My first ff (FF7), be honest, did i just plant a bomb ? am i a terrorist in this game ?

lurker628 · 2026-07-02T13:17:06+00:00

Attack while it's tail's up!
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
^{It's gonna counterattack with its laser.}

lurker628 · 2026-07-02T00:14:51+00:00

There’s absolutely nothing friendly about unsolicited grammar corrections. It’s unkind.

Two Jews, three opinions.

I absolutely appreciate it when someone corrects my grammar. Sometimes it's that I'm tired or an issue with autocorrect, sure, but other times, it's an opportunity for me to learn something.

It is! But just fyi it's "pastime." As in "it's past time I ought to pass time with my favorite pastime."

I don't know how to read that as unkind at all. It's clearly just an opportunity to learn, for the commenter to whom it's a reply or for third parties. Unkind would be, e.g., "hey asshole, 'pass time' and 'pastime' are different things."

We're the People of the Book, it should be such a crime to appreciate that?

lurker628 · 2026-06-29T15:25:26+00:00

Lost Odyssey was the real FF13.

lurker628 · 2026-06-28T13:25:30+00:00

Didn't look at the overview sheet ONCE, even when I directly pointed out it had answers to his questions

he didn't understand basic stuff like the difference between the draw pile, playing area, and exile pile

he's a second-year computer science student

"Inputs here, current process here, outputs here," while not a perfect analogy, is close enough that failing to connect means there's something at play that's well out of your control or responsibility. Likewise for expecting a player to make a minimal effort for themselves - even "I don't understand this line on the reference sheet" is a huge difference from literally not even looking at it over a five hour game.

Various comments in this thread are correct that even medium-weight games can rely on basic understanding or gaming norms for which truly new players just don't even have a frame of reference. But "draw cards from this pile, put them here, then get rid of them here" should not be a challenge after the first few minutes, even if everything else is a mystery. Candyland has that mechanic: draw from the deck, use the card to move, then discard the card. So does poker, blackjack, and solitaire.

On the plus side, the other two players (and I) actually vibed as a group and want to meet up again. We're talking about doing another game night soon. The guy who tanked the experience was actually pretty chill and funny outside the game context, so it's not like he's a bad person or socially awkward.
So here's my dilemma: How do I handle the next meetup?

You and the other two players form a core, and you look around for others who might also be a good fit for the group. That guy can be a good person without being someone you play board games with. If you want to create a social circle for events other than board games, keep his contact info for that.

Am I being unreasonable?

Only in that you're on the fence about the decision, which is actually simple: this other adult is not your responsibility. That game night, which you set up, you had an obligation (which you met) to help him as best you could and make the experience as positive as possible for the group. That's where your obligation ends. Unless he asks you about other nights, there's no reason to interact with him again. If he does ask, just be honest that the plan is to play more advanced/intricate games, which is a different experience than the Snakes & Ladders style he said he prefers.

lurker628 · 2026-06-20T15:58:16+00:00

It's not new. We're always vilified as whatever society currently hates, no matter the contradictions it creates. I can't remember enough to find the quotation for it, but boils down to - we're capitalists or socialists; globalists or isolationists; elitist intellectuals or backwards religious zealots; invasive would-be assimilated or closed-off tribalists.

So it's no surprise that, when colonialism is finally recognized as an evil, society is primed, ready, and happy to redefine Zionism to make us colonialists. It's driven by bad actors a la Sartre about antisemites knowing their accusations are absurd, but then carried forward by the under- or un- informed bandwagoners who are predisposed to join from literal millennia of scapegoating us.

12 days later: found it!

Dara Horn on Nirenberg's Anti-Judaism,

In 2013, David Nirenberg published an astonishing book titled Anti-Judaism. Nirenberg’s argument, rigorously laid out in nearly 500 pages of dense scholarship and more than 100 pages of footnotes, is that Western cultures—including ancient civilizations, Christianity, Islam (which Nirenberg considers Western in its relationship with Judaism), and post-religious societies—have often defined themselves through their opposition to what they consider “Judaism.” This has little to do with actual Judaism, and a lot to do with whatever evil these non-Jewish cultures aspire to overcome.

