The healthiest way to go about it is to just have a conversation with your partner if its a concern at all. For some, one’s answer could be a deal breaker, and for others it’s not a problem. Communication is key here.

When I was a kid, this is literally what came to mind when I first heard the word, “Salad Bar”

I realize you had complex IRL situations surrounding all of this, but the fact that warlock was openly and rudely questioning your system rather than just rolling with it, would have been enough for me to question them privately about their manners and whether this was the right game for them. It is YOUR game after all and during session it’s very frustrating and disrespectful to the other players’ time to relentlessly belabor the point. I’m surprised you put up with it as long as you did despite attendance from Warlock.

I don’t remember a mod but I seem to remember that Gamepro magazine would sometimes parody their own magazine calling themselves “Lamepro” followed by a few pages of fake upcoming games, a nude Lara Croft I think was part of all that.

I appreciate this tip, I’ve had lots of trouble trying to make home made cheese sauce. Even if I felt the flour and milk cooked long enough and I added cheese slowly, I had trouble getting everything to come together. It may be that I still wasnt cooking long enough either because I have a bad habit of scorching the milk, so I would pull it off the burner perhaps too soon. I don’t know exact I haven’t tried it enough, because I don’t like wasting food.

I hope it’s not for a long time. I grew up seeing my great grandmother age gracefully and finally pass in peace in her favorite chair reading John Grisham novels. I admired that woman so much, despite the fact that she lived alone, her life partner long gone, she enjoyed her humble life in her cozy home.

I hope to do the same, for my heart to just stop beating in my advanced age. I’ve told my family that I don’t think I’ll mind even if I’m the last to go, I want to see how it all ends. I want to see the good and the bad of everything. I want to live as long as I possibly can.

I found Elite: Dangerous incredibly cool. How many chances will we get to explore some version of our solar system? I know the game feels empty, but I found it relaxing for the same reason truck simulator is relaxing, just cruising and enjoying the scenery

I have an Australian buddy I play FF14 with and he joins me on an NA server in savage mode raiding no problem. His ping does cause a slight delay, but the majority of the time it has virtually no impact on his ability to perform the mechanics and clear the raids.

Thank you for reminding me to call me out on my own bullshit :D

Grammar is funny that way it could be interpreted your way or it could be interpreted as “fascist who murders”

I suppose we will have to agree to disagree on that one. If you aren’t concerned about the information that others collect on you and you don’t care to imagine how it could be used against you then I’ll stop there

That’s true, but I’m also cynical. Policy makers only have to serve up a phantom to instill fear into the general public and then they can drum up support for policies that appear to serve the public interest; for the sake of “protecting” the public.

There’s plenty of reasons to be fearful or suspicious: corporations who develop all the new tech we use today have shown already they don’t respect our privacy. Our smartphones, computers, and other Internet connected devices are always harvesting data to advertise to us, so it follows that any brain-implanted device could be used to harvest data for similar purposes. Not everyone gives a shit about this one, but there are plenty who would at least like to be paid for the data that is collected from them and used for profit; barring that we should have the right to forbid data collection without consent.

There are, of course, more sinister applications for brain-implanted devices that can interface with the Internet (and if they don’t now, they surely will in the future). I think a lot of us immediately think of the science fiction book and movie, “Minority Report” wherein law enforcement has access to the private thoughts of citizens and arrests and convicts those who have contemplated crime but have not yet perpetrated the crime. Any sane person would never allow the police access to one’s private thoughts, let alone a corporation.

Elon Musk has said his ultimate goal with Neuralink goes beyond merely restoring function to injured parts of the body; he wants to make it possible to save and load memories and with those two functions we may also be able to delete memories too. Imagine someone hacking your memories, it could fundamentally alter your perception of yourself and your reality. You could become a prisoner in your own brain, subjected to the censorship of a corporation or government.

These are worst case scenarios and I’m not saying we are there yet, maybe not even close to that level of technology, but we should be aware of what kind of control we may be giving away to a company or authority by allowing such implants to be installed. I hope that we will use it as a means of improving people’s lives, but I’m very cautiously optimistic as well.

To me such language signals that the author’s purpose is not to enlighten or dispell ignorance, but to get the upper hand, be the one who is “right” and the opponent is made “wrong.” It’s not only a lazy way of thinking, but it prevents anyone from actually learning anything. Instead we just get to be self-righteous for being “smart.”

Any time I see an article that attempts to bash, slam, destroy, demolish, etc, etc. I cannot take it seriously because the author has convinced me from the start they are not interested in inspiring honest dialogue about a social issue. They just want to draw you into their own limited, biased way of thinking.

Same :(

I too wish academics, and those at least pretending, would do away with the rhetorical peacocking. Nobody learns from it and it makes the writing inaccessible. It’s deliberate gatekeeping confused for professional writing.

It’s really a nasty habit too. It precludes any kind of reasonable, honest discussion. Criticism is too often conflated with insult.

As far as I’m concerned it’s been the most positively life changing event in my life that I absolutely cannot recommend anyone in my life to ever try.

My thoughts exactly. I treasure the experience but I could never recommend it to anyone as it hits everyone different. The best I could say to someone considering it is that you better be willing to confront yourself and your most difficult feelings.

I’m happy to hear that it was a net positive for you that’s wonderful.

I’ve experienced LSD a few times and Mushrooms once. They are subtly different but I like to lean into the difficulty of the experience (when or if it starts to go that way). I feel like I’m being taught something important and doing so has been beneficial. To me it feels like a death and rebirth experience. I’m not foolish enough to think it’s the answer to my problems, but boy does it ever shine a light on things! For me, they bring me back to being a kid, experiencing everything with wonder and curiosity. It’s a breath of fresh air because I spent my young adult life trying to “grow up” by trying to fit into everyone else’s expectation if what adult means. It made me realize I am individual as well as connected to the human race and I should enjoy and embrace that.