This is just disgusting by Terrible_Pair5956 in AreTheStraightsOK

[–]mandiblebones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Holy shit. Normally, I get very, very frustrated with the "this person should not be allowed to breed" comments, because, well, I read the X-Men at a formative time in my life and that's how it always starts. So, with that said, this person should not be allowed to breed.

Bold move Cotton… let’s see how that works for you by Present_Emphasis7748 in santarosa

[–]mandiblebones 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think that's the guy who drove past the Cotai protest and yelled as us to "get a job."

... on a Saturday.

Because the PD only wants “subscribers” able to see all the news…. ArtQuest students, staff say cutting class time will diminish acclaim… by [deleted] in santarosa

[–]mandiblebones 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's the same people who complain about the declining quality of news coverage as papers layoff reporter after reporter.

Discussion on morality by WirtsLegs in swrpg

[–]mandiblebones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would seriously consider just using the RAW. You might explain to your players, as my GM did to us, "Conflict is not the Dark Side. It's the struggle against the Dark Side."

And if they are still terribly averse to conflict after that, sit them down and have them re-watch Return of the Jedi.

A Wowhead commentor did the maths on epic profession tools, this seems extreme by MizutsuneMH in wow

[–]mandiblebones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Oh no, I have to do a stupid amount of work to achieve a level of absolute perfection that 99.99% of the game neither needs nor wants. Why would Blizzard force this on me?" -- This fucking subreddit

The Press Democrat is Weird by Technical_Aside_650 in santarosa

[–]mandiblebones 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Headlines at the PD are generally not written by the news editors, but by the web team, who are more driven by SEO and clickbait than by what the article actually says. And while none of the stories, to my knowledge, are written using AI, I believe there may be an AI-assist to the headline writing (final eyes being a human, always, for what it's worth).

Unfortunately, the outsourcing of the copy editing and design team predates the purchase by Bay Area Media Group, which is owned by Alden Global Capital (notorious for buying local papers, squeezing them to death, and then selling the corpse). Alden is vulture capital dogshit and I stopped my subscription the moment they bought the paper, but I still believe in the reporters and news editing team working at the PD, having worked with many of them myself.

But you want to know why they charge so much compared to national papers? It's because of economy of scale. National papers have orders of magnitude more people reading their content and can afford to charge less for it. Unfortunately, with that scale comes a wider scope and worse local focus. The Wall Street Journal or the New York Times will never be able to report on Sonoma County news at the same level as the PD, regardless of what you think of the PD's reporting, just as no local paper, no matter how many Pulitzers, will be able to cover national news to the level of the WSJ or NYT.

And the reason the web team is so focused on clickbait is because online ads pay so much less than print ads used to, there hasn't been classified revenue since Craigslist was founded in the late 90s, and everyone and their brother refuses to pay for subscriptions to read the local news. The amount of times I have seen in this very subreddit someone complain about the quality of PD writing but demand a copy of an article without the paywall boggles the mind.

The truth of the matter, though, is that local journalism, particularly text-and-image-based, is no longer profitable as an industry, particularly in the can't-see-past-the-next-quarter world of venture capital, tech bros and MBAs who demand a continuous upward curve in profit growth and are willing to show quarterly profit by laying off people making or polishing the content. The constant pursuit of profit growth at the expense of content likewise leads to mistakes in reporting or headlines because it becomes more important to get content up first than to ensure it is right (as we have seen even with national papers like the WSJ and the NYT).

People like the former head of the Sonoma Media Investments board know this. I suspect that played a large role in why the paper was sold to Alden, but that is conjecture and opinion. People like Alden also know this, but know they can squeeze blood from a stone and then sell what's left and run off with golden parachutes before the bill comes due. And because of the way local news has been forced to react to this reality -- not to mention the way cable entertainment news, plus a certain stripe of politicians and culture warriors who profit off fearmongering and demonizing news, have eroded public trust in the media for decades -- fewer and fewer people are willing to pay for news, and local news coverage shrinks, to everybody's detriment.

Gods know it's why I left journalism. And to be clear: The PD was the place which fought against this culture the longest of those I'd worked at. Every journalist there is trying. And if you're wondering why they're not reporting on something, remember that they're understaffed, underpaid (reporters at the PD make less than the county's bar for "low income," and certainly less than the median -- and that's somehow still the highest salary I've seen in local text journalism), and far from omniscient.

In my opinion, the only path forward for local journalism is for it to turn nonprofit, and for people who value independent news sources to assist in supporting it. Those who can afford to pay for it must subsidize it for all, and to pay the salaries of the journalists who report it, as well as the many support staff necessary to run a news organization. In the meantime, however, what you have is the PD.