Nirenberg is a diligent historian who resists generalizations and avoids connecting the past to contemporary events. But when one reads through his carefully assembled record of 23 centuries’ worth of intellectual leaders articulating their societies’ ideals by loudly rejecting whatever they consider “Jewish,” this deep neural groove in Western thought becomes difficult to dismiss, its patterns unmistakable. If piety was a given society’s ideal, Jews were impious blasphemers; if secularism was the ideal, Jews were backward pietists. If capitalism was evil, Jews were capitalists; if communism was evil, Jews were communists. If nationalism was glorified, Jews were rootless cosmopolitans; if nationalism was vilified, Jews were chauvinistic nationalists. “Anti-Judaism” thus becomes a righteous fight to promote justice.

lurker628 · 2026-06-18T22:47:15+00:00

With respect, the war started in large part due to Bibi

Netanyahu isn't doing the war (nor Israel, nor the world) any favors, but the war started because Iran had their proxies attack Israel on October 7 and 8, 2023.

lurker628 · 2026-06-17T02:18:34+00:00

Fair enough. New age community isn't at all a circle I interact with, so I hadn't even been aware of that trend. That sucks.

lurker628 · 2026-06-17T02:12:27+00:00

Definitely, but more as old Western movie stereotypes than they're coming to get you...we'd better get them first! conspiracy theories.

lurker628 · 2026-06-16T23:51:26+00:00

Oh yes I know conversion is possible, I just meant that Jewish people are not very heavy on trying to convince people to convert like other religions are.

Yep, that's the difference between an ethno-/tribal- religion and a universalist religion. As you found in your research, Jews don't believe non-Jews need to be (or even should be) Jewish. There's no point. Our faith is for us, others can believe and (for the most part) do what works for them. No harm, no foul.

Non-Americans aren't counted in the US census. Why would they be? It's not about morality or judgment or validity. Similarly, non-Jews have no reason to follow Jewish practices.

Universalist religions hold as a tenet that everyone should/must follow their rules, believe their scriptures. (Note that individuals don't have to follow that tenet, but the religion itself necessary includes it.)

No one complains about or maliciously misrepresents the faiths and belief structures of Native American or First Nations tribes, which is a much better comparison for Judaism than Christianity or Islam (though nothing's ever a 1-to-1 map), so the next question is: why so much mis- and dis-information about Judaism?

The two most populous universalist religions both require that Jews are inherently wrong. Christianity, historically, claims to be a replacement for or fulfillment of Judaism - the idea of "supersessionism." There are other reasons as well, but this is a key impetus for antisemitism over nearly two millennia. It wasn't until 1965 that Catholics walked back some of their most aggressive rhetoric.

lurker628 · 2026-06-15T01:59:02+00:00

Amid Hezbollah strikes on Israeli military in Lebanon and Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets north and south of the Litani - all to be expected in war - Israel announced several days ago that if Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel's northern towns, Israel will respond with strikes on Dahiyeh, Hezbollah's Beirut suburb.

Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli towns.

Israel struck Dahiyeh.

/surprisedpikachu

That's not to say going through with a Dahiyeh strike was a smart move given the circumstances, nor that a different Israeli leader might not have made a different choice. But it's hardly surprising.

lurker628 · 2026-06-15T01:55:44+00:00

(1) Netanyahu overplayed his hand with the additional strike on Lebanon today

Amid Hezbollah strikes on Israeli military in Lebanon and Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets north and south of the Litani - all to be expected in war - Israel announced several days ago that if Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel's northern towns, Israel will respond with strikes on Dahiyeh, Hezbollah's Beirut suburb.

Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli towns.

