WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
Depends on your frame of reference. When traversing the surface of a globe, your described concept of a straight line isn’t intuitive.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
87%
Forgive the ignorance, but are regular OBGYN appointments a thing in the US? From the media I’ve consumed it appears so. I know people with actual gynaecological issues like endometriosis, and even they find the idea of regular checkups without a cause weird.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
”For a comment.”
In this day and age, who hasn’t made incredibly specific ultraviolent threats against an elected official while constantly reassuring others that they are serious/making a promise to enact these threats? Did this upstanding citizen simply forget to cite his first amendment rights to the agents?
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
The is me with my PhD thesis. I wrote it, submitted it, planned for an absolute grilling in the Viva, got waved through the Viva with just minor corrections for grammar, went overzealous with corrections, submitted for review, got accepted, finally graduated.
It still makes me sick to look at it on my bookshelf.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
This really makes me grin, as I've argued these "theological debates" on multiple sides depending on which splatbook I'm into at the time. I've definitely been on both sides of the Caine vs Prime Archmage debate.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
We both know who cares. Who would derail a discussion about bigotry by making pedantic observations on grammar or language?
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
Do they have a different tattoo or are you referring to the one circling their arm? It looks like the inscription on the One Ring to me, though I definitely could be wrong.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
Conversely, a lot of people abstain from drinking. Entire cultures abstain.
I like the “facts and logic” crowd having their arguments torn down with actual facts and logic. I don’t like cutaway gags, ridiculous hyperbole delivered in an exasperated tone, shoehorned Obama worship coated in an “I’m not saying he was perfect” disclaimer, or recurring meta-gags. This cuts out most snark podcasts which, unfortunately, make up a lot of the most popular podcasts tackling right wing pundits. Ideally, I want an introduction to the right-wing narrative of the week, and a firm put-down delivered in a documentary fashion. I don’t want hosts who I can see 2 nights a week at Second City or hear on half a dozen other podcasts. Any suggestions welcome.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
80%
Ah shit. Reading is hard sometimes.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
A pint is 568ml.
Edit: the extra 30ml might be accounted for with the patented Guinness widget, a little ball of nitrogen gas that ruptures and forms a foamy head when the can is cracked.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
40%
GPT4 is wrong and it doesn’t require a price per litre comparison to prove it.
4 cans at 440ml cost £4.50. Therefore 12 cans at 440ml cost £13.50, £1.50 less than 12 cans at 330ml.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
80%
The fact you made such a connection says a lot about you.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
I agree on a personal level. FOSS software is much more convenient for my usecase of writing papers/typsetting notes, some automation, writing a program that works for me, and browsing/videos.
On the level of someone working in academia, it can be incredibly inconvenient if not outright impossible to implement. I can manage if I come across a bug in some FOSS software in my personal usage. An enterprise encountering an error with some utility whose support forum is a discord server: completely unacceptable. The entire printing service being offline because CUPS is temperamental: completely unacceptable.
Enterprises are the core customers of these inconvenient pieces of software with subscription based models.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
50%
That’s the thing: you’re proving the idiom in the way that you’re arguing. Naively, one would expect that comparing fruit is easy; after all, they’re both fruit. Two nations have supposedly, in an official capacity, made the same statement (which I don’t believe without you providing a source, and yes the burden is on you).
The thing is that these are all superficial observations on complex entities. The idiom of comparing two fruits is a common idiom in many cultures, and it’s not for want of an internet commenter pointing out that they’re sweet, have seeds, and are similar colour.
General point: practice making pithy arguments based on well researched points. I’m struggling to see an actual point in the drivel you’re writing. It isn’t a reading comprehension issue; I read and write dense academic articles for a living. Short, pithy sentences are simply better writing.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
50%
There's no reason 2 fruits can't be compared.
I find it hard to believe that you’re not familiar with the famous phrase “comparing apples and oranges,” which is specifically about attempting to compare incomparable items.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Sorry I had to get that out.
Cringe. You’re an anonymous person interacting on the internet, not the main character of a sitcom.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
Pad thai isn’t even that spicy. Who’s ordering a super spicy pad thai?
