d&d chat: The trick to interacting with kids is to imagine they're the U.S. president

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > d&d chat: The trick to interacting with kids is to imagine they're the U.S. president

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Hollismason: Jun 30, 2007; FEEL FREE TO DISREGARD THIS POST

It is guaranteed to be lazy, ignorant, and/or uninformed.

Furnaceface posted:

What kind of barbaric city that gets snow regularly doesnt have sidewalk plows? My sidewalk was done at like 5am while my street wasnt done until 25 minutes ago.

Chicago, they assume the heat from spent shell casings will melt the snow but it doesn't melt enough.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:01

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# ? May 15, 2024 07:09

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/807987340941684736

has anything like this happened in us history before?

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:04

Polygynous: Dec 13, 2006; welp

Furnaceface posted:

What kind of barbaric city that gets snow regularly doesnt have sidewalk plows?

a what?

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:06

mandatory lesbian: Dec 18, 2012

The Muppets On PCP posted:

in the state of virginia for instance, drivers licenses are handed out at jc penneys

this is NOT true

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:07

Brute Squad: Dec 20, 2006; Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human race

Randler posted:

Please do not try to burn down the noble Yule goat like you Americans did in previous years.

If they didn't want it to be burnt down, they wouldn't have made it from easily burnable material.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:08

Gin and Juche: Apr 3, 2008; The Highest Judge of Paradise
Shiki Eiki
YAMAXANADU

Hollismason posted:

I see the laundry matte has installed some sort of spirit stealing clown

Please make me into a 30 year old Tom Hanks, laundromat clown

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:15

pangstrom: Jan 25, 2003; Wedge Regret

After requests for referrals for contracting etc., which dwarf all other topics, the "Dads of MyTown" facebook group is obsessed with the following things
1) utility bills
2) STAR property tax rebate checks (currently held up in Albany due to errors or something)
3) the sno cat hosed up my poo poo (the richer part of town has a little snow cat that does sidewalks, but it dings up people's yards and property sometimes when the snow is real deep)
4) the less rich part of town: SOME people who will remain nameless aren't shoveling
5) local crimes, especially thefts
6) not talking about politics, which is fine w/ me

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:23

boy are my arms tired: May 10, 2012; Ham Wrangler

pangstrom posted:

After requests for referrals for contracting etc., which dwarf all other topics, the "Dads of MyTown" facebook group is obsessed with the following things
1) utility bills
2) STAR property tax rebate checks (currently held up in Albany due to errors or something)
3) the snow cat hosed up my poo poo (the richer part of town has a snow cat that does sidewalks, but it dings up people's yards and property sometimes when the snow is real deep)
4) the less rich part of town: SOME people who will remain nameless aren't shoveling
5) local crimes, especially thefts
6) not talking about politics, which is fine w/ me

i literally cannot think of a more boring facebook group than the Dad Neighboorhood Watch group for a given area, and this list confirms it for me

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:24

Hollismason: Jun 30, 2007; FEEL FREE TO DISREGARD THIS POST

It is guaranteed to be lazy, ignorant, and/or uninformed.

Gin and Juche posted:

Please make me into a 30 year old Tom Hanks, laundromat clown

I will pray to them for you. He is my new god.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:28

pangstrom: Jan 25, 2003; Wedge Regret

boy are my arms tired posted:

i literally cannot think of a more boring facebook group than the Dad Neighboorhood Watch group for a given area, and this list confirms it for me

There are a few characters, at least. The twenty-something gun nut failson of one of the richer guys in town is always popping off, one guy is really scared of cell towers/radiation, one guy hublebrags about his racecars and expensive trips, one paranoid guy goes NUTS when somebody gets something stolen if they didn't take what in his mind are necessary precautions. There is also a lot of talk about how our town is a really tough place for businesses (in part because that failson's dad owns a lot of the property and is fine with setting leases high enough that many storefronts on the main street are abandoned, supposedly). Mostly it's nice folks, though yeah not often that interesting.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:31

pangstrom: Jan 25, 2003; Wedge Regret

The Moms of MyTown group may be more insufferable, I'm not sure. It's probably not that different, but from what my wife says it has a lot of more stuff about kids and schools.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:34

cinci zoo sniper: Mar 15, 2013

drat the dota community is so salty today that text logs could be served on the side for ogre hesburger fries

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:45

Joementum: May 23, 2004; jesus christ

Volkerball posted:

has anything like this happened in us history before?

