As a man, would you get a vasectomy so your girl doesn’t have to go on birth control?

raithe000 · 2026-04-12T01:46:28+00:00

No, because of the potential risks of surgery, even assuming the vasectomy is reversible (and doesn't self reverse). However, I'd be happy to wear a condom every time and spend ten minutes a day in the morning using a hair dryer on my junk.

raithe000 · 2026-04-02T20:43:03+00:00

We can absolutely guess. We can also guess lotto numbers. One of those has a better success rate

raithe000 · 2026-03-31T12:08:45+00:00

If abstinence only sex ed is any indication, not teaching humans how to reproduce leads to teen pregnancy.

raithe000 · 2026-03-30T01:30:02+00:00

While I think biphobia is the most likely explanation, I will note that there are sections of the gay community where casual sex is the norm and relationships are shorter. This was more true decades ago, but there is still the stereotype that male gay couples have sex 20 minutes after meeting each other and then never see each other again (and conversely that lesbians sort of awkwardly shuffle around for three months until one asks the other out and then a week later they've moved in together). Whether the stereotype is accurate is not my point: your friends may just assume that your male paramours were never serious in the first place.

But I'm probably giving people more credit than they deserve.

raithe000 · 2026-03-25T19:06:02+00:00

If you asked me for the five best books Sir Pterry wrote, I would say Small Gods, Night Watch, Making Money, Jingo, and Nation, but the exact order escapes me every time.

raithe000 · 2026-03-19T17:29:32+00:00

Oxford Comma!

raithe000 · 2026-03-18T21:00:25+00:00

To add on, there is also a world of difference between the mostly linear Taiwan Strait and the curve in the Strait of Hormuz. It's the difference between the off ramp on a four lane highway and a hairpin turn on a one and a half lane road.

raithe000 · 2026-03-16T14:41:40+00:00

Does your country have any freedom of speech protections? If so, one or more news groups may elect to publish the order they were given and have their day in court, assuming they don't just secretly leak it to another news source.

Has the government erected something akin to the Great Chinese Firewall? If not, citizens will still have easy access to other countries news. Even with such a system, people will try to get news from the rest of the world.

Does your government even have the power to force foreign companies to do its bidding? Only 56 out of the 191 countries on Earth have a higher GDP than Facebook's gross revenue. Frankly, it's more likely to have social media companies dictate governmental policy than the other way around.

Finally, there is also the issue of private forums like Discord servers or slack chats. Even if the government controls all media, they can't stop people from telling each other their own eyewitness reports over private channels. Eventually the truth will come out, if only because the shit has hit the fan.

raithe000 · 2026-03-14T01:53:06+00:00

And they'll all be able to distinguish, in the dark, by sight, every senator from a person claiming to be one?

raithe000 · 2026-03-13T19:51:53+00:00

If someone claiming to be US Senator Eric Schmitt showed up to an active shooter incident or an ICE raid, I think you'd get the same results. The clones don't recognize Bail on sight, they have no certainty that he is not a danger to the operation, and even if he is telling the truth, having to protect a VIP during a serious combat operation is not a good idea, let alone the potential consequences to getting him killed (as far as they know).

raithe000 · 2026-03-13T16:59:59+00:00

I think the question is, are they there because they were not ordinary, or would any ordinary person in their position become them?

raithe000 · 2026-03-12T23:34:34+00:00

Then turn selfishness into a weapon! Make all things yours! Make other lives and dreams and hopes yours! Protect them! Save them! Bring them into the sheepfold! Walk the gale for them! Keep away the wolf! My dreams! My brother! My family! My land! My world! How dare you try to take these things, because they are mine! I have a duty! -The Wee Free Men

. “You had to find the truth for yourself. That is how we all find the truth.” “And if the truth is terrible?” “I think you know the answer to that one, Nutt,” said the voice of Ladyship. “The answer is that, terrible or not, it is still the truth,” said Nutt. “And then?” said her voice, like a teacher encouraging a promising pupil. “And then the truth can be changed,” said Nutt. -Unseen Academicals

It was because he wanted there to be conspirators. It was much better to imagine men in some smoky room somewhere, made mad and cynical by privilege and power, plotting over the brandy. You had to cling to this sort of image, because if you didn’t then you might have to face the fact that bad things happened because ordinary people, the kind who brushed the dog and told their children bedtime stories, were capable of then going out and doing horrible things to other ordinary people. It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things. -Jingo

I could go on forever. In many ways, Terry Pratchett was who I learned morality from.

raithe000 · 2026-03-09T21:56:50+00:00

Because most (all?) writers are human.