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
You know you’re never going to get any hard evidence other than surface-level stuff that they can get from their bigot blogs, because bigots hate actually engaging with media.
WilloftheWest
Now
•
100%
This is a great observation. I just generally think a world that poses questions such as “why haven’t wizards fixed this” is more interesting than a world with arbitrary precision measurements and walk-in cancer curing services in every hamlet.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Dream Cycle Book Club. This week we will be discussing the short story *The Dreams in the Witch House*. Our final story in this book club is *Through the Gates of the Silver Key*, which Lovecraft co-wrote with [E. Hoffmann Price](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Hoffmann_Price) in 1932-33. I should note here that Lovecraft uses racist slurs in the final chapter of this short story. The Arkham Archivist didn't include any stories cowritten with other authors in their collection of stories, thus a PDF of the story is available [here](https://oceanofpdf.com/authors/h-p-lovecraft/pdf-epub-through-the-gates-of-the-silver-key-download-62636018303/?id=001765278895) (sorry about the dodgy looking site. I've ensured that the PDF is legit). A LibriVox audio recording is available [here](https://librivox.org/through-the-gates-of-the-silver-key-by-h-p-lovecraft/) image credit this week goes to [Yuki Sato](https://www.artstation.com/satoyuki)
Welcome back to our Dream Cycle Book Club, where we explore the dream based stories and dream-adjacent tales written by H.P. Lovecraft. In this week's thread we shall discuss the final half of *At the Mountains of Madness*. This week we will be reading our penultimate story: *The Dreams in the Witch House*. The Arkham Archivist provides us with a collated collection of stories [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412). A LibriVox audio recording is not available and so I direct you to a recording by the YouTuber HorrorBabble [here](https://piped.video/watch?v=QqIMRFhROHw) This week image credit goes to [Joseph Diaz](https://www.artstation.com/josephdiaz).
Hello everyone and welcome to the thirteenth week of our book club exploring H.P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. In this week's thread we discuss the first 5 chapters of *At the Mountains of Madness*, written in 1931. Our reading assignment for this week is the second half of *At the Mountains of Madness*, from Chapter VI onwards. A PDF of the short story is found in the collected works curated by the Arkham Archivist [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412). A LibriVox audio recording is available [here](https://librivox.org/at-the-mountains-of-madness-by-h-p-lovecraft/). Very sorry for the late submission this week. My department is hosting an algebra conference and I'm spending my evenings "networking" (read: getting drunk while ranting about the Representation Theory of algebraic groups). Unfortunately, pleasure has to be sidelined by business until Wednesday evening. I'll post comments on the first five chapters as soon as possible but expect significant delays for this week. On the off-chance that the set of British Lemmy Users interested in Lovecraft and Representation theory of algebraic groups isn't a one-member set, I'm the guy with the beard in a purple mushroom shirt. Image Credit goes to Deviantartist [Zhekan](https://www.deviantart.com/zhekan).