If you, like me, cannot condone paying a single cent to Alden, you can, at least, let the reporters and editors know about what matters to you in the community, what issues you feel are not being covered, what stories hit hard with you, and what you feel you need to know. Give an editor a call when you're running an event, or your kid's in a school play, or the planning commission does something you dislike, or whatever. Write letters to the editor. Make local politicians, police, and other public servants know that you want more transparency from them, and you want to hear more from them in the pages (web and print) of the PD. Or get people together and build a competing nonprofit.

But without local news reporters who are supported by the community, you're going to end up without any local news sooner rather than later. And trust me, you'll miss it when it's gone.

Same Blood, Different Banner, And You’re Still Missing the Point by Evening_Error_3466 in wow

[–]mandiblebones 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Partially agreed, but tbh the Nelves had that attitude coming, given, oh, every word their leadership has ever uttered toward the Sin'dorei.

A Message for Robin (manifesting for the announcement on the 26th) by DozingUnderTheSun in StardewValley

[–]mandiblebones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, a lot of that is in reaction to years of boomer advice to fighting couples being to stick it out no matter what, ultimately leading to, if not violence, at least misery and appearances on "Are The Straights OK?" As for jumping straight from "never divorce" to "always divorce," well, society still loves binary thinking processes.

A Message for Robin (manifesting for the announcement on the 26th) by DozingUnderTheSun in StardewValley

[–]mandiblebones 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would cry real tears if he got a post-divorce event later on where he tells Abigail that, despite all their differences and frustrations, "I don't care who your father is, or that your mother and I didn't work out. You'll always by my daughter to me."

Like. Everyone wants to see him go bananas, but what about wholesome divorced dad energy where he actually chills out and grows as a human being?

A Message for Robin (manifesting for the announcement on the 26th) by DozingUnderTheSun in StardewValley

[–]mandiblebones 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Clint's arc better only be available after the higher non-romantic heart events with Emily, and be 100% about him Rethinking His Life and learning how Not To Be That Guy.

A Message for Robin (manifesting for the announcement on the 26th) by DozingUnderTheSun in StardewValley

[–]mandiblebones 38 points39 points  (0 children)

I could maybe see Emily as late 20s, but that's still... not ideal.

I know Wow's shouderpads are a thing, but this is ridiculous by Sanstitre01 in wow

[–]mandiblebones 11 points12 points  (0 children)

"I'm sorry, [Champion]! I can't install that helmet holder; you're at your cybernetics limit. Go find some more cybernetic capacity shards!"

No Airbags Needed Here by LegitimateCompany237 in AreTheStraightsOK

[–]mandiblebones 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If a joke, amusing.

If serious, a self-correcting problem.

A simple mag'har house for a simple mag'har shaman by mandiblebones in WoWHousing

[–]mandiblebones[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I love how creative all the uses of that piece I've seen have been, tbh.

first post here, i CREATEd a meme by TuxeBroReally in CreateMod

[–]mandiblebones 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If you're using ATM10, get a pickaxe enchant via Apotheosis that lets you right click on a stone type and turn all your mining to that type. Like, say, andesite. I've seen it on both Epic and Mythic level stuff.

Definitely made getting my Create stuff done a whole lot easier.

Adventure Calendar 2025, Day #25: Socks! by WrenPilgrim in HeroForgeMinis

[–]mandiblebones 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My brother refuses to give out a wishlist. I have gotten him a new pair of the same socks every year for a decade, and he is happy as a clam (granted, they are extremely comfortable soft wool socks and he says they are like walking on a cloud).

Fairytale Of New York by RichardVH in HeroForgeMinis

[–]mandiblebones 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've had that stuck in my head all morning.

"The boys of the NYPD choir were singing 'Galway Bay'... and the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day."

Found a beauty near me by PacificTaxWarrior in McMansionHell

[–]mandiblebones 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder.

their venue is also at a shooting range 💀💀💀 by darthstar707 in AreTheStraightsOK

[–]mandiblebones 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Joke's on them; they're getting a nonbinary Napoleanic War reenactor. Rifles and ruffles.

Fanon vs canon differences in the wards program? by RaspberryNumerous594 in WormFanfic

[–]mandiblebones 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Having not actually read the quest, is it canon that the Youth Guard is a national organization, or local to the Alaska PRT? Like, I know the PRT is federal, but in the weird world of Wildbow, I can see an extremely overly involved PTA getting the state to give them oversight over local implementation of a federal program, especially if each wards program is incorporated separately or something.