Accepting Nate's premise (which I actually don't, since HRC's favorability didn't budge since pre-convention), Operation Eagle Claw and Anna Chennault's trip to the embassy are two similar possibly-election-altering events.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:52

Tatsuta Age: Apr 21, 2005; so good at being in trouble

cinci zoo sniper posted:

drat the dota community is so salty today that text logs could be served on the side for ogre hesburger fries

sure, these are words I understand, yeah

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:54

Randler: Jan 3, 2013; ACER ET VEHEMENS BONAVIS

cinci zoo sniper posted:

drat the dota community is so salty today that text logs could be served on the side for ogre hesburger fries

Must be one of those days that end on y.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:54

Hollismason: Jun 30, 2007; FEEL FREE TO DISREGARD THIS POST

It is guaranteed to be lazy, ignorant, and/or uninformed.

I know video games

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:56

Joementum: May 23, 2004; jesus christ

Eric is my new favorite person on Twitter

https://twitter.com/ericgarland/status/808299750030278656

# ? Dec 12, 2016 21:58

Randler: Jan 3, 2013; ACER ET VEHEMENS BONAVIS

So the Aldmeri Dominion is pretty much the most evil of the three factions right?

Because they pull a lot of stuff that usually only the villains in fantasy games do. Totally not regretting impaling that elf with this blunt mace and leaving her body in the swamp. :colbert:

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:08

PupsOfWar: Dec 6, 2013

Joementum posted:

Eric is my new favorite person on Twitter

https://twitter.com/ericgarland/status/808299750030278656

eric garland...

m...eri...merrick garland

:catstare:

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:14

WoodrowSkillson: Feb 24, 2005; *Gestures at 60 years of Lions history*

Randler posted:

So the Aldmeri Dominion is pretty much the most evil of the three factions right?

Because they pull a lot of stuff that usually only the villains in fantasy games do. Totally not regretting impaling that elf with this blunt mace and leaving her body in the swamp.

Yes, they are unironically Fantasy Nazis, and the setting for the civil war is that they forced Skyrim to stop worshiping one of their gods cause they know it will cause strife between the Empire and Skyrim.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:16

Randler: Jan 3, 2013; ACER ET VEHEMENS BONAVIS

WoodrowSkillson posted:

Yes, they are unironically Fantasy Nazis, and the setting for the civil war is that they forced Skyrim to stop worshiping one of their gods cause they know it will cause strife between the Empire and Skyrim.

I meant the First Aldmeri Dominion.

Because I think ESO is set way before Skyrim and Oblivion. As evidenced by this Daedra giving lip to his Argonian betters. :smuggo:

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:19

WoodrowSkillson: Feb 24, 2005; *Gestures at 60 years of Lions history*

Randler posted:

I meant the First Aldmeri Dominion.

Because I think ESO is set way before Skyrim and Oblivion. As evidenced by this Daedra giving lip to his Argonian betters.

Oh well, still, gently caress em

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:22

Randler: Jan 3, 2013; ACER ET VEHEMENS BONAVIS

I hope the Aldmeri being such dicks means I don't have to do any WoW style "Band together to fight the real enemy!" bullshit. (I probably will have to, though.)

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:26

The Muppets On PCP: Nov 13, 2016; by Fluffdaddy

pangstrom posted:

The Moms of MyTown group may be more insufferable, I'm not sure. It's probably not that different, but from what my wife says it has a lot of more stuff about kids and schools.

neighborhood facebook groups are the ultimate confirmation that 99% of people never left high school mentally

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:36

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

I left high school in undergrad but re-entered it in grad school

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:37

Hollismason: Jun 30, 2007; FEEL FREE TO DISREGARD THIS POST

It is guaranteed to be lazy, ignorant, and/or uninformed.

