I didn’t get that far into the show because I was bored and lost in the space battles. Action scenes are always shakey cameras and me being confused about who’s on what ship. I was extremely interested in the human dramas, politics, and especially the mystery of the fungal thing. The acting and dialects were really cool though, and I’d probably miss out on those unless the author does a good job writing them. Does it seem like I’d prefer reading it instead? I kind of feel like I just talked myself into trying the show again. :s

This reminds me of the ASMR video I watched where this person removed my cranial nerves for cleaning and I was so immersed that I was kind of weirded out and upset by their sudden theft.

Has is occurred to you that the reason no one is arguing that Biden and Harris aren’t pieces of shit is because they are actually pieces of shit, and no one in this reply chain said otherwise? That’s why “no one said that” was so funny to me.

Ok, but no one here said that.

They literally did though, in those exact words.

Everything about biology is a random effect. Even a mutation that’s selected for wasn’t planned; it just happened by chance. Like if you’re an aquatic species maybe you’ll end up being a strong swimmer over generations, but the water doesn’t pressure you towards that on its own. You have to coincidentally develop flukes that make you a stronger swimmer before those traits can be selected for.

Sometimes traits that get passed down aren’t beneficial at all because they don’t make an impact on reproduction. Think of an animal that comes in many colors like a house cat or certain fish species. In such cases it’s clear that the color of the animal doesn’t have any bearing on its ability to reproduce, so a variety of colors are passed down for no particular reason.

I would love to learn why this isn’t completely stupid, if anyone has a way of explaining. We’d be down entire genres of games if developers didn’t copy each other’s homework.

I would like to understand what you’re saying better. I assume the original OP was a thread about sports (though honestly I have no idea). Given that context, how should someone in OP’s position behave/respond (if at all) to the posts about trans women in sports?

Why are you making it one thing or the other? We can have more than one conversation. Do you think we should shut up about trans rights altogether because all this bickering over such an insignificant number of people is distracting from larger human rights issues?

If it’s the case that the conversation itself upsets you because it hurts and you’re sick of seeing it, I totally get that; it’s valid.

It depends on where the kids are in their development. AFAB and AMAB kids are functionally identical until puberty starts. A trans child should, imo, be allowed puberty-prevention treatments so that they can choose what kind of puberty they’d like to have when they’re older. And that’s sure as heck not doing anyone favors in the athletics department.

I think the trans women who are passionate about their sport disagree with you. Why would you just be okay with letting someone literally lose their hobby or even career over their gender? It’s dehumanizing.

I don’t see what harm this conversation has. People who aren’t terrible will be better educated and people who are terrible weren’t trans allies in the first place. What have we lost?

e:

Frankly they can call me a biological male all day if they want to deliver some hormones to a girl who needs them.

You know they’re going to stop that, right? They’re not going to allow people to transition at all if they get their way.

Assuming you’re genuinely uninformed and confused, trans women do not have any advantages over cis women if they’ve been on HRT. The lack of testosterone affects the body dramatically. You can see evidence of this in the fact that trans women aren’t dominating any of the competitions which have allowed them.

Furthermore, sports were never fair in the first place. Some people are more naturally gifted in various areas than others. There are actually cis female athletes who have been forced to medically lower their natural testosterone levels in the name of fairness, and that’s some Harrison Bergeron shit.

I’ve just read An Immense World by Ed Yong and learned that what seems to matter in birdsong is the way the notes change, like mid-note.

Seems to be working just as well as regular voting.

Doesn’t it matter though? Isn’t delivering the promised product the correct reparations for failing to deliver a product? Pretty sure it was easy to get a refund back then, too.

There’s lots of bad pacing and horrible acting in movies today though. You can obviously watch or not watch whatever, but I think you’re limiting yourself unnecessarily if you put too much weight on the year of release.

None of that makes any sense. An old book and a new book aren’t different in the way a rotary phone and a smartphone are. They are functionally the same object: text on paper.

You could have, for example, a story about someone stranded on an island, and the era it was written in would make almost no difference at all because technology doesn’t have any bearing on the story, and we haven’t changed as a species. The culture of the author would influence things, but that’s true even of media today since we don’t all share the same culture.

Old media can also be very illuminating when it does affect the story because it can teach you something about the era in which it was made. You might think to yourself, “Gosh, people used to be able to feed and house their families on a single paycheck? Why can’t we do that today?”

And yeah, having stuff in black and white is less visually interesting, but I’m not going to rule out something I might find enjoyable just because of that. I watched quite a few old sitcoms in my childhood that I enjoyed just as much as the modern cartoons, and I still enjoy some of those cartoons today alongside modern TV.

Do you think the Home Alone sequels are better than the original?

I’ve never been interested in RDR2 because I’m not into the western aesthetic, but I am absolutely into the aesthetic of being a time traveler or alien or wizard using my powers to help farmers and explode bad guys in an otherwise western setting. If I had any money, I would pay someone to make this.

Moby Dick is good in a way where I don’t care about any of the characters or the story, but I could read Melville describe water or argue that dolphins are fish for the rest of my life, just because of how beautifully he does it.

I don’t understand that at all. What about being old makes something boring by default?

I’ve never been good at reading stuff like this, so it’s more than plausible I’m just missing it, but I can’t find where the resolution would give anyone the legal power or moral authority to invade another state.