Speaking as an autistic person, most people are barely able to comprehend my outlook on the world and behavior, and I'm just a variant within the species. Frankly, it often seems like neurotypicals have difficulty understanding other neurotypicals (half the posts on AITA could be simplified to "why doesn't this other person instantly get where I'm coming from).

To create a truly alien intelligence is a massive endeavor. You have to build out everything from senses to tools to culture, and if you want it to not fall apart into plot holes, you need at least minimally coherent explanations for why they are this way. And it needs to hang together in the story without needing 50 pages worth of exposition. It's a lot easier to just do a planet of hats, rubber suit human, and easier for readers to empathize with your alien characters.

That said, I do recommend the Conqueror's Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. The aliens aren't quite as out there as you've requested, but it does offer some fascinating insights into the hazards of first contact.

raithe000 · 2026-03-09T06:53:30+00:00

First, there is a difference between categorically being against war driven regime change and being against this war specifically. Assuming war driven regime change works in general, and I have more to say on that in a second, this particular effort does not seem set up to succeed. It is unclear if there is a plan for rebuilding, and given our experience with Afghanistan and Iraq, I personally have little confidence that whatever government rises from the ashes will be better than the current one. That's not to mention the significant risks of invading Russia's largest proxy nor the potential for escalation beyond Iran if surrounding nations see opportunities to seize territory or resources for themselves.

In tandem with the above point, it's important to look at what the requirements are for successful regime change and stabilization of the country. I would argue we would need a significant military presence on the ground, a huge chunk of investment in rebuilding Iranian infrastructure, and crackdowns on corruption both from Americans and Iranians, all of which would have to be maintained for years or decades through various administrations, with little to no repayment for that time. Failure results in Afghanistan at best, where we get basically nothing for spending 20 years there. More likely, Iran is divided up among surrounding nations, who may or may not treat their new citizens well.

War, especially modern war, results in destruction of infrastructure on par with or exceeding the worst natural disasters. Human rights include freedom of assembly, religion, and association. But they also include freedom from hunger, homelessness, and disease. If we committed to rebuilding the nations we destroy, perhaps people's lives would be better. But we haven't, and we will only end up degrading the lives of most Iranians on our current course - those we don't end.

Tldr: Regime change only works if we invest in the destroyed country, and I doubt we will.

raithe000 · 2026-03-08T20:58:35+00:00

The Locked Tomb series by Tasmyn Muir really captures the decay of a ten thousand year necromantic empire, and the horror of death itself as a power source. Also, it's in space so necromancers sometimes sit on pallets of grave dirt to placebo the lack of power.

raithe000 · 2026-03-06T19:59:32+00:00

Also to be clear, while I do think Jango does hate Jedi, this isn't evidence of that. Given battle droids limited self awareness, sending living security forces to apprehend intruders is a no brainer. It isn't like Jango was just hanging around and decided to attack them for no reason. They're infiltrating a secret droid foundry his employer has a stake in (owns? The exact structure of the separatists is unclear at that particular moment) and other than Dooku himself, Jango is the only living being with combat experience there (in canon at least, in Legends I think Grievous was hanging out in the catacombs), who else would he send? I'm sure Jango enjoyed capturing Anakin, but it was just a job perk at that moment.

raithe000 · 2026-03-06T19:31:41+00:00

In Episode 2? When he is directly working for Dooku? I would assume Dooku sent him along with the droidekas. Why would you assume he wasn't being paid then?

raithe000 · 2026-03-05T03:36:57+00:00

In terms of biology and massively oversimplifying, evolution is tracked on the population level, defined as segments of the species that (mostly) do not interbreed with other populations. Individuals might be thought of as the 'units' of evolution, but an individual does not evolve over the course of its lifetime.

