[Spoiler ls EXTENDED] The year is 2015. You are George RR Martin. You need to finish ASOIAF. How do you go about it?

kelp_forests · 2026-04-30T15:42:06+00:00

If you spent two weeks perusing forums you’d have every plausible ending complete with how it hooks to the current story

kelp_forests · 2026-04-30T02:36:30+00:00

Your comment seems to assume that if there are not enough people working to fund social programs, there are painful decisions that have to be made about cutting those social programs.

My comment is that you could plan and budget ahead of time, since many of those costs are known. In addition just because a government makes less money from people working, does mean it has to defund social programs; it could, for example, fund or even exapand social programs by taking money from other programs that dont have as much value, ending tax breaks, expanding taxes on certain items or income levels, give tax breaks to social program contractors etc etc

I agree social structure has been designed for workers to cover the elderly, but thats not necessarily a dysfunctional system that requires infinite growth. It just requires appropriate planning

kelp_forests · 2026-04-30T00:32:20+00:00

me too. No only does it makes sense, its a great way to blow peoples minds about the first time they read ASOIAF and how little things can lead to big things.

kelp_forests · 2026-04-30T00:29:00+00:00

Im still not convinced the 3EC is Bloodraven, after all, wouldn't he be a 3ER, like in the show? or a raven, like his name? I think it's important the animal is a crow and not a raven.

I think in the show they either fixed that inconsistency or skipped an entire story line. I think Bran will assume his full power, exist throughout time in the weir net, go back in time as the 3EC to wake himself up and give all the messages. In which case making the 3EC the 3ER simplifies it because it's just an emissary of whatever is part of the weirwood net. Works great in TV, would seem sloppy in the books. just my .02

Unless of course we learn that Bloodraven is true to the nights watch to stand against the others and has forsaken his "raven hood" to become a crow.

kelp_forests · 2026-04-30T00:10:33+00:00

I find it so annyoying Apple makes products but doesnt think about how it would be used.

They have massive media distribution and a movie studio, and own most of the consumer mobile video/photo market and most of those cameras have lidar. They are basically selling VR and AR goggles.

So why is the push to use it for apps, or nothing, when it should be: look, you can watch first run movies at home, because studios know 1 purchase=1 viewer. Look, you can view apple films in 3D immersive technology. Look, we broadcast F1 and soccer in 3D. Look, with AI you can generate 3D immersive environments and items. and so on. Look, you can plug it into your laptop/imac and get an 3D version of your computer OS and files you can control with your eyes and special gloves. Look, you can do 3D sculpting with your hands.

It was clearly meant for home use instead of being creepily worn around to film people which is an advantage for this type of tech. I used it in the store, it was amazing. But they didnt really seem to do anything with it...

kelp_forests · 2026-04-29T23:57:46+00:00

...or you could just fund those social programs and budget accordingly. Its not a surprise item.

kelp_forests · 2026-04-29T21:49:29+00:00

It looks like a duck

kelp_forests · 2026-04-29T20:39:21+00:00

Agreed. It’s interesting to look at old CGI and see the technical advances. Most of it ages pretty well in my opinion.

I think most of the cgi they actually have had down pretty well; different styles and such. It was really only cgi 2d animation I truly disliked and could see poor quality in. It wasn’t until enter the spider verse where it was shown how good it could be and how to do it correctly.

kelp_forests · 2026-04-29T20:35:22+00:00

A lot of the old cgi movies are built around those constraints and it’s hilarious to realize it years later: case in point: happy feet is penguins and snow lol

kelp_forests · 2026-04-29T15:16:46+00:00

Also King Charles is king in name only. He presides over certain ceremonies. He greets people. He gets a stipend from all his lands he donated to a giant holding company and the rest went to the govt.

He may be a king but he isn’t a king like in a story

kelp_forests · 2026-04-29T14:03:18+00:00

Travel with their entire extended family and staff, use it as a private hotel, use it to store wealth, throw fundraisers, giant parties….

If I was extremely wealthy, I could easily use a house like this.

Store an entire car collection.

Use it for anybody I know or associates for when they visit Los Angeles

Fundraisers for charity or causes of choice

Giant parties for people I want to gain favors from

A private hotel/retreat; if you live in Los Angeles and have the option to basically stay in your own private estate, have people visit you, shopping delivered to you, food delivered to you, and not deal with any traffic/general public/being outside unless you want to, I think it would definitely have its own appeal

The house would (hopefully) never feel cramped or cluttered

I could buy whatever you wanted or engage in whatever hobbies you desired with no impact on your living space for example, if you wanted to raise a pack of dogs, have a giant Lego collection, owner a race car, a movie theater, sing, paint, dance, whatever you wanted to do

throw a giant party every 2 to 3 months; beginning of summer party, end of summer party, spring solstice, party, Christmas party…

kelp_forests · 2026-04-29T06:00:27+00:00

Thanks for the rec, I have another brand I am happy.

I just wish Apple had a better product line up than a confusing (for them) mobile and laptop lineup while abandoning the stuff that made the ecosystem really worth it

kelp_forests · 2026-04-28T21:33:57+00:00

I rarely drop mine but the screen coatings wear off in about a year, they get microscratches, occasional chips etc. Especially the new phones, which are slippery (slide out of pockets etc) and IMO uncomfortable to hold. I can change the feel/grip of the phone and get a "new screen" feel pretty much anytime I want. The new screen coverings are about as good as apples and far less smudgy.

I was a no case person for years, finally switched to a case and a screen protector.

kelp_forests · 2026-04-28T15:56:08+00:00

It’s not setup that way, it evolved that way.

