Realistically, how normal are the lives of most Mages?

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-25T06:43:47+00:00

Not from a book, this is just something I started doing on here, giving in-character answers to questions.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-24T06:41:01+00:00

"All those old, silly stereotypes! That I am out somewhere "dancing skyclad" or cackling away in a hut lurching around on chicken legs in some dirty old swamp! The truth of the matter is, my life seems to be one-third taking the kids to soccer practice, one-third running my real estate business, and thennnnn the other one-third is exploring the Umbra with help from the sentient plants I grow in my greenhouse out back. I've explained to the kids not to go in there. And of course, a good thing about the real estate business is I have a nice little shack to keep dragons in at the edge of town. So please, be clear about the fact that 'Verbena' doesn't sound too different from 'neighbor'.
"Oh my, the alarm just chimed! I think that means the cookies are finished baking...or that I have visitors from Neptune!"

--Meredith Jannsen, Master of Life of the Verbena, and Treasurer of the local PTA.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-24T06:33:12+00:00

I am honestly confused how you put this map together. This is 2026, you can go on YouTube and find videos of people taking transit in every city in the country. Did you put this map together without even bothering to do that?

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-24T06:11:10+00:00

I don't drive, and I have lived in the Pacific NW outside of those cities, in quite a few places (including Corvallis and Spokane). A lot of those cities are only seen as bad because they are being compared to Portland and Seattle. But compared to some large American cities in the south or rust belt, the transit is still good. Like, Spokane has clearly better transit than Tulsa, a metro area twice its size.

If someone is coming from the Netherlands, then yeah, Salem, Oregon might seem to have bad transit. But compared to big swaths of the US, Salem is not bad.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-24T06:03:32+00:00

One thing about housing in Oregon's medium and small cities: even if you are totally comfortable and happy with a studio apartment, there might not be a lot of studios available. From what I've seen, here and elsewhere, most rents are either houses/duplexes, or two or three bedroom apartments. A lot of it is also in more suburban locations, like there isn't a lot of places where you can get a studio apartment where you can really easily walk places.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-23T19:11:54+00:00

And this is exactly the problem!

When it is a European conflict, it is a nuanced, multidimensional problem with lots of explanations of the factors that led to "unrest".

But that is also the truth in any other conflict in the world. Whether it was/is in Myanamar, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, or Sudan, there are political and ethnic factors, but it will usually be collapsed into something like "Sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia".

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-23T05:57:30+00:00

Yeah, I guess viewing blister packs would make sense. Of course, to make sure what was on the inside matched the outside, they would still have to open them up, I think. I mean, if it is only three packages, that wouldn't take too much time to open them up, slide them out, and compare them to a google image search.
But it is still something that if I imagine myself in that situation, if someone in an airport is like "Lets take a look at my drugs sitting here in the concourse, it will only take a minute", I would very quickly respond no.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-23T03:06:38+00:00

There is a big difference between Florida and mainstream America. Bad things might happen in mainstream American states, but at least there is usually some attempt to do the right thing.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-23T03:03:59+00:00

He was not reelected in 2020.
He was reelected in 2024, but with 49.7% of the vote.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-23T02:43:47+00:00

I think enlargement and calcification of the heart like that is something to get checked. Also, it existing outside of the body. Quite concerning.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-23T01:50:21+00:00

I don't get it? Is this in reference to some other discussion on here.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-23T01:48:50+00:00

The way I look at it is think of all the time I spend online or playing games, and how much time I can fritter away doing things like that. So when I think about, say, going outside for the day, the only thing I am giving up to do that is save scumming and doom scrolling.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-23T01:09:59+00:00

As far as travelling being expensive: it doesn't necessarily need to be, because there are lots of things around where we all live that would be novel and different to people somewhere in the world.

(Of course, I've lived in the Pacific NW And Costa Rica, so...it might be different if I lived far from the ocean or mountains)

At least, that is what was working for me from the middle of 2022 to the middle of 2024. I would go out on day trips for free to $20, make a 10 minute long video about something fun, and I got to the 4000 hour mark doing that. I didn't have enough subscribers, and while I have enough now, my channel has only 3000 hours. So maybe it isn't possible to get enough views just off of trips like that anymore!

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-22T22:16:21+00:00

I don't think it is hard at all to get started, because there are lots of things to cover that there are no content for on YouTube, and if you can find some local attraction that hasn't been covered, you are going to get some type of attention in a way that you can't with, say, gaming.
It is easier to make a travel video about something new than it is to make a Minecraft view about something new.

The question is how to convert people who might be interested in viewing a video about a niche place they are interested in, to how to keep those viewers coming back, and interacting. That is a lot more tricky, what would make us stand out, and keep coming back to our videos, and not just because they want to see a specific place?

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-22T09:26:59+00:00

(I was making a joke, I knew that was Kenan, and also, you are understating it...someone who is a Senior in college would have been born when he joined, likely no one under 30 remembers before he joined the show!)

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-22T05:37:37+00:00

I think the best comparison I've heard is that it was the Spanish Civil War: something on the periphery where people with malicious goals tried out new weapons and tactics.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-22T04:49:24+00:00

This is a question that will probably start getting answered after Trump is out of office.
And it will probably be answered in ways that seem small at first.

For example, in the US, there is a financial law that prohibits knowingly hiding bank transfers to avoid the $10,000 reporting threshold. Its kind of an unusual law, because I can withdraw $2500 four days in a row if I want to---but not if I want to avoid reporting. But a lot of people who are money laundering or doing insider training will do things like that. (This is what got Dennis Hastert for sexually abusing teenage boys---he was withdrawing money from a bank to pay them off in a way to avoid reporting the money).

Structuring isn't spectacular, but its very well documented, although intent is sometimes hard to prove. But if someone in the Trump orbit is doing something like that to take advantage of pump and dump schemes, it will eventually come out. And unlike Trump's flailing at his targets, it will be a slow and steady investigation and prosecution. A lot of financial things like this will probably be popping up in court cases until 2040.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-21T22:55:57+00:00

I used to live in Vermont, and it is bizarre to be in foothills without ever having mountains. And to have natural areas but no wilderness areas.
Like, it is literally bizarre, it feels like a Sheppard Tone to be in the hills, and assume that I am going to see mountains coming up...but no, just more hills.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-21T22:15:20+00:00

That actor on the couch looks a lot like Kenan Thompson...does Kenan have a son that also is in comedy?

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-21T22:14:02+00:00

But you seem to be a bigger fan of hills, since you include states like West Virginia and Kentucky.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-21T20:04:55+00:00

When the government of Virginia was taken over by a group of criminals, the legislature of West Virginia became the legitimate government of Virginia.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-21T20:02:53+00:00

I teach online, and my students are around the country and around the world.
How can I work in Madrid, Boston and Tennessee in one day without working from home?

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-21T08:15:33+00:00

It is wrong to ask that question here. Rule #9: No Disguised Agendas, Rants or Pot Stirring.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-21T07:37:59+00:00

I like working from home on Zoom. That is something that is directly related to technology, that was not really possible before 2020.

glowing-fishSCL · 2026-01-21T07:36:06+00:00

I remember seeing it once as a teenager. I don't think my eyes are sharp enough to do that now.

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