Badger of Basra posted:

I left high school in undergrad but re-entered it in grad school

Come talk to me after you play in a gay men's athletic league

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:49

syscall girl: Nov 7, 2009; by FactsAreUseless; Fun Shoe

Hollismason posted:

Come talk to me after you play in a gay men's athletic league

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wf-mRo7C2I

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:51

sweart gliwere: Jul 5, 2005; _{better to die an evil wizard,

than to live as a grand one.}; Pillbug

Furnaceface posted:

What kind of barbaric city that gets snow regularly doesnt have sidewalk plows? My sidewalk was done at like 5am while my street wasnt done until 25 minutes ago.

This makes me want to buy up state-seized SC golf carts (SC has a hosed up golf cart culture in parts), weld on a lovely little cowcatcher for use as plows in NC/VA

# ? Dec 12, 2016 22:54

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

sweart gliwere posted:

This makes me want to buy up state-seized SC golf carts (SC has a hosed up golf cart culture in parts), weld on a lovely little cowcatcher for use as plows in NC/VA

google "atv."

# ? Dec 12, 2016 23:18

sweart gliwere: Jul 5, 2005; _{better to die an evil wizard,

than to live as a grand one.}; Pillbug

Volkerball posted:

google "atv."

You misunderstand, NC/VA yuppies would plow with up-cycled SC golf carts before they'd buy a same size gas vehicle meant for trails and mud

# ? Dec 12, 2016 23:27

pangstrom: Jan 25, 2003; Wedge Regret

The Muppets On PCP posted:

neighborhood facebook groups are the ultimate confirmation that 99% of people never left high school mentally

There is a silent majority if you will of mature, sophisticated adults if you will like me if you will that don't post much. But yeah I can't really disagree.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 23:32

Berke Negri: Feb 15, 2012; Les Ricains tuent et moi je mue
Mao Mao
Les fous sont rois et moi je bois
Mao Mao
Les bombes tonnent et moi je sonne
Mao Mao
Les bebes fuient et moi je fuis
Mao Mao

Randler posted:

So the Aldmeri Dominion is pretty much the most evil of the three factions right?

Because they pull a lot of stuff that usually only the villains in fantasy games do. Totally not regretting impaling that elf with this blunt mace and leaving her body in the swamp.

the queen herself isnt that bad but pretty much all the other high elves are jerkwads

all the factions are pretty mixed though, most of the leaders are pretty okay but each side gets up to some real messed up poo poo in the other factions areas. EP is probably still the most morally dubious since the dunmer still practice widespread slavery

and yeah it takes place 1000 years before skyrim

# ? Dec 12, 2016 23:45

Randler: Jan 3, 2013; ACER ET VEHEMENS BONAVIS

Berke Negri posted:

since the dunmer still practice widespread slavery

Betina Volek doesn't. :smuggo:

Or anybody else of house Volek.

# ? Dec 12, 2016 23:51

Rodatose: Jul 8, 2008; corn, corn, corn

Randler posted:

I read a cracked article.

Is it true that American driver license tests do not even make you drive at the standard speed of 80 mph?

most states don't have a highway where the top speed limit is 80mph/130kmh

It's usually 70 in rural areas, 65 in less rural areas, and 55 on highways through cities

80 is only in nowhere parts of mountain/high plains states and texas

# ? Dec 12, 2016 23:52

fishmech: Jul 16, 2006; by VideoGames; Salad Prong

Rodatose posted:

most states don't have a highway where the top speed limit is 80mph/130kmh

It's usually 70 in rural areas, 65 in less rural areas, and 55 on highways through cities

