I Can't Believe It's Not An Index CCXXXIII - Jasdoif's Random Banter #233

[DataNinja]

Oh, nice. Happy (belated) birthday, Anonymouswizard. May you find many problems that are actually nails, and not just ones that look like them.

[Jasdoif]

I'm going to go against the trend and say that no, that's not necessarily indicative of getting old; just indicative of how you and your friends and family evolve as time goes on.

I have noticed a general shift in the gifts I received over the past three decades; from recreational and short-term bursts of fun, to practical and long-term peace of mind. I'm pretty sure the perception of adulthood (the shift from assuming your parents take care of your needs, to assuming you take care of your own needs) is a big part of that, but otherwise I suspect age is ancillary.

[Peelee]

I like experiences more than stuff (well, most stuff. I still love stuff. I just have too much stuff), so I still get a lot of recreational short bursts but the make for great memories. For example, she got me a discovery flight down at the Shelby Airport one year. It was awesome. She even made a little diorama with a small box so I could unwrap it, since there was no physical part of it. Super neat.

[Lacco]

Oh, party of this is the entire 'moved into my own flat, now need my own set of tools' stuff. And I'll be thankful of it once I've picked up some MDF to make a desk out of.

I am extremely lucky to have an uncle and a father that are really into DIY stuff - so I got a lot of tools as they wanted to replace their older stuff with newer.

Plus good choice. Burning Wheel is my favourite RPG I've never had a chance to play (and likely never will get a chance to due to just how involved character burning is).

Same here. I tried stealing the Duel of Wits rules to incorporate into my last weekend game (a year ago) and we had a blast, but my players generally dislike me trying new games.

I'm planning on running BW here, when I have more time. A short episodic stuff mostly, but I'll wait for the Codex.

Also, not sure what you mean by the last part (how involved character burning is) - do you mean GM involvement, the party involvement...?

For example, when I was first dating my wife very early in the relationship, she asked what my favorite holiday was and I said my birthday. She has yet to fail at making my birthday always feel really fun and special.i don't think she ever will, no matter how old we get.

Yeah, this might be the reason I don't really get big surprise parties and gifts. I told my wife I disliked birthday parties, generally don't like surprises and prefer gifts that I find useful (my sister is especially good in getting people presents she likes... that they actually abhor).

I have noticed a general shift in the gifts I received over the past three decades; from recreational and short-term bursts of fun, to practical and long-term peace of mind. I'm pretty sure the perception of adulthood (the shift from assuming your parents take care of your needs, to assuming you take care of your own needs) is a big part of that, but otherwise I suspect age is ancillary.

Long-term peace of mind. Huh. How does that look like?

I don't remember - never got much peace since I got kids. Fun? Yes. Excitement? Yup. But peace... exceptionally.

[Jasdoif]

Long-term peace of mind. Huh. How does that look like?

Usually it falls in the category of "stuff that's conducive to easier day-to-day life, that I would likely buy for myself if I knew it existed and/or could justify paying the price of". The desk fan in my room wasn't cutting it during the summer heat since the cooler is on the other side of the house, and my older sister got me a larger fan that was also a metal cat sculpture; my room was unreasonably frigid during the winter cold since the fireplace is also on the other side of the house, and Mom got me a nice warm houserobe; Dad was having a hard time tolerating the coffee at his office, so Mom and I got him a coffee maker to take with him; my younger sister's first post-marriage home was rather sparsely decorated for her tastes, so I got her a floral centerpiece that featured cats and Halloween (general favorites of hers) as well as the same types of flowers that were on display at her wedding; my niece was moving away from home, so I got her a surge protector with several plugins (knowing she's the type to not realize she needed more electrical plugins until she was already unable to plug something in)....Stuff like that, nothing really groundbreaking but effectively targets a typical life annoyance.

