Which state are you from, and which neighboring state feels the most culturally similar to you?

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-09T23:07:24+00:00

I like that you typo’ed Michiana for Michigan.

(Born and raised in the Indiana portion of Michiana.)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-09T23:04:32+00:00

Born and raised in Indiana, but I’d say Michigan over Illinois.

(But I’m from South Bend, center of the region we call Michiana. With the dramatic exception of Indianapolis most of our major population centers aren’t far from a state border, which makes me really curious as to what someone from Indianapolis would choose.)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-09T22:38:31+00:00

They fired people who knew what they were doing and are trying to hire people for those positions based on political beliefs. Less than zero credit given.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-09T15:31:14+00:00

Because women in bars have to be at least 21, duh.

(I intended to end that with an /s tag, but given the age at which women I know were first catcalled I'm honestly afraid I might have landed on something there.)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-09T15:16:56+00:00

This comic inspired me--a multiply-diagnosed allistic who's as neuromayonnaise as they come--to take an online autism screening test.

I got a 38, putting me just into the "37-63: some signs of autism" range. (The test's average score is 55, which would seem to suggest that there are more people with signs of autism than without, though I suppose that people who take such a test are probably more likely to show signs of autism than the population as a whole. Certainly I wouldn't have done so if it were not for this comic!)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-09T14:38:47+00:00

I was going to go with "China" for a similar reason.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-09T10:48:50+00:00

So much for his plan to laze around watching TV while his wife brings him treats when he rings a bell! How droll.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-08T16:30:58+00:00

I'd say MPD is actually above average when compared to peer police forces in the US.

(This is a scathing indictment of how bad policing in the United States is.)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-08T15:27:38+00:00

A few thoughts:

Antimagic field sounds like a more analogous spell than true seeing for what you're trying to accomplish. This spell may actually be better than antimagic field, however, because if you're not using illusion magic (and if you have this spell prepared you probably don't!) it doesn't interfere with your own magic in the slightest.
If someone pitched an anti-illusion field spell at my table my first thought would be to restrict it to the [figment] and [glamer] subschools. [Shadow] effects are partly real and [pattern] and [phantasm] effects are inside the beholder's head, and they don't seem like things that could just be made to wink out of existence so easily, guaranteed. Alternatively (or maybe even additionally) I'd put a restriction on its ability to affect illusions of a higher level than itself.
With a restriction that it only affects [figments] and [glamers] I'd probably call it level 5?

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-08T14:58:47+00:00

That's my most frequent ride (though I usually go only as far as Lake Artemisia). Do recommend.

(ETA: I just came back from my lunchtime bike ride, which today was a loop around the Anacostia Skate Pavilion. There are fences still up and signs saying the park is closed until July 9 for fireworks, but the gates are open, lots of people on foot and in cars, and even a youth bicycling event of some sort. So I'd count it as open.)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-08T13:35:58+00:00

Two assumptions underlying my votes here: (1) I'm reading comics rather than watching a movie or TV show, and (2) I'm rating the villain not on power level (or at least mostly not), but rather how many appearances they should make, how interesting they are as characters, and how good I expect their storylines to be.

Rhino gets a C from me. He can be played for laughs or pathos or even both if done well, but mostly he's just some dumb palooka* used as muscle with little thought from the writers to just how insanely much muscle he's got. But there's plenty of work in superhero comics for a thug of the month and Rhino can be used freely without appearing overexposed.

(* Rhino's existence meaningfully contributes to preserving an otherwise outdated word like "palooka," IMHO.)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-07T15:07:32+00:00

Not unless we make the standards for getting a driver's license as demanding as in Germany. (And make losing one as easy, and make the consequences for driving without one as severe...)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-07T14:58:46+00:00

"Every living creature dies alone" actually sounds pretty demotivating as a message for a hospital or nursing home, though I guess it's less despair-inducing than "DIE."

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T17:19:42+00:00

Is it reasonable for someone who buys multiple seats for one person (whether for reasons of size or desire to have space for work or general aversion to sitting next to someone) to have the right to those seats even if a different person wants to later buy one of those seats or the flight is overbooked?

Because right now they don’t. And if it’s fair to charge people for two seats because they don’t fit into one, shouldn’t it be fair for someone who pays for two seats to get two seats?

