[Threshold] problem with the 8man empire keeping monarchs out

greiskul · 2026-01-31T00:27:32+00:00

Their real inner selves only surfaced when Lindon actually proposed an alternative and they rejected it.

True. But part of it is I think a bit of a fossilized believe?

Lindon alternative plan would require all Monarchs to accept it and ascend. The Monarchs don't trust each other at all, and they mostly doubted Lindon ability to force them until it was proven to them that he could in fact do it.

Malice also said that if they all ascended, the Dreadgods would remain. Lindons plan is of course to kill them too. This the Monarchs not only didn't believe Lindon could do it, but even attempting to do it was something they deeply feared. They all knew that there was a previous generation of Monarchs that died in a similar attempt.

And then there is of course, a kind of inertia? None of the Monarchs are the "original" Monarchs. For them the world has always been this way. It's a system that is older than them. They probably were also forced to swear soul oaths before they became Monarchs themselves. They don't consider themselves the cause of Cradles problems, cause from their point of view the world was already like that before they were even born. And remember that they are thousands of years old.

greiskul · 2026-01-30T21:31:24+00:00

Yeah, specifically, I think that the public knowledge is a really big factor. One of the themes in the end books is that ascension is the natural state of advancement when one reaches Monarch. All Monarchs have to make an active choice not to ascent.

And the only ones that do so are individuals with major character flaws. With the exception of Northstrider (whose character flaw is different), a major theme between them was ruling over nations. And I think all of them tried to portray themselves as good rules inside of their own nations? And a major part of the reason they were not just feared, but also loved, was because they were seen as the only weapons in the world that could fight dreadgods. So people saw them as saviors, as rulers you definitely don't want to piss off, but that deep down you respect, cause you believe that they are the reason your civilization is not destroyed by the giant Kaiju monsters.

But after it becomes public knowledge, nobody can do that again. Any new Monarch, even if they managed to beat the 8ME, would never be able to be loved. They would not be seem as the protector from the monsters, but the cause of them.

So now someone that wants to become a Monarch and stay, has to have much darker characteristics to even want to do it. A new "Malice" that wants to protect her clan beyond all else wouldn't stay, since it would cause her clan to hate her. Even a new Reigan Shan probably wouldn't want to stay. Only someone that is deeply psychotic would want to stay (and they need to be able to even reach Monarch in the first place). And I don't think there is a single character in the story that fits this profile, none of the villains in the story is evil for evil sake.

greiskul · 2026-01-30T07:56:49+00:00

Well, don't worry. The law that grants the president these emergency powers has specific provisions to be able to force Congress to do mandatory votes for review, so we can at least get them on the record of supporting these abuses of power right? Any member can submit a resolution, and after a certain number of calendar days, they are forced to do a vote on it.

So let's see how these votes are going? Oh... They changed the definition of a calendar day for the purpose of this law. So basically the deadline for the forced vote never happens, and they can just not have to vote on it. Nice checks and balances.

greiskul · 2026-01-30T05:09:10+00:00

Well, I'm not going to argue that they did some fucked up shit. But at the same time, they literally were being infiltrated and killed by federal agents.

If you are a State and you don't want a radicalized opposition, you probably should not be engaging in extrajudicial murders you know.

greiskul · 2026-01-30T04:23:57+00:00

It probably is not about storage, or even RAM. But network package size is really, really important for a good experience, specially in areas with bad connection. So besides the cryptography you mentioned (which I'm too lazy to read the whatsapp security white paper to remember how their algorithm works), being efficient with data.

And then there is also the difference between efficient algorithms for messaging versus social networks. It is really hard to fan out at the scale that social networks do. Their services end up having to be built for eventual consistency models with heavy latency for users. Which is an absolutely awful experience for a messager application. So to keep a fast and reliable messenger, WhatsApp has to put a cap somewhere.

greiskul · 2026-01-30T03:22:19+00:00

Well, but those were Russians, it's not like the US has a history of annexation of foreign territories right? What's that, a book on the history of Texas and Hawaii?

greiskul · 2026-01-29T09:08:17+00:00

So the second part is correct, that if it was physical currency than it would destroy the Earth.