80 is only in nowhere parts of mountain/high plains states and texas

yeah but typical cop allowed speeds on a lot of busy roads are 80 mph or more

# ? Dec 13, 2016 00:03

Rodatose: Jul 8, 2008; corn, corn, corn

fishmech posted:

yeah but typical cop allowed speeds on a lot of busy roads are 80 mph or more

depends on the place

for example, detroit area doesn't bother enforcing highway speed laws

georgia outside of the atlanta loop has a billion cops

# ? Dec 13, 2016 00:09

Sharkie: Feb 4, 2013; by Fluffdaddy

Joementum posted:

America came from the Torah and Voltaire's Candide and Adam Smith and zen koans and Greek mathematics and Rumi

nobody knows what this poo poo is lol

# ? Dec 13, 2016 00:12

Sharkie: Feb 4, 2013; by Fluffdaddy

I mean what sense does it make to appeal to a national culture or ethos that springs from things most Americans couldn't describe if their life depended on it.

# ? Dec 13, 2016 00:19

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

Higsian posted:

Centrism is a loving terrible ideology that either rules or enables the right to rule every nation in the western world. It is also a complete and utter lie. It comes from a flawed (and deliberately cultivated) view of the left-right struggle. For centrists this struggle is seen as a fight for money. And if you think left-right is about money it kinda makes sense to hold a middle position in a capitalist system. After all, capitalism is about giving everything to these magical capitalist folk who then create goods and services and grow wealth for the people. So of course you have to balance this, right? I mean the capitalists need lots and lots of stuff to do their thing, but we can't just let everybody else die in the gutter like the right wants. Except it's never been about money. Never ever. It's not about who can afford the biggest of TVs or what kind of car the poors can afford; it's about who gets to control the reigns of power.

Liberalism was a leftist ideology back when it existed in a world run by monarchies. It was the ideology that wrested power from the nobility and placed it within the hands of private citizens. It was a huge leap forward and a very good thing. Back then. But not now. Now we know unrestrained liberalism leads to disempowerment of the masses while capital concentrates into the hands of oligarchs who then use this power to essentially take over the government. This most obviously manifests as the lives of regular people becoming much worse as they become poorer and poorer. Centrists see this and some part of them recognises that abject poverty is not right so they go about trying to fix this problem. But poverty is not the problem; poverty is a symptom of the imbalace of power still inherent in liberalism.

The right is about concentrating power within a specific group of the worthy. What makes someone worthy depends on the brand of right. It could be by economic class, by birthright, by education, by religion, by adherence to morality, by adherence to law, by race, by gender, by sexual orientation, or by whatever other measure. The left is about dispersing power amongst as many people as is possible. It is about breaking down the barriers of power along every metric mentioned above until we can get as close as possible/sustainable to every single person having exactly the same power as everyone else. The left tends to differ based on how far a person thinks this can sustainably be taken or which method is best to achieve the outcome.

The centre? The centre is a lie. It is a lie because it is really just a faction of the right. The centre believes that power should be held by educated, wealthy technocrats. The centre differs from the right not at all on the subject of power, it instead has a lateral disagreement with the right. It believes that the few worthy should have power, but that the rest should not suffer too much because of it. The centre is the politics of rightists who just don't want to face the full and inevitable consequences of their ideological alignment. It wants to throw welfare to the unemployed not because doing so empowers the worker to quit, but because then the worker doesn't have to starve when they're fired. They want health care not because it stops employers from having power over their employees' health, but because it means people don't die in the gutter when their employer cuts them off. They want education not because they want to arm the people with knowledge, but so that people can drag themselves onto the higher rungs of wage slavery.

Lets looks at Obama/Clinton vs Bernie Sanders since that's the example that's most visible to people right now.

When Obama ran for president he formed a huge movement to get him there. Once he became president, did he use this people power he had assembled to get things done? Nope. He ignored them because he didn't assemble them to empower them. He didn't want to be the figurehead of a powerful movement. He wanted to use them to get himself into power. Once placed within power he wanted to concentrate on working with the other worthy technocrats to get things done. YES WE CAN _{get me into office because I am worthy and will rule well}. Bernie on the other hand said from the very beginning that he did not have the ability to do things as president. That what America needed was a popular movement. And he has continued to champion causes and encourage activism after his bid was ended. This was the quality of Bernie that the left recognised even when some thought his actual policies were not as left as they would like. The centre says "but (to me) his policies are not that different!" not realising the essential ingredient Hillary was missing.

