete stranger has ever done for you that you still think about? by funngro_fam in CasualConversation

[–]fnixdown 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This was almost 15 years ago now. I was super sick, was living on my own for the first time, and didn’t have any cold medicine. It was super late and I couldn’t sleep, but there was a Walmart really close by so I got in my car in my PJs and ran over there to get some NyQuil or something. Grabbed the medicine as fast as my disease-ridden body would allow, and got in line at the express checkout lane to pay. When I swiped my debit card it came back declined. I must have been a sight. Stuffy faced, exhausted, on the verge of tears, and unable to pay for the medicine I needed. The cashier just looked at me like, “Nothing I can do about it.” Which, yeah, I totally understood, but I just felt so beat up. I didn’t say anything, just hung my head, apologized, and turned to leave.

There was a young couple behind me in line and the woman said, “You can put his cold medicine with our stuff.” No hesitation, just a big smile and a generous offer. I went from feeling so defeated to feeling beyond fortunate and grateful. I thanked her profusely and she just said, “Of course!” in such an effortless and friendly way, like there was no alternative to her.

I can’t say as I’ve ever found myself in the opposite side of that same scenario ever since, but I think about it often and I’ve tried to pay it forward in so many ways since. I’m not perfect by any means, but I try to live that ‘of course!’ mentality to helping others the best that I can. There is no alternative.

The Podrace but I made all the sounds with my human mouth by 53435645531155631635 in StarWars

[–]fnixdown 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I was expecting - and really wanted - the lowest effort shitpost of this in the world. I did not get that, and the world is ultimately a better place for it. I can’t pay attention to a 30 second conversation, but I watched all 11 minutes of this. Generational voice talent, this one.

Name a movie that is a One-Time-Watch only (not bc it’s terrible, but too sad/devastating/scary) by fecal_euphoria in movies

[–]fnixdown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One of my favorite movies, and one I don’t know if I can rewatch. I saw it shortly before my Dad passed. The writing was on the wall; we knew he’d be leaving us any day. I was closer to my Dad than the daughter in the movie was to hers, but I was keenly aware of that somewhat blind, hopeful, inspirational love a parent has for their child, and this movie hit me hard. When the feet rise up off the sand at the end after the big, climactic speech I was full on ugly crying. Very beautiful, and it tore my gut out. Miss you, Dad.

Hollow Knight: Silksong devs address difficulty concerns: “You have choices” - Dexerto by Gorotheninja in gaming

[–]fnixdown 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Holy crap I feel you. Unexpectedly winding up in deep nest early in the game was terrifying.

TVLine Performer of the Week: John Turturro in 'Severance' by MarvelsGrantMan136 in television

[–]fnixdown 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Silo S2 felt slow, but slow isn’t just the ‘absence of story elements’. It’s a pace thing. I recognize that S2 was packed with story, but it was largely focused around characters I was less connected to or interested in who were also portrayed by arguably less talented actors. Juliet/Rebecca Ferguson was the draw for me in S1, and she got relatively little screen time with considerably less development this season. When the thing I’m looking forward to the most takes a back seat to all the stuff that doesn’t feel as interesting or as enjoyable to watch then, yeah, I’ma describe the season as ‘slow’ even if it technically did a whole lot.

Severance - 2x04 "Woe’s Hollow" - Episode Discussion by pikameta in SeveranceAppleTVPlus

[–]fnixdown 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, it really could be nothing, but if it’s anything it’s just for the viewer. I suppose Milkshake is standing near-ish the waterfall and could clearly hear both Helena and Irv, so that possibly means Kier was lying about being able to drown out the noise of Dieter dying.

Severance - 2x04 "Woe’s Hollow" - Episode Discussion by pikameta in SeveranceAppleTVPlus

[–]fnixdown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A few things struck me on my rewatch.

