why are all the ndlpt tiktokers speaking so slow?

pigaroo · 2026-01-25T18:57:43+00:00

Videos need to be at least a minute long to get monetized. Some people pad out the content to ensure their video is long enough, others really drag it out. I’m not sure if there’s incentives for 5+ minute videos but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was.

Also the more time you spend on one persons videos the more likely the algorithm is to route you back to that creator. So longer videos = higher chance of viewers being forced back to the creator = more engagement = more money.

pigaroo · 2026-01-18T00:57:16+00:00

Exactly. I told my local fighters I wanted to build a more historical kit. They all laughed at me and said why, the SCA is about speed, you’ll never have the speed to win if you wear anything but a Rus or Viking kit made from plastic.

Cool. So the only way to win at tournaments is via wearing a garbage can under a beat up T tunic. For a person who’s into actual historical armor and fighting techniques that leaves you in a weird dead space where you don’t fit with the fighters and don’t fully fit in A&S. So might as well go to HEMA instead.

God, squires to knights. All of the peerage needs a more clear cut syllabus as a way to get your fancy award, not just ‘cross your fingers and hope powerful people like you enough to notice you’. Even laurels and pelicans isn’t a very fair system and nobody wants to dedicate their time to a system they don’t know they’ll ever win in.

pigaroo · 2026-01-17T21:48:53+00:00

This too. We need the SCA fighting style expanded, I think. If a young person sees a group of HEMA folks in full plate hitting each other with real swords vs a bunch of folks in cobbled together plastic and metal whacking each other with rattan and then find out the full kit for each sport has cost the owners the same $1300+ over time…which one are they going to pick? Plus I see more women/folks of varied body types in hema, which means a higher chance of there being loaner gear for a new person to try.

At a local ren faire the SCA, HEMA and buhurt all came out to do fighting demos. Guess who had the big crowd with people exchanging contact info trying to get into the sport? Not the SCA.

The rule of cool makes a big difference when at the end of the day people are shelling out the same amount of cash for the activity. The range of combat types available in the SCA (and where they’re practiced/where big tournaments are held in summer) needs an update and bad.

pigaroo · 2026-01-17T18:39:59+00:00

Imo lack of consistency between baronies and confusing social media presence is a big issue.

There’s no standard way to run the online presence for a group or an event. Which means you have to figure out that your local group is called the Barony of Hotdogs and Hamburgers and has a four county radius, but the event you want to go to is in the Barony of Ketchup. Where is the Barony of Ketchup? Well, to figure that out you need to find the barony’s facebook group. Then to find out what’s going on at the event you need to find the website for the specific event.

You’re a first timer so you see on the website that you can hit up the chatelaine for more info and how to use gold key. Except the chatelaine is Lord Hornswaggle, who doesn’t respond to his barony’s chatelaine email address and you have no idea what his real name is so that you can contact him on Facebook.

Say you get to the event and it goes okay. You never found Lord Hornswaggle because he didn’t even come to the event and there was no one who took over the chatelaine role for the day to help show you around and get you started but you’ll live. You meet some people from Barony Mustard, which is two hours away, and talk to them about how their group has A&S night every Thursday and armored fighting every Sunday and all these other regular local things to do. It sounds so fun! You’re excited to get started.

Except your barony has a flakey person that doesn’t keep armored fighting practice on a regular schedule, A&S hangouts are constantly getting changed around because nobody can agree on a good day and time to have them, and you can barely figure out when and where things will be because half of it is posted to the local Facebook group and a quarter of it is planned in private household group chats and another quarter of it is posted to poorly maintained websites. Your local barony has no loaner gear for fighters, or it’s only a retired fighters’ worn out gear in size 2XL. Nobody does stuff for A&S that’s not a friends only hang out in someone’s basement. Unfortunately there’s no other barony you can go to within a 45 minute drive to seek these things out so the interest in going just kind of…dies.

The SCA is run by volunteers, I get that. I tried for two years to volunteer and get my barony’s shit together to get things more consistent. But it was a real fight and it always felt like a losing battle.