[Lacco]

Usually it falls in the category of "stuff that's conducive to easier day-to-day life, that I would likely buy for myself if I knew it existed and/or could justify paying the price of". The desk fan in my room wasn't cutting it during the summer heat since the cooler is on the other side of the house, and my older sister got me a larger fan that was also a metal cat sculpture; my room was unreasonably frigid during the winter cold since the fireplace is also on the other side of the house, and Mom got me a nice warm houserobe; Dad was having a hard time tolerating the coffee at his office, so Mom and I got him a coffee maker to take with him; my younger sister's first post-marriage home was rather sparsely decorated for her tastes, so I got her a floral centerpiece that featured cats and Halloween (general favorites of hers) as well as the same types of flowers that were on display at her wedding; my niece was moving away from home, so I got her a surge protector with several plugins (knowing she's the type to not realize she needed more electrical plugins until she was already unable to plug something in)....Stuff like that, nothing really groundbreaking but effectively targets a typical life annoyance.

Yeah, my usual approach to gifts is: what would the person LIKE/ENJOY to have but would not buy for themselves?

Removing annoyances is something I can get behind every day.

[Anonymouswizard]

I'm planning on running BW here, when I have more time. A short episodic stuff mostly, but I'll wait for the Codex.

I'll keep my eye out. And don't promise not to burn a few characters to be prepared(I always wanted to try the Dark Elf and Great Wolf life paths anyway).

Also the Codex is great, it's got good advice on adventures, several alternate ways to run Sorcery, and the new lifepaths are great. As I said I really want to use some of them.

Also, not sure what you mean by the last part (how involved character burning is) - do you mean GM involvement, the party involvement...?

It's a relatively long, complicated process. It's entirely, but must people I've played with have issues with D&D character creation. It's a lot of choices to make, and each stock has a lot of lifepaths. Then there's the massive Skill and Trait lists and the fact that some skills players might assume everybody gets can easily be missed.

Oh, and just try to explain to the average player why they have to pay points to be missing an arm.

But burning characters can very, very easily take upwards of an hour, especially if you don't have a concept ready. I find it very fun, but everybody does.

..darn it, I'm pulling out my Burning Wheel books.

[DavidSh]

For example, she got me a discovery flight down at the Shelby Airport one year. It was awesome.

Ooh, is that the Lesson 0 of private pilot training, where they take you up and demonstrate things? Did you get your hands on the controls? The closest I've been was an air taxi between Saipan and Tinian, where there was no separation between the pilot seats and the passenger seats, but I was a couple of rows back. That and my one hot air balloon ride.

[Peelee]

Ooh, is that the Lesson 0 of private pilot training, where they take you up and demonstrate things? Did you get your hands on the controls? The closest I've been was an air taxi between Saipan and Tinian, where there was no separation between the pilot seats and the passenger seats, but I was a couple of rows back. That and my one hot air balloon ride.

Yes and yes! Plus, the Shelby County Airport is uncontrolled and little more than a runway, administration building, and hangars out in the absolute edge of the greater Birmingham area (if Birmingham was the Star Wars galaxy, that airport would be Tatooine), meaning we had to clear exactly 0 feet* of airspace before we could do as we pleased. Can't do that from Birmingham Shuttleworth, and that flytime still costs money, so it was 100% fun.

*thats 0 meters for the metrically inclined of you.

[Rater202]

So, I decided on a whim to get caught up on She-Ra since I just can't focs on FoTNS and what I was looking for on Netflix wasn't there...

In the very first episode, our introduction to the leaders of "the good guys" is the queen calling in a commander, criticizing the commander for leading her troops into danger.. To which the commander responds that she was protecting a village from invaders. Commander then goes on to make a rather valid criticism of the queen "How are we supposed to protect anyone if we run from every battle" "why make me a commander if you don't want me to fight or make judgment calls" and in response the commander...Is grounded and sent to her room because the Queen is her mother. Queen makes no effort to respond to criticisms.

In other words, our first look at the good guys is showing that their Queen is kind of a bad parent who can't handle criticism.

Who the hell thought that was a good establishing character moment?

[Fyraltari]

For example, when I was first dating my wife very early in the relationship, she asked what my favorite holiday was and I said my birthday.

Hold on, your birthday is a holiday? Did you solve global warming or something and nobody told me?

So, I decided on a whim to get caught up on She-Ra since I just can't focs on FoTNS and what I was looking for on Netflix wasn't there...

