Yup, thank you again. I’d gathered from the article that it was likely a sort of political consultation but even looking in a dictionary didn’t exactly clear it up.

Thank you!

I’m a dumb American who has never seen the word surgeries used in this context. Can someone explain?

Oliver Wendell Holmes, supposedly:

‘I once inhaled a pretty full dose of ether, with the determination to put on record, at the earliest moment of regaining consciousness, the thought I should find uppermost in my mind. The mighty music of the triumphal march into nothingness reverberated through my brain, and filled me with a sense of infinite possibilities, which made me an archangel for the moment. The veil of eternity was lifted. The one great truth which underlies all human experience, and is the key to all the mysteries that philosophy has sought in vain to solve, flashed upon me in a sudden revelation. Henceforth all was clear: a few words had lifted my intelligence to the level of the knowledge of the cherubim. As my natural condition returned, I remembered my resolution; and, staggering to my desk, I wrote, in ill-shaped, straggling characters, the all-embracing truth still glimmering in my consciousness. The words were these (children may smile; the wise will ponder): “A strong smell of turpentine prevails throughout.”’

Yuuuup.

Fiend warlock player did not like learning how I used his minor backstory. (He actually loved it.)

He knew he needed to save a tree. He didn’t know he was the one to burn it, nor that he did so because it was a source of power to his mother, who was a night hag.

So much fun.

He saved the tree and even managed to change his Patron, but is too scared to confront his mother again.

I’d considered making one of them a veteran lich who has conquered other versions of himself and the other a ‘naive victim’ lich but that was too on the nose for what Marvel had been planning to do with Kang and also narratively unnecessary.

In mine they are yuan-ti abomination liches, and since they are each other’s phylactery, their bodies were intricately crafted to be serpentine ebony or ivory. Similar to yours in some ways.

Thanks for the stories, sounds like it was fun!

My vet tech wife agrees.

The antibiotics should’ve done the job so the cat needs attention.

I really doubt they’re going to do the Agatha show without her at the end.

This type of article exists for that reason, reminding you who Wanda is just as a connected project is marketed.

Whether or not she’s in it, they want you thinking about it.

I’m in Duluth, Minnesota, if you’re anywhere nearby.

I’m a big guy. Tall, fat, boisterous, strong, opinionated, and outgoing. I love watching people, giving compliments, and delivering a solid joke. I make an impression on people whether I realize it or not. I’m too big to hide so I’ve chosen not to.

But I’m also an introverted hermit, so I almost never get to be that guy unless I’ve pushed myself to be out and among people.

Have fun with it!

D&D 5e game:I have two planets orbiting each other.

1200 years ago it was just a moon, then somehow the moon fell and almost ended the world.

But the next day there was a moon again.

Really it’s another version of the same world from a parallel timeline. The act of summoning it led the powers that be to seal the system in a bubble plane to keep the chaos from spreading.

The wizard who did it fell in love with himself from another timeline. The BBEG is two liches who are each other’s phylactery. If both cannot be defeated before the first revives, there is no way to stop them.

Such a tragic story, to do that much for love and then only be vulnerable when you’re near your love.

Their name is Zeitounessian, and I have a party on each world trying to stop him.

Neither party has yet determined that there are two of him.

There’s a Douglas Hofstadter book, Le Ton Beau de Marot, which is all about the art of translation. Specifically one poem by Marot, translated over and over again.

In the book, he convincingly makes the case that translation always has choices that must be made, and in translating a poem, choices must be made about which parts of the original must be held strictly to and which are open to interpretation. Rhyme, meter, structure, tone, etc.

It’s a fascinating book, really.

So is the art the product or the intentional process? That’s the core question here.

Because computers can and do translate, and there are choices made along the way.

Are those choices made? Are they made with intent?

And if they are, does that intent qualify as artistic?

It’s a neat question and not easily discarded.

We had a similar issue a few years back. Who owns a macaque’s photography? Are they the artist, or the person who gave them a camera?

Nope, work from home, prefer to stay home, and wore masks when things were really bad. And a good helping of luck.

Covid. First time.

I’m not that fortunate, but I recognize it’s better for everyone else anyway.

Home ownership isn’t my retirement plan, I just want to own where I live.

In the end I’m financially fucked, it’s remarkable I got a nice house at a good price anyway.

I can’t hold a generation hostage over my finances. What am I, a boomer?

I, for one, would not mind if my property value stagnated or decreased so that others could have a better life.

But I’m not most people, nor am I in a decision-making capacity.

It’s also worth saying that I live in a single family dwelling on a larger than normal city lot, so I recognize that I am a part of the problem and still wouldn’t want to change the way I live.

The English title is Little Man Tate and I kinda love that movie.

I looked and didn’t see a family connection. And he would’ve had to have been at least an uncle.

Edit: And David’s last name is spelled Sedaris. Oh well.

Probably Epic. It’s one of the times Steam is at peak usage and sabotaging a big Steam launch would ‘work well’ for them.

Of course trying to sabotage and failing makes Steam look better, which is why Epic continues to flounder.