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Dream Cycle Book Club. Today we will discuss the final two parts of *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*. Our reading for this week is the first five chapters of *At the Mountains of Madness*, written in 1931. The first five chapters should put us at around the halfway point of this novella. I'd call this one Dream Cycle-adjacent, as it features and mentions locations such as Leng and Kadath. It's also an important story in Lovecraft's Bibliography, but we'll cover that during the relevant discussion. A PDF of the short story is found in the collected works curated by the Arkham Archivist [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412). A LibriVox audio recording is available [here](https://librivox.org/at-the-mountains-of-madness-by-h-p-lovecraft/). Image credit [Jagoba Lekuona](https://www.artstation.com/atomicbrain)
I’m just about to start my second full playthrough, and have run through Act I multiple times. Rather than choosing my main three companions and leaving everyone else in camp, I’m wanting to juggle companions. There are three main reasons for this: advancing everyone in the group and keeping them geared; giving each character a chance for their unique personal interactions; and trying to max out all opinion sliders. For an example: Lae’zel offers unique interaction with Kithrak Voss. I’m hoping we can compile a list of best party compositions for roleplay potential in certain areas. I’ll start us off with all that I can think up from above ground Act I. —- Party Pairings: Wyll and Karlach pair well. Lae’zel and Shadowheart clash. Astarion generally clashes with any companion with a modicum of decency. Grove: - Recommended party composition: Shadowheart, Wyll, and Gale for kind interactions, Lae’zel and Astarion for mean/underganded interactions. - Lae’zel is necessary for an interaction with Zorru. - Be mean to Zorru to get night 1 romance with Lae’zel. - Keep Wyll out of your party if you intend to free Sazza. - Keep Astarion and Lae’zel out of the party if you intend on being kind to tieflings. - Take S/W/G if you intend on saving Arabelle Risen Road: - Recommended party composition: Wyll, Karlach, anyone with high Wisdom. - Karlach and Wyll are a good duo for confronting the paladins of Tyr. This is a personal quest for Karlach. - For the gnoll fight, a character with high Wisdom is useful in persuading the flind to fight for you and then kill itself. Waukeen’s Rest: - Recommended party composition: Wyll, any other two (I just go Lae’zel and Karlach). - Wyll has a personal interaction regarding the kidnapping of Duke Ravengard. Mountain Crossing: - Recommended party composition: Lae’zel, any other two (Wyll and Karlach for me). - Lae’zel has a unique interaction with Kithrak Voss. Blighted Village: - Recommended party composition: Gale, Astarion (if he has snuck out of camp), any other. - Astarion has something to say about the boar drained of blood. - Gale is intrigued by the Thayan necromancer and the book of necromancy. Consider giving this to him. Goblin village: - Recommended party composition: Shadowheart, Astarion, anyone else NOT including Wyll. - Shadowheart has unique remarks about the repurposed temple of Selune. - Shadowheart and Astarion have a good time watching you bask in Loviatar’s love. - Wyll struggles to keep his fat mouth shut. Keep the liability in camp. Teahouse: - Recommended party composition: sneaky people or people with Hold Person (if you intend on minimising casualties), someone with create water for cheese. - I just always fight the hag. +1 to any stat is useless as only even stats count, and you should be shuffling the “standard” ability array to get all even stats (including two 16s). The Hag Eye is also a liability as perception is rolled more often than intimidate. - Sneak and cast Hold Person if you don’t want to fight any of the masked people. - cast Create Water on Myrina’s cage to protect her. You can usually tell her and Ethel apart through use of Examine, but Create Water results in Mayrina being wet, which doesn’t require examine to discern.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Dream Cycle Book Club. This week we will be discussing the first three parts of *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*. Our reading for this week will be parts IV and V of *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*, thus finishing the story. The text, collated as part of a collection by The Arkham Archivist, is found [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412). An audio recording by the talented HorrorBabble can be found [here](https://piped.video/watch?v=Va7WZT1lVsc). The image is a portrait of Vincent Price who played the role of Charles Dexter Ward/Joseph Curwen in the 1963 film [The Haunted Palace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Palace). Art credit goes to [Shayu Dan](https://www.artstation.com/sharksden)
Just a vibe check of the Lemmy community with a deliberately exaggerated meme. A reddit post would get flooded with argumentative mini-essays from folks who can’t string together 5 words in-character.