Look at Obama/Clinton's reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement. They dismissed and chastised the movement. Oh they agreed with the premise. They agreed that what BLM was protesting against was a problem that needed to be fixed. But they disagreed with the movement. They did not want them protesting, especially not if it inconvenienced people. They wanted the problem to be fixed, but they wanted it fixed the right way: by them or others like them. Bernie on the other hand stepped aside when BLM activists crashed his event so they could speak to his crowd, at his rally, on his stage. He empowered their voices both figuratively and literally through the microphone he yielded to them. Because Bernie understood that you need to work with and empower people to fix their problems, not empower yourself and then fix their problems for them like the powerless peasants they should be.

This same dynamic was repeated in the the case of NoDAPL. Bernie spoke on behalf of the NoDAPL movement and visited them to raise their profile. Where were Hillary and Obama? loving nowhere. When pressed Obama said both sides need to be peaceful and that they were going to let it play. Then suddenly the government laid down a judgement a few weeks later. The only acknowledgement of the water protectors was as one of the two sides that needed to be peaceful (and it happened to be the only side that was). Hillary has said nothing as far as I know on the subject. It's not necessarily so that they disagree with NoDAPL's goals, but they do disagree with its methods. They don't believe in people power except as a springboard for the right people to get into power. Not for people actually using their people power to get things done.

The abandoning of unions is part of the same problem with the centre. Why support organisations that seek to empower workers when you can just skim some money from the people who deserve it and hand it to the workers? As long as they're not starving what's the big deal? Look at how the centre abandons and shits on the rural poor whites. It's because they view those poor whites as not being worthy of power any more, of having their voices heard. They happily hit down just as much as the rest for the right, they just have different views of what is down. Notice how centrists deride the rust belt for wanting jobs instead of welfare? You know why the people want the jobs? It's not because they're stupidly clinging to a past that will never be again and are just too drat proud to take welfare. It's because employment is empowering. Doing a job gives you power over your employer; direct, individual power over the people who decide the money you're given. Granted the employer holds the balance of power, but some power is better than no power, and people have effectively no power over their welfare payments. Oh is the president going to listen to you when you when your vote is a tiny fraction of an electoral vote in the best case scenario when you live in a swing state? Will senators or congress people in your own state, let alone from other states? If you quit your boss suffers. How much depends on what job you do and the type of employment (notice how recent trends of having lots of people on low/0 hour contracts means individual workers have less power to hurt their employer?) but you do have the power to hurt them however small. And if you quit you still theoretically have something of value with which to secure employment with someone else. If welfare goes down what recourse do you have? Does quitting welfare hurt the government? Is there an alternate government you can go get welfare from? No and no. Welfare is disempowering compared to employment. That's why people want jobs. And it's why you the centre doesn't get it.

There are so many other ways in which centrism blindly violates core concepts of the left, but that's enough examples from me I think.

Seriously guys, centrism is terrible and not at all what it's sold as. If you're a leftist you should stop seeing centrists as allies. If you're centrist you should have a good look at what your ideology is actually about and decide if you're really happy being on the side you picked. The inherent problems with the centre are starting to come to the fore all over the world. Actual sides need to be picked.

# ? Dec 13, 2016 00:26

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# ? May 15, 2024 07:09

Tesseraction: Apr 5, 2009

Joementum posted:

Accepting Nate's premise (which I actually don't, since HRC's favorability didn't budge since pre-convention), Operation Eagle Claw and Anna Chennault's trip to the embassy are two similar possibly-election-altering events.

which makes it somewhat closer to Britain's Zinoviev letter under your view

# ? Dec 13, 2016 00:39

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > d&d chat: The trick to interacting with kids is to imagine they're the U.S. president

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