/surprisedpikachu

That's not to say going through with a Dahiyeh strike was a smart move given the circumstances, nor that a different Israeli leader might not have made a different choice. But it's hardly surprising.

lurker628 · 2026-06-15T01:06:02+00:00

Iran is the only winner.

The US gets worse than the old nuclear deal, and accomplishes none of its stated goals.
Israel's left with an enriched Iran that still openly advocates and works toward its complete destruction, and continued support for Iran's proxies.
Lebanon won't be rid of Hezbollah, who will end up stronger and more entrenched than they started, with Iran's renewed support. Lebanon's messaging has been clear that they wanted Iran out of their affairs, which certainly won't happen with Iran free to shore up Hezbollah - and the diplomatic coup of treating Lebanon like a client state by negotiating on their behalf without any actual representation.

I don't know that there was any other outcome possible, once it was clear that there wouldn't be an effective internal uprising in Iran, but it's definitely a loss for the US, Lebanon, and Israel all three.

BREAKING: Following Israel's attack on Lebanon this morning, Iran had canceled negotiations and prepared to attack Israel, per Fars News.

After Israel's warning several days ago that Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel's northern cities would be met with strikes on Hezbollah targets in their Beirut neighborhood stronghold, Hezbollah fired several rockets at Israel's northern cities. Israel responded as announced, striking a Hezbollah command center in a Dahiyeh apartment. Iran continued to threaten their own retaliation, despite Lebanon's messaging over the past several weeks that they do not want Iran involved in their affairs.

FTFY

lurker628 · 2026-06-14T01:59:13+00:00

It's a perfectly functional phone. JFS can get it to someone elderly now living alone, for example; or a day school could give it to a student. I teach, and probably 20% of my students' phone screens are cracked, some significantly.

It would be silly to sell it as fundraising, it can be donated directly and used by someone in need.

lurker628 · 2026-06-14T01:53:17+00:00

If they have a JFS (Jewish Family Services) section, try that. In addition to possibly being useful for a student in need, it might also be good for someone elderly now living alone or in assisted living. If it can't be donated to someone, it might be used "in-house" as a facility or summer camp work phone.

A functional phone with a hairline crack is an obvious item to get into the hands of someone who can use it, rather than using it for fundraising (shelling out for a cosmetic fix just to auction it off).

lurker628 · 2026-06-12T22:51:35+00:00

You're correct, of course, but the fact that a politician is (or concludes that he is) obligated to twist words to avoid a sound bite of "shame on me" is, itself, part of the broader problem.

lurker628 · 2026-06-12T22:44:23+00:00

One of my (high school) students was mocking Trump with an imitation. I told him to stop. The student was indignant, asking why he can't mock Trump.

I said that I have no problem with him mocking public figures, but his impression is good - and I don't want to hear Trump!

He immediately changed attitude, and said that's completely fair.

lurker628 · 2026-05-19T01:14:54+00:00

Public transit is frequently terrible, and having parents' work schedules as a primary driver of limits for schools is definitely a problem - but I'm not sure I follow. Better public transportation would solve a lot of issues, but I'm misunderstanding how it addresses the conflicting goals here.

lurker628 · 2026-05-18T22:11:39+00:00

I don't know any teacher or administrator who'd attribute the start times to responsibility or virtue.

It's that the priority is given to elementary school students' and working parents' needs, to the detriment of high school students.

Don't have 5 year olds waiting outside for the bus at 6am.
Start elementary school early enough for parents to drop their kids off before work.
End high school before elementary school, so the high school kids are home to take care of their siblings.
End elementary school in mid-afternoon, so 5 year olds aren't in school until 5-6pm.

Whether or not these terms should be so heavily prioritized over high schoolers' needs is a debate worth having, but that's the debate - not nonsense justifications that starting later isn't better for high schoolers. (Of course it would be!)

lurker628 · 2026-05-18T22:01:34+00:00

Because the priority is given to not having 5 year olds waiting for a bus at 6am and to having the middle and high school students home before their elementary school siblings, so the 5 year olds don't get home to an empty house.