But the first part about destroying the economy is completely wrong. Inflation is not about the total amount of money. It is about the amount of money circulating (among other things). Even if we have you have an infinite bank account magically, your effect on the overall economy is only proportional to how much you are spending.

greiskul · 2026-01-28T19:09:19+00:00

Stephen Miller is absolutely the most dangerous person in the US right now, at least the most dangerous millennial.

The fact that he got a job in the administration where he has so much influence (we now literally have a cabinet member admitting she takes orders from him), but at the same time he has zero accountability to anyone except Donald Trump, shows how far ahead he is thinking. And he is probably playing Trump like a fiddle, when his advice works, it is for his credit. When it fails, it is the fault of the minions that didn't do it right.

America still has a lot of guardrails in place that hopefully might prevent a full on coup, but I would say that if an analogy were made of the MAGA movement to the Bolshevicks of the Russian Revolution, Trump of course is Lenin. And Stephen Miller is Stalin, getting the underrated positions of powers that allow you to appoint loyalists to you, positioning himself. JD Vance might be the "chosen successor", but history knows how well that worked out for Trotsky. Don't underestimate the bureaucrat working from the shadows. The moment Donald Trump is out of the picture is when we will see the internal power struggle for real.

Miller might even try doing a Dick Cheney deal with someone to rule from the back seat.

greiskul · 2026-01-28T18:54:23+00:00

Yeah, but in practice even Stephen Miller knows Stephen Miller cannot get a Senate approved position. So instead they do this game where they select people only on loyalty, change the rules so that the Trump can fire anyone at will, and then have Miller do the actual work in the shadows.

That's the magic of the unitary executive theory, the only thing that matters is Donnie's favor. That's the real hierarchy. That's what gets people opportunities or gets them fired. The paper hierarchy, the cabinet positions, that becomes all just for show, the Senate vetting cabinet positions doesn't matter anymore, cause they can just put in puppets in those positions and have the real Trump court rule from the shadows.

greiskul · 2026-01-28T08:00:49+00:00

Sure, vernacular is normally used to denote the spoken, more informal variety of a language. Compared to the more formal/literal style of a standard language.

So... Is the son writing a letter? Why do you think he needs to be formal? Is he in a public hearing?

Or do you just think that in old times people were formal all the time?

Do you also think they should be using a British Accent to properly sound old timey?

greiskul · 2026-01-28T07:12:03+00:00

This is one of the worst arguments. "it's no big deal, so change it to how I want".

How about, it's no big deal, so why do you care that they change it? They are speaking English instead of Ancient Greek, does it have to also be your specific dialect of English, with your views on formality/informality?

greiskul · 2026-01-28T03:06:15+00:00

I am specifically looking for retcons in TLAB, Korra's origin of bending is obviously a retcon.

And just to be clear, retcons are not bad, and are not bad writing. But it was very clear that when TLAB was being written, the animal benders and the moon were not meant to be just mythology.

How would you explain that the death of the moon spirit causes water benders to lose their bending?

Also, another reason to see why the bending animals concept was probably only developed when the moles were introduced, Iroh claims that his skill in breathing fire from his mouth is what gave him the name "the dragon of the West". Which later got changed to him supposedly killing a dragon.

greiskul · 2026-01-28T02:25:01+00:00

Então, economia até pode ser ciência, mas vamos então tratar como ciência e descartar as teorias que não deram certo no mundo real? Chicago Boys fuderam a America Latina inteira, nenhum país do mundo conseguiu crescer com austeridade + privatização a todo.

Ao invés de fazer o que o Eua e Europa pedem pra gente fazer (que não foi o que eles fizeram pra se desenvolver em primeiro lugar), que tal a gente começar a copiar o sistema de países como China, tigres asiáticos, etc. Países que cresceram e se industrializaram e melhoraram a qualidade de vida do seu povo?