Hello everyone and welcome to the tenth week of our Dream Cycle Book Club. In this thread we'll be discussing Lovecraft's epic novella *The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath*. This week's reading is *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*, Written in 1927. This is another novella of Lovecraft, weighing in at 104 pages in my copy of his fiction. I'm aware that 100 pages of Lovecraft's often verbose prose can be trying. Thankfully, Lovecraft actually separated this story into parts, which allows for easy splitting up of the reading. Our reading for this week is parts I-III, with parts IV and V covered next week. The text is available in PDF format courtesy of the Arkham Archivist [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412). Audio is provided by the talented HorrorBabble [here](https://piped.video/watch?v=Va7WZT1lVsc) Image Credit [Jian Guo](https://www.artstation.com/breathing)
Jesterraiin is doing an amazing job of uploading inspirational posts. Let's get a little community effort going and see what we can come up with in terms of inspirational reading. Looking at my 2e boxed set, I can't find an inspirational reading list. Here are a set of books that I feel get some aspect of the setting right. Actual Dark Sun: *The Prism Pentad* series by Troy Denning. Though considered apocryphal by some (due to the apparently fragile mortality of some key figures in Dark Sun lore), this series offers some decent adventure ideas for a Dark Sun campaign, with each of the five books exploring a different aspect of the Dark Sun lore. Desert planet: Of course I need to mention the *Dune* series by Frank Herbert. Nigh omnipotent planetary governors, water scarcity, nobles flaunting water wastage as a symbol of power, and an oppressed underclass plotting rebellion. The *Dune* series also offers a cautionary tale of grasping power from a dictator only to secede it to a charismatic dictator (however reluctant that dictator may be to exercise power). The Bene Gesserit and the prescient Atreides lineage offer an interesting view into psionics. Post apocalypse: *The Dying Earth* series by Jack Vance. The namesake of Vancian magic and Vecna, Jack is one of the first authors to take a glimpse into a far future ravaged by magic and magitech, and the omnipotent sorcerers who bend reality to their will. Sword and Planet: *John Carter of Mars* and the *Barsoom* series in general, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A set of speculative fiction which would become a major influence in the world of early science fiction. The main character focus of the series is John Carter and his later descendants. John Carter is a soldier transported from the verdant Earth to the dying planet Mars, finding that due to the lower relative gravity of Mars he has near superhuman capabilities. A word of caution on this series: it's a product of its time. John Carter, a veteran of the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy, goes on pulpy adventures saving the "savage" Martians many times and even rescuing the damsel in distress, whom he promptly marries and sires multiple children.
Hello everyone and welcome to Week Nine of our Dream Cycle Book Club. This week's thread is for the discussion of the three stories from last week: *The Outsider*, *The Silver Key*, and *The Strange High House in the Mist*. Our reading for this week is a single story, *The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath*. It is Lovecraft's first novella-length Dreamlands story and ties together many of the disconnected stories that we've read in previous weeks. The PDF is available via the Arkham Archivist [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412). Audio is provided once again by the talented HorrorBabble [here](https://piped.video/watch?v=zcZj5curWsE). The Silver Key used in the OP was created by the Rhode Island based sculptor [Gage Prentiss](http://www.gageprentiss.com/)
Hello everyone and welcome back to our Dream Cycle Book Club. This week we will be discussing *What the Moon Brings* and *The Hound*. There are only three more short stories until we reach the first novella length dreamlands story. If I'd had a bit more forethought, I'd have loaded one of the last two weeks with a third story, as both featured very short stories. Hopefully this week's reading doesn't prove too much. We have three stories for this week: *The Outsider*, *The Silver Key*, and *The Strange High House in the Mist*. Our First story, *The Outsider*, was written in 1921 but is listed on Wikipedia as 1926; this led to me missing it a couple weeks ago. It is available in PDF format via the Arkham Archivist [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412), and a LibriVox audio recording is available [here](https://ia802202.us.archive.org/29/items/ghohor058_2201_librivox/ghohor058_outsider_lovecraft_as_128kb.mp3). *The Silver Key* is our second story this week, written in 1926. It is available in PDF format via the same link above, and a LibriVox audio recording is available [here](https://ia801600.us.archive.org/14/items/ssf093_2306_librivox/ssf093_silverkey_lovecraft_dg_128kb.mp3) Our third story for this week is *The Strange High House in the Mist*, written in November 1926. It is available in PDF format via the same link above. I cannot find a LibriVox recording, so I rely once again on HorrorBabble who has narrated the story [here](https://piped.video/watch?v=RB0aiL28zPQ). Image Credit [Clément Galtier](https://www.artstation.com/clement)