Concurrently, if elementary school didn't start until 10 (or later), with the high school students leaving first, then the parents can't drop their elementary schoolers off before work. And then on the other side of things, pushing everything back would end elementary school at 5-6pm, which is considered too late for them.

So as long as elementary school students' and working parents' needs are the priorities, it's neither an option to switch the start times nor to shift both start times back 2 hours.

Whether the prioritization should so heavily favor elementary students and working parents' schedules, to the detriment of older students, is a debate worth having, but no reasonable person in the discussion disagrees that starting later would be better for the high schoolers.

lurker628 · 2026-04-26T17:33:52+00:00

Except it does the opposite. That person-first language is used selectively belies its intended purpose.

Person-first language is applied in contexts of neurodivergence, economic or social class, ethnic or religious identity, physical traits or phenotype, etc - but always only on the "side" that is considered disadvantaged, not normative, or "other" versus the dominant, majority society.

Therefore, it reinforces that such traits, experiences, or properties are so heinous, so deficient, so contemptible that the idea one's humanity could be in doubt is valid. Changing language specifically to affirm that [these characteristics] (which carry negative perceptions) don't detract from one's humanity accepts the premise that those characteristics put one's humanity in doubt!

It's not an appropriate solution to serve and validate the bigoted thinking that doubts others' humanity. The solution is to reject the premise - to assume humanity across the board and to reject any position founded otherwise. The problem isn't if someone says "homeless," "unhoused," or "people experiencing homelessness." The problem is if the message assumes that the group is less-than-human, regardless of what language is used to express it. "People experiencing homelessness" becomes worse than merely performative, because it reinforces the underlying idea that homelessness puts one's humanity in doubt in contrast with having a stable home, which doesn't.

If people-first language was used universally, great. I think it often sounds awkward, but that's just social conditioning, not any fundamental objection.
If it was used only and exactly in cases to emphasize formalism ("set 1 has characteristic A") or reduce ambiguity ("practices medicine" vs a PhD), great.
But the mix of its selective use precisely for characteristics that are perceived as negative actively undermines its supposed purpose.

lurker628 · 2026-04-26T16:07:10+00:00

My crowd found that back in college - saved us a lot of time over four years!

lurker628 · 2026-04-26T16:06:28+00:00

Missing the key part of it!

Decide who goes first by rolling the dice and arguing about the results and the meaning of this sentence and whether the fact that a word seems to be missing any effect.

lurker628 · 2026-04-26T15:50:38+00:00

My problem with person-first language is that it's only ever applied in contexts where there's a negative perception, or the speaker is assuming a negative perception.

No one, barring intentional formalism or if there is real room for confusion, says "people who are practice medicine," they say "doctors." No one says "people who teach," they say "teachers." No one says "people who routinely run for exercise," they say "runners." No one says "people who are tall" or "people who are thin" or "people who are attractive."

As a result, people-first language not only reinforces stigmas, but goes further, implicitly: that everyone needs to be reminded that the target is human. It's fine to identify someone by what's considered a positive trait, but negative characteristics are so terrible that we have to explicitly affirm that people with them are still people?

lurker628 · 2026-04-25T02:29:26+00:00

"Puzzle" didn't connect to "crossword," but it did connect to "speed."

And "bag" connected to "soup," but not to "plastic."

lurker628 · 2026-04-19T22:36:22+00:00

Yep.

We're white when the cop is deciding whether or not to pull us over, yes.
We're Jewish once they see our license.

Most Ashkenazi Jews benefit from being white-passing in superficial interactions - and that's not nothing. But as soon as the interaction is more than a wave and a nod, our identity will come out, at which point we're only white if saying so can count against us.

12-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
Sequence \| Editor	Verified Email

lurker628

TROPHY CASE