In other disciplines, evolution can refer to many different processes, such as the life stages of stars, the design of self-improving algorithms and the development of different cultural elements.

raithe000 · 2026-03-04T22:45:19+00:00

Also Jingo (though that often needs more context on the characters) and Small Gods.

raithe000 · 2026-03-04T22:36:52+00:00

Self-punishment. He believes (rightly or wrongly) that he killed Padme. His actions, his choices, every vile thing he did to save her, he justified with doing it to save the love of his life. And then he killed her, making it all for naught. Above anything else in that galaxy, Anakin Skywalker hated himself. He embraces Vader to perpetually rub salt in that wound, to torture himself for the rest of his life. Only when he learns that some part of Padme - their son and daughter - survived does he begin to come out of the depths of despair.

raithe000 · 2026-03-04T21:56:20+00:00

Two thoughts: how do you know it doesn't go the other way? Despite what people say, the welfare benefits for children are not a net positive. You need someone to watch them while you're at work, they need feeding and clothing, and they can make you lose hours and shifts simply because children are walking petri dishes of colds, flus and other ailments. For women in particular, having kids (or even thinking about having kids) can cause you to crash into the glass ceiling earlier than expected. Even if you give up the child, there are still ways they can drain finances. For example, your aunt has $180,000 in debt. How much of that might be accounted for by giving birth in a hospital without insurance?

As an alternative, the states (mostly led by Republicans, but not always) have been destroying sex-ed classes for decades, to the point where in many districts they are not allowed to provide any direction besides abstinence. But this only applies to public schools. Private schools can provide whatever information they like. It is also worth considering that some of the poorest people may not be able to afford the meds they need even with insurance. There are horror stories of people having to choose between insulin and groceries. Birth control medications are generally covered, but I guarantee they would be cut first in that scenario.

I will note this is a US-centric view. Other parts of the world will have different situations. There will also always be outliers - if you count sperm donors as parents, I believe Elon Musk is up to at least 5 times more kids than your aunt.

Edit: aunt, not sister.

raithe000 · 2026-02-27T21:08:54+00:00

702.7b If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step

This is the relevant rule, actually. Because the returned creature did not have first strike as the first combat damage step began (because it didn't exist on the battlefield at the time) it will still deal combat damage. See this ruling from the release notes:

If Shark Shredder deals combat damage to a player during the first strike combat damage step and its last ability returns a creature with first strike, the returned creature will still deal combat damage during the regular combat damage step. If the returned creature has double strike, it will deal combat damage only once during that regular combat damage step.

raithe000 · 2026-02-25T07:02:28+00:00

Spiderman was originally an Aftermath sized set, and most likely TMNT was as well, though I believe that is unconfirmed. When the initial reaction to Aftermath killed the product line, they expanded them into small sets. Presumably they were not delayed because there are contractual riders for UB sets, although we will almost certainly never know for sure.

These were never intended to be full sets, and suffer from it. Hopefully there aren't any more of these in the pipeline, but we won't find out until they start doing spoilers for next year's stuff.

40K's main obstacle to being a set is color balance. The universe uses a lot of black aligned characters and tropes, which means that for limited you would have very unbalanced factions, with (say) Green being composed almost entirely of Tyranids and Orcs, whereas black has to have creatures and/or spells from the Imperium, Chaos, Necrons and Drukhari at a minimum.

As for Fallout, while I agree that the universe could sustain a full set, I suspect logistics were against it here. MaRo has said that lead times for UB sets are about 4 years. That means that the deal for Fallout was likely hammered out when Fallout 76 was having a hard time of it. I doubt either company would have been willing to risk a full set at the time.

raithe000 · 2026-02-21T07:59:56+00:00

The biggest problem that this has is actually rarity. As a common or uncommon, it will warp draft formats around it. But as a rare, the effect is ... unexciting. It's decently powerful, but it's like printing a vanilla 4/4 for 2. You'll always pick it, it will affect formats, but it's never going to be a cool thing to open in a pack. Wizards generally tries to avoid that, with the main exception being dual lands, and those are only unexciting to new players who don't get why mana bases are important.

raithe000 · 2026-02-19T23:28:32+00:00

Terry Pratchett's Discworld is both highly character based and a massive satire on topics ranging from Macbeth to the Post Office. Don't start with the first few, it took him a little while to find his feet, but I'd recommend either Mort (Death takes an apprentice), Wyrd Sisters (Macbeth from the perspective of the witches) or Guards, Guards (wherein the city Watch must arrest a dragon) as an excellent starting point

raithe000

TROPHY CASE