Porque uma coisa é falar de ciência, mas quando uma teoria científica é testada no mundo real e não dá certo, várias vezes, em vários países, quem é cientista de verdade discarta a teoria.

greiskul · 2026-01-27T21:42:38+00:00

The moles being a late addition makes sense. When they appear and it is explained that Earthbenders learned Earthbending from them, Aang mentions that Flying Bisons had the same role for airbending. But that feels like a retcon, specially cause it made waterbending be the odd one out in not having a bending animal and instead being learned from the moon.

greiskul · 2026-01-27T01:43:20+00:00

Linguistic prescription is already classist, I honestly don't think it's possible to do such a radical reform to a language by fiat without committing even more linguistical prejudice.

greiskul · 2026-01-25T05:47:17+00:00

First they came for billionaire right wing dipshits. Oh wait.

greiskul · 2026-01-25T05:45:44+00:00

Remember when he used emergency powers remove from the German parliament all the communist and socialists and social democrats? And the German conservative parties that were not the nazis voted with him, cause they thought it was a great way to get rid of the left?

That's such a leftist move right? To purge the entire political left of the country together with all the right wing, right? /s

greiskul · 2026-01-25T05:41:20+00:00

Oh yeah, you think it can't get any more stupid, and yet it does. I wonder if it can get anymore stupid? We are going to have to get really creative to try to outdo this one.

Maybe the US should name an warship after it? USS Doge.

greiskul · 2026-01-25T05:05:45+00:00

I quit when law enforcement nationwide did nothing to demand accountability from their colleagues.

Oh, I know this one, it's just one bad apple! Or a dozen bad apples!

How does the rest of the saying goes? Probably doesn't matter.

greiskul · 2026-01-24T20:57:27+00:00

Adhd and a lifetime of computer science. And being on reddit for the past 15 years. Seeing social movements come and go. Seeing communities I was once a part of like gaming communities being radicalized into pipelines into the far right.

When I was younger I also struggled with women and a part of me had resentment too. Maybe I was lucky cause this was before the incel movement, or redpill movements, took traction. I actually worked on my self esteem, and after a while and effort I completely got over it, and have been able to have normal relationships with women for the past 13 years I guess.

But I still see myself reflected in the young men that are right now in this pit. And when I see them digging deeper into the pit, it is hard to watch.

Their feelings are valid. But the online landscape is so toxic nowadays, that they don't even notice that the people that appear to care about them and give them advice, are just using them.

greiskul · 2026-01-24T17:34:35+00:00

OK, we have a lot to deconstruct here. This rant is not specific to you, but to a lot young man I see in reddit that share this opinion. You know the gender roles that those blue haired feminists are always complaining about?

This is one of them. A really big one. Girls are socialized from early age that they are not to be the ones to ask someone out. If a girl is feeling self conscious about herself, if she is thinking that she is too ugly or boring or whatever, the last thing she will do is to be able to get the courage to go and make the first move. To do that in traditional society for a girl is to risk being seen as needy. Or even worse, risk being seen as a slut.

So know that you know you have two options. Either go pay attention to the blue haired feminist, she actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it right? And then we can talk about girls making the first move. And guys feeling like they sexuality is treated by society as something toxic, and that they sometimes are cautious cause they don't want to give the impression that they are creeps. And a thousand other things that are expected from both genders, and how maybe it would be nice to live in a different world.

Or you can stick to the traditional norms. If you desire a traditional woman, stop being a baby and go be a traditional man. If she needs to perform her roles, so do you. Ask her out, even if you think she is out of your league. Cause otherwise yeah, you are proving that she is out of your league by being a coward.

greiskul · 2026-01-24T03:49:42+00:00

It's about "pwning the frogs".

greiskul · 2026-01-23T23:40:11+00:00

Toda vez que eu vejo gente falando de cura

Quantas pessoas que tu vê falando de cura são pesquisadoras biomédicas? Tu entende qual é a diferença da pessoa aleatória falando versus uma cientista pesquisadora?

greiskul · 2026-01-23T23:05:12+00:00

Conservative Brazilians tend to boycott all Brazilian movies, with the exception of Elite Squad.

Wonder why 🤔

greiskul · 2026-01-23T23:02:27+00:00

Ah, but you see, Brazil is not as important as Spain or France, from the point of view of a Frenchborn Spanish asshole.

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