They couldn’t even be bothered to pick a name of an actual Dire Wolf from GoT either. Fucking tourists.

Yeah I stopped doing it in High School after realizing that it’s some North Korea level bullshit. Got a few other kids in my homeroom to stop too, which really angered our teacher. She was a military spouse and would actually yell at us for refusing to participate. In the end, we compromised by standing but not reciting it. Was the begining of my political and social awakening.

TNG and DS9 are the only two series that I really know well enough to make these recommendations for.

I would highly recommend watching TNG before DS9, even if she likes DS9 better. TNG and DS9 work best as companion shows, with TNG building up a lot of DS9 plot-lines in its latter seasons. I would also highly recommend against starting with any episodes involving Q or the Borg, or any of the series “highlights”. Let those plots build, and you don’t want to spoil some of the best episodes in a sampler. My go-to TNG introduction picks are:

-Cause and Effect

-Darmok

-Measure of a Man

DS9 can be harder to pick introductory episodes for. Its more serialized nature means that a lot of later episodes have a lot of spoilers. I would highly recommend against picking any episodes that highly involve the Dominion or the Dominion War, let that plot build itself up. That does however, leave us with a lot fewer options. My DS9 introduction picks are:

-Duet

-Past Tense

-Bar Association

I won’t stand for this “Ode to Spot” slander. It’s Data’s underrated masterpiece!

I attended a top 100 public high school in America, where we were taught Greek and Roman mythology. The problem wasn’t that the subject wasn’t offered, it was that a sizable portion of students weren’t paying attention. Even among those who did, few retained the knowledge beyond the next exam. The real issue with American education isn’t just what’s being taught but how it’s being taught. Subjects aren’t presented in a way that truly engages students or encourages long-term retention.

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This definitely applies to a good number of gay couples in Texas too. Hetero Women do have it worse though. Progressive Southern woman’s options are pretty much:

A) Be celibate B) Move somewhere else C) Settle for the Most Racist Man Alive

Hetero Progressive men are unicorns in the American South, and them being progressive is no guarantee they will treat a woman any better. They often come with their own batch of issues and a lot of them are fuckboys.

100%. The graphics may be dated but gen 2 is peak Pokemon aesthetic. Peak sprites and soundtrack.

Mike using his YouTube money to buy and preserve old TV and Movie props is the best arc. Maybe in his retirement he can curate his collection

The upside I guess is that a lot of cis straight men got to experience how uncomfortable unwanted advances are.

Yep. It did depend on the companion a bit, IIRC Shadowheart and Astarion’s romances wouldn’t be triggered unless the PC picked the flirty dialogue. But then there were some companions who would pursue the player. I hated how I couldn’t just be Gale’s Bro, and Halsin is just plain creepy.

I think the thing we’re getting hung up on here is the language. Are these teenage edgelords really rebellious? Regrettably, I was one of those kids in high school, and so were most of my friends. I guess you could argue that we rebelling against the school and societies authority, but the reality was we were the biggest bunch of loser bullies in the school.

Unfortunately, few of them grew out of this phase, and now they’re just the lamest group of adult men sharing edgy memes on discord.

Exactly this. I liked witcher 3 but I can never bring myself to replay it because of the time commitment. I replayed Witcher 2 a dozen times and its a tight 30 hours.

Picard starts every day by broadcasting “Space… The final frontier” to the crew

Look, I’ve been DMing for going on 20 years, and I like to think most of my players have had a good time. D&D isn’t about adhiring strictly to the rules, it’s about forging an entertaining adventure with your group. 90% of the time, I use the numbers I roll, but sometimes fudging those die can serve to make the game more enjoyable.

Is a boss battle not quite packing the oomph I intended it to? Maybe give the baddie a few good licks in to keep the players on their toes. Has someone been having a really rough time with an encounter and seems frustrated? Maybe just ignore that crit I just rolled. As long as you’re not killing players, there’s no harm in fudging the dice every once in a while.

Iirc he hit that Uruk 2-3 times in the chest, probably the heart. That motherfucker just kept going and yeeted himself into the grate when his body was giving out.

Man, I would be such an easy mark for Tar-Mairon to corrupt.

Unrelated to the opsec, why is a SpongeBob Movie premiering on Netflix? Isn’t Nickelodeon Paramount?

Idk, I know a pianist and his house is just filled with boxes and boxes of sheets music!

Fucked regardless but how fucked remains to be seen. Just as before, Trump will spend his presidency golfing, what really matters are his cabinet picks. Best case scenario is that just like 2016-2020 in-fighting and general incompetence make the administration a revolving door and keep the Christian Nationalist from realizing their darkest ambitions. Worst Case is that the Fascist have learned from their mistakes. I also think Trump either dying or being forced to step down (with a pardon of course) is a possibility that is on the table. Vance is a much more competent Fascist and this is definitely a worst case scenario.

Regardless, I think there are a few things that are guaranteed to happen:

• The dismantling of much of the Federal Government. Starve the Beast will finally come to fuition. The Department of Eduction, the FDA, The EPA, ect will become toothless if not entirely abolished. De-regulation will bring us back to early 20th century levels of consumer protection and quality control. Read “The Jungle” to get an idea. Public Health is going to tank dramatically.
• The little safety net Americans have will be pulled out from under them. Workers will be entirely beholden to their employers. The price of most consumer goods will surge, bankruptcy from healthcare cost will skyrocket, and homelessness will become even more common. Homelessness will become completely criminalized and the % of the American population imprisoned will make today’s prison population look small.
• The police and surveillance state will be expanded dramatically with the intent of targeting undesirables. Immigrants will be deported, while Trans people and political dissidents will be labeled as sexual criminals and will be eliminated. As time marches on more groups will be targets for the state. People around you will simply disappear sometimes, victims of secret police.
• An increase in media censorship by morality police. Pornography will be banned, and using that vague label media critical of the regime or expressing ideas against the regimes interest will be censored.
• The US will pull out of NATO and pursue a policy of isolation. Authoritarian and expansionist regimes around the world will be allowed to pursue their interests unchecked.
• A general brain-drain as educated people with the means to do so flee to Canada or Europe. As time passes it is likely that emigration from America will be made more difficult by the state, effectively stranding people here who didn’t get out soon enough.
• We will completely miss the window to do anything to avoid the worst-case scenarios for climate change. So it’s not just America that’s fucked here.

Smoke em while you got em, it’s about to get rough for everyone. We are in the death throes of the Neo-Liberal world order. Buy a firearm and get a vpn. Keep your vehicle as fueled as you can, and if you are able keep a sizable amount of cash stored somewhere safe. There’s never been a better time to go vegan and get in shape. Do what you can for the people you care about.