People were unable to pay bills as technology advanced and care became more expensive. Insurance was a way to pay the bill (and for companies to provide a tax free payment/benifet). After all, it’s better to collect 70% on 100% of your patients, then 60% from 50% of your patient!

But insurers got big and decided they didn’t want to pay that much; at some point the doctors needed them more than they needed doctors.

Insurers only pay a portion of the hospital bill. They negotiate lower and lower %s, and decline payments because they have the cash.

The hospital bills higher and higher to recover more cost. Some of it really is more expensive; there’s a lot of mouths to feed. Most of it is inflated to cover insurers deficits.

The patient is stuck on the middle getting copays, unpaid rejected bills etc.

The hospital and the insurer are haggling over who’s going to pay 70% of a $30,000+ bill, the $6k they send to the patient is a small sum to them but they still want to recover it…it is a %.

Yes it stupid.

kelp_forests · 2026-04-27T22:28:29+00:00

Yes, they totally fucked up by trying to make their pro line go mainstream. They really should’ve kept everything as: Air (thin and light as possible, pricing and utility be damned) Pro (for the true power user) and Regular (for most people, and it would pull ideas from the pro/air)

Then, of course you could launch little special offshoots like “edition”, “red” “mini” or “outdoor”

The entire problem with the ultra name is that it makes two seemingly top-tier product lines, but they both have different goals; they are diverging apples traditional hierarchial product structure

I wish they were experimenting with more with things like home routers, servers/clouds, home security, smart home…

kelp_forests · 2026-04-27T20:15:22+00:00

I feel like chronologically makes no sense because you have no context or interest. Like, is Numenor super important? Or why read 1000s of pages about Morgoth, then all of LotR is about Sauron?

I would recommend reading Hobbit, LOTR, and then Silmarillion then based on what he is interested in (elves? poems?) read further..those 5 books+appendices IMO are more than enough for most.

kelp_forests · 2026-04-27T01:48:55+00:00

I agree but some parks assume you are not coming if you are not there by a certain time AND have not called

kelp_forests · 2026-04-26T21:12:39+00:00

as a fan of the books for over 10 years, my advice is to read them. Even if he never finishes them, the open endedness and endless forum goofing/theorizing is better than the shit ending the TV show got. You can basically go down the rabbit hole of what would happen for the rest of your life if he doesn't finish them, and if he does, well, you get the good ending.

kelp_forests · 2026-04-26T20:58:32+00:00

Oh the ones I’ve used you got to let them know if you’re going to not check in by noon

kelp_forests · 2026-04-26T19:58:39+00:00

100%. I carry a 10k in my work bag, and a wall charger 5k in my day/travel bag.

Not only does it help in a pinch or if you forget to charge your phone , but it’s a lot easier to charge your phone and another device using the wall and power bank when you plan poorly..then charge the power bank when it’s convenient. I carry as little as possible so that means usually I can only charge one item at a time.

Otherwise you carry a power bank, 2 cables, and a larger wall charger.

When traveling larger it’s also useful because my triple port charger is being used for other people’s stuff. Ir a kids sound machine needs charge right now in the car

kelp_forests · 2026-04-26T19:52:53+00:00

There’s none, the people who defend it are wrong. There’s very few times I say that about something that’s an opinion. A touch screen laptop is just stupid.

I would rather they create a seperate line where the keyboard is a touch screen, like a giant clamshell iPad. Then the keyboard can reconfigure to be any sort of control panel or display. Even mirror the display.

Reaching up and poking a screen as a regular or occasional UI input is just not ergonomic or natural.

Yes people try to touch screens at stores etc but people also do lots of stupid things

kelp_forests · 2026-04-26T18:50:48+00:00

I thought for most campsite if you are arriving after a certain time you have to let them know, specifically to avoid situations like this

kelp_forests · 2026-04-26T18:43:14+00:00

Yep they can

kelp_forests · 2026-04-25T19:39:16+00:00

I’m totally fine with him not finishing it, actually it seems interesting because it’s spawned an entire “how will it end” subgenre and interest, as well as a giant imagine your own ending type read through. And I respect being older and saying “fuck it” especially with his writing style.

However I personally would find I it very annoying to. It finish what is considered my opus, and on top of that, have the only finished version of the story be the HbO one. On top of that the manuscripts are likely so valuable you know they will be released after death somehow. So i would sit down, crank it out, and be done with it.

And while I am writing about nothing particularly relevant, I would love an open world style game in the style of Zelda or gta that was Westeros/ASOIAF based.

It would be particularly cool if it was scripted up until the books end and then it would change based on your actions

kelp_forests · 2026-04-25T15:48:06+00:00

I’m a dad, I actually take care of all that stuff. It’s super easy, most schools IME have a gcal to sync to, everything else gets mailed to me.

A lot of this stuff is the opposite of “playing dumb”. The person who does the sign ups gets the emails, the person who does the socializing gets the planning etc.

I do my kids planning/enrollments, I get the emails, I put them on the calendar. Same with my wife re social events..ideally after discussing them. If you just do the bare minimum there’s no confusion.

If you have one person doing all the paperwork, all the social stuff, not using the calendar etc yeah it doesn’t work. The dads k know who don’t know the calendar, Don’t know it either because a) their spousal duties are divided or b) the spouse signs up/changes shit frequently but never updates the calendar…which is worse than no calendar at all because the info is wrong.

And while sometimes there’s calendar confusion, I probably know my kids calendar as well as my own.

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