Welcome back everyone, to the seventh meeting of our Dream Cycle Book Club. This week we will be discussing *Hypnos* and *Azathoth*. Our reading for this week is two more short stories: *What the Moon Brings* and *The Hound*. *What the Moon Brings* was written in June 1922. It is available in PDF format via the Arkham Archivist [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412). An audiobook version is available via LibriVox [here](https://ia802901.us.archive.org/14/items/dream_collection_1_2002_librivox/dreamscollection01_03_various_128kb.mp3) *The Hound* was written in September 1922 and is the last dream related story written by Lovecraft in 1922. It is available in PDF format via the same link given above. I cannot find a LibriVox recording so I once again link to a reading by the talented HorrorBabble [here](https://piped.video/watch?v=VLVpPET9VIg). Image credit [Carole Raddato](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/FollowingHadrian/)
Welcome back to our adventure into the Dreamlands as described by H.P. Lovecraft. In this week's thread we will be discussing the reading of last week, *The Quest of Iranon* and *The Other Gods*. This week we reach the "midway point" in terms of stories read in the Dream Cycle, though the stories in the latter half tend to be weightier volumes. We will be reading two more tales: *Hypnos* and *Azathoth*. Our first story, *Hypnos* was written in March 1922. It is found in PDF format via our friend the Arkham Archivist [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412) and in audio format via LibriVox [here](https://ia902606.us.archive.org/9/items/ghost_horror_18_1210_librivox/ghohor018_17_hypnos_lovecraft_bm.mp3). Our second story, *Azathoth* is the shortest of our tales thus far and is reportedly the beginning to an incomplete novel of Lovecraft. It can be found in PDF format via the same link above. I failed to find a LibriVox audio recording, thus I rely once again on the talented YouTuber HorrorBabble. A link via piped is available [here](https://piped.video/watch?v=uvdWnCVZb30). Image Credit [Carlos Palma Cruchaga](https://www.artstation.com/cpcwolf). Sorry for a couple of late submissions. The previous one was due to my brother's stag, and this week I'm visiting the in-laws.
Welcome once again to our investigation into the world of Dream as defined by our favourite horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft. In this thread we will be discussing the reading assignment for the past week: *Ex Oblivione* and *The Nameless City*. Our reading assignment for this week is two more short stories: *The Quest of Iranon* and *The Other Gods*. *The Quest of Iranon* is another of Lovecraft's tales explicitly inspired by Lord Dunsany. The story, written in February 1921, is available in PDF format via the Arkham Archivist [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412). Unfortunately, LibriVox does not have an audio version of this story available, thus our audio recording for this week is via the YouTuber HorrorBabble. The video, filtered through Piped (a privacy friendly alternative YouTube Frontend) is available [here](https://cf.piped.video/watch?v=Q6aEPlm2tys) *The Other Gods* is also heavily inspired by Dunsany's Work. Written in August 1921, the text of the story is available via the same link above, and a LibriVox recording is available [here](https://ia801603.us.archive.org/19/items/ghohor067_2303_librivox/ghohor067_othergods_lovecraft_py_128kb.mp3) Image Credit [Mert Genccinar](https://www.artstation.com/mertgenccinar)
Hello Everyone and welcome back to the Dream Cycle Book Club! In this thread we will be discussing the reading assignment for the past week: *Celephaïs* and *Nyarlathotep*. For this week we have two more short stories to read: *Ex Oblivione* and *The Nameless City*. I can't find much information on when *Ex Oblivione* was written, though considering it's publication in the March 1921 edition of *The United Amateur*, it has been given a writing date in the range of late 1920 to early 1921. It can be found via the Arkham Archivist's trusty PDF [here](https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteWorksOfHPLovecraft_201412) and in audiobook format [here](https://ia600705.us.archive.org/28/items/collected_lovecraft_0810_librivox/exoblivione_lovecraft_jp.mp3). The second story for this week, *The Nameless City* was written in January 1921. Though it is only tangentially related to the Dreamlands, it is fantastic Mythos reading. It can be read in PDF format via the same link above, and can be found as an audiobook [here](https://ia800705.us.archive.org/28/items/collected_lovecraft_0810_librivox/nameless_city_lovecraft_sc.mp3) On a side note: it's great to see that the community is becoming active. [Image credit Joao Sergio](https://www.artstation.com/ja0)
Now