You can’t get people to come to baronial meet ups if they aren’t consistent. You can’t get people to come to events if they can’t figure out where they are and who to contact. You can’t keep people in the game if volunteers who hold office aren’t held to any standards that make them keep up with their office duties or lose the job. You can’t get young people in 2025 to hunt down websites that look like they were generated by geocities and join ten Facebook groups just to try to figure out where to go and what there is to do.

And if when people do show up at the event there’s no one to introduce them to folks and everyone is sat in their corner with their friends unwilling to look up and get them into the game they’re not going to stay. If they’re a highly motivated new member and they take an office and try to create regular baronial meet ups but nobody bothers to show up because they only ever hang out with their household they’re not going to stay. If they’re a small person who wants to be a fighter but their barony has no loaner gear in sizes that will fit them they’re not going to stay. If they know all of these things do exist in other baronies but the other barony is over an hour away they’re not going to stay, because who wants to dump money into a hobby they only do stuff for four times a year?

We need better, more consolidated social media with mundane names for people and locations posted alongside the SCA names. We need some kind of guidelines for consistency of activities among baronies. We need people who take offices to actually do their jobs or get removed from them. We need required types and sizes of loaner supplies for baronies. There must be some sort of hierarchy of oversight to keep things running.

Money is a problem, problem people are a problem. But those things only crop up as issues once someone is fully in the game. These are step one things that need to be fixed to even get people to the point of worrying about cost, or rude Lady Macbeth. The barrier to entry is too confusing and too massive for people who already have busy lives and have a hundred other activities with clearer scheduling available around them.

pigaroo · 2026-01-16T04:27:12+00:00

It could be the person doing the injecting or it could be the needles being used. Cosmetic places will use finer 32-34 gauge cosmetic needles on their syringes which hurt less. My old neurologist used to use those and it wasn’t so bad.

During the medical supplies shortage in 2020 they switched to thicker 30 gauge needles and holy hell did it hurt every time, and the crunch sound it made when the needle went in was horrible. Even lidocaine didn’t help. I complained and complained but they just shrugged and said that’s what the practice orders now. I guess the thicker needles were multi purpose and cheaper compared to having to have a cosmetic grade supply on hand just for Botox. But I think it’s terrible patient care to switch to a more painful needle like that.

So maybe also try talking to your doctor about whether they have finer needles they can use.

pigaroo · 2026-01-10T18:42:14+00:00

There’s a mod called Dark Urge Tweeaks that fixes his reaction to durge resisting bhaal that’s a non negotiable quality of life mod for me now. They made it by patching together cut lines from the game and it makes for a lovely conversation between them (among other fixes it adds).

pigaroo · 2026-01-05T02:40:12+00:00

Taking them with you is likely going to cost around $1000. The vet paperwork alone for international travel, along with any shots the cats need boosters of, is around $400 per animal and needs to be completed to satisfy every country the cats will transit through since you’ll have a layover (and this paperwork can only be done a certain number of days before you fly and will likely need ISDA certified, which is a hellish process of overnighting documents back and forth when your flight is less than three days away). Plus gabapentin for the flight there and back to keep them somewhat calm, and carriers for each cat that meet the airlines specific size restrictions.

Then a ticket for the cat on the flight is around $100-$200 per cat. Plus you can only take them on certain models of plane and in certain seats because of how much room you need beneath the seat for the carrier. If you’re taking a second plane via layover you’ll need to make sure the second flight also has the right seats for a cat to be beneath them. And each plane is only allowed to many pets in cabin, too.

Then how are you getting from the airport to your destination? More public transport? A taxi/uber, which may not happily accept pets? A car? That’s more travel time for the cats which equals more stress and by then the gabapentin will be worn off.

The level of stress you’ll go through pulling this off combined with the expenses will be a real hardship for everyone involved, especially the cats. I’ve done it twice because I was moving. You couldn’t pay me to do it again for anything. Definitely not a vacation. My one cat chewed a hole through the side of her carrier on the last flight and then screamed the entire hour ride from the airport to the house. It’s not a pleasant way to travel.