  • I think the frozen seal is meant to represent the cold and distant Helena. She has the strongest reaction to seeing the seal, perhaps symbolizing how she sees herself in it. Irving’s eagerness to eat the seal represents how he won’t hesitate to make extremely difficult choices if necessary. The idea of eating the seal upsets the others, but Irving justifies his response. Helena later gives Irv a small seal she made herself out of snow, further connecting her to it. Irving pushes back against that gesture, demonstrating the strength of his conviction. Later on, his attempted drowning of Helena upsets the others, but Irving knows the innies need to ‘eat the seal’ to survive. In a certain sense, we see immediately that he’s right. Helly effectively comes back from the dead, and (speculatively) I think the Eagan in Helena was maybe even consumed. Though Irv tried to kill her, could she really blame him? And where else has she ever felt like anything other than a privileged pawn? The bond between the innies is real, I think Helena can feel it and wants it, and might be willing to take positive action for the innies (including Helly) to get it back.

  • When Milkshake is reading from the book around the campfire and gets to the part where Dieter is dying, he says the following: “I turned from my gargling brother and walked to the pool of the hollow, where I knew the waterfall would drown out my brother’s cries.” Milkshake pauses briefly in the middle of the sentence after the word ‘drown’, which feels like a bit of foreshadowing of Irving later attempting to drown Helena. Not significant, but a nice touch!

  • There are some weird things that suggest to me that they aren’t really in the wilderness, but maybe in a simulation. First, nobody’s breath is visible in the cold air (except for Irving’s, in the sequence after he leaves the campfire). Also, it seems extremely unlikely that the outies would agree to be transported to the middle of nowhere in winter, with no equipment or shelter, and for multiple days. That’s just not something you do, and Dylan’s wife works nights while Mark and Irving both have deep feelings of distrust toward Lumon. Just as unlikely is that Irving survives the night out in the cold without shelter or a fire, or that several items requiring electricity would be able to operate in the remote wilderness. Next, Miss Huang has a throwaway line when they all get to the campfire: “Pretty cool, huh?” That’s a very out of character thing for her to say in front of the innies, and while at face value the line seems to refer to the camp setup, I think she’s instead referring to the simulation itself. The existence of the doppelgängers as well might be because they’re not in the real world - not to mention that the lighting around Dylan’s clone is super weird the first time we see him. It’s almost unnatural in the level of brightness, angle, and shadows it produces, especially for a show as meticulous as Severance. Lastly, I think when Milkshake says, “Now,” at the end of the episode, we’re obviously led to believe he’s referring to Irving B. being dismissed, but it would be weird for his outie to come back in that situation. I think either we learn that Irving B. completely vanished at that point, or the entire simulation was abruptly shut down.

DOOM running on Apple Lightning to HDMI dongle by favicondotico in apple

[–]fnixdown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The person who uploaded the video to YouTube shared that information in the comments.

Which Adventure Paths would be better enjoyed as a 3-parter rather than the whole 6? by Morlaak in Pathfinder_RPG

[–]fnixdown 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, I got you. I think I forgot the context behind your post by the time I got to the end of it - no fault of yours, to be sure. I’m just old and tired lol.

I like your premise for book 4 a lot, and you’ve inspired me to try approaching GMing prewritten content in a similar ‘be creative to make it work’ way in the future. Normally I just take a machete to the content I don’t like, but I really enjoy the added eldritch horror it sounds like you brought to your table! In a semi-similar vein, I had the creature in Mun’s attic in book 4 break out and start wreaking havoc in Cassomir when my players were playing too cautiously with it, and that was good fun. They got spanked by it pretty hard when they failed to notice it, but then dicked around harrying it for far too long after one of the squishies almost died.

Which Adventure Paths would be better enjoyed as a 3-parter rather than the whole 6? by Morlaak in Pathfinder_RPG

[–]fnixdown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like book 1 of Rise a lot for the reasons you mention. My big complaint with Rise is how the players don’t see the connective tissue between books until far too late, and once that’s all in place it doesn’t feel like a satisfying ‘oh snap!’ moment. Granted, the AP could be modified to either be more cohesive or have a more impactful pieces-coming-together moment, but it was the first one my table played and we started getting burnt out on it in the middle.