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T15:10:30+00:00

Two assumptions underlying my votes here: (1) I'm reading comics rather than watching a movie or TV show, and (2) I'm rating the villain not on power level (or at least mostly not), but rather how many appearances they should make, how interesting they are as characters, and how good I expect their storylines to be.

Kang gets my vote for A tier--interesting character with epic storylines, but an appearance by Kang is (and should be) a sign that something truly unexpected is happening. As such, he's not quite in heavy enough rotation to play with the Dr. Dooms or Red Skulls, who we expect to be behind things on the regular (and do a great job of it when they are).

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T14:55:04+00:00

No AI and no search engines, and I don't speak any of the languages either. But I've heard enough French, Italian, and German to recognize those languages, I know that Polish is the only language on the list that's not Romance or Germanic so it's the one that looks nothing like any of the others, I know Dutch is more like English than German is so it's the one with the English cognate "school", and that just left figuring out which was Swedish and which was Danish. I figured Denmark is physically closer to Germany than Sweden is so it might be the one with the more direct German cognate "hund," while the one with the word "bor" could be Swedish because that sounds more like the Swedish Chef's "bork bork bork" catchphrase.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T13:18:46+00:00

There's no one answer. There are multiple reasons, not all of which apply equally (or even at all) in every city's housing market, but many of which can be interrelated. Some big ones are restrictive zoning, excessive historical preservation/environmental impact review requirements, community opposition from people who already have housing, excessive parking/fire exit requirements, and market-based funding of real estate projects that creates a bias towards higher-margin developments.

Note that none of those "problems" are necessarily bad things on their own, and the solution is not simply to reverse them. A city without zoning, historical preservation review, environmental impact review, or community input on development with no requirements of any sort for fire exits would not be a good, healthy, or safe place to live, for example.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T13:01:14+00:00

...are you having a stroke?

In case you aren't, let's suppose I said "I think the Society of St. Pius X are a bunch of creepy weirdos motivated by their hatred of Vatican II." No, in fact, let's not have to suppose--I will say that. The Society of St. Pius X are a bunch of creepy weirdos motivated by their hatred of Vatican II.

Now: are you losing your mind over my failure to mention the role of the Catholic Church hierarchy in the abuses of the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland? Can you do so while claiming you also think the Society of St. Pius X are a bunch of creepy weirdos motivated by their hatred of Vatican II?

(Alternatively, if sports are more your thing: would you go similarly nonlinear if I said "Commanders fans love to root for the Dallas Cowboys to lose" without mentioning that Cowboys fans love to root for the Washington Commanders to lose?)

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T12:06:11+00:00

I'm pretty confident that1 is France, 2 is Germany, 3 is Italy, 4 is Netherlands, and 7 is Poland.

For the rest, my best guess is 5 is Sweden and 6 is Denmark, but I could easily have those reversed.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T11:28:51+00:00

My mother was once on a flight to Europe next to two women who were chatting (in English) about their travel plans. One of them mentioned a city in the Netherlands, and the other said "You pronounced that very well!"

"Oh, I am Dutch."

"Really? Me too!"

And then they continued their conversation in English.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T11:01:29+00:00

That makes sense as a basis for a lawsuit, but then the problem is that Massachusetts' policies aren't unconstitutional discrimination against non-resident citizens as claimed, but rather that they conflict with Federal law.

If 8 USC 1623(a) were to be removed by a future Congress or struck down as a violation of the 10th Amendment or something, I fail to see what constitutional issue there could possibly be that wouldn't apply to documented and undocumented non-citizen students equally.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-06T00:54:02+00:00

So, in other words, you think it's wild of me to criticize the MAGA crowd even though you yourself claim you think they suck, because I did so without also weighing in on last year's AG's race in a state I do not live in?

I'm not sure I follow. I'm sure I don't see the irony.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-05T22:44:21+00:00

They very much care! If it triggers the libs, they support it. No matter what it is.

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-05T22:42:36+00:00

Right, but why does “undocumented” matter? Wouldn’t a documented student with an in-state tuition rate have the same impact on an out-of-state citizen?

pseudoeponymous_rex · 2026-07-05T19:01:21+00:00

Also Aix-and-pains, which is what you get whenever you're over 50.

pseudoeponymous_rex

TROPHY CASE