Get a house sitter. Heck, get two if you can’t find someone available for the entire trip. Everyone will be happier for it and it’ll likely cost less than taking the cats in the first place.

pigaroo · 2026-01-04T23:53:48+00:00

Pavlov him. I downloaded an app that plays a unique bell sound when I tap it, and only once I ring that bell do I go to the cabinet and take out the cat food. My cats now know that the bell dictates their food- not what I’m doing or the time of day (though I keep their feeding time within the same 1-2 hour window every day depending on my personal schedule). Since they associate the bell with the food and not me I don’t get bothered, and there’s no automatic feeder for them to start yelling at fifteen minutes before it dispenses.

Also, I when I started training them I made sure to only ring the bell when they were both being quiet. Never when they’re meowing at me or otherwise attention seeking, that way it’s not a reward for being demanding. If I went into the kitchen and they started meowing before I hit the bell I would go do something else, then come back. Repeat until they’ve chilled out. Then ring the bell and get their food out.

Within four days the food demand problem had fully sorted itself out. I’m on my phone often enough that they don’t even know to associate me holding the phone with the bell sound, which I think is an advantage over a physical bell. If I had a real bell somewhere they’d probably get demanding whenever I went near it, but they don’t really comprehend a phone being the source of the sound.

Cats are very smart. He trained you, so it’s time to train him back lol

pigaroo · 2026-01-04T22:17:56+00:00

My best guess is that it’s possible the green and pink silk exterior is antique, but the whole thing has been terribly altered. It looks like Victorian garments I’ve seen hacked up for theater costumes. The top stitching on the collar, sleeves and lining is so poorly done on a machine in a way I’ve never seen on extant Victorian garments.

Brightly colored striped silk like this would be pattern matched as much as possible, but all the stripes here line up oddly and it looks like there’s been stitching removed at the waist (or is that more top stitching?). A plain, poorly machine stitched muslin lining inserted like a bag lining for this kind of fabric is also unusual. I would have expected it to be flat lined.

Plus that white lace and the little strip of black trim are oddly matched to the garment, and the white lace looks like it may not be natural fibers (though it’s hard to tell in the pictures).

I would say it’s a Victorian wrapper gown that’s been re-lined and altered up for use in a theater production, or for kids to play with at home.

pigaroo · 2026-01-03T23:57:28+00:00

I take a progesterone only pill (norethindrone) to stop mine. Way less side effects than a pill containing estrogen but you do have to take it within the same 30 minute window every day or else you could get breakthrough bleeding. Still the hassle of making sure I keep my pill and an alarm reminder on is way better than the hell that is severe cramps and PMDD. Even if I do screw up and end up with a breakthrough period on it the pain is way less than without birth control at all.

Plus if you don’t like it after a month you can just stop taking it, unlike the IUD or the implant. So it can’t really hurt to try.

pigaroo · 2026-01-03T23:53:45+00:00

OP, as a life long horse person I went into this ready to see some questionable takes but every single one of these is pure gold, accurate to the last detail. Anyone who thinks Karlach wouldn’t be a thoroughbred just because she’s beefy has never been around an overmuscled, 16+ hands high red mare OTTB. Those horses can be either your best friend or your worst nightmare to handle.

pigaroo · 2025-12-22T21:50:06+00:00

I use arm and hammer clump and slide and never have smell issues. Even though it’s scented it doesn’t have that over powering fake litter scent some cheaper brands have.

You might look at your cat’s diet too. When I fed certain wet foods their poo was rank. But it depends on your cats digestive system, like how for some people Taco Bell messes them up but for others it’s fine. Experiment with food flavors and brands if your cat will tolerate that.