In the very first episode, our introduction to the leaders of "the good guys" is the queen calling in a commander, criticizing the commander for leading her troops into danger.. To which the commander responds that she was protecting a village from invaders. Commander then goes on to make a rather valid criticism of the queen "How are we supposed to protect anyone if we run from every battle" "why make me a commander if you don't want me to fight or make judgment calls" and in response the commander...Is grounded and sent to her room because the Queen is her mother. Queen makes no effort to respond to criticisms.

In other words, our first look at the good guys is showing that their Queen is kind of a bad parent who can't handle criticism.

Who the hell thought that was a good establishing character moment?

I mean, if the aim is to establish her character as "kind of bad parent who can't handle criticism" that seems to have done its job.

[Peelee]

Hold on, your birthday is a holiday?

Yes! It's not a global, national, or even municipal holiday and is hardly ever recognized by anyone, but I'm working on that.

Did you solve global warming or something and nobody told me?

I mean, yes, but they didn't like my solution.

[Fyraltari]

Yes! It's not a global, national, or even municipal holiday and is hardly ever recognized by anyone, but I'm working on that.

Ah, it's a personal affair, then.

I mean, yes, but they didn't like my solution.

Spoiler: Uhhh...

Show

[Peelee]

Ah, it's a personal affair, then.

Not for lack of trying.

Spoiler: Uhhh...

Show

Oh. Oh my no. Instead, it's more like... You know that scene in Liar Liar when Jim Carrey picks up the phone for a client who needs legal advice and just shouts "STOP BREAKING THE LAW, *******!"

Basically a minor rewrite to that.

[Fyraltari]

Oh. Oh my no. Instead, it's more like... You know that scene in Liar Liar

Nope!

when Jim Carrey picks up the phone for a client who needs legal advice and just shouts "STOP BREAKING THE LAW, *******!"

Basically a minor rewrite to that.

Oh, I get it.

[Rater202]

Re: Thanos. Again, not linking the Dorkly Video because it's got a lot of languages that's censored here on the forum, but the gist of it is that starvation tends to be caused because war, corporate greed, natural disasters, trade disputes, and the fact that some people are just asshats disrupt supply chains, preventing resources from getting from point a to point b.

Thanos's plan would disrupt every major supply chain in the universe in addition to all of the accidents it would cause, and basically cause more starvation than reducing the population ever would have prevented.

Now, when it comes to climate change, a reduced population would help... But that would more effectively be enforced by incentivizing people to have fewer children, than by murdering a randomly selected 50% of the population and regardless there are alternatives that would be more effective.

Apparently, there's evidence that cannabis is really good at pulling carbon dioxide and assorted pollutants out of the air as part of ti's photosynthesis process, so I figure if we can isolate the genetic traits responsible for that and splice them into a GMO strain of kudzu and maybe work on releasing that into the wild int he hopes that it crossbreed with the "natural" kudzu... It can't possibly be worse than the kudzu already foolishly released int the wild.

[Peelee]

the wild int he hopes that it crossbreed with the "natural" kudzu... It can't possibly be worse than the kudzu already foolishly released int the wild.

Kudzu is edible. I wouldn't call it bad at all.

[Rater202]

Kudzu is edible. I wouldn't call it bad at all.

I mean, it caused a hell of a lot of damage to buildings, power lines, and native vegetation.

And despite being edible, it's very rare to find people eating it.

[Peelee]

I mean, it caused a hell of a lot of damage to buildings, power lines, and native vegetation.

Because people weren't eating it. Or even making food out of it and feeding people without food.

[BisectedBrioche]

Welp, I got my vaccine yesterday.

My arm hurts and I woke up with every muscle in my body sore, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was last night, and there's no brain fog (or the sudden dysphoria that hit me while I was streaming). So with any luck I'll be fine by tomorrow.

[Form]

I mean, it caused a hell of a lot of damage to buildings, power lines, and native vegetation.

And despite being edible, it's very rare to find people eating it.

Maybe it's gross? I'm kind of curious now, though. Just not curious enough to actually prepare some kudzu according to the recipes I googled and eat it.

[Peelee]

Maybe it's gross? I'm kind of curious now, though. Just not curious enough to actually prepare some kudzu according to the recipes I googled and eat it.