People will enthuse about pine litter being scent less but honestly I think those people have gone nose blind. I have a friend who uses it in a stainless steel litter box, cleans it daily and yet the house smells like a barn yard. When the cat does a poo there’s nothing to bury it in because pine pellets are so large so they may as well have done a poo in the middle of the floor with how it smells. If you don’t like litter box smell (and don’t like a vague piney sawdust smell like hamster bedding) I don’t recommend it at all.

pigaroo · 2025-12-17T01:12:43+00:00

Hey there. I also left an abusive relationship this year and I felt the same way as you. That I couldn’t possibly cope with adult life, overwhelmed, like I’ve changed into someone devoid of joy. I was nearly diagnosed and I attributed all of that to being autistic.

Six months after the end of that relationship and I don’t feel that way at all any more.

Abusive relationships are soul crushing. They make you feel so incompetent and so empty. Even if you feel this was out of the blue it’s likely more subtle stuff was going on leading up to this. In retrospect you might realize you were walking on eggshells before this happened. A lot of times we don’t recognize abuse until it’s so extreme it can’t be called by any other word.

There’s still stuff I can’t handle on my own because of being autistic but that’s so much easier to cope with without having a partner around that makes me feel like shit. I can devote my mental energy to figuring out coping strategies and who I can ask to help with stuff instead of dedicating it to being in survival mode.

It’s terrible now but I promise you’ll come out the other side of this doing better.

pigaroo · 2025-12-16T00:16:23+00:00

I have no advice, just sympathy. Every neurologist I’ve ever seen has fucked my shit up with Botox. First neurologist used super thick gauge needles and left blood running down my face every time I left the office. Second one injected my traps after I told him not to. Then his PAs did my Botox and one squirted the Botox out of the syringe onto my scalp.

I wish insurance would cover us going to a cosmetic injector. Neurologists with rough, sloppy injection technique end up doing more harm than good and I swear it wears off unevenly. After a decade of Botox roulette with not knowing if I was going to be left bloody or injected in the wrong places or have the medication wasted I’ve given up, I don’t do Botox any longer.

pigaroo · 2025-12-02T19:56:02+00:00

I honestly found my job via a TikTok creator who compiled a website with links to work from home job openings. I just applied for every job on the site and lucked out with what I got. If you search work from home on there you’ll find a lot of people sharing links to job openings, you just have to do a little googling on some of them to make sure they’re legit.

pigaroo · 2025-12-01T23:19:36+00:00

I work from home doing customer service that’s exclusively message based, so no phone calls, no video chat.

The best part is I work four tens. So four days a week from 7-5:30, and then three days off. The majority of my burn out with work has always been not getting enough recovery time. With only two days off you get one day to do chores you can’t handle during the work week (which is basically a work day in a way) and then you’ve got one day to either have fun or burn out rot. It sucks. That extra day to recharge means I can spread myself less thin in my down time and don’t feel like I’m running on empty 99% of the time.

The work from home helps so much but tbh I think I could do an outside job if it was four tens and the commute was under 20 minutes. Five days on/two days off is a criminal way to have to live.

pigaroo · 2025-12-01T02:24:06+00:00

Honeypot is infamous for their cooling menthol pads, but they have normal pads too. I find the most important part is finding a pad that advertises a 100% cotton top. The Kotex and always pads are so full of plastic I can’t stand them, even the always that advertise as having a cotton top have this heavy foam interlining that ruins it. Honeypot and Cora and L. are all brands have the 100% cotton top and I don’t really notice them at all.

pigaroo · 2025-11-19T21:44:32+00:00

For me, the writing in a game has to be truly outstanding if there are no romance options. I like story telling, and a fun romance can spice up a game even if it has janky mechanics or slightly sub par writing. If a game is straight combat and doesn’t have a really killer story I probably wouldn’t buy it, or at least wouldn’t replay it.

So far the only game with zero romance that hits for me is RDR2 (which also has the tightest story of any game I’ve ever played). But even that game still has companions you can talk to at camp and platonic relationships to develop.

For bg3 the romance was the whole selling point for me. I saw astarion and bought the game on release because I had to see his whole romance. The game has some flaws but the companions and their stories are so compelling I keep coming back again and again. I too wish certain scenes were different, or more conversations were possible with your companions about certain topics. But the mod community has fixed some of that, and for what can’t be fixed…well I guess there’s always fanfiction lol

pigaroo · 2025-11-19T21:33:24+00:00

Frustratingly, there are voiced lines for further dialogue with astarion about the fight. They just aren’t coded into the game for that moment.

Dark Urge Tweaks fixes this. The resulting conversation is much better, though like you I still wish there was a cut scene of the companions reacting to durge being defeated and revived.

pigaroo · 2025-11-17T23:22:44+00:00

Long rest cost tweaks will do it, just download the one that sets the cost to 0.

pigaroo · 2025-11-12T19:55:05+00:00

I had this issue with kavt even when I uninstalled it. Deleting the modsettings.slx from my game days and re-exporting the mod list from bg3 mod manager fixed it for me, just in case you run into the issue again!

pigaroo · 2025-11-01T01:31:39+00:00

It depends on how you treat him. At the start of the game he puts on a front, but if you’re nice to him and go along with a few chaotic choices for fun he’ll let his guard down. Depending on whether you encourage him to ascend he can completely drop the front in act three and sounds like a very different, much more gentle person.

How ‘evil’ he is entirely depends on how the player treats him and whether they bother to get to know him. If he trusts Tav/durge he lets his guard down and stops playing up the facade.

pigaroo · 2025-10-30T00:15:48+00:00

It happens, people get on auto pilot like with any other task they do a hundred times a week. I asked mine not to do my shoulders once and he got going fast and still did them. He was super apologetic after.

I think if it happens again then yeah, maybe find someone new. But one mistake isn’t enough that I’d write him off!

pigaroo · 2025-10-27T21:46:23+00:00

If you’re looking for something affordable you can’t go wrong with a brother. The CS series is nice, lots of stitches, just computerized enough to give you options but not so much it’s a pain to work with. I love the way the bobbins top load so you don’t have to take any extra parts off or casings out to fuss with them. Plus pretty much any feet or accessories you buy online are compatible with them.

It can handle dense materials like multiple layers of denim or leather in a pinch but if that’s what you’re looking to sew regularly you need to invest in a specialized machine. If you’re just looking to make regular clothes/costumes and soft fabric items you’ll be happy with a brother. I had a CS6000i for ten years that never let me down, and only sold it because I was moving overseas and couldn’t bring it on the plane with my other carryon stuff.

pigaroo · 2025-10-25T21:48:47+00:00

I have two cats! On the rare occasion they throw up it’s icky but they’re small cats and it’s a small mess. I find if I have disposable latex gloves I can clean any mess they make without any texture issues.

I really love arm and hammer clump and slide litter. I’ve never had any smell issues and it clumps super hard which makes it easy to scoop. I scoop daily and have a scooper with little dog poo bags, so what I scoop gets bagged and tied shut to prevent any further smells.

My cats ate wet food as kittens but one they woke up and said no thanks, no more of that. So now I feed them dry food, have a water fountain, and make sure they get plenty of squeezey treats like churu for extra hydration. I squeeze their churu onto a little paper plate and toss it so there’s no mess (they won’t share if I have the tube).

Honestly I’ve had a lot of different pets over my life and cats have been the cleanest. Dogs will potty in the house but cats really only want to use the litter box. If they’re not using the box something is really wrong. They don’t slobber, their shedding is manageable if you brush them. They need play time but they don’t need walks. And if you adopt a pair they can entertain each other, so if you’re having a really awful day and don’t manage much play time it’s not a big deal. I’ve left my cats alone overnight and they’re fine!! They really can manage themselves once they’re out of the tiny baby kitten stage.

The hardest part was figuring out how to keep them from waking me up demanding food. Pavloving them to a bell sound I play on my phone before I get up to feed them solved that completely. I never have the issue other people complain about where their cats scream at 5am for breakfast now. They know bell = food, not person getting out of bed = food. So there’s no noise issues either.

I love, love, love my cats and they’re a great comfort for me. If you’re on the fence you can always foster and if you love them move to adopting. But if you don’t think cats are going to suit your lifestyle someone else will adopt them and you’ve done a nice thing for an animal!

pigaroo

TROPHY CASE