It's not gross, it's just not native to the US. The Japanese have eaten it for centuries. Possibly even millennia.

[Rater202]

I'm just saying, since Kudzu grows frickin' everywhere like crazy if we can engineer a GMO strain that pulls more carbon and airborne pollutants out of the air as part of it's metabolic processes and introduce supplant the wild population with it we'd probably be able to drastically offset carbon emissions while doing no-more environmental damage than wild kudzu is doing already.

[halfeye]

I'm just saying, since Kudzu grows frickin' everywhere like crazy if we can engineer a GMO strain that pulls more carbon and airborne pollutants out of the air as part of it's metabolic processes and introduce supplant the wild population with it we'd probably be able to drastically offset carbon emissions while doing no-more environmental damage than wild kudzu is doing already.

If it kills trees it may not be better than not having kudzu. However, trees grow slowly, and it may be they don't gather as much carbon, more information needed.

[Rater202]

If it kills trees it may not be better than not having kudzu. However, trees grow slowly, and it may be they don't gather as much carbon, more information needed.

We've tried and failed to get rid of Kudzu. It's still eating the south.

Since the damage it's doing is happening regardless, adapting the plant to clean more carbon... I mean, the planet's already on fire. It can't possibly make things worse.

I suppose that other plants that are hearty and grow and spread fast would also work but that runs the risk of the GMO plants becoming invasive if you introduce them in an area where the base plant doesn't grow naturally which isn't a problem with kudzu because, well... The damage is already done.

[Peelee]

We've tried and failed to get rid of Kudzu. It's still eating the south.

That's because we haven't tried eating it. Your solution involves no substantial change to the presence of Kudzu, which is the real issue. Soaking up a bit lore carbon is great but offset by kudzu still choking out other plants which would also absorb carbon, as well as altering the soil which even further inhibits other plant growth.

[Rater202]

That's because we haven't tried eating it. Your solution involves no substantial change to the presence of Kudzu, which is the real issue. Soaking up a bit lore carbon is great but offset by kudzu still choking out other plants which would also absorb carbon, as well as altering the soil which even further inhibits other plant growth.

clearly, most people don't want to eat it and no other methods are working.

so if we can't get rid of it, we adapt it to our use.

Though honestly, I'm just throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks.

I've seen some literature that suggests that deliberately triggering algal blooms in large bodies of water would help without causing... Too much damage to th ecosystems.

there's this kelp that supposedly drastically reduces the amount of methane produced in the digestive systems of cows who eat it and it only takes a little bit of the kelp in their diet to get the effect, so that's something to look into since Methane from cows is apparently as big a contributor as carbon from cars.

Kind of wondering, having only recently thought of it, if little tiny turbines in the vents of a car to reclaim kinetic energy from the movement of air when the AC or Heater are on high might be useful for hybrid or electric engines, more so than turbines not he outside.

[Peelee]

clearly, most people don't want to eat it and no other methods are working.

[citation needed]

[Tvtyrant]

[citation needed]

It's not widely eaten as a crop even where it is native, it is more generally derived to use as a thickener for other foods. It is mostly used as animal feed, but isn't even particularly good for that. #wikipedia

[Peelee]

It's not widely eaten as a crop even where it is native, it is more generally derived to use as a thickener for other foods. It is mostly used as animal feed, but isn't even particularly good for that. #wikipedia

Strange, I would imagine "used to make food" would qualify as "being eaten". Also, that same site told me animal grazing on it fresh tends to deplete it quickly, which seems like it would help solve the invasiveness problem.

Regardless,nl nothing in there said "people don't want to eat it", and that assertion holds the same weight as me staying that nobody wants the free hundred dollar bills that I give out to anyone that asks for it in person. The problem isn't that nobody wants it, it's that in the US few people are aware of it and also don't have ready access to it.

Genetially modifying it to gather more carbon as it wreaks havok in the US is like giving Peter a sandwich because he's hungry but he's also currently choking Paul by the neck. Yes, it does technically solve one problem, but there's a lot of other hungry people that could use that sandwich who currently arent trying to murder another person.